Iron precipitation in a natural CO2 reservoir: Jurassic Navajo Sandstone in the northern San Rafael Swell,UT, USA

Diagenetic iron (oxyhydr)oxide minerals are common precipitates expected in CO₂ reservoirs, and these minerals record fluid flow for application to carbon capture and sequestration (CSS). Multiple mineralogy and spectroscopy analyses on a pore to meter scale characterize a well‐exposed, lithologically controlled, iron (oxyhydr)oxides reaction front in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone. Dolomite is the most prevalent cement (up to 23 area%), followed by only several percent or less of iron (oxyhydr)oxides, kaolinite, illite, and gypsum cements. Bulk geochemistry based on diagenetic mineralogies in the reaction front is compared with the water chemistry from nearby modern spring effluent emanating from the Navajo Sandstone to conclude that similar fluids (i.e., CO₂‐charged, saline waters containing hydrocarbons) are responsible for the precipitation. A second comparison of bulk geochemistry and diagenetic mineralogies of the reaction front with data from other abundant Navajo Sandstone concretions in the Spencer Flat region (in south central Utah) shows that reservoir fluids likely vary spatially and temporally in the porous and permeable Navajo Sandstone. CO₂ injection into porous and permeable, quartz arenite, saline aquifers will likely result in minor clay and abundant dolomite precipitation that will significantly decrease porosity.     

Analyzing Hotspots of Crime Using a Bayesian Spatiotemporal Modeling Approach: A Case Study of Violent Crime in the Greater Toronto Area

Conventional methods used to identify crime hotspots at the small‐area scale are frequentist and employ data for one time period. Methodologically, these approaches are limited by an inability to overcome the small number problem, which occurs in spatiotemporal analysis at the small‐area level when crime and population counts for areas are low. The small number problem may lead to unstable risk estimates and unreliable results. Also, conventional approaches use only one data observation per area, providing limited information about the temporal processes influencing hotspots and how law enforcement resources should be allocated to manage crime change. Examining violent crime in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, for 2006 and 2007, this research illustrates a Bayesian spatiotemporal modeling approach that analyzes crime trend and identifies hotspots while addressing the small number problem and overcoming limitations of conventional frequentist methods. Specifically, this research tests for an overall trend of violent crime for the study region, determines area‐specific violent crime trends for small‐area units, and identifies hotspots based on crime trend from 2006 to 2007. Overall violent crime trend was found to be insignificant despite increasing area‐specific trends in the north and decreasing area‐specific trends in the southeast. Posterior probabilities of area‐specific trends greater than zero were mapped to identify hotspots, highlighting hotspots in the north of the study region. We discuss the conceptual differences between this Bayesian spatiotemporal method and conventional frequentist approaches as well as the effectiveness of this Bayesian spatiotemporal approach for identifying hotspots from a law enforcement perspective.     

Household economic resilience to catastrophic rainstorms and flooding in a Chinese megacity

Megacities situated on flood plains face escalating risks of waterlogging and inundation. Tianjin is one of these megacities in China where residents are exposed to these risks and not well prepared for their consequences. Government policies should support the most vulnerable and less resilient groups. This study can inform policy‐making by identifying the socio‐economic characteristics of those who are financially better prepared for the consequences of catastrophic rainstorms and flooding. A structured questionnaire survey was administered to 332 Tianjin residents. Results confirm that financial conditions crucially determine household resilience to these natural hazards. Lower‐income and less educated urban residents have lower resilient capacity. Weak engagement in the community, including residential committees and other organisations, is related to lower capacity to cope with the economic consequences of extreme weather events. Less resilient groups are therefore those who are subject to urban poverty and have limited social capital. Tianjin and other cities in the developing world require resilience strategies that attend to this segment of urban population.     

Building homeland heritage: multiple homes among the Chinese diaspora and the politics on heritage management in China

Community involvement is arguably a key component behind sustainable heritage management. Under strict government control, however, local community-led initiatives are difficult to find in China. Nonetheless, through remittances and philanthropic contributions to their respective communities, the Chinese diaspora have long been seen as an important source of foreign capital and a driving force behind homeland development. A transregional study (mainland China, Hong Kong and Canada) was carried out to explore the relationship between local communities in China and the diaspora, how each party was involved (or not) and the factors that affect their engagement in a government-initiated clanship heritage project in post-reform China. Investigating how different ‘associated people’ perceive, construct and even manipulate heritage, this study found that participation is not only related to wealth, success or status, but also to residential orientations, self-perceptions of the motherland and notions of authentic and/or symbolic roots. The study offers insight into the nature and politics of heritage management in contemporary China. Furthermore, it contributes to our understanding of how multiple homes can affect diasporic interpretations of, and connections with, the homeland.     

Punctuated Equilibrium and the Information Disadvantage of Authoritarianism: Evidence from the People's Republic of China

According to the punctuated equilibrium thesis, government attention allocation alternates between long periods of stasis and dramatic spurts of disequilibrium because democratic institutions enable minority groups to obstruct change. This article presents a critical discrepancy in contemporary China, where punctuated instability is significantly more intense despite a lack of democratic institutions to empower minority obstructionism. Our empirical analysis further reveals that punctuated intensity goes even higher for Chinese regions facing fewer signs of social discontent. We attribute the intensification of punctuated dynamics to an information disadvantage arising from the lack of diverse, independent sources of information under authoritarianism. Our finding contributes to punctuated equilibrium theory by underlining the function of opposition groups not only as obstructionists but also as challengers to policy priorities. By marginalizing these challengers, authoritarian institutions confine attention to known problems, leading to serious delays in the discovery of and adjustment to emerging issues.     

民国最后一任驻苏大使傅秉常在苏联的日子

本文作者为中华民国最后一任驻苏联大使傅秉常孙女,兹依据傅氏日记对其使苏期间的使馆日常工作稍作梳理,供对中苏关系有兴趣的研究者参考。     

Speaking of silence,speaking of art,abortion and Ireland

Sounding the Depths a collaborative installation by Pauline Cummins and Louise Walsh, 1992 reclaimed the female body appropriated by the Eight Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland and symbolically opened it up to speak and even laugh in defiance of patriarchal and heteronormative definitions of “woman”. First exhibited in 1992, the artwork was addressed to the silencing of women about abortion and other denigrated bodily experiences in a deeply repressive social and political climate. More recent artworks which challenge how women’s reproductive bodies are controlled by the state evidence the continued relevance of these themes as related to the Irish contexts, North and South. This essay considers how art and contemporary pro-choice arts activism explores ways of “saying the unsayable” when abortion is criminalised, stigmatised and largely experienced secretly and silently, to transform its symbols and discourse.     

The Mainland Chinese market for nature tourism in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

Nature tourism has been emerged as an ecologically sensitive form of tourism in developed and developing countries. A large influx of tourists would have both benefits and adverse impacts on these destinations. With an increasing influence of Chinese market in many destinations and tourism activities worldwide, it is important to understand the perceptions and preferences of Chinese tourists toward natural attributes so that proper approaches to destination planning and marketing can be derived to better attract these segments of tourists and sustainably manage tourism resources. The results of an empirical study of a sample of Mainland citizens (n = 430) to Hong Kong's nature areas show that (1) they exert a high degree of interest in participating in nature tourism; (2) female and older people are more interested in visiting natural environment; (3) these potential nature tourists from China prefer going to places in association with sea views, and engaging in photo-taking, non-commercial activities and less artificial elements; and (4) the nature tourism attributes form two factors related to aspects of educational needs and relaxation (an experiential factor), and nature-oriented but also convenient (a functional factor). These considerations can lead to the development of ecotourism products that are better suited to meeting the interests of mainland Chinese tourists, while also enriching the host experience.