2011-09-12
Risto Laulajainen
Novel movement data are used to chart worldwide mineral oil product shipments by Handysize (15,000–59,999 dwt) and larger (60,000+ dwt) tankers. The data are from 2004 which allows comparisons with earlier studies about crude oil shipments. Theory about ship movements and attached freight rates (RP Rule) gets indirect support. Non-existence of global data below the Handysize enforces the use of fragmentary data from a refinery company and a world-class port. Both data sets are believed to be representative for the purposes used. Export shipments of the refinery company reveal a linear non-logarithmic distance function for vessel classes in the 2,000–67,000 dwt range. The function is practically identical with oil product exports from the said port. The thinking is then extended to larger vessel sizes and crude oil cargoes, the principle of fungibility.
2011-09-12
Ulf Wiberg, Tommy Lind
Employment options are forming an essential part of living conditions for individuals and households. In this paper we present how people in Sweden perceive current and future job options. The empirical case is the northern half of the Swedish territory, which is divided into four counties. The analysis is based on data from a questionnaire which was distributed to 4 000 inhabitants aged 15-85 years during October 2008 - January 2009. The ANOTA method is used as analytical instrument. T wo categories of determinants behind attitudes to job options in general at the local labor market have been chosen. The first category includes a set of personal attributes, while the second category includes a set of locational characteristics. Further is analyzed how the respondents perceived the specific role of manufacturing industry, service industry and R&D for the development in their county. Also in this part the two categories of determinants are used. The analysis reveals a rather widely spread anxiety about both current and future provision of job options. The most satisfied and optimistic respondents were young, male and high income earners living in coastal municipal with a low unemployment level. There were also some striking differences in views among sub groups on the role of manufacturing industry, service industry and R&D. The biggest contrasts were between manufacturing industry and R&D. The highest share of respondents who regarded manufacturing industry as very important was found among men, over 30 years, with a low education and living in municipalities with a high unemployment level. The highest share of respondents who regarded R&D as very important was found among women, younger than 30 years, highly educated and living in coastal municipalities with a low unemployment level.
2010-11-24
Tapio Suominen, Harri Tolvanen, Risto Kalliola
Normal 0 21 false false false FI X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } --> <! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} --> The Archipelago Sea in the Northern Baltic Sea has a complex water quality regime. The region consists of islands and underwater thresholds that separate interconnected sub-basins, where the waters from the adjacent sea areas and discharges from the mainland are mixed. Thus, the water properties in the region are exceptionally varying by season and location. We studied the seasonal developments of five surface-layer water variables – temperature, salinity, Secchi depth, chlorophyll and acidity – and the persistence of their geographical patterns in a network of 20 sampling stations in the eastern part of the Archipelago Sea during a period from May to October in 2007. Furthermore, the inter-annual persistence of the late summer observations of three of these variables were analysed within the same network. Although preconceptions about the general gradation patterns from the mainland towards the open sea were found realistic, we also identified geographically divergent seasonal developments and found out that the inter-annual persistence of the studied three variables were not geographically as strong as expected.
2010-11-24
Pekka Kauppila
One of the most important factors for the site selection of a second home is the space-time dimension. For example, the popularity of second home tourism in the hinterland of population centres is based on the short distance between second homes and the permanent residence of second home owners. In the case of peripheral resorts, however, the main reason for a large number of second homes is the attractiveness of the area associated with a high level of touristic elements. The study examines the municipalities of residence of the second home owners in four large resorts – Levi, Ruka, Saariselkä and Ylläs – in northern Finland. After analysing the geographical distribution of the owners with maps and diagrams the aim of the paper is to present a distance model for the resorts located in a northern periphery from the viewpoint of the regions of destination. This perspective is important in assessing the overall attractiveness of the resorts as a second home tourism environment. Generally speaking, the model resembles a U-letter. In this respect, the resorts have three zones – day trip, weekend and vacation – and each of them has their own characteristics based on the number of population (potential owners), land ownership, regional structure and accessibility.
2010-11-10
Stanley D Brunn, Lomme Devriendt, Andrew Boulton, Ben Derudder, Frank Witlox
<! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} --> Geographers have a long tradition of classifying cities using a number of criteria. Population size, industrial production, capital city functions, airline connections, sites of sporting events and major headquarters and banks are among them. While these studies are useful in looking at cities in an economy and population at a given point of time, they are less useful in assessing rapidly occurring changes within a regional or global system. Our research represents a new approach to classify cities and urban systems; we use the volume and networks/linkages or flows associated with electronic Information or “Knowledge worlds.” We argue that in order to understand more about cities and their relative positions within the current globalized Information World, we need to study not only tangible informational infrastructures and their associated material flows between places, but also the cyberspaces of cities in relation to digital information. We illustrate our approach by demonstrating a means of ranking European cities in respect of two topical current events global in their scope: the global financial crisis and the global climate change. We conclude by outlining an agenda for further work on hyperlink-based informational city rankings.
2010-11-10
Päivi Kymäläinen, Paulina Nordström
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Temporarity has a significant role in today’s urban spaces and peoples’ experiences of them. The city is often understood through stable material structures, while less attention is paid to such aspects of urban space that are there only for limited time. Such are markets, events, manifestations and construction sites, for instance. Experiences of momentarity may be related to these kinds of elements of the city, but equally to personal feelings of not belonging to the city. In this paper we discuss, firstly, temporary geographies and their importance in today’s urban studies. Debates on relational spaces and moving geographies have directed attention towards the temporary aspects of urban spaces. Temporarity itself has mostly been discussed in relation to urban planning while less attention has been paid to other aspects of everyday life. Secondly, the theoretical aspects of temporary geographies will in this paper be illustrated with the empirical material that was collected among young asylum seekers in the City of Turku in Finland in 2008–2009 . The asylum seekers were interviewed and they kept photo diaries about their urban experiences. The material tells about the feelings of momentarity in urban space as the asylum seekers’ uses of the city were coloured by uncertainty while they were waiting for the decision about a permission to stay in the country.
2010-11-10
Erika Anna Knobblock, Örjan Pettersson
Normal 0 21 false false false FI ZH-CN X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} --> Employment in northern Sweden has in the past been largely dependent on natural resources. Shifting demands and price fluctuations on raw materials has caused boom periods as well as times of crises in local communities. During the first decade of the 21st century, increasing global demand for minerals resulted in substantial investments in the Swedish mining industry. The purpose of this article is to assess the importance of mining for employment in the county of Västerbotten, northern Sweden, by focusing on the time period after 1990. Mining employment constitute merely a small part of all employment in the study area, due to a restructuring process that started in the 1960s. However, results show that mining employment has increased slightly, especially after 2002. Global demand for minerals, related technology and services make it reasonable to believe that this change will have a deeper significance for employment opportunities in the study area Västerbotten. Structural change and restructuring in mining generate new business opportunities in subcontracting, consultancy, equipment production etc, but also new risks. Consequently, it is important to make strategic decisions on how to make use of the development in the local mining industry in order to stimulate long-term regional employment growth.
2010-11-10
Anne Buttimer
Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The Altai region of Siberia has held magnetic appeal for explorers and scientists down the centuries. Two of these explorers, Alexander von Humboldt (1769−1859) and Johannes Gabriel Granö (1882−1956), were especially gifted in yielding both geo-scientific and geo-poetic accounts of their surveys, Granö especially evoking a “geo-poetics” of the Altai, possibly inspired by Humboldt’s American journeys. Though their career trajectories spanned very different periods and circumstances, these two scholars have bequeathed legacies of enduring value − conceptually and substantively − in bridging the worlds of science and humanities and revealing innovative insight into interactions of society and environment. As Humboldt eventually based the principles of his Cosmos on travels made earlier in life, so too Granö would later build on the experiences in Altai to develop his major theoretical work, Reine Geographie (1929). This paper describes the journeys through Altai of Humboldt and Granö, and some discursive strategies used by both writers in yielding dynamic pictures of mountain landscapes and ways of life.
2010-11-10
Elga Apsite, Anda Bakute, Liga Kurpniece, Inese Pallo
This study deals with future climate change impacts on the runoff of five Latvian river basins at the end of this century. Climate data series have been provided by the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the University of Latvia where the regional climate model Rossby Centre Atmosphere Ocean was selected for further statistical downscaling. Changes in hydrometeorological data have been analysed based upon one control run (period 1961-1990) and two future scenarios A2 and B2 runs (2071-2100). The conceptual rainfall-runoff model, the latest version of METQ2007BDOPT, was used for simulation of hydrological processes in particular river basins . Simulation results revealed that in comparison to the control period, major differences in hydrometeorological parameters in future were observed according to A2 scenario, where long-term mean air temperature will grow by 4 degrees and precipitation – by 12 %, while mean annual river flow will decrease by 19 %. Both scenarios demonstrate changes in seasonal runoff patterns where the major part of river runoff will be generated in winter, followed by spring, autumn and summer. T he river hydrograph is going to take a different shape , where t he maximum river discharges will occur in winter instead of spring.
2009-01-31
Kerstin Potthoff
Expansion of subalpine forests and upslope shift of tree-lines are expected in temperate and boreal mountain ecosystems due to global climate change. On a local scale, climatic forces are modified by a number of controlling factors. Site history is of central interest because it impacts on the importance of air and soil temperature vs. other factors. In many mountain areas, the grazing record is an important part of the site history. This study compares the tree and ground cover of two localities having different grazing histories in the tree-line ecotone of Western Norway. Data from the sampling of trees, saplings, seedlings and ground cover, tree age determinations, aerial photographs, interviews and literature research are used. The results show differences in the structure of the tree-line ecotone with regard to tree age, height, circumference and the structure of the understory. Ground cover differs in species composition, mainly with regard to light preferences. Together, the differences stress the importance of site history consideration in order to understand changes in the tree-line ecotone, because dissimilar site histories may create differing local responses to future global and regional climatic changes.