Applying paleolimnological techniques in estuaries: a cautionary case study from Moreton Bay, Australia

2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (9) ◽  
pp. 1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan Logan ◽  
Kathryn H. Taffs ◽  
Laura Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
High Salinity ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Moreton Bay ◽  
The Past ◽  
Unsupported 210Pb ◽  
Environmental Histories ◽  
Different Sources

Paleoecological techniques are useful tools to identify restoration targets and natural variability for natural resource management programs. However, despite recent advances, caution is required when employing paleoecological techniques in estuaries, due to their dynamic nature relative to lake environments where these techniques were pioneered. This study used a novel combination of chronological, diatom, geochemical and isotopic data to assess the effectiveness of using these techniques in estuaries, and to develop an understanding of environmental changes within Moreton Bay, an open estuarine environment in subtropical east Australia. Results indicated mixed success, with 210Pb results indicating only background unsupported 210Pb levels, 14C results indicating sediment deposition from mixed sources, no diatom preservation and inconsistencies between geochemical and isotope proxies. Evidence did exist that the Moreton Bay sediments have been derived from different sources over the past 10 000 years. However, isotope records were not able to identify the likely sources of these sediments. Problems with diatom preservation were most probably due to the high salinity and temperatures associated with subtropical open embayment estuaries. Future studies attempting to identify environmental histories of estuaries should incorporate river-influenced locations rather than marine-dominated sites to ensure better diatom preservation and more definitive geochemical signals.

scholarly journals Development of a dynamics-based model for analyzing strategic water–environmental conflicts: systems thinking instead of linear thinking

Water Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Shahbaznezhadfard ◽  
Saied Yousefi
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Graph Model ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Environmental Conflicts ◽  
The Past ◽  
Conventional Paradigm

Abstract A new evolvement in graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR), a robust methodology for conflict resolution, is presented in this research effort to incorporate the systems thinking concept into the conventional paradigm of GMCR so that the dynamic nature of water–environmental conflicts can be modeled, and better outcomes obtained. To achieve this objective, a methodology is developed in three phases: static, dynamic, and outcome-based analyses. To develop the methodology, the Tigris–Euphrates basin conflict in the Middle East over the past 30 years, as a real-life case study, is used to show the robustness and capabilities of the proposed approach. Finally, a sustainable resolution to the current conflict is proposed, and the results are discussed. The proposed methodology benefits from improving the existing and often static-based conflict resolution developments by considering the dynamic nature so that the true root causes of complex conflicts are addressed, better strategic insights achieved, and comprehensive resolution provided.

scholarly journals An Offer You Can Refuse: A Host Country's Strategic Allocation of Development Financing

Daedalus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 150 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-219
Author(s):  
Jyhjong Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Hydropower Project ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Administrative Capacity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Strategic Allocation ◽  
Capacity Flexibility ◽  
Different Sources

Abstract Hydropower projects are one of the leading energy sectors being developed in Africa. In the past two decades, this demand has been increasingly met by Chinese financing and Chinese contractors, creating an impression that host countries have no choice but to accept Chinese advances against their preferences. This essay demonstrates through the case study of the Mount Coffee hydropower project in Liberia that host countries strategically allocate financing from different sources to different projects, based on domestic development needs, administrative capacity, flexibility of financiers, and institutional memory between the host and the financiers. This essay also shows that concerns over Chinese contractors' environmental- and social-impact records reflect a combination of host enforcement, financier self-sorting, and Chinese contractors' own perceptions of their comparative advantage. More broadly, this case study provides empirical observations of host countries' agency and strategic calculus in the financier-host relation, as well as the limits of China's role in Africa's hydropower sector.

scholarly journals Hydrogeochemical evolution under a changing environment: a case study in Jilin, China

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1653-1663
Author(s):  
Mingqian Li ◽  
Changlai Xiao ◽  
Xiujuan Liang ◽  
Yuqing Cao ◽  
Shuya Hu
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Changing Environment ◽  
Groundwater Exploitation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Global Water Cycle ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Environmental Changes ◽  
Hydrochemical Types

Abstract Groundwater is an important component of the global water cycle, and acts as a receptor and information carrier of global environmental changes. Therefore, it is of great importance to research the chemical evolution of groundwater under a changing environment. Historical data shows that groundwater hydrochemical types are becoming more complicated, groundwater quality is deteriorating and the scope of pollution is expanding. This is attributed to an increasingly dry climate and the gradual deterioration of the original ecological environment, together with the unreasonable groundwater exploitation and intense agricultural activities of the past 30 years. Climate change and human activities are intertwined, and are responsible for changing the original groundwater system and forming a new evolutionary system.

Cotton and Salt: Swedish Colonial Aspirations and the Transformation of Saint Barthélemy in the Eighteenth Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-287
Author(s):  
Holger Weiss ◽  
Laura Hollsten ◽  
Stefan Norrgård
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Sugar Cane ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
History Of ◽  
Environmental Histories ◽  
The Caribbean

The environmental history of the Caribbean has been strongly associated with the consequences of sugar cane agriculture and extreme weather phenomena. Consequently, other aspects of environmental change at play in the Caribbean region have remained less known. However, islands such as Anguilla, Barbuda, and Saint Barthélemy had no or very few sugar plantations. The fact that non-sugar producing islands had to find other ways of supporting themselves shaped their environmental history in ways that differed from that of the sugar islands. These alternative environmental histories deserve to be highlighted when presenting the historiography of the Caribbean. In this article, the island of Saint Barthélemy serves as a case study of an island where sugar cane agriculture was absent and tropical storms and hurricanes were of lesser consequence. In outlining the environmental history of Saint Barthélemy during the first decades of Swedish colonial rule, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the article shows that the Swedish takeover resulted in environmental changes. Sweden’s ambitions and expectations concerning the improvement of the island were initially high and much effort was put into the development of the economy. The rationale for the Swedish plans was to exploit the few and scarce resources of the island, but it was the harbour that became the most successful endeavour.

Barriers to Strategic Changes in Organizations: A Case Study

1990 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
S Manikutty
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Past History ◽  
Strategic Responses ◽  
Business Policy ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Strategic Changes ◽  
Analytical Response

Normative business policy literature assumes a rational-analytical response of organizations to environmental changes. Through a case study of an organization that faced structural changes in its environment and viewing it through cognitive and sociological perspectives in addition to the rational perspective, certain fundamental barriers to strategic changes are identified. These are: prevalence of strong and dominant values in the organization, inability to see threats from the environment when they go against the prevalent beliefs of the key members, the past history, and the social system of the organization. How managers can overcome or minimize the effect of these barriers so that they can make quicker and better strategic responses is also discussed.

Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) as indicators of environmental changes in the past five decades: a case study from the Morava and Odra River Basins (Czech Republic)

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 622-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanka Zedková ◽  
Vanda Rádková ◽  
Jindřiška Bojková ◽  
Tomáš Soldán ◽  
Světlana Zahrádková
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
River Basins ◽  
The Past ◽  
Odra River

scholarly journals Discrepancies between Lexical and Tonal Variation: A Case Study of the Thai Dialect of Samui Island

MANUSYA ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-132
Author(s):  
M.R. Kalaya Tingsabadh ◽  
Sirirat Choophan ◽  
Sunisa Kitivongprateep
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Geographical Variation ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Lexical Variation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Social Variation ◽  
New Type ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Main Factor

Over the past twenty five years the study of Thai dialects has concentrated on the geographical variatio.n of either tones or lexical items. In the 1990s another type of Thai dialect study began to take shape - a combination. of geographical and social variation study. Age has been identified as the main factor influencing variation in Thai dialects. The new type of study has so far concentrated on lexical variation. This paper deals with both geographical and social variation and both lexical and tonal variation. The Thai variety investigated in this study is that of Southern Thai spoken on Samui Island in Sural Thani province. The areas covered are the seven subdistricts of the Samui Island district. Two parallel studies were undertaken culminating in two MA. theses. Research planning and data collection in these two studies were carried out jointly. Results show that there is no geographical variation in Samui Thai either in tonal or lexical usage. When considering social variation, however, this study confirms that age plays a very important role. It clearly influences lexical variation in Samui Thai but it does not influence tonal variation. While the 60-70 years old speakers still use Southern Thai and Samui Thai lexical items and tones, the 10-20 years old speakers readily adopt Standard Thai lexical items but they still use the same tone system and tonal characteristics as the 60-70 years old speakers. It is suggested that future studies should investigate age-based tonal and lexical variation in Standard Thai and Thai dialects further to obtain a better picture of the process of ongoing change in Thai.

From hard to soft: theory and Neolithic studies in Scotland

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 7-19
Author(s):  
Kenneth Brophy
Keyword(s):  
The Past

The Scottish Theoretical Archaeology Group (STAG) conference organisers expressed some doubts about how far theory has changed, and impacted, archaeological establishment and academia in Scotland. In this paper, I will argue that Scotland is certainly not isolated in a theoretical sense, although in the past, Scottish archaeology could be accused of being theoretically conservative, or at least dependent on ideas and models developed elsewhere. A case-study looking at Neolithic studies will be used to illustrate that despite some recent critical historiographies of the study of the period in Scotland, archaeologists in Scotland and those working with Scottish material have been theoretically innovative and in step with wider paradigm changes. The study of the Neolithic in Scotland, it could be argued, has been shaped by theory more than the study of any other period; we are not isolated, but rather part of wider networks of discourse.

THE URBAN MIGRANT FUTURE DESIRE: A STUDY OF REVERSE MIGRATION IN MALAYSIA

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Nur Huzeima Mohd Hussain ◽  
Hugh Byrd ◽  
Nur Azfahani Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Peak Oil ◽  
Population Mobility ◽  
Reverse Migration ◽  
The Past ◽  
Urban Migrants ◽  
Urban Migrant ◽  
Oil Crisis

Globalisation combined with resources of oil and gas has led to an industrial society in Malaysia.  For the past 30 years, rapid urban growth has shifted from 73% rural to 73% urban population. However, the peak oil crisis and economic issues are threatening the growth of urbanisation and influencing the trends of population mobility. This paper documents the beginnings of a reverse migration (urban-to-rural) in Malaysia.  The method adopted case study that involves questionnaires with the urban migrants to establish the desires, definite intentions and reasons for future migration. Based on this data, it predicts a trend and rate of reverse migration in Malaysia. 

Conservation and Preservation of Nature Reserves, Monuments andSpecial Architectural or Historic Interest in Nigeria: Towards Promotion of Sustainable Cultural Tourism

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-218
Author(s):  
Francis Chuma Osefoh
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Tourism ◽  
Nature Reserves ◽  
Communication Link ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Tourist Attraction ◽  
The Past ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Historical Heritage ◽  
Developed Nations

Some of the renowned world tourism countries have special peculiarities in character in terms of their nature reserves and built environments; that made them stand out for their attractions and visits. These qualities range from conservation and preservation of nature reserves, built environments- epoch architectural supports over the years; historical heritage; political; religious; socio-economic; cultural; and  high technology that enhance culture. The virtues of multi- ethnic groups and multi- cultural nature gave Nigeria a rich cultural heritage, and she is blessed with natural wonders, unique wildlife, and a very favorable climate. More often than not less attention and importance are placed over the nature reserves and built environments to the detriment of tourism in lieu of other sectors. Summarily the country lacks the culture of conservation and preservation of her abundant resources to promote cultural tourism. Case study strategy was applied in the research tours with reports of personal experiences, documentaries and analyses of sites visited in Europe and Nigeria were highlighted with references to their attributes in terms of structures and features that made up the sites as relate to culture and attraction.The task in keeping rural, city landscapes and nature reserves alive stands out as the secret of communication link from the past to present and the future; which tourism developed nations reap as benefits for tourist attraction.

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