Preserving Ottawa’s Metropolitan Nature: How the 1970 Gatineau Park Planning Controversy Transformed the National Capital Commission and its Conservation Park

Although the National Capital Commission claimed to administer Gatineau Park according to a conservation policy, the 1960s saw numerous urban-type developments in the park and NCC planners emphasizing the park’s recreation potential. Th is paper describes how the 1970 Gatineau Park planning controversy sparked by conservationists opposed this policy reversal and forced the NCC to abandon blueprint planning. This paper then examines relations between the NCC conservationists from the time of the planning controversy to the first Gatineau Park master plan. Drawing from Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation, it is argued that, during its transition to participatory planning, the NCC placated conservationists, receiving their input but not alwaysinfluenced by it. Thus, conservationists were disappointed by the first master plan, both its process and content. While they continue to play an important watchdog role in the park’s management, and regularly participate inNCC planning exercises, conservationists have been unable to secure protective legislation for Gatineau Park. The status quo remains, such that the NCC can alter park policy without parliamentary oversight. Meanwhile, the park’s wilderness character remains threatened by urbanization pressures

Space-time spectral studies of global stratospheric temperature fields

A method proposed by Salby (1982a,b) for computing the zonal spacetime Fourier transform of asynoptically acquired soundings from polar-orbiting satellites has been implemented, tested, and applied in two investigations of atmospheric motions;It is demonstrated that the technique is robust under real data conditions, providing meaningful results in the presence of randomly varying signals, sampling errors, and missing data. The spectra computed display several advantageous characteristics: a frequency range which includes very short periods, a lack of distortion due to the asynoptic nature of the data, and (for instruments with multiple scan tracks) a high degree of statistical reliability which is obtained by averaging over closely-spaced spectra. The method is thus well suited for detecting features with small amplitudes and/or short periods;The method is applied to measurements of brightness temperature from the Southern Hemisphere polar winter. In accordance with the results of Prata (1984), a series of waves is seen which have wave-numbers 1 to 3 and travel with the same phase speed. In addition, a wave 4 traveling oscillation, is seen. Synoptic reconstructions of the fields are used to show that the sequence of waves constitute a series of warm pools circling the pole with a period of about 3.6 to 3.8 days. These warm pools are observed to have extraordinarily long lifetimes (at least one month), and on several occasions may be seen to collide and coalesce;Finally, the method is applied to a search for two fast-moving waves predicted in a numerical model. The ability of the method to detect very small signals is used to demonstrate the nonexistence of the modes during the time period analyzed;References. Prata, A. J., 1984: The 4-day wave. J. Atmos. Sci., 41, 150-155. Salby, M. L., 1982a: Sampling theory for asynoptic satellite observations. Part I: Space-time spectra, resolution, and aliasing. J. Atmos. Sci., 39, 2577-2600. Salby, M. L., 1982b: Sampling theory for asynoptic satellite observations. Part II: Fast Fourier synoptic mapping. J. Atmos. Sci., 39, 2601-2614

A study of medical social work for children with cardiac disease as seen in the Children's Cardiac Clinic at the Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals in the years 1947 through 1949

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University, 195

The df: A proposed data format standard

A standard is proposed describing a portable format for electronic exchange of data in the physical sciences. Writing scientific data in a standard format has three basic advantages: portability; the ability to use metadata to aid in interpretation of the data (understandability); and reusability. An improperly formulated standard format tends towards four disadvantages: (1) it can be inflexible and fail to allow the user to express his data as needed; (2) reading and writing such datasets can involve high overhead in computing time and storage space; (3) the format may be accessible only on certain machines using certain languages; and (4) under some circumstances it may be uncertain whether a given dataset actually conforms to the standard. A format was designed which enhances these advantages and lessens the disadvantages. The fundamental approach is to allow the user to make her own choices regarding strategic tradeoffs to achieve the performance desired in her local environment. The choices made are encoded in a specific and portable way in a set of records. A fully detailed description and specification of the format is given, and examples are used to illustrate various concepts. Implementation is discussed

Many voters do not believe economists are impartial

More than half of Leave voters distrust the opinions of economists, and men, older voters and the less educated are more likely to mistrust them. Nonetheless, more than half of all voters say they want to find out more about the economic effects of leaving the EU. Alvin Birdi (University of Bristol), Ashley Lait (Economics Network) and Mark Cliffe (ING Group) warn that as the General Election approaches economists need to be extra careful to avoid accusations of political bias

The QBO and interannual variation in total ozone

Garcia and Soloman (1987) have noted that the October monthly mean minimum total ozone amounts south of 30 S were modulated by a quasibiennial oscillation (QBO) signal. The precise mechanism behind this effect, however, is unclear. Is the modulation brought about by the circulation-produced QBO signal in the ozone concentration itself, or does the temperature QBO modulate the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), leading to changes in the chemically induced Antarctic spring ozone decline rate. Or is some other phenomenon involved. To investigate the means through which the QBO effect occurs, a series of correlation studies has been made between polar ozone and QBO signal in ozone and temperature