Interest In Geography Research Articles

Research on interdisciplinary project-based geography fieldwork in education for sustainable development

<p>The ability to solve real-world problems for a sustainable future has become a worldwide consensus, and interdisciplinary competencies and project-based learning (PBL) have become the focus of curriculum reform in China. This study investigates the effectiveness of interdisciplinary PBL fieldwork in geography education for sustainable development, focusing on the perceptions of students from a junior high school in Chongming, Shanghai, of the interdisciplinary effectiveness of PBL fieldwork. Over a one-month pilot program, the results suggest that the new fieldwork approach did not achieve the expected benefits. The significant gains of students can be grouped into four perspectives, namely, understanding of nature and classroom knowledge; problem-solving skills and environmental action; scientific spirit, environmental awareness, and interest in geography; and understanding of local needs and sustainable development issues, which increased their interest in learning. The students generally accepted the ability to collect information and data and the thinking ability of circular development. The influencing factors of activity effectiveness include the time and difficulty of the activity, cognitive and knowledge levels, learning habits of students, student participation, and teaching experience of teachers. The study offers valuable insights for improving fieldwork in other regions and for future research.<strong></strong></p>

The Apotheosis of Mountains: Sacred Space, Symbolic Landscape, and National Consciousness in Ch’oe Namsŏn’s T’aebaek Poetry

Abstract Ch’oe Namsŏn was a key figure in the introduction of geography into the print media culture of early twentieth-century Chosŏn. Ch’oe used geography as a tool, creating a new territorial consciousness for national cohesion, and this article explores how this greatly shaped his poetic landscape. Locating itself between the boundaries of literary studies and cultural geography, this work looks at Ch’oe’s underexplored T’aebaek poetry, in which his interests in geography, history, and national identity significantly converge. Drawing on “Mount Taebaek” of Korea’s past, Ch’oe fashions the mountain into a pseudo-religious icon of nationhood. A symbolic landscape, evocative of a uniquely Korean past yet rising as a global icon going into a modern world, Ch’oe’s poetry creates a godlike figure for the Korean people to look to in a changing time of imperialism, nationalism, and modern progress. Through various iterations of T’aebaek—benevolent deity, bringer of modernity, omnipotent ruler of the world—one sees the mountain play a vital role in the shaping of Ch’oe’s nationalist project, which would have continued influence on his writings later in life.

Geographical Evaluation of Real Estate Services Offices in the City of Abha - Saudi Arabia, A Geographical Study using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Service geography is one of the branches of applied geography that has emerged as an applied intellectual interest to engage with the immediate direct needs of both urban and rural communities. The importance of studying services is due to their connection to economic planning, so geographical interest in them increases, as applied geography is based on a specific approach and philosophy of relevance or social benefit that focuses on the application of geographical knowledge and skills. To come up with solutions to real-world social, economic and environmental problems. The study focused on the use of geographic information systems in analyzing the geographic calendar of rental offices in the city of Abha, relying on the most important applied aspects of geographic information systems represented in spatial analysis. To reveal the characteristics of the spatial distribution of rental offices and their distribution pattern, and to evaluate the efficiency of their distribution according to the local standard. The study came out with a number of results and recommendations, and also verified the hypotheses assumed by the researchers.

High-skilled migration and the knowledge society. Theories, processes, perspectives

The recent economic crisis has led to an upswing in migration from the Mediterranean countries of Europe towards its central and northern development hubs. This overall increase in migration also includes high numbers of the so-called skilled migrants, consisting mainly, though not exclusively, of young people moving within Europe for study or specialisation, or seeking employment that matches their skills profile. It is no coincidence then that this new trend for skilled migration within Europe forms the main thrust of the cognitive and research interests of sociologists, economists and migration geographers. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the theoretical debate on skilled migration in the context of what is perhaps too hastily defined as a ?knowledge society?, through a broad and systematic critical analysis of the scientific literature.

Szanse reintegracji a remediacja cyfrowa geografii

Nowadays, geographers and specialists in other disciplines perceive information and communication technologies, including GIS software, as part of the inevitable changes in practice and science (including geography). Recent ways of generating, processing, storing, analyzing and sharing data, creating and sharing texts, visualizing, mapping, analyzing, communicating ideas, video, podcasts, and presentations, sharing information, social networks and mainstream media are entirely dependent on computing technologies. Modern science in the digital age uses big data, artificial intelligence – machine learning methods (data mining, pattern recognition, geovisualization, spatial statistics, optimization and spatial simulation), which in turn have renewed interest in and ties with the fields of computational social sciences and data-driven geography, to gain deeper insights into quantitative, time-scale, multi-resolution and multi-scale research. The tool and product of a geographer’s research is, among other things, the map, a medium, a vehicle for geographic theories and ideas and a tool for conveying geo-information. However, the remediation of a traditional map into a digital map involves the transformation, addition, restriction or change of the meaning system of the original. The new digital medium arouses different attitudes, different emotions and triggers new practices of receiving geo-information among professionals and the public. Undoubtedly, this also applies to researchers–geographers who apply in their geospatial research multi-, inter- or transdisciplinary approaches based on different research paradigms. Integrated and problem-focused scientific discourse in geographic research and digital remediation of maps allow us to look at the future of (currently diversified) geographic research with some hope for its reintegration. The aim of the paper is to identify the possibilities, current and prospective paths and research topics of geography in Poland, which are interdisciplinary, combining the field of interest of physical, socio-economic geographers and specialists of space economy, using the modern instrumentarium of information and communication technologies in geography, i.e. geographic information systems.

Sources of geography class enjoyment and boredom among bhutanese secondary school students

This qualitative study explored the potential sources of enjoyment and boredom in geography classes among Bhutanese secondary school students. Utilizing open-ended surveys and semi-structured interviews, 206 participants aged 17 to 22, predominantly from classes 11 and 12, shared their perspectives. The thematic analysis of the data revealed four sources that contributed to students' enjoyment and boredom in geography classes. The findings on sources of enjoyment included sources like enthusiasm, encouragement, friendliness and support which emerged as crucial contributors to enjoyment. Moreover, video-integrated lessons, field trips, and challenging and hands-on activities, actively contributed to positive emotional experiences. Additionally, individual interest in geography, aspirations to become geographers, the relevance of materials and topics to learners' interests, were found to enhance geography class enjoyment. Conversely, the findings on sources of boredom included monotonous teaching methods, poorly prepared lessons, difficult content, dissatisfaction with presentation tasks, textbook-based activities, lack of interest in the subject or negative moods linked to boredom. Altogether, this study contributes to the growing research trend, focusing on the dimensions of students' emotions in the learning process. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations are made and directions for future research are presented.

СРЕДНЕВЕКОВЫЕ АРАБСКИЕ ГЕОГРАФИЧЕСКИЕ ТЕКСТЫ И КАРТЫ

Over the centuries, the interest of scholars in Arabic medieval sources on geography and geographical maps has been growing. This is connected with the important contribution of the Arab-Muslim civilization to the development of ideas about the inner and surrounding world, on the one hand, and the desire to restore or renew the history of various peoples involved in the zone of research interests of Arabic-speaking geographers, on the other hand. The authors of the article considered the sources stored in European repositories, available for study thanks to the descriptions and publications of Western orientalists, while discovering some trends manifested in the academic traditions of different stages of the development of historical geography. The interest of scientists of the 19th century was directed primarily to medieval texts, which were considered the primary and most important object for research, and the establishment of their authenticity was perceived as the main task of critical analysis of their content. As for maps, only in recent decades, did the historical and cultural context of this pictorial genre begin to be interpreted by scholars in all their fullness and functionality and published in the form of atlases, books, and encyclopedias, inviting readers to immerse themselves in a re-evaluated cultural tradition. The article aims to determine the features of different approaches to the interpretation of geographical Arabic-language sources in European oriental studies. For this purpose, critical editions of the sources undertaken in the projects of the Leiden and Bodleian libraries were studied and their characteristics were revealed through historical and comparative methods of analysis. The general dynamics in understanding historical geography from primarily philological textological work to cultural and interdisciplinary reevaluation of medieval Islamic maps is noted.

Jeannette Power e Benedetto Marzolla. Incroci tra eccellenze “geografiche” nel Sud

Jeannette Villepreux Power (1794-1871) has been an important scientist in the 19th century, primarily a marine biologist. Having lived for a long time in Messina, when the city of the Straits played an important cultural and economic role in the Sicily of the time and throughout the Kingdom, she matured a detailed and, in some regards, original knowledge of the region and translated it into a Guide to Sicily published in Naples at Cirelli’s in 1842. The Guide was accompanied by one of the most valuable chorographic maps, a lithograph work by the great cartographer Benedetto Marzolla, namely, the best that could be displayed at that time. There are also three plans or topographies of archaeological sites, Syracuse, Girgenti/Agrigento and Selinunte, the chalcographic work of Gabriello De Sanctis, a well-known cartographer and publishing operator in the Nineteenth Century. Power’s Guide and Marzolla’s map of Sicily show considerable geographical interest for two reasons: the author’s territorial and cultural observations and Marzolla’s technical skill and cartographic artistry, a combination hard to find elsewhere; and a further indication of the vibrancy and validity of the cartographic, geographical and territorial culture pertaining in Naples and the Kingdom (e.g., Messina) in the Nineteenth Century, trends that were dormant and denied after the Unification of Italy.

Sonic colonialities: Listening, dispossession, and the (re)making of Anglo‐European nature

AbstractCreative and feminist geographers position listening as a way to build more responsive, ethical, and reciprocal relations to people and environments. In this paper I argue that for geographers to situate listening – in the broadest definition as ‘sensing, attuning, and noticing’ – as part of a creative approach to reparative practice, we must first understand how Anglo‐European modes of listening and interpreting the world through sound are shaped by ‘sonic colonialities’. These are encultured ways of apprehending and narrating environments that are derived from the Eurocentric fetish for pre‐colonial natures, imagined as discrete, unmediated, and possessable. Given the now prolific interest of geographers in sonic practices, this paper argues for a closer and more critical attention to how listening and sound methods are inherently determined by sonic colonialities. Using the example of field recordings, I show how such practices create and perpetuate divisive ideas of nature and place within contemporary ecological sound art.

Consumer Interest in Total Ankle Replacements Over the Last 10 Years: A Google Trends™ Analysis From 2009 to 2019

With an aging population, the incidence of osteoarthritis (OA) continues to grow. After exhausting conservative therapy for many forms of OA, patients regularly opt for surgical intervention in the form of total joint replacement surgery. One form, total ankle replacement, has continued to gain favorability in the medical community. Improved implant design and surgical technique have enabled success rates of total ankle replacements to approach those of the hip and knee. As a new and improving therapy to address end-stage ankle OA, knowledge of patient-interest has yet to be determined. We used search inquiry data for the keywords “ankle arthritis” “ankle replacement” and “ankle fusion” available from Google Trends™ to identify trends in patient and geographic interest from 2009 to 2019. Search inquiries significantly increased for all keywords over time (p < .001). Trend analysis over this 10-year period revealed a strong correlation for ankle arthritis (0.88) and ankle replacement (0.76). Moreover, the correlation between “ankle arthritis” and “ankle replacement” was strong (0.83) during this period. The geographic distribution of these search terms showed the greatest increase in interest for the keywords “ankle arthritis” “ankle replacement” and “ankle fusion” in Arizona, New York, and Virginia respectively. Results of this study illustrate a similar increasing patient interest in ankle arthritis and ankle replacements. This data can be used effectively identify, educate, and treat populations interested in ankle replacements. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to utilize Google Trends™ to analyze patient interest in foot and ankle surgery.

Tiempos críticos: Historia, revolución y temporalidad en el mundo iberoamericano (siglos XVIII y XIX)

Tiempos críticos: Historia, revolución y temporalidad en el mundo iberoamericano (siglos XVIII y XIX)

Estimation of small area proportions under a bivariate logistic mixed model

A variety of data is of geographic interest but is not available at a small area level from large-scale national sample surveys. Small area estimation can be used to estimate parameters of target variables to detailed geographical scales based on relationships between the target variables and relevant auxiliary information. Small area estimation of proportions is a topic of great interest in many fields of study, where binary variables are diffused, such as in labour force, business, and social exclusion surveys. The univariate generalised mixed model with logit link function is widely adopted in this context. The small area estimation literature has shown that multivariate small area estimators, where correlations among response variables are taken into account, provide more efficient estimates than the traditional univariate approaches. However, the estimation problem of multivariate proportions has not been studied yet. In this article, we propose a bivariate small area estimator of proportions based on a bivariate generalised mixed model with logit link function. A simulation study and an application are presented to evaluate the good properties of the bivariate estimator compared to its univariate setting. We found that the extent of the improved efficiency of the bivariate over the univariate approach is associated with the degree of correlation of the area-specific random effects and the intraclass correlation, whereas it is not strongly related to the area sample size.

Two Cartographic Elements in Galvaneus Flamma’s Cronica Universalis

In his Cronica universalis Galvaneus Flamma refers to two cartographic artifacts. The first is a diagram of the winds placed within a cosmological frame, which lists the names of the winds in accordance with both “scientific” tradition and seafaring experience; this diagram intertwines two sources of knowledge, as would be expected in a scholarly milieu receptive to the suggestion of geographical practice. The other is a mappa Ianuensis, i.e. a map drawn in Genoa or kept in Genoa at the time, which Galvaneus mentions three times in his work; according to Galvaneus’s mentions, this map depicted the entire globe, and was much more extensive than a portolan chart. Both elements bring new light about the author’s geographical interests and sources, and add some small tiles to the mosaic of fourteenth-century cartography.

Implementing local planetary health: Case study of Blue Mountains, Australia

AbstractPlanetary health is a concept that emerged from public health and is of central interest for geographers. Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) launched its planetary health initiative in 2020, which is a first instance of it being adopted by an Australian local government as a sustainability policy framework. This article presents an initial case study arguing for and testing how to gain empirical insights from developing local planetary health initiatives. Using an online survey of Blue Mountains residents from 2020, we elucidate key opportunities and challenges associated with implementing planetary health in local contexts. We found that respondents experience the impacts of environmental change in varied ways and want to do more to address environmental change. They demand action from governments and others to act, yet do not understand well the mechanisms available to local governments to undertake such action. We also established that planetary health shows promise in its ability to accommodate diverse and scalar experiences and action from personal to communal. Thus, our key claim is that it could be an inclusive basis upon which local governments and communities can deliberate and make decisions about sustainability. However, local governments could experience difficulties in implementing planetary health should deliberation not improve community understanding of the levers available to local government to act on environmental change and the nature of shared responsibility for place‐based sustainability. We suggest geographers could do more work on such matters.

Emplaced sounding: voice, identity and place in Zadie Smith’s NW

Through a close reading of Zadie Smith’s portrayal of the character Keisha/Natalie’s voice and relationship to voice in the novel NW, this article considers how people’s speaking, sounding voices are both emplaced (coming from, made by place) and are key place-making acts. This paper argues for how analysing sound in literature might serve sonic geographic interest in the ‘whole’ voice, with all sound’s representational and more-than representational elements. Through its fictional and poetic expressivity the literary offers propositional perspectives on experiences of sound and its material and affectual role in our world making. From this departure point, the paper proceeds to consider the entangled issues of place and identity politics in NW, motivating that a reading or ‘listening’ in terms of voice might offer valuable insights into these concerns. Attending to three moments in NW centred around the character Keisha/Natalie, the paper argues for how human’s speaking voices might enact and contain the complex difficulties in the co-construction of place and personal identity.

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC FINANCIAL MARKET

Islamic finance is increasingly attrCovid-19 Impact on Islamic Financeacting attention among investors worldwide, especially in 2019 which saw a double-digit growth in assets. Despite the tumultuous year for global financial markets last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is growing interest due to three reasons—greater appreciation around the role that Islamic finance plays in responsible investing; geographical interest in markets where Islamic finance is gaining prominence; as well as digital transformation, which makes Islamic investments more accessible.

Representing Multidimensional Phenomena of Geographic Interest: Benefit of the Doubt or Principal Component Analysis?

Composite indicators are one-dimensional measures of multidimensional phenomena. Through the composite indicators, it is possible to have a single map of the different subindicators of poverty, inequality, sustainability, and economic development. This research employs two well-known methods of building composite indicators to represent the social exclusion of eight cities. This research shows that the benefit of the doubt and principal component analysis have limitations to representing multidimensional phenomena of geographic interest, but adaptations in these methods reduce these limitations. The benefit of the doubt constrained (BoD-c) restricts subindicator weight variations, increasing the composite indicator’s capacity to represent the most important subindicator in the concept of the multidimensional phenomenon. The principal component analysis adjusted (PCA-a) discards poorly correlated subindicators, ensuring a variance extracted in the first component above the acceptance threshold of 0.50. Contrasting BoD-c and PCA-a, geographically weighted principal component analysis has a limited capacity to capture the most important subindicator in the concept of the multidimensional phenomenon. Among twenty-three experts from nine countries, eighteen preferred PCA-a to BoD-c, indicating that information loss is not as critical a property as full comparability across geographic areas. Local experts agree that both maps represent local social reality, but PCA-a is more faithful to that reality.

The effect of student perceived benefits and obstacles to determine if and where to study abroad

PurposeThis research aims to examine business students’ geographic interests and motivations for study abroad.Design/methodology/approachTwo hundred sixty-seven undergraduate business students from a midwestern university completed the survey on perceived benefits and obstacles of studying abroad (personal and professional), geographic regions where willing to study (rated by psychic distance [PD]), the format for willing to study (length and faculty-led) and respondent characteristics.FindingsResults indicate students who perceive high professional benefits chose higher PD countries, whereas those perceiving higher personal benefits chose medium PD countries. Students with higher professional obstacles, such as concerns of timely degree completion, avoid high PD countries, whereas students expressing high personal obstacles prefer low PD countries. The research results also connect student classification, gender and school funding source to the perceived benefits and obstacles.Originality/valueThe outcome of this study is to aid study abroad programs in segmenting their users and to better serve business students with more targeted communications and enhanced program offerings. It extends the marketing literature by using the theory of PD to explain and guide these strategies.

Landslide Disasters’ Causal/Trigger Factors as Understood by the Indigenous People in Murang’a County, Kenya

Landslides constitute a considerable number of natural disasters globally. Landslides are not new in Kenya yet a dearth of information about the disasters has been reported. Murang’a County presents a unique case of geographical interest because of all the counties traversed by the Aberdare Ranges, it is the only one with the most serious, deadliest and recurrent landslides, especially in the recent past. Most studies on landslide disasters are limited to the scientific assessment and understanding neglecting the indigenous knowledge albeit the fact that indigenous people are affected in one way or another by the disasters. This research aims at highlighting the residents’ indigenous knowledge of landslide causal and trigger factors. Primary data are analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics in IBM-SPSS package. A total of 336 household questionnaires were administered, with an average response rate of 86%, complemented with, 8 Key Informants Interviews and 7 Focus Group Discussion. The key research findings were that indigenous people understood the landslide causal/trigger factors and their contribution landslides occurrences. The identified factors were rainfall, elevation, slope, soils and land-use land-cover. In conclusion, the study recommends the application and integrated of indigenous knowledge with existing scientific knowledge in the understanding of landslide disasters formulation of a policy framework at the county or national government levels. Also, landslides being highly localized, the study recommends further localized research targeting only the households affected by the landslides to gain closer understanding according to their knowledge and experiences through interaction with landslide disasters.

The Ecology of Exchange: The Monetization of Roman Egypt

Abstract The Egyptian experience of monetization—especially during the Roman period—subverts colonializing historiographies in which the adoption of (Western) coinage autonomously subdued passive and ‘primitive’ reciprocity and redistribution-based economies at the periphery. Many scholars now argue that cultural, religious and economic contexts directed exchange practices in Roman Egypt. This article argues that these embedding elements were themselves cultivated in a meta-context of place—namely, the fluvial geography and ecology of the Nile Valley, Delta and Fayyum Oasis. The rhythmic inundations of the Nile and Egypt’s related agricultural cycle shaped the meanings inhabitants attached to instruments of exchange, including the invading coins of Greek and Roman polities. Coinage thoroughly permeated Egyptian institutions, and yet ecologically-determined rituals, customs and traditions preserved aspects of indigenous exchange culture. Ecological forces nurtured and strengthened the cultural, economic and political forces that constrained Roman monetary imperialism. The monetization of Roman Egypt is, therefore, a critical historical case-study of broader geographic, temporal and thematic interest—one which enables scholars to better understand how ecology intersects with cultural, economic and political embeddedness.