Geographical distribution of the Soviet-Jewish new immigrants in Israel

The State of Israel is facing now one of the most difficult absorption challenges it has ever had. About 250.000 Soviet-Jewish immigrants have arrived to the country since 1989 and another million are waiting in the Soviet Union for immigration. A direct absorption plan around an absorption basket of a few thousand dollar per family of three for the first year enables the immigrants to choose their place of habitation. They concentrate in big cities and veteran settlements along the coastal plain where employment possibilities are better. This trend is against the government's plans to direct them to peripheral regions. The current mass-immigration creates an unexpected change in the population and settlement pattern of Israel.     

Optimum versus reality in Israel's town system

Israel's town system consists of 37 towns of different size, 28 development towns, and 24 semi-urban Jewish and Arab settlements, most of them consisting of 5,000–10,000 inhabitants. In the existing town system there is an exaggerated concentration of large towns in the Tel Aviv region; an excessive number of development towns; slow urban growth in the Negev and the Galilee; failure of semi-urban settlements to attain urban status; and the absence of urban settlements in many regions where they would be needed.A proposal to outline an optimal system of Israel's town development is discussed. It was found that the existing urban system in Israel shows a distortion which is four times bigger than the optimal one. A comparison between the optimal lay-out of towns and the real one uncovers the gaps where new towns should be established in the future, and points out the locations where no further urban development should be encouraged.     

Planning the development of the socialist city: the case of Dubna New Town

For almost 70 years. Soviet urban planners have enacted policies to create an urban environment designed to further the development of socialism. This paper analyzes the planning and development of one Soviet new town, Dubna, in order to provide insight into Soviet urban planning in general, as well as to identify the problems and prospects for city planners as they attempt to translate general socialist planning goals into reality. The study indentifies specific characteristics of the ideal Soviet socialist city and examines the extent to which these have been realized in Dubna. This allows a comparison between the actual accomplishments of local officials in Dubna and the ideal planning goals expressed throughout the Soviet urban literature. It also helps identify barriers to effective implementation of urban policies, barriers that help explain the disparity between the real and the ideal. Given the strong parallels between Soviet and British new towns, the examination is further enhanced by comparing Dubna with British new towns. Using the British case as a yardstick provides a crosscultural comparison that extends our understanding of the Soviet case, where data and analyses are lacking.     

基于乡镇区划的地质遗迹资源综合价值评价———以盐津县为例

以云南省盐津县地质遗迹资源为研究对象、乡镇区划为单元,在分析盐津县地质遗迹资源特征的基础上,依据《地质遗迹调查规范》中地质遗迹质量等级划分标准,运用特尔菲法划分出盐津县乡镇地质遗迹点质量等级,其划分结果能正确认识盐津县各乡镇地质遗迹资源的质量状况。同时,利用特尔菲法和层次分析法构建盐津乡镇地质遗迹资源综合价值评价指标体系,并运用菲什拜因—罗森伯格模型,对盐津乡镇地质遗迹资源综合价值进行定量评价。结果表明:盐津县乡镇地质遗迹资源综合价值大小为:柿子镇＞豆沙镇＞庙坝镇＞牛寨乡＞普洱镇＞中和乡＞盐井镇＞滩头乡＞落雁乡＞兴隆乡。      

Small towns as ‘sub-poles’ in English rural development: Investigating rural–urban linkages using sub-regional social accounting matrices

This paper uses spatial economic data from four small English towns to measure the strength of economic integration between town and hinterland and to estimate the magnitude of town–hinterland spill-over effects. Following estimation of local integration indicators and inter-locale flows, sub-regional social accounting matrices (SAMs) are developed to estimate the strength of local employment and output multipliers for various economic sectors. The potential value of a town as a ‘sub-pole’ in local economic development is shown to be dependent on structural differences in the local economy, such as the particular mix of firms within towns. Although the multipliers are generally small, indicating a low level of local linkages, some sectors, particularly financial services and banking, show consistently higher multipliers for both output and employment.     

The utopia of the binational city

Kerkrade and Herzogenrath, on the German-Dutch border, look back at a common past in the former Land of Rode. This ceased to exist in 1815 when the border was drawn between Prussia and The Netherlands. Since then the people turned their backs to each other more and more and started orientating towards their own nation state. Only after the dramatic nationalism of World War II subsided, did the border loose some of its dividing effects on political and social life. Unification processes of the European Union strengthened this, and the rapprochement between Kerkrade and Herzogenrath has become so intensive that they present themselves as one town: Eurode. The identification of both towns as one territorial, institutional and social entity was and is essential for the success of Eurode. Yet, creating a feeling of 'we-ness' is not enough if the actions and thoughts of the inhabitants do not match this feeling. This article therefore deals with the different stages of cross border integration necessary before one can speak of a 'binational city'. The question remains open however, whether the binational city can ever be more than Utopia. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The ideas and scientific works of F.I. Wolfson and their current implications for the geology of uranium deposits

The outstanding contribution of Professor F.I. Wolfson to the origination and development of Russian science and practice in the field of geology of uranium deposits is emphasized. Under his guidance, a team of highly skilled specialists on uranium deposits was gathered at the Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, in Moscow. Owing to their efforts, all significant uranium deposits in the former Soviet Union and socialist bloc countries have been studied comprehensively. A theory of uranium ore formation was developed on this basis, and elaborated practical recommendations promoted the creation in the Soviet Union of the world’s largest uranium resource sources. Today, Wolfson’s ideas and works are widely used in planning and carrying out complex investigations at operating uranium deposits and in new promising uranium districts.     

Large-scale water transfers in the USSR

In order to counter water shortages in the agricultural regions along the lower Volga and in Kazakhstan and Central Asia and to alleviate falling water levels in southern seas, the Soviet Union proposes to transfer substantial quantities of water south from its northern Arctic-flowing rivers. We describe the background to these proposals, the need for greater agricultural production in the Soviet Union, current irrigation practice, and the development of schemes for large-scale water transfers. We discuss the Soviet philosophy of the transformation of nature, the problems encountered in implementing irrigation schemes, and the likely time scale of larger water transfers. The Soviet authorities consider the transfers essential. Even if the efficiency of existing irrigation schemes is improved, demand will surpass supply in many southern agricultural regions within the next 10 to 15 years. Work is to proceed on the first of the second, the Siberian scheme, is unlikely to be taken until any problems encountered in the implementation of the European scheme are assessed. Finally, we consider the potential impact of the diversions. There will certainly be local ecological and environmental consequences and it is considered that the net impact will, on balance, be adverse. There is also concern that the diversion of water away from higher latitudes may affect the Arctic ice cover and, possibly, global climate.     

河西地区城镇体系特征及未来发展构想

河西地区城镇体系在空间地域结构上,表现出绿洲城镇的特点;在职能类型结构上,以综合性城镇为主;在规模等级结构上,具有经济不发达地区城镇体系的共性. 未来城镇体系建设,必须从区域整体发展的宏观思路出发,统一构建与绿洲环境相协调的城镇体系格局,使水资源能够支持重点城镇的发展,围绕酒泉市、张掖市、武威市和敦煌市4个区域中心城市,有意识地利用"点-轴"结构,积极培育次级中心,形成空间分布合理、职能类型多样、规模等级协调的城镇体系网络,促进河西地区社会经济的持续发展.     

浅谈中亚地区层间氧化带砂岩型铀矿成矿作用

本文分析了前苏联中亚地区在漫长的地史发展过程中长期的沉积间断、岩相古地理和古气候的变迁，以及水动力条件的改变对层间氧化带砂岩型铀矿形成的作用，并就我国西部当前的找矿工作提出一些值得注意的问题。     

青藏高原东北缘生态脆弱区城镇体系空间结构研究——以甘南藏族自治州为例

青藏高原属于我国典型的生态环境脆弱地区,在国家主体功能区划中属限制开发区和禁止开发区,同时又是我国贫困人口的集中分布地区,面临着保障生态安全与发展经济的双重压力.因此,以主体功能区的指导思想＂因地制宜＂的优化区域城镇空间结构,引导与生态环境相适应的城镇发展模式,缩小区域空间差距,对促进区域一体化及实现可持续发展具有重要...     

Future of rail container transport in Eurasia

Conclusions Transport via the Siberian railway in trade between West Europe and Japan is clearly advantageous compared with sea transport. Whether the Siberian transport route is productive for the Soviet Union measured by Western standards is difficult to say. Some Western experts at least have expressed their doubts.It is known that some industrial western market-economy countries have been asked to invest in the construction of the Baikal-Amur railway in return for promised supplies of earth gas and oil. The development of the Siberian transit transport route may also be taken as a sign of an opening up of the Soviet Union to Western countries in a wider sense, and her growing interest in forming trade relations with the West.From the start the Siberian transit transport route was intended, in addition to the Soviet's own transport needs, for goods traffic between West Europe and Japan. Since then connections have been made with Hong Kong and the Philippines. In the future connections via Siberia may be made with Taiwan, South Korea and other East Asian countries and Australia. Thus the international significance of the Trans-Siberian railway in trade between the Far East and Europe will increase considerably. This will mean that the Soviet officials will be faced with what may prove a difficult decision concerning the growing demands of international transit traffic in relation to the increasing domestic transport on the same rail network.It seems likely that the Soviet Union will obtain an increasing proportion of the foreign exchange she needs from this growth in transport. In 1975 this sum was estimated at US $ 150.000.000. With the development in traffic the Soviets are also obtaining and developing new technological know-how. The biggest losers are the shipping lines belonging to the Far-Eastern Freight Conference. They are mainly from Western countries, but there are also members from Poland and East Germany who will lose freights to the Siberian transport route.     

Belonging to the world: Cosmopolitanism in geographic contexts

The notion of cosmopolitanism is today gaining new relevance in attempts to understand how globalization in an increasingly interdependent world-society is affecting traditional identities, including that of the nation. We focus on a positive definition of cosmopolitanism as a sense of belonging to “the world as a whole”, expressed in responses to a question from the World Values Surveys (WVS) 1995-1997. In building a multilevel statistical model of the 21 national contexts of societal attitudes and values surrounding cosmopolitanism, we inject empirical analysis into what has, until now, been a largely rhetorical field of scholarship. Because the data are collected hierarchically, with individuals clustered into regions in turn grouped into countries, the model allows for the consideration of different concepts of cosmopolitanism across geographic contexts. A greater likelihood of cosmopolitan identification is found among individuals who are environmentalist, less patriotic, politically active, with higher levels of education, youthful, and a positive orientation to living among immigrants in places where relatively more immigrants reside. Respondents from countries in the former Soviet Union show a significantly higher sense of belonging to the world as a whole, a difference attributed to the lack of confidence in the post-Communist regimes of these states in the 1990s.     

地浸砂岩铀矿钻探现状及发展

针对地浸砂岩铀矿钻探工作中最突出的钻探设备和钻进工艺问题,介绍了前苏联国家的有关成熟经验,并结合实际情况,探讨了如何进行钻探设备配套和加强钻进工艺研究的具体问题。     

中外油气资源评价方式差异的探讨

石油工程师学会（SPE）、世界石油大会（WPC）和美国石油学家协会（AAPG）于2002年联合推出的新的油气资源分类体系,与中国的分类有较大差别。中外储量和资源评价最根本的区别是中国强调系统研究,相对不注重资源的经济性,缺乏动态管理,储量分类体制上沿用前苏联的模式,勘探、开发相互分离,地质评价注重成因法等诸多方面。储量计算和结果表达方式大多用确定性法而非概率法,不利于对项目进行风险和投资组合管理。     

Consumption preferences and environmental externalities: A hedonic analysis of the housing market in Guangzhou

The urban housing market of China has been transformed since the 1980s from a centrally-planned to a free-market system. This study aimed to (1) investigate the position of outdoor environmental quality in house-buyers’ preferences; (2) assess monetary values attributed to environmental externalities by the hedonic pricing method (HPM); and (3) test the applicability of HPM in China. The study area was Guangzhou, the major city of south China with a booming real-estate market. A questionnaire survey was conducted with households in new residences sold in 2004. The main buying motives were improving living quarters and floor area. Security concerns and a preference for high-rise buildings were somewhat unexpected. Good outdoor environment, including green space provision, proximity to parks, and views of green space and water, carried significant hedonic values. Differences between the submarkets of old and new towns were found; new town households expected apartments in high-rise blocks, exclusive residential land use, and views of green space, while old town households preferred proximity to shopping areas and workplaces, green space within the development and proximity to nearby parks. The findings could help to fine tune the developing housing market to match supply with demand in quality terms. Values accorded to environmental attributes could justify funding for urban green spaces and nature conservation. The study verified the applicability of HPM to the housing context in China.     

The neighborhood council: Where ‘top-down’ engages with ‘bottom-up’

The paper examines the neighborhood council from the perspective of its contribution to town planning. Within the context of planning in Israel, two distinct models of neighborhood council and their relationship to the municipal planning administration in two different towns are considered. Their potential as a new arena of planning at the neighborhood level is evaluated, including the ability to mediate between ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ planning processes, and to offer a planning framework that combines local with professional knowledge.     

Small town growth and development policy in Pakistan

This study examines the process of small town development and growth in Pakistan. It has been found that small towns located in the agriculturally developed areas have better opportunities for development than those that lie in less developed agricultural areas. Although government economic development policies have influenced the location and development of small towns, local leadership plays an important role in the socioeconomic development of small towns.     

The role and disposition of military forces in the Russian Federation

The article discusses Russian motivation in the context of the restructuring of the military industrial complex and the new political districts of the former Soviet Union. It draws on Allison (1993) to describe the new military district structure, and considers what the combination of the boundaries of these areas indicates of Russian intentions for the future development of their forces and their relationship with the West. It goes on to consider the role of the media and of western political leaders in achieving images suitable for the identification of a peace dividend, and the repercussions of the situation as regards the future security of bi-polar relationships.     

The Southern Sudanese migration to Khartoum and the resultant conflicts

Today, more than one third of the population of Khartoum are southerners who migrated to the capital mainly in the last eight years because of the civil war. Their conditions are very bad. They are starving in the town, for most of them are unemployed and have no means of living. Their housing conditions in the shanty towns are deplorable. The development of squatter settlements and the struggle for the demarcation of quarters are delineated in this paper. In Khartoum the southerners develop a strong sense of solidarity and develop a growing supra-southern-Sudanese identity replacing the former ethnic and local identities.