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This article provides information on thorium. Thorium is a natural radioactive element that can be found with other minerals. It can be used to generate power, produce light and transmit energy. Thorium has a potential to be used as a nuclear fuel. This element was discovered by Swedish chemist and mineralogist Jóns Jakob Berzelius in 1828.
The article offers information on pumice, an important commodity for the construction, horticulture and abrasives industries. The commodity is described as an extremely light, highly porous extrusive volcanic rock which was formed due to the rapid cooling of air-pocketed lava. It is noted that the characteristics of pumice make it as an ideal aggregate material in lightweight building blocks in the U.S. and abroad. The leading countries in terms of pumice production are Greece and the U.S.
The article presents information on diamond, which is regarded as the world's most popular gemstone. It states that there is strength in the covalent bonding between its carbon atoms, resulting to the strength of its physical properties. The presence of colors in diamonds may be attributed to the impurities that settle in the crystal lattice. Diamonds have been used as decorative items since the ancient era.
The article describes the characteristics and industrial uses of antimony. Antimony, which is produced as a byproduct of mining other metals such as gold, lead or silver, is used in everything from flame retardants, batteries, ceramics and glass. It is also used in glass for television picture tubes, computer monitors, pigments and catalysts.
The article presents facts about lime, which is said to be a caustic chemical manufactured from limestone or other calcium carbonates in a kiln at temperatures ranging from 935 to 1,350 degrees Celsius. It states that lime is widely used in industries such as steelmaking, paper production and chemical manufacturing. It also mentions that global lime production amounts up to 280 million metric tons annually. However, it notes that international trade in lime is limited.
The article offers information about silicon, a metalloid element which is considered the second-most abundant element in the Earth crust.
The article presents information on cultured quartz crystals, a mineral used in mobile phones, computers, clocks and other devices controlled by digital circuits. Cultured quartz, which is synthetically produced in large pressurized vessels known as autoclaves, is useful in electronic circuits for precise filtration, frequency control and timing for consumer and military use. Several ingredients are used in producing cultured quartz, including seed crystals, lascas, a solution of sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate, lithium salts and deionized water.
The article offers information on bromine, a natural element considered as a dissolved species in seawater, saltwater lakes and underground brines linked with petroleum deposits. Bromine belongs to the halogen group of elements and is characterized with brownish-red color and beach-like odor. It is commonly used in flame retardants, agriculture and drilling.
The article focuses on iodine, its benefits and adverse effects, and its production and consumption. It states that iodine is essential to humans for it produces thyroid hormones to nourish thyroid glands but excessive intake could cause goiter, hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism. U.S. laws require salt iodization to help prevent diseases. Chile and Japan are the world's leading iodine producer while in the U.S. iodine is mined from deep well brines in northern Oklahoma.
The article discusses iron oxide pigments, which have been used as colorants since human began painting as they resist color change due to sunlight exposure, have good chemical resistance and are stable under normal ambient conditions. Cyprus, Italy and Spain are among the countries that are known for the production of iron oxide pigments. Granular forms of iron oxides and nano-sized materials are cited as developments in the synthetic iron oxide pigment industry which are being used in computer disk drives and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging.
The article presents facts about graphite ideal for industrial applications. Among the characteristics of graphite are its metallic luster, softness, perfect basal cleavage and electrical conductivity. Batteries, brake linings and powdered metals are some of the products that make use of graphite. It attributes the potential applications for graphite in high-technology fields to innovations in thermal technology and acid-leaching techniques.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Library, where the author serves as the digital services librarian, is increasingly challenged to make it easier for users to find information from many heterogeneous information sources. Information is scattered throughout different software applications (i.e., library catalog, federated search engine, link resolver, and vendor websites), and each specializes in one thing. How could the library integrate the functionalities of one application with another and provide a single point of entry for users to search across? To improve the user experience, the library launched an effort to integrate the federated search engine into the library's intranet website. The result is a simple search box that leverages the federated search engine's built-in application programming interfaces (APIs). In this article, the author describes how this project demonstrated the power of APIs and their potential to be used by other enterprise search portals inside or outside of the library.
Natural resources support all of our social and economic activities, as well as our biological existence. Humans have little control over most of the physical, biological, and sociological conditions dictating the status and capacity of natural resources in any particular area. However, the most rapid and threatening influences on natural resources typically are anthropogenic overuse and degradation. In addition, living natural resources (i.e., organisms) do not respect political boundaries, but are aware of their optimal habitat and environmental conditions. Most organisms have wider spatial ranges than the jurisdictional boundaries of environmental agencies that deal with them; even within those jurisdictions, information is patchy and disconnected. Planning and projecting effects of ecological management are difficult, because many organisms, habitat conditions, and interactions are involved. Conservation and responsible resource use involves wise management and manipulation of the aspects of the environment and biological communities that can be effectively changed. Tools and data sets that provide new insights and analysis capabilities can enhance the ability of resource managers to make wise decisions and plan effective, long-term management strategies. Aquatic gap analysis has been developed to provide those benefits. Gap analysis is more than just the assessment of the match or mis-match (i.e., gaps) between habitats of ecological value and areas with an appropriate level of environmental protection (e.g., refuges, parks, preserves), as the name suggests. Rather, a Gap Analysis project is a process which leads to an organized database of georeferenced information and previously available tools to examine conservation and other ecological issues; it provides a geographic analysis platform that serves as a foundation for aquatic ecological studies. This analytical tool box allows one to conduct assessments of all habitat elements within an area of interest. Aquatic gap analysis naturally focuses on aquatic habitats. The analytical tools are largely based on specification of the species-habitat relations for the system and organism group of interest (Morrison et al. 2003; McKenna et al. 2006; Steen et al. 2006; Sowa et al. 2007). The Great Lakes Regional Aquatic Gap Analysis (GLGap) project focuses primarily on lotic habitat of the U.S. Great Lakes drainage basin and associated states and has been developed to address fish and fisheries issues. These tools are unique because they allow us to address problems at a range of scales from the region to the stream segment and include the ability to predict species specific occurrence or abundance for most of the fish species in the study area. The results and types of questions that can be addressed provide better global understanding of the ecological context within which specific natural resources fit (e.g., neighboring environments and resources, and large and small scale processes). The geographic analysis platform consists of broad and flexible geospatial tools (and associated data) with many potential applications. The objectives of this article are to provide a brief overview of GLGap methods and analysis tools, and demonstrate conservation and planning applications of those data and tools. Although there are many potential applications, we will highlight just three: (1) support for the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV), (2) Aquatic Life classification in Wisconsin, and (3) an educational tool that makes use of Google Earth (use of trade or product names does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government) and Internet accessibility.
Wolf populations have proliferated in several areas and so have wolf books. The latest book is a good one. This compendium, The World of Wolves, covers a variety of fast-moving and controversial areas such as canid genetics, effects of wolves on ecosystems, climate change, hunting of wolves by snowmobile and non-lethal methods of minimizing livestock depredation. A great deal of new and interesting information resides in this book, far more than this review can cover. Several of the article authors are well experienced in their specialties: Luigi Boitani, Robert Wayne, Doug Smith, Rolf Peterson, Paul Paquet, Dean Cluff, and Olof Liberg along with numerous associates. The material reflects that. Review info: The world of wolves: New perspectives on ecology. Edited by M. Musiani, L. Boitani, and P. C. Paquet, 2011. ISBN: 9781552382691, 398 pp.
Exploration managers commonly base future drilling decisions on past experience in an area. To do this well, they should consider both discovered and undiscovered resources to characterize total future potential. Discovery-size estimates should be adjusted to account for future field growth; otherwise, the relative efficiency of recent exploration will be undervalued. This study models and projects field growth for pre-1997 discoveries in the U.S. Federal Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Projected additions to reserves for these fields from field growth through 2020 are 5.2 billion bbl of oil and 46 Tcfg. Projections include growth associated with sizable new oil discoveries in deepwater areas and initial reserve additions from new subsalt plays discovered through 1996. This article focuses on the U.S. GOM because it has produced longer than other worldwide offshore areas. Its field-growth profile may be prototypical of other offshore provinces such as the North Sea, Scotian Shelf and deepwater Angola, as well as high-cost onshore areas.
The ASPRS Lidar Cal/Val (calibration/validation) Working Group led by the US Geological Survey (USGS) to establish “Guidelines on Geometric Accuracy and Quality of Lidar Data” has made excellent progress via regular teleconferences and meetings. The group is focused on identifying data quality metrics and establishing a set of guidelines for quantifying the quality of lidar data. The working group has defined and agreed on lidar Data Quality Measures (DQMs) to be used for this purpose. The DQMs are envisaged as the first ever consistent way of checking lidar data. It is expected that these metrics will be used as standard methods for quantifying the geometric quality of lidar data. The goal of this article is to communicate these developments to the readers and the larger geospatial community and invite them to participate in the process.
In "Should Isle Royale Wolves be Reintroduced? A Case Study on Wilderness Management in a Changing World," Vucetich et al. concluded with the hope that their analysis “motivates broader discussion that deepens understanding of the specifics on Isle Royale and the underlying principles” (2012: 137). This article represents an attempt to continue that discussion.
The article presents an overview of the nitrogen chemical market as of July 2013, including the production of ammonia compounds. Industrial uses for ammonia include fertilizers, explosives, and plastics. Other topics include industrial capacity of U.S. ammonia producers CF Industries Holdings Inc., Koch Nitrogen Co., PCS Nitrogen, Inc., and Agrium Inc., the impact of natural gas prices on the nitrogen industry, and demand for corn crops for ethanol production.