From public to private to … mutual? Restructuring water supply governance in England and Wales     

Karen J. Bakker 《Geoforum》2003,34(3):359-374

A little over a decade after privatization, the water supply industry in England and Wales is undergoing a period of restructuring; many water companies have withdrawn from equity markets, some have separated asset ownership from operation and maintenance, and others have made proposals to return water supply infrastructure to public control through ‘mutuals’ or ‘customer corporations’. This paper situates the restructuring of the water industry within broader debates over ‘associative self-governance’ taking place in Britain. Underpinned by a conceptual framework drawing on insights from regulation theory, in which governance models are enacted through regulatory practice, the interrelationship between restructuring and re-regulation of the water supply industry is analyzed. The paper argues that the failure of the post-privatization regulatory model to contain the contradictions between stable returns and the efficiency imperative, on the one hand, and politically acceptable rates of return and the equity imperative, on the other, led to a re-regulation of the water supply industry, which was a key factor in restructuring. Restructuring has entailed multiple strategies (diversification, internationalization, vertical de-integration, mutualization, securitization), which are briefly analyzed. In contrast to analyses which depict restructuring as a ‘retreat of the market’, the analysis presented in this paper emphasizes the continuity of the commercial governance model applied in the water supply industry in 1989. In interpreting restructuring as an industry response to re-regulation of services provision, the paper interrogates the incentive structure underpinning current proposals for a ‘mutual’ future for public services in Britain.  相似文献   

Social Attitudes Predict Biases in Geographic Knowledge*     

Dennis D. Kerkman  David Stea  Karen Norris  Jennifer L. Rice 《The Professional geographer》2004,56(2):258-269

Three principal components were found to underlie Texas university students' experiences with and attitudes toward Canada, the United States, and Mexico: diversity orientation, Mexican experiences, and Canadian experiences. Diversity orientation included positive attitudes toward Hispanics, Canadians, minorities, interethnic friendships, and dating and was negatively correlated with natio‐centrism (e.g., believing U.S. citizens receive the world's best education). Diversity orientation and natio‐centrism were not related to experiences with Mexico or Canada. Students estimated the locations of Canadian cities too far north and Mexican cities too far south. Biased estimates for Mexican cities were negatively correlated with diversity orientation, not experience with Mexico.  相似文献   

Aspects Of The Atmospheric Surface Layers On Mars And Earth     

S. E. Larsen  H. E. Jørgensen  L. Landberg  J. E. Tillman 《Boundary-Layer Meteorology》2002,105(3):451-470

The structures of mean flow and turbulence in the atmospheric surface boundary layer have been extensively studied on Earth, and to a far less extent on Mars, where only the Viking missions and the Pathfinder mission have delivered in-situ data. Largely the behaviour of surface-layer turbulence and mean flow on Mars is found to obey the same scaling laws as on Earth. The largest micrometeorological differences between the two atmospheres are associated with the low air density of the Martian atmosphere. Together with the virtual absence of water vapour, it reduces the importance of the atmospheric heat flux in the surface energy budget. This increases the temperature variation of the surface forcing the near-surface temperature gradient and thereby the diabatic heat flux to higher values than are typical on the Earth, resulting in turn in a deeper daytime boundary layer. As wind speed is much like that of the Earth, this larger diabatic heat flux is carried mostly by larger maximal values of T_*, the surface scale temperature. The higher kinematic viscosity yields a Kolmogorov scale of the order of ten times larger than on Earth, influencing the transition between rough and smooth flow for the same surface features.The scaling laws have been validated analysing the Martian surface-layer data for the relations between the power spectra of wind and temperature turbulence and the corresponding mean values of wind speed and temperature. Usual spectral formulations were used based on the scaling laws ruling the Earth atmospheric surface layer, whereby the Earth's atmosphere is used as a standard for the Martian atmosphere.  相似文献   

Landslide hazards and mitigation measures at Gangtok, Sikkim Himalaya   总被引：6，自引：0，他引：6  

Rajinder Bhasin  Eystein Grimstad  Jan Otto Larsen  Ashok K. Dhawan  Rajbal Singh  S. K. Verma  K. Venkatachalam 《Engineering Geology》2002,64(4):351-368

Landslides and other mass movements are serious geo-environmental hazards in the Himalayas. Massive landslides killing tens of thousands of people with catastrophic damages have occurred in the Eastern Himalayan State of Sikkim, which shares common borders with Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan. This paper describes the investigations carried out on recent landslides in Gangtok, Sikkim, India, with emphasis on the triggering mechanisms that have contributed to the release and creep of natural slopes in the region. It is believed that the intense rainfall in the region not only contributes to rapid erosion and weathering of the rock mass, but also increases the groundwater level that leads to reduction in the stability of natural slopes. A landslide instrumentation programme that includes placement of settlement pillars and piezometers is underway to predict the behaviour of landslides in the area.  相似文献   

The geology and petrology of Bouvetøya,south Atlantic Ocean     

Pall Imsland  Jørgen G. Larsen  Tore Prestvik  Ellen M. Sigmond 《Lithos》1977,10(3):213-234

The Quaternary island Bouvetøya is situated near the triple junction on the South Atlantic Ridge. It is the top of a volcano of about 2000 km⁸, evolved beyond the stage of caldera collapse. Basic, intermediate and peralkaline silicic rocks of a transitional rock series are recorded. Major and trace element chemistry, model calculations and petrographic observations do not favour a closed system fractional crystallization from one parent. The rocks may have evolved from slightly different parents by fractional crystallization under varying P,T and P_H2O conditions, or from one parent modified by crustal contamination and/or volatile transfer.  相似文献   

Chemical evolution of mid-ocean ridge hot springs     

Teresa Suter Bowers  Karen L. Von Damm  John M. Edmond 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》1985,49(11):2239-2252

Chemical analyses yielding elemental concentrations of major and minor elements of four hot springs on the East Pacific Rise at 21°N and 10 hot springs from the southern trough of the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California provide a basis for thermodynamic modeling of conductive cooling of the hydrothermal endmembers, mixing of the hydrothermal endmember with seawater, and reaction of an EPR-type fluid with sediment of bulk chemical composition corresponding to unaltered sediment from DSDP hole 477 in the Guaymas Basin. Results of the calculations indicate that conductive cooling of endmember fluids within closed chimneys and conduits accounts for the solution composition of one vent on the East Pacific Rise and several vents in Guaymas Basin. Mixing of the hydrothermal fluids with seawater yields a prediction of mineral assemblages closely approximating those observed in samples of chimneys from the East Pacific Rise and drill cores in Guaymas Basin. The hypothesis that Guaymas Basin hydrothermal fluids result from interaction of an EPR-type fluid with sediment cover in Guaymas Basin is supported by calculations which predict an increase in pH to a value similar to Guaymas Basin fluids, an order-of-magnitude decrease in metal concentrations, and an excellent agreement between predicted mineral assemblages as a function of extent of interaction with sediment, and observed mineral assemblage distribution with depth.  相似文献   

Siderophiles and volatiles in Apollo-16 rocks and soils     

John T Wasson  Karen L Robinson  Philip A Baedecker 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》1975,39(11):1475-1485

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Employer Recruitment and Hispanic Labor Migration: North Carolina Urban Areas at the End of the Millennium     

Karen D. Johnson&#x;Webb 《The Professional geographer》2002,54(3):406-421

The North Carolina Hispanic population has grown at a rapid pace in recent years. Before 1980, the majority of Hispanics in North Carolina were engaged primarily in migrant agricultural work. Hispanics who are part of the new influx are arriving in urban areas and are working at nonagricultural pursuits. Previous research and anecdotal evidence suggest that Hispanic newcomers come from other U.S. jurisdictions and from abroad. Labor migration occurs in response to demand for labor, and labor demand is meditated by employers’ preferences and hiring practices. However, focusing solely on employer demand for labor ignores the role of past U.S. immigration policy and the large growth in services employment in the Sunbelt that have fueled the Hispanic in–migration. This research project explored the attitudes and recruiting behavior of employers in the Triangle region of North Carolina. A newspaper content analysis was undertaken, and interviews were conducted with selected intermediaries and a group of employers. Qualitative analysis of the data collected revealed that these employers utilize the social networks of their immigrant Hispanic employees to recruit new workers. They also use a variety of other recruiting methods to recruit Hispanics both locally and from abroad. If this practice is widespread, it may be fueling the influx of Hispanic immigrants to North Carolina. Employers interviewed extolled the work ethic of Hispanic workers and often bypassed native–born workers, whom they felt were inferior employees. These findings have ramifications for future immigration policy and for the success of welfare–to–work programs. Employer demand for labor is one factor that must be considered when formulating new immigration policy.  相似文献   

Quantitative estimates of interplate coupling inferred from outer rise earthquakes     

Xinping Liu  Karen C. McNally 《Pure and Applied Geophysics》1993,140(2):211-255

Interplate coupling plays an important role in the seismogenesis of great interplate earthquakes at subduction zones. The spatial and temporal variations of such coupling control the patterns of subduction zone seismicity. We calculate stresses in the outer rise based on a model of oceanic plate bending and coupling at the interplate contact, to quantitatively estimate the degree of interplate coupling for the Tonga, New Hebrides, Kurile, Kamchatka, and Marianas subduction zones. Depths and focal mechanisms of outer rise earthquakes are used to constrain the stress models. We perform waveform modeling of body waves from the GDSN network to obtain reliable focal depth estimates for 24 outer rise earthquakes. A propagator matrix technique is used to calculate outer rise stresses in a bending 2-D elastic plate floating on a weak mantle. The modeling of normal and tangential loads simulates the total vertical and shear forces acting on the subducting plate. We estimate the interplate coupling by searching for an optimal tangential load at the plate interface that causes the corresponding stress regime within the plate to best fit the earthquake mechanisms in depth and location.We find the estimated mean tangential load over 125–200 km width ranging between 166 and 671 bars for Tonga, the New Hebrides, the Kuriles, and Kamchatka. This magnitude of the coupling stress is generally compatible with the predicted shear stress at the plate contact from thermal-mechanical plate models byMolnar andEngland (1990), andVan den Buekel andWortel (1988). The estimated tectonic coupling,F _tc , is on the order of 10¹²–10¹³ N/m for all the subduction zones.F _tc for Tonga and New Hebrides is about twice as high as in the Kurile and Kamchatka arcs. The corresponding earthquake coupling forceF _ec appears to be 1–10% of the tectonic coupling from our estimates. There seems to be no definitive correlation of the degree of seismic coupling with the estimated tectonic coupling. We find that outer rise earthquakes in the Marianas can be modeled using zero tangential load.  相似文献   

Fingerprinting of soil organic matter as a proxy for assessing climate and vegetation changes in last interglacial palaeosols (Veldwezelt, Belgium)     

Karen Vancampenhout  Katinka Wouters  Peter Buurman  Jozef Deckers 《Quaternary Research》2008,69(1):145-162

Soil characteristics in palaeosols are an important source of information on past climate and vegetation. Fingerprinting of soil organic matter (SOM) by pyrolysis-GC/MS is assessed as a proxy for palaeo-reconstruction in the complex of humic layers on top of the Rocourt pedosequence in the Veldwezelt-Hezerwater outcrop (Belgian loess belt). The fingerprints of the extractable SOM of different soil units are related to total organic carbon content, δ¹³C and grain-size analysis. Combined results indicate that the lower unit of the humic complex reflects a stable soil surface, allowing SOM build-up, intensive microbial activity and high decomposition. Higher in the profile, decomposition and microbial activity decrease. This is supported by a shift in the isotopic signal, an increased U ratio and evidence of wildfires. Although the chemical composition of the extracted SOM differed greatly from recent SOM, fingerprinting yielded detailed new information on SOM degree of decomposition and microbial contribution, allowing the reconstruction of palaeo-environmental conditions during pedogenesis.  相似文献