Present status and future prospects for NASA's program in geodynamics

An overview of NASA's involvement in developing systems for precise determination of polar motion, earth rotation, and position on the earth's surface is given. The observational methods discussed are laser ranging to the moon and to artificial satellites, and very long baseline microwave interferometry. A plan for a geodynamics program to apply space technology to research in earth dynamics is outlined

Information governance, records management and freedom of information: a study of local government authorities in England

In many democratic states political rhetoric gives weight to increasing public participation in and understanding of the political process; (re)-establishing public trust in government decision making; increasing transparency, openness, and accountability of public authorities; and, ultimately, improving government decision-making on behalf of citizens. Access to the public record and freedom of information (FOI) are mechanisms which help to facilitate the accountability of public authorities. Many jurisdictions have introduced legislation related to these mechanisms, and the UK government is no exception with its enactment of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 2000. University College London (UCL) ran a research project over 12 months in 2008–2009, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. The research project examined what the impact of the UK FOIA had been on records management services in public authorities, especially local government. This article reports on some of the findings of the study. It considers how FOI compliance and records management functions are organized in local government and the role of information governance which is emerging as an umbrella for such functions. It draws some conclusions about the contributions that records management services make to the ability of local authorities to comply with the FOIA and identifies some ways in which user experience may be affected by the management of records

The impact of freedom of information on records management and record use in local government: a literature review

In 2008–2009, a research project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, was run by the Department of Information Studies at University College London (UCL). It examined the impact of the UK Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 on records management services in public authorities, especially in local government. The project considered the inter-relationship between records management and freedom of information, and examined the cooperation and partnerships needed in order to maximise the benefits of freedom of information. A part of the first phase of the research was an extensive literature review: this article introduces the literature on freedom of information and records management, focusing on the UK. It suggests that while there were significant preparations by some public authorities for the full implementation of the Act in 2005, perhaps the necessary culture change and strategic leadership did not follow. There are, as yet, few studies of the user experience of freedom of information, and this is certainly an area needing further study

Recordkeeping and the life‐long memory and identity needs of care‐experienced children and young people

In family settings stories, photographs and memory objects support narratives of identity and belonging. Such resources are often missing for people who were in care as children. As a result, they may be unable to fill gaps in their memories or answer simple questions about their early lives. In these circumstances, they turn to the records created about them by social workers and care providers to reconstruct personal histories. Research suggests that thousands of requests to view records for this purpose are made each year in England under the subject access provisions of data protection legislation. This article reports the findings of MIRRA , a participatory research project on the memory and identity dimensions of social care recordkeeping. Drawing on data collected during interviews and focus groups with adult care leavers, the study explores the motives and experiences of care‐experienced people who access their records in England. Findings show the practical and cultural challenges they face when doing so and the resulting impacts on well‐being. The study suggests that the development of person‐centred approaches to recordkeeping in social work, which focus on the perspectives and experiences of the individual, could better support the lifelong memory and identity needs of care‐experienced people

Theoretical Effect of Yield and Burst Height of Atmospheric Explosions on Rayleigh Wave Amplitudes

Theoretical seismograms for fundamental mode Rayleigh waves were calculated for atmospheric point sources over oceanic and over continental Earth models, as recorded at an epicentral distance of 10000 km. Yields were uniformly distributed over the range 1 kT-10 MT, for source altitudes in the range 0.3-92.0 km. The Earth structures used were those of Gutenberg and of Anderson and Toksöz. The source models were point mass-injection and energy-injection sources at altitude, as well as a distributed pressure pulse at the surface of the Earth. It was found that: (1) as far as Rayleigh wave excitation is concerned, the mass-injection and energy-injection sources are equivalent; (2) for low altitudes the Rayleigh wave excitation is independent of source type, but at intermediate altitudes the surface overpressure source predicts greater amplitudes than the other two source models; (3) for most altitudes, the energy coupling from the atmosphere into Rayleigh waves is more efficient for the continental Earth structure than for the oceanic structure; (4) Rayleigh wave amplitude is more sensitive to yield than to burst height (5) dependence of Rayleigh wave amplitude is less than the cube root relation for low-yield explosions at intermediate altitudes but greater for high-yield explosions at near-surface altitudes; (6) spectral splitting ratios do not show a systematic variation with yield and burst height

Fine structure of the upper mantle

The spectral amplitudes and travel times of seismic body waves are used to determine mantle velocity structures appropriate to distinct structural provinces within the western continental United States. In addition to basic amplitude and time data, travel-time delays and Pn velocity data from other studies are used as constraints in the systematic inversion of the data for mantle structure. The regional structures for the upper mantle determined in this manner show collectively rather sharp zones of transition (high velocity gradients) near 150, 400, 650 km and possibly near 1000 km. Comparatively, the regional structures indicate strong lateral variations in the upper mantle structure down to 150 km and possibly as deep as 200 km. The structures appropriate to the Rocky Mountain and Colorado plateau physiographic provinces show low-velocity zones capped by high-velocity lid zones, with variability in both the lid and the low-velocity zone properties from province to province and within these provinces to a much lesser degree. The mantle properties obtained for the Basin and Range contrast sharply with the plateau and mountain structures, with the lid zone being very thin or absent and abnormally low velocities extending from, or very near, the base of a thin crust to 150 km. The velocity determinations are coupled with estimates of the variation of the intrinsic dissipation function (Q) as a function of depth and frequency. These results show a pronounced low-Q zone corresponding to the average low-velocity zone depth range for the velocity models. The data suggest a frequency-dependent Q, with Q increasing with frequency. In total the results of the study strongly suggest phase transitions in the mantle, including a partially melted region corresponding to the low-velocity zone, the latter being highly variable in its properties over the region studied and strongly correlated with tectonic activity

Detection, analysis, and interpretation of teleseismic signals: 1. Compressional Phases from the Salmon Event

The travel times and amplitude spectrums of first- and later-arrival P phases from the Salmon event are computed on the basis of polarization filter outputs. The interpretation of the P wave radiation field is made in terms of crust and mantle structure using the first- and later-arrival P phases and their amplitude spectrums. The observed seismic field corresponds with that expected from a symmetric, purely compressive source. The essential features of the observed travel times and amplitudes are explained in terms of regional mantle structures. These structures provide first-order fits to the observed data and are characterized by low-velocity zones which terminate with rapid and continuous increases in velocity near depths of 130 km. The velocity structures also show a strong velocity gradient near 330 km. The regional models differ most strongly in the relative extent and magnitude of the velocity decrease in the Iow-velocity zone

A Comparative Study of the Elastic Wave Radiation from Earthquakes and Underground Explosions

A detailed analysis of the surface wave radiation from two underground explosions (BILBY and SHOAL) and an earthquake near Fallon, Nevada, whose epicentre is only 60 km from SHOAL, indicates that: (1) at long periods the surface wave radiation from the earthquake can be explained by a pure quadrupole (double couple) source, but at higher frequencies the radiation pattern contains asymmetries which suggest effects due to rupture propagation; these would require higher-order multipole terms in the source equivalent representation; (2) the surface waves from the explosions can be explained by superimposed monopole and quadrupole sources, with no indication of higher-order multipole terms, at least in the period range comparable to that in which the earthquake signal was recorded; (3) the principal conclusion of this study is that the anomalous radiation from the explosions is probably due to stress relaxation around the shock-generated shatter zone and not due to earthquake triggering. Comparative analysis of SHOAL and FALLON shows that: (1) the ratio of the Love wave amplitude generated by the earthquake to the Love wave amplitude from the explosion increases with period, which implies a larger source dimension for FALLON; (2) the normalized spectral ratio of Love wave amplitude to Rayleigh wave amplitude, considered as a function of period, is nearly constant and close to unity for the explosions, but larger for the earthquake by a factor of two or three, and increasing with period. These differences might be useful in distinguishing earthquakes from explosions (at least in the magnitude range of the events used in this study, m_b 4.4 and above), as well as for estimating source parameters, such as stress, which are of fundamental geophysical interest

Records Management in English Local Government: the effect of freedom of information

Purpose – University College London (UCL) ran a research project over 12 months in 2008-2009, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, which examined what the impact of the UK Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 had been on records management services in local government. This paper aims to report on some of the findings of the study, with a focus on the practical records management issues. Design/methodology/approach – The research considered the three perspectives of records managers: institutional FOI; policy managers; and FOI requestors and user communities. Following an extensive literature review, qualitative research methods were used to gather data, specifically semi-structured interviewing of 27 individuals from 19 different institutions in London and the South East of England and with 11 requestors. Findings – The findings reported in this paper focus on records services in local government, in particular their organisational location and status, and aspects of the management of current and non-current records, including those in digital formats. Research limitations/implications – This paper is one of the outputs of a grant-funded project, which documents the results of research in FOI from a records management perspective and makes a contribution to the wider debate about access to information. It attempts to survey user responses, which has been an overlooked aspect of other FOI and records management research. Practical implications – There are some implications for good practice in records management policy and systems and in the location of records functions in local government. Originality/value – Local government is an under-researched field in respect of information management and FOI, when compared with other parts of the public sector, and this is therefore a significant contribution to knowledge in this field

Child social care recording and the information rights of care-experienced people: A recordkeeping perspective

Recent reports by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) emphasised the critical importance of records throughout the lives of care-experienced people. Records not only contain information about what happened to a person in their past, but also have long-term effects on memory and identity. Research emerging in the context of analogous national inquiries into the systemic abuse and neglect of children in care—particularly the Royal Commission in Australia and the Shaw Report in Scotland—have highlighted the significance of records to campaigns for reparative justice. This article introduces MIRRA: Memory—Identity—Rights in Records—Access, which is a participatory action research project co-produced with care-leavers and researchers based at University College London (UCL). This ongoing study seeks to deepen our understanding of the creation, use and management of care records and protocols to access them. In this article, we consider the practice of social work recording with children and families in England since the 1970s from a ‘recordkeeping perspective’, importing theory from the information studies field to provide a new perspective on the information rights of care-leavers