The interpretation of data from the Viking Mars Atmospheric Water Detectors (MAWD): Some points for discussion

Properly interpreted, water vapor column abundance measurements can provide important insights into many of the processes that govern the diurnal, seasonal, and climatic cycles of atmospheric water on Mars. The uncertain distribution of water vapor complicates this analysis. It is argued that if a significant fraction of the total atmospheric vapor content is concentrated within the lowermost scale height, then the hemispheric asymmetry in zonally averaged topography/air mass might itself explain the observed gradient in the annual and zonally averaged vapor abundance

Mars: Crustal pore volume, cryospheric depth, and the global occurrence of groundwater

It is argued that most of the Martian hydrosphere resides in a porous outer layer of crust that, based on a lunar analogy, appears to extend to a depth of about 10 km. The total pore volume of this layer is sufficient to store the equivalent of a global ocean of water some 500 to 1500 m deep. Thermal modeling suggests that about 300 to 500 m of water could be stored as ice within the crust. Any excess must exist as groundwater

MECA Workshop on Atmospheric H2O Observations of Earth and Mars. Physical Processes, Measurements and Interpretations

The workshop was held to discuss a variety of questions related to the detection and cycling of atmospheric water. Among the questions addressed were: what factors govern the storage and exchange of water between planetary surfaces and atmospheres; what instruments are best suited for the measurement and mapping of atmospheric water; do regolith sources and sinks of water have uniquely identifiable column abundance signatures; what degree of time and spatial resolution in column abundance data is necessary to determine dynamic behavior. Of special importance is the question, does the understanding of how atmospheric water is cycled on Earth provide any insights for the interpretation of Mars atmospheric data

THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCAL ROAD SAFETY ISSUES: WHEN LAY AND PROFESSIONAL DISCOURSES COLLIDE

Highway Authorities in the United Kingdom have jurisdiction to control, maintain and improve the local highway network, and the Road Traffic Act 1988 places a duty on such authorities to take preventative measures to reduce road casualties. As such, engineers working for the Highway Authority are on the ‘front-line,’ and are required to deal directly with lay concerns relating to road safety. This study investigates the nature and characteristics of how local road safety issues are raised and how engineers respond to such issues in a local authority setting. A grounded theory methodology was applied in the collection and analysis of this data, and in the generation of subsequent emergent themes. Datasets were established containing textual data from correspondence between the lay public and the authority, and from local press reporting. This was augmented by 47 semi-structured interviews with engineers. The analysis demonstrates that road safety issues and their construction, form a distinct genre. There are certain characteristic structural elements and argumentative approaches, which are oft repeated, in lay formulations of road safety. Road safety issues are played out in a contested field, although engineers may have, in theory, the ‘expertise’ that grants them authority to assess, diagnose and implement mitigation measures; in practice they have little autonomy or control. Regulatory restrictions, political interference, resource impoverishment and a volatile public, severely limit engineers’ independence and discretion. In dealing with the exigencies and pressures of day-to-day front-line public service, engineers deploy certain strategies for ‘managing’ the public. These pragmatic strategies are examined in order to establish how engineers can best effect practical action, in the face of competing and often conflicting demands. In examining the rhetorical organisation of lay argumentative strategies, a ‘popular epidemiology’ of road safety is recreated. This term, borrowed from Brown (1992), encapsulates a folk philosophy with respect to accident causation and the measures that are considered necessary or appropriate to ameliorate/eliminate identified issues. It is suggested that in vivo formulations of road safety issues, such as the ‘accident waiting to happen’ are founded on vague premises, and constitute a category mistake. Projections from phenomenally troubling, yet largely unsubstantiable events, to those with profound material consequences, are neither necessary nor certain. In making decisions on substantial capital investments, engineers, by necessity, are required to assess competing sites on a more epistemically secure metric, namely the police road casualty record

The late quaternary vegetational history of Holderness, Yorkshire

This study was undertaken to reconstruct the regional vegetational history of Holderness, in south-east Yorkshire. It is an area with great potential for palaeo-ecological investigations and yet it has been largely ignored during the great increase of research in this field in recent years. Being on the east coast, Holderness is well placed to provide information on the migration of plants into this country, particularly in Late-glacial and early Flandrian times, when the region was joined to the continent by dry land. As a distinct and somewhat isolated region of low-lying land which must have been rather waterlogged for much of Post-glacial time it would have provided a considerable challenge to prehistoric man. Therefore an examination of the extent to which early man was able to emploit this difficult environment seems to be worthwhile.Among the most interesting advances in the study of vegetational history have been the introduction of the evaluation of pollen concentration and absolute pollen frequencies in an attempt to give a more quantitative picture of post vegetational communities, and also the considerable reassessment of climatic conditions during the Late glacial period. Consequently, in the elucidation of the vegetational history of Holderness, the intention has also been to throw some light on these current problems. The Late-glacial of Holderness has therefore been studied in terms of pollen concentrations and absolute pollen frequencies, and the results obtained compared with other recent evidence, much of which has come from north-western England, to try to establish to what extent conditions varied within northern England during this period. Somewhat more approximate estimates of absolute pollen frequencies in Post-glacial times have been made, and the value that this information adds to the understanding of vegetational history of the area, has been considered

The late quaternary vegetational history of Holderness, Yorkshire

This study was undertaken to reconstruct the regional vegetational history of Holderness, in south-east Yorkshire. It is an area with great potential for palaeo-ecological investigations and yet it has been largely ignored during the great increase of research in this field in recent years. Being on the east coast, Holderness is well placed to provide information on the migration of plants into this country, particularly in Late-glacial and early Flandrian times, when the region was joined to the continent by dry land. As a distinct and somewhat isolated region of low-lying land which must have been rather waterlogged for much of Post-glacial time it would have provided a considerable challenge to prehistoric man. Therefore an examination of the extent to which early man was able to emploit this difficult environment seems to be worthwhile.Among the most interesting advances in the study of vegetational history have been the introduction of the evaluation of pollen concentration and absolute pollen frequencies in an attempt to give a more quantitative picture of post vegetational communities, and also the considerable reassessment of climatic conditions during the Late glacial period. Consequently, in the elucidation of the vegetational history of Holderness, the intention has also been to throw some light on these current problems. The Late-glacial of Holderness has therefore been studied in terms of pollen concentrations and absolute pollen frequencies, and the results obtained compared with other recent evidence, much of which has come from north-western England, to try to establish to what extent conditions varied within northern England during this period. Somewhat more approximate estimates of absolute pollen frequencies in Post-glacial times have been made, and the value that this information adds to the understanding of vegetational history of the area, has been considered

Immunopathogenesis of a Spectrum of Inflammatory Lung Diseases Induced by Experimental Reovirus Infection

Inflammatory lung diseases cause a significant amount of morbidity and mortality. However, the mechanisms that control the initiation and resolution of pulmonary inflammatory responses have not been well-elucidated. Histopathological data suggests that the lung responds with a similar pattern of inflammation to diverse range of injurious stimuli. In order to investigate the immunopathogenesis of lung inflammation, a series of in vivo models of lung inflammation were generated in CBA/J and CD-I mice by respiratory reovirus 1/L infection. Using this approach, it was observed in CBA/J mice that a relatively low titer of reovirus 1/L induced a pattern of intraluminal fibrosis in the bronchoalveolar compartment of the lung that is characteristic of the disorder bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP). When higher titers of reovirus 1/L were used to inoculate CBA/J mice, most animals developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which is characterized by widespread vascular endothelial and respiratory epithelial cell damage. Conversely, the pulmonary response of CD-1 mice to respiratory reovirus 1/L was not acute or fibrotic, but instead was characterized by a bronchiocentric, lymphocytic cellular infiltrate that recapitulates the disorder follicular bronchiolitis (FB). FB was also described as a simultaneous component of the inflammatory response in CBA/J mice in addition to BOOP and ARDS. Collectively the models of reovirus 1/L-induced FB, BOOP, and ARDS represent a spectrum of inflammatory lung disorders that are generated by one agent, thus allowing the exploration of cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the pulmonary inflammatory response

Scientific Results of the Nasa-sponsored Study Project on Mars: Evolution of Its Climate and Atmosphere

The scientific highlights of the Mars: Evolution of its Climate and Atmosphere (MECA) study project are reviewed and some of the important issues in Martian climate research that remain unresolved are discussed

Martian geomorphology and its relation to subsurface volatiles

Martian volatile inventory, planetary climatic and atmospheric evolution, and the interpretation of various remote sensing data were discussed. A number of morphologies that were cited as potential indicators of subsurface volatiles were reviewed. Rampart craters and terrain softening were the focus of more in-depth discussion because of the popular attention they have received and the fact that their areal distributions are by far the most extensive of all the proposed indicators