Central place preference by social geographic groups with reference to the tributary area of Shibuya,Southwest Tokyo

Conclusions Central place preference by social geographic groups is in the Tokyo area less determined by social status than by age and life cycles differentiated by sex.In case of the tributary area of Shibuya a simple classification into young people (male and female bachelors) and married people (husbands and housewives) indicates essential differences in central place preferences between these groups.The bachelors, particularly the young men, are most important for central place orientations in that they show distinctive spatial behavioural patterns in terms of complexity, mobility and intensity of distance-movements. The young people being employed — today joculously called dokushin kizoku (bachelors' aristocracy) because of their salary raised remarkably as well as of their extensive concumer demands and high buying power — are representative for the present-day economically independent young generation. The bachelors judge urban center attractiveness on the basis of shopping facilities and also in terms of atmosphere — meeting friends, strolling through town and amusing themselves. The young people are very much courted by commercial enterprises and are regarded as special trend setters having great influence on the image and vitality of Tokyo's inner urban centers.Most attractive for the young people are the ring centers. In the southwestern suburban areas Shibuya predominates; however generally speaking it is Shinjuku, the western and leading (ring)-center, which draws the young people most strongly. Special centers such as Harajuku, Aoyama and Roppongi are also preferred by this group, often in combination with a ring-center visit. Towards the inner city core (Ginza-Nihonbashi) central place preferences chiefly of the young male bachelors are declining gradually.Compared with young people the married people prefer the ring centers only slightly before the Ginza area, which for shopping is primarily visited by housewives, for going out mainly by husbands. Particularly in the inner city core near the main office districts a typical feature for Tokyo of central place preference is evident. For the salaryman — the most representative business type in the Tokyo area — going out is identical with not going home. This phenomenon depends on the place of work in two aspects. First, spatially in terms of a close connection between office and inner city amusement/shopping centers and additionally distance-movements towards a ring center nearest of the place of work or residence. Second, socially — social activities after working hours mainly carried out with colleagues result in a behavioural pattern, in which a clear differentiation between company and private life appears to be difficult. For not going home there are many reasons — among others the constricted living conditions of Japanese homes as Westerners believe — however, other factors play a much more important role: (i) Mainly the extremely long commuting distances, which allow the salaryman a real leaving home to go out only on Sundays or holidays. Other reasons for this typically Japanese feature closely related to inner city tavern and bar visits, may be seen in (ii) the traditionally very limited participation of Japanese housewives to their husbands' out-door social activities; (iii) a system of charging and crediting expenses to one's personal bank account or the company account; (iv) the personal atmosphere of taverns and bars providing the best chances for communication/relaxation and for overcoming stress and frustrations experienced in the office.Shopping is particularly for housewives the most important motivation for visiting urban centers, in this respect two Japanese characteristics should be mentioned: First, fashion and being well-groomed are, as far as the mass of people particularly the young women is concerned, more highly esteemed than in other urban societies. As a consequence good clothes are much in demand. Purchases of these kinds of articles are most often made in department stores and cause the longest distance-movements. Second, in rank of central goods next to fashion and quality clothes follow standard gifts such as seibo and chugen. The purchase of these articles is apart from the unique custom of giving gifts twice a year typically Japanese also in so far as it contradicts the least-effort criterion in central place theory. Though these patterns mostly bought by housewives or middle-aged and older people are substantially more of daily or periodical than episodical demand, they are related to surprisingly long distance-movements because of usually being bought for image reasons in leading department stores located in higher-ranking more distant urban centers.Typical behaviour for all groups visiting higher-order urban centers is an often used combination of shopping and taking part in out-door activities such as meeting friends/acquaintances, strolling around, going to the cinema or other show performances, eating, drinking and chatting together. This is due to the outstanding facilities available not only in retail-trade but also in the gastronomic, entertainment and amusement sectors.Taken all together, complexity and intensity of central place preferences in Tokyo reflect the higher and different attractiveness of Japanese urban centers compared with that of other urban societies. The urban centers are highly esteemed because of their excellent facilities as well as of their vitality, crowds and activity. These latter characteristics are summarized by the word nigiyaka meaning vivacity, which is most typical for Japanese urban centers. The inner city centers of Tokyo can be regarded in the true sense of this term as urban foci compensating for diverse problems such as environmental pollution or lack of inner urban green areas, making life in the most densely populated area of the world worthwhile.     

Winter severity and snowiness and their multiannual variability in the Karkonosze Mountains and Jizera Mountains

This paper analyses winter severity and snow conditions in the Karkonosze Mountains and Jizera Mountains and examines their long-term trends. The analysis used modified comprehensive winter snowiness (WSW) and winter severity (WOW) indices as defined by Paczos (1982). An attempt was also made to determine the relationship between the WSW and WOW indices. Measurement data were obtained from eight stations operated by the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute (IMGW–PIB), from eight stations operated by the Czech Hydrological and Meteorological Institute (CHMI) and also from the Meteorological Observatory of the University of Wroc?aw (UWr) on Mount Szrenica. Essentially, the study covered the period from 1961 to 2015. In some cases, however, the period analysed was shorter due to the limited availability of data, which was conditioned, inter alia, by the period of operation of the station in question, and its type.Viewed on a macroscale, snow conditions in the Karkonosze Mountains and Jizera Mountains (in similar altitude zones) are clearly more favourable on southern slopes than on northern ones. In the study area, negative trends have been observed with respect to both the WSW and WOW indices—winters have become less snowy and warmer. The correlation between the WOW and WSW indices is positive. At stations with northern macroexposure, WOW and WSW show greater correlation than at ones with southern macroexposure. This relationship is the weakest for stations that are situated in the upper ranges (Mount ?nie?ka and Mount Szrenica).     

A GIS-based fire spread simulator integrating a simplified physical wildland fire model and a wind field model

??This article discusses the integration of two models, namely, the Physical Forest Fire Spread (PhFFS) and the High Definition Wind Model (HDWM), into a Geographical Information System-based interface. The resulting tool automates data acquisition, preprocesses spatial data, launches the aforementioned models and displays the corresponding results in a unique environment. Our implementation uses the Python language and Esri’s ArcPy library to extend the functionality of ArcMap 10.4. The PhFFS is a simplified 2D physical wildland fire spread model based on conservation equations, with convection and radiation as heat transfer mechanisms. It also includes some 3D effects. The HDWM arises from an asymptotic approximation of the Navier–Stokes equations, and provides a 3D wind velocity field in an air layer above the terrain surface. Both models can be run in standalone or coupled mode. Finally, the simulation of a real fire in Galicia (Spain) confirms that the tool developed is efficient and fully operational.     

A simple model of a building cumulus cloud

Summary A model of a building cumulus structure is described. The one-stage model published in[1] was used to describe ascent of two cloudy parcels that a cloud is supposed to be formed of. The other ascent is assumed to take place after the first cloud element sinks back as a result of evaporative cooling. The numerical results and their evaluation are given for various rates of mixing at the cloud top level of the first cloud volume.     

Time pattern of large earthquake sequences in Europe in 1976–1979

Summary The time development of three large sequences, Friuli 1976, Thessaloniki 1978 and Monte Negro-Albania 1979, was investigated by analysing the characteristics of the time distribution of magnitudes of the events, M(t), of average magnitudes, (t), and of the number of events, n(t), as well as the strain release curves and the magnitude-frequency relations, N(M). The existence of time gaps and of an anomalous decay of the numbers of shocks before major events, as well as the oscillation of ( const b^–1) may be considered as precursory phenomena. The clustering of events has been tested by the Poisson and negative binomial laws.Communication presented at the XVIIth General Assembly of the European Seismological Commission in Budapest, 21–29 August, 1980 under the title Properties of Seismic Regime and Recent Earthquake Sequences in Europe.     

Numerical evaluation of the dilogarithm of complex argument

A numerical algorithm to evaluate the dilogarithmic function of a complex argument is proposed. The use of the dilogarithm in celestial mechanics appears in the exact Delaunay normalization of some functions involving the equation of the centre.     

Petrophysical and geochemical constraints on alteration processes in granites

The hydrothermal alteration of granites has large influence on their petrophysical properties. To reveal the impact of alteration on magnetic and porosity properties of granites we have conducted a complex study of effects of two largely independent alteration processes, related to chemically different fluids, in granites of the Vysoký Kámen stock (the Krudum granite body, Czech Republic). It includes the whole-rock geochemical, magnetic and pore-space characterization. The alkali feldspathization resulted in decomposition of Li-mica, quartz removal, depletion in mafic cations and growth of new alkali feldspars (albite, K-feldspar), decreasing the overall magnetic susceptibility and disrupting the pore space by its discontinuation. The preservation of the orientation of the principal susceptibility axes is likely related to insignificant influence of the feldspathization process on the paramagnetic and diamagnetic phases orientation acquired during the magma emplacement. The greisenization, on the other hand had considerably more significant effects on microstructure and physical properties of the granite. The microstructure was modified by the growth of large amounts of new phases (Li-mica, quartz and topaz). This changed the mineral density of the rock, the porosity, size and character of pores to larger, flatter and probably more connected. This led also to the complete reworking of the original anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility during the greisenization.