Nearby Metropolitan Areas Research Articles

Impact of urban vitality on carbon emission—an analysis of 222 Chinese cities based on the spatial Durbin model

Urban development is undergoing rapid growth, and the increasingly prominent environmental protection challenge underscores the crucial need to balance urban vitality development with carbon emissions for sustainable goals. how urban vitality affect carbon emissions? By collecting and analyzing data from 222 prefecture-level cities, utilizing long-time series data from 2011 to 2019, and employing Spatial Durbin Method (SDM) to study. The study explores various dimensions of urban vitality, including economic, social, and population indicators. The direct impact of economic vitality on carbon emissions is negative, while the spillover effect is significantly positive, resulting in an overall positive total effect. There are noticeable spillover effects associated with economic vitality; a rise in one city’s economic vitality may result in a rise in carbon emissions in nearby prefecture-level cities. The reason behind the increase in carbon emissions in nearby metropolitan areas is the departure of some energy-intensive and highly polluting enterprises from the central sections of nearby cities. While enhancing the economic vitality of cities, it is recommended to strive for the development of a green economy, aiming for a sustainable development balance between economic growth and environmental conservation. Population vitality has a favorable impact on carbon emissions both directly and indirectly, with the direct effect being particularly significant. The population expansion of prefecture-level cities exerts a substantial influence on urban carbon emissions. Additionally, social vitality exhibits positive direct and spillover effects on carbon emissions, as well as a significant overall positive effect. Policymakers are urged to prioritize clean energy use while fostering economic growth, prevent high-polluting industries’ migration to neighboring urban areas, manage population expansion, promote environmental awareness, and implement integrated urban planning through collaborative governance for sustainable development.

Prediction of floodwater impacts on vehicle blockages at bridges using artificial neural network

During extreme flood events, various debris like floating vehicles can block the bridges in urban rivers and floodplains. Blockage of vehicles can influence the floodwater hydrodynamics and potentially on the flood risk implications. Such obstructions often raise upstream water levels with back water effects, causing more water to be redirected into nearby metropolitan areas. This study attempts at evaluating artificial neural network (ANN) model in predicting the variations in floodwater depths and velocities along the channel centreline based on the changes in flowrate and distances from the inlet. The floodwater depth and velocity variations were obtained for three different types of bridges at specified sites along the channel centreline with three incoming discharges. A multilayer feedforward neural network (FFNN) model was used to investigate the effects of discharge (Q) and distance, on depth variation rate (D) or velocity (V). Additionally, a comparison study was done between 2 input 1 output and 2 input 2 output i.e. single output (depth variation rate (D) or velocity (V) versus multi-output depth variation rate (D) and velocity (V) for all the three models of bridges that are blocked by vehicles. The study has applied 12 training algorithms (TA) in the ANN modelling to optimize the TA that is most suitable for the dataset of three different bridges. The optimization is based on the performance criterion namely regression (R), mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE), mean absolute percentage (MAPE), accuracy and coefficient of determinant (R2). Bayesian regularization backpropagation (BR) training algorithm gives a highest accuracy when compared in all three bridges. The scenario 2 input 2 output gave greatest accuracy results compared to 2 input 1 output. The findings showed a reliable estimation of significant impacts on the flow propagations and the hydrodynamic processes along rivers and floodplains. This study can help the decision makers in effective river and floodplain management practices.

Territories Under Siege: Risks of the Decimation of Indigenous and Quilombolas Peoples in the Context of COVID-19 in South Brazil

The current health, political, and environmental crisis ongoing in Brazil and the advances of the impacts of COVID-19 in traditional populations (as indigenous and quilombolas) are not yet prioritized in the scientific production about the novel coronavirus. We performed spatial correlation analysis to map the clusters and outliers of COVID-19 in South of Brazil to identify indigenous and quilombolas communities impacted right now in the pandemic. We show that communities located nearby metropolitan areas and mid-sized cities are the most impacted by the COVID-19 and the advance of the transmission to inner states may intensify the ongoing historical process of elimination of indigenous and quilombolas people. We call for a global response to the indigenous and quilombolas situation in Brazil, pointing to the need of more analysis in the country;

Comment on “Active Crustal Deformation in the Trans‐Mexican Volcanic Belt as Evidenced by Historical Earthquakes During the Last 450 Years” by G. Suárez et al.

Comment on “Active Crustal Deformation in the Trans‐Mexican Volcanic Belt as Evidenced by Historical Earthquakes During the Last 450 Years” by G. Suárez et al.

Tracing pollution in estuarine benthic organisms and its impacts on food webs of the Vitoria Bay estuary

Estuaries in South America commonly receive untreated effluents from nearby metropolitan areas demanding ecosystem-based management solutions to access pollutant impacts. In this study we investigated how organic enrichment in Vitória Bay changes benthic macrofaunal isotopic signatures (δ13C and δ15N) and if highly contaminated areas would exhibit lower food web diversity. Geochemical markers of sewage input (coprostanol) revealed low to high levels of pollution in the bay area. The δ15N isotope signatures of benthic deposit-feeders and omnivores were lower in contaminated sites indicating preferential intake of raw sewage and that the effect size of sewage input changes among benthic feeding modes. Sites with high sediment coprostanol concentrations (>0.5 μg g−1) were associated with a lower abundance of basal resources and niche shrinking of the benthic food web, suggesting that eutrophication leads to a funtional loss in the sediment-water interface in this estuary. Our study revealed that pollution in the Vitória Bay estuary has functional impacts to the estuarine food webs and support previous ascertions that stable isotopes may be a useful and low-cost method to indicate ecosystem health monitoring in estuarine ecosystems.

The 2 October 1847 MI 5.7 Chapala Graben Triggered Earthquake (Trans‐Mexican Volcanic Belt, West‐Central Mexico): Macroseismic Observations and Hazard Implications

Research Article| November 01, 2017 The 2 October 1847 MI 5.7 Chapala Graben Triggered Earthquake (Trans‐Mexican Volcanic Belt, West‐Central Mexico): Macroseismic Observations and Hazard Implications Max Suter Max Suter aInstituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Estación Regional del Noroeste, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, sutermax@alumnibasel.ch Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Seismological Research Letters (2018) 89 (1): 35–46. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220170101 Article history first online: 01 Nov 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Max Suter; The 2 October 1847 MI 5.7 Chapala Graben Triggered Earthquake (Trans‐Mexican Volcanic Belt, West‐Central Mexico): Macroseismic Observations and Hazard Implications. Seismological Research Letters 2017;; 89 (1): 35–46. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0220170101 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietySeismological Research Letters Search Advanced Search ABSTRACT The Trans‐Mexican volcanic belt is an active continental volcanic arc related to subduction along the Middle America trench and characterized by several major arc‐parallel middle Miocene—Holocene lake basins formed by normal faults and related crustal seismicity. The Chapala graben, the largest of these basins in the western part of the Trans‐Mexican volcanic belt, is 115 km long and up to 30 km wide. Here, I document a 2 October 1847 earthquake with intensity magnitude MI of 5.7±0.4 that was locally devastating on the northern graben shoulder. It razed the villages of Poncitlán and Ocotlán in the state of Jalisco, where at least 58 persons perished. The macroseismic observations for this historical event and the elevated background seismicity indicate that the Chapala graben is active and poses a major ground‐shaking hazard to the nearby metropolitan areas of Ocotlán and Guadalajara. No historical earthquake had been previously documented from the Chapala graben, which was believed to be tectonically inactive. Furthermore, the 2 October 1847 event was not recognized as a crustal earthquake. In earthquake catalogs, the devastation at Ocotlán is aggregated with the damage caused on the same day, only two hours earlier, in the Colima region by a subduction‐zone earthquake that was devastating in Tecomán and Colima and caused minor damage in Mexico City, and which likely triggered dynamically the Chapala graben earthquake. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Inter-regional migration in Indonesia: a micro approach

We study the extent to which the likelihood of specific types of migration in Indonesia varies by the situation in the labour market and family life course. We distinguish migration types according to origin and destination (Jakarta, other metropolitan areas, and non-metropolitan areas). For migration from Jakarta, we also distinguish migration to other metropolitan areas within commuting distance. As expected, we find that young adults are the most mobile category. As an exception, migration from Jakarta to nearby metro areas was just as likely for ages 30–54 as for ages 23–29. Our findings suggest that migration to Jakarta and other metropolitan areas, in particular, is most likely undertaken for better education or jobs. Married people are more likely than others to leave Jakarta for nearby metropolitan areas.

Entrepreneurial and Employment Responses to Economic Conditions across the Rural-Urban Continuum

In this article, we explore how local employment growth in the urban-rural continuum is affected by economic trends in industries that comprise local economies and by growth in nearby metropolitan areas. Our county-level analyses reveal heterogeneous responses. Favorable economic changes due to a fast-growing local industry mix have the largest positive impact on self-employment growth in small metropolitan areas and the smallest positive impact in rural counties. Self-employment in rural counties is fostered by growth in nearby small metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and is hampered by growth in nearby large MSAs. In micropolitan counties that are close to small and medium growing MSAs, local self-employment tends to grow faster, while growth in nearby large MSAs has no effect. In urban counties, growth in a nearby large MSA is not related to local self-employment growth in the lower tiers of the urban hierarchy.

Unearthing a hidden treasure: 60 years of karst research in the Far West Rand, South Africa

Karstified dolomitic formations situated in the Far West Rand goldfield of the Witwatersrand Basin constitute a significant groundwater resource in semi-arid South Africa and would be of strategic importance for alleviating the increasing water stress in nearby metropolitan areas. The deep-level gold mines operating below the dolomites have suffered from large volumes of dolomitic groundwater flowing into the mine voids, rendering mining both expensive and hazardous. In order to secure safe and economical mining, the overlying dolomites were dewatered. Here we review research over 60 years, conducted in three of the four major dolomitic compartments affected by dewatering. After more than six decades of research, these aquifers are arguably the most investigated karst systems in South Africa, and possibly worldwide. The data generated are, in many respects, unique, as many measurements can never be repeated, covering stochastic events such as a major water inrush into mine workings and some of the most catastrophic sinkhole developments ever recorded. Given the potential value for improving the understanding of general and local karst hydrogeology, our main goal for this paper is to alert the scientific community to the existence of this resource of mostly unpublished data and research. A no less important aim is to support a systematic collation of these studies which are in danger of being irretrievably lost as mines increasingly close down. Ecological and economic impacts of the flooding of mines in and around Johannesburg emphasise the lack of reliable historical mine data to optimally address the matter. We provide the first comprehensive, yet not exhaustive, overview on the existing studies, briefly discussing scientific content as well as obstacles for utilising the scattered, and often non-peer reviewed, information sources.

Examining the direct and indirect effects of environmental change and place attachment on land management decisions in the Hill Country of Texas, USA

Urbanization has increasingly encroached upon many rural landscapes. The increased demand for development, and associated increase in land prices and property taxes has forced many rural landowners to subdivide or sell their property and led to adverse impacts on important ecosystem functions supported by rural landscapes. However, there has been limited research on how, in the face of such changes, landowners’ attachment to their property may affect their intention to retain their property, and effort invested to sustain important ecosystem features and enhance their land management capacity. Our study examined how landowners’ evaluation of change interacted with three dimensions of place attachment (place functions/features, place emotion/identity, and social bonding) to influence their intention to retain their rural property and engage in property-protective behaviors. The study was conducted with a sample of landowners whose properties in the Texas Hill Country were impacted by urbanization from the nearby metropolitan area. Model testing was conducted based on latent variable scores. The results revealed that evaluation of urbanization-related change primarily interacted with respondents’ place emotion/identity to influence their intention to retain their property. Additionally, evaluation of change and place attachment also directly influenced intention and behaviors pertaining to respondents’ property. Our research suggests the need to focus on landowners’ attachment to their rural property as a mechanism for promoting ecologically sound land management. Moreover, the needs to understand how landowners perceive urbanization, inform them of potential impacts, and provide resources to enhance their environmental skills to cope with such changes are also recommended.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression and Anxiety in Rural and Nonrural Primary Care: National Survey Results

Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression and Anxiety in Rural and Nonrural Primary Care: National Survey Results

An Investigation of the Industrial Ecology of New Firm Survival - Executive Summary

This study examines the influence of external economies on the survival and longevity of new independent businesses in the continental U.S. It hypothesizes that new firms with access to the sources of specialized inputs, labor, product markets and knowledge spillovers will outlive those in areas of relative isolation. The size of the region and the diversity of its industrial base are also considered as possible sources of beneficial external economies.The findings show that while external economies have a statistically significant influence on new firm survival, the effects are typically very modest. The most consistently significant effects are found for localization, which lowers the risk of new firm failure in five of the nine detailed study industries examined: farm and garden machinery, metalworking machinery, motor vehicle parts, advertising and computer and data programming services. After controlling for other sources of external economies, the size of the region is insignificant for most industries. By contrast, regional industrial diversity reduces hazard rates for new firms in drugs, advertising, computer and data processing, and research and testing services.Measures representing the specific sources of localization are statistically significant in fewer industries than the broadly defined measures of localization, but when significant they often have a stronger influence on new firm longevity. Among the specific sources of localization, proximity to specialized input suppliers is the most consistently significant, reducing hazard rates for new firms in metalworking machinery, advertising, and computer and data processing services. Proximity to intermediate product markets is only significantly beneficial in the professional services sector. Labor pooling is either insignificant or found to increase new firm hazard rates, but only after the other sources of localization are controlled. Industry knowledge spillovers significantly reduce hazard rates for new firms in the drugs and motor vehicle parts industry, but the accuracy of the variable may be sensitive to industry-specific differences in the economic value of patenting.This study also investigates whether and how the size of the establishment influences new firms' ability to benefit from their external environment. The evidence suggests that smaller businesses are the most common beneficiaries of external economies, but not in all cases. There are several examples, most commonly for urbanization, where external economies increase the failure rates of larger plants while having little effect on smaller ones. There are also several industries where an increase in external economies produces a relative reduction in hazard rates for medium sized plants, but have little effect on smaller plants.Overall the research implies that entrepreneurial development strategies are likely to be more effective if designed to capitalize upon a region's existing strengths and assets. The beneficial influence of localization and diversity are often strongest when estimated at larger spatial scales, i.e. those approximating the size of commuting sheds and labor market areas. That provides some conditional support for rural development strategies aimed at strengthening ties to nearby metropolitan areas.

Dissolved and particulate trace metal levels in the Saronikos Gulf, Greece, in 2004. The impact of the primary Wastewater Treatment Plant of Psittalia

The present study examines the concentrations of Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in 2004 in the Saronikos Gulf, an embayment affected by anthropogenic inputs from the nearby metropolitan area of Athens. We investigated in particular the impact of the operation for a decade of the primary Wastewater Treatment Plant of Athens, which is located at Psittalia Island, on the levels of these metals in the marine environment of the gulf, few months before the inauguration of the secondary treatment. Therefore, the present work represents the needed baseline for any future comparisons and assessment of the impact of the secondary treatment. For two samplings carried out in May and September 2004 in a grid of fifteen stations, dissolved and particulate metal concentrations are, respectively, in the range 5.0–63 and 0.22–3.6 ng/L for Cd, 0.03–0.72 and 0.03–0.23 μg/L for Cu, 0.11–1.2 and 0.02–0.55 μg/L for Mn, 0.19–1.5 and 0.01–0.11 μg/L for Ni, 0.05–0.60 and 0.02–0.59 μg/L for Pb and 0.13–5.8 and 0.06–1.0 μg/L for Zn. The concentrations of the majority of the studied metals obtained in 2004 are comparable to those of the year 2000 and among the lowest detected in the Saronikos Gulf ever since the beginning of the MED-POL program twenty years ago. This stabilization is attributed to the operation of the wastewater treatment plant and offers an indication that the levels of trace metal pollution of the marine environment of the gulf are possibly reaching a steady state.

The impact of a police crackdown on a street drug scene: evidence from the street

This article documents the impact of a police crackdown on a street heroin market in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, as perceived by individuals involved in the market. While our data suggest that ‘Operation Clean Heart’ achieved its objective of reducing the visible aspects of this street drug scene, they also imply that the drug market rapidly adapted to its new conditions and that the impact of the operation was essentially superficial and temporary. In addition, we contend that the operation had numerous (unintended) negative consequences, some of which are potentially harmful to public health. Negative outcomes implied by our data included the partial displacement of the drug scene to nearby metropolitan areas; the discouragement of safe injecting practice and safe needle and syringe disposal; and more frequent occurrences of violence and fraud. These outcomes may outweigh the perceived positive impacts, which were achieved at significant public expense. We conclude that police crackdowns are inappropriate responses to illicit drug problems; instead, in line with longstanding Australian policy, approaches which incorporate and balance demand reduction, supply reduction and harm reduction principles should be followed.

DDT contamination in selected estuarine and coastal marine finfish and shellfish of New Jersey

Analysis of DDT contamination in selected finfish and shellfish species from estuarine and coastal marine waters of New Jersey (USA) reveals consistently highest organochlorine pesticide levels in samples from the north and northeast regions of the state. The mean concentrations of DDT and its metabolites, DDE and DDD, in bluefish, striped bass, weakfish, and blue crabs collected at 27 stations throughout the state between 1988 and 1991 ranged from <25 to >300 microg/kg wet weight (wet wt). Gas chromatographic analysis of 175 tissue samples from these four species showed that the highest levels of DDTs (DDT plus DDE and DDD), exceeding 300 microg/kg wet wt, occurred in blue crabs (hepatopancreas) from the Hudson-Newark-Raritan Bay complex in the northeast region. Lower mean concentrations of DDTs (<200 microg/kg wet wt) were recorded in tissue samples of these species from all other regions of the state. The lowest levels of DDT contamination (mean <110 microg/kg wet wt) were found in samples from the south coast region. The greatest impact of DDT contamination is nearby metropolitan areas of the state, although the total concentrations of DDT in tissue samples from these areas are far less than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration action level of 5,000 microg/kg wet wt for this contaminant.

The Urban economic Base in a Trans‐Border setting: A case study of two towns

The purpose of this study is to analyze the differences in the economic bases of two small towns, each tributary to nearby metropolitan areas, on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border. Thus, it combines the policy concerns of small town economic development (Alguire et al. 1987) with a social scientific interest in cross-cultural differences. Small towns face certain common problems independent of which side of the border they are on - social stratification, limited shopping opportunities, non-dynamic leaders (more ambitious residents have frequently invested their talents elsewhere), limited employment opportunities and anemic tax bases. Nevertheless, the international border does impose cultural and structural differences which are reflected in differences in the flows of capital, labor and consumption expenses. For example, Mexican rural society is poorer, less residentially mobile, less diurnally mobile and more socially tied to the local community than is the case in the U.S. Also, jobs in government service and income from transfer payments are less available in the average Mexican town than in the average U.S. town. Because of these differences people in the Mexican town are likely to purchase lower-order goods and services, spend more money locally and be less directly dependent on the government or on private pensions, for their livelihood, than their counterparts in the U.S. town. Understanding the fundamental patterns of income flows into and out of the community is a task that economic base analysis is uniquely designed to meet. Here, a modified form of the Tiebout (1962) procedure will be used to trace the basic income flow into and out of establishments and households. A town's economic viability will depend on the magnitude of the difference between the inward and outward flows. The study will analyze a town in south Texas and a town of similar characteristics in northern Coahuila. Economic base analysis in this study will refer both to the study of such exogenous income, and to the study of household and establishment expenditure patterns which determine the degree of income recycling within the local region (the multiplier).

The Fort McDowell Yavapai

Abstract Faced with the loss of their homeland due to a proposed dam, a small American Indian community initially seemed powerless to prevent their relocation. This threat was associated with substantial detrimental impacts on the physical, psychological, and economic functioning of the community and its members. While the proposed dam initially was stopped in 1976, it was resurrected by local political and public pressure following two years of devastating floods affecting a nearby metropolitan area. A federally funded and highly visible study was then commissioned to investigate the impacts of and alternatives to the proposed dam. An independent investigation collected data assessing the psychological impact on the Yavapai community caused by the threat of relocation. As a result of the visibility and attention the Yavapai gained from this study, their role as a politically active pressure group, and their shrewd use of the leverage they gained, the tribal community succeeded in eliminating the proposed...