The British who are not British and the immigration policies that are not: the case of Hong Kong

"While 'closed-door' immigration policies are adopted by most countries, 'exceptionalist' legislation is often made to permit entry of special immigrant groups. An example is the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990, which was passed in the run-up to the change in sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997. Britain's increasingly restrictive immigration policies prior to 1990 [have] resulted in the majority of Hong Kong citizens having British nationality (as British Dependent Territories citizens) but without the right of abode in the U.K. The 1990 Act conferred full British citizenship status on 50,000 heads of households in Hong Kong." The authors conclude that "in a world of marked global inequalities, immigration pressure will become even more extreme and is likely to produce an increasing number of cases of exceptionalist immigration legislation in countries with both ?open' and 'closed'-door policies.'     

《干旱区地理》的引文统计分析

本文使用文献计量学中的引文分析方法,以《干旱区地理》为调查样本进行了统计分析。《干旱地理》１９８５－１９９４年共版４３期,刊登论文５５８篇,其中附有引文的论文４３６篇,引文２７６６条。     

Age — heaping: contrasting patterns from china

Detailed examination of China's 1982 census data confirms that the standard of age reporting among the Han Chinese, and among many of the ethnic minorities, is very good. Furthermore the quality of age reporting is unaffected by large variations in levels of literacy which exist between men and women, between young and old, and between rural and urban areas. Much of the credit for the high quality of China's age reporting stems from the distinctive nature of Chinese traditional calendars. However, in the far west of China, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, age heaping and age exaggeration are as bad as they are in many other developing countries. The authors show that the poor quality of age reporting in Xinjiang is confined to three of the region's ethnic communities, the Uygur, Kirgiz and Tajik, who appear to neither know, nor care, how old they are.     

冀西北长城纪宣龙式铁矿层中微体植物化石的发现及其意义

本文研究的是笔者等在冀西北长城系串岭沟组宣龙式铁矿层中发现的微体植物化石,这些化石都保存在铁质叠层石(肾状赤铁矿)和铁质核形石(鲕状赤铁矿)的基本层中。微化石以丝状体为主,部分为球状体。归属于原核生物蓝藻门颤藻科的两个属和色球藻科的一个属。化石层同位素年龄约在1800—1757Ma。这些化石与北美冈弗林特组微化石比较,既有些相似,又有些区别。该化石的发现为研究铁矿的成因,指示沉积环境及层位对比都很有意义。     

毫秒时间尺度太阳微波辐射新特征

自1990年6月北京天文台太阳射电偏振仪投入实测以来,观测到一百多个“Spike”和短时标精细结构微波幅射,其中包括一些新的微波幅射特征。本文给出了主要的四点特征:(1)窄带辐射;(2)快速偏振逆转;(3)快速频率漂移;(4)不同时标的准周期振荡。     

辽南复州湾太原组的燕海扇类

本文记述了发现于辽南复州湾上石炭统太原组的燕海扇类,计5属17种。讨论了Annuliconcha与Paradoxipecten的属征及有关问题。上述发现在东北地区尚属首次。     

Cross-formational hydrocarbon fluid flows in the Tertiary deltaic system of the Beaufort–Mackenzie Basin

Molecular and isotopic compositions of crude oils in the Beaufort–Mackenzie Basin confirm three genetic end-member oil groups and suggest extensive cross-formational hydrocarbon fluid flows in the Tertiary deltaic system. Inter- and intra-fractional variations in the geochemistry of the Tertiary-reservoired oils indicate that the oil source/maturity signatures were substantially masked by biomarkers that were picked up along migration pathways. Thus, many of the previously recognized “immature non-marine oils” are in fact thermally mature, probably derived from unpenetrated deeper marine source rocks. Although the effective source rock volumes have not been evaluated and their exact stratigraphic levels remain unknown, the relative timing of oil generation versus trap formation, rather than poor source quality, may be the cause of under-filled traps in the offshore area.     

Modeling the seismic response of basin-edge structure by a sequential waveform method

A sequential waveform method is developed to simulate the seismic response of basin-edge structure excited by a plane incident P-wave. The full procedure involves: (a) a previous parameterization of the investigated model using the seismic wave velocities and depths of the sedimentary stratifications; (b) an input motion determined from the records at stations installed on hard rock; (c) forward computation of the P-SV elastic wave field by means of a two-dimensional finite difference (FD) method; (d) the optimization of the model vector using simulated annealing technique and comparing the simulated seismic response of the tested structure with the observed wave field; (e) the correction of the initial model by trial-and-error by testing the differences between synthetics and observed data, and (f) the final solution obtained by iteration using the conjugate gradient algorithm. The search of an optimal basin-edge model has been parallel processed by varying the shapes and velocities of strata on the basis of the fitting of relative timing, amplitude and phase between the output and the observed data. The input motion and sensitivity have been checked and the validity of the method has been demonstrated by numeric analysis. Using the teleseismic records generated by 7 earthquakes recorded at 26 broadband seismic stations, we have studied the seismic velocity structure of the southern edge of the Jiyang depression located in the Bohai Bay basin, northern China. Two cross sections show an agreement between the velocity results and the geological sections available in the region. In addition, we obtain evidence of three hidden faults under the sections and features that suggest major extensions at the Paleogene.     

Soil quality changes in land degradation as indicated by soil chemical, biochemical and microbiological properties in a karst area of southwest Guizhou, China

Not only the nutritional status and biological activity but also the soil ecological functioning or soil health has been impacted profoundly by land degradation in the karst area of southwest China where the karst ecosystems are generally considered as extremely vulnerable to land degradation under intensified land-use changes. The objectives of this study are to elucidate the changes in overall soil quality by a holistic approach of soil nutritional, biological activity, and soil health indicators in the karst area as impacted by intense cultivation and vegetation degradation. Topsoil samples were collected on selected eco-tesserae in a sequence of land degradation in a karst area of southwest Guizhou in 2004. The soil nutrient pools of organic carbon (C_org), extractable extracellular carbon (C_ext), total soil nitrogen (N_t), alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen (N_ah), total phosphorus (P_t), available phosphorus (P_a) were analyzed by wet soil chemistry. The soil biological properties were studied by means of measurements of microbial biomass carbon (both by fumigation–extraction, FE-C_mic, and by calculation from substrate-incubation respiration, SIR-C_mic) of respiration [respiration without addition of substrates, basal respiration (BR), and potential respiration (PR) with substrate-incubation] and of soil enzyme activities (invertase, urease, and alkaline phosphatase). Soil health status was assessed by simple indices of C_mic/C_org and BR/C_mic in conjunction with bacterial community structures determined by polymerase chain reaction and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. While the nutritional pool parameters, such as C_org and C_ext, described basically the changes in soil life-supporting capacity with cultivation interference and vegetation declined, those parameters of biological activity such as FE-C_mic, SIR, and SIR-C_mic as well as bacterial community structures measured by molecular method evidenced well the changes in soil functioning for ecosystem health with the land degradation.     

Distribution of cadmium, chromium, copper, lead and zinc in marine sediments in Hong Kong waters

Partitioning of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn) in marine sediments collected from various sites in Hong Kong waters were determined using sequential extraction method. Sediments from Kellette Bank, located in Victoria Harbour, had higher metal concentrations especially Cu and Zn than most other sites. Slightly over 20% of total Cu and Cr existed as readily available forms in Peng Chau and Kellette Bank. At most sampling sites, over 15% of the Cu existed as the exchangeable form indicating that Cu could be readily released into the aqueous phase from sediments. A significantly higher percentage of Pb and Zn was associated with the three non-residual fractions. Hence, there is a greater environmental concern for remobilization of Pb and Zn compared with Cr. The high amount of residual Cd (>50%) and the relatively lower Cd content indicate that little environmental concern is warranted for the remobilization of Cd. Distribution of metals in sediments collected from different depth at Kellette Bank shows that metal concentrations decreased with profile depth. The levels of Pb and Zn associated with the two readily available fractions increased sharply in the surface sediment. These metals represented the pollutants, which were introduced into the area in the mid-eighties through early nineties as a result of rapid economic and industrial development in the territory. As significant portions of these metals were bound to the readily available phases in the surface sediments, metal remobilization could be a concern. An erratum to this article can be found at