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January 30, 2014
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Are Brazil's World Cup preparations displacing poor people?
Construction projects being undertaken in Brazil as part of the preparation for the World Cup soccer tournament have forced some residents -- especially poor ones -- to relocate. Some government officials say the World Cup is not the cause for most displacements, while activists say as many as 250,000 people across the country face evictions because of the event and other projects. "Brazil is by far and away the champion of forced removals," said Fluminense Federal University visiting geography professor Christopher Gaffney. "This is clearly the most impactful World Cup ever, with a lot of ambitious projects."The Washington Post (tiered subscription model) (1/25)
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How a State Department cartographer helps maintain U.S. government maps
Leo Dillon, along with his team at the State Department, works to make sure the U.S. government's maps are aligned with its policies. Dillon discusses in this Q-and-A how his unit responds to naming issues, border disputes and the creation of new countries. "Every time a new country comes by, it shakes up the order," he said. "Usually you have a lot of advance notice, but it still gets complicated."Wired.com/Map Lab blog (1/24)
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Domestic migration spurs population growth in N.C.
Domestic migration is helping to spark population growth in North Carolina, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. About 100,000 more people were living in the state on July 1, 2013, compared with the previous year, and 38% of that increase was due to migration from other states. The increase is a bit puzzling given that the state's job market is not particularly strong, said Keith Debbage, a geographer at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. "I would suspect and assume that some of that may be the ongoing retirement migration," he said. "I can't imagine that a whole host of people are coming into the state looking for jobs."Winston-Salem Journal (N.C.) (1/24)
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Other News
- Report: Economic mobility hasn't improved in the last 50 years
The Washington Post (tiered subscription model) (1/23)
- Analyzing the plunging population of a Mich. city
MLive.com (Michigan) (free registration) (1/26)
Turning fear and avoidance into a defining opportunity.
It's no secret that technology is disrupting the way educators and administrators work in higher ed. From recruiting to alumni relations, and at every intersection of the institution-student value chain between, technology is changing the business of learning. Find out which three tech trends are disrupting education this school year.
Research, Education and Global Change
River erosion is more random than previously thought, study finds
Rivers carve down rock at different speeds through time, which means researchers may have to rethink how they measure erosion, according to a study in Nature. "River incision is the yardstick we use to measure a lot of processes. There were a lot of reasons to think these things were in equilibrium, but you can't simply take a rate and tell a story with that rate," said lead author Noah Finnegan, a University of California, Santa Cruz, geomorphologist.LiveScience.com/Our Amazing Planet (1/23)
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Ocean weather monitoring failure hampers scientists tracking El Niño patterns
Half of the moored buoys in the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array have been failing in the past two years, hampering scientists who use the information as an early warning system for El Niño and La Niña weather events. "It's the most important climate phenomenon on the planet, and we have blinded ourselves to it by not maintaining this array," said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration senior scientist Michael McPhaden. Only 40% of the array is providing data currently.Nature (free content) (1/23)
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Other News
- Malnutrition harms children, economy in Afghanistan
The Guardian (London) (1/26)
- Report: Balance needs to be struck between conserving land, boosting crop output
United Press International (1/25)
Technology and Applications
Australian mining company teams with Esri to create surveyor maps
CITIC Pacific Mining has teamed up with Esri Australia to develop a GIS mapping and reporting system to manage underground infrastructure such as electrical lines and slurry pipelines. The system can be accessed via a Web browser for onsite reporting and allows surveyors to "view data such as electrical, location and access in layers which can be examined alongside other important information such as high resolution photography and above-ground infrastructure," CITIC Pacific Mining senior GIS analyst Chris Brown said.Mining Australia (1/23)
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Association News
Online elections open Jan. 31
The election slate of candidates running for council and committee positions is now available at The 2014 AAG Elections will take place through an online voting system, which opens Jan. 31 and closes Feb. 28. The online procedure makes voting easier for AAG members, and votes cast online are conveniently managed, confidential, secure, backed-up and certified. AAG Newsletter
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Julie Winkler's Presidential Plenary on Geographies of Climate Change
The Presidential Plenary, which opens the AAG Annual Meeting, will focus on the "Geographies of Climate Change" theme. Featured speakers will include AAG President Julie Winkler; Mike Hulme, author of "Why We Disagree about Climate Change"; Linda Mearns, project leader of the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program; Susanne Moser, co-author of the recently published "Successful Adaptation to Climate Change," and J. Marshall Shepherd, current president of the American Meteorological Society. AAG Newsletter