Hydrologic response of a small forested swamp complex,Seymour Valley,British Columbia

Wetlands are common in Coastal Western Hemlock forests yet the hydrologic processes that generate runoff from small swamps are not completely understood. Direct field observations, hydrologic, and electrical conductivity data were collected from a gently sloping forested swamp complex from July to November 2009. Swamps occupied depressions between raised mounds (0.1 to 3 m high) and were connected by an ephemeral creek. Runoff was controlled by antecedent moisture conditions and influenced by basin microtopography. Two hydrologic regimes occurred during the study period and different runoff processes dominated each regime. Runoff was generated by subsurface flow during dry antecedent conditions as swamps remained hydrologically disconnected from each other. Runoff was generated by surface outflow from hydrologically connected swamps during wet antecedent conditions as ponded water spilled out of the depressions. The forested swamp complex produced a faster but limited hydrologic response during dry antecedent conditions compared to a slower but greater hydrologic response during wet antecedent conditions. Stormwater runoff and runoff ratios were up to two orders of magnitude higher in wet conditions than during similarly sized events in dry conditions. These factors should be considered when designing monitoring programs or runoff models in forested swamps with significant microtopography. Field surveys and estimates of hydrologic inputs and outputs may be useful in predicting the potential hydrologic connectivity of isolated forested swamps.     

Detrended fluctuation analysis of daily atmospheric surface temperature records in Atlantic Canada

The presence and properties of long‐range correlations in temperature data reflect interactions among climate components; therefore, the quantitative characterization of scaling aspects of temperature patterns is important to climate research and can serve as an effective constituent of tests for climate models. The article presents the results of a study using multiscale characterization of daily atmospheric surface temperature patterns in Atlantic Canada. Important influences in this region are exerted from the west (the Pacific Ocean), the south (the Gulf of Mexico) and the north (the Arctic), while a significant easterly impact is due to the Atlantic Ocean; the corresponding processes involve a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. The objective of the present study of long‐term temperature recordings was to evaluate the scaling properties produced in this geographical context. The data consist of homogenized daily atmospheric temperature time series recorded in stations from Atlantic Canada over a time interval of more than 100 years. Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) was applied both to maximum and minimum temperature records. The atmospheric temperature pattern produced by the interplay of factors of different strengths and dominating various time‐space scales was found to be characterized by consistent scaling properties, expressed over time intervals ranging from months to decades. Higher values of DFA scaling exponents were obtained for minimum temperature compared to maximum temperature records. Site‐specific properties include stronger pattern persistence—higher DFA exponents—for oceanic than for coastal locations; persistence tends to decrease with increasing distance from the coast for distances up to 10 kilometres. Scaling exponents tend to increase with decreasing difference between average minimum and maximum temperature, which may be relevant for the assessment of future changes in pattern variability if climate change involves modified contrasts between minimum and maximum temperature values.     

Raised fields in the Bolivian Amazonia: a prehistoric green revolution or a flood risk mitigation strategy?

The Llanos de Moxos (LM), Beni, Bolivia, with its impressive number of pre-Columbian earthworks, is an ideal region for studying past human–environment interactions in the Amazonia. Agricultural raised fields are among the most striking of those earthworks. They can offer us valuable information about the region’s agricultural carrying capacity and the nature and extent of human occupation in pre-Columbian times and, therefore, help adopt better informed conservation and development strategies for Amazonia in the future. However, before tackling these issues we need to further our understanding of why pre-Columbian raised fields were built and how they were managed in the past. Published data on raised fields in the LM is contrasted with new data gathered from field and remote sensing images. Raised fields have been analysed in relation to the hydrology, soil, topography and paleoclimate of the areas where they are found. In light of this new data we believe that there are grounds to question the current model that suggests raised field agriculture provided high yields without the need of fallow periods, representing a kind of pre-Columbian green revolution. Our alternative proposal suggests that raised field agriculture allowed pre-Columbian peoples to mitigate the risk of more intense and frequent flooding than is experienced today in the LM. We show that raised fields were built only in those areas where there were no alternatives, which do not coincide with those areas where pre-Columbian societies seem to have flourished and reached high levels of social complexity.     

改革开放以来中国社会福利制度的嬗变

过去的30多年,有着鲜明计划经济烙印的社会福利制度随着经济转轨经历了从初始的起步探索,到后来逐渐转型和步入正轨的艰辛的改革历程。职工福利分解、社会福利社会化推进、社区服务普及、农村社会福利重构、适度普惠型福利探索等凝结为改革成果,初步形成了新型社会福利体系,但这些改革在社会福利的目标模式上是初级的、不全面的和不平衡的。面对变化的国情,处理好发展与公平的关系,构建适度普惠型社会福利制度,是中国社会福利的目标选择。     

The Service Sector in the Chinese Economy: A Geographic Appraisal

A U.S.-based economic geographer and observer of China's economy examines the rapid expansion of the country's largely overlooked service sector, at both the national and regional levels. A particular focus of the author's research is on identifying regional variations in the development of services within the country and exploring some of the more important contributing factors. Based on the findings, the paper also discusses structural shifts that occurred in China's regional economies, disclosing inter alia that inequality in the contribution of services to GDP did not follow the same trajectory as that of employment in services. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L800, O180, P230. 6 figures, 4 tables, 82 references.     

The 2012 acid mine drainage (AMD) crisis in Carolina's municipal water supply

ABSTRACT

There are growing concerns in South Africa about the threat that acid mine drainage (AMD) poses to local natural water resources in many of the country's mining areas. Since the beginning of the 21^st century, the toxic water has been responsible for pollution in parts of the country. Government and operators in the country's water sector have actively been working in recent years at addressing the problem. This article deals with a contemporary history of an AMD crisis in the coalmining town of Carolina, in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, and explains how the matter was eventually resolved. The discourse focuses on how people of Carolina responded to the contamination of the municipality's water supply system and eventually chose to follow the path of active protest. The water crisis even made a detour to the high court, with a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) actively supporting the cause of local residents. Although by September 2012 the town's water supply was restored, the community remained distrustful of the local authority's ability to secure a consistent supply of good quality water. The authorities took some measures to restore trust. People had been traumatised and sound relations had to be restored in the aftermath of the crisis. The Carolina crisis of 2012 is contemplated from the perspective of the current threat that AMD poses to South Africa's finite water resources and the danger of mining in sensitive areas.     

Making news and making space: Framing Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

How is inner city space represented and by whom? Drawing from an extensive framing analysis of print media portrayals of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside between 1996 and 2008, we offer a detailed assessment of the predominately negative portrayal of the neighbourhood, and the centrality of three frames: medicalization, criminalization, and socialization. Certain social actors are given a privileged position in the media in the representation of the inner city. Outsiders are privileged over insiders, with the neighbourhood constituted as a problematic space and its residents as passive victims. The effect is to further the stigmatization of an already marginalized neighbourhood, and to accentuate the disempowerment of its residents.     

Spatial and environmental impacts on adverse birth outcomes in Ontario

This study assesses the overall spatial variations and neighbourhood‐level “hot spots” of low birth weight and preterm birth incidence within three public health units in Ontario, Canada. The analysis uses a stepwise approach of intra‐class correlation analysis, a spatial scan statistic, and multilevel spatial modeling. Results show that neighbourhood level variation accounts for only 2–3 percent of the total variation of adverse birth outcomes in the study area. However, strong spatial autocorrelation is observed at the neighbourhood level, and spatial clusters of relatively high adverse birth outcome rates exist in areas that are associated with environmental risks, including pollution sources and proximity to highways. Thus, although estimated neighbourhood impacts on adverse birth outcomes are small compared with those of individual‐level risks, local high potential environmental risk areas are identifiable. Environmental surveillance and spatial statistical analysis should be conducted regularly by local health authorities to identify and monitor the impact of environmental changes on health in general and on birth outcomes in particular. Specific community‐oriented health interventions may be required to reduce observed local health impacts.     

Deutsche Literatur an der Indianergrenze

The thirteenth-century Spanish poem Libro de Apolonio (LA) shares many features with other works of the cuaderna vía; among them is the frequency with which the personified figure of sin makes its appearance. One finds the word pecado in the opening scene of the LA, where the narrator says that sin, always restless, manages to stir up desire in King Antioco and makes him turn his gaze on his own daughter (6). Soon again, in reference to the same incestuous king, the narrator writes that “metiólo en locura la muebda del pecado” (26). With two early references in the LA to sinful impulses, the narrator suggests that pecado is the root cause of Byzantine-like adventures that take Apolonio across the Mediterranean world. To further underscore its importance, the author uses the word pecado in a variety of contexts a minimum of thirty-one times. Given its near omnipresence, it is essential that one consider the nature and role of sin when interpreting the work. As a window through which to view sin, this essay focuses on the hero’s status as king. If Apolonio is referred to as pilgrim on occasion, it is no less significant that the main character is referred to as king no less than thirty-five times in the work. It could be that the author wants us to bear in mind that we are not dealing with “everyman,” but with a king. By viewing Apolonio in this light, one can proceed to examine his royal performance to assess to what degree his shortcomings might be considered pecado.