Excavations at Kalavasos-Kokkinogia, 2004-2007

Kalavasos-Kokkinogia belongs to a cluster of prehistoric sites situated in the lower Vasilikos valley in the coastal lowlands of south-central Cyprus. Kokkinogia extends along the eastern edge of a low north -south ridge with commanding views of the lowlands to the east and south-east. It is located 500m. south of the predominantly Chalcolithic site of Kalavasos-Pampoules·and is only 2km. south of another Chalcolithic site, Kalavasos-Agious

Palynology, vegetation and climate of the Waikato lowlands, North Island, New Zealand, since c. 18,000 years ago

The vegetational and climatic history of the Waikato lowlands during the last c. 18,000 years is inferred from the palynology of sediment cores from Lakes Rotomanuka, Rotokauri, and Okoroire. Intra- and inter-lake correlations were aided by multiple tephra layers interbedded with the lake sediments. The detailed chronological resolution given by these tephra sequences shows that late glacial-post glacial vegetational and climatic changes were nearly simultaneous throughout the Waikato lowlands

The Lowlands team at TRECVID 2008

In this paper we describe our experiments performed for TRECVID 2008. We participated in the High Level Feature extraction and the Search task. For the High Level Feature extraction task we mainly installed our detection environment. In the Search task we applied our new PRFUBE ranking model together with an estimation method which estimates a vital parameter of the model, the probability of a concept occurring in relevant shots. The PRFUBE model has similarities to the well known Probabilistic Text Information Retrieval methodology and follows the Probability Ranking Principle

A remarkable new Anomiopus Westwood from Peru (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

Described and illustrated is a strikingly distinct new species of the scarabaeine genus Anomiopus Westwood, A. pishtaco (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), from the Amazonian lowlands of eastern Peru

The Lowlands team at TRECVID 2007

In this report we summarize our methods and results for the search tasks in\ud TRECVID 2007. We employ two different kinds of search: purely ASR based and\ud purely concept based search. However, there is not significant difference of the\ud performance of the two systems. Using neighboring shots for the combination of\ud two concepts seems to be beneficial. General preprocessing of queries increased\ud the performance and choosing detector sources helped. However, for all automatic\ud search components we need to perform further investigations

Subparallel thrust and normal faulting in Albania and the roles of gravitational potential energy and rheology contrasts in mountain belts

The active tectonics of Albania and surrounding regions, on the eastern margin of the Adriatic Sea, is characterized by subparallel thrust and normal faulting which, we suggest, is likely to be related to gravitational potential energy contrasts between the low-lying Adriatic Sea and the elevated mountainous areas inland. We calculate the magnitude of the force which the mountains and lowlands exert upon each other as a result of this potential energy contrast. It is likely that this force is largely supported by shear stresses on faults, and if so, the average stresses are less than ∼20 MPa. Alternatively, if the mountains are supported by stresses in the ductile part of the lithosphere, the stresses are likely to be ∼80–240 MPa in magnitude. The mountains of Albania are significantly lower than other ranges, such as the Peruvian Andes, which are thought to be extending in response to potential energy differences, and we discuss the relation between Albania and these other, higher, mountain belts from the perspective of differences in lithosphere rheology. We suggest that the lowlands of western Albania and the Adriatic Sea may have been weakened through time as a result of the deposition of large thicknesses of sediment, which lead to heating of the crystalline basement, a reduction in the potential energy contrast that could be supported by the lowlands, and so normal faulting in the mountains of eastern Albania

BIOGEOGRAPHY AND PATTERN VARIATION OF KINGSNAKES, LAMPROPELTIS GETULA, IN THE APALACHICOLA REGION OF FLORIDA

Morphology of kingsnakes, Lampropeltis getula, is described and analyzed in the Apalachicola region of the Florida panhandle. Populations inhabiting the eastern Apalachicola Lowlands, a distinct biotic province, are different from the surrounding populations in having fewer and wider light body crossbands, distinct ontogenetic interband lightening, unique ventral patterns, and the presence of non-banded (striped and patternless) individuals. We conclude that the name L. g. goini as well as the hypothesis that Apalachicola L. getula are relict populations of intergrades between L. g. getula and L. g. floridana are invalid. We believe the polymorphic eastern Apalachicola Lowlands populations are most closely related to L. g. getula, and evolved in isolation on a barrier island or the coastal strand of a peninsula during one of the many higher stands of sea in the Pleistocene

Touristically-attractive springs in the polish lowlands

On the basis of available published materials and his own research, the author identifies the 27 most attractive springs in the Polish Lowlands. He describes their most important landscape and tourism assets - the relief of the spring outlet area, landforms, the character of the spring itself and the accompanying tourism infrastructure. The article presents available data regarding the water discharged by the springs: volume, temperature, colour and medicinal properties; as well as pointing to associated interesting natural features, examples of religious architecture and historical curiosities. The distribution of springs in the Polish Lowlands is uneven, with the majority found in the area of the morainic uplands, as well as in deeper river valleys and lake troughsNa podstawie materiałów opublikowanych i własnych badań wyszczególniono 27 źródeł na niżu polskim najbardziej atrakcyjnych pod względem turystycznym. Opisano najważniejsze ich walory krajobrazowe i turystyczne – rzeźba miejsca wypływu wody, rodzaj utworów, charakter obudowania źródła i towarzysząca im infrastruktura turystyczna. W miarę możliwości podawano także wydajność źródła, temperaturę wody, jej kolor, właściwości lecznicze oraz zwrócono uwagę na ciekawe obiekty przyrodnicze, obiekty kultu religijnego i ciekawostki historyczne związane ze źródłem. Rozmieszczenie tych źródeł na niżu polskim jest nierównomierne. Najwięcej ich występuje w rejonie wysoczyzn morenowych oraz w głęboko wciętych dolinach rzecznych i rynnach jezior