Transformaciones territoriales en el periurbano de Mar del Plata

El estudio de las transformaciones territoriales de las áreas periurbanas demanda el conocimiento de la evolución de las actividades que allí se desarrollan. El presente trabajo analiza las transformaciones del periurbano de Mar del Plata entre los noventa y la actualidad, enfatizando en los cambios de las actividades. Para ello, se realiza una clasificación supervisada de usos sobre imágenes satelitales de 1989 y 2009, que es ajustada a partir de una base de datos del área. Posteriormente, se analizan las transformaciones considerando distintas fases de estructuración de las ciudades y se establece una periodización siguiendo las nociones de régimen y ruptura. El estudio realizado constituye una base para generar estrategias de ocupación y desarrollo del área y la metodología aplicada puede extenderse a otros territorios

Empleo agrario y ruralidad ampliada

La creciente interrelación rural-urbana es un aspecto resaltado por distintos trabajos producidos recientemente en Argentina y en otros contextos sociales. Este artículo parte de consideraciones teóricas acerca de la ruralidad y analiza la evolución experimentada por la estructura del empleo según sectores y categorías ocupacionales a partir de reprocesamientos censales especiales. Toma un concepto amplio de ruralidad (áreas de población dispersa y localidades inferiores a los 10.000 habitantes), teniendo en cuenta el fuerte imbricamiento existente en los pequeños núcleos urbanos con su entorno rural circundante. El análisis realizado permite discutir la perspectiva de la urbanización de la población ocupada en actividades agropecuarias. Asimismo, muestra la fuerte heterogeneidad interprovincial en materia de inserción ocupacional, aspecto que se vincula con el diferente peso que históricamente han adquirido la pequeña producción y/o los cultivos demandantes de grandes contingentes de mano de obra estacional en las áreas consideradas

Transformaciones territoriales en el periurbano de Mar del Plata

El estudio de las transformaciones territoriales de las áreas periurbanas demanda el conocimiento de la evolución de las actividades que allí se desarrollan. El presente trabajo analiza las transformaciones del periurbano de Mar del Plata entre los noventa y la actualidad, enfatizando en los cambios de las actividades. Para ello, se realiza una clasificación supervisada de usos sobre imágenes satelitales de 1989 y 2009, que es ajustada a partir de una base de datos del área. Posteriormente, se analizan las transformaciones considerando distintas fases de estructuración de las ciudades y se establece una periodización siguiendo las nociones de régimen y ruptura. El estudio realizado constituye una base para generar estrategias de ocupación y desarrollo del área y la metodología aplicada puede extenderse a otros territorios

Transformaciones territoriales en el periurbano de Mar del Plata

El estudio de las transformaciones territoriales de las áreas periurbanas demanda el conocimiento de la evolución de las actividades que allí se desarrollan. El presente trabajo analiza las transformaciones del periurbano de Mar del Plata entre los noventa y la actualidad, enfatizando en los cambios de las actividades. Para ello, se realiza una clasificación supervisada de usos sobre imágenes satelitales de 1989 y 2009, que es ajustada a partir de una base de datos del área. Posteriormente, se analizan las transformaciones considerando distintas fases de estructuración de las ciudades y se establece una periodización siguiendo las nociones de régimen y ruptura. El estudio realizado constituye una base para generar estrategias de ocupación y desarrollo del área y la metodología aplicada puede extenderse a otros territorios

Empleo agrario y ruralidad ampliada

La creciente interrelación rural-urbana es un aspecto resaltado por distintos trabajos producidos recientemente en Argentina y en otros contextos sociales. Este artículo parte de consideraciones teóricas acerca de la ruralidad y analiza la evolución experimentada por la estructura del empleo según sectores y categorías ocupacionales a partir de reprocesamientos censales especiales. Toma un concepto amplio de ruralidad (áreas de población dispersa y localidades inferiores a los 10.000 habitantes), teniendo en cuenta el fuerte imbricamiento existente en los pequeños núcleos urbanos con su entorno rural circundante. El análisis realizado permite discutir la perspectiva de la urbanización de la población ocupada en actividades agropecuarias. Asimismo, muestra la fuerte heterogeneidad interprovincial en materia de inserción ocupacional, aspecto que se vincula con el diferente peso que históricamente han adquirido la pequeña producción y/o los cultivos demandantes de grandes contingentes de mano de obra estacional en las áreas consideradas

Seasonal migration and micro-credit in the lean period : evidence from northwest Bangladesh

This paper investigates the relationship between access to micro-credit and temporary seasonal migration, an issue which is largely ignored in the standard rural-urban migration literature. Seasonal migration due to agricultural downturns is a common phenomenon in developing countries. Using primary data from a cross-sectional household survey from the northwest part of Bangladesh, this study quantifies the factors that influence such migration decisions. Among other results, we find that network effects play a significant role in influencing the migration decision, with the presence of kinsmen at the place of destination having considerable impact. Seasonal migration is a natural choice for individual suffering periodic hardship; however the strict weekly loan repayment rules of Micro-credit Institutes can have an adverse effect on this process, reducing the ability of borrowers to react to a shock. Our result suggests that poor individuals prefer the option of not accessing the micro-credit and opt for temporal seasonal migration during the lean period. The results have numerous potential policy implications, including the design of typical micro-credit schemes.

Will income inequality cause a middle-income trap in Asia? Bruegel Working Paper 2013/06, 10 October 2013

The Asian economy is expected to realise favourable growth during the first half of this century, but there is no guarantee. There is a discussion about a ‘middle-income trap’, which refers to a country that has realised rapid growth to become a middle-income country but is unable to grow further. A middle-income trap could occur not only if there is a delay in shifting the economy toward a productivity-driven structure, but also if there is a worsening of income distribution.We consider this in line with the theories of development economics and through a quantitative analysis. The relationship between income inequality and the trap can be explained by the Kuznets hypothesis and the basic-needs approach. Our quantitative analysis supports the Kuznets hypothesis, and indicates that,although a low-income country can accelerate its economic growth with the worsening of income distribution as an engine, a middle income country would experience a decreasing growth rate if it fails to narrow the income gap between the top and bottom income groups. The results also show that the basic-needs approach is also applicable in practice, and imply that the improvement of access to secondary education is important. A sensitivity analysis for three Asian upper-middle-income countries(China, Malaysia and Thailand) also shows that the situation related to a middle-income trap is worse than average in China and Malaysia. These two countries, according to the result of the sensitivity analysis, should urgently improve access to secondary education and should implement income redistribution measures to develop high-tech industries, before their demographic dividends expire. Income redistribution includes the narrowing of rural urban income disparities, benefits to low-income individuals, direct income transfers, vouchers or free provision of education and health-care, and so on, but none of these are simple to implement.

The importance of forest area and configuration relative to local habitat factors for conserving forest mammals: A case study of koalas in Queensland, Australia

The loss and fragmentation of forest habitats by human land use are recognised as important factors influencing the decline of forest-dependent fauna. Mammal species that are dependent upon forest habitats are particularly sensitive to habitat loss and fragmentation because they have highly specific habitat requirements, and in many cases have limited ability to move through and utilise the land use matrix. We addressed this problem using a case study of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) surveyed in a fragmented rural-urban landscape in southeast Queensland, Australia. We applied a logistic modelling and hierarchical partitioning analysis to determine the importance of forest area and its configuration relative to site (local) and patch-level habitat variables. After taking into account spatial auto-correlation and the year of survey, we found koala occurrence increased with the area of all forest habitats, habitat patch size and the proportion of primary Eucalyptus tree species; and decreased with mean nearest neighbour distance between forest patches, the density of forest patches, and the density of sealed roads. The difference between the effect of habitat area and configuration was not as strong as theory predicts, with the configuration of remnant forest becoming increasingly important as the area of forest habitat declines. We conclude that the area of forest, its configuration across the landscape, as well as the land use matrix, are important determinants of koala occurrence, and that habitat configuration should not be overlooked in the conservation of forest-dependent mammals, such as the koala. We highlight the implications of these findings for koala conservation. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The CCRUSH Study: Coarse and fine particulate matter measurements in northeastern Colorado 2009-2012

Coarse (PM10-2.5) and fine (PM2.5) particulate matter in the atmosphere adversely affect human health and influence climate. While PM2.5 is relatively well studied, less is known about the sources and fate of PM10-2.5. The Colorado Coarse Rural-Urban Sources and Health (CCRUSH) study measured PM10-2.5 and PM2.5 mass concentrations, as well as the fraction of semi-volatile material (SVM) in each size regime (SVM2.5, SVM10-2.5), for three years in Denver and comparatively rural Greeley, Colorado. Agricultural operations east of Greeley appear to have contributed to the peak PM10-2.5 concentrations there, but concentrations were generally lower in Greeley than in Denver. Traffic-influenced sites in Denver had PM10-2.5 concentrations that averaged from 14.6 to 19.7 µg/m**3 and mean PM10-2.5/PM10 ratios of 0.56 to 0.70, higher than at residential sites in Denver or Greeley. PM10-2.5 concentrations were more temporally variable than PM2.5 concentrations. Concentrations of the two pollutants were not correlated. Spatial correlations of daily averaged PM10-2.5 concentrations ranged from 0.59 to 0.62 for pairs of sites in Denver and from 0.47 to 0.70 between Denver and Greeley. Compared to PM10-2.5, concentrations of PM2.5 were more correlated across sites within Denver and less correlated between Denver and Greeley. PM10-2.5 concentrations were highest during the summer and early fall, while PM2.5 and SVM2.5 concentrations peaked in winter during periodic multi-day inversions. SVM10-2.5 concentrations were low at all sites. Diurnal peaks in PM10-2.5 and PM2.5 concentrations corresponded to morning and afternoon peaks of traffic activity, and were enhanced by boundary layer dynamics. SVM2.5 concentrations peaked around noon on both weekdays and weekends. PM10-2.5 concentrations at sites located near highways generally increased with wind speeds above about 3 m/s. Little wind speed dependence was observed for the residential sites in Denver and Greeley.

Weaving Futures. Family Transnationalism in the migration from Dominican Republic and Brazil to Spain

This article explores forms of migrant families’ reorganization within a (new) global economic crisis and the hardening of migration control in Europe; based on the cases of Dominican and Brazilian migration to Spain.Our goal is not to characterize the wholeness of strategies from these collectives, instead visualize its heterogeneity. Displacement of Dominican and Brazilian population to Spain shares the role of women as the first link of migration chains. In both cases women are the economic support of transnational families and they lead reunification's processes. Nevertheless, differences in the time spent in the destination country, migratory status, origin (rural-urban), level of education, class and labor insertion in destination country, affect differently, the planning and start up of migration projects, the organization of care and family reunification strategies. These findings question the predominant place granted to national origin in the study of international migration.

Economic Development and Mass Poverty in Africa: Assessment of the Nigerian Experience

The forces surrounding the emerging economies of underdeveloped world, especially Africa has practically stifled its economic progress, growth, development and sustainability. This economic condition brings to the fore the massive onslaught of rural/urban poverty which the African continent grapples with since the post-world war II era to date. The economic misfortunes and incidence of mass poverty in Africa, vis-à-vis Nigeria is used as a point of departure in this study. The paper underscores the ideological and philosophical undertone of international capital manifesting in form of colonialism and imperialism as a major character in the historical process of underdevelopment and mass poverty in peripheral states of Africa, Asia and Latin America, respectively. Of particular interest in this study is the activities of domestic bourgeoisie elite class who have vigorously displayed some degree of lack of much needed vision and abject lack of desires to draw up workable plans to redeem the battered image of African/ Nigerian economic misfortunes. This state of affairs has practically engendered economic underdevelopment, misery and disturbing levels of poverty in the nation-state system. The paper concludes with the forward towards realizing the vision 20-20-20 objectives in the 21t century and beyond.

Investigating voice

So, when it came to deciding upon an area of research, how I used my own voice became the main focus in a broader investigation of voice within sonic environments. I wanted to explore, for my own practice, what effect the inclusion of the human voice may have within a composition. For the purposes of my research, sonic environment does not refer to specific types of environment (i.e., rural, urban etc.); rather, it refers to the use of field recordings of sounds from my own everyday life, for example house keys, the rain, a squeaky door.