The return of confiscated land and property in the new Länder: The process and its geographical implications

The unification of Germany has led to claims for the restitution of more than 2.47 million pieces of property confiscated under the auspices of either the Third Reich or the East German government. The legal and administrative taks of restitution is a huge challenge for the new Germany, with far-reaching implications for the country's social and economic fabric. This paper examines the nature and scale of restitution claims and how they are being settled across the five new German states (Bundesländer) and Berlin. It reveals a picture of considerable progress overall, but with substantial regional variations.     

MASS MOVEMENTS AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT AS A NATURAL HAZARD

I.INTRODUCTIONFormillionsofyearswindandwaterhaveshapedtheearth,mountainshavebeenliftedanderodedaway,waterhasevaporatedfromtheoceansandfallenbackonland,rivershaveformedandcarriedwaterandsedanmentfromthemoufltainstotheseas.Someoftherivers--suchastheColoradoRiverintheGrandCanyonregionofNorthAJnerica-foundstablecoursesastheycarvedthemselvesintotheground,others--suchastheYellowhiverinChina-havechangedtheircoursesfrequentlyallthewayintorecenthistory.Itwasonlyafewthousandyearsagothatmanstarte…     

城市居民对大型活动影响的感知与态度模式——以首届中国国际进口博览会为例

大型活动是城市更新和区域经济发展的重要动力,对城市形象和城市经济具有极大的提升和促进作用。以2018年举办的首届中国国际进口博览会为案例,从居民感知的视角分析首届中国国际进口博览会举办过程中居民的社会交换关系,构建“对政府的信任”“未来结果考虑”“积极影响感知”“消极影响感知”“生活质量”和“支持态度”6个变量的关系模型,采用结构方程模型分析模型构建的合理性,验证了上海居民对首届中国国际进口博览会影响的感知及支持态度的影响因素,并探讨了生活质量在居民感知与支持态度之间的中介效应。结果表明：① 对政府的信任与未来结果考虑对居民感知与支持态度具有重要影响,即居民对政府的信任正向影响其对积极影响的感知及支持态度,负向影响居民的消极影响感知;居民的未来结果考虑也正向影响居民的积极影响感知与支持态度,负向影响居民的消极影响感知。② 居民的积极影响感知对生活质量感知和支持态度具有正向影响,居民的消极影响感知对支持态度具有负向影响,但未影响到居民的生活质量感知。③ 居民的生活质量感知在居民感知与支持态度间的中介效应未获得支持。本文对中国国际进口博览会持续健康发展、上海建设国际会展之都等具有一定的启示意义和参考价值。     

How can stream bank erosion be predicted on small water courses? Verification of BANCS model on the Kubrica watershed

The current paper deals with the evaluation of the BANCS erosion prediction model and its two componentsethe Bank Erosion Hazard Index(BEHI)and Near-Bank Stress(NBS)indices.To construct the erosion prediction curves,18 experimental sections were established on the Kubrica Stream,district of Trencín,Slovakia.Each section was assessed through the NBS index and BEHI index and real annual bank erosion was measured using erosion toe pins.Subsequently,the relations between the BEHI and real annual bank erosion was assessed through regression and correlation analyses.The relation proved to be moderately strong,with the correlation coefficient(R)reaching 0.47.Further,the relation between the NBS index and real annual bank erosion was evaluated,which was also moderately strong,with R=0.65.Based on the measured data,two erosion prediction curves were constructed,the first for moderate BEHI,with R=0.69 and coefficient of determination(R2)of 0.47 and the second for high BEHI with R=0.74 and R2=0.55.The prediction curves were based on data from one year of measurements and can,therefore,be used only for discharges that occurred within that year and in the region where the model was developed.In the current case,according to runoff Curve Numbers(CN),the real culmination discharge was Q=1.88 m3/s,which is roughly equivalent to 1.5-year recurrence interval flow(Q1.5).     

For every solution there are many problems: the role and study of technical systems in socio-environmental coevolution

This paper uses a case study on the evolution of the Rhine river delta to illustrate the coevolution of the environment, the technology used to exploit it, and the institutions governing it. Three strands are interwoven:

(1) Achieving equilibrium between protecting and utilizing land is difficult. In this area, as a result of exploitation, agriculture on fertile peat is succeeded by stock raising on infertile peat, peat extraction, inundation, and drainage to regain fertile soil.

(2) In the dynamic between collective and individual action that accompanies these changes, individuals beget institutions and institutions beget individuals.

(3) New technologies are invented, helping overcome challenges posed by the natural environment. Their unexpected consequences undermine the solutions found, leading to new technologies, etc.

The ultimate cause is the interaction between human cognition and action. Our cognition is limited in the number of dimensions it can simultaneously handle, and our action (directly or indirectly) affects all the dimensions of the complex adaptive system that is the environment, triggering unintended consequences, and new actions. This feedback takes the system from perceived challenges to solutions to new, unintended challenges, driving the region further and further from its point of departure, towards the bottom of the sea.     

教育绅士化社区：形成机制及其社会空间效应研究

教育绅士化现象已成为深刻影响我国城市居住空间分异的重要因素,以长春市郊区出现的教育绅士化社区为例,对其形成机制及社会空间效应进行深入研究。结果表明：① 在优质教育资源空间分布不均及教育体制改革背景下,私立学校与房地产开发活动在郊区的结合催生出一种新的教育绅士化现象,其实质是由教育资源引发的绅士化现象。② 教育绅士化社区采用“房地产+名校”的模式进行开发,涉及地方政府、房地产开发商、学校以及绅士阶层四大主体。教育绅士化缘于地方政府的征地行为,开发商是物质景观改造的主体,学校则是吸引绅士阶层集聚的关键。③ 教育绅士化社区一方面引导了资本、中产阶层和优质教育资源向郊区的迁移,促进了郊区物质景观及人口、社会经济的升级,并在一定程度上有利于教育公平。另一方面又不可避免地引起了城市人口、社会经济空间的分层和极化。本研究在一定程度上丰富了教育绅士化的研究内容和研究视野,同时对教育、住房以及城市发展政策的制定具有一定启示。     

Assessing the impacts of climate change on water resources of a West African trans-boundary river basin and its environmental consequences (Senegal River Basin)

The Senegal River Basin (SRB) is a shared watershed in West Africa which includes regions (the upper basin, valley, and delta), characterized by distinct environmental conditions. An important feature of the Senegal River flow volume historically was its inter- annual irregularity, which caused a major water resource constrain. This situation has been accentuated during the long-term drought (1969–1984) in the Sahel zone which highlights the vulnerability of food-producing systems to climate change and variability. SRB is undergoing fundamental environmental, hydrologic, and socioeconomic transitions and represents a good illustration of sensitivity to climatic variations and opportunities for adaptation. This paper aims to study water resources systems under stress from climate variability and change in the Senegal River Basin. The results show (1) through the compilation of available data, information and knowledge (sedimentological, climatical, geological, environmental, archeological, etc.), the chronological consequences of climate change during the past millennium in West Africa, and also (2) an analysis of the recent impacts and vulnerability to climate change in the SRB and finally (3) the adaptation strategies in the SRB in order to identify and resolve problems associated with this water scarcity and to address the potential for guaranteed agricultural production in this narrow geographic area.     

沱江流域水文对全球气候变化的响应

本文研究了全球气候变化对沱江流域水文的影响。根据流域水量平衡模型和未来气候情景对水量平衡各分量的可能变化进行了计算。结果表明;径流对气温变化不敏感,但对降水变化十分敏感;降水变化±１０％将引起径流量±３５％左右的变化;此外,径流年内分配亦发生了明显的变化。这将对沱江流域未来水资源计划与管理带来一定程度的影响。     

A Review of Damage Intensity Scales

A wide range of scales and indices are used to describe natural hazards and theirimpacts. Some scales infer damage levels from hazard characteristics while othersuse damage levels to estimate a physical characteristic. Damage scales may relyon raw dollar values, percent loss estimates, damage states, normalized values ormacrodamage categories. Whatever the basis of the scale it should tell the truth.However, scales are compromises between the need for detailed information andbeing simple enough to use.Damage scales may be nominal (categorical), ordinal, interval or ratio scales. Frequencywords such as ``few', ``many' can be dealt with in a range of ways to produce contiguous,widely separated, broadly overlapping or narrow overlapping values. Most scales rely onmaximum values but some focus on minimum or threshold values. The number of levelson damage scales commonly ranges from five to 13. Some long-lived damage scales haveevolved through several editions, changing to reflect the new or additional uses to whichthey have been put and as buildings and the nature of damage to those structures has changed.Few scales state precisely the purpose of the scale, deal clearly with ambiguities or provideguidelines for the use of qualitative information.     

A system perspective on innovation in the Norwegian dairy industry

Regional innovation systems (RIS) have made a considerable contribution on the one hand to a scientific understanding of how innovation occurs and on the other hand as a political tool for stimulation of regional development. The aim of the article is to illuminate this theoretical approach by discussing the role of regional innovation systems in promoting innovation in the dairy (meieri) industry in Norway, and further, by discussing regional consequences of the development of regional innovation systems. The main conclusion is that it is hard to find regional innovation systems within the dairy industry in Norway; the mainstream milk sector is nationally oriented. Within farm processing and a few ‘countercurrent’ dairy firms, however, a stronger relation to regional networks emerges. Development of regional innovation systems is a kind of endogenous development that presupposes there are local and regional resources available, which often is not the case. Hence, a one-sided commitment to regional innovation systems will result in regional disparities in economic growth. Varied strategies for innovation and for regional development can compensate for these disparities.