Spatial and Temporal Shifts in the Demographic Development of China at the End of the 20th and the Beginning of the 21st Centuries

The article provides an economic and geographical analysis of the demographic processes in China, considering a set of natural and geographic factors, selected to reflect the influence of the state policy of family planning, as well as the policy for the development of separate regions in the period under study. The methodology included the use of geoinformation technologies, classification method and geographical systematization. Based on the identified spatial differences at the level of provinces, radical and previously absent spatial shifts in the demographic processes in China were established for the first time. They consist in the formation of positive and negative dynamics zones, as well as natural increase and natural decline zones. The demographic balance, for the first time calculated for the provinces of China, for 2010 and 2019, made it possible to indicate the dominance of provinces of a progressive type (53.0%) and a zone of provinces of a regressive type (8.8%). The established trend proves not only a differentiation, but also a spatial polarization at the national level and acts as a phenomenon of modern demographic development in China, in the 21st century. The results of the geographical systematization of the demographic space has practical significance as it provides the opportunity to use this methodology at the microgeographic level in other territories and serves as a scientific justification for the development of the directions of China’s regional demographic policy.

Analysis of the Relationship between Tourist Demand and Sustainable Development Indicators in the Context of the Danube River in the Romanian Trajectory

Practice has shown that tourism is an activity with a global spread, and sustainable development being a concept with global applicability, the intersection of the two elements is considered inevitable. Both elements are commensurable, which makes it possible to study them and analyze the relationships that arise from cohabitation in the economic and social environment. The purpose of this study is to find out to what extent the variation of tourism demand is influenced by the variation of some indicators of sustainable development. A multifactorial regression model was used, in which the number of tourists represents the dependent variable, and the number of unemployed, the natural increase of the population and the existing accommodation capacity are independent variables. For data processing, the Eviews statistical software was used. The greatest impact on the number of tourists is manifested by the existing accommodation capacity, and overall, the variation of the dependent variable is explained in proportion of 83% by the variation of the independent variables.

Demography and perturbation analyses of the coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): Implications for management

The coffee berry borer (CBB) Hypothenemus hampei Ferrari is the most serious pest of coffee worldwide. Management of the CBB is extremely difficult because its entire life cycle occurs inside the fruit, where it is well protected. Knowing which life stages contribute most to population growth, would shed light on the population dynamics of this pest and help to improve CBB management programs. Two staged-classified matrices were constructed for CBB populations reared in the lab on artificial diets and CBB populations from artificial infestations in the field. Matrices were used to determine demographic parameters, to conduct elasticity analyses, and to perform prospective perturbation analysis. Higher values of the intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm) and population growth rate (λ): were observed for CBB populations growing in the lab than in the field (rm: 0.058, λ: 1.74 lab; rm: 0.053, λ: 1.32 field). Sensitivity values for both CBB populations were highest for the transitions from larva to pupa (G2: 0.316 lab, 0.352 field), transition from pupa to juvenile (G3: 0.345 lab, 0.515 field) and survival of adult females (P5: 0.324 lab, 0.389 field); these three vital rates can be important targets for CBB management. Prospective perturbation analyses indicated that an effective management for the CBB should consider multiple developmental stages; perturbations of >90% for each transition are necessary to reduce λ to <1. However, when the three vital rates with highest sensitivity are impacted at the same time, the percentage of perturbation is reduced to 25% for each transition; with these reductions in survival of larvae, pupae and adult females the value of λ was reduced from 1.32 to 0.96. Management programs for CBB should be focused on the use of biological and cultural measures that are known to affect these three important targets.

Socio-Demographic Situation in Kazakhstan: Problems of Reproduction

An increase in the birth rates and a decrease in mortality is currently one of the priority lines of the development of society. From a purely technocratic standpoint, development of the population should be based on accurate knowledge of the number of consumers and the movement of needs, without which it is impossible to solve many social problems in general. The paper addresses a question of the need to orient the economy towards the development of a person and the population as a whole. The purpose and objectives of the study were to identify the dynamics of the population size, natural increase, the main trends in the growth of birth rate, the analysis of the causes of death, including infant mortality, the study of the marriage and divorce rates, migration. In the main part of the paper, the indicators of the population size in the republic over the past 17 years and in recent years are considered, including: the main trends in population growth, factors affecting the growth and decrease in mortality, causes of infant mortality, migration balance, marriage and divorce rates, both in the republic as a whole and region-wise. In conclusion, proposals were made to create favourable conditions for the demographic growth of population of the republic. Today, the solution of problems in the field of demographic policy is becoming increasingly important. It is necessary to accurately determine the priority paths of demographic growth, taking into account the specifics of the development of the population of Kazakhstan. In the future, this would facilitate the solution of demographic problems in terms of improving the demographic situation, which will contribute to the prosperity of the whole state.

Controlling effort, catch and biomass in models of the global marine fisheries

The starting point is the reduced model of global marine fisheries designated by W-3. The main variables of an ordinary differential equation are: the stock of bioresource, its net natural increase, as well as the catch value, which linearly depends on exogenous effort and nonlinearly on available biomass. In W-4, the effort became endogenous as a result of its positive feedback from biomass. In both models, there are values of control parameters in the catch equations, in which the value of the latter can be maintained for a long time at the maximum stable level, with the exception of transition sections. The principle of necessary precaution is fulfilled for small fish stocks more reliably in W-4 than in W-3, thanks to the transformation of the saddle into an unstable node with a common stable node. For these one-dimensional models, the author proposed an original generalization - the R-1 model of two nonlinear ordinary differential equations. In the latter effort, a new phase variable appears, subordinated to proportional control and derivative regulation. Biomass serves as a “prey”, and the effort appears as a “predator”. For two key control parameters, areas of change were identified for which the target stationary state is a locally asymptotically stable node or focus in R-1. A policy has been proposed for the restoration of depleted fish stocks and a transition to a long-term maximum sustainable harvest has been determined. Optimization over a wide time frame (from 40 to 400 years) allows us to calculate the values of the selected control parameters for which the integral catch volume in R-1 is higher than in W-4 for the same initial values of stock, effort and catch. Social constraints from below on the magnitude of the effort, as well as the desired nature of the transition to the target stationary state, are taken into account. The danger of biomass collapse is overcome, unlike previous models.

Urban Processes in Ukraine in the Context of Housing and Demo graphic Change

It is substantiated within the article that the course of urban processes, high level of mortality, migration, income diff erentiation of the population of Ukraine aff ects housing construction, housing sector, as the number of urban residents is declining more slowly than the number of residents of small cities, villages and settlements due to a lower level of natural population decline and migratory growth, stimulating the demand for housing in cities. Th e purpose of the article is to systematize the factors of interaction of housing construction, demographic and urban processes in Ukraine, and substantiate the corrective measures of housing policy to prevent the negative eff ects of urbanization. Th e scheme of the impact of the processes of urbanization, natural increase of the population of the need satisfaction for habitation on housing construction is developed. In the process of using the questionnaire method, it is substantiated that the level of satisfaction of needs (including housing needs) in rural areas is much lower than in the city. Th e study made it possible to conclude that with declining incomes of population, sales of country houses are declining; studio-apartments and one-and two-bedroom apartments are beginning to be in greater demand in new buildings. It is determined that meeting the need for housing involves solving such tasks as: increasing the volume of housing construction, reducing the failing housing stock, carrying out quality overhaul of housing, development of the mortgage market and rental market, etc. Measures to stimulate housing construction and housing repair as a corrective factor in the equalization of urban processes in Ukraine in order to reduce the environmental burden on megapolis, cities, as well as equalizing the level of population density in Ukraine are developed. It is argued that within the program of social responsibility of construction business, it is advisable to stimulate construction companies, to repair failing housing at the state level with the establishment of standards individually for rural and urban areas with the active use of legal, financial instruments, state subsidies to developers, who implement projects on the development of urban and rural areas to reimburse the costs of repairs, redevelopment of failing housing.

Features of nanocomposite powder paints spreading with the addition of aluminum oxide nanofibers

The paper studies the effect of violation of the spreading of powder paints when they are compounded with nanofibers of aluminum oxide. It is shown that with the addition of small fractions of aluminum oxide nanofibers equal to 0.05 wt%, the grains of the powder paint do not have time to wet each other, the crosslinking of the coating structure occurs up to this point, which is fixed by a characteristic granular texture. The paper also illustrates the features of the distribution of nanofibers of aluminum oxide in the coating. The increase in cohesion energy leads to a natural increase in the surface tension in the paint, which we observe in the form of the characteristic morphology of the coating. Investigation of coatings of a reference powder paint and a modified addition of aluminum oxide nanofibers) were carried out using an optical microscope. Separately, the morphology of the resin was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Increasing the proportion of the flow agent based on acrylic compounds in the polyester resin from 0.8 to 1.8 wt% solves this problem, while the strengthening effect of nanofibers of alumina in the paint is retained.

The Economy of Colonial British America

Identifying and analyzing a unified system called the “economy of colonial British America” presents a number of challenges. The regions that came to constitute Britain’s North American empire developed according to a variety of factors, including climate and environment, relations with Native peoples, international competition and conflict, internal English/British politics, and the social system and cultural outlook of the various groups that settled each colony. Nevertheless, while there was great diversity in the socioeconomic organization across colonial British America, a few generalizations can be made. First, each region initially focused economic activity on some form of export-oriented production that tied it to the metropole. New England specialized in timber, fish, and shipping services, the Middle Colonies in furs, grains, and foodstuffs, the Chesapeake in tobacco, the South in rice, indigo, and hides, and the West Indies in sugar. Second, the maturation of the export-driven economy in each colony eventually spurred the development of an internal economy directed toward providing the ancillary goods and services necessary to promote the export trade. Third, despite variations within and across colonies, colonial British America underwent more rapid economic expansion over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries than did its European counterparts, to the point that, on the eve of the American Revolution, white settlers in British America enjoyed one of the highest living standards in the world at the time. A final commonality that all the regions shared was that this robust economic growth spurred an almost insatiable demand for land and labor. With the exception of the West Indies, where the Spanish had largely exterminated the Native inhabitants by the time the English arrived, frontier warfare was ubiquitous across British America, as land-hungry settlers invaded Indian territory and expropriated their lands. The labor problem, while also ubiquitous, showed much greater regional variation. The New England and the Middle colonies largely supplied their labor needs through a combination of family immigration, natural increase, and the importation of bound European workers known as indentured servants. The Chesapeake, Carolina, and West Indian colonies, on the other hand, developed “slave societies,” where captive peoples of African descent were imported in huge numbers and forced to serve as enslaved laborers on colonial plantations. Despite these differences, it should be emphasized that, by the outbreak of the American Revolution, the institution of slavery had, to a greater or lesser extent, insinuated itself into the economy of every British American colony. The expropriation of land from Indians and labor from enslaved Africans thus shaped the economic history of all the colonies of British America.

Disparity in Populace Phenotype Impels Predisposition to Variations in Health Status

Background: The disparity in populace phenotype, embracing stature and pigmentation, drives of internal physiological constituent and adaptation to the external environment, impel variations in populace health status. The study tends to explore how significantly populaces phenotype influenced by internal or external exposures, and how effectually it prognosticates predisposition to variant health states. Methods: Ecological study encompassing twenty states residing on antipodes (North and South) endures distinct exposures, exhibit disparate phenotypes, execute different health status. Each State selected employing non-proportion quota sampling, standing extreme on either stature or pigmentation, residing in cold or hot region, contrasted on considered variables embracing UV-index, malnutrition, healthy life expectancy, fertility rate, natural increase, and top five causes of mortality. All computation, analysis, and interpretation perform employing MS-EXCEL. The complete compilation phase last from March to June 2019. Results: Findings reveal a strong association between exposures and phenotypes, UV-index and pigmentation (r = 0.96), malnutrition and stature (r = -0.81). Stature descends and pigmentation ascends along the latitude (North to South). Populace light pigmentation tall stature executes healthy prolong life span contrast to deep pigmentation standing short. Cardiac and cancer diseases significantly reported among statured nations. While high susceptibility to Influenza/ Pneumonia, and HIV/AIDS observe in pigmented nations. Conclusion: Decisively homo sapiens phenotypes inordinately servile to internal and external exposures effectually prognosticate predisposition to distinct health states. Enforcement of measures mitigating populace internal and external exposure can elicit desire output in phenotype and outcomes in health status.

The Power of Fertility and Its Importance for the Concept of Sustainable Development

Demographic changes are one of the indicators of sustainable development, expressed by the value of the natural increase in the human population, resulting directly from the fertility level, which is the subject of this article. Human fertility is a complex potential conditioned by the environmental, social, and economic factors. The multi-dimensional relations of fertility that may affect its level, constitute an unlimited field of research, study, and analysis. The inter-disciplinary scope of fertility research conducted by the authors has shown that fertility is an issue that, in its historical, social, political, and medical aspects, has the potential of contributing to societal development and raising the standard of living. The aim of this article is to answer the question: whether and how the fertility of an individual has an impact on the idea of sustainable development. To achieve this, the available literature was analysed and synthesised, as well as supplemented with information provided by experts in the field. The article incorporates presentations of selected fertility determining factors, methods of measuring fertility potential, and diverse contexts, such as the impact of fertility on history and its relationship with the freedom of the human individual. Moreover, the authors present the relationship between the fertility of an individual, and the assumptions and postulates of the idea of sustainable development.