Great Powers and Geopolitical Change

Abstract

Most traditional segregation measures, such as the index of dissimilarity D, fail to distinguish spatial patterns effectively. Previously proposed spatial measures modifying D suffer from several shortcomings. This article describes a general spatial segregation index based upon the concept of composite population counts, which are derived from grouping people in neighboring areas together to account implicitly for spatial interaction of groups across unit boundaries. The suggested spatial index can overcome the disadvantages of previous indices and can assess the spatial extent of the segregated clusters. The results offer a more comprehensive depiction of spatial segregation of a region.

     

A Review of “Hurricanes of the Gulf of Mexico”

Books reviewed:

Bassin, Mark, Imperial Visions: Nationalist Imagination and Geographical Expansion in the Russian Far East, 1840 – 1865

Shortridge, James R., Our Town on the Plains: J. J. Pennell's Photographs of Junction City, Kansas, 1893 – 1922

Jakle, John A. and Sculle, Keith A., Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age

Boeschenstein, Walter, Historic American Towns along the Atlantic Coast

McKee, Jesse O., Ethnicity in Contemporary America: A Geographical Appraisal

Luciuk, Lubomyr Y., Searching for Place: Ukrainian Displaced Persons, Ottawa, and the Migration of Memory

Hausladen, Gary, Places for Dead Bodies

Phillips, Richard, Watt, Diane and Shuttleton, David, De-Centering Sexualities: Politics and Representations beyond the Metropolis

Goldin, Liliana R., Identities on the Move, Transnational Processes in North America and the Caribbean Basin

McDonald, David A., On Borders: Perspectives on International Migration in Southern Africa

Fox, Roddy and Rowntree, Kate, The Geography of South Africa in a Changing World

Takeuchi, Keiichi, Modern Japanese Geography: An Intellectual History

Amery, Hussein A., and Wolf, Aaron T., Water in the Middle East: A Geography of Peace

Karl, Thomas R., Nicholls, Neville and Ghazi, Anver, Weather and Climate Extremes: Changes, Variations, and a Perspective from the Insurance Industry

Pittman, Blair, Texas Caves     

GEOGRAPHY AND THE LESSONS FROM EL NIÑO∗

Recognized for years as a major environmental disruption, El Niño generated intense public interest in 1982–1983. During its last occurrence, this phenomenon, which develops in the tropical Pacific and usually affects rimlands of the Pacific basin, exceeded its boundaries and its effects were transmitted to continental North America, Europe, Africa and East Asia. Notwithstanding its vast areal extent, the interest of geographers in El Niño events, past and recent, has been comparatively less than that demonstrated by natural scientists and ecologists: little has been accomplished to place these climatic-ecological crises within global perspective. Lessons from El Niño include the acknowledgement of new concepts of climatic transitivity, ocean dynamics and energy exchanges that must find a place within the conceptual wealth of geography if this science intends to keep up with the rapid progress of other geosciences.     

SCALING TECHNIQUES IN THE ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL COGNITION DATA∗

The utility of nonmetric, multidimensional-scaling techniques is demonstrated for the analysis and collection of environmental-cognition data. By comparing the multidimensional-scaling solutions of a real-setting map to scaling solutions for sketch maps and two psychophysical, distance-scaling procedures, we demonstrate that magnitude estimation of actual interpoint distances is comparable in accuracy to sketch maps when produced without constraints, or when subjects are given a specified list of landmarks to include on their maps. Triadic comparisons of actual interpoint distances were less accurate than the three other techniques.     

A Review of: “Fractals in Geoscience and Remote Sensing: Proceedings of Joint JRC/EARSel Expert Meeting,Ispra, Italy, 14–15 April 1994. Report EUR 16092 EN,Image Understanding Research Series Vol I. Edited by G. G. Wilkinson,I. Kanellopoulos and J. Megier”

Geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial regression modeling techniques were used to evaluate the spatially prioritized relationships between grave density and various spatial parameters for a total of 5549 grave locations. Solar radiation was the most important predictor of grave density in the Feng‐Shui locations. Similarly, spatial clustering technology identified the fact that high concentrations of grave necessarily accompany the significantly increasing trends of solar radiation. The results of the regression analyses indicate that the grave density could be explained by the four landform parameters alone yielding R ² values of 0.751. In contrast to the typical theory, slope and aspect were not a dominant determining factor upon the dependent variable of grave density. Also, the significantly increasing trends of grave density were not observed in line with a southern direction. A clear verification has been made for the hidden assumptions in Feng‐Shui's long history that its approach is found to be more appropriate in avoiding shadow conditions, rather than exploring the ideal landform location.     

高校“地图学”课程思政元素挖掘与课堂融入

高校专业课的课程思政建设是高校思想政治工作的基本载体。“地图学”是测绘工程、遥感科学与技术、地理信息科学、地理科学等本科专业的基础课,在测绘、地理等学科的课程思政建设中具有基础性地位。本文依据教学实践,归纳了地图学课程中与课程思政相结合的知识点,并介绍了在教学中如何巧妙、潜移默化地融入思政元素,在地图学课程教学过程中做到能力培养和素质提升共同进步。     

基于序列参数的水库地震类型综合判定研究

收集整理了我国大陆东部地区44 组水库地震序列,其中震群型32 组,主余型和孤立型12 组。分别计算了44 组序列的h 值、b 值、归一化熵值K、能量均匀度U、地震发生方式参数ρ 等5 个序列参数。在95% 的置信水平下,对每一参数分震群型、主余型加孤立型两大类进行差异性检验。结果表明,h、U、ρ 值对水库地震序列类型的分类能力不强;b 值平均值虽存在一定差异,但数值分布范围有部分重叠;K 值差异性显著,K = 0. 35 可作为区分震群型与主余型加孤立型两类水库地震序列的判别指标。在此基础上,建立以上述5 个参数为自变量的Fisher 判别函数,用于序列类型的综合判定。结果显示,所有数据全部参与建立判别函数并进行回溯性内符判别检验,识别正确率为97. 6% ;利用32 组序列参数参与判别函数建立,另外10 组进行外推检验,识别正确率为100% ,表明上述综合判别方法具有较高的水库地震序列分类能力。