An Analysis of Factors Determining the Level of Natural-Gas Extraction in the North of Tyumen' Oblast

The absence of a long-term program of development of the Tyumen' gas fields is noted, and more intensive development is urged on the following grounds: the availability of large predicted reserves and the relatively low cost of proving these reserves compared with the cost of geological exploration in the deeper gas fields of European Russia; the need for gas as a fuel and chemical raw material in the Siberian economy; prospects of reducing steel-pipe, labor and investment requirements for development of the gas industry as a result of automation and technical progress. An annual output level of one trillion cubic meters a year is urged. The required investment is estimated at 50 billion, rubles. In view of predicted higher gas prices (15 to 20 rubles per 1000 cubic meters) and low operating costs (3.4 rubles), the annual return on investment at a trillion-cubic-meter production level would be about 13 billion rubles.     

Medical-Geography Aspects of the Design of the Ust'-Ilimsk Industrial Node

The medical geography of the natural environment of the Ust'-Ilimsk hydroelectric station is examined and recommendations are made to lessen environmental impact on public health. The recommendations call for careful clearing of the bed of the reservoir before it is filled, separation of the residential areas of the new city from the proposed large timber-processing complex, provision of recreational zones on the shores of the future reservoir, and the provision of iodized salt and fluoridation of water to counteract iodine and fluorine deficiencies in the environment. Judging from the experience of Bratsk, to the south of Ust'-Ilimsk, annual losses due to sickness among workers may range around 73,000 rubles per 100 workers, including 8,000 rubles' sick pay, 5,000 rubles for treatment, and 60,000 rubles' shortfall in production.     

Marginal Cost Estimates of the Water Resources of the USSR

A water-management regionalization and determination of marginal cost estimates of water resources over the next three decades (to about 2000) outlines a set of priorities for the construction of dams and interbasin diversion projects. The predicted water requirements are based on the assumption that irrigation needs will increase at a moderate rate (30 million hectares by the end of the forecast period). The resulting marginal cost estimates are expected to affect long-term plans for the location of water-intensive activities (irrigation, water transport, thermal power generation, chemicals, pulp and paper) for which water costs may represent 40 to 50 percent of the total cost difference between alternate locations.     

Geographical Problems in the Iron and Steel Industry of the USSR

Technological advances in the Soviet iron and steel industry are producing changes in the locational pattern of the industry. The increasing concentration of production in large iron and steel plants requires the use of large iron-mining establishments of the order of 30 million tons of crude ore. Iron and steel plants were once viewed in the Soviet Union as oriented toward the market of a particular economic region. But the growing plant capacity and a trend toward specialization in particular types of finished products tend to expand the marketing zone of individual plants far beyond the boundaries of single economic regions. Future planning of the industry is in terms of five basic iron and steel zones: Central Russia, Urals, South, Siberia and Kazakhstan, of which the Urals and the South are fully integrated and the three others are in varying stages of formation. The declining share of coke in the blast-furnace charge tends to shift the locational pattern increasingly toward iron-ore sources, and this accounts to a certain extend for the gradual shift of iron and steel capacity toward Central Russia, with its ore reserves of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly.     

High-Tech Firms’ Location Considerations within the Metropolitan Regions and the Impact of Their Development Stages

The determinants of firms' location choice have changed over time, in particular in the high-tech industry. Few studies that investigate the factors that influence firms' location decision distinguish between firms in their early stages of life cycle and more established high-tech firms. This study identifies the considerations prioritized by high-tech firms in both categories in the process of choosing a location within a metropolitan region for establishing or relocating their business. The intra-metropolitan competition for high-tech plants was examined using data gathered through field surveys of managers of such firms in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan region. The findings shed light on the importance ascribed to internal and external factors in the decision on location made by the firms' managers.     

Management cultures and regional development: High performance management and the location of new manufacturing plants

In-depth case studies of new manufacturing plants are used to motivate a new business location model that incorporates management practices and cultures as location factors. This model is tested using US data on the location of new manufacturing plants. It is found that plants that adopt high performance management practices and cultures rely on different criteria when making their location decisions from those plants that are managed in more traditional ways. Omitting management culture from studies of business location may result in biased estimates of the importance of various traditional location factors. By demonstrating that location decisions are differentiated according to the management practices of firms, it is argued that regional development planning should pay more attention to specific business characteristics and that regional development policy include programmes that strengthen complementarities between management practices and the regional economic environment.     

Location Determinants of New Foreign-Owned Manufacturing Plants

In this paper we examine the county-level pattern of new foreign-owned manufacturing plants in the United States from 1989 through 1994. We construct a model to produce insights into the differences in the location of these plants among Bureau of Economic Analysis regions, as well as between rural and urban counties. Higher levels of economic size, educational attainment, the existing manufacturing base, and transportation infrastructure are found to be associated with larger numbers of new foreign-owned plants. Meanwhile, higher levels of taxes and labor-intensiveness are found to be associated with smaller numbers of new plants. Comparing regions, we find that the main advantages of the Southeast region stem from a relatively high manufacturing base and relatively low taxes. Comparing urban with rural counties, we find that urban counties possess more favorable average values for nearly all the explanatory variables.     

IS PRODUCTIVITY HIGHER IN BRITISH CITIES?*

ABSTRACT This paper examines the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) using a GB plant‐level data set. The main findings relate to whether spatial spillovers and “place” effects are important: plants located in cities generally perform better than plants in the same region outside of these cities; but with the exception of Bristol, no city has significantly higher TFP levels than the South East. This suggests that spatial externalities associated with city location are not as important as the benefits of being situated in the South East region.     

A Statistical Method for Analyzing the Relative Location of Points in a Bounded Region

This paper develops a statistical method for analyzing the relative location of points in a bounded region. The location of points in relation to the center of the region in which they are located is discussed. Four spatial objects called reference objects are defined to represent the relative location: (1) the boundary, (2) skeleton, (3) nucleus, and (4) global center. The distribution of distance between points and a reference object yields a cumulative distribution function (CDF). Comparison of CDFs for a reference object allows us to analyze whether the points tend to be located close to the reference object or, for instance, whether the points are clustered around the center of the region. The significance of the CDF is statistically tested by Monte Carlo simulation. The method proposed is applied to the distribution of restaurants in retail clusters.     

我国大学生就业城市选择意愿及其影响因素分析

引导大学生合理的就业流动是促进各类城市协调发展的有效途径。本文以不同类型的就业城市为研究对象,通过全国7个城市的1600余份调查问卷,利用多项Logit模型分析了我国大学生就业城市的选择意愿及影响因素。研究表明,大学生倾向以自身生源地为界限对劳动市场的地域进行二元划分,职业发展机遇和家庭因素在就业地的选择中最为重要,地区特质和自然生态环境的影响最弱,生源地和个人观念都与就业地的选择显著相关。在此基础上提出引导大学生就业流动的政策建议。     

THE LOCATION OF METAL-INTENSIVE AND LABOR-INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES IN THE EASTERN REGIONS

The author argues against the widespread view (stated in several articles in Soviet Geography) that labor-intensive industries should be kept out of Siberia because of the shortage of labor resources in that region. Taking the specific example of labor-intensive machinery industry such as instrument-making, as opposed to steel-intensive industry, he points out that labor-intensive plants, by virtue of their smaller size, usually have smaller labor requirements than large heavy-machinery manufacturing plants. Moreover, he argues, location must not be based on total population or total labor resources of a region, but on the availability of so-called free (nonemployed) labor resources, which consist largely of women and of young people just entering upon a career. This category of labor resources happens to be greater in the eastern regions than in the western regions of the Soviet Union. In fact, one reason for the net out-migration from Siberia, according to the author, is that second and third members of households find it difficult to obtain jobs in a regional economy that is largely oriented toward male employment (in extractive industry, timber felling, etc.). The introduction of labor-intensive industries into existing Siberian industrial complexes would thus help provide employment to other household members and eliminate one reason for out-migration.     

The Location of the Cement Industry of Eastern Siberia Within the Long-Term Future

The present location of the East Siberian cement industry is irrational because it does not correspond to the location of its markets, depends heavily on raw-material hauls from other parts of the country, and does not supply the cement types needed within the East Siberian region. Because of a shortage of natural cement materials within the region, it is proposed that cement production be based on the utilization of by-products of other industries, such as alumina production.     

Extensions to the Hub Location Problem: Formulations and Numerical Examples

Although a tremendous amount of analytical research is being conducted on the hub location problem, few models exist that extend the number of characteristics found in actual hub-and-spoke networks. Four extensions are presented in this paper: (1) a capacitated network model; (2) a minimum threshold model; (3) a model that endogenously determines the number of open hubs for the network; and (4) a model that incorporates a flow-dependent cost function for the spokes as well as the interhub links. Both the capacitated and the minimum threshold models drop the assumption of a completely interconnected network commonly found in hub location models. Numerical results show that total network costs are often minimized by closing a few interhub links. The third extension is the first known hub location model to determine the optimal number of hubs based on the needs of the network. In this model, the number of open hubs depends on the distribution of flows in the network and how cost effectively the flows can be moved across the network. Previous models that endogenously determined the number of open hubs utilized a fixed cost for establishing each hub in order to limit the number of hubs in the network. The final extension recognizes the potential of all links to amalgamate flows and includes a separate flow-dependent cost function for the spokes in addition to the one for the interhub links. Numerical results are shown for all four models.     

LOCATIONAL SIGNALING AND AGGLOMERATION

Agglomeration can be caused by asymmetric information and a locational signaling effect: The location choice of workers signals their productivity to potential employers. The cost of a signal is the cost of housing at that location. When workers' marginal willingness to pay for housing is negatively correlated with their productivity, only the core‐periphery (partially stratified) equilibria are stable. When workers' marginal willingness to pay for housing and their productivity are positively correlated, there is no core‐periphery equilibrium. The urban wage premium is explained when there is a core‐periphery equilibrium. Furthermore, location can at best be an approximate rather than a precise sieve for high‐skill workers.     

Criteria for Determining an Engineering—Geographic Boundary of the North of the USSR

Reductions of the cost increments of northern development depend to a large extent on the manufacture of machines and equipment with northern specifications designed for operation under low temperatures. Existing definitions of the northern regions of the USSR are not suitable for this purpose. An engineering-geographic regionalization of the USSR is therefore proposed, defining the area of application of specially designed northern machines on the basis of a harshness scale that relates climatic harshness to its effect on machines. The key threshold values on this harshness scale are 4.6, above which ordinary structural steel loses strength and is subject to harshness-related ruptures; 5.3, above which ordinary structural steel becomes brittle and is affected by a fifty-fold increase of ruptures; and 7.9, above which ordinary steel can no longer perform.     

Exploring the Source of the Yarlung Zangbo River

The hydro energy reserves of the Yarlung Zangbo River stand at 113.47 million square meters, ranking second in China and next only to the Yangtze River. The Yarlung Zangbo River Valley is the richest region of Tibet, with its upper, middle and lower reaches running through the entire Tibetan region. Over 20 rivers converge along the upper reaches. The birthplace of the Yarlung Zangbo River is the Gyima Yangzoin Glacier within Zongba County of the Shigatse region. The source arises fro…     

Errors Caused by Rounded Data in Two Simple Facility Location Problems

As a rule, data to be used in locational analysis are either rounded up or rounded down. Therefore, error is incurred if such location data are used. The objective of this paper is to examine location error and cost error due to rounding in unweighted minisum and minimax problems in one-dimensional continuous space. Several conclusions on rounding effects are obtained by examining the respective mean-squared errors. First, rounding tends to exert more serious influence on the minisum problem than on the minimax problem. Second, in both location problems, the location error shows a pattern that is the inverse of that of the cost error.     

Soil fertility and slope processes in the Western Cumberland Escarpment of Kentucky: influences on the development of horticulture in the Eastern Woodlands

The archaeological record of dry rockshelters in the Red River Valley of eastern Kentucky contains botanical remains of several weedy annual seed-bearing plants that point to the independent development of agriculture during the Late Archaic and Early Woodland Period. The objective of this study is to gather quantitative data through the chemical and physical analysis of soils collected within a valley transect to gain insights into landscape processes and soil fertility that may have played a role in the early development of plant domestication and the location of garden plots in relation to rock shelter sites in the upper Cumberland Plateau region of eastern Kentucky. Soils on upland benches formed in limestones have soil fertility values that are comparable to fertile floodplain soils. Upslope outcrops of calcareous bedrock are contributing basic cations to these bench soils. Additionally, in comparison to other landscape positions these upland soils have high levels of organic carbon, available P and greater C:N ratios. Soil morphology, radiocarbon dates, and archaeological evidence indicate that many of the numerous earthflows and debris flows within the region are Early to Middle Holocene in age. These slides were likely generated by Mid-Holocene climatic shifts in which the frequency and intensity of summer precipitation increased across the southeastern United States. These slope failures may have contributed to the development of plant domestication by creating forest canopy gaps and disturbed soils in which weedy plants thrived.     

Considerations on the provenance determination of plant ash glasses using strontium isotopes

Strontium isotopic analysis has been proposed as a suitable method to determine the primary production location of ancient plant ash glasses. The technique is based upon the assumption that Sr enters this glass type with the plant ash used as a flux material, and that the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of the resulting glass reflects the geological provenance of that flux. In such case, the bulk Sr isotopic composition of the bedrock should be inherited unchanged in the plants growing on that bedrock. Different types of plant ash glasses have been shown to have widely differing ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr compositions. In this study, the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr composition of several plant species growing on different bedrock types is measured, and compared to the bulk Sr isotopic composition and petrology of that bedrock. The paper shows that the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of these plants is a function not only, or even mostly, of the local geology, but also of the Sr isotopic composition of the total water consumed by that plant. This is highly likely to be both plant species dependent and dependent on the small-scale hydrology of the area immediately surrounding the plant. In this way, no definite relation between the isotopic composition of a geological outcrop and the plants growing on this bedrock can be inferred. Hence, the isotopic composition of a plant ash made from such plants is uncertain and moreover species dependent. Though groups of plant ash glasses can certainly be compared in time and space using Sr isotopes, it may prove difficult to ascertain a plant ash glass type to a specific geographical-geological region.     

The impact of Russian food security policy on the performance of the food system

Abstract

Food security has guided Russia’s food policy since 2010. The article examines the impact of food security policy on the food system. The Russian model of food security combines government intervention in the form of assistance for domestic production while simultaneously restricting market access. Food security does not appear to have a deleterious impact on the food system. We measure impact on four dimensions. Financial support for agriculture continues to increase in nominal rubles. In food production, the beef and dairy branches continue to lag, but increased grain production has made Russia a global leader in grain exports. Average per capita food consumption improved, although the poor consume much less, and the decline of the ruble affects the way Russians shop. The largest impact of food security has been on food trade. Food security policy has brought food to the forefront as an instrument of foreign policy. Food trade is politicized, witnessed by the food embargo against the West and food import bans against Turkey and Ukraine.