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Underground coal gasification is a conversion and extraction process, for the production of useful synthetic product gas from an in-situ coal seam, to use in power generation, heat production or as a chemical feedstock. While many variants of the underground coal gasification process have been considered and over 75 trials performed throughout the world, the recent work has tended to focus on the control of the process, its environmental impact on underground and surface conditions and its potential for carbon capture and storage. Academic research has produced a set of mathematical models of underground coal gasification, and the European Union-supported programme has addressed the production of a decarbonised product gas for carbon capture and storage. In recent years, significant progress has been made into the modelling of tar formation, spalling, flows within the cavity and the control of minor gasification components, like BTEX and phenols, from underground coal gasification cavities (BTEX refers to the chemicals benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene). The paper reviews the most recent underground coal gasification field trial and modelling experience and refers to the pubic concern and caution by regulators that arise when a commercial or pilot-scale project seeks approval. It will propose solutions for the next generation of underground coal gasification projects. These include the need to access deeper coal seams and the use of new techniques for modelling the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does it mean to read Stuart Hall from South Africa, in relation to South Africa, and with South Africa in mind? This paper engages 'what's left of the debate' between Marxism and postcolonialism as politico-theoretical projects by refusing the opposition of compartmentalized scholarly fields, and by positing a conjunctural postcolonial-postsocialist praxis necessary for interpreting contemporary South Africa (as elsewhere.) Drawing on Hall's notion of 'moments' as both spatial and temporal, and assembled in the work of representation, I draw together insights from three moments in Hall's work: his foundational essay for the apartheid predicament, 'Race, Articulation and Societies Structured in Dominance'; the collectively written Policing the Crisis and particularly its remarkable conclusion which speaks to the criminalization of poor people's struggles; and his later thoughts on 'the end of innocence' with respect to coalitional Black politics. Reflecting on aspects of my research on 20th-century Durban, I suggest why these three moments must be seen in relation to each other, as a constellation that points, through the legacies of the Black Radical Tradition, to as yet unnamed postcolonial-postsocialist Marxisms of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the interaction between groundwater and groundwater-dominated Crescent Spring in an aeolian sand environment to determine the drainage source of groundwater for the lake using hydraulic gradient and isotope analysis methods. The precipitation is found to have an insignificant effect on the lake in an arid climate environment. Hydrogen and oxygen isotopic evidence presents at least two aquifer contributions that recharge 87% and 13% water supply of the lake, respectively. The flow direction of groundwater is theoretically established based on the hydraulic gradient and isotope analysis methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the degree to which tree-associated Coleoptera (beetles) and pollen could be used to predict the degree of 'openness' in woodland. The results from two modern insect and pollen analogue studies from ponds at Dunham Massey, Cheshire and Epping Forest, Greater London are presented. We explore the reliability of modern pollen rain and sub-fossil beetle assemblages to represent varying degrees of canopy cover for up to 1000 m from a sampling site. Modern woodland canopy structure around the study sites has been assessed using GIS-based mapping at increasing radial distances as an independent check on the modern insect and pollen data sets. These preliminary results suggest that it is possible to use tree-associated Coleoptera to assess the degree of local vegetation openness. In addition, it appears that insect remains may indicate the relative intensity of land use by grazing animals. Our results also suggest most insects are collected from within a 100-200 m radius of the sampling site. The pollen results suggest that local vegetation and density of woodland in the immediate area of the sampling site can have a strong role in determining the pollen signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses 'the culture of capability poverty' of 42 Korean immigrant women who live in Los Angeles to uncover the systemic road to gendered urban poverty. Through in-depth interviews, this research observes the interaction between sub-culture and capability in the subject's career domain, reinterpreting Lewis' culture of poverty thesis within Sen's capability approach. The subjects have developed their culture of capability poverty within that domain-such as low aspiration and heavy reliance on their Christianity-as a response to career-decision constraints including a strong woman's image, their childhood education and job market inequality. This paper concludes that, while their sub-culture is a positive life-strategy mechanism for dealing with their gender situation, it ultimately becomes lack of capability, poverty itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]