bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ordered InP nanostructures fabricated by Ar+-ion irradiation
Authors: Mohanta S. K. , Soni R. K. , Tripathy S. , Chua S. J.
Published: January 2006

In this letter, we report fabrication of ordered InP nanostructures using 50keV Ar+-ion irradiation at normal incidence. The structural and optical properties of these nanodots as a function of ion dose have been investigated. Scanning electron microscopy investigations reveal that the average sizes of the InP nanodots vary from 50nmto90nm as the ion dose increases from 1×1017to1×1018cm−2. Furthermore, an increase in ion dose results in a wider dot size distribution. Apart from the bulk InP band-edge photoluminescence (PL), the surface nanostructuring leads to the observation of an additional PL band at 1.98eV. Such a blueshifted PL peak could arise due to a combined effect of carrier confinement in the surface nanodots and radiative recombination associated with surface states. The room-temperature micro-Raman investigation of InP nanodots reveals optical phonon softening due to phonon confinement in the surface nanodots.
Effects of dissolved nitrogen in improving barrier properties of ruthenium
Authors: Damayanti M. , Sritharan T. , Mhaisalkar S. G. , Gan Z. H.
Published: January 2006

Diffusion barrier properties of 10nm Ru sputtered in N and Ar atmospheres have been assessed. N was found to be dissolved in the Ru film deposited in N atmosphere making it amorphous with ten times higher sheet resistance. Annealing caused effusion of N resulting in crystallization of Ru and a sharp decrease in sheet resistance. The incorporation of N delayed the Ru silicide formation and reduced Cu and Ru diffusion into the SiO2 dielectric layer. These beneficial performances are attributed to dissolved N in the amorphous films and to N grain boundary stuffing in crystallized films.
The Transportation – Production Tradeoff in the Regional Environmental Impact of Industrial Systems: A Case Study in the Paper Sector
Authors: Vanek Francis M
Published: January 2006

The author presents a methodology which is used first to model a product-manufacturing-and-distribution system, and then to predict the resulting changes in environmental impact from changes either in taxation or in costs of inputs. A case study of the paper sector in the eastern and central United States is developed, derived from the 1993 US Commodity Flow Survey. From an analysis of five scenarios, two central findings arise: (1) the model is found to be unresponsive to even large changes in transport taxation, so an environmental policy which considers both transportation and production aspects at the same time is favored, and (2) fluctuations in raw-material costs can have an influence on environmental impact as great as or greater than that of changes in taxation levels.
The Rescaling of Labour Regulation in Germany: From National and Regional Corporatism to Intrafirm Welfare?
Authors: Berndt Christian
Published: January 2006

This paper is concerned with recent changes in the way capital–labour relations are governed and regulated in German small and medium-sized enterprises. Drawing from institutionalist and regulationist approaches a geographical perspective is adopted which links processes across different sociospatial scales and stresses the importance of relative mobility differences in asymmetric power relations. By considering 28 individual case studies of firms in the Ruhr Area of Germany, it is argued: first, that as stakeholders in the firms respond to a changing environment and to increasing uncertainty, capital–labour relations in Germany are being downscaled and decentralised, profoundly changing the traditional power geometry between capital and labour; second, that the regulatory landscape is being ‘reworked’ in terms favourable to capital during a period in which the latter is in the ascendancy in the labour market; and, third, that there is a peculiar spatial dimension to the rearticulation of power relations and core institutions of the German model. As solidarity and trust appear to be increasingly produced and reproduced at the firm level in the emerging regulatory configuration, the scale of labour regulation is being recast.
Determinants of Migration Intentions in Hubei Province, China: Individual versus Family Migration
Authors: Yang Xiushi
Published: January 2006

The author examines the determinants of migration intentions in Hubei province in central China. The analysis suggests that temporary migrants are more likely to migrate than are comparable permanent migrants or nonmigrants. The results also indicate that males are more likely to migrate as individuals than are females. Although age has a great deterrent impact on family migration, being married shows a much greater negative effect on planning an individual migration. Also, family network proves to be more important for determining individual migration than family migration. The results lend support to the notion that temporary migrants in cities do consider themselves as temporary residents and are therefore more likely to migrate again in the near future. They also confirm the argument that different factors play significant roles in individual versus family migration, and highlight the importance in distinguishing the two in empirical studies in developing countries.
Labor Migrations in Taiwan: Characterization and Interpretation Based on the Data of the 1990 Census
Authors: Lin Ji-Ping , Liaw Kao-Lee
Published: January 2006

In this paper we characterize and interpret patterns of labor migration in Taiwan, including (1) lifetime labor migration up to 1990 and (2) 1985–90 labor migration, based on the data of the 1990 Census. To gain better insights, the 1985–90 migrations are decomposed into three types: primary, return, and onward. Our major findings are as follows. First, lifetime labor migration was highly efficient in transferring labor into North Region from all other regions of Taiwan and contributed to Taiwan's transformation into one of the newly industrialized economies. Second, the 1985–90 labor migration in Taiwan responded quickly to the spatially unbalanced impacts of economic restructuring and globalization in the 1980s and resulted in a major turnaround in population redistribution: a shift from a long-lasting dual-pole (north–south) concentration pattern developed since the 1930s toward a single-pole concentration pattern in the north. Third, primary migration was much more voluminous than return and onward migrations, and rural prefectures had the typical pattern of a ‘loser’: a large net loss of primary migrants, countered by a small net gain of return migrants, and somewhat aggravated by a small net loss of onward migrants. Fourth, the greatest beneficiaries in terms of educational selectivity were Taipei city (the command center of the globalized Taiwanese economic system) and Hsinchu city (the so-called silicon valley of Taiwan). Fifth, the losses in the quantity and quality of human resources due to migration did not result in socioeconomic decline in rural prefectures because these losses were compensated for largely by the rural-ward financial transfer of central government and partly by the remittances sent back by rural out-migrants.
Exploring Knowledge-Cultures: Precision Farming, Yield Mapping, and the Expert–Farmer Interface
Authors: Tsouvalis Judith , Seymour Susanne , Watkins Charles
Published: January 2006

Over recent years the concept of ‘knowledge’ in the singular has been increasingly challenged by ideas of differentiated, contextualized ‘knowledges’. In this paper we propose the concept of ‘knowledge-cultures’ as a way of exploring the fluidity of diverse forms of knowledge and the rules, norms, and values that enable or constrain their production. Elaborating on Shotter's idea of knowledge-from-within, we argue that knowledge-cultures are social achievements that equip those who embody them with a relational–responsive kind of understanding of events and surroundings built on multiple knowledge-forms. To explore this contextual nature of knowledge-culture construction and illustrate our arguments, we draw on detailed empirical research of farmers' experiences with the precision-farming technique of yield mapping in the English counties of Lincolnshire and Suffolk.
From Growth Machine to Growth Management: The Dynamics of Resort Development in Whistler, British Columbia
Authors: Gill Alison
Published: January 2006

In North America, competition for land has often been conceptualized as being driven by growth machines whereby those with common stakes in development form coalitions of local elites to influence government in pursuit of their goals. The inequitable benefits of growth have been challenged more recently by the introduction of growth-management practices that heighten the role of local residents in land-use decisions. In this paper, the concepts of the ‘growth machine’ and ‘growth management’ are applied to an examination of the resort community of Whistler, British Columbia. This approach transforms previous theorizations of resort formation which draw upon Butler's (1980) life-cycle model, by focusing on the social and political dynamics of growth. Whistler is seen to progress through a phase of uncontested growth-machine dominance, to a phase of local contestation that is then moderated by the introduction of growth-management practices. The evolutionary process is seen as a cumulative one in which, over time, social and environmental imperatives are imposed upon the economic imperatives of the growth machine.
Relationships between Flood Control, Kala-Azar, and Diarrheal Disease in Bangladesh
Authors: Emch Michael
Published: January 2006

In 1990, a large flood-control project called the Flood Action Plan (FAP) was started in Bangladesh. The FAP built many embankments to divert water during the rainy season. This paper includes two case studies of diseases that are related to flood control in Bangladesh: kala-azar and diarrheal disease. Kala-azar is caused by the protozoan Leishmania donovani and is transmitted to humans by the sandfly Phlebotomus argentipes. It was found that the incidence of kala-azar in embanked areas of northwest Bangladesh was significantly higher than the incidence in nonembanked areas. This can be attributed to the lack of seasonal flooding in the embanked areas, because flooding reduces the number of P. argentipes larvae in these areas. Hood control is also related to diarrheal disease near the Bay of Bengal. Diarrheal disease incidence data were collected for people who were hospitalized at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Hospital from 1 January 1992 to 31 December 1994. Individuals living in flood-controlled areas were 2.47 times more likely to be hospitalized with cholera than those living outside flood-controlled areas. The relationship between flood control and noncholera diarrhea was not quite as strong with a relative-risk ratio of 1.42.
Disability and Discourses of Mobility and Movement
Authors: Imrie Rob
Published: January 2006

In this paper I seek to make a contribution to ‘geographies of mobility’ by arguing that assumptions of unrestricted movement and mobility in contemporary Western societies are hegemonic in prioritising specific bodies and modes of mobility and movement. In particular, mobility and movement are defined through ‘normalising’ discourses which serve to alienate impaired bodies and to prioritise what one might term the ‘mobile body’. This has the effect of (re)producing structured inequalities in peoples' movement and mobility patterns. Such ideas are developed and illustrated with reference to interviews with disabled people.
Leaving Home and Entering the Housing Market
Authors: Clark William A V , Mulder Clara H
Published: January 2006

We use a multinomial choice model of owning a home, owning a trailer, or renting to examine the housing-market entry of young adults in the USA after they have left the parental home. We also model the choice between renting independently and sharing with roommates. We show that the likelihood of becoming an independent actor in the housing market is closely related to the size and regional location of the housing market. The young adult's resources are an important influence on housing-market entry. Parents' resources seem to be less important as a factor in housing selection. Whereas trailer ownership is more common among the less well educated, couples, and those leaving home to live in the South or in rural areas, sharing is typical for the younger nest leavers, singles, and those leaving home to live in the cities.
Financial Cycles and Building Booms: A Supply Side Account
Authors: Beitel Karl
Published: January 2006

In this paper, I undertake a reexamination of recent cycles of boom and bust in the US commercial property markets. I apply aspects of the post-Keynesian investment theory developed by Hyman Minsky to understand the causes of hyperextended building cycles, with particular attention paid to the 1980s boom. Periods of rampant overbuilding are found to be rooted in the distressed conditions of the commercial banking sector, which drove the banks to annex the commercial property markets as outlets for surplus credit capacity and to offset declining rates of profit. I explore how the existence of commercial property at the intersection of markets for space and markets for capital assets introduces distortions into the capital supply process and exacerbates tendencies towards overproduction and crisis. Conditions prevailing in the 1980s are contrasted to the current economic expansion, and the performance of the commercial property markets through 1999 is analyzed, to distinguish further the key control functions exercised by the commercial banks over market outcomes.
The Limits of Guanxi Capitalism: Transnational Collaboration between Taiwan and the USA
Authors: Hsu Jinn-Yuh , Saxenian AnnaLee
Published: January 2006

In this research we explore the relationship between high-technology regional development and ethnic networks in the connection between Silicon Valley, California and Hsinchu, Taiwan. We elaborate the argument that regional industrial structure and embedded social networks, rather than the multinational firm, should be the focus in the study of transnational business. The complementary regional industrial structures allow economic and technological collaboration between these two regions while the social networks help coordinate these transnational (cross-regional) collaborations. However, we seek to distinguish this account from the dominant perceptions of the role of guanxi (interpersonal relationships) in overseas Chinese business networks (OCBN). In contrast with the arguments for OCBN, that guanxi provides resources for Chinese firms to coordinate and control transnational business, we argue that the skill and competence required for technological upgrading are not necessarily guaranteed within the ethnic network. Although ethnic networks facilitate transnational business and technology cross-fertilization, it seems go too far to argue the Silicon Valley–Hsinchu connection is another version of Chinese guanxi capitalism.
Commodifying Children: Fashion, Space, and the Production of the Profitable Child
Authors: Crewe Louise , Collins Phillip
Published: January 2006

In this paper we address the emergence of the children's fashion market as part of a broader concern to explore the geographies of children's consumption. We argue that this market is significant in that it offers some theoretical purchase on new forms of commodification, on shifting sourcing and supply relations, and on the varied spatialities of retailing more broadly. We discuss the ways in which children's fashioned bodies act as a site through which they explore and express their self-identity. We focus specifically on the ways in which knowledge, branding, and temporality are shaping this emergent sector, and argue that the speeding up of the industry's ‘clocktimes’ and the spreading out of design impulses are generating particular sets of problems for the industry. We conclude with some reflections on the ways in which children's consumption might be more fully theorised as the combined product of familial relations, social network effects, individualisation, and market structures.
Retail Restructuring and Consumer Choice 2. Understanding Consumer Choice at the Household Level
Authors: Jackson Peter , del Aguila Rossana Perez , Clarke Ian , Hallsworth Alan , de Kervenoael Ronan , Kirkup Malcolm
Published: January 2006

This paper complements the preceding one by Clarke et al, which looked at the long-term impact of retail restructuring on consumer choice at the local level. Whereas the previous paper was based on quantitative evidence from survey research, this paper draws on the qualitative phases of the same three-year study, and in it we aim to understand how the changing forms of retail provision are experienced at the neighbourhood and household level. The empirical material is drawn from focus groups, accompanied shopping trips, diaries, interviews, and kitchen visits with eight households in two contrasting neighbourhoods in the Portsmouth area. The data demonstrate that consumer choice involves judgments of taste, quality, and value as well as more ‘objective’ questions of convenience, price, and accessibility. These judgments are related to households' differential levels of cultural capital and involve ethical and moral considerations as well as more mundane considerations of practical utility. Our evidence suggests that many of the terms that are conventionally advanced as explanations of consumer choice (such as ‘convenience’, ‘value’, and ‘habit’) have very different meanings according to different household circumstances. To understand these meanings requires us to relate consumers' at-store behaviour to the domestic context in which their consumption choices are embedded. Bringing theories of practice to bear on the nature of consumer choice, our research demonstrates that consumer choice between stores can be understood in terms of accessibility and convenience, whereas choice within stores involves notions of value, price, and quality. We also demonstrate that choice between and within stores is strongly mediated by consumers' household contexts, reflecting the extent to which shopping practices are embedded within consumers' domestic routines and complex everyday lives. The paper concludes with a summary of the overall findings of the project, and with a discussion of the practical and theoretical implications of the study.
Reliability of Sequence-Alignment Analysis of Social Processes: Monte Carlo Tests of Clustalg Software
Authors: Wilson Clarke
Published: January 2006

Sequences of characters are used in many fields to record events or processes that characterize social processes. However, until recently, there have been very few methods available for the analysis of character-sequence data. Alignment algorithms measure similarities between pairs of sequences by inserting gaps into one or the other to create the best possible matching pattern. In this paper the reliability of alignments in the classification of sequential data is examined. Alignment methods were developed in computational biology, but are being considered for applications in other fields such as sociology, geography, and transportation planning. The ClustalG multiple alignment package is used to examine a set of synthetic sequences generated through the use of eight separate generation rules. Through the application of the software to sequential data with a known number of subgroups and known patterns in the sequences, some strategies for conducting the analysis can be compared and evaluated. The most effective strategy for analysing sequential data when the underlying processes that generate the event sequences are not known is to use low gap penalties that permit the maximum numbers of matches.
‘New Economy’ Discourse and Spaces in Singapore: A Case Study of One-North
Authors: Wong Kai Wen , Bunnell Tim
Published: January 2006

In this paper we examine government-led attempts to transform Singapore into, or for, a so-called ‘new economy’. We show how ‘new economy’ may be understood as a powerful discourse rationalising a range of policy and planning interventions. We focus in particular on ‘one-north’, a would-be technopole for biomedical, information technology, and media industries in the southwest of Singapore. We show how the planning of one-north has included the selection and reworking of residential areas as ‘little bohemias’ considered conducive for fostering new-economy cultures. Though it has been gaining prominence, specifically following the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, one-north is contextualised in terms of broader new-economy interventions by the state in Singapore, which, in turn, have resonances for similar initiatives elsewhere.
Cooperation in the Innovation Process in Developing Countries: Empirical Evidence from Zhongguancun, Beijing
Authors: Liefner Ingo , Hennemann Stefan , Xin Lu
Published: January 2006

Zhongguancun Science Park (ZGC) in Beijing is considered the most innovative region in China. This paper is based on a quantitative survey among ZGC companies that captures the cooperation patterns of the firms. The survey was funded by the German Research Association (DFG). In the process of technological upgrading and innovation, companies in Beijing—as well as in other developing countries—make use of knowledge originating in foreign companies or in universities and public research organizations. The findings presented in this paper confirm that ZGC companies are linked to both sources of knowledge to the same extent. Cooperation with foreign companies helps ZGC companies to get new ideas and to enter the market with new products, whereas cooperation with universities is used mainly to design new products. Thus, the patterns of cooperation show that ZGC can absorb new knowledge from different sources. However, not all of the high-tech companies in ZGC are able to make use of international linkages in the innovation process, as about half of them do not have the necessary capabilities.
Heuristic Concentration: A Study of Stage One
Authors: Rosing Kenneth E
Published: January 2006

Heuristic concentration (HC) is a metaheuristic for the solution of certain combinatorial problems. In stage one, a concentration set (CS), consisting of nodes likely to be in the optimal solution, is developed by multiple runs of an interchange heuristic. In stage two, a good, usually optimal, solution is constructed by selecting the best nodes from the CS. The CS is effective when it is small but comprehensive. Both of these characteristics depend upon: (1) the robustness of the heuristic; (2) the number of times it is run, q; and (3) the number of “best” solutions used to create the CS, m. Stage two is thus totally dependent upon the efficiency of stage one for the improved, and at least potentially optimal, solution. Proper values for the parameters m and q increase the probability of selecting correct elements to construct the optimal solution in stage two and to decrease the work in its identification. After a consideration of the robustness of two alternative interchange heuristics I will concentrate on the appropriate values for the parameters m and q. This is an empirical examination and the p-median problem is used throughout.
Using Image Depth Variables as Predictors of Visual Quality
Authors: Bishop Ian D , Wherrett JoAnna R , Miller David R
Published: January 2006

Depth is an important part of our understanding and appreciation of landscape. Attempts made to measure attributes of photographs of landscapes and to develop predictive models of scenic beauty have either failed to include depth or included it by subjective separation of the foreground, mid-ground, and background within the photograph. The process of measurement from photographs is also limiting because it does not provide a mechanism for readily assessing the effect on visual qualities of proposed landscape changes. The process described here requires a detailed digital model of the environment but is then able to generate variables relating to land-cover type, their depth, and patterns of depth in any view direction. Among these variables are several which are closely correlated with scenic beauty and which can together make a good predictive model. Computer systems, which include hardware implementations of three-dimensional visible surface algorithms, offer the possibility of very fast generation of scenic beauty estimates from any location. Such estimates are among the requirements for autonomous agent-based modelling of landscape behaviour.
Environmental Conflicts in Compact Cities: Complexity, Decisionmaking, and Policy Approaches
Authors: de Roo Gert
Published: January 2006

In most parts of Europe compact city policies have become a popular means of planning for sustainability. Dense compact cities were seen as solutions to reduce continually increasing mobility. They were also seen as a way to avoid urbanization of the countryside. Lately planners have been expressing serious doubts about the impact of these positive effects of the compact city concept. Planners in the Netherlands are instead shifting their attention more to environmental dilemmas which result, in part, from compact city policies. A number of these dilemmas are caused by frictions between environmentally sensitive and environmentally intrusive functions in a compact urban setting. Traditionally these dilemmas or conflicts were taken care of by using a functional rationality approach, that is one emphasizing direct causal relations between cause and effect. In the Netherlands this has resulted in a top-down policy, urging local authorities to keep enough distance between conflicting functions. Unfortunately the compact city concept adds an extra dimension to the problem, favouring mixed use and a dense urban area. Keeping distance can therefore no longer be the primary solution to environmental conflicts in urban areas. Environment conflicts have become, so to speak, more complex owing to spatial pressure and to a growing number of different interests that have to be taken into account. Functional rationality approaches may no longer be sufficient to solve these complex dilemmas or conflicts. Rather than keeping distance as the only possible solution to deal with conflicting functions, in the Netherlands local participation is also recognized as an effective approach towards some of the more complex conflicts. This communicative approach is gradually gaining acceptance in the Netherlands—and in other parts of the world as well—as a potential method for dealing with planning issues. In this paper functional and communicative rationality are seen as two extremes of the same spectrum, with complexity as the key word linking the two together. This has lead to the following thesis: the effectiveness and efficiency of a solution will depend on the assignment of the conflict's complexity. In this case, complexity is no longer seen as a metaphor, but instead as essential for examining planning issues, including environmental conflicts in compact cities.
When and Where is a City Fractal?
Authors: Benguigui Lucien , Czamanski Daniel , Marinov Maria , Portugali Yuval
Published: January 2006

We present here an analysis of the development of the Tel Aviv metropolis by using the concept of fractals. The fractal dimension of the entire metropolis, and of its parts, was estimated as a function of time, from 1935 onwards. The central part and the northern tier are fractal at all times. Their fractal dimension increased with time. However, the metropolis as a whole can be said to be fractal only after 1985. There is a general tendency towards fractality, in the sense that the fractal dimension of the different parts converge towards the same value.
The Office Building: Between Globalization and Local Identity
Authors: Kooijman Dion
Published: January 2006

The visual expression of the office building is changing. So are interior design concepts, relating new work practices to new office design, as in the team office. These phenomena can be interpreted as the result of two interrelated tendencies: globalization, and the need for a local setting. Linking phenomena and underlying processes can offer a better understanding of the corporate image. The historical concept of the company town will be the main reference in this conceptualization.
Information Sharing in an Interorganizational GIS Environment
Authors: Nedović-Budić Zorica , Pinto Jeffrey K
Published: January 2006

The increased acceptance and use of computerized GIS and digital data sets in private and public organizations in the United States has been in recent years further encouraged by the Federal initiatives which promote sharing of geographic data. In spite of the obvious benefits in terms of efficiency and effectiveness to be derived from sharing geographic information both within and between organizations, the idea continues to be resisted, leading to inefficiencies from duplication of data collection and storage. Using case-study methodology, we examine in this research the mechanisms and behavioral factors that can facilitate or inhibit the willingness of organizations to share GIS and databases. Five cases, including organizations with varied levels of joint GIS and database activities, were studied to determine the characteristics underlying successful interorganizational GIS. Our findings offer a number of suggestions for organizations seeking to derive maximum benefits from the interorganizational GIS activities.
Transition and Reform: What Effect Does Resource Abundance Have?
Authors: Markandya Anil , Averchenkova Alina
Published: January 2006

The transition experience in Russia in the 1990s has produced benefits for some people, but it has not generally been a happy one. The level of GDP is well below what it was at the beginning of the period, inequality has increased very sharply, and other indicators of well being, such as crime and human health, have deteriorated significantly. Much of this is not unique to Russia; many of the other transition countries have faced similar problems. Although Russia was not the worst performer for many of the indicators, one might have expected better given its initial advantages, especially the immense natural resource wealth. In this paper we seek to understand why the transition process has been difficult in Russia, and in particular to what extent these difficulties arise from its resource-rich status. Three hypotheses are analysed. First is the view that resource-abundant countries are slow to make reforms as they have a cushion of rents to rely on. The second explanatory factor is the impact of resource abundance on the real exchange rate. The last factor is a social one. Resource abundance creates social conflict, as the benefits from this are unequally distributed. Although all three factors have played some part in explaining the relatively poor performance of Russia during the transition period, in our view the last explanation is the most potent. For the future, the government must pay the highest attention to reducing the social conflict. This requires a crackdown on corruption and criminal activity. Furthermore, when reforms are introduced, the government must ensure that these are not used as a vehicle for a few people to extract more rents from the system. A more careful accounting of the rents from natural resources, allocating them to the highest value uses in a transparent way, would clearly be beneficial.
Environment in the Transition towards Market Economies: An Overview of Trends in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union
Authors: Zamparutti Tony , Gillespie Brendan
Published: January 2006

The 1993 Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe presented a series of recommendations for integrating environmental objectives into the process of economic and democratic reform in Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) and the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union (NIS). In this paper, on the basis of findings of a recent OECD study, we look at progress across the region in light of these recommendations. In several CEEC, there has been a synergy among economic reforms, democratic development, and environmental improvement. These countries have seen important improvements in environmental conditions but now face a variety of challenges, many tied to the process of accession to the EU and the need to deepen integration between environment and sectoral policies, such as those for agriculture and transport. In other countries, and in particular many NIS, pollution reductions have mainly resulted from declines in economic production. Many of these countries face ongoing crisis in terms of establishing economic reform, stable societies, and environmental protection. In several areas of the former Soviet Union, environmental problems—in particular poor access to safe drinking water—pose serious threats to human health. Addressing these problems presents a difficult challenge both for national governments and for international cooperation agencies.
Evaluating the Tourism — Environment Relationship: Central and East European Experiences
Authors: Hall Derek R
Published: January 2006

The relationship between environment and tourism in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) can be portrayed as symbiotic, embedded within processes of postcommunist restructuring. With reference to specific CEE experience, I will evaluate briefly in this paper some of the components, problems, and outcomes of five dimensions of the tourism — environment relationship. These are: environment as a stimulus to tourism; environment as a constraint on tourism; tourism and sustainability; environment and place marketing; and tourism impacts on the environment. It is concluded that, although tourism should be viewed as just one element of postcommunist development, it has a multifaceted relationship with natural and cultural environments which demands that particular attention be paid to sustainable management.
Children's Cognitive Mapping: A Potential Tool for Neighbourhood Planning
Authors: Halseth Greg , Doddridge Joanne
Published: January 2006

We live in increasingly planned and controlled environments. The places we live, work, interact, visit, and travel through are the products of designers and planning regulations. The planners, designers, and others in the property development industry, employ a wide range of means by which to identify the needs and aspirations of the clients, the property owners, and the potential users of such spaces. But this paper is interested in a “single-user” group that has not often been routinely consulted as to its use of our everyday spaces. Children live and interact in neighbourhoods, and many of these spaces have been expressly designed as “child-centred” or “child-rearing” landscapes. Yet how can planners and designers learn more from children about their use of, and needs in, such neighbourhood spaces? Following a review of the literatures on cognitive mapping and some of the limitations and possibilities in using these types of techniques with young children, we recount here a project called KIDSMAP in which children draw mental or cognitive “maps”. Although there are limitations in the application of cognitive map work with children, we have found that they do work hard at representing places which are important to them. In this paper we review the children's maps against Lynch's well-known typology of urban design elements. Through this illustration, we hope to show how cognitive map techniques may provide one way to collect information on what is really of interest and importance to this often overlooked user “constituency”.
The Growth of an Urban Cluster into a Dynamic Self-Modifying Spatial Pattern
Authors: Semboloni Ferdinando
Published: January 2006

In this study I will analyse the growth of an urban cluster resulting from interaction with a dynamic spatial pattern comprised of cells and roads. In this case, the cells grow in an irregular pattern and can change in number and state, and the roads direct the growth pattern of the urban cluster and stimulate cell generation. The coupled effects of a cellular mechanism and a road network and the long-distance effects determined by spatial mobility are presented in two forms: first in a theoretical framework, and then through numerical simulation in which various sets of key parameters are utilised. A model is proposed in which growth is related to the fractal dimension of the cluster. Finally, conclusions are drawn for the long-run effects of morphology modification in relation to land use and to spatial pattern.
Planning Obligations, Planning Practice, and Land-Use Outcomes
Authors: Campbell Heather , Ellis Hugh , Henneberry John , Gladwell Caroline
Published: January 2006

An investigation of planning obligations is used to explore the political and economic dynamics associated with the interaction between the planning and development processes. A significant widening in the use and scope of planning obligations has occurred in the last ten years. Obligations are used not only to remove physical constraints on development and to mitigate direct development impacts, but also to ameliorate more diffuse social, economic, and environmental impacts, to provide community benefits, and to support wider policy objectives. This broadening of practice has been spurred on by the austere financial environment within which local authorities must operate. Planning obligations have provided a mechanism for shifting part of the immediate financial burden of the provision of off-site infrastructure, facilities, and services from government to building producers and consumers. This poses a dilemma for planning practice. On the one hand, the profile of planners is raised because they are key negotiators in delivering improvements in local infrastructure and services. On the other hand, the financial aspects of development proposals now influence planning decisions. The potential to negotiate planning obligations is influencing land-use patterns, spatially, sectorally, and in terms of local built form. Short-term planning gains are tending to override longer term planning concerns such as environmental quality. These trends challenge fundamentally our conception of the nature of planning.
A Meta-Analytic Comparison of Determinants of Public Transport Use: Methodology and Application
Authors: Nijkamp Peter , Rietveld Piet , Spierdijk Laura
Published: January 2006

Our aim in this paper is to apply principles from modern meta-analysis to identify differences and commonalities in patterns of explanatory variables for varying price elasticities for public transport in different countries. In addition to the synthesis and analysis of empirical data on these elasticity values with a view to selection of the main determinants of significant cross-national differences, a series of different analytical methods (notably rough set analysis, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis) are applied in order to test not only the robustness of the results, but also—by way of a ‘meta-meta-analytic’ experiment—the variations in research findings caused by the use of different methods.
Threshold Analysis Approach to the Objectification of Social Space: The Structure of Household Types in Sydney
Authors: Poulsen Mike , Johnston Ron
Published: January 2006

Limited research has been undertaken into the geographical structure of familism within urban areas in recent decades despite significant changes in the nature of family living arrangements. A major element in this hiatus has been the lack of a viable methodology other than the factorial ecology and grouping procedures. These permitted the development of multiple place-to-theory studies in social geography, establishing familism as one of the three basic dimensions of social space, but did not facilitate place-to-place or temporal studies. In the current data-rich environment, an alternative methodology needs to be developed for comparative studies, both temporal and spatial, where measurements of change and differences can be advanced. Without it social geographers will not be able to undertake many measurement tasks and provide spatial projections of change. In this paper we provide the basis of such a methodology, centred on the objectification of social space by utilising census data, where measurements on single-attribute and multiattribute objects are obtained. As a base study it takes the seven categories of living arrangements designated in the Australian census and derives the familism objects for Sydney. A model of five family-type objects for Sydney is developed. Four distinct types of familism objects account for 93.65% of Sydney's area. The fifth is a collection of forty-one heterogeneous objects. These and other associated measurements can subsequently be compared over time, and between places, thereby facilitating detailed place-to-place and temporal studies in social geography.
A Classification of Built Forms
Authors: Steadman Philip , Bruhns Harry R , Holtier Senino , Gakovic Bratislav , Rickaby Peter A , Brown Frank E
Published: January 2006

A classification of built forms is presented. It is based on a study of buildings surveyed at 3350 addresses in four English towns and has been designed for use in the national Non-Domestic Building Stock (NDBS) database developed for the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions. As the prime use of the database is in energy analysis, the classification focuses on the external envelopes of buildings. (Materials of construction, servicing systems, and activities are classified separately.) Built forms are distinguished according to two main criteria: the broad “texture” of their internal subdivision; and whether they are daylit or artificially lit.
Chromaticity, Spatial Complexity, and Self-Motion Perception
Authors: Bonato Frederick , Bubka Andrea
Published: January 2006

The effects of visual field color and spatial complexity on self-motion perception were investigated by placing observers inside a large rotating cylinder (optokinetic drum). Under optokinetic-drum conditions visually induced self-motion (vection) is typically perceived within 30 s, even though all forms of sensory input (eg vestibular, proprioceptive, auditory), except vision, indicate that the observer is stationary. It was hypothesized that vection would be hastened and vection magnitude increased by adding chromatic colors and spatial complexity to the lining of an optokinetic drum. Addition of these visual-field characteristics results in an array that shares more visual-field characteristics with our typical environment that usually serves as a stable frame of reference regarding self-motion perception. In the color experiment, participants viewed vertical stripes that were: (i) black and white, (ii) various gray shades, or (iii) chromatic. In the spatial complexity experiment, participants were presented with: (i) black-and-white vertical stripes, or (ii) a black-and-white checkerboard pattern. Drum rotation velocity was 5 rev. min−1 (30° s−1), and both vection onset and magnitude were measured for 60 s trials. Results indicate that chromaticity and spatial complexity hasten the onset of vection and increase its perceived magnitude. Chromaticity and spatial complexity are common characteristics of the environments in which our visual system evolved. The presence of these visual-field features in an optic flow pattern may be treated as an indicator that the scene being viewed is stationary and that the observer is moving.
Effects of Visual Deprivation on Space Representation: Immediate and Delayed Pointing toward Memorised Proprioceptive Targets
Authors: Gaunet Florence , Rossetti Yves
Published: January 2006

Congenially blind, late-blind, and blindfolded-sighted participants performed a pointing task at proximal memorised proprioceptive targets. The locations to be memorised were presented on a sagittal plane by passively positioning the left index finger. A ‘go’ signal for matching the target location with the right index finger was given 0 or 8 s after left-hand demonstration. Absolute distance errors were smaller in the blind groups, with both delays pooled together; signed distance and direction errors were underestimated with the longer delay, and were overestimated by blind groups, whereas the blindfolded-sighted group underestimated them. Elongation of the scatters was stretched but not affected by delay or group. The surface scatter was greater with the longer delay; and orientation of the main axis of the pointing ellipses shows the use of an egocentric frame of reference by the congenitally blind group for both delays, the use of egocentric (0 s) and exocentric (8 s) frame of reference by the blindfolded-sighted group, with the late-blind group using an intermediate frame of reference for both delays. Therefore, early and late visual-deprivation effects are distinguished from transient visual-deprivation effects as long-term deprivation leads to increased capabilities (absolute distance estimations), unaltered organisation (for surface and elongation), and altered organisation (amplitude and direction estimations, orientation of pointing distribution) of the spatial representation with proprioception. Besides providing an extensive exploration of pointing ability and mechanisms in the visually deprived population, the results show that cross-modal plasticity applies not only to neural bases but extends to spatial behaviour.
Colours in Black and White: The Depiction of Lightness and Brightness in Achromatic Engravings before the Invention of Photography
Authors: Zavagno Daniele , Massironi Manfredo
Published: January 2006

What is it like to see the world in black and white? In the pioneer days of cinema, when movies displayed grey worlds, was it true that no ‘colours’ were actually seen? Did every object seen in those projections appear grey in the same way? The answer is obviously no-people in those glorious days were seeing a world full of light, shadows, and objects in which colours were expressed in terms of lightness. But the marvels of grey worlds have not always been so richly displayed. Before the invention of photography, the depiction of scenes in black-and-white had to face some technical and perceptual challenges. We have studied the technical and perceptual constraints that XV-XVIII century engravers had to face in order to translate actual colours into shades of grey. An indeterminacy principle is considered, according to which artists had to prefer the representation of some object or scene features over others (for example brightness over lightness). The reasons for this lay between the kind of grey scale technically available and the kind of information used in the construction of 3-D scenes. With the invention of photography, photomechanical reproductions, and new printing solutions, artists had at their disposal a continuous grey scale that greatly reduces the constraints of the indeterminacy principle.
Infants' Discrimination of Faces by Using Biological Motion Cues
Authors: Spencer Janine , O'Brien Justin , Johnston Alan , Hill Harold
Published: January 2006

We report two experiments in which we used animated averaged faces to examine infants' ability to perceive and discriminate facial motion. The faces were generated by using the motion recorded from the faces of volunteers while they spoke. We tested infants aged 4–8 months to assess their ability to discriminate facial motion sequences (condition 1) and discriminate the faces of individuals (condition 2). Infants were habituated to one sequence with the motion of one actor speaking one phrase. Following habituation, infants were presented with the same sequence together with motion from a different actor (condition 1), or a new sequence from the same actor coupled with a new sequence from a new actor (condition 2). Infants demonstrated a significant preference for the novel actor in both experiments. These findings suggest that infants can not only discriminate complex and subtle biological motion cues but also detect invariants in such displays.