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The main question of this research is how to balance the private land rights and the public powers involved in the farmland transfer (in China) from a newly-defined governance perspective. Overall, two topics are highlighted. First, a governance perspective is introduced in government regulation of farmland transfer, with a view to striking a proper balance between private land rights and the regulatory power involved. Although (good) land governance has been promoted concerning the overall governance of land tenure as the development of a sustainable land administration system, the relationship between governance research and legal research has yet to be thoroughly discussed. Based on the systems approach and the reflexive-law approach, four dimensions to a balanced regulation of farmland transfer should be considered under the governance perspective. These four dimensions mainly concern the making of new rules or further improvements in current laws and regulations. Furthermore, with the emphasis on the design of procedural rules, the lawmaking process and the enforcement of related law are expected to be improved under this governance perspective. Therefore, the second central topic of this research concerns the transformation of the law on farmland transfer in China. Specifically, this transformation is mainly reflected in the content of the relevant laws and regulations. On top of a further confirmation of the substantive rights of collective landholders in China, more procedural rules are needed to secure the exercise of these substantive rights.

Based on the current international documents on a good governance of land tenure, a four-level participation procedure in land expropriation can be summarized. Although it is a combination of all the good experience from different countries which constructs an ideal model for expropriation, it is conducive to the improvements in current systems of specific countries, even in the developed countries. In the case of China, the lack of participation of affected parties is obvious throughout the expropriation process, especially in the first and the fourth stage—the participation prior to the approval of an expropriation decision and the participation of farmers in monitoring the use of the expropriated land. Overall, at least six issues have to be resolved in order to improve the current expropriation system. Although the central government keeps strengthening the land rights of Chinese farmers including a right to participate, the key question is that procedural rules which can secure this participation are not enough, and sometimes not available. In the future legal reform, in addition to a further acknowledgement of Chinese farmers' substantial rights to collective land, more procedural rules are supposed to be established to enforce their procedural rights in land expropriation.

In China, the lack of participation of the affected people is obvious throughout the whole expropriation process. This primarily concerns the expropriation of rural collective land. The deficiency in the legislation on expropriation and the urgent need for an effective participation of the affected people in practice require new perspectives in the design of a well-governed expropriation procedure. In this research, based on the current international documents on good governance of land tenure, a four-phase participation framework in land expropriation is proposed. Although certain elements in this framework have been included in the expropriation concerning state-owned land, the four-phase participation is still absent. Through introducing the key elements of this international framework, a full and effective participation in expropriation is expected to be established in China.

Abstract
Recently, several organizations have considered using differentially private algorithms for disclosure limitation when releasing count data. The typical approach is to add random noise to the counts sampled from, for example, a Laplace distribution or symmetric geometric distribution. One advantage of this approach, at least for some differentially private algorithms, is that analysts know the noise distribution and hence have the opportunity to account for it when making inferences about the true counts. In this article, we present Bayesian inference procedures to estimate the posterior distribution of a subset proportion, that is, a ratio of two counts, given the released values. We illustrate the methods under several scenarios, including when the released counts come from surveys or censuses. Using simulations, we show that the Bayesian procedures can result in accurate inferences with close to nominal coverage rates.

Abstract. On 15 January 2022, an exceptional eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai volcano generated atmospheric and tsunami waves that
were widely observed in the oceans globally, gaining remarkable attention
from scientists in related fields. The tsunamigenic mechanism of this rare
event remains enigmatic due to its complexity and lack of direct
underwater observations. Here, to explore the tsunamigenic mechanisms of
this volcanic tsunami event and its hydrodynamic processes in the Pacific
Ocean, we conduct statistical analysis and spectral analysis of the tsunami
recordings at 116 coastal gauges and 38 deep-ocean buoys across the Pacific
Ocean. Combined with the constraints of some representative barometers, we
obtain the plausible tsunamigenic origins of the volcano activity. We
identify four distinct tsunami wave components generated by air–sea coupling
and seafloor crustal deformation. Those tsunami components are
differentiated by their different propagating speeds or period bands. The
first-arriving tsunami component with an ∼ 80–100 min period was
from shock waves spreading at a velocity of ∼ 1000 m s−1 in
the vicinity of the eruption. The second component with extraordinary tsunami
amplitude in the deep ocean was from Lamb waves. The Lamb wave with a ∼ 30–40 min period radically propagated outward from the
eruption site with spatially decreasing propagation velocities from
∼ 340 to ∼ 315m s−1. The third component with a ∼ 10–30 min period was probably from some atmospheric-gravity-wave modes propagating faster than 200 m s−1 but slower than Lamb waves. The last component with a ∼ 3–5 min period originated from partial caldera collapse with dimension of ∼ 0.8–1.8 km.
Surprisingly, the 2022 Tonga volcanic tsunami produced long oscillation in
the Pacific Ocean which is comparable with that of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami. We point out that the long oscillation is associated not only with the resonance effect with the atmospheric acoustic-gravity waves but more
importantly with their interactions with local bathymetry. This rare event also
calls for more attention to the tsunami hazards produced by an atypical
tsunamigenic source, e.g. volcanic eruption.

Abstract. Seismogenic tsunami hazard assessments are highly dependent on the
reliability of earthquake source models. Here in a study of the Manila
subduction zone (MSZ) system, we combine the geological characteristics of
the subducting plate, geometry, and coupling state of the subduction
interface to propose a series of fault rupture scenarios. We divide the
subduction zone into three rupture segments: 14–16, 16–19, and 19–21.7∘ N inferred from geological structures associated with the down-going Sunda plate. Each of these segments is capable of generating earthquakes of a magnitude between Mw=8.5+ and Mw=9+, assuming a 1000-year seismic return period as suggested by previous studies. The most poorly constrained segment of the MSZ lies between 19 and 21.7∘ N, and here we use both local geological structures and characteristics of other subduction zone earthquakes around the world, to investigate the potential rupture characteristics of this segment. We consider multiple rupture modes for tsunamigenic earthquake and megathrust-splay fault earthquakes. These rupture models facilitate an improved understanding of the potential tsunami hazard in the South China Sea (SCS). Hydrodynamic simulations demonstrate that coastlines surrounding the SCS could be devastated by tsunami waves up to 10 m if large megathrust earthquakes occur in these segments. The regions most prone to these hazards include west Luzon of Philippines, southern Taiwan, southeastern China, central Vietnam, and Palawan Island.