scholarly journals ANTHROPOLOGY OF ZONALITY: NATURE AND CULTURE IN THE SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATION OF HUMAN ACTIVITY

Author(s):  
N.Yu. Zamyatina

The article is theoretical in nature and does not cover any particular region; however, the phenomenon of zonality is of particular relevance to the northern part of Siberia. The article draws a fundamental analogy be-tween the classical theoretical zonal model of Thünen and zoning models of various regions of the world (South-east Asia, Africa and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Ugra in Russia). Zonality is usually perceived as a natural phenomenon — regularly and naturally alternating natural zones (tundras, taigas, steppes, etc.). Under the influence of changing natural conditions, human activity also changes to one degree or another. However, there are many cultural and human factors under whose influence a similar picture of regularly and naturally dif-ferentiated zones emerges. For example, it could be the centre and periphery, previously and newly developed zones, etc. These zones are differentiated not only from an economic point of view but also as complex phenom-ena including holistic, imperious, behavioural and other aspects. The article is aimed at expanding the standard use of the concept ‘zonality’, reconsider zoning as not only and not so much a natural phenomenon as a broad theoretical approach effective for comparative studies in anthropology, economic and social geography, history, economics, as well as other disciplines. The technique used in this study consists in the identification of similar features when modelling the geographical differentiation of processes of different nature. As a result, the author proposes a general conceptualisation framework for the concept ‘zonality’ as a universal phenomenon of spatially differentiated conditions for activities and the understanding of these conditions by people. The phenomenon of zonality can be observed when the geographical differentiation of any studied process is determined by a regular difference in a certain basic condition from place to place, which has a definitive effect on the development of the studied process. In the case of natural zonality, this is the distribution of solar radiation; in the case of economic zoning, cost of transportation often serves as the differentiating factor; in the case of areas of new development, the differentiating factor is the age of development.

2003 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-172
Author(s):  
Mir Annice Mahmood

To implement any successful policy, research about the subject-matter is essential. Lack of knowledge would result in failure and, from an economic point of view, it would lead to a waste of scarce resources. The book under review is essentially a manual which highlights the use of research for development. The book is divided into two parts. Part One informs the reader about concepts and some theory, and Part Two deals with the issue of undertaking research for development. Both parts have 11 chapters each. Chapter 1 asks the basic question: Is research important in development work? The answer is that it is. Research has many dimensions: from the basic asking of questions to the more sophisticated broad-based analysis of policy issues. The chapter, in short, stresses the usefulness of research which development workers ignore at their own peril.


2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Detzen ◽  
Tobias Stork genannt Wersborg ◽  
Henning Zülch

ABSTRACT This case originates from a real-life business situation and illustrates the application of impairment tests in accordance with IFRS and U.S. GAAP. In the first part of the case study, students examine conceptual questions of impairment tests under IFRS and U.S. GAAP with respect to applicable accounting standards, definitions, value concepts, and frequency of application. In addition, the case encourages students to discuss the impairment regime from an economic point of view. The second part of the instructional resource continues to provide instructors with the flexibility of applying U.S. GAAP and/or IFRS when students are asked to test a long-lived asset for impairment and, if necessary, allocate any potential impairment. This latter part demonstrates that impairment tests require professional judgment that students are to exercise in the case.


Author(s):  
Ramesh Raghavan

This chapter presents an overview of how D&I research can be evaluated from an economic point of view. Dissemination and implementation imposes costs upon knowledge purveyors, provider organizations, public health organizations, and payers (including governments). However, whether these added costs will result in improved service delivery and, perhaps more importantly, client outcomes and improvements in population health remain as open questions. If emerging studies reveal that defined implementation strategies are more cost effective than “usual” implementation, then policymakers and service providers will need to resource these added costs of implementation in order to assure the success and sustainability of high-quality health services over the long term.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 565
Author(s):  
Nikolaj Kaae Kirk ◽  
Clara Navarrete ◽  
Jakob Ellegaard Juhl ◽  
José Luis Martínez ◽  
Alessandra Procentese

To make biofuel production feasible from an economic point of view, several studies have investigated the main associated bottlenecks of the whole production process through approaches such as the “cradle to grave” approach or the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis, being the main constrains the feedstock collection and transport. Whilst several feedstocks are interesting because of their high sugar content, very few of them are available all year around and moreover do not require high transportation’ costs. This work aims to investigate if the “zero miles” concept could bring advantages to biofuel production by decreasing all the associated transport costs on a locally established production platform. In particular, a specific case study applied to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) campus is used as example to investigate the advantages and feasibility of using the spent coffee grounds generated at the main cafeteria for the production of bioethanol on site, which can be subsequently used to (partially) cover the campus’ energy demands.


Author(s):  
Sigune Lopp ◽  
Joel M. Goebelbecker ◽  
Patrick C. Ruff

AbstractThe current draft of Regulation (EC) 852/2004 promotes a food safety culture as a general principle. The various stakeholders evaluate this planned new development quite differently. While this is very welcome from a scientific point of view, there are still considerable objections from stakeholders of the area for implementation and monitoring. The challenge is how to integrate the principles into industry, and to measure and verify their effectiveness. In this article, the dimensions of food safety culture are illustrated, and an evaluation system is outlined.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1063
Author(s):  
Catalina Hernández Moris ◽  
Maria Teresa Cerda Guevara ◽  
Alois Salmon ◽  
Alvaro Lorca

The energy sector in Chile demands a significant increase in renewable energy sources in the near future, and concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies are becoming increasingly competitive as compared to natural gas plants. Motivated by this, this paper presents a comparison between solar technologies such as hybrid plants and natural gas-based thermal technologies, as both technologies share several characteristics that are comparable and beneficial for the power grid. This comparison is made from an economic point of view using the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) metric and in terms of the systemic benefits related to flexibility, which is very much required due to the current decarbonization scenario of Chile’s energy matrix. The results show that the LCOE of the four hybrid plant models studied is lower than the LCOE of the gas plant. A solar hybrid plant configuration composed of a photovoltaic and solar tower plant (STP) with 13 h of storage and without generation restrictions has an LCOE 53 USD/MWh, while the natural gas technology evaluated with an 85% plant factor and a variable fuel cost of 2.0 USD/MMBtu has an LCOE of 86 USD/MWh. Thus, solar hybrid plants under a particular set of conditions are shown to be more cost-effective than their closest competitor for the Chilean grid while still providing significant dispatchability and flexibility.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1564
Author(s):  
Pietro Miele ◽  
Mariano Di Di Napoli ◽  
Luigi Guerriero ◽  
Massimo Ramondini ◽  
Chester Sellers ◽  
...  

In most countries, landslides have caused severe socioeconomic impacts on people, cities, industrial establishments, and lifelines, such as highways, railways, and communication network systems. Socioeconomic losses due to slope failures are very high and they have been growing as the built environment expands into unstable hillside areas under the pressures of growing populations. Human activities as the construction of buildings, transportation routes, dams, and artificial canals have often been a major factor for the increasing damage due to slope failures. When recovery actions are not durable from an economic point of view, increasing the population’s awareness is the key strategy to reduce the effects of natural and anthropogenic events. Starting from the case study of the Pan-American Highway (the Ecuadorian part), this article shows a multi-approach strategy for infrastructure monitoring. The combined use of (i) DInSAR technique for detection of slow ground deformations, (ii) field survey activities, and (iii) the QPROTO tool for analysis of slopes potentially prone to collapse allowed us to obtain a first cognitive map to better characterize 22 km of the highway between the cities of Cuenca and Azogues. This study is the primary step in the development of a landslide awareness perspective to manage risk related to landslides along infrastructure corridors, increasing user safety and providing stakeholders with a management system to plan the most urgent interventions and to ensure the correct functionality of the infrastructure.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doo Ho Lee

This work investigates the optimal pricing strategies of a server and the equilibrium behavior of customers in an unobservable M/M/1 queueing system with negative customers and repair. In this work, we consider two pricing schemes. The first is termed the ex-post payment scheme, where the server charges a price that is proportional to the time spent by a customer in the system. The second scheme is the ex-ante payment scheme, where the server charges a flat rate for all services. Based on the reward-cost structure, the server (or system manager) should make optimal pricing decisions in order to maximize its expected profit per time unit in each payment scheme. This study also investigates equilibrium joining/balking behavior under the server’s optimal pricing strategies in the two pricing schemes. We show, given a customer’s equilibrium, that the two pricing schemes are perfectly identical from an economic point of view. Finally, we illustrate the effect of several system parameters on the optimal joining probabilities, the optimal price, and the equilibrium behavior via numerical examples.


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