Jurisdictional Units Research Articles

New Spain through the Lens of Spatial Humanities: The Case of the Bishopric of Michoacán

This article provides an overview of the development of spatial humanities in Mexico, focusing specifically on the Bishopric of Michoacán. This ecclesiastical and jurisdictional unit, established during the Viceroyalty of New Spain, has recently been examined through the lens of spatial humanities. Our review identifies that this approach, when combined with traditional historical methods, can be highly effective in advancing research on territorial reconfiguration processes involving both Spanish and Indigenous actors. Furthermore, we present two examples of geographical text analysis (GTA) applied to the Relaciones Geográficas of Michoacán. Building on this review and the examples, we aim to encourage researchers interested in Mexico's past to enhance the potential of early historical sources by extracting valuable information intertwined with the spatial data contained in these documents.

Governing the global fisheries commons

Despite significant advances in understanding the biophysical and institutional causes of overfishing, we have yet to make progress in addressing the depletion of our global fisheries stock. Investigations of potential solutions tend to be too broad (mischaracterizing global fisheries as a singular commons problem to be addressed at the supranational level) or too narrow (focusing on improving management of small fisheries at the micro level). This article attempts to bridge the gap between our scientific understanding of our collective dilemmas and their pragmatic solutions. Building on insights from Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom, we frame the depletion of global fisheries as a nested set of diverse and interconnected collective action problems organized at different horizontal and vertical levels, where decisions and actions of one jurisdictional unit reinforce and amplify problems (and solutions) for other units. We examine features of the global fisheries system, such as nonstationarity, nestedness, and prohibitive transaction costs. Then, we explore some potential solutions. The success of our conservation goals depends on our ability to craft institutional rules at the lower levels that are adaptive to local conditions, address incentive misalignment issues, and allow for the transfer of positive externalities to adjacent and higher levels.

Analysis of per capita contributions from a spatial model provides strategies for controlling spread of invasive carp

AbstractMetapopulation models may be applied to inform natural resource management to guide actions targeted at location‐specific subpopulations. Model insights frequently help to understand which subpopulations to target and highlight the importance of connections among subpopulations. For example, managers often treat aquatic invasive species populations as discrete populations due to hydrological (e.g., lakes, pools formed by dams) or jurisdictional boundaries (e.g., river segments by country or jurisdictional units such as states or provinces). However, aquatic invasive species often have high rates of dispersion and migration among heterogenous locations, which complicates traditional metapopulation models and may not conform to management boundaries. Controlling invasive species requires consideration of spatial dynamics because local management activities (e.g., harvest, movement deterrents) may have important impacts on connected subpopulations. We expand upon previous work to create a spatial linear matrix model for an aquatic invasive species, Bighead Carp, in the Illinois River, USA, to examine the per capita contributions of specific subpopulations and impacts of different management scenarios on these subpopulations. Managers currently seek to prevent Bighead Carp from invading the Great Lakes via a connection between the Illinois Waterway and Lake Michigan by allocating management actions across a series of river pools. We applied the model to highlight how spatial variation in movement rates and recruitment can affect decisions about where management activities might occur. We found that where the model suggested management actions should occur depend crucially on the specific management goal (i.e., limiting the growth rate of the metapopulation vs. limiting the growth rate of the invasion front) and the per capita recruitment rate in downstream pools. Our findings illustrate the importance of linking metapopulation dynamics to management goals for invasive species control.

Predicting greater sage-grouse habitat selection at the southern periphery of their range.

Mapping suitable habitat is an important process in wildlife conservation planning. Species distribution reflects habitat selection processes occurring across multiple spatio‐temporal scales. Because habitat selection may be driven by different factors at different scales, conservation planners require information at the scale of the intervention to plan effective management actions. Previous research has described habitat selection processes shaping the distribution of greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage‐grouse) at the range‐wide scale. Finer‐scale information for applications within jurisdictional units inside the species range is lacking, yet necessary, because state wildlife agencies are the management authority for sage‐grouse in the United States. We quantified seasonal second‐order habitat selection for sage‐grouse across the state of Utah to produce spatio‐temporal predictions of their distribution at the southern periphery of the species range. We used location data obtained from sage‐grouse marked with very‐high‐frequency radio‐transmitters and lek location data collected between 1998 and 2013 to quantify species habitat selection in relation to a suite of topographic, edaphic, climatic, and anthropogenic variables using random forest algorithms. Sage‐grouse selected for greater sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) cover, higher elevations, and gentler slopes and avoided lower precipitations and higher temperatures. The strength of responses to habitat variables varied across seasons. Anthropogenic variables previously reported as affecting their range‐wide distribution (i.e., roads, powerlines, communication towers, and agricultural development) were not ranked as top predictors at our focal scale. Other than strong selection for sagebrush cover, the responses we observed differed from what has been reported at the range‐wide scale. These differences likely reflect the unique climatic, geographic, and topographic context found in the southern peripheral area of the species distribution compared to range‐wide environmental gradients. Our results highlight the importance of considering appropriateness of scale when planning conservation actions for wide‐ranging species.

Do the Walkability and Urban Leisure Amenities of Neighborhoods Affect the Body Mass Index of Individuals? Based on a Case Study in Seoul, South Korea.

This study investigates the impact of neighborhood-built environments on obesity in interrelationship with socioeconomic status (SES)—controlling for dietary patterns and physical activities of residents—using structural equation modeling (SEM). A total of 577 samples who are between 19 and 64 years old and reside in Seoul are extracted from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHNES), 2015. Neighborhood environments are represented as the two latent constructs—walkability and leisure amenities—composited with indicators such as density of intersections, density of mixed-use area, and the area of open spaces and are aggregated by jurisdictional unit in Seoul. We found that greater walkability in a neighborhood explained a lower body mass index (BMI) among residents, whereas more urban leisure amenities in a neighborhood explained a higher BMI. The finding suggests that a walking-friendly environment is more effective than active recreational amenities in inducing people to engage in daily physical activities to the level that reduces obesity rate. SES exerted a negative impact on BMI of a greater magnitude than the impact of either of the environmental living conditions, reinforcing the importance of general wealth and education level in leading to a healthy lifestyle. Our research contributes to growing evidence of a relationship between obesity and the built environment in the context of Asian countries where the prevalence of obesity is becoming a serious issue and requires immediate attention.

Evaluaciones subnacionales de la cobertura de las estadísticas vitales. Estudios recientes en América Latina

El logro de una buena cobertura de las estadísticas vitales (especialmente de los nacimientos y las defunciones), aún constituye un desafío muy importante en los países de América Latina. De ello depende el estudio de numerosas temáticas relacionadas con la salud de la población, como la situación y evolución de la natalidad, la fecundidad y la mortalidad. Al hacer un seguimiento de los avances en este aspecto, desde la demografía se ha notado que las técnicas de estimación más corrientes no funcionan adecuadamente al ser utilizadas en unidades geográficas o político-administrativas subnacionales. Para enfrentar el inconveniente, se están aplicando procedimientos poco frecuentes de estimación o incluso, desarrollando otras técnicas que permiten avanzar en el estudio de la cobertura de nacimientos y defunciones en diferentes niveles geográficos. En este trabajo se propone una revisión bibliográfica sobre las evaluaciones realizadas en América Latina desde el año 2000. Se recorta el análisis a estudios promovidos en el ámbito de los institutos nacionales de estadística y de los ministerios de salud, y considerando procedimientos principalmente de tipo directo.

Zone Analog: The State–Market Problematic and Territorial Economies in China

The subject of economic zones has proliferated in scholarship on Asia and beyond as a relational approach to social and economic geographies linked to the world economy. Signifying co-locations and mobile capacities of labor and capital, ‘zone’ has circulated as a concept whose ‘exceptional’ conditions deterritorialize from national landscapes. This article contends that ‘zone’ and the territorial processes it represents have receded from critical analysis, and develops a state–market problematic to examine how analog circulation of ‘zone’ and ‘zoning technologies’ reproduces notional space of neoliberal marketization even where state capitalism defines territorial economies. The fundamental aporia emerges in the People’s Republic of China where a ‘zone’ is one and every type of subnational territory: the party-state guides economic development by changing the system of administrative territory to produce multiple types of jurisdictional units with varied state-defined rationales including the emblematic Shenzhen ‘zone’. Zone analog, drawing on models from spatial science, paradoxically reveals ‘zoning technologies’ to be not a general argument for neoliberalism as incremental marketization but rather state territorialization of the economy in general.

A spatial analysis of health and pharmaceutical firm survival

ABSTRACTThe presence of knowledge spillovers and shared human capital is at the heart of the Marhall–Arrow–Romer externalities hypothesis. Most of the earlier empirical contributions on knowledge externalities; however, considered data aggregated at a regional level so that conclusions are based on the arbitrary definition of jurisdictional spatial units: this is the essence of the so-called modifiable areal unit problem. A second limitation of these studies is constituted by the fact that, somewhat surprisingly, while concentrating on the effects of agglomeration on firm creation and growth, the literature has, conversely, largely ignored its effects on firm survival. The present paper aims at contributing to the existing literature by answering to some of the open methodological questions reconciling the literature of Cox proportional hazards model with that on point pattern and thus capturing the true nature of spatial information. We also present some empirical results based on Italian firm demography data collected and managed by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT).

Approaches to surveillance of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and Clostridium difficile infection in Australian states and territories

Abstract Introduction Surveillance of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) is aimed at improving patient safety, decreasing healthcare-associated infections and reducing morbidity and mortality. Methods The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care surveyed Australian states and territories during 2012-13 about state-based approaches to surveillance of healthcare-associated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) and hospital-identified Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), including collection, validation and reporting of healthcare-associated infection surveillance data against national surveillance definitions. Results At the time of the survey, all states and territories classified cases of SAB using the national surveillance definition, while most states and territories classified cases of CDI using the national surveillance definition. Notification of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia was mandatory in two states. Four states had electronic access to microbiology results in jurisdictional surveillance units. The implementation of national surveillance definitions has led to more consistent practices for reporting of SAB and CDI. Conclusion Systems and processes for surveillance of SAB and CDI vary across states and territories; however, the development of national surveillance definitions has led to greater consistency nationally. The presence of an active jurisdictional HAI surveillance unit and a statewide surveillance information system enhances data validation, hospital-level reporting, and education and support for surveillance staff in hospitals.

Validity of hunter surveys for daily effort and deer sightings in Vermont

AbstractWildlife managers of harvested big game species, such as white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), often rely on indices of abundance to monitor population trends and to estimate relative abundance among management units within a jurisdictional unit. Reliable estimates of hunters' hunting effort, harvest, and deer sightings can be used for estimates of relative abundance or population size by catch‐per‐unit‐effort models. I used likelihood‐based information‐theoretic evidence to show that random‐mailing surveys of licensed hunters in Vermont, USA, provided reliable knowledge regarding 1) daily hunter effort, and 2) deer sightings as a convenience index of abundance, during identically structured 16‐day antlered‐deer‐only rifle seasons in mid–late November, 2000–2009. As a covariate explaining daily probability of capture in a harvest‐based catch‐effort multinomial‐likelihood removal model, within‐year daily hunter‐effort data outperformed a larger data set pooled across years, suggesting that within‐year data captured information regarding variability of daily hunter effort among years. Two independent indices of relative abundance that were hunter sighting rates of deer and results of the harvest‐based removal models were well‐correlated at the regional level (n = 60, r2 = 0.74, P ≤ 0.001). Vermont's deer management program uses estimates of relative deer abundance from survey data of hunter effort and deer sightings to help prescribe annual antlerless deer harvests at the regional level, and lesser spatial extents, within its jurisdiction. Other states may find such data similarly valid and useful. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.

Molluscan Community Composition and Richness in Four High-Elevation Idaho Streams Includes an Exotic Taxon

Abstract: Effective conservation requires that natural resource managers understand the diversity of organisms within a jurisdictional unit. Too frequently, conservation priorities are determined without adequate biological information, leading to inefficient use of very limited resources. We investigated molluscan community composition and richness within the eastern portion of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (i.e., management unit) in Custer County, Idaho, USA to (1) identify populations of non-native species, if present, (2) acquire baseline information on the distribution, relative abundance, and diversity of molluscs in this high-elevation ecosystem, and (3) provide resource managers with useful information with which to inform conservation priority-setting. We found a rich molluscan community comprised of 19 species from 11 genera and 7 families. We also documented a single population of the non-native species Radix auricularia Linnaeus, 1758 from samples at Alturas Lake. Management of the ver...

Who votes for public environmental goods in California?: Evidence from a spatial analysis of voting for environmental ballot measures

Voting referenda provide direct evidence of the demand for public goods. A number of previous studies have used referenda to analyze the support for public environmental goods. These studies have used aggregate data from large jurisdictional units (usually counties) and summary income measures such as the mean or median, and have usually found that higher income areas offer greater support for environmental propositions. We examine environmental referenda voting in California using census block group data, spatial dependence controls, and detailed income distribution data. We find that household income has a negative marginal effect on environmental referenda voting for most of the income range when using census block data. In addition, controls for spatial dependence significantly reduce the magnitude of most coefficients. This suggests that OLS estimates of referenda determinants are biased. We also show that county level data may be subject to severe aggregation bias and might not be appropriate for referenda studies.

Tierra y comunidad un problema irresuelto: El caso del altiplano cundiboyacense (Virreinato de la Nueva Granada) 1750–1800

The author’s wealth of data demonstrates the chaotic state of rural settlement and population distribution, change in composition, and structure in late eighteenthcentury New Granada. The repeated earlier colonial attempts to divide Indians in segregated settlements (here called resguardos) had clearly failed, and the crown decided to send a series of inspectors into the field both to report on the situation and to propose and implement solutions. The central fact was the obvious penetration and occupation of the resguardos by non-Indians, including those on haciendas and a host of settlers termed vecinos or libres in the documentation of the period. Some saw in this as an alienation and abridgment of Indian land and rights, while others recognized it as a means of development and profit, vital to opening and privatizing land in order to accommodate the ever-increasing mestizo population.In almost all of the resguardos, both the number of tributaries and the total Indian population decreased markedly in the century prior to 1750; one of the author’s principal objectives is to explain the causes and consequences of this trend. Through a detailed analysis of two visitas (Berdugo y Oquendo, 1755–57, and Moreno y Escandón,1776–78, continued by Campuzano y Lanz) in the region of Cundinaboyacá, she concludes that Indians had either changed their ethnic identity via miscegenation or had simply abandoned their resguardos to join the highly mobile population (forasteros, etc.) of the viceroyalty. Non-Indians had spread into the resguardos by renting land, and some even came to occupy positions of authority. For decades, local authorities had turned a blind eye to the entire process.The crown thus requested the visitadores to attempt to restructure the resguardos, most of which had clearly outlived their institutional purpose. If tribute payments had been significantly reduced and illicit production and commerce were widespread, it was clearly time to act. The formal solution was to review each resguardo and, based on the local evidence, either eliminate it and transfer its population to another carefully selected resguardo or, alternatively, increase its population by bringing in Indians from other decayed resguardos. While such a policy provoked questions of legality, it is evident that Indians were portrayed as vagos and flojos who underutilized valuable resources and that the burgeoning numbers of poor mestizos needed land and succor. This justified sacrificing humanitarian values for efficiency and profit.While each visitador had distinctive ideological stances, both promoted the relocation policy. They often blaming alcaldes and corregidores for their neglect of Indian affairs and their corrupt linkages to hacienda and commercial interests. Both also used the restructuring process to promote the establishment of parishes, a new jurisdictional unit that reflected the expansion of the mestizo population. Not only Indians opposed the extinction of resguardos and the wholesale removal of their population; non-Indians living within the resguardos were also affected, and they protested even more loudly. However, the viceregal authorities must have been relieved that it did not become a collective, regionwide protest (especially considering the experiences of the Comunero revolt).The second half of the book describes the conditions found in each and every corregimiento of the regions studied: the composition of the population, the auction and sale of resguardo land, and those involved in the process of recomposition. Yet one is left with many questions. First, the author uses the terms resguardo and pueblo (de indios) in text and tables indiscriminately, without examining the differences between these two terms as used in the visitas and the population census of 1778. Resguardos were spatial jurisdictions, within which existed the nucleated pueblo of Indians and other associated settlements. Here, cartographic evidence (mentioned in passing at p. 253) could have been used much more effectively, including at least a detailed map of each corregimiento. The locations of the mestizo settlements—and, indeed, the haciendas that existed on the resguardos—are not adequately defined. It also would have been very useful to reproduce, as an appendix, a sample page or two of the 1778 census showing the level of disaggregation of the population count. Several resguardos are mistakenly listed as corregimientos (pp. 191 and 254), and by the time the eighth region is being analyzed, no comparative tabulated data are presented. The conclusion would have been strengthened by a summary table listing all the resguardos affected in the restructuring process. Notwithstanding such blemishes, this is an innovative study that should promote a more rigorous analysis of other relevant data sets, such as the abundant notarial and parish records that make it possible to trace individuals and families as they change identities and locations through the complex processes that are outlined here.

Women's citizenship claims, labour market policy and globalisation

Policy and research frameworks concerned with both analysing and advancing women's position in the labour market are still oriented to the assumption that the jurisdictional unit of production relations is the nation‐state. Historically all citizenship claims have been predicated on the jurisdictional integrity and sovereignty of the nation‐state. However, contemporary patterns of globalisation (flows of capital, labour and policy making networks) indicate these assumptions may be anachronistic. This paper tables the problems and suggests some of their implications for bow we approach policy‐related analysis of women's labour market position.

Environmental planning, administration and management in Nigerian Cities: The example of Benin City, Bendel State

AbstractThird World cities are characterized by weak administrative and managerial capacity for environmental planning. Benin City, Nigeria, is no exception. Benin's environmental problems result largely from its unplanned land use and weak development control. These problems include lack of open space, substandard housing and an increasing volume of refuse. The administrative arrangements to handle environmental problems include the Town Planning Division, which enforces building and housing codes and land use regulations; and the Task Force on Environmental Sanitation, responsible for solid waste management. However, these arrangements have not produced satisfactory results. Failure has been due partly to the ad hoc organization of environmental administration; the overlapping perception of environmental problems; the alienation of the public; dispersal of authority; and the scale of jurisdictional units. Effective environmental planning administration must adopt a holistic approach, which recognizes the need for a comprehensive environmental planning and a concentration of environmental authority. This is based on the premise that environmental issues are the responsibility of one agency but an obligation for all. Structurally, the concentration of environmental authority hinges on the principle of cooperative leadership by the Federal Government. This calls urgently for the establishment of a Federal Environmental Protection Agency at the centre, and Environmental Management Boards at state levels. The Boards would provide an administrative umbrella under which the management of various aspects of the environment are coordinated. In order to maximize the cooperation of the public, the traditional power structure of the Oba (paramount chiefs and community leaders) must be involved in the conception and implementation of environmental planning. Citizen participation would in turn be maximized if the neighbourhood is adopted as the jurisdictional unit, upon which environmental administration and management are systematically built.

Who is Qualified to Survey Canada’s Offshore?

An examination is made of what constitutes offshore survey, who is qualified to carry out such a survey and what is Canada’s offshore in terms of the new international law of the sea. It is submitted that the term “offshore” as used in a generic sense consists of two components, i.e., (1) the seabed and subsoil; and (2) the superjacent water column. It appears that under the Canada Lands Surveys Act the term “survey” is inadequately defined, giving rise to the impression that only persons holding a commission as a Canada Lands Surveyor may survey the offshore in any sense, including hydrographic surveying. It is submitted that the term “hydrographic surveying” when used in a given context, could denote either a methodology, or a purpose or both. It is proposed that more precise definitions are required for the term “survey” in relevant federal legislation and that consideration be given to defining legal surveys in terms of title or ownership as is the case for example, with Nova Scotia legislation. This would make it clear that boundary or delimitation surveys for the purpose of separating jurisdictional units are not regulated under the Canada Lands Surveys Act. This would be consistent with international practice where it has been geographers and hydrographers who have been considered the experts in the field of delimitation of boundaries between maritime jurisdictional units. It is further proposed that all offshore surveys using hydrographic methodology, in particular those carried out for the purpose of defining boundaries of jurisdictional units, be brought under the regulatory authority of the Dominion Hydrographer through appropriate legislation.