Historical influences on the current provision of multiple ecosystem services: is there a legacy of past landcover?

Ecosystem service provision varies temporally in response to natural and human-induced factors, yet research in this field is dominated by analyses that ignore the time-lags and feedbacks that occur within socio-ecological systems. The implications of this have been unstudied, but are central to understanding how service delivery will alter due to future land-use/cover change. Urban areas are expanding faster than any other land-use, making cities ideal study systems for examining such legacy effects. We assess the extent to which present-day provision of a suite of eight ecosystem services, quantified using field-gathered data, is explained by current and historical (stretching back 150 years) landcover. Five services (above-ground carbon density, recreational use, bird species richness, bird density, and a metric of recreation experience quality (continuity with the past) were more strongly determined by past landcover. Time-lags ranged from 20 (bird species richness and density) to over 100 years (above-ground carbon density). Historical landcover, therefore, can have a strong influence on current service provision. By ignoring such time-lags, we risk drawing incorrect conclusions regarding how the distribution and quality of some ecosystem services may alter in response to land-use/cover change. Although such a finding adds to the complexity of predicting future scenarios, ecologists may find that they can link the biodiversity conservation agenda to the preservation of cultural heritage, and that certain courses of action provide win-win outcomes across multiple environmental and cultural goods

Nigerian London: re-mapping space and ethnicity in superdiverse cities

This paper explores the idea of ‘superdiversity’ at the city level through two churches with different approaches to architectural visibility: the hypervisible Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and the invisible Igbo Catholic Church, both in North London, guide our exploration of invisible Nigerian London. Although Nigerians have lived in London for over 200 years, they live beneath the radar of policy and public recognition rather than as a vital and visible element of superdiversity. This paper argues that we can trace the journeys composing Nigerian London in the deep textures of the city thus making it visible, but this involves re-mapping space and ethnicity. It argues that visibility is vital in generating more open forms of urban encounter and, ultimately, citizenship

Naval engagements, patriotism, cultural politics, and the Royal Navy, 1793-1815

grantor: University of TorontoThis thesis examines the place occupied by the royal navy in British culture during the wars of 1793-1815 with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France It explores the manner in which images of the navy operated in domestic British culture, and relates their significance to larger dynamics within late eighteenth and early nineteenth century society and political culture. Chapter one is an introduction, which justifies the topic in light of recent writing on British national identity in the period, outlines the sources employed, and introduces necessary terms and concepts. Chapter two investigates the cultural politics of the first major naval engagement of the war, Lord Howe's victory over the French fleet on May 29-June 1, 1794. It traces the attempt made by partisan interests to capitalise upon the naval victory. Chapter three considers the naval mutinies of 1797 and examines their effect on elite perceptions of the navy's ability to function as an effective national symbol. As it was closely followed by Admiral Duncan's victory over the Dutch fleet off Camperdown on October 11, 1797, the manner in which the celebrations for his victory became caught up in a project of national and naval rehabilitation is addressed. Chapter four explores the social and cultural dynamics that were part and parcel of patriotic activity for contemporaries. It examines a range of efforts made, and projects launched, to commemorate and acknowledge naval superiority in the years around the battle of the Nile (August 1, 1798). Admiral Horatio Nelson--the most celebrated naval hero in Britain's history--is the focus of the fifth chapter. It traces the development of his public image, locating it--to a degree that has never been before suggested--in its relationship to some of the manifest social tensions of the period. Chapter six considers the parliamentary career of Lord Cochrane MP, and explores the manner in which he was able to exploit naval symbols and associations in the radical political cause. The thesis concludes by making a revisionist assessment of current interpretations of national identity in the period, arguing that significant class and political tensions have been ignored.Ph.D

Feasibility of breed/burn fuel cycles in pebble bed HTGR reactors.

Thesis. 1978. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Nuclear Engineering.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND SCIENCE.Bibliography: leaves 176-178.M.S