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Subsea pipelines are commonly employed in the offshore oil and gas industry to transport high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) hydrocarbons. The phenomenon of pipeline walking is a topic that has drawn a great deal of attention, and is related to the on-bottom stability of the pipeline, such as directional accumulation with respect to axial movement, which can threaten the security of the entire pipeline system. An accurate assessment of pipeline walking is therefore necessary for offshore pipeline design. This paper reports a comprehensive suite of numerical analyses investigating the performance of pipeline walking, with a focus on the effect of increasing axial soil resistance on walking rates. Three walking-driven modes (steel catenary riser (SCR) tension, downslope, and thermal transient) are considered, covering a wide range of influential parameters. The variation in walking rate with respect to the effect of increased soil friction is well reflected in the development of the effective axial force (EAF) profile. A method based on the previous analytical solution is proposed for predicting the accumulated walking rates throughout the entire service life, where the concept of equivalent soil friction is adopted.

The article provides a statistical and spatial study of the number of Protestants and the available Protestant churches in four Chinese provincial capital cities: Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Hefei, and Fuzhou. This information is compared and contrasted to information related to Protestants and Protestant churches in Chicago, Illinois. Topics include religion in China, religion and communism, average travel time of parishioners to their churches, the shortage of churches in China, and the average number of church-goers attending services in China and the U.S.

Several case studies are presented concerning Protestant house churches in the People's Republic of China (PRC) as of Spring 2012. The article describes the development of Chinese Protestant churches since the formation of the PRC in 1949, including the growth of the so-called Three-Self Churches (TSC). The article states that house churches in China were not legally permitted to exist, to build churches, or found religious schools as of 2012. The article also discusses Article 36 of the Chinese constitution and the use of the Christian bible in China.

The article discusses restrictions on the rights of farmers in China to migrate from agricultural areas to cities, a lack of freedom of movement seen as an important source of Chinese farmers' impoverishment. The history of constitutional limitations on internal migration in China since the 1950s is outlined, and its justifications based on the urban and industrial policy agenda of the Chinese Communist Party are discussed. The system is seen as one of discrimination against rural populations in favor of urban residents, and ways of correcting this social injustice are suggested.

Taoism, a native religion in China, had its remarkable history almost two thousand years ago, having originated in the Eastern Han dynasty. Focusing on the period of Modern China from 1911 to 2004, this article maps the historical development of Chinese Taoist temples from quantitative, spatial, comparative, historical and religious perspectives. Selecting three cities surrounding the three famous Taoist temples in the eastern, central and western regions of China as the case studies, this article first discusses the growth patterns of Taoist temples and their religious functions. This article further examines the changing characteristics of Taoist temples in the three regions of China, covering thirty-one provinces in China with a variety of visualized maps, figures and tables. Furthermore, this article summarizes national patterns of Taoist temple construction, based upon the updated official data. In addition, a comparative study is conducted through a growth comparison between Taoist temples, religious sites of other Chinese religions and some socioeconomic factors. This article concludes that the fluctuations of Taoist temple development reflect the historical evolution of Chinese regimes, religious policies and socioeconomic development. Thus, this article may provide additional references to observe and understand the four major eras of Modern China, including the Republican China (1911-1949), Mao's China (1949-1976), Deng's China (1978-1992) and Jiang Zemin's China (1992-2004). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]