Public policy and the changing landscape

The paper illustrates how spatially explicit forecasting of residential development can be undertaken and how it can be made sensitive to policy instruments available to local and state governments. Predicted values in residential use based on a hedonic analysis of residential property prices is found to have a significant effect on the hazard of development in a survival model used to explain the likelihood that a farm or forest will be converted to residential use. Policy instruments are imbedded in both the hedonic model of residential property values and a hazard model of parcel conversion, so as to test how effective changes in policies can be at changing the pattern of land-use change. Some of the statistical and modeling obstacles that impede progress on this spatially explicit modeling are also discussed.     

安徽省土地置换政策制定研究

我国进入经济发展的快速时期,各个地方尤其是城市化和工业化发展较快的地区对建设用地的需求越来越大,开展对土地的整治和置换已经上升为国家层面的战略部署。本文在对安徽省建设用地管理现状和存在问题进行分析的基础上,提出未来安徽省土地置换政策制定的工作思路与目标任务。     

Public policy and residential provision for the elderly

In recent years there has been a growing concern about the best type of residential care for the increasing elderly population in Britain. This paper examines the response of the public, private and voluntary sectors to the provision of residential care. It looks at the relative levels, spatial variations in the levels and changes in the proportions of provision by each of these sectors for the years 1981 and 1984. The levels of provision are related to indices of need, available resources and the political disposition of each local authority area. This paper then focuses on the variations in the growth of the private-sector provision of residential homes. It was found that the metropolitan districts had the greatest proportion of voluntary-sector provision; and the traditional seaside retirement counties such as Devon and Lancashire had the highest levels of and experienced the greatest growth in private residential care. The key variables in explaining variations in the mix of provision between areas were indices of need and resources. This study has established that there are great regional variations in the mix of the different sectors of residential care, although it is not possible to offer a total explanation of these differentials. In Britain, there are substantial inequalities in terms of the choice of types of provision for the elderly population which have significant implications for local authority policy.     

Public assistance and employment growth in the rural periphery: Some issues in policy design and implementation

This paper discusses the role of public policy in promoting economic development in a UK peripheral area, Devon and Cornwall. It is argued that traditional measures achieved some success in the context of national growth. However, more of the same at a time of economic recession is seen as inappropriate since a transfer of resources from one region to another cannot necessarily be justified nor relied upon. Future policy initiatives should seek to provide self-sustained growth in peripheral rural regions through creating conditions in which indigenous manufacturing can prosper. In particular, it is suggested that the public authorities should specifically target resources at those small and independent firms in the local economy with the greatest linkage potential, since this is likely to lead to new-firm formation and employment growth. At the same time, the local constraints to development should be recognised.     

Roof bolting in underground mining: a state-of-the-art review

Conclusions With continuing investigations and developments, roof bolting today can in most cases successfully reinforce the mine roof in underground mining. In order to cope with the increasing use of roof bolts, efforts should be made to maximize the safety and minimize the cost. With regard to mechanical bolting, two important parameters need more advanced improvements and study, namely, optimum design of the shape and type of expansion shell and optimum bolt tension for a specific bolt pattern. For the fully grouted resin bolt, the most critical requirement is to develop a fast-setting, low-cost, intoxic, inflammable grouting material that can be used in the high speed mining cycle. It should be noted that geological conditions such as the strata type, rock properties,in situ stress, and planes of weakness play an important role in the successful application of any roof bolting system. These factors should be specified as accurately and quantitatively as possible in the design of any roof bolting system. Finally, proper and careful installation and continuous monitoring are imperative for the success of any roof bolting system.     

Pyrite oxidation: a state-of-the-art assessment of the reaction mechanism

The oxidation of pyrite to release ferrous iron and sulfate ions to solution involves the transfer of seven electrons from each sulfur atom in the mineral to an aqueous oxidant. Because only one or, at most, two electrons can be transferred at a time, the overall oxidation process is quite complex. Furthermore, pyrite is a semiconductor, so the electrons are transferred from sulfur atoms at an anodic site, where oxygen atoms from water molecules attach to the sulfur atoms to form sulfoxy species, through the crystal to cathodic Fe(II) sites, where they are acquired by the oxidant species. The reaction at the cathodic sites is the rate-determining step for the overall process. This paper maps out the most important steps in this overall process.     

Social policy at work? Equality and equity in women's paid employment in Canada

Under mounting pressure from women, Canada introduced employment policies to address the gender wage gap and women's access to a wider range of jobs. The policies were generally introduced between the late 1970s and early 1990s. Over time these policies have shifted from focusing on equality to emphasising equity. Two pivotal policies are pay equity and employment equity. In the end, the impact of these policies is difficult to assess. Keeping the European situation in mind we argue that they be considered as a component of broader changes rather than as specific causes of improving the situation of women in the Canadian labour market. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Population dynamics and natural hazard risk management: conceptual and practical linkages for the case of Austrian policy making

Natural Hazards - This contribution explores the conceptual and empirical linkages between population dynamics and natural hazard risk management (NHRM). Following a review of the international...     

Visualizing flood risk,enabling participation and supporting climate change adaptation using the Geoweb: the case of coastal communities in Nova Scotia,Canada

Impacts of climate change have been observed in natural systems and are expected to intensify in future decades (IPCC in Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPPC, Geneva, 2014). Governments are seeking to establish adaptive measures for minimizing the effects of climate change on vulnerable citizen groups, economic sectors and critical infrastructure (Adger et al. in Global Environ Change 15(2):77–86, 2005. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2004.12.005; Smit and Wandel in Global Environ Change 16(3):282–292, 2006. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.03.008). Coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to changing conditions due to rising sea levels and storm event intensification that produce new flood exposures (Richards and Daigle in Government of Prince Edward Island, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2011 http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/ccscenarios.pdf). However, communities oftentimes lack access to locally-relevant climate change information that can support adaptation planning. This research introduces the use of a Geoweb tool for supporting local climate change adaptation efforts in coastal Canadian communities. The Geoweb tool (called “AdaptNS”) is a web-based visualization tool that displays interactive flood exposure maps generated using local climate change projections of sea level rise and storm surge impacts between the years 2000 and 2100. AdaptNS includes participatory features that allow users to identify and share specific locations to protect against present and future coastal flood events. By soliciting feedback from community members, AdaptNS is shown to support local adaptation through the provision of flood exposure visuals, as a platform for identifying adaptation priorities, and as an avenue to communicate local risks to external entities that could facilitate local adaptation initiatives (e.g. upper levels of government). Future Geoweb research directions include improving the visualization of climate change projection uncertainties, the expansion of informational and participation capabilities, and understanding the potential for long-term adoption of Geoweb tools in adaptation decision-making.     

Issues in public policy evaluation: the case of regional policy

This paper notes the recent growth of public policy evaluation studies and pays particular attention to those policies with avowed spatial objectives. It seeks to establish the general nature of these diverse studies and their relationship to geographical analysis. A case study examining the evaluation of regional policy in the U.K. is used to demonstrate the nature of the issues in public policy evaluation and to explore the role of geography in the rapidly growing domain, known most commonly as ‘policy analysis’.     

Rock fracturing by explosive energy: review of state-of-the-art

A study of the dynamic rock fracture initiation and propagation due to explosive energy is presented through a detailed state-of-the-art review. Explosive energy dissipation in crushing and fracturing is examined and the various means to enhance the explosive energy utilization for dynamic rock fracturing are reviewed. The study highlights the need for a better understanding of the dynamic fracturing process particularly in the presence of in situ stresses in the rock mass.     

Quaternary study in Canada: the present stage

Book reviewed in this article:
Géographie Physique el Quaternaire 1982: Vol. XXXVI     

Copula函数在水文水资源中的研究进展与述评

Copula函数是一种灵活构造多变量联合分布和处理多变量问题的有效工具,在水文水资源领域应用广泛;随着研究的广度和深度不断推进,显示出其良好的适用性和不可替代的优越性。重点综述了近10年来Copula函数在水文事件多变量频率分析、水文事件遭遇组合分析、水文随机模拟、水文模型与预报以及其他问题中的最新应用研究进展与不足。从应用条件、参数估计、不对称性、拟合优选、尾部特性、多变量重现期选取、成果抽样误差等方面阐述了Copula函数应用需要注意的问题。展望了未来Copula函数在水文水资源领域应用中的研究重点和发展方向,为今后的研究提供借鉴和参考。     

Urban agriculture in Cameroon: an anti-politics machine in the making?

Urban agriculture in Africa is a growth area for development institutions and researchers. It is often portrayed as a coping strategy through which the urban poor have adapted to structural adjustment. It is enframed in an apolitical, ahistorical way because development institutions seek to create spaces into which development projects can be inserted in the future. This paper uses a case study from the town of Buea in south-west Cameroon to illustrate the differences between the international image of urban agriculture and its practice in one particular place. The increase in agricultural production in Buea in the 1990s initially appears to conform to the standard picture of urban farming as a recent, pragmatic and unplanned response to falling household incomes. However, such a portrayal neglects the history of urban farming, the pleasure that agriculture brings to farmers and the political consequences of expanding agricultural production. One of the concrete outcomes of increased urban agriculture in Buea in the 1990s has been to act as a `safety valve' against social unrest. It has acted as an `anti-politics machine'; a mechanism through which a sensitive political operation (reducing the salaries of civil servants) is achieved through apparently disconnected apolitical acts (enabling urban households to expand agricultural production). The Cameroonian government has opportunistically encouraged urban agriculture during a period of rapid economic change as one strategy for reproducing existing social relations.     

Disaster recovery as participation: lessons from the Shaky Isles

Natural Hazards - Despite broad scholarly consensus that public participation in disaster recovery is highly desirable, in practice, appropriate and effective forms of community involvement are...     

Investment policy in the Polish transport sector: An appraisal

The common nature of investment policy in the Polish transport system is analysed. The transport system should contribute to national economic growth by providing an efficient service to all sections of industry, agriculture and services, and by ensuring the maintenance of a reasonable level of personal mobility through public passenger facilities. Meanwhile, as shown in the first part of the paper, the volume of transport inputs, 1970–1984 were relatively low and, moreover, their allocation among different modes of transport — not always correct. Some specific features of investment policy in the 1970s are described. Finally, the present-day phenomena and problems characteristic of Polish transport — being mainly a result of improper past policy and nowadays crisis situation — are presented. Paper presented to the IGU Working Group on Geography of Transport: Symposium No. W11, 25–29 August 1986, León, Spain.