The Present State and Future Tasks in the Theory and Method of an Evaluation of the Natural Environment and Resources

The needs of optimal resource development policy in the Soviet Union have given rise to a new interdisciplinary research discipline concerned with the evaluation of the physical environment and natural resources. Evaluations are made of particular environments or resources or an integrated natural complex as a whole (the “object” of the evaluation) from the point of view of particular elements of society or society as a whole (the “subject” of the evaluation). Evaluations may be in terms of social utility, economic cost, technological feasibility, or medical-biological requirements. A number of methodological problems remain to be solved in evaluative research: (1) comparability between evaluations of particular elements and of integrated environments or resource complexes, (2) commensurability of various categories of evaluation (social, economic, technological) of a particular type of environment or resource, (3) the problem of weighting individual elements in integrated evaluations; and (4) the question of converting physical measurements into evaluations on a point scale.     

The Present State of Toponymy in the USSR

A review of recent place-name research, methods, and publications in the Soviet Union by a deputy chairman of the Toponymy Commission of the Moscow Branch of the Geographical Society USSR. For a previous article on Soviet toponymy, see E. M. Murzayev, “Origin of geographic names,” Soviet Geography, Accomplishments and Tasks, American Geographical Society, 1962, pp. 254–58.     

The Present State of Medical Geography in the USSR

A review of the present state of Soviet medical geography based on an analysis of papers presented at the Second National Medical Geography Conference held in Leningrad in November, 1965. The authors, representing four departments of the Geography Faculty of Moscow University, stress geophysical and geochemical causative factors of human disease and the contributions being made by medical landscape science in relating environmental prerequisites to particular diseases.     

The Political Economy of State Subsidies in Europe

In this article, I examine the reasons behind public aid to industry in 12 European countries during the period 199–93. 1 build a model based on societal demands for producer subsidies and the wiliingness and constraints of national governments to provide them. The main contribution of this study is the attention to the institutional context within which demand for and supply of public policy takes place. Institutions not only help shape actor preferences to extract "rents" but also fundamentally condition the level and distribution of subsidies.     

The Present State of Landscape Studies

A sociologist urges increased location of industry in small towns and rural areas as part of the ultimate goal of eliminating substantial differences between town and countryside in the Soviet Union. He cites examples in which the building of industrial plants has helped raise the standard of living of rural areas and reduced the gap between the levels of industrial and farm labor.     

The Present State and Basic Problems in the Study of Migration in the USSR

A review of Soviet migration research finds that only a modest beginning has been made despite some useful results. Further progress in this area requires broader migration studies, beyond the manpower-oriented approach adopted thus far; wider use of mathematical techniques and improved research methods; improvements in the statistical data base on migration, and the coordination of Soviet migration research through the establishment of a central research center in this field.     

The Present State and Future Tasks of Physical Geography

Progress in physical geography as a separate research and teaching discipline is reviewed, and unfinished tasks for the next few years are outlined. The discipline continues to focus on the study and mapping of landscapes or geosystems as integrated areal units of the earth's physical-geographic environment. Emphasis is being placed on the use of quantitative techniques and systems theory as well as field observations, particularly at permanent field stations. New areas of application of landscape research are found to be opening up in physical planning, design engineering, evaluation and prediction.     

The Present State and Tasks of Higher Geography Education

The author discusses the teaching of geography in universities and teachers colleges of the Soviet Union, noting that the majority of graduates are being assigned to geography teaching in middle schools. He gives data on the distribution of students by day, evening, and correspondence divisions; problems in teaching methods; the organization of field practice; and the limited number of degree holders in geography.     

Environment and integration on the edge of Europe

While European integration has predominantly been addressed in terms of its common market and through questions of European identity, this article explores alternate perspectives of environment in peripheral landscapes as a practice through which European center-periphery relations are negotiated. Drawing on two case studies, namely the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and the arid regions of Almeria in southeast Spain, we highlight how these landscapes have been variously framed as explicitly European spaces through either developmental narratives or environmental activism and advocacy. We argue that European integration is realized and contested through the discursive and material transformation of landscapes. With this, we contribute to an understanding of environmentalism and the politics of the environment as instrumental in addressing broader and parallel political concerns. Combining southern and eastern European perspectives on the political geography of the environment, we show that the landscape functions as an intrinsically political arena that materializes and discursively frames the different meanings and interests of European integration at stake.     

山东新石器时代的自然环镜

山东地区新石器时代的自然环境袁有关专家学者已经进行过认真研究淤袁发表了一些很有见地的论著袁这对于推进环境考古学研究的深入进行发挥了重要的作用遥在此基础上袁笔者主要利用考古发掘所获取的环境信息袁再对该地区新石器时代渊后李文化尧北辛文化尧大汶口文化和山东龙山文化冤所处的自然环镜进行分析探讨遥一尧后李文化的自然环境后李文化因首次发掘淄博市临淄区后李遗址而得名于遥年代距今在愿缘园园耀苑缘园园年前后遥在对后李遗址的孢粉分析中发现盂袁样品均以草本植物花粉居优势袁最多可占孢粉总数的苑远窑猿耀怨员窑员豫遥在草本…     

Evaluation of the Natural Environment for Recreational Purposes

A method is proposed for evaluating environmental conditions from the point of view of recreational planning. Sets of factors are chosen separately for summer recreation and winter recreation, both from the point of view of their effect on human physiology and their significance in the actual management of recreational areas. Individual factors are graded in terms of a five-point system, with the basic factors, such as a long warm season or the presence of a warm seacoast in summer, weighted with a coefficient of 2. Each of the natural provinces of the USSR is then evaluated in terms of the combined score. Five categories of provinces are distinguished: those that are most favorable, favorable, relatively favorable, little favorable, and unfavorable for recreational planning purposes.