A spatio-temporal analysis of academic performance at the Basic Education Certificate Examination in Ghana

Over the last decade, Ghana has more than tripled investment in its basic education system. Consequently, the country has made huge educational gains, primarily in providing universal access to basic education. However, many stakeholders are worried that academic performance is lagging because of disproportional attention to accessing basic education. Discussion of these concerns is hampered by ongoing disagreement about the true trajectory of academic performance at the basic education level and the widespread nature of students' lagging academic performance. In part, this disagreement stems from the failure of empirical studies to comprehensively examine trends in academic performance standards at the basic education level by concurrently considering a geographical and longitudinal perspective. Thus, this study examines the spatio-temporal trends of academic performance at the junior high school level since 2009 by using multilevel growth curve modeling, spatial statistics, and district-level longitudinal data. Results reveal 3 statistically distinct trajectories of academic performance: erratic, accelerating, and decelerating changes. Results also show that rural–urban gaps explain 31% of the performance trajectories, a trend which is expected to persist in the long term. In addition, we find extreme variations in academic performance within rural areas. Given the varying trajectories and geographical variability in academic performance, we suggest a localized approach to addressing challenges of low academic achievement at the basic education level in Ghana.     

基于珠海实证的城市旅游增长极限分析框架

城市旅游是城市的一个开放、高流动的子系统,在一定时期内是相对稳定,有增长极限的。城市旅游增长极限受到供需极限影响,当旅游需求超过供给时,出现过度旅游;而当供给超过需求,就会导致过度旅游化。城市旅游需求增长极限呈现阶梯式,只有当影响城市旅游需求增长的长期因素发生持续重大变化时,城市旅游需求增长才可能突破原有的极限,进入一个新的阶段。城市旅游需求极限规定了城市旅游供给极限,决定了城市在一定时期内适合开发的景区、酒店、餐饮、购物等旅游设施规模。本文基于珠海的实证分析表明,过去十几年,由于旅游供需两方面影响因素缺乏持续重大的变化,城市功能和地位、城市主题和特色等因素相对稳定,加之受到区域其他城市的激烈竞争,珠海中高端旅游需求相对稳定,星级酒店等中高端旅游产品面临增长极限。此时,新增旅游景区和星级酒店并不会带来过夜旅游需求的实质增长,反而可能加剧现阶段旅游供需的失衡,造成过度旅游化。本文也讨论了超越旅游极限的条件以及旅游增长与旅游发展的关系,并进一步建议了旅游统计的改革举措。     

土壤微生物结皮对两种一年生植物幼苗存活和生长的影响

在温室实验和野外调查中,分析了两种一年生草本植物小画眉草(Eragrostics poaeoides)和雾冰藜(Bassia dasyphylla)的幼苗在苔藓结皮、藻结皮和流沙上的存活和生长状况。两种植物的幼苗存活率均表现出在苔藓结皮上最高而在流沙基质中最低。两种植物幼苗存活率与土壤表层水分含量呈正相关关系。与小画眉草相比较,雾冰藜的幼苗在萌发后根生长较为迅速,在3种土壤类型中和干湿两种水分处理下,雾冰藜较小画眉草均具有较高的幼苗存活率。在干燥处理下,生长在有结皮土壤中的两种植物的植株干重大约是生长在无结皮土壤中植株的5倍。增加水分能降低植株幼苗的死亡率,促进植株生长;增加水分也能在一定程度上减弱因土壤基质差异对幼苗存活和幼苗生长的影响。因此,在自然状况下年降雨量的多少和分配状况的差异可能会影响这两种植物每年幼苗存活率和生长状况的差异,进而会影响到这两个种群在人工固沙区盖度和分布格局的差异性。     

Compact,concurrent, and contiguous: smart growth and 50 years of residential planning in the Toronto region

In this article, we use parcel-based land-use data to analyze 50 years of residential development in the Toronto region. We test two hypotheses: (1) Toronto’s form does not conform to conventional definitions of suburban sprawl and (2) Toronto’s suburban development shows high levels of continuity over time with relatively high densities and mixed housing types. Contrary to recent research suggesting a convergence of urban forms among North American metropolitan regions, Ontario’s robust planning system has created a distinctive, highly consistent pattern of residential development that has, for half a century, achieved many of the core goals of smart growth including relatively compact, contiguous, and concurrent development. This form continues to be automobile dependent, however, and is not producing many of the benefits ascribed to smart growth. Rather than continuing to adopt United States-inspired smart growth policies, a more ambitious set of initiatives will be required to address current regional challenges.     

The inclusion of differentially assessed lands in urban growth model calibration: a comparison of two approaches using SLEUTH

This research sought to understand the role that differentially assessed lands (lands in the United States given tax breaks in return for their guarantee to remain in agriculture) play in influencing urban growth. Our method was to calibrate the SLEUTH urban growth model under two different conditions. The first used an excluded layer that ignored such lands, effectively rendering them available for development. The second treated those lands as totally excluded from development. Our hypothesis was that excluding those lands would yield better metrics of fit with past data. Our results validate our hypothesis since two different metrics that evaluate goodness of fit both yielded higher values when differentially assessed lands are treated as excluded. This suggests that, at least in our study area, differential assessment, which protects farm and ranch lands for tenuous periods of time, has indeed allowed farmland to resist urban development. Including differentially assessed lands also yielded very different calibrated coefficients of growth as the model tried to account for the same growth patterns over two very different excluded areas. Excluded layer design can greatly affect model behavior. Since differentially assessed lands are quite common through the United States and are often ignored in urban growth modeling, the findings of this research can assist other urban growth modelers in designing excluded layers that result in more accurate model calibration and thus forecasting.     

MASCULINISM,POWER, AND DISCOURSES OF EXCLUSION IN BRIAN BERRY’S “SCIENTIFIC” GEOGRAPHY

This paper examines the impact of changes in industry mix, changes in technology, differential plant growth, plant entry and plant exit on metropolitan labor productivity growth between 1963 and 1997. Analysis is based upon unpublished plant-level data from the United States Bureau of the Census. We show that manufacturing productivity varies markedly between metropolitan areas in the United States. The most influential components of productivity growth are technological changes within incumbent plants and changes in industry mix. Significant differences in the relative contributions of these components of productivity change exist across metropolitan areas. Regional differences in rates of plant openings and plant closures also exert considerable impact on metropolitan productivity improvement.     

A comparison of different Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis (Rhodophyta) parts in biochemical characteristics,protoplast formation and regeneration

Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis is a commercially exploited alga. Its filaceous thallus can be divided into three parts, holdfast, middle segment and tip. The growth and branch forming trend and agar content of these three parts were analyzed, respectively, in this study. The results showed that the tip had the highest growth rate and branched most, although it was the last part with branch forming ability. The holdfast formed branches earliest but slowly. Holdfast had the highest agar content. We also assessed the difference in protoplast formation and regeneration among three parts. The middle segment displayed the shortest enzymolysis time and the highest protoplast yield; whereas the tip had the strongest vitality of protoplasts formation. Juvenile plants were only obtained from the protoplasts generated from the tip. These results suggested that the differentiation and function of G. lemaneiformis was different.     

湖北省棉花产量的变化与棉田布局的战略调整*

本文揭示了湖北省棉花亩产的增长具有北高南低的特点,分析了鄂北地区种植棉花的自然优势和经济效盆大于江汉平原,从而提出湖北省棉花北移的战略调整的设想。     

Book Reviews

Books Reviewed Colbert C. Held, Middle East Patterns: Places, People, and Politics Barbara A. Weightman, Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East, and Southeast Asia Henry J. Bruman, Alcohol in Ancient Mexico Brian W. Blouet, Geopolitics and Globalization in the Twentieth Century M. A. B. Siddique (ed.), International Migration into the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Reginald Appleyard Michael R. Haines and Richard H. Steckel (eds.), A Population History of North America Emilio Moran, Human Adaptability: An Introduction to Ecological Anthropology Jeremy Leggett, The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era Susan B. Marriott and Jan Alexander (eds.), Floodplains: Interdisciplinary Approaches William S.Logan, Hanoi: Biography of a City Alex Krieger and David Cobb (eds.) with Amy Turner, Mapping Boston Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape Carl Abbott, Greater Portland: Urban Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest Arthur D. Murphy, Colleen Blanchard and Jennifer A. Hill (eds.), Latino Workers in the Contemporary South Yanek Mieczkowski, The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Elections     

鱼类生长激素的异源表达、应用及安全性评价

鱼类生长激素对鱼的生长发育起着重要的调节作用,能促进鱼体快速生长,提高饵料转化率,在水产养殖业中具有重大应用价值。转生长激素基因鱼具有快速生长效应,可以缩短养殖周期,降低养殖成本和风险。鱼类生长激素基因异源表达体系的建立和发展,使获得大量廉价的鱼类生长激素产品成为可能,为鱼类养殖业新型饵料添加剂的研制开辟了新的途径。本文综述了转生长激素基因鱼和鱼类生长激素基因的异源表达两方面的研究及其安全性评价。