The changing structure, distribution and spatial segregation of the unemployed and economically inactive in Great Britain

Key trends in labour demand and supply in the 1980s, and their interactions, had uneven impacts on different population sub-groups and areas in Britain. As the structure of employment shifted from manufacturing to services, and there was a growth in high level non-manual occupations at the expense of less skilled manual jobs, there was increasing concern that the ‘losers’ from these processes of economic and social change would become increasingly ‘isolated’—in socioeconomic and spatial terms. This paper traces the changing contours of the geography of unemployment and inactivity in Great Britain between 1981 and 1991, at the regional and local scales, using a variety of indicators of spatial distribution and segregation. While on some measures there is evidence that unemployment became more widespread, there is evidence that the extent and intensity of non-employment, and the segregation of those without jobs, were exacerbated over the decade.     

Variations of factors affecting rice productivity in Central Luzon,Philippines

Factors affecting rice productivity in Central Luzon, Philippines, among four classes of level, namely Class A — fully irrigated, Class B — partially irrigated, Class C — lowland rainfed, and Class D — upland rainfed, are examined in this study. An attempt is made to identify the ajor underlying dimensions of rice productivity and to ascertain the set of postulated factors that best determines variations associated with rice productivity. While principal-axes factor analysis is applied to isolate the underlying dimensions associated with rice productivity for 200 farms, stepwise multiple regression analysis is employed to determine which among the thirty-eight hypothesized variables have the strongest influence in accounting for variations associated with rice productivity in Central Luzon.The results showed that the economic and institutional factors accounted for most of the variations in rice productivity among the four classes of farms. Whereas the economic variables were concerned with the amount and manner in which economic inputs were used and with the amount of fixed asset in rice production, the institutional factors were focused mainly on membership in the government rice production program and the amount of loan available to farmer members.     

Deregulation of the New Zealand labour market

The neo-classical rationale for deregulation of the labour market argues that capital and labour should have greater choice in their relationship with each other, in particular employers should have greater flexibility to affect wages and conditions in accord with specific product markets and local conditions. Decentralised decision making, it is argued, will lead to greater market efficiency than a centrally controlled system of employment relations and wage setting. Such was the rationale for the Employment Contracts Act (ECA) in 1991. Although it did even out the relative power granted to capital and labour the Employment Relations Act (ERA) introduced a decade later preserved the general thrust of the 1991 legislation. The ECA completed the dismantling of centralised regulation of employment relationships in New Zealand. But over ten years later there is still no clear consensus on its labour market impact. The immediate effects of the legislation on unionisation and levels of work stoppages are relatively easy to document. However, outcomes related to the functioning of the labour market as a whole – unemployment rates, labour force participation rates, wage levels, labour productivity and on-the-job-training – have proved far more difficult to tie directly or even indirectly to the ECA. It is argued here that the impact of the ECA on efficiency and growth has been extremely modest and that any net improvement in conventional labour market measures has been negligible. Rather the Act has been more influential in redistributing available paid work, including the redistribution of a greater share of the surplus from labour to capital itself. Any categorical conclusions on the impacts of the ECA and the ERA require a far more carefully specified research design than has been applied to date. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Globalisation, information technology and the emergence of niche transnational cities: the growth of the call centre sector in Dublin

The development of information and communications technologies (ICT) has facilitated the emergence of a complex global urban system in which many formerly lower-order cities have been carving out “niche” specialist functions serving urban fields of transnational dimension. This is illustrated in the case of Dublin, which in recent years has been transcending its traditional role as Ireland’s national metropolis through the development of a range of functions servicing mainly European markets. One such function comprises pan-European telephone call centre operations. The development and characteristics of this newly-emerging sector are described. It is argued that the growth of the sector confirms Dublin’s — and Ireland’s — dependent position in the international division of labour, and that its long-term sustainability is open to question.     

Cut Flowers in Warsaw

Cut flowers production around Warsaw depends mainly on very intensive methods, particularly the use of glasshouses, and includes a number of highly specialized farms. It is the result of a remarkably high level of demand in Poland and of the development of an export industry. It plays an important role in an agricultural system in which the production possibilities for very small farms are limited. Most production is in private hands and depends on the application of relatively large quantities of capital with a considerable element of risk. Farmers grow flowers at varying levels of intensity and with varying degrees of specialisation. A particular spatial structure within the general geographical distribution of intensive agriculture around Warsaw appears to have resulted. An attempt is made to indicate some of the elements in this structure by the use of published data for flowers production and for the taxation of private holdings by small administrative districts — the gminy or local communes. Examination of inputs indicates major constraints. The industry reached a peak in 1981. If it were to expand again attention should be paid to existing spatial diseconomies and the possibilities of relocation.     

China's foodgrains: Production and performance, 1949–1981

Taking advantage of the increased flow of economic data from Mainland China, this article reviews the development of the foodgrain sector over the period 1949–81. Rice, wheat and maize are the dominant crops, they currently occupy 70% of the total foodgrain acreage and provide 80% of production. China's doubling of foodgrain production over the past 30 years (1952–81) has been achieved through a substantial intensification and modernisation of the agricultural sector. Faced with the major constraint of a very limited supply of arable land, production increases have had to come from increasing yields rather than from expanding acreage. While the productivity of land has increased significantly, the productivity of labour appears to have stagnated or declined from the late 1950s to the late 1970s. Nevertheless, increased grain production, allied to a successful food distribution system, has given China the ability to feed 22% of the world's population from only 7% of the world's arable land. In an endeavour to overcome the problems of low productivity and low rural incomes, a major shift in Government policy has taken place in the post-Mao era. Increased material incentives, increased autonomy, increased grain imports and the abandonment of collective agriculture in favour of family farming, have greatly improved production, productivity, profitability and consumption in rural China.Abbreviations JPRS Joint Publications Research Service - PSMA (China Report) Political, Sociological & Military Affairs     

Transnational elites in global cities: British expatriates in Singapore's financial district

Skilled international migration is as an important process of both contemporary globalization and the global city. The establishment of a transnational elite of expatriate labour in international finance plays a vital part in the accumulation of capital within international financial centres (IFCs). Expatriate labour has become a major determinant of the IFC, creating financial capital through complex social relations, knowledge networks, practices and discourses. The principal argument being made in this paper is that expatriates are major agents in the accumulation and transfer of financial knowledge in the IFC, and that such processes are undertaken through expatriate global–local knowledge networks and other social practices. The paper is divided into three major parts. Following a discussion of transnational elites as expatriates in global cities, which also conceptualises their contribution to the spatialization of financial knowledge networks, the empirical study investigates the working, social and cultural knowledge networks and practices of British expatriates in Singapore. Finally, the paper revisits the conceptual work on transnational elites and suggests that expatriates were deeply embedded in global–local relations in the workplace and the business/social sphere through interaction with local ‘western educated/experienced' Singaporeans, but were disembedded from the local in the home and other household social spaces due to the invisibility of the local population in their interactions. Both the theoretical and empirical analyses suggests that expatriates are flow in the Castellian spatial logic of the network society.     

The externality fields of football grounds: a case study of the Dell, Southampton

Football grounds generate a negative externality — or nuisance— effect which, according to previous work, displays a distance decay pattern. However, on the basis of an exploratory investigation of the negative externality field produced by Southampton Football Club's ground it was found that the various elements which together comprise the general nuisance field varied both in intensity and in spatial extent. The noise nuisance, not surprisingly, is the most localized whilst the parked cars and traffic nuisances are the most extensive. In addition, whereas the specific nuisances of noise, pedestrians and ‘hooliganism’ each exhibit a distance decay pattern the incidence of the parked cars nuisance and, to a lesser extent, the traffic nuisance are less in the immediate vicinity of the ground than further away. Finally, despite the impression conveyed by the media, ‘hooliganism’ was perceived by local residents as much less of a football-generated nuisance than traffic congestion and parked cars.     

International and domestic tourism: Interfaces and issues

This paper reviews the interfaces between international and domestic tourism and explores a number of associated issues. Within the origin the interface is between domestic tourism and the outbound component of international tourism. Questions arise relating to the different propensities for domestic and outbound travel and reasons accounting for this variation at a national scale — size, national tourist resources and levels of economic development — and at an individual level where motivations and the ability to travel play a major role. Within destinations interfaces exist between domestic tourism and inbound international tourism. Questions there relate to the size and distribution of these two types of tourist traffic, their respective impacts and the interaction between the two groups. Issues raised include those of the substitution of domestic and outbound travel and the formulation of policies whose varied aims are likely to be met by different spatial strategies. Future research needs to examine differences and interactions between domestic and international tourism more fully and explicitly so that more effective policies might be derived.     

Spatial systems and structures. A model and a case study

World space appears to be divided into unequally stable wholes which we see as being structures produced by the combined action of natural systems, spatial gradients and open energetic systems. The latter are based on the inter play of population, information, resources and capital, acting through the means of production, and in interaction with the social structures which are reproduced by the system and in turn reproduce it — until they become inconsistent with it: these successive reproductions are factors of change.This model is applied, as an example, to Champagne (France).     

Chrome-rich garnets from the kimberlites of yakutia and their parageneses

The chrome-rich magnesian garnets (6.6–18.9% Cr₂O₃) of kimberlitic concentrates and some peridotite xenoliths contain variable admixtures of CaO: from 0.69 to 26.0% (1.7–72% Ca-component). All the garnets both in respect of Ca and Cr-contents make up a continuous series.The variability in the Ca-content is caused by differences in paragenesis. Most of the Ca-poor pyropes are related to a paragenesis without clinopyroxene (mostly dunitic). Garnets rich in calcium are related to a paragenesis without entstatite. All the parageneses listed are of an ultramafic type, i.e. contain magnesian olivine. The solubility of knorringite—Mg₃Cr₂(Si₃O₁₂)—in kimberlitic garnets is possibly limited by pressure and does not exceed 50–60% mol.     

Prioritization of soil conservation measures using erodibility indices as criteria in Sikkim (India)

Erodibility indices are important parameter that can be used to describe the intensity of the soil erosion problems causing environmental concerns. These indices are convenient to estimate the susceptibility to erosion where physical measurement is very difficult. Sikkim is one such state in India where measuring erosion is a tedious process due to its difficult and inaccessible terrain conditions. In the present study, spatial variation of susceptibility of erosion in East district of Sikkim was estimated by using indices such as clay ratio, dispersion ratio, mod clay ratio and critical level of soil organic matter. The result indicates soils in East district are mostly dominated by sand particles (40.5–81.06%) in majority of soil samples. The dispersion ratio values in most of the soils were >15% indicating very high vulnerability to erosion. The values of clay ratio (3.44–9), modified clay ratio (mean value of 6.9) and critical level of soil organic matter content (<5%) indicated high susceptibility to erosion. The trends of indices were generated by IDW interpolation method to understand the spatial variation of the susceptibility to erosion. The interpolated maps were overlaid on subwatershed maps to prioritize the subwatershed for planning treatment measures.     

Garnet-cordierite-biotite equilibria in the Steinach aureole,Bavaria

Three garnet-biotite pairs and eleven garnet-cordierite-biotite triplets from the Steinach aureole (Oberpfalz, North-East Bavaria) were analyzed using an electron probe microanalyzer.The regional metamorphic muscovite-biotite schists contain garnets strongly zoned with Mn-Ca-rich centers and Fe-rich edges, the average composition being almandine 67 — spessartine 4 — pyrope 4 — grossular (+andradite) 25.The first contact garnet that is formed in mica schists of the outermost part of the aureole is small, virtually unzoned, and has an average composition of almandine 52 — spessartine 37 — pyrope 8 — grossular (+andradite) 3. With increasing metamorphic grade, there is a consistent trend to form garnets richer in Fe ending up with a composition almandine 84.5 — spessartine 5.5 — pyrope 7.5 — grossular (+andradite) 2.5. This trend is accompanied by a general increase in grain size and modal amount of garnet. Associated cordierites and biotites also become richer in Fe with increasing grade. While the garnets in the highest grade sillimanite hornfelses are poorly zoned, the transitional andalusite-sillimanite hornfelses contain garnets with distinct but variable zonation profiles.These facts can possibly be explained by the time-temperature relationships in the thermal aureole. In a phase diagram such as the Al-Fe-Mg-Mn tetrahedron, the limiting mineral compositions of a four-phase volume or a three-phase triangle are fixed by T and P (the latter remaining effectively constant within a thermal aureole). Thus, in garnet-cordierite-biotite assemblages, garnet zonation should be controlled by temperature variation rather than by a non-equilibrium depletion process. Taking into account the experimental data of Dahl (1968), a zoned garnet from a transitional andalusite-sillimanite hornfels would reflect a temperature increase of about 40° C during its growth. A hypothetical P-X diagram is proposed to show semi-quantitatively the compositional variation of garnet-cordierite pairs with varying pressures (T constant).     

Sea Level Changes in the Last Several Thousand Years, Penghu Islands, Taiwan Strait

Holocene shore-face and beach-face deposits form plains <5 m above present sea level along Taiwan Strait. We measured the¹⁴C ages of detrital mollusk shells and coral in such deposits at the Penghu Islands. Twelve carbonate samples—mainly from the largest island, Makung—were dated. Age measurements for two coral samples and one mollusk sample from the same outcrop imply that the¹⁴C ages of mollusk shells give the best approximation of depositional age. The highest Holocene relative sea level in the Penghu Islands occurred about 4700 years ago with a height about 2.4 m above the present sea level. Thereafter, relative sea level appreciably fell without detectable fluctuations to its recent position. Our sea level data are consistent with other studies from the central and western Pacific, except for the timing of peak sea level position. This variation may reflect local crustal response to hydroisostatic effects on the continental shelf.     

Natural partial melting of syenite blocks from Ascension Island

Blocks of coarse-grained syenite included in a trachyandesite lava flow on Ascension Island exhibit features attributable to partial melting. The liquid so formed has been quenched to a glass and the chemical variation of the glass is considered to depend on the amount of melting, the mineralogy and modal proportions of each block — especially the presence or absence of quartz — and the chemical composition of the minerals subjected to melting. Partial melting of quartz-syenites such as these could have produced magmas of composition similar to that of the comendites and granites found on Ascension but differences in major element and minor element chemistry between the glass and the comendites and granites suggest otherwise.     

Translocal assemblages: Space, power and social movements

In this paper, I deploy an analytic of ‘translocal assemblage’ as a means for conceptualising space and power in social movements. I offer a relational topology that is open to how actors within movements construct different spatial imaginaries and practices in their work. In using the prefix ‘translocal’, I am signifying three orientations. First, translocal assemblages are composites of place-based social movements which exchange ideas, knowledge, practices, materials and resources across sites. Second, assemblage is an attempt to emphasise that translocal social movements are more than just the connections between sites. Sites in translocal assemblages have more depth than the notion of ‘node’ or ‘point’ suggests – as connoted by network – in terms of their histories, the labour required to produce them, and their inevitable capacity to exceed the connections between other groups or places in the movement. Third, they are not simply a spatial category, output, or resultant formation, but signify doing, performance and events. I examine the potential of assemblage to offer an alternative account to that of the ‘network’, the predominant and often de facto concept used in discussions of the spatiality of social movements. I draw on examples from one particular translocal assemblage based in and beyond Mumbai which campaigns on housing within informal settlements: Slum/Shack Dwellers International.     

Developments of geochemical methods for ore prospecting in Bulgaria

Three periods in the development of geochemical methods for ore prospecting in Bulgaria may be distinguished — initial (1954–1960), middle (1961–1969) and contemporary (since 1970) — which are characterized by successively increasing numbers of samples and improving methods of geochemical data evaluation. Geochemical methods have been recognized as effective, rapid and relatively cheap methods for prospecting for ore deposits (Cu, Pb, Zn, Au, W, Mo, etc.), some nonmetalliferrous raw materials (fluorite, barite, phosphorites) and hydrocarbons. They are used in all stages of exploration at scales from 1:200,000 to 1:200. They have contributed to the elucidation of the ore perspectives in many regions, and a number of new ore bodies and deposits have been discovered.Basic geochemical methods applied to ore prospecting in the country utilize soil and rock to detect secondary and primary aureoles. Stream-sediment surveys, hydrochemical and atmochemical methods are of more restricted use. Samples are analyzed by emission spectrometry, atomic absorption and other methods. A united system of computerized processing of geochemical data has been developed, including automatic drawing of geochemical maps.Interpretation of the data consists in selection of prospective geochemical anomalies and prognostication of the composition, morphology, depth and industrial significance of hidden ore bodies. The main problem in the mathematical processing of data is the presentation of polydimensional results from analyses in the form of generalized quantities — multiplicative or additive geochemical indicator ratios for the type of mineralization, coefficients of zoning, intensity, etc. The geochemical indices for evaluation of the newly found anomalies are derived through studies of the primary geochemical aureoles of typical standard ore deposits.Residual secondary soil aureoles in most cases are well correlated in composition and structure with the ore bodies and primary aureoles which have generated them. Their successful use is related to the landscape-geochemical conditions in the ore regions. Micro- and macro-chemical zoning of ground waters and different concentration of soluble components in different elevation belts are used for evaluation of hydrochemical anomalies.     

Circulation and representativeness of precipitation and air temperature in the southeast of the Quinghai-Xizang Plateau

Based on time series of 98 stations from the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the Indo-Gagnetic Plains, the River Gorge Country and Eastern China, the representativeness of the locally observed interannual variations of temperature and precipitation was analyzed by a statistical method. After an overview, which regards the main circulation patterns as well as the spatial distribution of temperature and precipitation in winter (January) and summer (July), the monthly distribution of the representativeness is discussed in a climato-genetic context. The monthly temperature representativeness is characterized by strong spatial and seasonal contrasts. The values range from less than 200 km in the basins and valley bottoms of NW Sichuan, caused by local summer circulation patterns, and more than 1600 km in the lower areas of E China, affected by the far reaching influence of the winter monsoonal surges of cold continental airmasses. With only a few exceptions mainly occurring in December, the precipitation representativeness does not exceed a 300 km limit. Due to the comparatively modest spatial disparities — except December when a steep rise, greater than 600 km occurs in the upper Tsangpo valley and adjacent areas — it can only be concluded, that a tendency of higher (lower) representativeness is predominantly related to advective (convective) regimes.     

Magnesite abundance as a guide to gold mineralization associated with ultramafic flows, Timmins area

Altered komatiitic flows of the Tisdale Group locally contain secondary calcite, dolomite or magnesite, where alteration intensity and bulk-rock composition are favourable. Talc is present only in the least carbonatized samples and does not coexist with quartz and magnesite. Magnesite is present only in carbonatized ultramafic komatiitic flows (> 20 wt.% MgO) containing at least 18 wt.% loss on ignition (> 14 wt.% CO₂). Magnesite abundance increases with increasing loss on ignition and ) whole-rock ratio. Altered flows having magnesite to dolomite weight precent ratios exceeding 70 occur in proximity to mineable concentrations of gold and define surface-exploration targets 500 m in diameter.The spatial association of gold with the more magnesian ultramafic komatiitic flows arises in part because of the reactive nature of olivine-rich rocks in the presence of CO₂-bearing aqueous hydrothermal fluids, and possibly because the most magnesian ultramafic flows occur in proximity to an eruptive vent area where the likelihood of rock-fluid interaction is greatest because of the local structural regime.Talc-magnesite—quartz assemblages are present in some ultramafic dykes which cut the older Deloro Group volcanic rocks; the apparent absence of gold in these rocks may be attributed to the higher formation temperature of the talc-bearing, relative to the talc-free, magnesite-quartz assemblages.     

Innovation,a neglected locational factor

The regional variation in the sales of a new product, a corrugated zink plate for roofing, is described and explained with the help of regression analysis covering a four year period following the product's introduction. Distance from the plant, share of rural population, income per capita, intensity of competition and a regional dummy explain 76–90 % of the regional variation in a year. As the product commands a practically uniform price and has identical availability irrespective of customer location, and as official marketing information is centralized and therefore also uniform, the distance and dummy variables should not appear in the regression equation. Their actual appearance and the positive sign of the competition-variable are explained by the spatial innovation effect. Its significance is evaluated and measures are suggested for its exploitation.