Container ports,local benefits and transportation worker earnings

Over the past 50 years, containerization has both enabled and reflected the articulation of increasingly concentrated and complex global trade flows. Once close infrastructural, economic and institutional ties between seaports and port cities have been loosened, since major ports now serve producers and consumers in widely dispersed hinterlands. This process has been especially intense in North America, where west coast ports serve markets across the continent. At the same time, many of the external costs of increased port activity are incurred in port cities. Hence, questions about the changing nature of employment in port and related goods-handling sectors have become increasingly important for understanding the share of economic benefits received by port cities. This paper focuses on the effects of containerization, and related changes in transportation regulation, on port-logistics worker earnings in major United States port cities since 1975. A difference-in-differences framework is used to examine the relative annual earnings of dock, trucking and warehouse workers in major container port cities. The analysis shows that, with notable exceptions, port-logistics worker earnings in major container ports are not necessarily higher than those of comparable workers. The findings provide further insights into the strained relationship between seaports and port cities in the era of containerization and economic globalization.

A multi-proxy paleolimnological reconstruction of Holocene climate conditions in the Great Basin, United States

A sediment core spanning  7000 cal yr BP recovered from Stella Lake, a small sub-alpine lake located in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, was analyzed for subfossil chironomids (non-biting midges), diatoms, and organic content (estimated by loss-on-ignition (LOI)). Subfossil chironomid analysis indicates that Stella Lake was characterized by a warm, middle Holocene, followed by a cool “Neoglacial” period, with the last two millennia characterized by a return to warmer conditions. Throughout the majority of the core the Stella Lake diatom-community composition is dominated by small, periphytic taxa which are suggestive of shallow, cool, alkaline, oligotrophic waters with extensive seasonal ice cover. A reconstruction of mean July air temperature (MJAT) was developed by applying a midge-based inference model for MJAT (two-component WA-PLS) consisting of 79 lakes and 54 midge taxa (r_jack² = 0.55, RMSEP = 0.9°C). Comparison of the chironomid-inferred temperature record to existing regional paleoclimate reconstructions suggests that the midge-inferred temperatures correspond well to regional patterns. This multi-proxy record provides valuable insight into regional Holocene climate and environmental conditions by providing a quantitative reconstruction of peak Holocene warmth and aquatic ecosystem response to these changes in the Great Basin, a region projected to experience increased aridity and higher temperatures.     

Emplacement and the dispossessions of cosmopolitan capital

Ananya Roy’s theorization of the urban land question in terms of ‘dis/possessive collectivism’ is a powerful, eloquent intervention at a pivotal moment of intensified, planetary urban land inequalities. In this commentary, we evaluate Roy’s call to identify sites of “strategic illegality” from which to challenge the racial and class inequalities of capitalist colonization of urban land and property. Our analysis focuses on three transformations – evolving jurisdictional geographies, expanded proliferations of disparate impact, and reinforced infrastructures of monetized universalization – in which old, familiar exploitations are produced through the new multicultural meritocracies of an increasingly transnational, cosmopolitan capitalism.     

联合国“海洋十年”规划实施之初动态与展望

近几十年来,全球的海洋健康状况明显下降。为了防止、减缓和扭转未来海洋健康和功能的恶化趋势,联合国启动了海洋科学促进可持续发展十年(2021—2030年)(简称“海洋十年”)规划,以整合全球海洋相关领域的资源与力量,科学地保护海洋并实现海洋资源的可持续开发和利用。联合国“海洋十年”规划为海洋领域的科学家、政策制定者、私营部门、非政府组织和地方群体更加高效、合理地共同保护和开发海洋资源提供了一个广阔平台,也为中国实现海洋强国战略、发展海洋科技带来了机遇与挑战。本研究通过梳理联合国“海洋十年”规划的发展过程和已批准的行动与活动,结合文献信息分析,深度解析了“海洋十年”规划的发展和实施动态,探讨了“海洋十年”规划的热点研究主题。自2020年9月,联合国正式发布“海洋十年”规划以来,共有来自60个国家的409项行动获得“海洋十年”的批准,其中包括47项计划、277个项目和85项捐助,研究热点主要是海洋政策制定与海洋管理、海洋生态系统健康和海洋生物多样性等。在此基础上,本文从“海洋十年”活动的实施与协调、能力建设、资金支持、人才培养和宣传推广的角度,进一步提出了促进我国全面参与“海洋十年”规划实施...     

ANTHROPOGENIC GEOMORPHOLOGY IN NORTHERN ALASKA

Two classes of anthropogenic landforms can be recognized in the permafrost environment of northern Alaska. Primary anthropogenic landforms result from the operation of natural geomorphic processes on man-made features such as roads or gravel berms. Secondary anthropogenic forms are identical to natural geomorphic features, but evolve as indirect consequences of human actions. The first group is illustrated by a badly thermokarsted road, which has caused serious drainage disruptions likely to persist over a long time period. Secondary forms are exemplified by fields of palsa-like features, which are common where pipeline-related construction activities or structures cause shallow ponding. Because they evolve rapidly, anthropogenic permafrost landforms can provide great insight into the development of natural periglacial features.     

中美人口贩运问题治理比较研究

文章基于中美人口贩运历史和现状,从国家方略、法律法规、工作机构、预警系统和受害者救助与安置回归5方面,比较了两国在打击人口贩运方面的优势和劣势。结果发现,中美人口贩运治理国家方略,均是在“以人为本、协同预防、依法打击、积极救助、妥善安置”的框架下制定的。中国更多的是针对打击国内拐卖妇女、儿童犯罪的全面性,而美国则是重点治理商业性跨国人口贩运。中国治理的特色在于自上而下的管理和自下而上的自治,一旦方略、法律法规形成,能够迅速覆盖全国执行;而美国属于联邦制国家,联邦政府与州政府是合作而非隶属关系,加之三权分立与制衡相结合的政治制度和两党制的政党制度,美国治理人口贩运问题的全国执行度、联动性还需进一步考察。最后,就中国如何应对和治理拐卖人口问题提出几点建议,具体包括：1）加大对《中国反对拐卖人口行动计划（2021—2030）》的实施力度,各地需因地制宜地明确行动措施;完善与国家法的衔接并合理吸收借鉴,持续推进针对打击人口拐卖的专门立法,增强应对能力;2）加强国际合作,重视社会建设和治理跨国、跨地域人口拐卖问题;3）细化反拐工作机构,成立专门工作组,设置专项经费,畅通建议渠道;4）构建并完善“...     

一个紧密结构地震台网中心核心数据处理系统

介绍一个基于UNIX类操作系统的紧密结构地震台网中心核心数据处理系统。 该系统适用于复杂结构的数字地震台网中心, 支持以比较低的成本, 可靠地完成地震台网中心的核心任务, 可以接收来自串口和网络的实时地震波形数据, 支持虚拟数字地震台网组网要求的节点数据服务功能等。 该系统的数据服务协议具有实时性高、 通讯可靠、 适应范围广等特点, 可以满足包括地震预警在内的所有实时地震数据应用的需要。 系统结构紧凑, 自动化程度高, 安全, 稳定, 系统伸缩性大, 可以满足台站数目不大于100个的数字地震台网中心的需要, 同时也可以作为大型数字地震台网中心的处理节点, 构成大型数字地震台网中心的数据处理系统。     

试论地球内部流体与地质作用——现代地质科学研究思考

把以地球固体部分作为主要研究对象所建立起来的地质科学称为传统地质科学,它只在该学科研究的起点——沉积地质学和学科研究的最终目的——成矿地质学两个领域不自觉地将地球内部流体放到了重要地位,而在其间的绝大多数研究则忽略了对地球内部流体的讨论,在其原有的知识体系范围内已找不到关于地球内部物质和能量转移、转换等方面所存在的大量问题的解决途径和完整答案。现代地质科学的发展已经开始将地球内部流体作为主要研究对象,并将其贯穿到了所有地质学研究的领域当中。其基本出发点应是：地球内部流体广泛存在,并永不停息地运动着,它与固体地球部分同样重要,是现代地质科学研究的主要对象。它不仅在各种地质作用中起着极其重要的作用, 而且, 它基本上可以认为是一切地质作用的最初根源, 也就是说, 流体作用贯穿于一切地质作用( 包括构造活动、岩浆作用、变质作用、沉积作用、成矿作用、地质自然灾害等) 过程的始终。地球内部一切地质作用又通过地球内部流体有机地统一在一起。可将地球内部流体按其与特定地质作用的关系划分为具包含循环性质的初始流体、过程流体和终结流体三类。针对目前的研究大量地集中在过程流体和终结流体方面的现状, 在体现现代地质科学和传统地质科学本质区别的地质作用初始流体方面进行了系统整理和论述, 并提出了可能成为现代地质科学基础性学科的(地球内部) 流体统一地质学。     

Climate change: long-term targets and short-term commitments

International negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change could take several different approaches to advance future mitigation commitments. Options range from trying to reach consensus on specific long-term atmospheric concentration targets (e.g. 550 ppmv) to simply ignoring this contentious issue and focusing instead on what can be done in the nearer term. This paper argues for a strategy that lies between these two extremes. Internationally agreed threshold levels for certain categories of impacts or of risks posed by climate change could be translated into acceptable levels of atmospheric concentrations. This could help to establish a range of upper limits for global emissions in the medium term that could set the ambition level for negotiations on expanded GHG mitigation commitments. The paper thus considers how physical and socio-economic indicators of climate change impacts might be used to guide the setting of such targets. In an effort to explore the feasibility and implications of low levels of stabilisation, it also quantifies an intermediate global emission target for 2020 that keeps open the option to stabilise at 450 ppmv CO₂ If new efforts to reduce emissions are not forthcoming (e.g. the Kyoto Protocol or similar mitigation efforts fail), there is a significant chance that the option of 450 ppmv CO₂ is out of reach as of 2020. Regardless of the preferred approach to shaping new international commitments on climate change, progress will require improved information on the avoided impacts climate change at different levels of mitigation and careful assessment of mitigation costs.     

Source parameters of March 10 and September 13, 2007, United Arab Emirates earthquakes

On March 10 and September 13, 2007 two earthquakes with moment magnitudes 3.66 and 3.94, respectively, occurred in the eastern part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two events were widely felt in the northern Emirates and Oman and were accompanied by a few aftershocks. Ground motions from these events were well recorded by the broadband stations of Dubai (UAE) and Oman seismological networks and provide an excellent opportunity to study the tectonic process and present day stress field acting in this area. In this study, we report the focal mechanisms of the two main shocks by two methods: first motion polarities and regional waveform moment tensor inversion. Our results indicate nearly pure normal faulting mechanisms with a slight strike slip component. We associated the fault plane trending NNE–SSW with a suggested fault along the extension of the faults bounded Bani Hamid area. The seismicity distribution between two earthquake sequences reveals a noticeable gap that may be a site of a future event. The source parameters (seismic moment, moment magnitude, fault radius, stress drop and displacement across the fault) were also estimated from displacement spectra. The moment magnitudes were very consistent with waveform inversion. The recent deployment of seismic networks in Dubai and Oman reveals tectonic activity in the northern Oman Mountains that was previously unknown. Continued observation and analysis will allow for characterization of seismicity and assessment of seismic hazard in the region.