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As a reaction to structural fragmentation under New Public Management, many countries embarked on post-NPM reforms, such as merging public organizations. In China one such reform is the Super-Department Reform (SDR), launched in 2008. There are different ways to integrate public organizations following structural changes. In this study of two mergers of environmental agencies in the Chinese province of Guangdong, the focus is on the structural, cultural and symbolic features that affected the integration process. Our qualitative analyses reveal that Shunde Bureau of Environmental Transport and City Administration (SBETCA) is considered to have been more successful in integrating agencies and functions than Shenzhen Habitat Environment Committee (SHEC). Contingency factors, such as formal functional integration, leaders' attention and participation, and leaders' ability to influence cultural congruency, greatly influenced the success of the integration process. Symbols and media coverage also played a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uranium (U) geochemistry and its isotopic compositions of reservoir sediments in U mine area were poorly understood. Herein, U and Th isotopic compositions were employed to investigate source apportionment and geochemical behavior of U in 41 reservoir sediments from a U mining area, Guangdong, China. The remarkably high contents of both total U (207.3–1117.7 mg/kg) and acid-leachable U (90.3–638.5 mg/kg) in the sediments exhibit a severe U contamination and mobilization-release risk. The U/Th activity ratios (ARs) indicate that all sediments have been contaminated apparently by U as a result of discharge of U containing wastewater, especially uranium mill tailings (UMT) leachate, while the variations of U/Th ARs are dominated by U geochemical behaviors (mainly redox process and adsorption). The U isotopic compositions (δ238U) showed a large variance through the sediment profile, varying from − 0.62 to − 0.04‰. The relation between δ238U and acid-leachable U fraction demonstrates that the U isotopic fractionation in sediments can be controlled by bedrock weathering (natural activity), UMT leachate (anthropogenic activity) and subsequent biogeochemical processes. The findings suggest that U-Th isotopes are a powerful tool to better understand U geochemical processes and enrichment mechanism in sediments that were affected by combined sources and driving forces. [Display omitted] • Extremely U contamination and re-migration risk were observed in reservoir sediments. • U sources and geochemical behaviors were studied using U-Th isotopes. • U enrichment mechanisms (reduction/adsorption) were distinguished by isotopic perspective. • U6+ to U4+ is the dominant mechanism leading to the U enrichment and isotopic fractionation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]