The History, Present Condition, and Future of the Molluscan Fisheries of North and Central American and Europe: Volume 1, Atlantic and Gulf Coasts

This three-volume monograph represents the first major attempt in over a century to provide, on regional bases, broad surveys of the history, present condition, and future of the important shellfisheries of North and Central America and Europe. It was about 100 years ago that Ernest Ingersoll wrote extensively about several molluscan fisheries of North America (1881, 1887) and about 100 years ago that Bashford Dean wrote comprehensively about methods of oyster culture in Europe (1893). Since those were published, several reports, books, and pamphlets have been written about the biology and management of individual species or groups ofclosely related mollusk species (Galtsoff, 1964; Korringa, 1976 a, b, c; Lutz, 1980; Manzi and Castagna, 1989; Shumway, 1991). However, nothing has been written during the past century that is comparable to the approach used by Ingersoll in describing the molluscan fisheries as they existed in his day in North America or, for that matter, in Europe. (PDF file contains 224 pages.

Mercury (Hg) contaminated sites in Kazakhstan : review of current cases and site remediation responses

Mercury (Hg) emissions from anthropogenic sources pose a global problem. In Central Asia, Kazakhstan’s central and northern regions are among the most severely Hg-contaminated territories. This is due to two former acetaldehyde (in Temirtau) and chlor-alkali (in Pavlodar) plants, discharges from which during the second half of the 20th century were estimated over 2000 tons of elemental Hg. However, the exact quantities of Hg released through atmospheric emissions to the environment, controlled discharges to the nearby aquatic systems, leakages in the cell plant, and contaminated sludge are still unknown. The present review is the initiation of a comprehensive field investigation study on the current state of these contaminated sites. It aims to provide a critical review of published literature on Hg in soils, sediments, water, and biota of the impacted ecosystems (Nura and Irtysh rivers, and Lake Balkyldak and their surrounding areas). It furthermore compares these contamination episodes with selected similar international cases as well as reviews and recommends demercuration efforts. The findings indicate that the contamination around the acetaldehyde plant site was significant and mainly localized with the majority of Hg deposited in topsoils and riverbanks within 25 km from the discharge point. In the chlor-alkali plant site, Lake Balkyldak in North Kazakhstan is the most seriously contaminated receptor. The local population of both regions might still be exposed to Hg due to fish consumption illegally caught from local rivers and reservoirs. Since the present field data is limited mainly to investigations conducted before 2010 and given the persisting contamination and nature of Hg, a recent up-to-date environmental assessment for both sites is highly needed, particularly around formerly detected hotspots. Due to incomplete site remediation efforts, recommendations given by several researchers for the territories of the former chlor-alkali and acetaldehyde plant site include ex-situ soil washing, soil pulping with gravitational separation, ultrasound and transgenic algae for sediments, and electrokinetic recovery for the former and removal and/or confinement of contaminated silt deposits and soils for the latter. However, their efficiency first needs to be validated. Findings and lessons from these sites will be useful not only on the local scale but also are valuable resources for the assessment and management of similar contaminated sites around the globe

In the fist of earlier revolutions: postemancipation social control and state formation in Guantànamo, Cuba, 1868-1902

This dissertation charts transformations in social control mechanisms in a rural district of southeastern Cuba during the gradual demise of slavery into the opening decade of state formation in the twentieth century. It examines how changes wrought by slavery’s end concurrent with wars of national independence against Spanish colonial rule, and United States intervention into that conflict during 1898, shaped the Guantánamo jurisdiction from a colonial island frontier to a North American enclave. The study contributes to scholarship on shifts in racial constructs, citizenship, labor, and liberalism in New World Diaspora societies marked by legacies of coercive labor. Dissimilar and distinct military mobilizations of black soldiery were salient factors in the last three nations of the hemisphere to abandon their “peculiar institution” of slavery: the United States (the Civil War 1861-65), Brazil (the Paraguay War, 1864-70 with final abolition by 1888), and Cuba (the Ten Years’ War, 1868-78 with final abolition in 1886). This project addresses implications of Cubans of color and former slaves engaged in anticolonial mobilizations during the island’s transformation from colony to republican nation-state. I argue that the rebellion against the metropolitan state challenged enduring local structures of domination and power, confronting but not overturning durable social control mechanisms designed to defend property and discipline the colonial order. By 1895, a cross-racial and cross-class tactical alliance rekindled the independence struggle against Spain and its local sources of power, extracting war taxes from landowners – an incipient politics of the social function of property. After U.S. occupation, and independence by 1902, that alliance did not last. In the newly constituted republic, political unrest that threatened property destruction and sabotage at sugar estates met with repression. The study ends with the first U.S. occupation, by which time new social forces and elite social control concerns accompanied Cuban independence and post independence politics

An annotated checklist of fishes of the family Sciaenidae

A checklist of the croakers of the world, family Sciaenidae, is presented. A total of 584 nominal species belonging to 289 valid species and 69 genera is included. Four genera, Johnius with 32 species, Cynoscion 25, Stellifer 24, and Umbrina 17 contains 30% of the species, whereas 43% of the genera (31) are monotypic. Eques is a valid genus-name and should be used instead of Equetus. Fourteen nominal species remain unidentifiable and are placed in incertae sedis, whereas 12 nominal species currently described in sciaenid genera lay outside the family. Among this latter group two of them represent senior synonyms of well-established species: Sciaena guttata Bloch and Schneider, 1801 and Sciaena pallida Walbaum, 1792 predate Giuris margaritaceus (Valenciennes, 1837) and Cymolutes praetextatus (Quoy and Gaimard, 1824), respectively, and they are here declared nomina oblita

State of Ambiguity

Cuba's first republican era (1902–1959) is principally understood in terms of its failures and discontinuities, its first three decades and the overthrow of Machado seen at best as a prologue to the "real" revolution of 1959. This book brings together scholars from North America, Cuba, and Spain to challenge this narrative, presenting republican Cuba instead as a time of meaningful engagement—socially, politically, and symbolically. Addressing a wide range of topics—civic clubs and folkloric societies, science, public health and agrarian policies, popular culture, national memory, and the intersection of race and labor—the contributors explore how a broad spectrum of Cubans embraced a political and civic culture of national self-realization. These essays recast the first republic as a time of deep continuity in processes of liberal state- and nation-building that were periodically disrupted—but also reinvigorated—by foreign intervention and profound uncertainty

Dynamics of sediment yield due to land use changes : case study of Chambas River Basin, Ciego de Avila, Cuba

Orientadores: Alvaro Penteado Crósta, Archimedes Perez FilhoTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de GeociênciasResumo: Modelos matemáticos de predição de erosão e produção de sedimentos tem um grande potencial para uso em estudos da degradação e manejo dos recursos naturais, pois permitem estimar os impactos causados pela atividade agrícola. Este trabalho trata da aplicação do modelo hidrológico SWAT (Soil Water Assessment Tool), com a finalidade de previsão dos riscos de erosão devido às mudanças no uso da terra, na bacia do rio Chambas na província Ciego de Ávila, em Cuba. Este modelo tem sido utilizado de forma eficaz em estudos da dinâmica ambiental na representação da variabilidade espacial e temporal de processos hidrosedimentológicos em bacias hidrográficas. O método desenvolvido para modelagem descreve a dinâmica da perda de solo devido à enxurrada produzida pela água e às mudanças no uso da terra. Este permite a avaliação dos riscos de erosão do solo, utilizando um modelo implementado em um Sistema de Informação Geográfica (SIG) em modo raster. O mapeamento de cobertura e uso da terra foi realizado com base na utilização de técnicas de sensoriamento remoto e processamento digital das imagens. O estudo baseou-se no desenvolvimento de diferentes cenários de previsão de comportamento das taxas de erosão do solo, segundo mudanças da cobertura e uso da terra. Tendo em conta este procedimento, o mapeamento da erosão atual e/ou a sua predição no tempo e no espaço, desempenha um papel importante na determinação da variabilidade espacial dos fenômenos, tornando-se uma ferramenta essencial para o planejamento na conservação dos solos. Os resultados obtidos permitem avaliar a aplicabilidade do modelo na modelagem do escoamento superficial e produção de sedimentos em bacias hidrograficas em escala média com predominio de uso agrícola. Esta foi avaliada através dos resultados da simulação em uma escala de tempo mensal e anual sem calibração durante um período de 20 anos de simulação para três cenários de estudo. Foram utilizadas diferentes condições de uso e ocupação do território. A análise dos resultados das simulações no âmbito destes cenários permitiu identificar as mudanças e contrastes que ocorreram e potenciais dos processos hidrosedimentológicos na bacia, o cálculo dos volúmes do fluxo de escoamento e as taxas na produção de sedimentos anual e mensal e a sazonalidade destes processos. Neste sentido se desenvolveu uma metodologia para o cálculo e a avaliação da erosão dos solos por meio da utilização das ferramentas de geoprocessamento. Posteriormente, pretende-se aplicar esta metodologia para outras regiões do país, constituindo-se numa poderosa ferramenta para o prognóstico dos riscos à erosão nas regiões agrícolas de manejo inadequado e também, como instrumento para a tomada de decisões relativas aos impactos da erosão, acelerada pela atividade humanaAbstract: Mathematical models for predicting erosion and sediment production has great potential for use in studies of the degradation and planning of natural resources, that allow estimating impacts caused by agricultural activity. This work deals with the application of the hydrological model SWAT (Soil Water Assessment Tool), in order to forecast the risks of soil erosion due to land use changes, in the Chambas river basin, Ciego de Avila province, Cuba. This model has been successfully used in studies of environmental dynamics in the representation of spatial and temporal variability of hydro-sedimentological processes in watersheds. The method developed for modeling, describes the dynamic in the loss of soil due to runoff produced by water and changes in land use. This allows us to assess the risks in soil erosion, using a model implemented in a Geographic Information System (GIS) raster mode. In determining the mapping of land cover/land use will be use remote sensing techniques and digital image processing. The study is based on the development of different scenarios to predict behavior in the rates of soil erosion when the Land cover /land use change. Taking into account this procedure, the mapping of the existing erosion and/or its prediction in time and space, plays an important role in determining the spatial variability of the phenomena, becoming an essential tool for soils conservation planning. The results obtained allow evaluating the applicability of the model in modeling runoff and sediment yield in medium scale watersheds with predominance of agricultural use. This was evaluated through simulation results on a monthly and annual time scale without calibration over a period of 20 years of simulation to three study scenarios. We used different stages of use and occupation of the territory. The analysis of simulation results under these scenarios, allowed identifying changes and contrasts, occurring and potential in hydro-sedimentological processes in the watershed, the calculation of flow rates of runoff and sediment yield annual and monthly and the seasonality of these processes. In this sense, was developing a methodology that enables using geoprocessing tools for the calculation and assessment of soil erosion and its subsequent generalization to other regions. This provides a powerful tool for forecasting the risk of erosion in agricultural regions, which facilitates decision making about the negative effects of accelerated erosion by human activityDoutoradoAnálise Ambiental e Dinâmica TerritorialDoutor em Geografi

Cuban energy system development – Technological challenges and possibilities

This eBook is a unique scientific journey to the changing frontiers of energy transition in Cuba focusing on technological challenges of the Cuban energy transition. The focus of this milestone publication is on technological aspects of energy transition in Cuba. Green energy transition with renewable energy sources requires the ability to identify opportunities across industries and services and apply the right technologies and tools to achieve more sustainable energy production systems. The eBook is covering a large diversity of Caribbean country´s experiences of new green technological solutions and applications. It includes various technology assessments of energy systems and technological foresight analyses with a special focus on Cuba

The role of geosciences to societal development: a German - Latin American perspective goal

Esta obra contiene contribuciones de miembros de la red GOAL (GeoNetwork of Latinamerican and German Alumni) de 14 paises y de investigadores invitados. El tema central son la experiencias relacionadas con la importancia de las Geociencias en el desarrollo social de Latinoamérica

[Arctic] Greenland ice sheet [in “State of the Climate in 2012”]

Melting at the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet set new records for extent and melt index (i.e., the number of days on which melting occurred multiplied by the area where melting was detected) for the period 1979–2012, according to passive microwave observations (e.g., Tedesco 2007, 2009; Mote and Anderson 1995). Melt extent reached ~97% of the ice sheet surface during a rare, ice-sheet-wide event on 11–12 July (Fig. 5.13a; Nghiem et al. 2012). This was almost four times greater than the average melt extent for 1981–2010. The 2012 standardized melting index (SMI, defined as the melting index minus its average and divided by its standard deviation) was +2.4, almost twice the previous record of about +1.3 set in 2010