THE CORPORATE INTERVIEW AS A RESEARCH METHOD IN ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY*

The open-ended corporate interview as a qualitative research method is proposed as a valuable component of an evidentiary strategy in economic geography. It is argued to be more sensitive than other survey methods to historical, institutional, and strategic complexity. The corporate interview method is particularly appropriate in periods of economic and social change that challenge traditional analytical categories and theoretical principles. Some problems inherent to the method, and strategies for minimizing their impact on the research project, are described.     

Internal colonisation, hegemony and coercion: Investigating migration to Southern Lazio, Italy, in the 1930s

This paper investigates the Italian fascist regime’s use of internal colonisation as part of a wider ruralisation policy aimed at promoting population growth, curbing rural-urban migration, staunching emigration, and halting the spread of industrial urbanisation. By focusing on the case study of the Pontine Marshes, the paper demonstrates how, through targeted selection procedures aimed at displacing defined social and political undesirables, migrants were chosen and effectively coerced into migrating to the “fascist” landscape of the marshes. The area, reclaimed and developed in the 1930s, was celebrated as a sign of the regime’s engineering and social success. The paper utilises Antonio Gramsci’s thought on hegemony, and argues that the overt use of coercion hints at the fact that fascism, although ideologically totalitarian and hegemonic, was contested. Although statisticians, demographers and state bureaucrats were organised and institutionalised in the construction of hegemony based on consent, fascism based itself more in coercion than in passive consent in the case of internal colonisation.     

西部大开发与中国经济发展

在对中国西部的区域划分进行界定并阐述中国西部区域特征的基础上,对中国西部的开发进行了历史回顾,并对中国西部开发的历史背景和现实基础、中国西部开发的优势和制约条件进行分析,最后提出了中国西部开发的发展战略和政策措施.     

GIS新引擎——“真图”数据解决方案

提出了一种基于移动测量系统技术的"真图"数据解决方案。一方面极大地丰富了GIS数据源,另一方面通过相应的真图影像数据管理软件及开发包扩展GIS功能,为各行业应用提供了地理信息数据解决方案。     

基于历史关系数据库的时空数据库实现研究

时空数据库是研究如何存储历史和当前的时空数据,从而跟踪分析某一区域的变化,最终实现时空模型化和模拟地学过程.采用历史关系数据库模式的时空数据库可以充分利用传统时态数据库时态查询功能和GIS空间分析处理功能这些方面成熟的研究成果和现有系统,降低时空数据库建立的费用和开销.分析了采用扩展关系型时空数据库的原因,介绍了历史关系数据库模式、时态关系代数和查询语言,研究了采用历史关系数据库模式在全关系化空间数据库中组织时态信息的方法,从而实现时空数据库.以麦地轮作为例说明了采用历史关系数据库模式建立时空数据库的可行性和有效性.     

汶川特大地震后成都盆地内隐伏断层活动性分析

成都盆地内主要有3条隐伏的活动断裂带,包括大邑断裂带、蒲江-新津断裂带和龙泉山断裂带,它们在第四纪都表现出了一定的活动性."512"汶川特大地震后,笔者实地考察的结果表明,在汶川特大地震中成都盆地中的隐伏断裂没有产生新的活动性,目前成都盆地不存在发生特大地震的危险性,是安全的.     

Changing grading of soil: effect on critical states

Examples of situations are presented where the grading of a soil changes during its lifetime either by crushing of particles leading to an increase of fine material or by slow transport of fine particles with seepage leading to a decrease of fine material. Such grading changes influence the basic constitutive properties of the soil, in particular properties such as critical states which are dependent on the available range of densities of packing. Discrete element modelling is used to show the dependence of critical state conditions on grading and the way in which the particle assembly seeks out new critical state conditions as the grading changes.