The "Fair trade nation": market-oriented development in devolved European regions

Scholars have largely ignored the roles played by government and public sector institutions in the fair trade movement. This article addresses the knowledge gap through examining government involvement in fair trade networks in the context of European devolution and the localization of international development action. Proposing a relational view of fair trade networks, and considering the Fair Trade Nation as a social category for development, it highlights how power sources outside the centralized nation-state permit a political community to associate itself with fair trade. Research from Wales demonstrates that government acts in a leadership role rather than as regulator, conferring political voice and finance while enhancing its international credentials and contributing to the politics of nation-building. Our conclusion is cautious; campaigners celebrate political commitment to fair trade embodied within the category of the Fair Trade Nation, but evidence suggests that government reliance on the market as a vehicle for decentralized development action is limited by how the Fair Trade Nation is currently executed.

Does infrastructure investment stimulate building supply? The case of the English regions

Does infrastructure investment stimulate building supply? The case of the English regions, Regional Studies. Policies to improve infrastructure to stimulate regional growth remain common. This paper investigates whether increases in infrastructure investment in the English regions lead to subsequent rises in new commercial and residential property, using time-series modelling. Both physical (roads and harbours) and social infrastructure (education and health) impacts are investigated. Hardly any infrastructure effects with respect to commercial property investment were found, which raises doubts about whether extra infrastructure creates employment, though some impact was related to residential building. Overall, these results raise doubts about the supposed direct effects of infrastructure policies on regional jobs and growth.

The changing energy balance of the polar regions in a warmer climate

Energy fluxes for polar regions are examined for two 30-year periods, representing the end of the 20th and 21st centuries, using data from high resolution simulations with the ECHAM5 climate model. The net radiation to space for the present climate agrees well with data from the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) over the northern polar region but shows an underestimation in planetary albedo for the southern polar region. This suggests there are systematic errors in the atmospheric circulation or in the net surface energy fluxes in the southern polar region. The simulation of the future climate is based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) A1B scenario. The total energy transport is broadly the same for the two 30 year periods, but there is an increase in the moist energy transport of the order of 6 W m−2 and a corresponding reduction in the dry static energy. For the southern polar region the proportion of moist energy transport is larger and the dry static energy correspondingly smaller for both periods. The results suggest a possible mechanism for the warming of the Arctic that is discussed. Changes between the 20th and 21st centuries in the northern polar region show the net ocean surface radiation flux in summer increases ~18W m−2 (24%). For the southern polar region the response is different as there is a decrease in surface solar radiation. We suggest that this is caused by changes in cloudiness associated with the poleward migration of the storm tracks.

Numerical conformal mapping and mesh generation for polygonal and multiply-connected regions

Details are given of a boundary-fitted mesh generation method for use in modelling free surface flow and water quality. A numerical method has been developed for generating conformal meshes for curvilinear polygonal and multiply-connected regions. The method is based on the Cauchy-Riemann conditions for the analytic function and is able to map a curvilinear polygonal region directly onto a regular polygonal region, with horizontal and vertical sides. A set of equations have been derived for determining the lengths of these sides and the least-squares method has been used in solving the equations. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the method.

Very high resolution bioclimatic zoning of Portuguese wine regions: present and future scenarios

Wine production is strongly affected by weather and climate and thus highly vulnerable to climate change. In Portugal, viticulture and wine production are an important economic activity. In the present study, current bioclimatic zoning in Portugal (1950–2000) and its projected changes under future climate conditions (2041–2070) are assessed through the analysis of an aggregated, categorized bioclimatic index (CatI) at a very high spatial resolution (near 1 km). CatI incorporates the most relevant bioclimatic characteristics of a given region, thus allowing the direct comparison between different regions. Future viticultural zoning is achieved using data from 13 climate model transient experiments following the A1B emission scenario. These data are downscaled using a two-step method of spatial pattern downscaling. This downscaling approach allows characterizing mesoclimatic influences on viticulture throughout Portugal. Results for the recent past depict the current spatial variability of Portuguese viticultural regions. Under future climate conditions, the current viticultural zoning is projected to undergo significant changes, which may represent important challenges for the Portuguese winemaking sector. The changes are quite robust across the different climate models. A lower bioclimatic diversity is also projected, resulting from a more homogeneous warm and dry climate in most of the wine regions. This will lead to changes in varietal suitability and wine characteristics of each region.

Maximum principles for vectorial approximate minimisers on non-convex functionals

We establish Maximum Principles which apply to vectorial approximate minimizers of the general integral functional of Calculus of Variations. Our main result is a version of the Convex Hull Property. The primary advance compared to results already existing in the literature is that we have dropped the quasiconvexity assumption of the integrand in the gradient term. The lack of weak Lower semicontinuity is compensated by introducing a nonlinear convergence technique, based on the approximation of the projection onto a convex set by reflections and on the invariance of the integrand in the gradient term under the Orthogonal Group. Maximum Principles are implied for the relaxed solution in the case of non-existence of minimizers and for minimizing solutions of the Euler–Lagrange system of PDE.

A high frequency $hp$ boundary element method for scattering by convex polygons

In this paper we propose and analyze a hybrid $hp$ boundary element method for the solution of problems of high frequency acoustic scattering by sound-soft convex polygons, in which the approximation space is enriched with oscillatory basis functions which efficiently capture the high frequency asymptotics of the solution. We demonstrate, both theoretically and via numerical examples, exponential convergence with respect to the order of the polynomials, moreover providing rigorous error estimates for our approximations to the solution and to the far field pattern, in which the dependence on the frequency of all constants is explicit. Importantly, these estimates prove that, to achieve any desired accuracy in the computation of these quantities, it is sufficient to increase the number of degrees of freedom in proportion to the logarithm of the frequency as the frequency increases, in contrast to the at least linear growth required by conventional methods.

Observed and simulated precipitation responses in wet and dry regions 1850–2100

Global warming is expected to enhance fluxes of fresh water between the surface and atmosphere, causing wet regions to become wetter and dry regions drier, with serious implications for water resource management. Defining the wet and dry regions as the upper 30% and lower 70% of the precipitation totals across the tropics (30° S–30° N) each month we combine observations and climate model simulations to understand changes in the wet and dry regions over the period 1850–2100. Observed decreases in precipitation over dry tropical land (1950–2010) are also simulated by coupled atmosphere–ocean climate models (−0.3%/decade) with trends projected to continue into the 21st century. Discrepancies between observations and simulations over wet land regions since 1950 exist, relating to decadal fluctuations in El Niño southern oscillation, the timing of which is not represented by the coupled simulations. When atmosphere-only simulations are instead driven by observed sea surface temperature they are able to adequately represent this variability over land. Global distributions of precipitation trends are dominated by spatial changes in atmospheric circulation. However, the tendency for already wet regions to become wetter (precipitation increases with warming by 3% K−1 over wet tropical oceans) and the driest regions drier (precipitation decreases of −2% K−1 over dry tropical land regions) emerges over the 21st century in response to the substantial surface warming.

Relationship between classroom authority and epistemological beliefs as espoused by primary school mathematics teachers from the very high and very low socio-economic regions in Thailand

This article presents findings of a larger single-country comparative study which set out to better understand primary school teachers’ mathematics education-related beliefs in Thailand. By combining the interview and observation data collected in the initial stage of this study with data gathered from the relevant literature, the 8-belief / 22-item ‘Thai Teachers’ Mathematics Education-related Beliefs’ (TTMEB) Scale was developed. The results of the Mann-Whitney U Test showed that Thai teachers in the two examined socio-economic regions espouse statistically different beliefs concerning the source and stability of mathematical knowledge, as well as classroom authority. Further, these three beliefs are found to be significantly and positively correlated.

Have greenhouse gases intensified the contrast between wet and dry regions?

While changes in land precipitation during the last 50 years have been attributed in part to human influences, results vary by season, are affected by data uncertainty and do not account for changes over ocean. One of the more physically robust responses of the water cycle to warming is the expected amplification of existing patterns of precipitation minus evaporation. Here, precipitation changes in wet and dry regions are analyzed from satellite data for 1988–2010, covering land and ocean. We derive fingerprints for the expected change from climate model simulations that separately track changes in wet and dry regions. The simulations used are driven with anthropogenic and natural forcings combined, and greenhouse gas forcing or natural forcing only. Results of detection and attribution analysis show that the fingerprint of combined external forcing is detectable in observations and that this intensification of the water cycle is partly attributable to greenhouse gas forcing.

Continuum sea ice rheology determined from subcontinuum mechanics

[1] A method is presented to calculate the continuum-scale sea ice stress as an imposed, continuum-scale strain-rate is varied. The continuum-scale stress is calculated as the area-average of the stresses within the floes and leads in a region (the continuum element). The continuum-scale stress depends upon: the imposed strain rate; the subcontinuum scale, material rheology of sea ice; the chosen configuration of sea ice floes and leads; and a prescribed rule for determining the motion of the floes in response to the continuum-scale strain-rate. We calculated plastic yield curves and flow rules associated with subcontinuum scale, material sea ice rheologies with elliptic, linear and modified Coulombic elliptic plastic yield curves, and with square, diamond and irregular, convex polygon-shaped floes. For the case of a tiling of square floes, only for particular orientations of the leads have the principal axes of strain rate and calculated continuum-scale sea ice stress aligned, and these have been investigated analytically. The ensemble average of calculated sea ice stress for square floes with uniform orientation with respect to the principal axes of strain rate yielded alignment of average stress and strain-rate principal axes and an isotropic, continuum-scale sea ice rheology. We present a lemon-shaped yield curve with normal flow rule, derived from ensemble averages of sea ice stress, suitable for direct inclusion into the current generation of sea ice models. This continuum-scale sea ice rheology directly relates the size (strength) of the continuum-scale yield curve to the material compressive strength.