Trade Fairs as an Export Marketing and Research Strategy: Results from a Study of Korean Advanced Machinery Firms

Manufacturers pursuing information on potential customers in distant, dynamic markets confront myriad obstacles. To address this, many firms attend international trade fairs in order to market their products, to meet with prospective customers, and to tap into buzz related to potential international opportunities. In many ways, moreover, such exhibitions can serve as short‐term agglomerations of same‐industry activity, particularly important for producer–user interface geared towards innovation. The goal of this paper is to explore how Korean machine tool manufacturers utilise a major global trade show in Seoul to minimise the difficulties associated with accessing a global customer base, inclusive of their activity at this show geared towards innovation. Evidence from firm‐level surveys and interviews suggest that the amount of importance placed on trade fair attendance as part of a firm's internationalisation strategies is related to export growth. Additionally, a new insight generated is that firms that participate in trade shows as part of their innovation process also demonstrate higher rates of export intensity. Finally, we may be witnessing newly discovered, technology‐driven, symbiotic relationships between online portal sites, vendors, and potential customers at these trade fairs, where virtual services are nonetheless augmented by a need for a continued onsite presence at these exhibitions.     

Local Knowledge and Economic Realities Affecting Soil Erosion in the Rach Rat Catchment,Vietnam

Several parts of Binh Phuóc Province, southern Vietnam, suffer from degraded soils and vegetation as a result of both natural erosion of weak mud rocks and sandstones and intensive human activity, especially through land clearing for agriculture on unstable slopes, deforestation, and abandonment of poor farmland. The underlying cause of this land degradation has been the farming habits of migrants of varying ethnic groups who have settled in the area since 1980. The indigenous farming knowledge of these people and the role of that knowledge in soil erosion were examined by a series of household surveys. They enabled farming practices to be related to ground cover established from a 2002 Landsat 7 ETM (Enhanced Thematic Mapper), and erosion data from a series of erosion bridge measurements. A GIS (Geographical Information System) approach was piloted as a means of identifying areas vulnerable to erosion. This could then be combined with the understanding of farming practices to reveal the relative roles of farmer behaviour, crop cover, and slope and soil characteristics in the erosion process. Land use, local people's knowledge and economic realities are the main factors, as well as natural conditions, that drive this land degradation.     

Influence of meteorological conditions on the intensity and form of the urban heat island effect in Regina

This study investigates the influence of meteorological conditions on the intensity and spatial configuration of the urban heat island effect in Regina, Saskatchewan. A sample of 31 nocturnal heat island intensities measured via automobile surveys averages 3°C, with a maximum intensity reaching 7.5°C. On nights with clear skies and light winds, heat island morphology in Regina is characterized by a clearly defined cliff, plateau, and peak. Regression analysis reveals that heat island intensities are highly sensitive to changes in wind conditions, and relatively insensitive to changes in humidity and atmospheric pressure. However, when antecedent weather conditions preceding each heat island event are included in the analysis, cloud cover supersedes wind speed as a more important control on heat island intensity. Daytime and post‐sunset cloud cover explain 20 percent more variance in the ensuing nocturnal heat island intensities than do daytime and post‐sunset wind speeds. This result challenges the widely‐held notion that wind speed is a more important heat island control than sky cover. Cette étude se penche sur l'influence des conditions météorologiques sur l'intensité et la configuration spatiale de l'effet d'îlot thermique urbain à Régina, Saskatchewan. Un échantillon de 31 intensités d'îlots thermiques nocturnes prélevées par automobile atteint une moyenne de 3°C, avec une intensité maximale de 7,5°C. Par nuit claire et vent léger, la morphologie des îlots thermiques à Régina est nettement caractérisée par un courant ascentionnel, un palier et une crête. L'analyse de régression révèle que les intensités d'îlots thermiques sont très sensibles aux changements de vents coincidents, et relativement insensibles aux changements d'humidité et de pression atmosphérique. Cependant, quand les conditions atmosphériques précédant chaque effet d'îlot thermique sont prises en considération, la couverture nuageuse supplante la vitesse du vent comme contrôle majeur de l'intensité. Quand on compare couverture nuageuse et vitesse du vent pendant la journée et après le coucher du soleil, la valeur explicative de la première est de 20 pour cent supérieure à celle de la dernière en ce qui concerne la variation d'intensité dans les îlots thermiques nocturnes qui s'ensuivent. Ce résultat remet en question la ‘conviction’ que dans le contrôle des îlots thermiques, la vitesse du vent est plus importante que la couverture nuageuse.     

The Evolution of Cooperation: What's War Got to Do With It?

The three books under review reflect a recent up-swelling of interest in the cooperative and prosocial capacities of humankind. Nowak (2011) considers cooperation to be the hallmark of the human species and accounts for this remarkable capacity through multiple evolutionary mechanisms. Sahlins (2008) maintains that it is high time to throw off a horribly inaccurate and perverse view of human nature as avaricious and vicious, for it might even endanger our continued existence. Bowles and Gintis (2011) fully acknowledge the remarkable human capacity to work together and to act morally, but they presume that warfare has played a major role in the evolution of human altruism and cooperation. The veracity of this last point cannot be substantiated.     

DEATHSCAPE: MALCOLM LOWRY'S TOPOPHOBIC VIEW OF THE CITY

Intellectuals tend toward a negative view of the modern city, whereas literary works express more ambivalent feelings. The novelist Malcolm Lowry's vision of the North American city, however, is purely topophobic, and six levels of topophobia are evident. In ascending order of disquietude, cities are regarded as placeless, as sources of sensory overload, as fundamentally inorganic (the aesthetico-sensory dimension) and as symbols of evil, as predators, and ultimately as the agents of civilization, the creator of deathscapes (the symbolic dimension ).
Les intellectuels ont tendance à avoir une vision négative de la ville dans le monde moderne, tandis que les oeuvres littéraires démontrent des sentiments plus ambivalents. La vision des villes nord-américaines qu'entretient le romancier Malcolm Lowry est purement 'topophobique,' avec six niveaux de 'topophobie.' Par ordre ascendant de malaises, les villes resortent comme dépourvues de lieux, comme étant des sources de surcharge sensorielle, comme fondamentalement inorganiques (la dimension esthético-sensorielle), et comme étant des symboles de malheur, comme prédatrices, et finalement, comme agents de la civilisation créatrice de paysages de mort (la dimension symbolique).