Influence of loggerhead egg agregation on survival: why does single eggs buried into natural sand dye in few days?

[EN] The incubation is an essential life period for oviparous species that very often experiences a high mortality. In some reptile species the number of eggs that develop together in the incubation chamber affects survival and hatchling phenotype. Sea turtle eggs develop in underground locations on sandy beaches in large masses that usually have more than 80 eggs. Natural egg mortality seems to vary among species and for the sensitive leatherbacks, external eggs seems to survive better than internal ones within the nest.

Density of sand flies (diptera: psychodidae) in domestic and wild animal shelters in an area of visceral leishmaniasis in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

XIMENES, Maria de Fátima Freire de Melo; SOUZA, Maria de Fátima de; CASTELLON, Eloy Guilhermo. Density of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in domestic and wild animal shelters in an area of visceral Leishmaniasis in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, v.94, n.4, p.427-432, jul./ago. 1999. Disponivel em: Acesso em: 4 out. 2010.

Time-Dependent Deformation of Non-Composite and Composite Sand-Lightweight Prestressed Concrete Structures, Phase 1, HR-137, 1969

Presented in this report is an investigation of the use of "sand-lightweight" concrete in prestressed concrete structures. The sand-lightweight concrete consists of 100% sand substitution for fines, along with Idealite coarse and medium lightweight aggregate and Type I Portland Cement.

Density of sand flies (diptera: psychodidae) in domestic and wild animal shelters in an area of visceral leishmaniasis in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

XIMENES, Maria de Fátima Freire de Melo; SOUZA, Maria de Fátima de; CASTELLON, Eloy Guilhermo. Density of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in domestic and wild animal shelters in an area of visceral Leishmaniasis in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, v.94, n.4, p.427-432, jul./ago. 1999. Disponivel em: Acesso em: 4 out. 2010.

Signposts in the sand: Key issues for e-moderators

E-learning is a vision that has sparked a wide-ranging enthusiasm for moderators, course designers and learners. Asynchronous conferencing is currently central to this vision. Some educators assume that supporting learners who use this medium is the same as supporting them in the classroom. However, this is not the case. This paper outlines the current research into providing signposts that enable us to improve the training and support offered to new e-moderators and e-course designers. It suggests a classification of roles and tasks that together with an e-course framework will help to maximize the benefits of e-learning and enable all participants to migrate successfully to the new environment.

Status of Endangered and Threatened Sand Area Species of the Illinois Flora

This study was undertaken to determine the distribution and habitat requirements of many of the endangered and threatened plant species associated with the sand deposits of Illinois. Approximately 70 species of endangered and threatened plants are known to grow in these deposits. The habitat fidelity and natural community types were determined for 40 of these species that are restricted to these glacial drift sand habitats. Plant community types, associated species, moisture requirements, and other data concerning each of the plant species were determined by reviewing the pertinent literature, searching the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Database, through discussions with botanists and natural heritage biologists, examination of herbarium specimens, and our studies of the vegetation of the Illinois sand deposits. Throughout the course of these studies, most of the nature preserves, state parks, and identified natural areas in the sand regions were visited on numerous occasions and vegetation surveys undertaken. The information presented in this paper could allow rare plant conservation in Illinois to become more proactive by encouraging the selection of sites where in situ conservation efforts could be conducted by state, local, and nongovernmental organizations.

Marine pollution: Let us not forget beach sand

Background: Assessing the chemical or bacterial contamination in marine waters and sediments is a very common approach to evaluate marine pollution and associated risks. However, toxicity and organic pollution of beach sands have not yet been considered, except in adjacent waters. In the present study, the toxicity and the chemical contamination of natural beach sands collected 20 m from the shoreline at two sites located on the Mediterranean Sea (Marseille and La Marana, Corsica) were studied. Results: Up to 16.93% (net percentage) abnormal or dead larvae was observed in elutriates prepared from the urban beach sand sample (Marseille); no significant toxicity was observed in the sample collected from the reference beach in La Marana. Results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses revealed that no microplastics were present in either of the samples. Several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs] in both samples and a larger number of individual PAHs in the urban sample than in the sample collected from the reference beach were detected. In addition, the antioxidant dioctyldiphenylamine was detected in both beach sand samples, whereby a higher concentration was found in La Marana than in Marseille. Calculated PAH concentrations in elutriates were generally higher than measured ones. Conclusions: The results of this preliminary study provide evidence of toxicity and the presence of organic trace contaminants in beach sands from France. According to our results, monitoring using a combination of biotests and chemical analyses is recommended, especially of sediments from beaches abandoned to urban and industrial areas.

How did the AD 1755 tsunami impact on sand barriers across the southern coast of Portugal?

Tsunamis are highly energetic events that may destructively impact the coast. Resolving the degree of coastal resilience to tsunamis is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible. In part, our understanding is constrained by the limited number of contemporaneous examples and by the high dynamism of coastal systems. In fact, longterm changes of coastal systems can mask the evidence of past tsunamis, leaving us a short or incomplete sedimentary archive. Here, we present a multidisciplinary approach involving sedimentological, geomorphological and geophysical analyses and numerical modelling of the AD 1755 tsunami flood on a coastal segment located within the southern coast of Portugal. In particular, the work focuses on deciphering the impact of the tsunami waves over a coastal sand barrier enclosing two lowlands largely inundated by the tsunami flood. Erosional features documented by geophysical data were assigned to the AD 1755 eventwith support of sedimentological and age estimation results. Furthermore, these features allowed the calibration of the simulation settings to reconstruct the local conditions and establish the run-up range of the AD 1755 tsunami when it hit this coast (6– 8 m above mean sea level). Our work highlights the usefulness of erosional imprints preserved in the sediment record to interpret the impact of the extreme events on sand barriers

Provenance of Holocene beach sand in the Western Iberian

Detrital zircons from Holocene beach sand and igneous zircons from the Cretaceous syenite forming Cape Sines (Western Iberian margin) were dated using laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry. The U–Pb ages obtained were used for comparison with previous radiometric data from Carboniferous greywacke, Pliocene–Pleistocene sand and Cretaceous syenite forming the sea cliff at Cape Sines and the contiguous coast. New U–Pb dating of igneous morphologically simple and complex zircons from the syenite of the Sines pluton suggests that the history of zircon crystallization was more extensive (ca 87 to 74 Ma), in contrast to the findings of previous geochronology studies (ca 76 to 74 Ma). The U–Pb ages obtained in Holocene sand revealed a wide interval, ranging from the Cretaceous to the Archean, with predominance of Cretaceous (37%), Palaeozoic (35%) and Neoproterozoic (19%) detrital-zircon ages. The paucity of round to subrounded grains seems to indicate a short transportation history for most of the Cretaceous zircons (ca 95 to 73 Ma) which are more abundant in the beach sand that was sampled south of Cape Sines. Comparative analysis using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistical method, analysing sub-populations separately, suggests that the zircon populations of the Carboniferous and Cretaceous rocks forming the sea cliff were reproduced faithfully in Quaternary sand, indicating sediment recycling. The similarity of the pre- Cretaceous ages (>ca 280 Ma) of detrital zircons found in Holocene sand, as compared with Carboniferous greywacke and Pliocene–Pleistocene sand, provides support for the hypothesis that detritus was reworked into the beach from older sedimentary rocks exposed along the sea cliff. The largest percentage of Cretaceous zircons (sand, as com- pared with Pliocene–Pleistocene sand (secondary recycled source), suggests that the Sines pluton was the one of the primary sources that became progressively more exposed to erosion during Quaternary uplift. This work highlights the application of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov method in compar- ison of zircon age populations used to identify provenance and sediment recycling in modern and ancient detrital sedimentary sequences.

Romano-British wall-painting fragments: a spectroscopic analysis

Raman spectroscopic analyses of fragmented wall-painting specimens from a Romano-British villa dating from ca. 200 AD are reported. The predominant pigment is red haematite, to which carbon, chalk and sand have been added to produce colour variations, applied to a typical Roman limewash putty composition. Other pigment colours are identified as white chalk, yellow (goethite), grey (soot/chalk mixture) and violet. The latter pigment is ascribed to caput mortuum, a rare form of haematite, to which kaolinite (possibly from Cornwall) has been added, presumably in an effort to increase the adhesive properties of the pigment to the substratum. This is the first time that kaolinite has been reported in this context and could indicate the successful application of an ancient technology discovered by the Romano-British artists. Supporting evidence for the Raman data is provided by X-ray diffraction and SEM-EDAX analyses of the purple pigment.

The development of a new four-year Construction Technology and Management Stream at QUT

This paper focuses on the development and delivery of a core construction management (CM) unit, which forms the capstone of a four-unit CM stream in an undergraduate programme in the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering at the Queensland University of Technology. UDB410 (Construction Management) is a final year unit that consolidates skills students have learned throughout their degree, hopefully graduating them as work-ready construction managers. It was developed in consultation with the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of Building (AIB) and is a final year unit in the undergraduate Bachelor of Urban Development (CM) course. The unit uses various tools such as the OSIRIS business database (Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing, 2009), the AROUSAL (UK Version) construction business simulation (Lansley, 2009) and the Denison Organisational Culture Survey (Denison, 2000) to facilitate the development of skills in managing a construction company. The objectives of the paper are: • To track the rationale and development of the UDB410 unit sand describe the way in which this final year unit integrates learning from other parts of the course within which it is located as well as capping-off the CM stream of core units; • To highlight the difficulties of blending a balance of technology and management in a single unit; and • To explain how partnering with the construction industry benefited the learning quality of the unit.

Characterisation of soils with the use of instrumental techniques : a multivariate forensic study

The value of soil evidence in the forensic discipline is well known. However, it would be advantageous if an in-situ method was available that could record responses from tyre or shoe impressions in ground soil at the crime scene. The development of optical fibres and emerging portable NIR instruments has unveiled a potential methodology which could permit such a proposal. The NIR spectral region contains rich chemical information in the form of overtone and combination bands of the fundamental infrared absorptions and low-energy electronic transitions. This region has in the past, been perceived as being too complex for interpretation and consequently was scarcely utilized. The application of NIR in the forensic discipline is virtually non-existent creating a vacancy for research in this area. NIR spectroscopy has great potential in the forensic discipline as it is simple, nondestructive and capable of rapidly providing information relating to chemical composition. The objective of this study is to investigate the ability of NIR spectroscopy combined with Chemometrics to discriminate between individual soils. A further objective is to apply the NIR process to a simulated forensic scenario where soil transfer occurs. NIR spectra were recorded from twenty-seven soils sampled from the Logan region in South-East Queensland, Australia. A series of three high quartz soils were mixed with three different kaolinites in varying ratios and NIR spectra collected. Spectra were also collected from six soils as the temperature of the soils was ramped from room temperature up to 6000C. Finally, a forensic scenario was simulated where the transferral of ground soil to shoe soles was investigated. Chemometrics methods such as the commonly known Principal Component Analysis (PCA), the less well known fuzzy clustering (FC) and ranking by means of multicriteria decision making (MCDM) methodology were employed to interpret the spectral results. All soils were characterised using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy and X-Ray Diffractometry. Results were promising revealing NIR combined with Chemometrics is capable of discriminating between the various soils. Peak assignments were established by comparing the spectra of known minerals with the spectra collected from the soil samples. The temperature dependent NIR analysis confirmed the assignments of the absorptions due to adsorbed and molecular bound water. The relative intensities of the identified NIR absorptions reflected the quantitative XRD and ICP characterisation results. PCA and FC analysis of the raw soils in the initial NIR investigation revealed that the soils were primarily distinguished on the basis of their relative quartz and kaolinte contents, and to a lesser extent on the horizon from which they originated. Furthermore, PCA could distinguish between the three kaolinites used in the study, suggesting that the NIR spectral region was sensitive enough to contain information describing variation within kaolinite itself. The forensic scenario simulation PCA successfully discriminated between the ‘Backyard Soil’ and ‘Melcann® Sand’, as well as the two sampling methods employed. Further PCA exploration revealed that it was possible to distinguish between the various shoes used in the simulation. In addition, it was possible to establish association between specific sampling sites on the shoe with the corresponding site remaining in the impression. The forensic application revealed some limitations of the process relating to moisture content and homogeneity of the soil. These limitations can both be overcome by simple sampling practices and maintaining the original integrity of the soil. The results from the forensic scenario simulation proved that the concept shows great promise in the forensic discipline.

Jack's Bay (the architecturalisation of memory)

Jack's Bay (the architecturalisation of memory) is a key work of the author's exhibition Lightsite, which toured Western Australian galleries from February 2006 to November 2007. It is a five-minute-long exposure photographic image captured inside a purpose-built, room-sized pinhole camera which is demountable and does not have a floor. The work depicts octogenarian Jack Morris, who for forty years held the professional salmon fishing license in the hamlet of Bremer Bay, on the SE coast of Western Australia. The pinhole camera-room is sited within sand dunes new Jack's now demolished beachside camp. Three generations of Jack's descendents stand outside the room - from his daughter to his great grand children. The light from this exterior landscape is 'projected' inside the camera-room and illuminates the interior scene which includes that part of the sand dune upon which the floorless room is erected, along with Jack who is sitting inside. The image evokes the temporality of light. Here, light itself is portrayed as the primary medium through which we both perceive and describe landscape. In this way it is through the agency of light that we construct our connectivity to landscape.