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Population Centers (population + center)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Bauxite Mining Restoration by Alcoa World Alumina Australia in Western Australia: Social, Political, Historical, and Environmental Contexts

RESTORATION ECOLOGY, Issue 2007
John H. Gardner
Abstract Alcoa World Alumina Australia mines bauxite under lease agreements with the Government of Western Australia. The leases lie in the Darling Range to the east of Perth, the capital and major population center. In addition to bauxite and other mineral ores, the Darling Range is a major potable water source and harbors a species-rich forest dominated by Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), a significant commercial timber. Conservation and recreation are important land uses in the region. Social and political pressures have led to stringent governmental requirements for restoration. In addition, a summer drought period, a soil deficient in most nutrients, water management challenges, an introduced disease, caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands, and a post-mining ecosystem that must be conducive to the prescribed burning management of the region pose significant challenges to successful restoration. Alcoa presently mines and restores approximately 550 ha per annum. Although the "footprint" at the end of the life of the mining operations represents only about 4% of the total forest estate, Alcoa is committed to restoring the forest values of the region of all lands impacted by mining. The major objective of restoration is to enhance or maintain forest values by restoring habitat and structural characteristics of the native forest environment. Completion criteria for Alcoa's mine restoration have been developed. The original Alcoa mine at Jarrahdale has been rehabilitated, and in 2005, a 975-ha area received a "certificate of completion" and was returned to the management control of the State of Western Australia. [source]

The Three-Hierarchical Location-Allocation of Banking Facilities with Risk and Uncertainty

INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2001
H. Min
The location-allocation of commercial banking facilities often involves providing three layers of services (automatic teller machines, branch bank offices, and main banks) to non-homogeneous population centers. As such, the bank location-allocation problem is hierarchical in nature. Nevertheless, the existing literature to date has neglected to consider the internal dynamics and functional dependence of different hierarchies of banking services. To help the commercial banking organization formulate viable location-allocation strategies in the ever-uncertain and volatile banking industry, this paper proposes a stochastic, three-hierarchical location-allocation model for successively arranging the spatial patterns of banking facilities. [source]

Reconsideration of Economic Views of a Classical Empire and a Nation-State During the Mercantilist Ages

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2009
Article first published online: 3 JUN 200, Mehmet Bulut
While the main aim of the economic policies of European nation-states was to use the power of the state to promote trade and economic growth and to build up national industries and manufacture, the Ottoman Empire continued to follow its provisionist, fiscalist, and traditional economic policies of land expansion in the early modern period. In Western Europe, this experience gave birth to a new class that gradually improved its trade ability and expanding industries and markets under a capitalist system. The Ottoman imperial policy was mostly concerned about the continuity of strong central authority and land expansion, which never meant improving the industry or trade concerns. Instead, the economic policies of the Ottomans were subsistence of the people, provisioning the major population centers, collection of taxes, and maintaining freedom of trade. The balance and stability in society explain the priority for the Ottomans in the economy. However, commercialization and profit explain the priority for the Dutch nation in the economy. This article elaborates the economic views of the Dutch Republic and the Ottoman Empire in the mercantilist ages. [source]

Surnames in Siberia: A study of the population of Yakutia through isonymy

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
L. Tarskaia
Abstract We studied the isonymic structure of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), in the Russian Federation, using the surname distributions of 491,259 citizens above 18 years registered as residents in 2002. These were distributed in 35 districts and 497 towns and settlements of the Republic. The number of different surnames was 44,625. Matrices of isonymic distances between the 35 districts were tested for correlation with the geographic distance between the population centers of gravity of thedistricts. We found that, for the whole of Yakutia, Nei's distance was correlated with geographic distance (r = 0.693 ± 0.027). A dendrogram of the 35 districts was built from the distance matrix, using the UPGMA method. The clusters identified by the dendrogram correlate with the geographic position of the districts. The correlation of random inbreeding calculated from isonymy, FST, with latitude was positive and highly significant but weak (r = 0.23). So, inbreeding was highest in the Arctic districts, and lowest in the South. Average , for 497 towns was 107, for 35 districts it was 311, and for the Republic 433. The value of , was higher for Russian than for the local languages. The geographical distribution of ,, high in the Center and South-East and lower in the North-West, is compatible with the settlement of groups of migrants moving from the South-East toward the center and the North of Yakutia. It is proposed that low-density demic diffusion of human populations results in high inbreeding and may have been a general phenomenon in the early phases of human radiations. Am J Phys Anthropol 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]