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Geographical Environment (geographical + environment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences50%

Selected Abstracts

Bringing Geography Back In: Civilizations, Wealth, and Poverty,

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 3 2003
Dwayne Woods
This essay focuses on how we can account for the gap between rich and poor nations. The literature is organized under two subsuming analytical categories: space (geographical environment) and culture. At issue is the primacy of environmental factors versus culture in explaining the development of civilizations and their divergence. If geographical environment is primary, then development is determined by natural endowments and constraints. If culture is dominant, then geography can be overcome with luck, effective political institutions, determination, and inventiveness. The literature in this essay is intended to help to sharpen and focus this debate. [source]

From Plant Variety Definition to Geographical Indication Protection: A Search for the Link Between Basmati Rice and India/Pakistan

THE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 4 2008
Delphine Marie-Vivien
Geographical indications (GIs) deal with local issues. Their protection generates an original scheme of governance. GIs were first protected in France and they were later harmonised in the European Union (EU) and then included in the TRIPS Agreement, which was the basis for the enactment of the GI Act in India and GI protection in Pakistan. The Basmati rice example will illustrate the different objectives of GI protection in these two countries and in Europe. Europe is an emerging market for Basmati, and therefore the EU is setting rules of importation based on its tradition of food quality. Such an increase in exports of Basmati raises the issue of a protection that is efficient in the international market, but still is adapted to Indian and Pakistani needs. On the one hand, Basmati has been defined for a long time as the name of plant varieties which now includes evolved varieties. On the other hand, Basmati is still not yet registered as a GI, because the concept of GI is a very recent development in India and Pakistan. The Basmati case raises general issues for GIs protection worldwide: tradition versus modernity, product definition versus method of production and geographical environment. [source]

Neurofuzzy Modeling of Context,Contingent Proximity Relations

GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS, Issue 2 2007
Xiaobai Yao
The notion of proximity is one of the foundational elements in humans' understanding and reasoning of the geographical environments. The perception and cognition of distances plays a significant role in many daily human activities. Yet, few studies have thus far provided context,contingent translation mechanisms between linguistic proximity descriptors (e.g., "near,""far") and metric distance measures. One problem with previous fuzzy logic proximity modeling studies is that they presume the form of the fuzzy membership functions of proximity relations. Another problem is that previous studies have fundamental weaknesses in considering context factors in proximity models. We argue that statistical approaches are ill suited to proximity modeling because of the inherently fuzzy nature of the relations between linguistic and metric distance measures. In this study, we propose a neurofuzzy system approach to solve this problem. The approach allows for the dynamic construction of context,contingent proximity models based on sample data. An empirical case study with human subject survey data is carried out to test the validity of the approach and to compare it with the previous statistical approach. Interpretation and prediction accuracy of the empirical study are discussed. [source]

Characterization of population structure from the mitochondrial DNA vis-à-vis language and geography in Papua New Guinea

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 4 2010
Esther J. Lee
Abstract Situated along a corridor linking the Asian continent with the outer islands of the Pacific, Papua New Guinea has long played a key role in understanding the initial peopling of Oceania. The vast diversity in languages and unique geographical environments in the region have been central to the debates on human migration and the degree of interaction between the Pleistocene settlers and newer migrants. To better understand the role of Papua New Guinea in shaping the region's prehistory, we sequenced the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region of three populations, a total of 94 individuals, located in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. We analyzed these samples with a large data set of Oceania populations to examine the role of geography and language in shaping population structure within New Guinea and between the region and Island Melanesia. Our results from median-joining networks, star-cluster age estimates, and population genetic analyses show that while highland New Guinea populations seem to be the oldest settlers, there has been significant gene flow within New Guinea with little influence from geography or language. The highest genetic division is between Papuan speakers of New Guinea versus East Papuan speakers located outside of mainland New Guinea. Our study supports the weak language barriers to genetic structuring among populations in close contact and highlights the complexity of understanding the genetic histories of Papua New Guinea in association with language and geography. Am J Phys Anthropol 142:613,624, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]