Construction of a historical Water Pollution Index for the Mersey Basin

The Mersey Basin has been significantly polluted for over 200 years. However, there is a lack of quantitative historical water quality data as effective water quality monitoring and data recording only began 30-40 years ago. This paper assesses water pollution in the Mersey Basin using a Water Pollution Index constructed from social and economic data. Methodology, output and the difficulties involved with validation are discussed. With the limited data input available the index approximately reproduces historical water quality. The paper illustrates how historical studies of environmental water quality may provide valuable identification of factors responsible for pollution and a marker set for contemporary and future water quality issues in the context of the past. This is an issue of growing research interest.

Database Engines for Geographical Information Systems

Our ability to identify, acquire, store, enquire on and analyse data is increasing as never before, especially in the GIS field. Technologies are becoming available to manage a wider variety of data and to make intelligent inferences on that data. The mainstream arrival of large-scale database engines is not far away. The experience of using the first such products tells us that they will radically change data management in the GIS field.

On the steadiness of separating meandering currents

The existence of inertial steady currents that separate from a coast and meander afterward is investigated. By integrating the zonal momentum equation over a suitable area, it is shown that retroflecting currents cannot be steady in a reduced gravity or in a barotropic model of the ocean. Even friction cannot negate this conclusion. Previous literature on this subject, notably the discrepancy between several articles by Nof and Pichevin on the unsteadiness of retroflecting currents and steady solutions presented in other papers, is critically discussed. For more general separating current systems, a local analysis of the zonal momentum balance shows that given a coastal current with a specific zonal momentum structure, an inertial, steady, separating current is unlikely, and the only analytical solution provided in the literature is shown to be inconsistent. In a basin-wide view of these separating current systems, a scaling analysis reveals that steady separation is impossible when the interior flow is nondissipative (e.g., linear Sverdrup-like). These findings point to the possibility that a large part of the variability in the world’s oceans is due to the separation process rather than to instability of a free jet.

The population genetic structure of clonal organisms generated by exponentially bounded and fat-tailed dispersal

Long distance dispersal (LDD) plays an important role in many population processes like colonization, range expansion, and epidemics. LDD of small particles like fungal spores is often a result of turbulent wind dispersal and is best described by functions with power-law behavior in the tails ("fat tailed"). The influence of fat-tailed LDD on population genetic structure is reported in this article. In computer simulations, the population structure generated by power-law dispersal with exponents in the range of -2 to -1, in distinct contrast to that generated by exponential dispersal, has a fractal structure. As the power-law exponent becomes smaller, the distribution of individual genotypes becomes more self-similar at different scales. Common statistics like G(ST) are not well suited to summarizing differences between the population genetic structures. Instead, fractal and self-similarity statistics demonstrated differences in structure arising from fat-tailed and exponential dispersal. When dispersal is fat tailed, a log-log plot of the Simpson index against distance between subpopulations has an approximately constant gradient over a large range of spatial scales. The fractal dimension D-2 is linearly inversely related to the power-law exponent, with a slope of similar to -2. In a large simulation arena, fat-tailed LDD allows colonization of the entire space by all genotypes whereas exponentially bounded dispersal eventually confines all descendants of a single clonal lineage to a relatively small area.

A genetic linkage map of microsatellite, gene-specific and morphological markers in diploid Fragaria

Diploid Fragaria provide a potential model for genomic studies in the Rosaceae. To develop a genetic linkage map of diploid Fragaria, we scored 78 markers (68 microsatellites, one sequence-characterised amplified region, six gene-specific markers and three morphological traits) in an interspecific F2 population of 94 plants generated from a cross of F.vesca f. semperflorens × F. nubicola. Co-segregation analysis arranged 76 markers into seven discrete linkage groups covering 448 cM, with linkage group sizes ranging from 100.3 cM to 22.9 cM. Marker coverage was generally good; however some clustering of markers was observed on six of the seven linkage groups. Segregation distortion was observed at a high proportion of loci (54%), which could reflect the interspecific nature of the progeny and, in some cases, the self-incompatibility of F. nubicola. Such distortion may also account for some of the marker clustering observed in the map. One of the morphological markers, pale-green leaf (pg) has not previously been mapped in Fragaria and was located to the mid-point of linkage group VI. The transferable nature of the markers used in this study means that the map will be ideal for use as a framework for additional marker incorporation aimed at enhancing and resolving map coverage of the diploid Fragaria genome. The map also provides a sound basis for linkage map transfer to the cultivated octoploid strawberry.

Communities of practice in construction case study organisations: questions and insights

Purpose – At the heart of knowledge management (KM) are the people – an organisation's important knowledge asset. Although this is widely acknowledged, businesses seldom understand this axiom in terms of the communities through which individuals develop and share the capacity to create and use knowledge. It is the collective learning that takes place within the social systems, i.e. communities of practice (CoP) that are of particular significance to an organisation from a KM perspective. This paper aims to review, critique, and raise some pertinent questions on the role of CoPs; and with the help of case studies shed light on the “goings-on” in construction practices. Design/methodology/approach – After critically reviewing the literature on CoPs and querying some underlying assertions, this research investigates how these issues are addressed in practice. A case study approach is adopted. Three organisations operating in the construction sector are interviewed for the purpose of this paper. Findings – Case study findings highlight the potential challenges and benefits of CoPs to a construction organisation, the role they play in generating and delivering value to the organisation and their contribution towards the collective organisational intelligence. From the findings, it is clear that the question is not whether communities exist within organisations, but how they deliver value to the organisation. From an organisational perspective, the key challenge is to provide an environment that is conducive to developing and nurturing such communities as opposed to merely creating them. Practical implications – Challenges and benefits demonstrated through the case studies should be taken in context. The findings are not intended to be prescriptive in nature, but are intentionally descriptive to provide contextual data that allow readers to draw their own inferences in the context of their organisations. They should be applied taking into account an organisation's unique characteristics and differentiators, the dynamics of the environment in which it operates and the culture it harbours within. Originality/value – Investigating the role of CoPs in the context of case study construction organisations forms the prime focus of this paper.

Planning the sustainable eco-city in Taipei: The implementation of green design and green building schemes

Taipei City has put a significant effort toward the implementation of green design and green building schemes towards a sustainable eco-city. Although some of the environmental indicators have not indicated significant progress in environmental improvement, implementing the two schemes has obtained considerable results; therefore, the two schemes are on the right path towards promoting a sustainable eco-city. However, it has to be admitted that the two schemes are a rather “technocratic” set of solutions and eco-centric approach. It is suggested that not only the public sector but also the private sector need to put more effort toward implement the schemes, and the government needs to encourage the private sector to adopt the schemes in practice.

Modelling requirements of supplier selection for benchmarking service provision

Supplier selection has a great impact on supply chain management. The quality of supplier selection also affects profitability of organisations which work in the supply chain. As suppliers can provide variety of services and customers demand higher quality of service provision, the organisation is facing challenges for making the right choice of supplier for the right needs. The existing methods for supplier selection, such as data envelopment analysis (DEA) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) can automatically perform selection of competitive suppliers and further decide winning supplier(s). However, these methods are not capable of determining the right selection criteria which should be derived from the business strategy. An ontology model described in this paper integrates the strengths of DEA and AHP with new mechanisms which ensure the right supplier to be selected by the right criteria for the right customer's needs.

Self-tuning proportional, integral and derivative controller based on genetic algorithm least squares

A self-tuning proportional, integral and derivative control scheme based on genetic algorithms (GAs) is proposed and applied to the control of a real industrial plant. This paper explores the improvement in the parameter estimator, which is an essential part of an adaptive controller, through the hybridization of recursive least-squares algorithms by making use of GAs and the possibility of the application of GAs to the control of industrial processes. Both the simulation results and the experiments on a real plant show that the proposed scheme can be applied effectively.

Effect of soil waterlogging on below-ground biomass allometric relations in Norway spruce

An increasing importance is assigned to the estimation and verification of carbon stocks in forests. Forestry practice has several long-established and reliable methods for the assessment of aboveground biomass; however we still miss accurate predictors of belowground biomass. A major windthrow event exposing the coarse root systems of Norway spruce trees allowed us to assess the effects of contrasting soil stone and water content on belowground allocation. Increasing stone content decreases root/shoot ratio, while soil waterlogging leads to an increase in this ratio. We constructed allometric relationships for belowground biomass prediction and were able to show that only soil waterlogging significantly impacts model parameters. We showed that diameter at breast height is a reliable predictor of belowground biomass and, once site-specific parameters have been developed, it is possible to accurately estimate belowground biomass in Norway spruce.