TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL CASE FOR HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION     

I. A. Crawford 《Earth, Moon, and Planets》2004,94(3-4):245-266

I will argue that an ambitious programme of human space exploration, involving a return to the Moon, and eventually human missions to Mars, will add greatly to human knowledge. Gathering such knowledge is the primary aim of science, but science’s compartmentalisation into isolated academic disciplines tends to obscure the overall strength of the scientific case. Any consideration of the scientific arguments for human space exploration must therefore take a holistic view, and integrate the potential benefits over the entire spectrum of human knowledge. Moreover, science is only one thread in a much larger overall case for human space exploration. Other threads include economic, industrial, educational, geopolitical and cultural benefits. Any responsibly formulated public space policy must weigh all of these factors before deciding whether or not an investment in human space activities is scientifically and socially desirable.  相似文献   

Monitoring of percolation water to discriminate surficial inputs in a karst aquifer     

S. Covelli  F. Cucchi  R. Mosca 《Environmental Geology》1998,36(3-4):296-304

 A long-term study on the chemistry of percolating waters in a very large touristic karst cave (Grotta Gigante, northern Italy) was carried out in order to define recharge zones, flowpaths, and possible anthropogenic contamination from the neighboring area. On the basis of a multivaried analysis of the chemical parameters, a discrimination of the dripping points was attempted. Percolation waters whose recharge zone is in the northernmost sector of the cave appeared permanently affected by the anthropic settlements and agricultural activity on the ground surface. Received: 28 April 1997 · Accepted: 3 February 1998  相似文献   

Demographic and Economic Changes in Remote Australia     

Bernice Kotey 《The Australian geographer》2015,46(2):183-201

Varied distribution of resources, populations and Indigenous people result in significant socio-economic differences among statistical local areas (SLAs) in remote Australia. These differences indicate that the experience of change at the height of the resources boom will differ among SLAs in the region. Using hierarchical cluster analysis with Ward's minimum variance method, four socio-economic clusters were identified among the 197 SLAs in the region. The first was the most disadvantaged, with limited resources and human capital and the highest percentage of Indigenous people. The other three clusters improved in sequence, with the fourth having the most resources with the highest employment rate and income but least number of Indigenous people. Multivariate analysis of variance with main and interaction effects showed changes in demographics, industry structure, human capital and income over the period of investigation for the region as a whole and differences in the extent of these changes among the clusters. Policy interventions in the region are suggested for each group to match its specific needs.  相似文献   

Social capital and community preparation for urban flooding in China     

《Applied geography (Sevenoaks, England)》2015

Social capital can enhance community resilience to environmental change. Productive and trusted relations among social actors and effectual social norms can help local residents share resources, information and risks. The main objective of our study is to understand the ways in which social attributes and risk considerations influence adoption of resilient economic measures by individuals for reducing potential losses due to catastrophic rainstorm and flooding. This article provides evidence from China on how social capital contributes to anticipatory adaptation to environmental change. The inquiry is based on structured interviews with local residents of Tianjin, a flood-prone port city in China, and a standard regression analysis. Findings show that the intention to make preparation increases with the levels of social expectation, social relationship, and institutional trust. Perceived risk and damage experience, however, have no significant impacts. This suggests that building social capacity and trust will be more effective in enhancing community resilience than merely increasing awareness of hazard risks. We call for greater efforts on strengthening the capacity of formal and informal communal institutions. The structural changes required, however, are challenging.  相似文献   

Mediterranean cities under fire. A critical approach to the wildland–urban interface     

《Applied geography (Sevenoaks, England)》2015

Wildfires are widely reviewed as key inputs to Mediterranean ecosystems. However, research is often flawed by major biases. (1) The approach adopted by most planners focusing on forest fires dismisses the human dimension of fire as a component of agricultural production systems. (2) The Wildland–Urban Interface (WUI) concept postulates that cities and wildlands/wildfires are, and should remain, worlds apart, a statement whose truth is increasingly questioned by recent disastrous “urban wildfires”. (3) The Mediterranean Basin as a fire-prone area is all the more fantasized, as it is almost never studied as a whole.The present paper takes a critical view of city–wildland/wildfire interrelationships through a large-scale study of the Mediterranean Basin based on MODIS MCD12Q1 (Land Cover Type) and MCD45A1 (Burned Area Product) data collected between 2001 and 2013. The Mediterranean is an ideal place to investigate, as its human-dominated and urbanized landscapes are known to be extremely vulnerable to fire hazards. Data processing reveals that (wild)fires and cities maintain indissoluble ties, as if both elements could not be considered mutually exclusive on a geographical basis. Urban sprawl, reduced rural autonomies, changes in forest covers, old agricultural practices, and military conflicts provide the framework for an extended mitigation process challenging the WUI concept as a space divider.  相似文献   

基于省会城市的中国体验性网络团购发展的空间格局与空间错位   总被引：6，自引：1，他引：5  

史坤博  杨永春  任强  刘润  杨庆楠  赵蕊 《地理科学进展》2015,34(6)

体验性网络团购是一种消费者需要到店才能完成消费的特殊网络购物形式,因其服务范围的空间局限性,正在对消费地理格局产生不可忽视的影响。借助360团购导航网站,以中国30个省会城市(含直辖市)为研究对象,采用综合规模指数、发展水平指数、集中化指数、空间错位指数等指标,对中国体验性网络团购发展的空间格局与空间错位特征进行了实证研究。结果表明:1团购市场发展规模在中国省会城市的空间分配极不均衡,主要受东部发达城市的带动作用,同时也受西部地区部分内在增长极城市的驱动影响;2中国省会城市团购市场的发展主要处于"小规模—低水平"和"大规模—高水平"的两极化状态;3城市的经济发展水平是团购市场规模扩张的根本动力,城市的网络零售市场消费潜力规模以及互联网基础设施规模、互联网用户规模和发展水平也对团购市场规模有明显的驱动作用;4中国省会城市团购市场的发展规模在空间上与消费者的需求潜力的错位程度较低,与购买能力错位现象较明显,空间错位主要是由部分城市的团购市场规模发展过大或过小造成的。  相似文献   

Right to food,right to mine? Competing human rights claims in Bangladesh     

《Geoforum》2015

The right to food is increasingly evoked by a range of actors, but there is not sufficient critical analysis of distinct interpretations of what this right means in practice. Through examination of a mineral extraction project with agricultural implications, this article explores diverse human rights narratives and illuminates associated corporate efforts to minimize recognition of food as a fundamental right. A British mining company proposes the Phulbari open pit coal mine in an agriculturally important region of Bangladesh. Highly contested by affected populations, clashes in 2006 between the police and protestors turned deadly in the area. In February 2012, a group of UN Special Rapporteurs cautioned the Government of Bangladesh regarding human rights violations associated with the planned mine. They warned that the project would displace hundreds of thousands of people, while destroying fertile agricultural land. In contrast, an ongoing publicity campaign by the corporation attempts to promote their intervention as a positive step, fully compliant with international human rights and corporate social responsibility standards. Taking this case as an exemplar, the article illuminates the pursuit of mining profit and the distinct use of human rights narratives by corporations and UN Special Rapporteurs. These diverse actors represent the layering of voices weighing in on mineral extraction and associated right to food concerns. Collectively, these layered narratives represent a new terrain for the promotion and contestation of mining and highlight the need to scrutinize mining practices in light of social responsibility and human rights claims being voluntary and self-regulated.  相似文献   

Networking,context and firm-level innovation: Cooperation through the regional filter in Norway     

《Geoforum》2015

The paper assesses the role for innovation of one aspect which has been generally overlooked by evolutionary economic geography: context. It analyses how context shapes the impact of collaboration on firm-level innovation for 1604 firms located in the five largest city regions of Norway. Specifically, the analysis shows how the benefits to firms of collaborating within regional, national, and international innovation networks are affected by the knowledge endowments of the region within which the firm is located. Using a logit regression analysis, we find, first, that only national and international networking have a significant positive impact on the likelihood of innovation (the former only for process innovation), whereas the regional knowledge endowments have no direct effect. Second, regional cooperation is particularly effective in regions with high investments in R&D, whereas international cooperation is important in regions with an educated workforce – and regional and national collaboration may be ineffective in such cases. We conclude that, in the case of Norway, context is essential in determining the capacity of firms to set up networks and innovate. Regions with an educated workforce can use the resulting absorptive capacity to successfully assimilate knowledge being diffused through global pipelines from faraway places. However, this absorptive capacity is likely to be heavily filtered if regional firms mainly rely on internal connections within Norway.  相似文献   

The fisherly imagination: The promise of geographical approaches to marine management     

《Geoforum》2015

The management of the sea has increased exponentially in the last half-century, and different academic disciplines have been vital in shaping this management. Human geography, despite its explicit focus on the human–environment nexus, has so far had little impact on human relations with the sea. Based on empirical research conducted in England and Scotland, we argue that human geography is uniquely placed to offer effective solutions to marine resource management problems, and that geographers have the potential to offer key insights into how human populations can best interact with the living seas. Three of the most important current scholarly ‘imaginations’ of the sea, and the policies they inform (economics and market-based management, conservation biology and area based protection, and anthropology and community management), are outlined. A potential ‘geographical imagination’ of the sea, drawing on key themes in contemporary scholarship is then presented, and grounded in empirical research. It is argued that human–ocean relations should be a key feature of geographical research agendas.  相似文献   

中国环境工程地质的发展现状与未来     

刘玉海  陈志新 《地球科学与环境学报》1993,(4)

本文对我国环境工程地质的发展简况、研究现状和末来所面临的问题等进行了回顾、概括和展望,指出我国环境工程地质问题日趋复杂。从防御和保护环境出发,我国未来的环境地质问题将以沿海地区、长江中下游沿江地带和内陆大中城市地区为重点。建立经济、社会和环境协调发展的环境工程地质的科学体系已成为当务之急。  相似文献