Social Workers’ Causal Attributions for Poverty: Does the Level of Spatial Concentration of Disadvantages Matter?

Social workers may play an important role in the implementation of welfare policies targeted at the poor. Their norms, beliefs, and attitudes form local anti-poverty programmes and affect discretionary practices with their clients. Despite this, we know little about how social workers’ exposure to poverty shapes their attitudes towards poverty and their causal attributions for poverty. This study investigates social workers’ poverty explanations and the extent to which they depend on the level of local poverty. Data from a survey conducted among Hungarian social workers were analysed using multilevel linear regression models. To measure local poverty, we used a composite index of poverty, as well as a subjective measure of exposure to poverty. Our analysis revealed that most social workers explained poverty with structural causes, but individual blame was also frequent. Contrary to our hypothesis, the level of local poverty did not significantly increase the adoption of structural explanations but did raise the occurrence of individualistic ones. However, the effect of local poverty was non-linear: social workers tended to blame the poor for their poverty in the poorest municipalities, where multiple disadvantages are concentrated, while moderate poverty did not lead to such opinions. Our results suggest that efforts should be made to improve the poverty indicator framework to better understand the phenomenon of spatial concentration of multiple disadvantages and its consequences for the poor.

DIRECT SALE AS ONE OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL FORMS OF LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS. THE SPATIAL CONCENTRATION OF DIRECT SALE ENTITIES IN POLAND

Direct selling is one of the most common local activities in the agri-food sector. Contemporary trends in the production and consumption of food indicate a duality of food systems, in which the concept of industrialization of the agri-food sector is simultaneously developing together with a concept of local food systems. In this article, it was noticed that the direct sale of agri-food products is in a line with the contemporary trends in the agri-food sector, and that it is important to analyze its spatial patterns. Taking into account the spatial concentration of direct selling entities, it has been proved that their distribution is random and does not show clustering patterns.

The Effects of Cigarette Filter Ventilation on Delivery and Retention of Organic Acids

Summary A method for simultaneous identification and quantitative determination of 30 organic acids was established. The smoke yields and filter retentions of organic acids and routine smoke components, total particulate matter (TPM), nicotine-free dry particulate matter (NFDPM), nicotine and carbon monoxide (CO) at different filter ventilation levels were determined under both International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Health Canadian Intense (HCI) smoking regimes. As a result of smoke dilution during filter ventilation, the yields of all organic acids were reduced in mainstream cigarette smoke. The spatial distribution pattern of the concentration of each organic acid in the filter was investigated at different ventilation levels and their filter retention determined. On one hand, the concentration of organic acids with a lower boiling point (BP) and lower molecular weight (MW) was relatively higher at the smoking end and the periphery part of the filter and spatial concentration distributions within the filter were significantly affected by smoke diffusion. On the other hand, those acids with high BPs and high MW were mainly distributed at the tobacco rod end and central part of the filter and spatial concentration distributions were only slightly influenced by their smoke diffusion within the filter whilst air compression around the filter vents also led to less change. This way, different acids in mainstream cigarette smoke were reduced to different extents which can also influence the acid-base equilibrium and sensory quality of the smoke. Compared with ISO smoking regime, the vent blocking and more intense smoking HCI regime led to different extents of yield increase for each of the studied acids. The effect of filter ventilation in the HCI smoking regime was not investigated, as the HCI smoking regime requires blocked ventilation holes. [Contrib. Tob. Nicotine Res. 30 (2021) 199–211]

Spatial concentration of creative industries and location of creative clusters in Poland

The authors compared the geographical distribution of creative clusters in Poland with the spatial distribution of LQ (Location Quotient) measuring the concentration of creative entities in a given area. The study aimed to answer the following questions: what is the spatial distribution of clustering potential for creative industries?, which municipalities are home to entities forming creative clusters?, and, above all, are creative clusters actually formed in areas offering the greatest potential in this respect? In order to find answers to the above questions, the authors carried out two sub-analyses. The first led to the conclusion that only 1.9% of municipalities in Poland offer conditions for creative specialisations, including the formation of creative clusters (LQ > 1.25). The next step involved a comparison of geographical distribution of areas with clustering potential with areas being home to actual creative clusters. The authors did not observe any relationship between the value of LQ reflecting clustering potential for creative industries and the distribution and size of active creative clusters. The correlation coefficient between LQ and the number of cluster members was positive but weak. It shows that creative clusters in Poland are not formed in locations offering best conditions in terms of the number of potential members. Therefore, there are other factors behind the formation of cluster structures. Nevertheless, local potential should be the main driving force because it is one of the crucial components of favourable conditions for building economic specialisation and a foundation on which proper cluster structures should be built on.

A Geographic Theorization of Zongos in Urban Ghana: A Complex Systems Approach

While Zongos have become a permanent abode for many people, especially migrants in urban Ghana, the dynamics of these communities are quite poorly understood. This paper provides a geographic analysis of the formation of Zongos, drawing heavily on a complex systems approach to explore how various variables, including space, ethnicity, class, citizenship, migration and environmental processes intersect to form and sustain Zongos in Ghana. Essentially, the paper throws more light on the key factors that contribute to the spatial concentration of the urban poor in Zongos and concludes with the consequences of having the urban poor living in highly segregated and economically depressed neighbourhoods in Ghanaian cities. The paper argues that the formation of Zongos is not solely attributable to the fondness of migrants from northern Ghana to live among people of like background while in southern cities, but also because of the exclusionary machinations of the majority and their housing gatekeepers.

Spatial Analysis of Gunshot Reports on Twitter in Mexico City

The quarantine and stay-at-home measures implemented by most governments significantly impacted the volume and distribution of crime, and already, a body of literature exists that focuses on the effects of lockdown on crime. However, the effects of lockdown on firearm violence have yet to be studied. Within this context, this study analyzes reports of gunshots in Mexico City registered on Twitter from October 2018 to 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and from October 2019 to 2020 (during COVID-19), using a combination of spatial (nearest neighbor ratio, Ripley’s K function and kernel estimation) and non-spatial (Fisher’s exact test) methods. The results indicate a spatial concentration of gunshot reports in Mexico City and a reduction in frequency of reports during the pandemic. While they show no change in the overall concentration of gunshots during lockdown, they do indicate an expansion in the patterns of spatial intensity (moving from the west to the center of the city). One possible explanation is the capacity of possible victims of firearm crimes in certain municipalities to comply with lockdown measures and thus avoid exposure to such crimes.

The Spatial Concentration and Dispersion of Homicide during a Period of Homicide Increase in Brazil

This study applies the principles of measuring micro-place crime concentration and the spatial dispersion of crime increase to the geographic unit of cities in Brazil. We identify that a small number of cities account for a large cumulative proportion of homicides, and that during a period of homicide increase 30 cities out of 5570 accounted for the equivalent national increase in homicides. The majority of the 30 cities were not established high homicide cities but instead were new emerging centers of homicide that neighbor high homicide cities. We suggest the findings can be used to better target effective programs for decreasing homicides.