Making our neighborhoods,making our selves

In this paper, we explore a “grassroots” neighborhood revitalization effort engendered at the national scale without regard to local geographies of race and class. Specifically, we examine the Harambee Great Neighborhood Initiative, convened by the well-known nonprofit Habitat for Humanity together with Milwaukee’s Local Initiatives Support Corporation, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Drawing from participant observation, analysis of print and digital media, volunteer surveys, and interviews with area residents and local nonprofit representatives, we demonstrate the ways in which the six-year program of planning and neighborhood development was conceived and driven by an extra-local nonprofit with significant blind spots to local and organizational politics of race and without sufficient collaboration with the Harambee community. Our analysis points to the importance of race in nonprofit governance and community revitalization efforts. Moreover, we contribute to urban geographic scholarship on nonprofit governance by examining the dynamics of privilege, inclusion, and exclusion as they relate to practices of engagement and volunteerism in nonlocal “grassroots” projects.     

Underlying motivation for land use change: A case study on the variation of agricultural factor productivity in Xinjiang, China

Understanding the driving forces and mechanism of land use change is a key issue in land change science, and has received much attention over the past 30 years. While many driving forces have been identified, the mechanism of land use change is still unclear, mainly because of limited knowledge of the underlying motivation for land use change. Traditionally, the underlying motivation for land use change was ascribed to people＇s pursuit of satisfying their own demands or that of profit maximization. However, those theoretical hypotheses combine all productive factors without highlighting certain predominant factor, in this paper, a case study was conducted on the variation of land productivity, capital productivity and labor productivity in agricultural land use in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. The case study revealed that only labor productivity presented a long-term increasing trend in regional cotton and grain production. This result implies that people＇s pursuit of increasing labor pro- ductivity is probably the underlying motivation for land use change. Additional details identi- fied in agricultural and non-agricultural land use in China support the above implication. As labor productivity is a determinant of people＇s living standards, increasing labor productivity means improving people＇s living standards. Therefore, it is concluded that land use change results from people＇s pursuit of increasing labor productivity in a changing environment.     

干旱内陆河流域人居环境适宜性评价——以石羊河流域为例(英文)

The study employs slope,aspect,relief degree of land surface,land use,vegetation index,hydrology and climate,as evaluation indexes to set up the Human Settlements Environmental Index(HEI) model to evaluate the environmental suitability for human settlements in the Shiyang River Basin.By using GIS spatial analysis technology,such as spatial overlay analysis,buffer analysis and density analysis,the environmental suitability of the human settlement spatial situation and spatial pattern are established to analyze their spatial distribution.The results show that the index of suitability for human settlements in the Shiyang River Basin is between 17.13 and 84.32.In general,suitability for human settlements decreases from the southwest to the northeast.Seen from an area pattern,the suitable region is mainly distributed in the Minqin oasis,Wuwei oasis and Changning basin,which are about 1080.01 km 2 and account for 2.59% of the total area.Rather and comparatively suitable region is mainly distributed around the counties of Gulang,Yongchang and north of Tianzhu,which is about 1100.30 km 2.The common suitable region is mainly distributed outside the counties of Yongchang,Jinchuan and most parts of Minqin County,which are about 23328.04 km 2,accounting for 56.08% of the total area.The unsuitable region is mainly distributed upstream and to the north of the river,which is about 9937.60 km 2,accounting for 23.89% of the total area.Meanwhile,the least suitable region is distributed around the Qilian Mountains,which are covered by snow and cold desert and lie in the intersecting area between the Tengger Desert and Badain Jaran Desert.The total area is about 6154.05 km 2,accounting for 14.79% of the total area.Suitable regions for human habitation are mainly distributed around rivers in the form of ribbons and batches,while others are scattered.The distribution pattern is identical to the residential spatial pattern.In addition,the relationships between HEI and other factors have been analyzed.There is a clear logarithmic correlation between the residential environment and population,that is,the correlation coefficient between the evaluation value and population density reaches 0.851.There is also a positive correlation between the residential environment and economy,which reaches an evaluation value of 0.845 between the residential environment and GDP.Results also show that the environment is out of bearing with the existing population in Shiyang River Basin.Spatial distribution of population is profoundly affected by severe environmental problems,such as the expanded deserts,the hilly terrain and the changing climate.Surface water shortage and slow economic growth are bottlenecks for suitable human settlement in the Shiyang River Basin.Combining these problems with planning for construction of new country and the exploitation of local land,some residential areas should be relocated to improve the residential environment.     

An application of problem and product ontologies for the revision of beach nourishments

An ontological approach in GIS serves as a framework for the conceptualization of processes in the real world. In this paper, we examine an application in coastal change in the Netherlands, whereby beaches are subject to artificial nourishment to offset the effect of severe erosion. The use of ontologies helps to define two scenarios: S_I determined by the regulations from the Ministry for Public Works; S_II grounded on the abilities from an existing spatial dataset. A comparison between S_I and S_II shows that 72.8% of the objects suitable and unsuitable for nourishment are correctly classified. A higher overlap is found in areas where actual beach nourishments were carried out. Inaccuracies in attributes influence the determination of the objects. A sensitivity analysis applied to altitude illustrates a significant increase of objects suitable for nourishment for both scenarios, when altitude is decreased within the lower limit of the root mean square error for the 95% confidence interval. Moreover, the sensitivity of altitude shows that artificial boundaries for beach nourishment objects are not reasonable and consequently should be treated as vague objects.     

An application-driven approach to terrain model construction

Terrain is a surface phenomenon that is measured, modelled, and mapped. However, it is continuously variable and must be simulated by points or mathematical equations that are inherently approximations. The error induced by digitally represented terrain can propagate to surface derivatives and geographical information science (GIS) applications where topography is considered. This can lead to uncertainty in model predictions and the use of data that are unfit for the application to which they are intended. This article outlines the problem of uncertainty in terrain representation and demonstrates the consequences for volcanic mudflow modelling. The response of a simple least-cost single flow algorithm to input parameters was investigated in order to assess output variation from the different sources of input variation. Elevation error was modelled with a probability density function (PDF) and propagated through stochastic simulation (Monte Carlo). Such combined uncertainty and sensitivity analyses enabled a qualitative judgement of the relative significance of elevation error on the flow model prediction. Different methods for terrain model construction were considered and show that supplementing global positioning system (GPS) measurements with information from field notes and reconnaissance photographs greatly improved the model performance and reduced the uncertainty. It is concluded that in terms of validity of model results, there is no substitute for constructing an elevation model that is informed by the terrain.     

Toward mapping land-use patterns from volunteered geographic information

A large number of applications have been launched to gather geo-located information from the public. This article introduces an approach toward generating land-use patterns from volunteered geographic information (VGI) without applying remote-sensing techniques and/or engaging official data. Hence, collaboratively collected OpenStreetMap (OSM) data sets are employed to map land-use patterns in Vienna, Austria. Initially the spatial pattern of the landscape was delineated and thereafter the most relevant land type was assigned to each land parcel through a hierarchical GIS-based decision tree approach. To evaluate the proposed approach, the results are compared with the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Urban Atlas (GMESUA) data. The results are compared in two ways: first, the texture of the resulting land-use patterns is analyzed using texture-variability analysis. Second, the attributes assigned to each land segment are evaluated. The achieved land-use map shows kappa indices of 91, 79, and 76% agreement for location in comparison with the GMESUA data set at three levels of classification. Furthermore, the attributes of the two data sets match at 81, 67, and 65%. The results demonstrate that this approach opens a promising avenue to integrate freely available VGI to map land-use patterns for environmental planning purposes.     

AN ANALYSIS OF DATA ON HOME JOURNEYS BY CHINESE IMMIGRANTS IN CANADA, 1892–1915∗

The Young Geographers, an informal organization of American geographers, flourished from 1936 to 1943. One of its projects in 1940 and 1941 was the compilation and publication of lists of contemplated research by some 170 Young Geographers. Their listed research interests were relatively narrow in subject and geographical area. The successor of the Young Geographers was the American Society for Professional Geographers which merged with the Association of American Geographers in 1948 under a democratic constitution which assured that young geographers and their research would be recognized.     

镇泾油田红河105—1057井区微生物异常与含油气性关系

油气微生物勘探（MPOG）是地表油气藏评价的一个分支,主要研究近地表土壤层中微生物异常与地下深部油气藏的相关关系,它以成本低廉,简便快速,多解性小的特点,在镇泾油田得到充分的验证。在镇泾油田内,以微生物异常为基础,结合已有的区域油气地质、钻井和测井等资料,对微生物异常区域进行分析研究,重点解释说明了镇泾油田红河105—1057井区长821小层与油气异常的关系,并圈定出2个异常区,其异常连片分布,异常区的异常平均值较高,反映本工区内油藏控制面积较大。本工区天然气微生物异常整体水平较低,且基本上与油藏微生物异常区吻合,异常区零星分布,表明本工区的天然气多系原油溶解气。最后对工区油藏分级评价,并根据微生物勘探结果和地质特征等综合因素,在工区部署3口建议井。     

云南保山地区的水文地质条件及找水

保山市地层岩性地质构造十分复杂,区域水文地质条件也十分复杂。通过对该区地下水富水性特征的分析,选择了具有供水意义的富水块段,进行地下水的开发,以解决当地饮水困难。     

某电厂卵石岩溶地层钻探工艺的改进

在某电厂卵石岩溶地层钻探过程中,钻进困难,进度缓慢,严重影响到了整个电厂的投产计划。本文通过对钻探施工现场的调查、分析,进而改进了钻探工艺,使钻探工期大幅缩短,同时为类似钻探工作提供了参考。