Years In City Research Articles

Comparing Attachment to God and Identity Styles and Psychological Well-being in Married Teachers: With Regard to Demographic Factors

The purpose of this research was to compare attachment to God and identity styles and psychological well-being in married teachers with regard to demographic factors including gender and teaching level. The research method is descriptive and ex-post facto type. The research population involves all married teachers of Mashhad city in year 2013 who were studying in Farhangian university of Khorasan Razavi. 330 people, who were selected by using simple random sampling method, responded to Ryff psychological wellbeing, ISI identity styles and Sim and Loh attachment to God questionnaires. The data were analyzed in descriptive like frequency, average, standard deviation and inference statistic such as independent T-test with SPSS-20 statistic program. The results show that the average scores of attachment to God, psychological well-being and informational identity style have significant difference in male and female teachers (P<0/01). Nevertheless, the average scores of normative and avoidant/diffusive identity styles don’t have significant difference in male and female teachers. Also the results suggested that there is not a significant difference in the average scores of none of research variables among teachers with different teaching level.

Urban Renewal in Historical Cities in China: Exploring Methods based on Urban Form Studies

With unprecedented urban extension in China, issues concerned with urban renewal have drawn wider attentions than ever before especially in historical cities. However, an unreasonable short-term process including investment, demolition and redevelopment which accords with neither the status quo in China nor the objectives of urban renewal, has taken place in many Chinese cities for years. The main purpose of this paper is to find a solution to problems during the urban renewal in historical cities in China. By utilizing a morphological approach based on historic-geographical environment which is developed by Conzenian Schools, this paper first conducts a series of urban form analysis of three figures involving ground plan (including sites, streets, plots and the groundfloor plan of the buildings), building fabric (especially building types) and land use in the case study of Ayidun area in Yi’ning of China. Then, a composite map of urban landscape units is drawn based on the three figures above and historical maps (i.e. 1958, 1978, 2003, and 2013). The hierarchy of priority for conservation is delimited by studies upon the landscape unit map afterwards. Moreover, a series of recommended management for urban renewal about each landscape unit is tentatively laid out, which can be adopted by the authorities in future managing affairs. In the end, how to involve more public participation in the process of urban renewal is also discussed.

Influence of Festival Celebration on Concentrations of PM&lt;sub&gt;2.5&lt;/sub&gt;, PM&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt;, SO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in Shenyang City

The daily pollutant variations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and NO2 are useful for environment protection and advices for human health. Two years data from three different time period before Spring Festival (SF), after SF and after Lantern Festival (LF) in Shenyang city of year 2013 and 2014 was analyzed. Results showed that concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and NO2 were higher in 2014 than those in 2013, especially for SO2 and NO2; Among the three periods, concentrations of four air pollutants followed the sequence of after LF &gt; before SF &gt; after SF and road traffic emissions are more contributive than firework combustion during the festival celebration. We conclude that air pollution in Shenyang City is worsening and more influenced by vehicular pollution.

The Relationship between ABO Blood Group and Glioblastoma Multiforme

Abstract Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most common type of primary brain tumor and its prognosis is poor. Some studies have investigated the relationship between ABO Blood Groups and cancer risk. In this study we evaluated the patients with GBM and control group regarding ABO Blood Groups. Secondly we compared the progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) regarding ABO Blood Group in patients with GBM. A total of 72 patients with GBM were enrolled from Mersin Government Hospital, Acibadem Kayseri Hospital and Kayseri Training and Research Hospital between 2006-2012. Healthy donors that were admitted to the Turkish Red Crescent Blood Service in our city in year 2012 were selected as control group. Both of groups were compared regarding ABO Blood Groups. The PFS and OS were evaluated according to ABO Blood Groups in patients with GBM. We did not find any significant difference regarding the ratio of ABO Blood Groups between patients with GBM and control group. And there were no significant difference for PFS and OS among O, A, B, AB groups in patients with GBM. According to our results, comparison of control group with healthy donors and GBM patients, the ratio of blood groups was similar in both. And ABO Blood Groups have no effect on PFS and OS in patients with GBM. Also further studies are needed to explain whether there is any relationship between ABO Blood Group and Glioblastoma Multiforme. Key words: Glioblastoma, blood groups, survival, brain tumors

Short term health effect of PM10 in selected cities of Central Europe between 2006-2010

Background/Aims: By declaring 2013 the Year of Air the EU called the attention on the importance of improving air quality. The adverse impacts of PM are well known, methodologies of health impact assessments are available. We aimed to study the short term effects of air pollution in central European cities in order to provide municipalities with data. Methods: Daily mean PM10 concentrations were provided by the environmental agencies of the relevant countries/regions. Total non external mortality and population data were gained from the statistical offices. The yearly excess death cases attributable to daily mean PM10 &gt;50 µg/m3 was calculated by the free software AirQ2.2 developed by WHO. The potential benefit of reducing PM10 concentration was computed using two scenarios (reducing yearly mean concentration by 5 µg/m3, respectively to 20 µg/m3 by the APHEKOM methodology in Sosnowiec (Poland), Usti nad Labem (Czech Republic) Velenje (Slovenia), Várpalota (Hungary), Turin (Italy) in the period of 2006-2010. Results: The yearly mean PM10 concentration was between 64.2 (Turin 2006) and 21.9 µg/m3 (Velenje 2008). The excess mortality due to the short term impact of daily mean PM10 concentration over 50 µg/m3 was between 0.4-12.4 death cases per 100 000 in 2006, in the most polluted year and between 0.1-8.6 cases per 100 000 in the least polluted year 2009. The two scenarios of potential benefit of the reduction of PM10 showed that the gain is bigger if the yearly mean concentration is reduced to 20 µg/m3. The gain was the highest in each city in year 2006 saving the lives between 1.9 (Velenje) and 25.4 people (Sosnowiec) per 100 000 inhabitants. The reduction of concentration by 5 µg/m3 would save less lives in year 2006 (between 1-13 cases/100 000) in each city. Conclusion: Based on the study a SWOT analysis should be carried out to prepare a common intervention strategy. The study was funded by the Take A Breath/TAB Central Europe Programme 2007-2013/3CE356PE.

A Study of the Family Cohesion in Families with Mentally Disable Children

The aim of the present research was to study the Family cohesion in families with mentally retarded children. The sample of the study was the parents of 138 Mental Retarded students at primary and secondary schools in Amol and Babol cities in year 2007 - 2008. Bloom and Naar's (1994) scale of family cohesion was used in this study. Findings of the research showed there is a significant difference between understanding of father and mother family cohesion. Family cohesion can play an important role as one of the major supportive resources for families with mentally disable children.

Design as Activism in Helsinki

ABSTRACTThis article sketches out the emergence of an activist mode of design in the Finnish capital, Helsinki—a phenomenon that became particularly apparent during the city's year as World Design Capital in 2012. It gives examples of design activism, paying attention to their different political positionings in the contemporary landscape of urban change-making. It shows that design becomes entangled in problematic ways with official urban policy, even as it fuels an exciting and popular “urban vibe.” The article adopts an anthropological sensitivity to context, highlighting Finland's heritage of consensus politics and design's historical role in fostering national identity and supporting industry. In this light, the current embrace of activist design in Helsinki, from DIY culture to government policy, becomes both understandable and more open to critical reflection. The suggestion is that, as part of urban policy, alongside creativity, innovation, and participatory decision-making, design should also be subjected to deep and consequential critique.

Lessons from The Cultural and Political Economy of Recovery

Introduction Hurricane Katrina's arrival at Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005 was only first in a chain of events that would change face of city for years to come. Between dramatic beating from storm and second wave of damage from broken levee, communities throughout city suffered enormous damage. Destruction to property was estimated to total between $125 and $165 billion while 270,000 homes were ruined and 1,600 lives were lost (Chamlee-Wright 2010: 1). Ks Emily Chamlee-Wright's The Cultural and Political Economy of Recover. demonstrates, responses of communities within New Orleans in days and months immediately following disaster played an important role in determining how and indeed if these devastated communities would recover. (1) At theoretical level Chamlee-Wright's book to better understand nature of relationship between market behavior and cultural context within which exchange takes place. For this particular endeavor Chamlee-Wright borrows both methods and insights from anthropology, sociology, and economics to ask question of how cultural context of various New Orleans communities affected market processes and social order. Her primary empirical tool is an extensive face-to-face interview process that enables Chamlee-Wright to gather, to greatest extent possible, in-depth local knowledge of those who actually experienced Katrina and its aftermath. The gathering of personal knowledge through interview process allows Chamlee-Wright to illuminate impact of culture on broader recovery process. This essay reviews four of central themes in The Cultural and Political Economy of Recovery: (1) cultural toolkit, (2) use of qualitative methods in social science research, (3) polycentricism and disaster recovery, and (4) entrepreneurship in non-priced environments. Our purpose is twofold. First, to make clear Chamlee-Wright's contributions to our understanding of disaster recovery. Second, to demonstrate how these themes provide an opportunity for interdisciplinary/exchange by blending insights from across social sciences. In what follows we dedicate a section to reach of four themes. In each case we provide a brief overview of Chamlee-Wright's core arguments, as well as areas for future research and exploration. The Cultural Toolkit At outset, Chamlee-Wright describes her project as an exercise in cultural economy, a research program that seeks to understand why and how market processes work within specific cultural contexts (Chamlee-Wright 2010: 16). The key intellectual progenitors of this research program are a diverse and multi-disciplinary group including: classical economist Adam Smith, political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville, new institutional economist Douglass North, and cultural sociologist Ann Swidler. The intellectual core shared by all of these scholars, including Chamlee-Wright, is notion that context within which a society operates will influence functioning of market and other social processes. For Chamlee-Wright, socio-economic outcomes are result of complex interactions between culture and institutional rules of community in question. She proposes that these interacting processes can be divided into four categories, each of which affects and is affected by every other: generalized norms, social networks, shared mental models, and cultural tools. In combination these processes form the structure of socially embedded resources (Chamlee-Wright 2010: 16). Generalized norms and social networks are highly similar phenomena, with both seen as generally arising from repeated mutually beneficial social interaction. Their compatibility is illustrated with example that a social network of individuals who grow to trust each other can lead to a general social norm of trust in exchange. Mental models and cultural tools are also similar in nature. …

Broken Streets of My City

My city has broken streetsand no one to fix them.There is a street I embraced, a lover.FallingI caressed the pavementwith my flesh.Afterward I lost courage.I wanted to walk in my city with my eyeslooking at those who look at me.But now I am afraid.I watch where I step.My city has broken streets.I have fallen.Been hurt.For months I sangan old lullaby to myselfso I could fall asleep,the one my motherused to sing to me-This pretty little girlwho was born in the daytimeshe wants to be taken to the candy store.I write with sore fingers, my wrist stiff.I wanted to walk in my city with my eyes closed.Like in a dream.Like in a trance.The way I do when I dance the tango.I have only danced the tango once in La Habana.He treated me like an old woman.I haven't danced again.The treesburst through the pavement.Roots crackingopen the streetsas if they were eggshells.Little cliffs everywhere.Step up, step down.Look where you're going.Watch for loose rocks.I need someone to hold my handto walk in the streets of my city.How ripped apart I felt.Torn tissues.Torn muscles.Torn ligaments.I am older now.I don't recover easily.In pain I slept, in pain,my arm resting on a pillow.My city has broken streets.The earth wantsto take them back.I saw the sea take backthe streets along the Maleconweaving up to Linea and G.Streets that once belonged to the sea.The sea takes backwhat belonged to her.That is the way of the sea.The sea remembersall her stolen shores.That is the way of the sea.As the waves rosetall and magnificentI sat with three womenwho bowed their headsand sang, ''Agua, Yemaya, agua.''And the earth is taking back her streets.Trees and roots breaking freefrom straitjackets of concrete.I come back.An old child.Now they call me senora.I still come backafter so many years.An old little girl.Una nina vieja.My mother and father don't wantme to come back.They don't want tohold my hands,stand at either side of meso I won't fall.I walk all by myself.And look what happened-I fell!I fell!I walked by myself and I fell.Flat on my arm.My writing arm.My right arm.Oh how it hurts when I write!Look at these arms-skin freckled and sagging.Look at my hands-veins thick, fingers stubby.I thought I still looked good.I thought I was the same womanwho first returned nineteen years ago.I was almost young then.I still use the picture from those dayswhen they ask me for a pictureto advertise one of my lectures.My hair was thick and curly.Now it's starting to turn gray.I have to get back to Michiganso Patty can dye the roots.I have more gray than I realized.Here in Cuba I don't trust anyonewith my hair, that is the truth, forgive me.Usually I go to the salon every six weeks.Linea is the same as Calle 11.And Calzada is Calle 5.Why did it take me so long to know that?I walked the streets of my cityfor years and yearsnever knowing that.I was always lost.Now I know which way to walktoward the sea,away from the sea.After nineteen years I know.But now I fall.No one to hold my lefthand.Or my right hand.No one.I want my mother and my father to walk with me.I know they will reproach me,scold me for bringing them here again-''You can't even walk on these streets! …

FEMALE VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Objectives: To ascertain the incidence of sexual violence in Faisalabad city and to analyze the data with respect to demographics, presentation and pattern of physical injuries and evidence collection from victims of sexual violence. Method: This cross sectional study was conducted on 93 alleged victims of sexual violence at the medico legal clinics in Allied hospital. DHQ hospital &amp; Government General Hospital in Faisalabad city in year 2008. Results: 51.6% cases belonged to age group between 10-19 years and 63.45% were unmarried. In 59.1% cases the offender was previously known to the victim and in 31.18% cases two or more persons were involved in the act. There was more than 15 days delay of presentation to the hospital in 36.56% cases. In 13.98% cases non genital injuries and sign of struggle were present on the body of the victim while only 7.53% cases presented with genital injuries. In 80.64% cases the swabs sent to chemical examiner were positive for semen. Conclusions: The incidence of sexual violence is on the rise in Faisalabad city. Sexual violence was frequently seen in unmarried young females with late presentation due to social stigma. Sexual violence was associated with genital as well as non genital injuries. There should be clear guidelines regarding evidence collection and these should be disseminated and implemented nationally.

HUBUNGAN UNSUR IKLIM DENGAN KEJADIAN PENYAKIT DEMAM BERDARAH DENGUE KOTA PEKANBARU TAHUN 1999-2008

The incident Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) in Pekanbaru city from year 1999-2008 always happened case fluctuation. This research aim to know relationship betwen climate with occurrence of DHFin Pekanbaru city of Year 1999-2008.The designing of research is ecology study with type of Times Study series (Time Trend Study) representing study of observational analytic. The data is from secondary data of case of DHF and climate data covering temperature, dampness, rainfall, rain day and speed of wind duringyear 1999 - 2008. The processing of data done computerized and analysed with Correlation test and Regretion. Result of research indicate that strength relation betwen temperature with occurrence of DHFis weak (r = 0, 086), negativepattern and the relation which unsignificant ( p=0,348). Strength relation of dampness with occurrence of DHF is weak (r = 0,061), negative pattern and the relation which unsignificant ( p=0,510). Strength relation of rainfall with occurrence of DHFis weak (r= 0, 1 42), positivepattern and the relation which unsignificant (p=0,142). Strength relation of rain day with occurrence of DHF is weak(r = 0,056), positivepattern and the relation which unsignificant ( p=0,544). Strength of relation speed of wind with occurrence of DBD is weak (r = 0,080), negative pattern and the relation which is unsignificant ( p=0,384).From result of research can be concluded that there is no relationship between element of climate with incident of DHF. It's expected to raising illumination aboutDHFby Public Health Service, besides community activation for efforts to eliminate mosquitoporous with 3Mplus movement and mutualcooperation.

Runaway Romances: Hollywood's Postwar Tour of Europe (review)

Reviewed by: Runaway Romances: Hollywood's Postwar Tour of Europe William Graebner Runaway Romances: Hollywood's Postwar Tour of Europe. By Robert R. Shandley. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 2009 The poster of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn scootering around Rome in William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953) has been a best seller in the Eternal City for years, probably decades. It has a lot to do with the Vespa they're riding, of course, but Robert R. Shandley's delightful and perceptive Runaway Romances offers a more complex understanding not only of that poster's ongoing appeal, but of a genre of films he calls "travelogue romances," appearing between 1947 and 1964. Most but not all of the films in the genre include a travelogue sequence; a woman who comes to Europe seeking renewal or self-discovery, often of a sexual kind; issues of social class; and the protagonist's decision to return home (usually America) to "remain morally anchored" (56). Because the women at the center of these films were (like Frank and April Wheeler of Richard Yates's Revolutionary Road [1961]) in flight from the comfortable, uninspiring boredom of America life, and because most of the films were made all or partly in Europe by troubled Hollywood studios in search of a new business model, Shandley refers to them as "runaway" films. One of six chapters is given over to Roman Holiday (the "'runaway' princess" in a runaway film [39]), and another to explaining Hollywood's new inclination to overseas production. A chapter subtitled "Metaphors of Transatlantic Relations" offers brief but revealing treatments of September Affair (1950), Indiscretion of an American Wife (David Lean, 1953), Summertime (1955) and Interlude (Douglas Sirk, 1957). Other chapters deal with the problems presented to the genre (e.g., in Three Coins in the Fountain [1954] and Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief [1955]) by new widescreen technologies better suited to spectacle than narrative tension; changing ideas of the postwar occupation of Germany; and the decline of the genre as it turns dark (The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone [1961]) and moves into self-reflexive parody (Paris, When It Sizzles [1964]). Shandley's solid grasp of the basics of filmmaking is apparent throughout, and he is a careful, credible, trustworthy reader of film narrative, often getting at meaning by [End Page 180] looking at how films create and solve problems. But Shandley is perhaps on less secure ground in claiming that the "project" of the runaway romance was "investigating the newly reconfigured relationship between Americans and Europeans" (xvi). To be sure, the German occupation films fit that description, but, as Shandley says, they make up a sub-genre, not quite the real thing. Elsewhere, he notes that the Europe offered in the genre is "one that has no intrinsic meaning itself. . . . Europe and Europeans are not real" (69). Europe has meaning in these films, but it is meaning projected from afar, and meaning grounded, as Shandley's film narratives and readings make clear, in the domestic frustrations and desires of postwar American women, who wanted a ride on that Vespa. That's the main lesson of this thoughtful and engaging book. William Graebner State University of New York at Fredonia Copyright © 2011 Mid-America American Studies Association

Agglomeration, productivity, and spatial spillovers across Chinese cities

This paper investigates the causal relationship between, and the determinants of, urban labor productivity and industrial agglomeration across Chinese cities. We extend the Ciccone and Hall (Am Econ Rev 86(1):54–70, 1996) production density model by distinguishing between the size of the industrial sector and the density of the urban economy in order to examine the effects of industry agglomeration and congestion on urban productivity. We also account for the endogeneity of industrial agglomeration and propose a simultaneous equation model to estimate the determinants of urban productivity and agglomeration. A spatial econometric analysis across 617 Chinese cities in year 2005 shows that the spatial concentration of industrial production is an important cause of higher productivity in large industrial cities and cities in neighboring regions, where higher productivity resulting from concentrated industrial production then leads to further agglomeration in these cities. Controlling for the size of the industrial sector, employment density has a negative effect on urban productivity. We conclude by briefly discussing potential policy implications of the empirical findings.

An integrated approach to water conservation for large users

Water conservation programs targeted at large users will play an integral role securing water supplies for cities in years to come. A hierarchical approach to water conservation—reducing consumption as a priority, then considering internal re-use of water and replacement of potable water with alternative sources—should be the key principle in sustainable water management. The application of this approach relies on a sound understanding of water consumption at a site: where water is used, why, when and how. This entails smart- and sub-metering of the water supply and detailed analysis of site activities to produce a site water balance. The hierarchical approach can then be applied, and conservation options can be costed to assess financial viability. ‘Packaging’ measures with different payback times together should be considered, along with funding support available. Based on implemented projects in Australia, an estimated 30% of potable water consumption within the commercial and industrial sectors could be saved at attractive payback periods. By adopting this integrated water conservation and management approach the same outcomes can be achieved with less potable water consumption. Appropriate source substitution is a pillar of sustainable water supply, providing water at less environmental, social and financial cost than the alternatives.

An integrated approach to water conservation for large users

Water conservation programs targeted at large users will play an integral role in securing water supplies for Australian cities in years to come. A hierarchical approach to water conservation – reducing consumption as a priority, then considering internal reuse of water and replacement of potable water with alternative sources – should be the key principle in sustainable water management. The application of this approach relies on a sound understanding of water consumption at a site: where water is used, why, when and how. This entails sub-and smart-metering of the water supply, and detailed analysis of site activities to produce a robust site water balance. The hierarchical approach can then be applied, and conservation options can be costed to assess financial viability. “Packaging” measures with different payback times together should be considered, along with funding support available. Based on implemented projects, an estimated 30% of potable water consumption within the commercial and industrial sectors could be saved at attractive payback periods. By adopting this sensible, integrated water conservation and management approach, the same outcomes can be achieved with less potable water consumption. Appropriate source substitution is a pillar of sustainable water supply, providing water at less environmental, social and financial cost than the alternatives.

Unveiling Hidden Districts: Assessing the Adoption Patterns of Business Improvement Districts in California

I use the results of a survey on the adoption patterns of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the state of California to begin filling a gap in our understanding of the role and prominence of the broader class of special assessment districts. A BID is formed when a majority of merchants or property owners in a commercial neighborhood votes in favor of a package of local taxes and expenditures; once passed, assessments are legally binding on all members of the commercial neighborhood. I find that roughly half of all larger cities in California have at least one BID; among the universe of cities in four Southern California counties, that figure falls to about one-fifth. I combine the survey data with demographic, institutional and political data and find that BID adoption modestly increases in residential heterogeneity and more strongly decreases in a city's year of incorporation, which I interpret as a measure of the importance of the collective action problem in older commercial neighborhoods.

Exploring Reasons for Bed Pressures in Winnipeg Acute Care Hospitals

Hospital overcrowding has plagued Winnipeg and other Canadian cities for years. This study explored factors related to overcrowding. Hospital files were used to examine patterns of hospital use from fiscal years 1996/1997 to 1999/2000. Chart reviews were conducted to examine appropriateness of admissions and hospital stays during one pressure week. Results indicate that pressure periods in the hospital system were driven by an influx of older adults with influenza-associated respiratory illnesses. Moreover, examination of one specific pressure week showed that at least 100 beds were occupied by patients who likely did not require acute care. The chart review revealed that a substantial proportion of non-acute patient-days were spent awaiting home care, long-term care, or diagnostic testing services. These findings suggest future bed pressures might be prevented through influenza vaccination and an increase in the availability of--and timely transfer to--alternative levels of care.

Urban renaissance: from physical beautification to social empowerment

Will culture increasingly become a constellation of highly profitable niche markets, only accessible to the better‐off middle class? And will it therefore join the movement of market fundamentalism that, in many Western societies, has abandoned social housing, emancipatory education and public space for the exclusive game of high profitability investments and upper‐class ideology‐formation, in which the beautification of run‐down urban neighbourhoods plays a leading role? Or are we witnessing a revival of popular culture that will contribute to the integration of excluded groups within the social fabric? This special feature examines these questions, always central ones for City, and explains how strategies to democratize culture offer solutions for the paradoxes (insurmountable contradictions, as the capitalist class would argue) of the workfare state and urban renewal policies. The feature flows from an event organized in Bruges as a challenge and a critique to the city's year as ‘Cultural Capital of Europe’ and includes contributions from artists, local historians and activists, a schoolteacher and scholars from the universities. The diversity of voices is intentional.

Zipf's Law for Cities and Beyond: The Case of Denmark

Zipf's law for cities is one of the most conspicuous and robust empirical facts in the social sciences. It says that for most countries, the size distribution of cities must fit the power law: the number of cities with populations greater than S is inversely proportional to S. The present paper answers three questions related to Zipf's law: (1) does the Danish case refute Zipf's law for cities?, (2) what are the implications of Zipf's law for models of local growth?, and (3) do we have a Zipf's law for firms? Based on empirical data on the 61 largest Danish cities for year 2000, the answer to (1) is NO—the Danish case is not the exception which refutes Zipf's law. The consideration of (2) then leads to an empirical test of (3). The question of the existence of Zipf's law for firms is tested on a sample of 14,541 Danish production companies (the total population for 1997 with 10 employees or more). Based on the empirical evidence, the answer to (3) is YES in the sense that the growth pattern of Danish production companies follows a clean rank‐size distribution consistent with Zipf's law.

An Interview with James Crumley

AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMES CRUMLEY James Crumley© Steve Collector James Crumley is the author of a collection of short fiction and essays, The Muddy Fork and Other Things and four novels: One to Count Cadence, The Wrong Case, The Last Good Kiss, and Dancing Bear. For the past several years he has divided his time between Los Angeles, where he writes screenplays, and Missoula, Montana. His fifth novel, The Mexican Tree Duck, is forthcoming. This interview was conducted by Kay Bonetti, Director of the American Audio Prose Library, in Columbia, Missouri in April, 1992, in cooperation with The Missouri Review. The Prose Library offers tapes of American authors reading and discussing their work. For information contact AAPL at P.O. Box 842, Columbia, MO 65205. An Interview with James CrumleyIKay Bonetti Bonetti: Mr. Crumley, you grew up in south Texas, didn't you? Where is south Texas, exactly? Crumley: Tm not sure. It has to be south of San Antonio and west of Victoria, and east of Laredo, and north of the Rio Grande VaUey. I was born in south Texas, then lived in New Mexico and Arizona until I was seven and we moved back to the HUl Country. We didn't get back to south Texas until I was almost eight. Bonetti: Tve noticed the presence of strong, older women in your fiction. They're sometimes positive figures, sometimes negative and, more often than not, very complex. Was there a strong matriarchal pattern in your famUy? Crumley: I came from a matriarchal, Scotch-Irish clan. In any kind of economic subsistence situation women seem to take charge. Up until I was fourteen, my big grandma lived in a half-house, half-barn with dirt floors and no electricity and no telephone. My mother's mother, my grandma, was a cook in a hotel in Johnson City for years and years and years and years after her husband died as a result of a motorcycle accident. As a widow with four children stiU at home, she lived through some straitened circumstances, to say the least. My mother grew up poor, and she always felt poor no matter how much money my father made. There was a strong sense that came from my mother that we weren't as good as the people in the town where we Uved, and I think there was a strong sense from the town that we were newcomers. My mother stiU Uves in that Uttle town in south Texas and occasionaUy I stiU hear her say that she's never reaUy been accepted. I suspect a lot of that is her own sensitivity, but there's no way to know. When I was younger I couldn't eat in restaurants because I was so selfThe Missouri Review · 81 conscious and nervous. Now I don't seem to have any trouble eating anywhere. Bonetti: What did your dad do for a living? Crumley: My father worked in the oilfield most of his Ufe. During World War II he worked in the civU service as an aircraft mechanic. After he came back he started off driving a bulldozer and a truck, and worked his way up to general superintendent of a smaU independent driUing company. Bonetti: Would it be fair to say that the women were a stronger influence? Crumley: My mother has three sisters, so I was pretty much raised by women, but in that society men don't define themselves by women, they define themselves by work. I started going with my father around the oil patch as soon as I was old enough to climb into the pickup truck, and as soon as I was old enough to reach the brake and the clutch Td drive him around. I got to spend a lot of time with my father, but I also spent a lot of time around women. I can't think of any older women who were role models, but women seem to be the people who had the stories. I've never really thought about these things. I just don't know how much effect my Ufe has had on my fiction. I reinvent my Ufe periodicaUy, but I think...