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.'     

The political economy of urbanization in Melanesia

The authors attempt to provide a comprehensive review of urbanization in three Melanesian countries (Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu) and in Fiji. The focus of the paper is on the development and perpetuation of various forms of inequality exemplified by Melanesian urbanization and its colonial origins.     

Results of TV imaging of Phobos (Experiment VSK-Fregat)

From February to March 1989 the Phobos 2 spacecraft took 37 TV images of Phobos at a distance of 190-1100 km. These images complement Mariner-9 and Viking data by providing higher-resolution coverage of a large region West of the crater Stickney (40-160 degrees W) and by providing disk-resolved measurements of surface brightness at a greater range of wavelengths and additional phase angles. These images have supported updated mapping and characterization of large craters and grooves, and have provided additional observations of craters' and grooves' bright rims. Variations in surface visible/near-infrared color ratio of almost a factor of 2 have been recognized; these variations appear to be associated with the ejecta of specific large impact craters. Updated determinations of satellite mass and volume allow calculation of a more accurate value of bulk density, 1.90 +/- 0.1 g cm-3. This is significantly lower than the density of meteoritic analogs to Phobos' surface, suggesting a porous interior perhaps containing interstitial ice.     

Distribution and mode of occurrences of radionuclides in phosphogypsum from the Aqaba and Eshidiya fertilizer plants, Jordan

Phosphogypsum is a waste by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry that has relatively high concentrations of some U decay-series radionuclides such as ^226Ra and ^210Pb. The distribution and environmental mobility of radionuclides in phosphogypsum are an important concern because this gypsum by-product is used for wallboard, in agriculture and as a soil amendment. This study determined the distribution of ^226Ra, ^210Pb, within phosphogypsum stacks of varying age and among three size fractions （coarse： 〈0.212 mm; medium： 0.212-0.053 mm; fine： 〈0.053 mm）, in phosphogypsum derived from Aqaba and Eshidiya fertilizer plants. The results indicated that ^226Ra and ^210Pb were generally uniformly distributed in phosphogypsum stacks and showed no significant difference in the concentration of these elements with the age of stack. In the Aqaba phosphogypsum ^226Ra was slightly 10% enriched in the coarse fraction, while ^210Pb was 10% enriched in the free size fraction. In the Eshidiya phosphogypsum ^226Ra and ^210Pb contents were both relatively enriched （10%） in the fine size fraction.     

Changes to cadmium associations in canal sediments on drying and oxidation

The mainly 19th Century canal system in the UK, largely managed by British Waterways, has been increasingly brought back into operation over the last few decades, and is now widely used for both leisure, and, increasingly, transport. Both initial and routine dredging of the canal sediment is carried out and these sediments are generally disposed of to land. Because many of the canals were connected with primary industries, their sediments can locally be significantly contaminated with heavy metals, and the behaviour of these metals under differing redox conditions, when introduced into a new environment （i.e., on land） is of importance for environmental risk-assessment purposes. Canal sediments are often rich in sulfidic mineral phases, and we have attempted to quantify the influence of these sulfidic phases on the release and retention of metals in dredged canal sediments, using a combination of traditional chemical techniques （e.g. sequential extraction） and X-ray absorption spectroscopy （XAS）. Sediment samples have been collected from urban fresh-water canals, one in the British Midlands and one in Northern France. It appears from XAS that Cd is largely associated with oxygen in air-dried sediment, and with sulphur in vacuum-dried sediment.     

Zircon LA-ICP-MS U-Pb age, Ce^4＋/Ce^3＋ ratios and the geochemical features of the Machangqing complex associated with copper deposit

1IntroductionQuite a number of porphyry copper deposits havebeen found in the Cenozoic alkali-intrusions along theJinshajiang-Ailaoshan-Red River fault zone,whichconstitute the Cenozoic ore belt in China.The Cenozo-ic alkali-intrusive rocks are similar in…     

美国地质调查局激光雷达应用新进展

随着激光雷达(Light detection and ranging,Lidar)技术的成熟,美国地质调查局(U.S.Geo-logical Survey,USGS)在这个方向开展了许多应用研究。科学家们正在发展表达、使用高分辨率Lidar数据的新型技术;同时,为方便公众获取相应信息,数据及提取信息的发布手段也在研究之中。以下通过几个实例做一简要介绍。1典型研究1.1数据分发建立国家地图集(National Map)的一个目标是向公众发布基础数字地理信息。该地图集的高程部分是通过USGS地球观测系统(EROS)数据中心的国家高程数据集(National ElevationDataset,NED)维护的。NED提供3种…     

青藏高原北羌塘地区晚三叠世地层展布和沉积型式

北羌塘盆地地处拉竹龙-金沙江缝合带和双湖构造混杂岩带之间,自北向南可划分出5个沉积相带/岩石地层单位：以砂泥质复理石-洋岛、岛弧型火山岩-大理岩岩石组合沉积为特征的若拉岗日群,以深水复理石盆地相沉积为特征的藏夏河组,以深水暗色细碎屑岩盆地相沉积为特征的结扎群,以开阔台地相/缓坡相碳酸盐岩沉积为特征的菊花山组,以三角洲相含煤碎屑岩系沉积为特征的土门格拉群.晚三叠世北羌塘盆地显示为南缓北陡的箕状沉积格局,盆地内充填物为南薄北厚的楔形沉积体,且双物源、沉降中心和沉积中心不一致,表明其具有前陆盆地的一系列沉积特征.     

藏北若拉岗日岩群变质火山岩的基本特征及构造属性

藏北的若拉岗日岩群，因处于拉竹龙-金沙江缝合带南缘，其成生背景及构造属性历来倍受关注。白头山、岗盖日、狮头山等地的若拉岗日岩群主要为一套变质中基性火山岩系，不同地段夹杂大理岩、变质砂板岩、硅质岩、超基性岩等小岩片或块体，分别具有洋岛型、洋脊型及岛弧型火山岩的基本特征，并构成白头山西以岛弧火山岩为主的弧火山岩片，岗盖日以洋脊型变玄武岩为主夹杂硅质岩、超基性岩小岩片而共同组成的蛇绿混杂岩片及白头山、狮头山以洋岛型火山岩为主夹杂碳酸盐岩块体的大洋海山岩片，从而指出该区若拉岗日岩群为一套不同构造属性的火山岩与大理岩、硅质岩、超基性岩等相伴的构造混杂岩，其中既有某大洋的产物，又有某洋岛及陆缘岛弧的产物。