China's population: an alternative perspective

The author presents a selection of cartograms designed to illustrate aspects of the demography of China. Topics covered include population growth, density, regional variations in fertility, and age distribution. A discussion of the advantages of using cartograms (maps drawn proportional to a given variable) as opposed to conventional, area-based maps, is included.     

Far beyond the Gulf: the implications of warfare for Asian labour migration

The implications of the Gulf War are assessed for the countries in Asia that send labor migrants to the Middle East. "This paper seeks to examine the effects of...the loss of remittances (and related issues, including return migration), primarily in terms of the long-term implications of the War for the future of contract labour migration in the Asian region...."     

在晋北高原上放歌——山西省怀仁县坚持节约集约用地综述

近年来,位于晋北高原的山西省怀仁县针对本地实际,坚持走可持续发展之路,按照“依法、规范、科学、集约”的原则,严把土地供应“闸门”,以强化土地节约集约利用、挖掘存量土地潜力为重点,通过盘活闲置低效利用土地和实施土地开发整理,全面破解发展用地难题,找准了保护耕地与保障经济发展的结合点,走出了一条中部欠发达地区节约集约用地之路,既服务了县域经济发展,又牢牢守住了耕地保护红线。     

实验变差函数计算方法的研究与运用

本文系统、详尽地分析讨论了不同样品数据条件下实验变差函数的计算方法。在实验变差函数计算流程的设计和有效样品搜索域的确定方面提出了自己独特的见解。最后用一个矿山的控矿工程教据对文中介绍的方法进行了测试。结果表明,利用本文的方法,容易得到稳健、准确、信息量高的实验变差函数。     

碳的地下封存

引言 减少温室气体排放量的需要 随着地球大气层中二氧化碳和其他温室气体浓度的不断上升,自然温室效应不断增强,这将导致全球气候变化。这些气候变化的特征、程度和时限是不可确定的,但一种主要的气候变化是可预测的,即全球平均气温上升。图1中的观测结果表明,由于外在因素的影响,例如火山尘和太阳辐射输出,全球平均气温逐渐增加且很有可能已超出气候自然变化的范围。     

Migration trends in British rural areas from the 18th to the 20th centuries

"Longitudinal residential histories are used to examine the extent to which three rural areas in Britain had distinctive migration histories from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Migration flows into and out of the regions are used to examine the extent to which the regions were integrated into the British migration system, and the relative importance of rural to urban migration is assessed.... Analysis reveals a high degree of short-distance mobility within regions and emphasises the dominance of London in longer-distance migration.... It is also suggested that the role of towns in the migration system has previously been overemphasised, with much migration taking place between small settlements and some movement from large cities to smaller towns and villages.... The analysis challenges some accepted notions about migration in the past, and contributes to the debate about the extent to which British regions became part of a national economic and social system from the 18th century."     

Plasma processing of interstellar PAHs into solar system kerogen

Processes resulting in the formation of hydrocarbons of carbonaceous chondrites and the identity of the interstellar molecular precursors involved are an objective of investigations into the origin of the solar system and perhaps even life on earth. We have combined the resources and experience of an astronomer and physicists doing laboratory simulations with those of a chemical expert in the analysis of meteoritic hydrocarbons, in a project that investigated the conversion of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) formed in stellar atmospheres into alkanes found in meteorites. Plasma hydrogenation has been found in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Astrophysics Laboratory to produce from the precursor PAH naphthalene, a new material having an IR absorption spectrum (Lee, W. and Wdowiak, T.J., Astrophys. J. 417, L49-L51, 1993) remarkably similar to that obtained at Arizona State University of the benzene-methanol extract of the Murchison meteorite (Cronin, J.R. and Pizzarello, S., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 54, 2859-2868, 1990). There are astrophysical and meteoritic arguments for PAH species from extra-solar sources being incorporated into the solar nebula, where plasma hydrogenation is highly plausible. Conversion of PAHs into alkanes could also have occurred in the interstellar medium. The synthesis of laboratory analogs of meteoritic hydrocarbons through plasma hydrogenation of PAH species is underway, as is chemical analysis of those analogs. The objective is to clarify this heretofore uninvestigated process and to understand its role during the origin of the solar system as a mechanism of production of hydrocarbon species now found in meteorites. Results have been obtained in the form of time-of-flight spectroscopy and chemical analysis of the lab analog prepared from naphthalene.     

Polarization reversal in the development of Brazilian metropolises? An analysis based on demographic indicators,using the example of Sao Paulo

"Using the example of Sao Paulo, this paper addresses itself to the question of how far the decrease in growth rates one observes in large Brazilian metropolises can be interpreted as a process of polarization reversal. The analysis is carried out on the basis of demographic data from small area units, which include the results from the most recent 1991 census. Although it had already been possible in the 1970s to discern first indications of such a process setting in, in the decade 1981-91 indicators of population growth and migration balances agree in pointing to a polarization reversal." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Population growth and distribution versus agricultural change: an analysis of the Warli tribal community in Dahanu and Talaseri Talukas of Thane district (Maharashtra)

The authors examine the relationship between population growth and agricultural change using a village-level study of the Warli tribal community in Maharashtra, India. "This paper tries to highlight the relationship that exists between the two factors and the relative changes in the structural character of the two factors. It also focuses on the complications brought about by the juxtaposition of a market economy of the nontribals on the subsistence peasant agriculture of the Warli tribals. Methodology is empirical. Suitable statistical aids have been used on available census material [for the years 1901-1971], substantiated with fieldwork."     

Demographic trends in the Austro-German Alps

Population trends in the German and Austrian Alps between 1971 and 1981 are described. The effects of commune size, tourism, and altitude on population dynamics are considered.