The Geographical Peculiarities of Europe and Some Aspects of an All-European Economic Cooperation

Greater economic cooperation between the two socioeconomic systems in Europe is held to be mutually beneficial and to be favored by some of the continent's physical-geographical aspects (deeply indented coastline, easy overland transportation, resource complementarity). An area deserving priority in all-European projects is the interconnection of power systems to make possible the transmission of electricity covering peak load needs and other requirements. Such interconnections may save significant capital investment that would otherwise be required for additional generating capacity within each system. Other potential areas for all-European cooperation include the provision of east-west inland waterways, motor roads and improved rail lines. One aspect of the possible integration of transport systems would be the organization of overland container traffic between Europe and Japan (as well as Iran and Afghanistan) through the territory of the USSR.     

Some Aspects of Lower-Level Economic and Administrative Divisions of the Northern Part of Transbaykalia

The basic notion in Soviet economic regionalization that administrative divisions should correspond closely to economic regions is often ignored at the local level. The Muya area, an intermontane basin in northern Transbaykalia, is discussed as an example of an area in which an artificial administrative division hampers the resolution of economic problems of the area as a whole.     

Some Aspects of the Development and Location of Industry in the Central Asian Economic Region

Despite rapid industrialization since World War II, Central Asia is still far from exhausting its potential for industrial development based on abundant mineral resources, fuels and energy, and on the most favorable manpower supply of any of the Eastern regions of the USSR. The only limiting factor in economic development is water. In light of the region's resource situation, future development should focus on a diversified industrial expansion involving activities with limited water and metal needs (in the absence of a major regional iron and steel plant) or medium or high energy and labor requirements. This would include nonferrous metals, chemicals (except for those posing a water pollution problem) and expansion of the region's cotton-based production complex, ranging from irrigated cotton culture to finished fabrics.     

On the Relationship Between Cultural and Economic Aspects of Regional Development: Some Evidence from Germany and Britain

This paper takes up the discussion on the relationship between culture and economic development and places it in the context of one British and several German case studies whose main interest it was to demonstrate the importance of cultural aspects (in the widest sense) for understanding regional development in general and the development of the study areas in particular. Despite the growing interest in the issue during the recent past in various academic disciplines there is as yet no consistent theoretical approach to it. This paper does not venture to fill that gap, but it addresses some of the open questions by looking into the case studies. The lessons learned are mainly two-fold. Firstly, the findings emphasize the general importance of the socio-cultural dimension for understanding regional development. Secondly, not least because of the empirical slant of the studies a closer link between the different theoretical approaches would seem very desirable.     

Geographical Aspects of Urbanization

From the geographical point of view, urbanization is treated as a result of economic development as it affects the settlement through the spatial structure of the economy. The spatial structure of the economy and the settlement patterns determine the character of land use in particular physical environments. The urbanization process gives rise to a new, urbanized environment, involving both settlement forms and an altered physical environment. Geographers can make a contribution in urbanization research by focusing on three groups of questions: (1) an analysis of the spatially expressed factors of urbanization to gain an understanding of the mechanism by which an urbanized environment is created; (2) study of settlement and the physical environment as they change in the course of urbanization; (3) investigation of the impact of urbanization on man in terms of mobility, employment, education, etc. Separate indicators need to be developed for each group of questions, crowned ultimately by an integral, synthetic indicator (or indicators) that would offer a generalized characterization of the urbanization process as a whole.     

Geographical Aspects of Public Health

A review of Soviet research in medical geography stresses that in addition to study of the geography of disease and its causes of propagation, Soviet medical geographers are also concerned with identifying the natural factors that have a beneficial effect on the health of man. Five current research trends are outlined. For previous material on medical geography, see Soviet Geography, October 1962.     

Geographical Aspects of Biological Productivity

Annual plant production and total plant mass are calculated for 106 types of soil and plant formations of the world, grouped in turn by major thermal belts and bioclimatic regions (humid, semiarid, arid) within these thermal belts. Aggregate magnitudes of annual growth and total plant mass by thermal belts and their bioclimatic regions follow a sequence of alternating high values in humid regions and low values in arid regions that bears a similarity to the periodic law of geographical zonality. Maximum plant production is associated with the Tropical belt, where combinations of heat and moisture favor maximum intensity of the physical-geographic process. A related paper, by Bazilevich and Rodin, appeared in Soviet Geography, January 1971.     

色诺芬史学二题

古希腊历史学家色诺芬所著《希腊史》是希腊城邦危机时代的产物。这样的历史背景在很大程度上决定了作者对历史事实的取舍以及对历史人物的评价。色诺芬对西方古典史学的贡献主要有:完成了修昔底德的未竟之作,公元前5世纪末到公元前4世纪中期希腊史的主要史料,主要是有赖于色诺芬的记载而流传下来;对经济史、政治史、战争史、社会生活史等均有独到的分析和阐述;在史书编撰体例方面,特别是对于传记体史书,具有开创性贡献;对西方历史文学及军事文学也有重要贡献。当然,色诺芬史学也确有其不足和局限性。     

Structural Aspects of Medieval Timber Bridges

THIS ARTICLE compares our very fragmentary knowledge of large medieval timber bridges with the respectable body of evidence now available, and here summarized, about bridges at castles and moated sites, which, it is suggested, may be relevant to larger bridges. Nearly all the moat-bridges, from the late nth to the 16th centuries, are structurally similar in that their posts are not earth-fast but tenoned into transverse sole-plates, but the enduring type, with lateral braces, or shores, symmetrically disposed, does not appear until the ijth century. Parallel with these are various specialized forms which are stabilized by additional, longitudinal plates. In the British Isles earth-fast piles were of very limited use in minor bridges but may have become usual in major bridges in the late middle ages.     

Some Aspects of the Influence of Scientific and Technical Progress on the Formation of Economic Regions (with particular reference to the United States)

The concentration of research and development in the San Francisco Bay area is found to have attracted related aerospace and electronics industries, thus giving rise to a new type of economic region focused on research activities. The atomic and aerospace industry of New Mexico arose because of the need of having manufacturing facilities near testing grounds and missile ranges in desert areas, but is virtually unrelated to the rest of the New Mexico economy. Industries not dominated by any particular locational factor are being attracted to the dry subtropics of the United States, where the provision of water supplies and refrigeration and air-conditioning produces attractive living conditions for a skilled labor force. Advances in computer technology and electrical communications facilitate centralized industrial management and thus affect plant location.