Institutional power-geometries: enduring and shifting work relations in cleansing depots

Institutions are objects of study that raise questions about the relationship between continuity and change. Employment is changing and for this reason it presents an opportunity to explore how it is that paid work might be thought of as an institutional ‘space’ that is made up of enduring and shifting power relations. This paper views institutions through a lens of ‘power-geometries’, that is, as complex webs of relations of domination and subordination (Massey, D., 1992. New Left Review 196, 65–84). The paper illustrates these power-geometries by exploring employment in local authority cleansing depots in South East England. I concentrate on how the inequity of employment relations enables the institutionalisation of work practices. Employment relations were found to have shifted to different degrees according to the particular geographies and histories of labour markets, employer strategies, local politics and worker solidarities. Despite these variations the asymmetry of employment relations is seen to have endured. I conclude by arguing that whilst power-geometries are not fixed, when ‘institutionalised’ they are not easily changed during ‘everyday’ interaction.     

阜阳市浅层地下水总硬度近年变化特征

阜阳是安徽省人口最多的市,工农业生产主要取用地下水,总硬度是该市浅层地下水主要超标组分之一。近5年来,该市浅层地下水总硬度平均值呈现缓慢增高的趋势,标准差亦在缓慢增加,近两年总硬度数值间差异明显增大。利用spss软件,分析近年浅层地下水的pH、TDS、总碱度、氯化物与总硬度的相关关系,结果可知:pH、TDS、总碱度、氯化物与总硬度都存在极显著的线性相关关系,其中,仅有pH与总硬度是负相关,其余均为正相关关系,总碱度与总硬度为低度线性相关,TDS、氯化物与总硬度呈中度线性相关。结合阜阳市浅层地下水的埋藏条件、补给来源、监测井的地理位置和地下水开采历史,得出该市浅层地下水总硬度升高主要与人为污染和地下水超采有关,外来的污染物来源主要是农业污染和生活污染。     

川西北早志留世陆源碎屑──碳酸盐混积缓坡

研究区位于扬子地块西北缘，由一套巨厚的页岩、泥岩层夹生物礁及透镜状和不规则层状风暴生屑灰岩、瘤状灰岩组成。根据区内特征的岩石类型及其组合、分布和相应的化石生态，作者认为本区兰多维列期至早温洛克期时为一典型的陆源碎屑－－碳酸盐混积均斜缓坡，并且从浅到深划分为滨岸、浅缓坡、深缓坡及盆地等亚环境。滨岸区位于潮间带，以潮坪碳酸盐岩为代表；浅缓坡位于浪基面至风暴浪基面之间，岩性组合为Ａ、Ｂ类风暴岩，Ａ、Ｂ类瘤状灰岩、生物礁灰岩及粘结岩；深缓坡位于风暴浪基面至最大风暴浪基面之间，岩性以Ｄ、Ｅ类风暴岩、Ｃ类瘤状灰岩及泥页岩组合为特征；盆地处于最大风暴浪基面之下，为黑色泥页岩沉积。结合早志留世时全球冰川作用，文中讨论了海平面变化的原因及对环境的影响。     

Are we adapting to climate change?

Human systems will have to adapt to climate change. Understanding of the magnitude of the adaptation challenge at a global scale, however, is incomplete, constrained by a limited understanding of if and how adaptation is taking place. Here we develop and apply a methodology to track and characterize adaptation action; we apply these methods to the peer-reviewed, English-language literature. Our results challenge a number of common assumptions about adaptation while supporting others: (1) Considerable research on adaptation has been conducted yet the majority of studies report on vulnerability assessments and natural systems (or intentions to act), not adaptation actions. (2) Climate change is rarely the sole or primary motivator for adaptation action. (3) Extreme events are important adaptation stimuli across regions. (4) Proactive adaptation is the most commonly reported adaptive response, particularly in developed nations. (5) Adaptation action is more frequently reported in developed nations, with middle income countries underrepresented and low-income regions dominated by reports from a small number of countries. (6) There is limited reporting on adaptations being developed to take advantage of climate change or focusing on women, elderly, or children.     

Everyday Adaptation: Theorizing climate change adaptation in daily life

Climate science to date demonstrates that natural and human systems must urgently adapt. Adaptation refers to changes in societies and ecological systems as they respond to both actual and anticipated impacts of the changing climate. While adaptation is not limited to the level of planning and policy, existing adaptation practice privileges institutional action. We argue that the definition of adaptation should be broadened to include the small, incremental changes made in our daily lives to accommodate the shifting ecologies in which we live. Drawing on critical adaptation research and our own ethnographic fieldwork in the Global South, we define everyday adaptation as the shifted ways a person works, eats, lives and thinks in response to climate realities, rather than the hardening of coastlines or the relocation of vulnerable structures. We integrate and build on existing scholarship on adaptation and the everyday to theorize the logics of everyday, hyperlocal adaptation. This hyperlocal scale is a critical component of any definition of adaptation and a useful lens for studying the way much of the global population adapts and will continue to adapt their lives to climate change. We offer two theoretical components of adaptation revealed by the everyday - adaptation labor and value adaptation – as lenses to see changes in everyday action. Through considering hyperlocal action, we then identify and explore four logics of everyday adaptation actions: lifestyle stability, socio-ecological reactivity, livelihood flexibility, and community capacity. Everyday adaptations are limited by individuals’ capacity to adapt and thereby determine the longevity, livability, and quality of life of places on the frontlines of climate change. We argue for understanding the aggregate effects of everyday adaptation in order to better align the actions of those living with climate change in their everyday lives and the large-scale adaptation projects aiming to protect them.     

Adaptive capacity within tropical marine protected areas – Differences between men- and women-headed households

Households within tropical coastal communities face a multitude of stressors related to environmental, social and economic change. To minimise negative impacts on households, a priority is to understand and if possible build adaptive capacity to enable adjustment to both extant, and anticipated stressors. Adaptive capacity may not be equally distributed across households due to social differences and inequalities, including gender. In this study we sought to understand whether the factors underlying adaptive capacity differ between men- and women-headed households across three marine protected areas (MPAs) in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Adaptive capacity was significantly higher in men-headed households compared to women-headed households between different MPAs as a whole, however significant differences were not found for men and women-headed households within the MPAs. The factors underlying adaptive capacity were investigated through boosted regression trees, a relatively novel approach within the field, and found to be similar between men and women counterparts. These factors were agency, material conditions, low ecosystem dependence, education, occupational multiplicity and needs satisfaction (i.e. a poverty indicator) which was singularly important in women-headed households. While the factors themselves were similar in men and women–headed households, gendered differences were found regarding differing levels in the identified factors. Accordingly, the processes that underly the differences found should be addressed within initiatives seeking to understand and build adaptive capacity.     

纬向平均的风向改变指数与季节转换

通过定义一个能客观定量描述大气环流四维时空变化的风向改变指数WI,用以研究大气环流的时空演变规律和季节转换。在对纬向平均的WI做了经验正交函数(EOF)分析后,得到了其前四个模态。第一模态揭示的是全年平均的WI空间分布的基态。第二模态反映的是WI场的偏差中呈现准调和变化的部分,热带、副热带、温寒带季风区在该模态中均有明显体现。第三模态反映的是WI场的偏差中呈现非调和变化的部分,该部分揭示了因南北半球海陆分布的差异和因大气、海洋流体的非线性效应,其所造成的从春到秋与从秋到春的季节变化的不对称性以及平流层的二月突变现象。第四模态反映的是全球各层盛行风反向区域从春到夏的北进和从夏到秋南撤的现象。     

且末绿洲1961-2010年霜冻的变化特征及其对主要农作物的影响

利用且末绿洲近50 a初、终霜日等气候资料,分析该地区的霜冻变化特征,初步探讨其对主要农作物的影响.结果表明:且末绿洲近50 a来终霜危害大于初霜,初霜冻推迟、终霜冻提前趋势明显,无霜期呈微弱延长趋势但不显著;初、终霜均具有5a、33 a的振荡周期,未来一段时期均处在偏晚期;进入21世纪以后未出现特早初霜和特晚终霜.总体上看,气候变暖使该地区霜冻灾害减少,对主要农作物的生长有利.     

华北地区的降水特征及趋势估计

华北地区位于干旱和半干旱地区。气候降水是该区水资源的主要来源之一,也是影响该区水资源周期性变化的主要因素之一。华北及其北、中、南三个分区的年降水距平曲线变化趋势３具有相似性,而且此四个地区连续出现正距平的年数不超过４年,华北及其北、中部连续出现负距平的年数不超过５年,南部不超过６年,华北、黄淮和东北地区东部与印度次大陆大地区夏季降水距平之间存在正相关关系,同时又与澳洲大部分地区冬季降水距平有负相关     

黄河流域未来气候-水文变化的模拟研究

将大尺度半分布式水文模型VIC应用到黄河上中游流域(花园口水文断面以上),并利用区域气候模式RegCM4.0单向嵌套全球气候模式BCC_CSM1.1,动力降尺度到黄河流域的模拟结果驱动VIC模型,开展在新的典型浓度路径下(RCP4.5和RCP8.5)黄河流域未来气候和水文变化的离线模拟。模拟结果显示,在RCP4.5和RCP8.5排放情景下,黄河流域21世纪平均地表气温相对于1971—2000年均呈显著上升趋势,2019—2048年上升1.2—1.5℃,2069—2098年上升2.19—3.9℃。未来年平均降水量有微弱的增大,2019—2048年增幅为6%左右,2069—2098年增幅为1.4%—5.6%。未来蒸发量增大明显,2069—2098年年平均蒸发量最大可增加9.6%。2019—2048年花园口水文站的年平均径流量增大3.4%—7.4%,2069—2098年年平均径流量转为减少,减幅为3.3%—5.3%。黄河上游地区未来气候和水文变化趋势与黄河流域基本一致,但未来年径流量变幅低于黄河流域,相对比较稳定。