The co-evolution of seaports and dry ports in Shandong province in China under the Belt and Road Initiative

Nowadays, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been prosperous for a long time and brings plenty of opportunities to every aspect of China. As a coastal province with lots of port resources, Shandong province has implemented port integration, and there are some operation problems arising, too. In order to make the seaports and dry port reach their full potential, it is very crucial to explore the evolution trend of the ports, which can offer more chances for future development. Based on related theory, this article analyses the evolution of seaports and dry ports in Shandong Province, combined with the background of BRI. After showing the trend of port evolution, this paper points out the co-evolution mechanism of seaports and dry ports and describe a dry port-seaport logistics network in Shandong Province, which results from the mutual influence of seaports and dry ports. Finally, considering the influence of the BRI, this article points out that Shandong Province should take the inland cities as the basis and consider the various costs of the ports to fully take part in the Belt and Road Initiative, when constructing a logistics network.

The World’s Deadliest Outbreak During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Proposed Analytical Approach to Estimate Excess Mortality in Ecuador During the First Year of the Pandemic.

Background: Latin America is the most affected region by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of excessive mortality. Diagnostic and health care capabilities are limited in this region, deficiencies resulting in poor contact tracing, insufficient medical treatment and an unprecedented number of deaths. One of the key issues to estimate the pandemic's actual impact is to track deaths as one of the most reliable indicators when SARS-CoV-2 under-diagnosis is evident.Objective: This study's objective was to estimate the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 based on excess mortality data in Ecuador.Methodology: An ecological study of all-cause mortality recorded in Ecuador during the year 2020. In order to calculate the total excess death relative to the historical average for the same dates in 2017, 2018 and 2019, a Poisson fitting analysis was used to identify trends on officially recorded all-caused deaths and those attributed to COVID-19. A bootstrapping technique based on central tendency measures was used to emulate the sampling distribution of our expected deaths estimator μdeaths by simulating the data generation and model fitting processes.Results: In Ecuador, during the first year of the pandemic, at least 115,070 deaths were recorded. At least 42,453 of those were catalogued as excessive mortality when comparing with the last 3-years average (2017-2019). Ecuador is the country with the highest recorded excess mortality in the world with 6 / 100,000 deaths per capita in one single day while Peru had 2 / 100,000. This value represents an additional 408% of the expected fatalities. The province with the highest number of excess deaths was Santa Elena on Ecuador's coast, with more than 154% increment versus previous years.Conclusions: Adjusting for population size and time, the hardest-hit country due to the COVID-19 pandemic was Ecuador. The mortality excess rate shows that the SARS-CoV-2 virus spread rapidly in the country, especially in the coastal province of Santa Elena and Guayas. Our results and the new proposed methodology could help to address the actual death toll situation during the early phase of the pandemic in Ecuador.

Application of GIS and Multi-Criteria Statistical Techniques in Assessing Water Quality in the Coastal Province of Vietnamese Mekong Delta

The study was conducted to evaluate the quality and spatial distribution of surface water quality in Soc Trang, a coastal province using Geographic information system (GIS) and multivariate statistical analysis. Water monitoring data was collected from 19 sampling locations with 19 parameters were analyzed from February 2019 to August 2020. The results indicated that water quality was contaminated with organic matters, nutrients, coliforms and salinity. Water quality index (WQI=22–73) indicated that water quality was from poor to medium level. Cluster analysis (CA) classified 19 monitoring sites into 7 groups and 19 months into 3 seasons including rainy season, rainy season-early dry season, dry season-early rainy season. CA results showed that the location and frequency of water quality monitoring could be significantly reduced, saving up to 75% the monitoring costs. The maps of the polluted parameters (TSS, DO, BOD, COD, TOC, NH4+-N, NO2--N, Coliform, Fe, Cl-) illustrated that the areas located in the interior fields and near the sea had poorer water quality compared to the areas adjacent to the Hau River. The combination of multivariable statistics and GIS was very useful for spatial and temporal analysis of water quality monitoring data.

Descriptions of four new trapdoor spider species in the subfamily Ummidiinae from Thailand (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Halonoproctidae)

Males and females of four mygalomorph spider species (family Halonoproctidae, subfamily Ummidiinae) are newly described from Thailand, and the taxonomy of Ummidiinae is discussed. This is the first time that trapdoor spider species in this subfamily are described from Thailand. Two of these new species belong to the genus Conothele, the other two species are placed in the genus Latouchia. Conothele martensi spec. nov. was found in the north of the country (Chiang Mai Province), C. isan spec. nov. and Latouchia incerta spec. nov. were collected in northeastern Thailand (Buri Ram Province, Surin Province and Roi Et Province), and L. maculosa spec. nov. was found in the southern coastal province of Prachuap Khiri Khan.

Commerce in Children: Slavery, Gradual Emancipation, and the Free Womb Trade in Colombia

In 1821, as the Wars of Independence drew to a close, officials of the newly created republic of Gran Colombia passed a national gradual emancipation law. At the center of it was a Free Womb law that declared legally free the children of enslaved women born after the law's promulgation, while bonding these children to their mothers’ masters until the age of 18. Yet, in addition to establishing a term limit on their legalized captivity, the law stipulated conditions for the commerce in Free Womb children, laying the groundwork for what I refer to as the Free Womb trade. This article presents the first detailed exploration of the origins, operations, and limitations of the Free Womb trade in Colombia, particularly at the level of one province: the northwestern Pacific coastal province of Chocó. I argue that the trade created distinctly bounded market geographies of Free Womb children, who were actively, if at times ambiguously, incorporated into Colombia's slave economy. As a general rule, the Free Womb trade placed captive families at the mercy of their masters; yet, as one extraordinary case reveals, the full extent of the local trade's legal power was not entirely secure.

Municipal caravan parks in South Africa: geography, management and planning

Caravan parks are a largely overlooked theme in tourism scholarship. In South Africa, as in several other countries, local governments assumed an historical role in the establishment of caravan parks. Municipal caravan parks are assets which could be leveraged for tourism growth and local development. The planning and management of caravan parks in South Africa can be understood as an element of asset management by local governments. It is shown that across most of South Africa municipal ownership of caravan parks is of declining significance as compared to the dominance of privately owned parks. The coastal province of the Western Cape is the biggest focus for caravanning and for the location of all caravan parks, including for the largest cluster of municipal owned caravan parks in South Africa. Research interviews were conducted with local stakeholders concerning contemporary planning and management of caravan parks. The results reveal that most local municipalities currently are struggling to manage appropriately and optimally maximise for local development the operations of municipal caravan parks. Many municipalities are considering different options for privatisation through selling off or leasing parks to private sector investors.