Articulated Knowledges: Environmental Forms after Universality's Demise

Critiques of universalism require rethinking when confronted with environmental political arenas, in which the very concepts of "universality" and "particularity" are in a constant process of self-conscious deployment. In this article, I attend to the analytic and political implications of such deployments in a recent incinerator controversy in Hong Kong. I suggest that an aesthetic of local appropriateness and its formal requirement of simultaneous universal and particular truth value normalize the politics of environmental expertise such that the only legible form for counterknowledge is one of articulated knowledges. To understand how the knowledges emergent in an NGO–village collaboration were scaled, linked, and mobilized, I analyze a translation of expert knowledge and the event's metapragmatic effects. A subsequent account of unarticulated knowledges emphasizes the political-economic conditions that limit whose knowledges can count as particular in articulations of counterexpertise.     

Microbiological quality of pork meat from local Hong Kong markets

Over a 3-week period, samples of fresh, chopped, pork meat were taken every morning and afternoon from 50 meat stalls. Microbiological examination revealed that the samples had (c.f.u./g): total microbes, 1×10³ to 2.14×10⁶; mean probable numbers of coliforms and Escherichia coli, 1.51×10³ to 1.15×10⁴; and yeasts and moulds, 0 to 1.28×10⁴. Salmonella, found in 32 samples from 21 stalls, were serotyped as B (three samples), C1 (four) or E (25). No Campylobacter were found. Because microbial growth and/or contamination of the meat occurred during the day, samples taken in the afternoon had greater total counts (P<0.05) and contained detectable numbers of Salmonella more frequently (42% versus 22%) than those taken in the morning.The author is with the Department of Biology and Chemistry, City Polytechnic of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Ave, Kowloon, Hong Kong     

Reefs of tomorrow: eutrophication reduces coral biodiversity in an urbanized seascape

Although the impacts of nutrient pollution on coral reefs are well known, surprisingly, no statistical relationships have ever been established between water quality parameters, coral biodiversity and coral cover. Hong Kong provides a unique opportunity to assess this relationship. Here, coastal waters have been monitored monthly since 1986, at 76 stations, providing a highly spatially resolved water quality dataset including 68 903 data points. Moreover, a robust coral species richness (S) dataset is available from more than 100 surveyed locations, composed of 3453 individual colonies' observations, as well as a coral cover (CC) dataset including 85 sites. This wealth of data provides a unique opportunity to test the hypothesis that water quality, and in particular nutrients, drives coral biodiversity. The influence of water quality on S and CC was analyzed using GIS and multiple regression modeling. Eutrophication (as chlorophyll‐a concentration; CHLA) was negatively correlated with S and CC, whereas physicochemical parameters (DO and salinity) had no significant effect. The modeling further illustrated that particulate suspended matter, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) had a negative effect on S and on CC; however, the effect of nutrients was 1.5‐fold to twofold greater. The highest S and CC occurred where CHLA <2 μg L^?1, DIN < 2 μm and DIP < 0.1 μm . Where these values were exceeded, S and CC were significantly lower and no live corals were observed where CHLA > 15 μg L^?1, DIN > 9 μm and DIP > 0.33 μm . This study demonstrates the importance of nutrients over other water quality parameters in coral biodiversity loss and highlights the key role of eutrophication in shaping coastal coral reef ecosystems. This work also provides ecological thresholds that may be useful for water quality guidelines and nutrient mitigation policies.     

‘Playing’ at the ethnic boundary: strategic boundary making/unmaking among ethnic Chinese groups in Australia

The sociological literature has constructed a systematic typology of ‘modes’ and ‘means’ of strategic ethnic boundary making/unmaking. Through exploring different strategies, scholars illustrate the processes and contexts of boundary expansion or contraction. Other scholars also distinguish ethnic elements and ‘moral' values attached to certain ethnicities but not to others. This paper acknowledges dynamic boundary making/unmaking and moral aspects of ethnicity, while exploring the different degrees to which national and pan-national identity nest within each other among ethnic Chinese groups, as well as how ethnic boundary becomes a field where people ‘play' in their everyday interactions. Based on participant observations and in-depth interviews from two pan-Chinese worksites in Australia, the paper argues that different interpretations of ethnic identity as well as how different identities (national and pan-national) are nested give people room to ‘play' at the ethnic boundary and result in different outcomes. This paper also shows that people can cross the ethnic boundary (between Taiwanese/Hong Kongese and PRC-Chinese) without expanding/contracting the existing categories or ‘repositioning/transvaluing' their ethnic statuses.     

丹红注射液治疗膝关节置换术后患者的临床疗效及机制研究

目的:探讨丹红注射液治疗膝关节置换术后患者的临床疗效、安全性及其可能作用机制。方法:选取我院骨科收治的行膝关节置换术的患者86例,根据就诊顺序平均分为两组,对照组43例予以术后常规治疗,实验组43例予以丹红注射液治疗。治疗后,观察并比较两组患者的临床疗效,血清IL-6、IL-8及TNF-α水平的变化,并发症的发生情况以及膝关节功能的活动情况。结果:与对照组相比较,实验组的总有效率及HSS评分更高(P0.05),血清IL-6、IL-8、TNF-α的水平,感染和粘连的发生率较低(P0.05)。结论:丹红注射液能够提高膝关节置换术的临床疗效,减少并发症的发生,使患者的膝关节功能尽快恢复,这可能与其降低血清IL-6、IL-8及TNF-α水平有关。     

Comparative study of weathering signatures in felsic igneous rocks of Hong Kong

Abstract

Mineralogical, petrographical and geochemical characteristics of two weathered profiles, derived from rhyolitic tuff and granitic rocks under humid conditions, were studied by atomic absorption spectrometry, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, and X-ray diffractometry. The granitic profile is derived from medium-grained, equigranular monzogranitic parent rocks and typically contains corestones, whereas the pyroclastic profile is derived from rhyolitic crystal-vitric tuffs, which were subjected to deuteric alteration prior to weathering. The two parent rocks contain similar primary mineral constituents and display similar sequential changes in response to weathering at mineral scale. However, samples of the granitic profile reveal more pronounced intergranular and transgranular microcracks and wider grain boundaries compared with samples of the same weathering grade from the pyroclastic profile. Sesquioxide networks and veins are more common in the pyroclastic profile than in the granitic profile.

Special emphasis is given to the type, abundance and distribution of clay minerals within the weathered profiles. Kaolinite, halloysite, illite and interstratified smectite are ubiquitous clay-size minerals of both profiles. However, the abundance of clay minerals varies significantly within each profile as well as between profiles. The granitic profile is dominated by halloysite regardless of the degree of weathering, whereas halloysite is the dominant clay mineral only in moderately to highly decomposed samples of the pyroclastic profile. The relative abundance of illite in the granitic profile is rather low (less than 10%) and more stable than the profile compared to the pyroclastic profile where illite is the dominant clay mineral in fresh to moderately decomposed samples. In general, as the intensity of weathering increases, the relative abundance ratios of halloysite to kaolinite and illite to kaolin decrease.

Parent rock normalized chemical variation diagrams reveal that as the intensity of weathering increases, Ca, Na, K, Rb and Sr contents decrease, whereas Al, Mg, Mn, Ti, Cu, Cr, Ni, Ba, Sc and LOI contents increase. Although these variations can easily be explained by decomposition of feldspar grains and formation of sesquioxides and clay minerals, overall chemical trends are not sufficiently systematic to allow prediction of theweathering degree of a given sample based solely on its chemical composition. In general, the granitic profile has been developed under better-drained and more hydrous conditions compared to the pyroclastic profile. Microenvironmental conditions, which are significantly different between the two profiles, ultimately control the type and abundance of clay minerals and the distribution of sesquioxides, and thus govern the level of microfabric heterogeneity in weathered profiles.     

A description of the first intact Dwarf Sperm whale from the South China Sea and a review of documented specimens of the Kogiidae (Cetacea) from Hong Kong

Reports of the Dwarf Sperm whale (Kogia sima) in Chinese waters exist only for four specimens, which stranded along the coast of the East China Sea. Records of this species in the South China Sea consist of one skull noted as present in a Vietnamese ‘whale temple’. Recently recognized material in the biological sciences building of the University of Hong Kong, confirms the presence of both the Dwarf (K. sima) and the Pygmy (K. breviceps) Sperm whales in Hong Kong. In addition, close examination of Hong Kong stranding records reveals that of the four specimens identified as K. breviceps one is, in fact, K. sima. A comparison of the Hong Kong material, the holotype of K. sima and other Asian specimens of Kogia spp. affirms that most of the features already used elsewhere to distinguish the two species are reliable.     

Life history of the Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphin in the Pearl River Estuary,southern China

We studied life history characteristics of the Hong Kong/Pearl River Estuary population of Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis), based on data from 120 specimens stranded between 1995 and 2009, 40 individuals biopsied at sea, and a long‐term (14+ yr) photo‐identification study. Ages were determined for 112 specimens by thin‐sectioning teeth and counting growth layer groups. Estimated length at birth was 101 cm. Longevity was at least 38 yr, and there was little difference in growth patterns of males and females. Growth was described by a Bayesian two‐phase Gompertz model; asymptotic length was reached at 249 cm. The tooth pulp cavity filled at an average of 18.5 yr of age. Physical maturity was reached at between 14 and 17 yr of age, apparently a few years after attainment of sexual maturity. Maximum lengths and weights of about 268 cm and 240 kg were attained. Females appear to lose all their spots by 30 yr, although males may retain some spotting throughout life. Calving occurred throughout the year, with a broad peak from March to June. Of 60 females monitored at sea for >14 yr of the study, none were documented to have more than three calves, suggestive of low reproductive output or low calf survival.     

Phenology of Sargassum spp. in Tung Ping Chau Marine Park, Hong Kong SAR, China

Eight species of the brown alga Sargassum have been recorded from Tung Ping Chau Marine Park in Hong Kong and the phenology of four of these was monitored from 1996 to 2000. All four species followed a typical growth cycle of Sargassum species reported elsewhere but with some annual variations. For S. hemiphyllum, the maximum mean (±SD) plant length, ranging from 38.5 ± 10.5 to 61.9 ± 19.9 cm, was recorded in January to March. The peak reproductive season was also mainly in February to March with up to 89% of the plants being reproductive. Some plants, however, remained reproductive until May. For. S. henslowianum, the maximum mean plant length, ranging from 45.5 ± 25.5 to 77 ± 24.8 cm, was recorded mainly in November to January. The peak reproductive season was in November to February with up to 100% of the plants being reproductive. For S. siliquastrum, the maximum mean plant length, ranging from 48.2 ± 29.9 to 63.4 ± 22.1 cm, was also recorded mainly in January. The reproductive plants were found mainly between late December and mid February with up to 98% of the plants being reproductive. For. S. patens, the maximum mean plant length ranging from 87.6 ± 62.4 to 118.7 ± 41.3 cm was recorded in January to March. Reproduction of this species was not monitored. Changes in water temperature over seasons were likely to be critical in affecting the phenological patterns of these species.     

香港果洲群岛植物物种多样性与植被的研究

据实地调查统计,香港果洲群岛共有维管束植物140种,隶属于54科115属,其中蕨类植物5科6属6种.裸了植物1科1属1种,被子植物48科108属133种.植被类型主要为常绿阔叶灌丛、南亚热带常绿阔叶林和热带滨海砂生植被.果洲群岛植物区系以热带、亚热带成分占优势.报道了果洲群岛各岛植物种类,并分析了各岛植物物种多样性的特点以及与邻近地区植物多样性的关系,为香港岛屿植物区系的研究提供基本资料.