Innovation-support organizations in the marine science and technology industry: The case of Quebec's coastal region in Canada

This study examines the roles of innovation-support organizations in their acquisition and diffusion of technological ideas, solutions, and know-how throughout the marine science and technology innovation system. The research is based on a set of case studies that involved semi-structured interviews with directors and managers in three innovation-support organizations: Maritime Innovation (MI), the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Development of Ocean Mapping (ICDOM), and the Marine Biotechnology Research Centre (MBRC). Each of these organizations contributes not only to the development of the marine science and technology industry, but also to research and technology transfer in some of the key areas boasting the highest potential for technological commercialization and applications in the coastal region of Quebec. Central to this analysis is to show how these organizations operate and co-ordinate their activities, and how they formulate their technological and other standard services for the support of business development.     

System aspects of the EUDOXOS observatories network

The networking architecture of the EUDOXOS' robotic telescopes is presented. We have studied adopted and tested various software & hardware approaches for developing an observational facility equipped with the very high availability needed to achieve continuous operation, inherent capacity for effective multiuser support, fully robotic unattended operation, fast response to targets of opportunity and accommodation of tele‐operating instruments. Critical practical aspects and considerations of our operating implementation as well as the main points of an ongoing upgrade initiative expected to be of general interest, are discussed. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Political ecology, territoriality and scale

This essay serves as an introduction to this theme issue of GeoJournal and provides a framework for the contributed papers. Territoriality and scale, the essay argues, offer key analytics in approaching the spatiality of the ecological existence of human and non-human beings in their common `house' (oikos), thus of culture-nature relations generally. Such a focus, it bears emphasis, need not reproduce a naturalization of the modern culture-nature binary, but could, as is argued, remind `we moderns' that there is not only one nature (as little as there is only one culture), but a plurality of natures, which can serve the most varied of purposes. However, these spatialities do usually not and can very often not correspond to the spatialities of human activities, particularly to the territorialities and their orders/structures of scale in politico-administrative activities. The scalar literature within political geography, however, has for the most part seen its role as addressing human social relations in its analysis of contestations over power, space, and territory. A political ecology of scale, by contrast, will of necessity need to broaden the terrain of that discussion to include a variety of actors, human and non-human, involved in this broader network. Environmental conservation offers an important illustration of this problematic. A territorial, scalar, and non-modern understanding of ecological regimes is neccesary, argues this essay and the bundle of case studies that follow, because there is no `conservation' outside of a particular politics and geography of ecology.     

Harmonisation requirements and capabilities towards a European spatial data infrastructure (ESDI): the HUMBOLDT protected areas scenario

Abstract

The HUMBOLDT project has the aim of implementing a Framework for harmonisation of data and services in the geoinformation domain, under the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) Directive and in the context of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Initiative. The two-pronged approach of HUMBOLDT comprises a technical side of software framework development and an application side of scenario testing and validation. Among the HUMBOLDT Application Scenarios designed to demonstrate the capabilities of the Framework there is the one covering Protected Areas themes and use cases. It aims to transform geoinformation, managed by park authorities, into a seamless flow that combines multiple information sources from different governance levels (European, national, regional), and exploits this newly combined information for the purposes of planning, management and tourism promotion. The Scenario constitutes a step further towards the integration of monitoring systems envisaged in the view of Digital Earth. Protected Areas Scenario creates an examples of the use of the HUMBOLDT tools in Desktop and Web GIS environment, together with setting up a server environment exploiting HUMBOLDT harmonisation framework as taking into account user requirements and needs and providing benefits for making the road to ESDI establishment easier.     

An objective replacement method for censored geochemical data

Geochemical data are commonly censored, that is, concentrations for some samples are reported as less than or greater than some value. Censored data hampers statistical analysis because certain computational techniques used in statistical analysis require a complete set of uncensored data. We show that the simple substitution method for creating an uncensored dataset, e.g., replacement by3/4 times the detection limit, has serious flaws, and we present an objective method to determine the replacement value. Our basic premise is that the replacement value should equal the mean of the actual values represented by the qualified data. We adapt the maximum likelihood approach (Cohen, 1961) to estimate this mean. This method reproduces the mean and skewness as well or better than a simple substitution method using3/4 of the lower detection limit or3/4 of the upper detection limit. For a small proportion of less than substitutions, a simple-substitution replacement factor of 0.55 is preferable to3/4; for a small proportion of greater than substitutions, a simple-substitution replacement factor of 1.7 is preferable to4/3, provided the resulting replacement value does not exceed 100%. For more than 10% replacement, a mean empirical factor may be used. However, empirically determined simple-substitution replacement factors usually vary among different data sets and are less reliable with more replacements. Therefore, a maximum likelihood method is superior in general. Theoretical and empirical analyses show that true replacement factors for less thans decrease in magnitude with more replacements and larger standard deviation; those for greater thans increase in magnitude with more replacements and larger standard deviation. In contrast to any simple substitution method, the maximum likelihood method reproduces these variations. Using the maximum likelihood method for replacing less thans in our sample data set, correlation coefficients were reasonably accurately estimated in 90% of the cases for as much as 40% replacement and in 60% of the cases for 80% replacement. These results suggest that censored data can be utilized more than is commonly realized.     

Chinese Earth Science at Its Turning Point

Since 2010, China has become the second biggest publisher of scientific research papers in the world, but remains far behind the global leadership with regards to the ability of creative innovation. Just like its economy, Chinese science is at a turning point, and the key is to avoid the “Middle-income trap”. Instead of blindly going after quantity of SCI publications, Earth science in China is to address major scientific problems and to perform transition to a new level of innovative researches. This is a written speech to the 4^th Conference on Earth System Science,Shanghai.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Development and Environment in Peninsular Malaysia . S. Robert Aiken, Colin H. Leigh, Thomas R. Leinbach, Michael R. Moss. The Rural-Urban Fringe: Canadian Perspectives . Ken B. Beesley and Lorne H. Russwurm, eds. Women and Development . Lourdes Benería, ed. The Border that Joins: Mexican Migrants and U.S. Responsibility . Peter G. Brown and Henry Shue, eds. Cities of the World: World Regional Urban Development . Stanley D. Brunn and Jack L. Williams, eds. Time Resources, Society, and Ecology: On the Capacity for Human Interaction in Space and Time (Vol. I, Preindustrial Societies). Tommy Carlstein. Urban Geography . David Clark. Spanish City Planning in North America . Dora P. Crouch, Daniel J. Garr, and Axel I. Mundigo. Not On Our Street: Community Attitudes to Mental Health Care . M. J. Dear and S. M. Taylor Unequal growth: Urban and Regional Employment Change in the U.K. Stephen Fothergill and Graham Gudgin. Agricultural Land in an Urban Society . Owen J. Furuseth and John T. Pierce. The Petroleum Industry in Oil-Importing Developing Countries . Fariborz Ghadar. Historical Understanding in Geography, An Idealist Approach . Leonard Guelke. Regional Planning in Europe . R. Hudson and J. R. Lewis, eds. Remote Sensing for Resource Management . Chris J. Johannsen and James L. Sanders, eds. Geography and The State . R. J. Johnston. Texas Graveyards: a Cultural Legacy . Tlrry G. Jordan. The Politics of Location: An Introduction . Andrew Kirby. A Social Geography of the City . David Ley. Energy and the Future . Douglas MacLean and Peter Brown, eds. The Natural Environment of Newfoundland Past and Present . A. G. Macpherson and J. B. Macpherson, eds. Tourism: Economic, Physical and Social Impacts . Alister Mathieson and Geoffrey Wall. Railroads and Land Grant Policy: A Study in Government Intervention . Lloyd J. Mercer. Progress in Rural Geography . Michael Pacione, ed. Progress in Urban Geography . Michael Pacione, ed. Models of Spatial Inequality: Settlement Patterns in Historical Archaeology . Robert Paynter. Natural Hazard Risk Assessment and Public Policy, Anticipating the Unexpected . William J. Petak and Arthur A. Atkisson. The Nature of Geomorphology . Alistair F. Pitty. Regional Conflict and National Policy . Kent A. Price Women and Spatial Change: Learning Resources for Social Science Courses . Arlene C. Rengert and Janice J. Monk, eds. Urban and Regional Analysis for Development Planning . Richard Rhoda. Rivers: Form and Process in Alluvial Channels . Keith Richards. This Remarkable Continent: An Atlas of United States and Canadian Society and Culture . John F. Rooney, Jr., Wilbur Zelinsky, and Dean R. Louder, gen. eds. The Origins of Open-Field Agriculture . Trevor Rowley, ed. Residential Location Determinants of the Older Population . Gundars Rudzitis. Borderland Sourcebook: A Guide to the Literature on Northern Mexico and the American Southwest . Ellwyn R. Stoddard, Richard L. Nostrand, and Jonathan P. West, eds. Arctic and Antarctic . David Sugden. Tall Timbers Ecology and Management Conference, February 22–24, 1979, Proceedings No. 16 . Graphic Communication and Design in Contemporary Cartography (Progress in Contemporary Cartography , Vol. II). D. R. Fraser Taylor, ed. Living with Energy Shortfall: A Future for American Towns and Cities . Jon Van Til. The United States: Habitation of Hope . J. Wreford Watson. Air Photo Interpretation for Archaeologists . D. R. Wilson. Urban and Rural Change in West Germany . Trevor Wild, ed. Population and Resources . Harry Robinson.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Geography and the Third World. International Seminar, 14–18 May 1980, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia . Ishmail Ahmad and Jamaluddin Md Jahi, eds. The Growth Dilemma: Residents' Views and Local Population Change in the United States . Mark Baldassare. Sport and Place: A Geography of Sport in England, Scotland & Wales . John Bale. The Deindustrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industry . Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison. Selected Essays 1963–1975: Carl O. Sauer . Bob Callahen, ed. Housing and Planning in the Countryside . G. Clark. Conflict, Politics and the Urban Scene . Kevin R. Cox and R. J. Johnston, eds. Thematic Maps: Their Design and Production . David J. Cuff and Mark T. Mattson. Wine: A Geographic Appreciation . Harm Jan de Blij. USSR in Maps . J. C. Dewdney. Political Geography: A Contemporary Perspective . Ramesh D. Dikshit. Rethinking Human Adaptation . Rada Dyson-Hudson and Michael A. Little, eds. Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the indiana Dunes . J. Ronald Engel. Geography of the Biosphere . A. Furley and Walter W. Newey. Disaster and Reconstruction . Robert Geipel. Glasgow: The Making of a City . Andrew Gibb. Design for Arid Regions . Giden S. Golany, ed. Urbanization and Cancer Mortality: The United States Experience, 1950–1975 . Michael R. Greenberg. Geology in the Nineteenth Century: Changing Views of a Changing World . Mott T. Greene. Colonización y Destrucción de Bosques en Panamá . Stanley Heckadon Moreno and Alberto McKay, eds. Urban Geography: A First Approach . David T. Herbert and Colin J. Thomas. The Visual and Spatial Structure of Landscapes . Tadahiko Higuchi. Climate from Tree Rings . M. K. Hughes, P. M. Kelly, J. R. Pilcher, and V. C. LaMarche, Jr., eds. The structure of Nineteenth Century Cities . James H. Johnson and Colin G. Pooley, eds. The American Planner: Biographies and Recollections . Donald A. Krueckeberg, ed. Urban Land Policy For the 1980s, the Message for State and Local Government . George Lefcoe, ed. Regional Planning: Evolution, Crisis and Prospects . Gill C. Lim, ed. Relevance and Ethics In Geography . Bruce Mitchell and Dianne Draper. China: The Geography of Development and Modernization . Clifton W. Pannell and Laurence J. C. MA. The Urban Retailing System . Robert B. Potter. Hants. Nonconventional Energy Resources . Philip R. Pryde. Caribbean Migrants: Environment and Human Survival on St. Kitts and Nevis . Bonham C. Richardson. Population and Resources . Harry Robinson. East Los Angeles: History of A Barrio . Ricardo Romo. Integrated Impact Assessment . Frederick A. Rossini and Alan L. Porter, eds. Environmental Aesthetics: Essays in Interpretation . Barry Sadler and Allen Carlson, eds. Earthwatch . Charles Sheffield. Field Techniques and Research Methods in Geography . Robert H. Stoddard. Haiti: Land of Poverty . Robert J. Tata. Weathering and Erosion: Sources and Methods in Geography . Stephen T. Trudgill. Once Beneath the Forest. Prehistoric Terracing in the Río Bec Region of the Maya Lowlands . B. L. Turner, II. The Historical Geography of Scotland since 1707 . David Turnock.     

近30年来中国地理学及相关学科期刊的发展

1978年以来的30年间,中国地理学及相关学科期刊取得了飞速发展.地理学及相关学科期刊种类增加,覆盖了自然地理、经济地理和地球信息科学等各专业;主办地理学及相关学科期刊的机构包括中国科学院所属研究所、省级科学院所属研究所和高等院校;地理学及相关学科期刊的版面迅速增加.与此同时,地理学及相关学科期刊的学术质量和国际影响力在不断提高,获得了国家期刊奖和各部委的多项奖励,英文版地理学及相关学科期刊被SCI等国际著名检索机构和数据库收录.     

空间经济计量模型在区域科学研究中的应用述评

空间经济计量模型把空间自相关和空间异质性融入普通回归分析中,近些年来该方法不论是理论探讨还是应用研究均呈现爆炸式增长。通过回顾众多研究成果,总结得出国外该模型广泛应用于经济收敛、技术扩散、税收、投资、人口与就业、犯罪、环境科学、公共卫生等领域;指出由于考虑空间效应对区域经济社会要素的影响,因此具有其它模型无法比拟的优势,尤其是在区域科学研究中,有助于制定有效的区域政策;相比之下,中国在社会领域的应用研究尚显薄弱。