AUTOMATED ISOCHRONES AND THE LOCATIONS OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES IN CITIES

A method is described for the automatic calculation and graphical reproduction of isochrones around emergency medical centers in large cities. The isochrones are set for different time standards and for varying traffic conditions. The technique is based on the concept of a velocity field. It permits a rapid evaluation of coverage standards under different operating conditions.     

河流健康及其指标

Based on the author’s practice in river harnessing, this paper defines that a healthy river is a river whose social and natural functions can be balanced or compromised in terms of the socio-economic, ecological and environmental values associated with the river. The environmental values of river systems should be judged according to the following criteria: the signal of a healthy river should be associated with favorable riverbed, acceptable water quality, sustainable river ecosystem and compatible runoff. The river health criterion should reflect the river’s natural function status which includes the riverbed, water quality, river ecosystem and runoff. But, the variety and quantity would be different for different rivers depending on different natural features and social background. The standards to be adopted for a healthy river should be determined according to the requirements for maintaining river’s normal natural functions and the extent whether the social and natural functions could perform in a balanced way, and also the standards adopted should be adjusted according to the change of the given conditions. The key factor of river health is the enough and clean flow. The authors stressed that human activities would hurt the river health which include excessive water diversion and excessive power generation from the river, improper regulation of flood and sediment, and over discharge of sewage into the river and over change in fish habitat. Taking the Yellow River as a case, this paper also discussed the method to identify what are the standards of a healthy river as well as environmental flows. Foundation: Chinese National Research Program, No.2006BAB06B; National Key Basic Research Development Program of China “973”, No.G1999043601 Author: Liu Changming, Academician     

Reconstruction of landscape paleohydrology using the sediment archives of three dystrophic lakes in northeastern Poland

Sediment layers of uniform age within lakes (isochrones) and their patterns reflect accumulation processes which can be correlated with hydrologic conditions in lake basins. The sedimentary archives in three small dystrophic lakes in northeastern Poland are described based on the correlation of local pollen assemblage zones in cores that were collected from the centers and margins of each lake. Past regional groundwater levels could be discerned from the shape of the isochrones, whether plane parallel or concave in configuration in relation to the lake basin shape. The concave configuration of the isochrones in the studied lakes shows that regional groundwater levels remained mostly high and stable throughout their history. The water levels in each lake during the Late Glacial and throughout the Holocene were different and no single, common water-level fluctuation pattern was identified in the three water bodies. The lack of such a finding suggests that the lakes are influenced dominantly by local hydrological factors.     

Index

America is embroiled in a culture war. National education standards have exacerbated the conflict. Supporters justify standards by adopting the rhetoric of globalization and national labor force preparedness. Opponents claim that standards threaten local control over value inculcation and social reproduction. This paper examines the “politics of scale” to hypothesize that conservatives have solicited Congressional support for local school choice and school prayer to subvert national education standards. Results from a multivariate analysis confirm that a significant link exists between Congressional opposition to education standards and support for school prayer and school choice.     

The Trade and Industries of Western South America

Abstract

Geography, long the neglected step-child in the field of social studies education, evinces signs of emerging as one of its key integrating elements. Its prominent inclusion and embellishment in both national and state standards and state assessments bodes well for its future. Higher education's role in this endeavor is paramount. The successful understanding, integration, and alignment of geography standards require the fashioning of exceptional university alliances. Inter-departmental mutuality of purpose and effort can, indeed, produce the next generation of caring and competent geography educators.     

Communication from readers

Abstract

In geographic education, a scientific approach is typically acclaimed as the most appropriate approach to teach, model, and use in the schools. This approach, however, is more honored in the professional literature and meetings than in teaching. Admittedly, many practical problems provide opportunities and challenges for teachers to use the scientific approach. The recent trend toward “standards” in the profession, moreover, may also prove more a hindrance than a help in achieving scientific literacy.     

Algorithm and implementation uncertainty in viewshed analysis

Abstract

In most documentation of geographical information systems (GIS) it is very rare to find details of the algorithms used in the software, but alternative formulations of the same process may derive different results. In this research several alternatives in the design of viewshed algorithms are explored. Three major features of viewshed algorithms are examined: how elevations in the digital elevation model are inferred, how viewpoint and target are represented, and the mathematical formulation of the comparison. It is found that the second of these produces the greatest variability in the viewable area (up to 50 per cent over the mean viewable area), while the last gives the least. The same test data are run in a number of different GIS implementations of the viewshed operation, and smaller, but still considerable, variability in the viewable area is observed. The study highlights three issues: the need for standards and/or empirical benchmark datasets for GIS functions; the desirability of publication of algorithms used in GIS operations; and the fallacy of the binary representation of a complex GIS product such as the viewshed.     

Geography in the International Baccalaureate

Abstract

The International Baccalaureate Organiz-ation (IBO) is doing much to promote the teaching of geography in schools. Since its establishment in 1968 to provide a common curriculum and university entrance credential for children of a geographically mobile international com-munity, it has evolved and now includes schools in national systems all over the world. As part of the curriculum group Individuals and Societies, geography is the-matic in organization, human in focus, and comprehensive in coverage. The geo-graphy syllabus can prove challenging to both teachers and students. Workshops are provided in each region to introduce new teachers to the assessment standards and practices of the IBO.     

Spatial Thinking Concepts in Early Grade-Level Geography Standards

ABSTRACT

Research in the cognition and learning sciences has demonstrated that the human brain contains basic structures whose functions are to perform a variety of specific spatial reasoning tasks and that children are capable of learning basic spatial concepts at an early age. There has been a call from within geography to recognize research on spatial cognition in a meaningful way in primary school curriculum. This article utilizes the spatial thinking taxonomy proposed by Gersmehl and Gersmehl (2006) to examine to the extent to which spatial thinking concepts are being practiced in U.S. schools. The National Geography Standards and forty-nine state social studies or geography standards are examined. Using standards as a measure of geography content, it is concluded that while some of spatial thinking concepts appear often in curriculum, others are largely absent. Designing geography standards that address the findings of spatial cognition research may serve as a means of improving geography instruction.     

Census 2000 and Geography Education

Abstract

By using stream restoration as a seminar theme, geography faculty can create a topical course that helps provide a shared intellectual agenda for both physical and human geography students, while highlighting the holistic strengths of our discipline. Although it is not necessary that faculty have prior knowledge about the topic, a willingness to work collaboratively is essential to creating an effective course about this complex endeavor. The course can simultaneously meets the needs of students continuing on to graduate studies as well as those preparing for teaching careers. Guidance on how a stream restoration class could be used to teach the eighteen geography standards is also provided.     

Notes and News

Abstract

Full implementation of geography standards will require their adoption by all U.S. states and school districts for use in every school. Strategies for achieving this goal include: using the consensus process to its fullest, involving the energy and resources of geography organizations, and reaching out to others to help maximize the standards' influence.     

Reading the World: Integrating Geography in an English Language Learner Literacy Program

Abstract

English language development classes focus on teaching students of other languages how to speak, read, and write English. They must also prepare students to meet the many standards and requirements that are prerequisites to content classes, such as geography, and high school graduation. This discussion focuses on the integration of literacy and geography in a classroom with English language learners. A common English language development model, the “Into, Through, Beyond” model of learning, sets a foundation that integrates components of English language acquisition with language arts and geography standards. In turn, this approach to learning prepares the learners for success in social and academic arenas.     

The Status of Geography in the Social Studies Curricula of Canadian Schools

Abstract

Successful curriculum development that will have impact upon individual American classrooms remains the key to maintaining the momentum of Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994. Teachers and students must be able to translate the national geography standards from the national stage to the local classroom setting to become geographically informed people. One example of this development for elementary urban geography is the Main Street lesson plan. It encourages observation and analysis required by Standard 4: The geographically informed student knows and understands the physical and human characteristics of places. After testing in a variety of Missouri classrooms, instructors thought that Main Street was a unique way of studying urban places and allowing students to gain a greater understanding of place.     

Trade Competition and Route Development in Georgia and the Carolinas, 1740-1900

Abstract

The “ideal-typical” sequence model of transportation development has been widely referenced, but its application outside of its original African context has not been well tested. A graphical analysis is employed to evaluate the utility of the concept in explanation of the evolution of the transportation network in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain sections of Georgia and the Carolinas from the mid-eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century. The historical geography of transport expansion in this area appears to support the general parameters of the ideal-typical sequence and provides useful material for instruction related to the national standards for geographic education.     

Geography in Alaska: Holding the Standards High

Abstract

In 1992, the State of Alaska Department of Education embarked on a standards-writing process as part of its Alaska 2000 reform effort. Supported by a Frameworks Grant from the U.S. Department of Education, standards were written in geography, government/civics, and history during 1993 and 1994. This article highlights an extensive statewide public consensus process used to generate the Alaska 2000 Geography Standards, which were modeled after Geography for Life: National Geographic Standards 1994.     

Changing Perspectives in High School World Geography: 1950–2005

Abstract

This study set out to better understand the changing links between geography and citizenship. Content analysis was conducted on eighteen high school world geography textbooks and state/national standards. Interviews were conducted with teachers and textbook authors. Five significant changes were noted: decline of national orientation and a greater focus on non-Western cultures; greater emphasis upon consumption over production; the accentuation of values clarification; increasing coverage of basic or prevocational skills; and standardization of format and content in textbooks. Many of these changes point towards a new cosmopolitan citizenship model, although some teachers and state social studies standards still see geography from a national perspective.     

Interoperable information model for geovisualization and interaction in XR environments

ABSTRACT

Since the vision of a Digital Earth (DE) was introduced in 1998, geo-browsers seem to have nearly fulfilled this vision. Virtual reality (VR) for visualizing the DE provides an immersive user experience in a mirror world. Location-based augmented reality (AR) browsers have been introduced and provide content according to user and environmental contexts. However, the content models of traditional geo-browsers and AR browsers have very limited interoperability, because they are described in application-specific formats using their domain standards. Each application is vertically integrated from content to application. The Web is an interoperable and open platform, and hundreds of millions of users are already using it to create and share content. To envision DE browsers for cross-reality (XR) environments that concurrently support geovisualization as well as VR, AR, and mixed-reality environments, we propose a DE content model based on Web standards and architecture that provides full interoperability and openness for XR browsers as a first-class citizen of the Web. This is expected to improve the DE content development efficiency by fully using the Web content development environment.     

Lateral benches of glacial valleys in the Svartisen area of North Norway

Abstract

Bennett, R. G. Lateral benches of glacial valleys in the Svartisen area of North Norway. Norsk geogr. Tidsskr. 21, 1967, 254–268.

Some irregular valley benches in the Svartisen area are described and their formation is discussed. It is found that some are structurally controlled, while others are features of glacial and extra-glacial erosion. The conditions under which the larger benches were formed were so different that no genetic classification of these features is possible.     

A New Use for the Geography Chart

Abstract

Geography occupies a prominent position in the high school curriculum in China. The syllabus for geography, as for other subjects, has been centrally prescribed since the early 1900s but during the last 40 years it has undergone major changes. The current syllabus, which covers both human and physical aspects of the subject, also embraces people-environment and resource issues. Obstacles to the further development of the subject include a lack of qualified staff, wide variations in educational standards, and the fact that geography, although a “required” subject in some years, is not yet a compulsory subject in the University Entrance Examination. Gradually these problems are being addressed and there are grounds to be optimistic about the future of the discipline at this level in China.