加入WTO后中国旅行社的生存与发展

中国入世后，旅游市场的进一步开放将有利于引进先进的经营管理经验，进一步发展中国得天独厚的旅游资源和劳动力优势。同时，伴随着服务贸易总协定(CATS)在各成员国的实施与经济全球化，中国旅行社的生存与发展将面临机遇和挑战。中国旅行社应勇敢面对挑战，从以下几个方面提高竞争力：(1)树立战略发展思想；(2)树立战略管理思想；(3)化危机为商机，积极成为网介者；(4)界定企业发展方向，发展产品核心功能；(5)迎合消费者需求与创新需求；(6)组建集团化旅行社；(7)实行跨国际化经营，参加国际竞争；(8)加强对外宣传。     

衡阳市生态环境现状及其改善对策

资源的不合理开发利用导致衡阳生态环境严重恶化。加强生态环境保护与建设对衡阳乃至湖南的可持续发展具有重要的意义。在分析衡阳市资源开发存在问题及其主要原因的基础上j探讨了在资源开发中建立可持续发展的良性生态环境的途径和措施，指出了要发展生态产业、开展生态环境的保护和建设，必须大力实施生态农业、生态林业、生态能源、生态旅游等生态经济工程，从而为衡阳市经济建设莫定坚实的生态可持续发展基础。     

'In the shadow of hierarchy': meta-governance, policy reform and urban regeneration in the West Midlands

This paper explores the relationship between political hierarchy and the complex webs of political organization associated with urban governance. Deploying the concept of meta-governance and a study of urban policy reform in the West Midlands region of England, this paper claims that state and governmental hierarchies continue to have a crucial role in coordinating the activities of governance regimes in the UK. This paper concludes by considering the effects of hierarchical power on the systems of political participation and representation that are associated with urban governance.     

Regional characteristics of dust events in China

The regional characteristics of dust events in China has been mainly studied by using the data of dust storm, wind-blown sand and floating dust from 338 observation stations through China from 1954 to 2000. The results of this study are as follows: (1) In China, there are two high frequent areas of dust events, one is located in the area of Minfeng and Hotan in the South Xinjiang Basin, the other is situated in the area of Minqin and Jilantai in the Hexi Region. Furthermore, the spatial distributions of the various types of dust events are different. The dust storms mainly occur in the arid and semiarid areas covering the deserts and the areas undergoing desertification in northern China. Wind-blown sand and floating-dust not only occur in the areas where dust storms occur, but also extend to the neighboring areas. The range of wind-blown sand extends northeastward and southeastward, but floating-dust mainly extends southeastward to the low-latitude region such as the East China Plain and the area of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Compared with wind-blown sand, the floating-dust seldom occurs in the high latitude areas such as North Xinjiang and Northeast China. (2) The affected areas of dust storms can be divided into seven sub-regions, that is, North Xinjiang Region, South Xinjiang Region, Hexi Region, Qaidam Basin Region, Hetao Region, Northeastern China Region and Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Region. The area of the most frequent occurrence of dust storms and floating-dust is in South Xinjiang Region, and of wind-blown sand in the Hexi Region. In general, the frequency of dust events in all the seven regions shows a decreasing tendency from 1954 to 2000, but there are certain differences between various dust events in different regions. The maximum interannual change and variance of dust events during this time happened in South Xinjiang Region and Hexi Region. The dust events generally occur most frequently in April in most parts of China. The spring occurred days of dust events occupied 60-70% of the whole year in Hetao Region and Northeastern China Region. However, in South Xinjiang Region and North Xinjiang Region, which was less affected by monsoon climate, dust events may occur at any time of the year, less than 50% of the events in this region occur during spring. In the remaining three regions 50-60% of the dust events occur in spring of a year.     

Present land use and cover patterns and their development potential in North Ningxia

With the objectives to acquire the fundamental data of the territorial resource, understand the impacts of human activities on the land use and cover patterns and evaluate the potential of the future exploitation, an intensive land cover classification with an accuracy of 93% has been completed for North Ningxia by remote sensing technique based on the adoption of a combination method composed of texture training, maximum likelihood classification and post-processing such as re-allocation and aggregation. This classification result was incorporated with the contemporaneous socio-economic and meteorological data for cross-sectional regression modelling to reveal the spatial determinants of the land cover patterns and understand the human-environmental relationships. A tentative evaluation on the potential of soil exploitation in the near future was carried out in combination with our land use and cover change detection results aiming at supplying some useful references for the central and local governments in their sustainable land use planning.     

A FOOD GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT PLAINS

ABSTRACT. This article explores the regional identity of the Great Plains through its foodways using 744 responses from a mailed survey that asked participants to plan a representative menu for their locale. The strongest association is with beef—not surprising in an area known for cattle ranching. Other commonalities include potatoes, beans, and corn. Differentiation within the region is marked by preparation methods for beef as well as emphases on cornbread and peach cobbler in the south, rhubarb pie in the north, tortillas and sopapillas in the southwest, and pickles in two separate clusterings.     

Population and environment in Australia: issues in the next half century

This paper considers the likely future population in Australia to 2050 and is cast within the context of environmental limitations, to which Griffith Taylor alerted the nation in the 1920s and 1930s, and for which he was vilified in several quarters. While acknowledging the relative accuracy of his long-range forecasts, the arguments here depart from environmental determinism, although varying sets of environmental ethics and values are considered in relation to Australia's global responsibilities and international commitments. It is argued that an increase in population to 26 million by 2050 will not place severe stresses on the physical environment, provided environmental and resource management strategies are put firmly in place, and if consumption and resource use practices are significantly modified. An ideological linkage exists between a resurgent Australian nationalism and a number of environmental perspectives, but one which rejects growth and biological diversity among humans while embracing environmentalism. This inward-looking nationalism–environmentalism is seen as harmful both to Australia's moral integrity as a nation, and in local and world citizenship.     

Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams.

Patrick McCully. New York: Blackwell Publishing, 2001. ill and 416 pp., diags., notes, apps., and index. $69.95 cloth (ISBN 1856499014), $25.00 paper (ISBN 1856499022). Reviewed by Patrick H. Buckley, Department of Environmental Studies, Policy, Planning, Education, and Geography, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA.     

天然气水合物研究现状与展望

自20世纪90年代以来,世界各国对潜力巨大的新型能源———天然气水合物的研究做了大量的投入,已经取得了重大进展。本文在阐述国外天然气水合物的研究现状的同时,重点介绍了我国在天然气水合物勘探开发和实验模拟方面取得的一些进展,并展望其在能源、环境和其它研究领域的发展前景。