The analysis of compositional effects as exemplified by the study of elections

Some people are influenced by other people who live near them. They vote for the same political party as their neighbours and they go to church on Sunday because that is what most other people in the area do. This phenomenon is known as the compositional effect of the environment. This article offers a survey of the history of the analysis of such effects, of the explanations that can be given for them and of the research methods that can be used to establish them. The most important conclusions regarding political preference are given, and a direction in which research into compositional effects should develop is also indicated.     

Socio-geographical transition in the rural areas of the Carpathian Euroregion

Cross-border cooperation is starting to overcome the isolation of frontier regions where interaction under the socialist system was minimal. Change has been particularly apparent in areas where trans-frontier organisations on the ‘Euroregion’ model have emerged. The Carpathian Euroregion is the first exclusively East European example of this approach and it has already made a positive impact in overcoming backwardness in an area where four East European countries were in contact with the Former Soviet Union. The paper outlines the challenge facing the Euroregion – and the national and local governments in the five countries concerned – in providing non-agricultural employment for a large rural population augmented by return-migration from the towns since 1989. Many small farming businesses have been started as a survival strategy but they cannot be economically viable in a market situation. Although most people are satisified with their rural lifestyle, the inevitability of radical consolidation in a future EU context could be politically destabilising if more jobs are not generated in manufacturing and in an expanding tertiary sector. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The position and role of Wuhan City in the regional economic macro-strategies of China

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知识经济的地理特征

知识经济作为一种新的地理现象,它将引起传统地理空间概念的变化。知识经济具有一定的区位趋向性,并在宏观、中微观地域层次上都将展现出明显的地域分异特征。不同于传统的农业经济和工业经济,知识经济的空间组织亦具有新的特点。     

旅游消费对区域经济贡献的研究

旅游消费对区域经济贡献是旅游经济的一个重要方面。旅游经济系统是一个具有网络结构的输入输出系统。文章在旅游实际消费和乘数理论的基础上,研究了旅游消费对区域经济贡献的空间差异、产业差异和总体贡献。     

论长江经济带的区域经济发展和变化趋势

本文就长江经济带的战略地位、经济发展的综合优势、产业结构的变化及调整政策、投资环境和将来发展趋势作了全面论述,并在此基础上,探讨了下一世纪长江经济带在我国经济新格局的形成及国际经济一体化和区域化过程中的战略意义和发展潜力。     

娄底地区矿业经济发展的战略思考

娄底地区是全省矿产资源丰富、矿业经济发达的地区之一。综观世界三种经济发展模式,应选择自然资源转换型向综合资源转换型演进,注重市场和信息是实现转换的必要条件。重点阐述了矿业经济发展的战略思想、指导方针、战略布局和建议。     

矿业可持续发展若干问题讨论

在社会经济可持续发展战略中,矿业可持续发展尤为紧迫,这是矿业的地位、矿业生产和生产对象的特点以及矿业对环境的影响所决定的．从可持续发展思想内涵引伸,矿业可持续发展有四条原则．坚持这四条原则必须具备经济上、认识上、管理上、技术上的前提。     

Conceptualizing and achieving industrial system transition for a dematerialized and decarbonized world

The concept of industrial system transition introduced in the IPCC special report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C remains poorly conceptualized. In this paper, we deepen the conceptualization of the industrial system transition to decarbonization, dematerialization, and sustainable industrial production. Aided by fuzzy cognitive maps that use perception-based data from stakeholders to model complex and difficult-to-model systems, we chart the pathways for industrial system transition. The industrial system transition entails interactions between dematerialization and decarbonization goals while enabling governance and systemic corporate strategies. The respondents of the fuzzy cognitive maps-based surveys comprised practitioners from companies, authors, and the policymaking community. Fuzzy cognitive map-based simulations reveal that resorting to technical measures of dematerialization and decarbonization is insufficient to accomplish industrial system transition. The efficient industrial system transition to dematerialization and decarbonization requires the combined measures of (i) dematerialization and decarbonization, (ii) governance, policies, and regulations (effective governance including transnational governance, technology push, market-pull, technology transfer and financial flows, carbon price and carbon market; and (iii) enabling corporate strategies (regenerative and conscious capitalism, a new conception of transparency, and collaborative and constructive lobbying). Large companies are mostly transnational entities, necessitating the adoption of effective transnational governance strategies for achieving the objectives of dematerialization and decarbonization. Several transnational governance networks have partnered under the public–private co-governance mechanism in the decarbonization space dominated by mainly larger players. The advent of polycentric governance provides new opportunities for trans-local governance where large numbers of small and medium enterprises can participate in the advancement of at least decarbonization objectives; however, such networks require support from national governments. Besides implications for governance, policy and regulations, the findings of this research could also have implications for corporate behavior in terms of promoting conscious and transparent organizational culture.     

An assessment of the risk associated with urban development in the Thiaroye area (Senegal)

Water quality data from 56 wells, aquifer characteristics, soil types and land use in the city suburb of Dakar were compared to assess the effects of land use on the Thiaroye groundwater quality. The study area encompassed an unsewered densely populated zone, agricultural land, low density villages, and undeveloped land located in the sand dunes. A method similar to GIS technologies was applied to evaluate the degree of vulnerability of the different parts of the aquifer in relation to urban development, land use and aquifer characteristics. The aquifer parameters (hydraulic conductivity, groundwater level depth, recharge, soil type) were re-evaluated qualitatively into three class rankings (high, moderate and low), depending on the likelihood for contaminants reaching the water table, then combined using the two matrix Boolean logic based approaches to identify the nine classes of vulnerability assessed in the aquifer domain. An attempt was made to explain the distribution of nitrate concentration with the assessed vulnerability. In the area assessed, in the densely populated zone running from Pikine, to Thiaroye and Yeumbeul, very high nitrate concentrations correspond with the highest vulnerability index (H1). Nitrate contamination in this area is a consequence of point-source seepage from individual septic systems improperly built in this area. In the eastern part of the aquifer, high nitrate concentrations at Deni B. Ndao, Mbawane and Golam localities coincide with a moderate vulnerability assessment. The major source of nitrate in these areas is induced by agricultural activities.