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Owing to the lockdowns associated with the Coronavirus Disease 2019(COVID-19) pandemic, carbon emissions were significantly reduced. However, the accurate impacts on the personal transport sector since then remain unclear. To further investigate the influence of sudden public health emergencies on actual carbon emissions from personal electric vehicles, this paper examined the travel patterns and corresponding carbon emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) operating in Chongqing, China, before and after COVID-19. The results revealed that the pandemic has reshaped the travel patterns of vehicle drivers, with a 9 % reduction in the postpandemic fleet average daily travel mileage. Currently, the total daily carbon emissions of a PHEV with a range of 80 km (PHEV80) are 6.24 kg, which is 13 % lower than emissions from conventional vehicles and 32 % higher than those from electric battery-powered vehicles before the pandemic. Since COVID-19, there has been a 24 % decrease in carbon emissions from PHEV80 vehicles for the fleet and a 30 % maximum increase for individuals. Furthermore, considering the integration of 50 % renewable energy into China's power grid by 2025, PHEVs can better mitigate the fluctuations in carbon emissions associated with sudden public health emergencies compared with conventional vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high environmental pollution load caused by the massive pollutant emissions and the accumulation of endogenous and cross-regional pollution has become an important obstacle to the current ecological civilization construction in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) in China. Taking the YREB as an example, by using four environmental pollutant emission indicators, including chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx), this paper established an environmental pollution load index (EPLI) based on the entropy-based measurement. Moreover, the Spatial Durbin Model was used to quantitatively analyze the drivers and spatial effects of environmental pollution load. Finally, specific scientific references were provided for formulating environmental regulations of pollution source control in the YREB. The results showed that: 1) During 2011–2015, the EPLI in the YREB was reduced significantly and the environmental pollution load increased from upstream to downstream. Among them, the pollution load levels in the Upper Mainstream subbasin, Taihu Lake subbasin, and Lower Mainstream subbasin were the most prominent. 2) The environmental pollution load situation in the YREB was generally stable and partially improved. High load level areas were mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta Region and the provincial borders in upstream, midstream, and downstream areas. The high load level areas already formed in Chengdu and Chongqing were also the key regulatory points in the future. 3) The degree of local environmental pollution load was apparently affected by the adjacent cities. The population size, industrialization level, and the fiscal decentralization not only drove the increase of the local environmental pollution load level, but also affected the adjacent areas through the spatial spillover effects. The land development intensity mainly drove the increase in the local EPLI in the YREB. While factors such as economic development level and agricultural economic share could only act on the environmental pollution load process in adjacent cities. 4) According to the differentiation characteristics of drivers of each city, the YREB was divided into seven zones based on k-medoids cluster method, and targeted zoning control policy recommendations for alleviating environmental pollution load in the YREB were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of the disaster resilience index (DRI) is an effective decision support tool for managing natural disasters. This study holds that disaster resilience is a dynamic process accompanied by coping capacity, adaptive capacity, and transformative capacity in different phases; therefore, we develop a three-dimensional capacity-based framework using seven indicators (including 38 subindicators) to map the multigoals for measuring resilience at the household level. Our data were acquired through questionnaire responses by 516 representative rural households in mountainous hazard-prone areas in Chongqing, China. The results reveal that more households are deemed "low resilience" and that geographical spatial differences exist in the DRI across the case regions. Several factors affecting the ability to survive, bounce back, and bounce forward from mountain hazards for rural households were found in China. The framework constructed in this paper offers a new perspective for a holistic understanding of disaster resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resettlement of residents to new urban areas in the Three Gorges Reservoir region, China, has generally adopted the local resettlement method, but engineering disturbances in conjunction with heavy rainfall have contributed to landslide instability. This paper discusses the influential factors and formation mechanism of the Jinjiling landslide in Jiangdong District, Wushan County, Chongqing, China. This study concludes that the cutting and filling of slopes have led to loading of the rear edge and open cut excavation at the downhill side of landslide. More importantly, the filling of channels with surface soil has blocked the surface water discharge channel along the landslide body, thereby transforming surface water into groundwater. Therefore, under heavy rainfall, the groundwater level in the Jinjiling landslide rose substantially, resulting in large deformation in approximately August 1, 2018. After emergency treatment, including groundwater pumping, the landslide deformation slowed considerably. The rising groundwater caused by filling of the slope was the key factor influencing the landslide. Based on the deformation characteristics and formation mechanism of the landslide, comprehensive control measures referred to as the "drainage+unloading+support" scheme are proposed, and drainage should be the focus of this type of landslide protection project. The results of this study may provide a reference for similar slope engineering projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent events have shifted the way the Chinese state responds to organized crime and corruption. The re-definition of organized crime, improved judicial oversight and the re-assessment of 'strike-hard' style police campaigns are key reforms. This paper discusses the recent changes in law, practice and oversight in the context of a brief overview of criminal groups in China and the Chongqing policing model. Revisions to the criminal law are described and the likely outcomes are assessed in the context of the key struggle to contain corruption and organized crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a new method using water-silt composite blasting for tunneling and the field tests conducted in the Tieshanping tunnel, Chongqing City, China. In this method, water-silt composite is substituted for the traditional pure silt stemming of the blast holes. Because of the incompressibility of water, the attenuation of the blasting wave is postponed and the effect of the blast air extended. The water-silt blasting method resulted in a larger crack zone, improved the breakage of rock, reduced the rock heap, lowered the dust and saved explosive. The stability of the surrounding rock was studied using theoretical analysis, in situ measurements and numerical modeling. The measured displacement at the tunnel crown was in good agreement with the theoretical and numerical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important industrial city, Chongqing has experienced rapid economic growth in recent years, but at the same time the growth has been accompanied by serious pollution problems. Water quality monitoring shows that the waters of Chongqing are widely polluted. In this paper, the human capital approach is applied to assessing the economic losses and damages caused by water pollution in Chongqing. Based on previous studies and empirical investigations, water pollution-induced damage can be categorized into two general types; damage to ecosystems, including agriculture; and damage to non-ecosystems, including industry. The economic loss estimation of each type of the damage is conducted by taking into account a group of relevant parameters and methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple carbonate cliffs are distributed in the karst mountain areas of southwestern China. The dynamic process and failure mechanism of rockfalls in the cliffs are complicated and undefined, and can be dangerous for settlements. Moreover, it is difficult to identify the potential for such failures before they occur. The rockfall of the Zengziyan cliff at Chongqing, China, is used as an example for studying this type of failure and to determine the developmental characteristics of rockfall, expounding on the evolving process from a cliff to an unstable rock mass through to rockfall. A fracturing–crashing failure mode is proposed, based on the evolutionary characteristics of damage development, compression-induced fracturing, rock mass crashing and overall rockfall. Finite difference numerical simulations were used to analyse and validate the failure mode of the Zengziyan cliff under three simulation conditions. The results of the simulations indicated that strength deterioration at the bottom of the cliff was the root cause of its fracturing–crashing rockfall. The outcomes of this paper could provide a new analytical model and theoretical basis for identifying and analysing similar types of geological disasters in the mountainous areas of southwestern China, and may provide valuable reference information for further mechanical analysis, stability evaluation and engineering prevention of unstable rock masses prone to a fracturing–crashing rockfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]