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Previous research on skateboarding has been conducted largely under the lens of cultural studies. Recently, there has been growing recognition of skateboarding as an industry under capitalist structures. Nonetheless, the transition of skateboarding from a subculture to a global multi-billion dollar industry is still left untheorized. There are two primary aims of this study. First is to evaluate the implication of the theoretical transition in existing literature from the subcultural theories and the critical political economy approach in examining subcultures and cultural industries. The second is to contextualize key concepts such as authenticity and cultural intermediaries in the empirical understanding of the dynamics of distinction in the Chinese skateboarding community and industry. The evidence presented in the qualitative investigation of key members of the Chinese skateboarding community suggests that an ambivalent sociality has been neglected in previous discussions on authenticity and the precariousness of skateboarding careers. Borrowing perspectives from cultural sociology and organizational sociology, the finding on the prevalence of the Chinese concept guanxi suggests relevant implications for future research.

Significance We examine near-repeat activity patterns of al-Qaeda, ISIS, and local insurgents, whereby a first terrorist attack temporarily increases the likelihood of a second one by the same group. We observe heightened near-repeat activity for all organizations in six geographic clusters and quantify the effect to persist within 20 km and 4 to 10 weeks after the first event. Near-reaction patterns, where two distinct groups react to each other's activities, depend on the adversarial, neutral, or collaborative relationship between parties at the local level. We find no evidence of outbidding, whereas terrorist and state activities mutually reinforce one another. Our results may be useful for counterterrorism decision making and strategic resource allocation; near-repeat patterns may offer insight into local power structures.

AbstractAs COVID-19 has swept across the world, the escalating number of confirmed and suspected cases overwhelmed the admission capacity of the designated hospitals. Faced with such a grim situation, governments made a quick decision to build emergency medical facilities to address the outbreak. However, the emergency medical facilities faced a huge risk of epidemic spread and improper site could lead to serious secondary transmission. Using the disaster prevention and risk avoidance function of urban green space can solve the problem of selecting the location of emergency medical facilities to a certain extent, with country parks having a high degree of compatibility with the latter. Based on the location requirements of emergency medical facilities, using Analytic Hierarchy Process and Delphi method, through analyzing the type of country parks, effective risk avoidance area, spatial fragmentation, distance from water sources, wind direction, and distance from the city, quantification of 8 impact factors such as hydrogeology and traffic duration was conducted to comprehensively compare 30 country parks in Guangzhou. The results showed that the overall quality of country parks approximated a normal distribution, with Lianma Forest Country Park having the highest comprehensive score and the most balanced distribution of scores for various impact factors. Considering safety, expandability, rehabilitation, convenience, pollution prevention, and fecal isolation, it is a preferred destination for emergency medical facility construction.

We study the spatiotemporal correlation of terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and local insurgents, in six geographical areas identified via [Formula: see text]-means clustering applied to the Global Terrorism Database. All surveyed organizations exhibit near-repeat activity whereby a prior attack increases the likelihood of a subsequent one by the same group within 20 km and on average 4 (al-Qaeda) to 10 (ISIS) weeks. Near-response activity, whereby an attack by a given organization elicits further attacks from a different one, is found to depend on the adversarial, neutral, or collaborative relationship between the two. When in conflict, local insurgents respond quickly to attacks by global terror groups while global terror groups delay their responses to local insurgents, leading to an asymmetric dynamic. When neutral or allied, attacks by one group enhance the response likelihood of the other, regardless of hierarchy. These trends arise consistently in all clusters for which data are available. Government intervention and spillover effects are also discussed; we find no evidence of outbidding. Understanding the regional dynamics of terrorism may be greatly beneficial in policy making and intervention design.

AbstractThe carbon reduction effect of bio-based levulinic acid chemicals is a matter of concern. This work reports the life cycle assessment of methyl levulinate based on local biomass refineries in China. The final LCA results showed that the entire life cycle of methyl levulinate could reduce by approximately 24% of carbon emissions compared with fossil diesel of equal quality. To address the lack of effective uncertainty analysis in current LCA research on levulinic acid chemicals, this study conducted a comprehensive and detailed assessment of inventory data and utilized Taylor series expansion to obtain uncertainty of the LCA results. When connected to a localized background database, the LCA results showed high credibility. According to the sensitivity analysis and Aspen optimization results, further technical improvement schemes are proposed, including improving thermal efficiency, use of clean electricity, and use of clean methanol. Prospective analysis shows that combined implementation of the above strategies can further reduce the existing carbon emissions by more than half.
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