Population Of Small Town Research Articles

Öngondoskodás, megtakarítási képesség és eladósodottság az Alföld középső részén

A szakirodalom elméleti alapvetéseiből és empirikus eredményeiből kiindulva a tanulmány alapfeltevése, hogy a megtakarítás és a jó gazdálkodás képessége mérhető eltéréseket mutat a népesség demográfiai, gazdasági és társadalmi viszonyai szerint. A vizsgálatban figyelembe vettük, hogy a változók értékeit befolyásolhatja az adott háztartás önellátási potenciálja. Képesek-e a háztartásban élők előállítani saját fogyasztási igényüknek legalább egy részét? Ha igen, tudják-e ezzel csökkenteni kiadásaikat? A kérdéseket 2011 őszén az Alföld középső részének húsz településén élők pénzügyi-gazdasági helyzetének felmérésével vizsgáltuk. A mintába került megkérdezettek településjelleg, nem és életkor szerint reprezentálják a térség népességét. Az adatok alapján a legmagasabb megtakarítási képesség és hajlandóság a felsőfokú végzettségű, vezető értelmiségi munkakörben dolgozó, magas jövedelemmel rendelkező városi népességre jellemző.A megtakarítási és hiteltörlesztési képesség többváltozós elemzése feltárta, hogy a háztartásokban keletkezett átlagos havi nettó jövedelem negatívan korrelál az önellátásból származó fogyasztással, a háztartások havi nettó bevételének emelkedésével a háztartások fogyasztásának önellátásból származó hányada csökken. Diszkriminanciaelemzéssel az anyagi dimenziók mentén lehet legjobban szétválasztani a válaszadókat. Akik kedvezőbb anyagi feltételekkel rendelkeznek, adósságuk, banki hitelük ellenére is magasabb eséllyel tudnak megtakarítani azokhoz képest, akik szerényebb anyagiakból gazdálkodhatnak, akár van aktuálisan elmaradt adósságuk, akár nem. Igazoltuk, hogy a törlesztőképességet a háztartás önellátásból származó nagyságrendje befolyásolja: ott, ahol már nem tudják fizetni a törlesztőrészleteket, az önellátás körvonalazottabb.

The Saskatchewan rural health study: an application of a population health framework to understand respiratory health outcomes

BackgroundRespiratory disease can impose a significant burden on the health of rural populations. The Saskatchewan Rural Health Study (SRHS) is a new large prospective cohort study of ages 6 and over currently being conducted in farming and non-farming communities to evaluate potential health determinants associated with respiratory outcomes in rural populations. In this article, we describe the rationale and methodology for the adult component.The study is being conducted over 5 years (2009–15) in two phases, baseline and longitudinal. The baseline survey consists of two components, adults and children. The adult component consists of a questionnaire-based evaluation of individual and contextual factors of importance to respiratory health in two sub populations (a Farm Cohort and a Small Town Cohort) of rural families in Saskatchewan Rural Municipalities (RMs). Clinical studies of lung function and allergy tests are being conducted on selected sub-samples of the two cohorts based on the positive response to the last question on the baseline questionnaire: “Would you be willing to be contacted about having breathing and/or allergy tests at a nearby location?”. We adopted existing population health theory to evaluate individual factors, contextual factors, and principal covariates on the outcomes of chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and obstructive sleep apnea.FindingsOf the RMs selected to participate, 32 (89%) out of 36 RMs and 15 (94%) out of 16 small towns within the RMs agreed to participate. Using the mail out survey method developed by Dillman, we obtained completed questionnaires from 4264 households (8261 individuals). We obtained lung function measurements on 1609 adults, allergy skin test information on 1615 adults; both measurements were available on 1549 adults. We observed differences between farm and non-farm rural residents with respect to individual, contextual factors and covariates.DiscussionThere are differences between farm and non-farm rural residents with respect to individual and contextual factors and other variables of importance. The findings of the SRHS will improve knowledge of respiratory disease etiology, assist in the development and targeting of prevention programs, and in planning health services with farm and small town populations.

Implantação de um sistema de telecardiologia em Minas Gerais: projeto Minas Telecardio

Although cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of morbimortality in Brazil, the access of small-town populations to electrocardiography and cardiology assessment is limited. The use of telecardiology to assist the access of distant towns to electrocardiography and a second opinion in cardiology is promising; however, it has not been formally assessed.To assess the feasibility of implementing a low-cost public telecardiology system in small Brazilian towns.A total of 82 towns in the state of Minas Gerais, with a population < 10,500 inhabitants, presenting > 70% coverage by the Family Health Program (Programa Saude da Familia-PSF), local government compliance and internet access, were selected. Each town was supplied with digital electrocardiography (ECG) device and a team was trained. The implementation was coordinated by HC/UFMG, together with four university hospitals in the state of Minas Gerais (UFU, UFTM, UFJF and UNIMONTES). The ECG assessments were carried out in the towns and sent through the Internet for prompt analysis by an on-duty telecardiology team. Online and offline discussions on the medical cases were carried out through the Internet, as well as refreshment courses.During the implementation period, a total of 253 health professionals were trained. From July 2006 to November 2008, the project assisted 42,664 patients, with a total of 62,865 ECG assessments being performed. A total of 2,148 emergency cases were treated, as well as 420 teleconsultations. The intermediate evaluation showed good acceptance of the implemented technology and a 70% decrease in patient referrals to other reference centers.The use of the customary resources in informatics to assist the access of small-town populations to electrocardiography and specialized cardiology assessment is feasible.

Using the Internet to Survey Small Towns and Communities: Limitations and Possibilities in the Early 21st Century

Researchers who are interested in small towns and rural communities in the United States often find that they need to conduct their own sample surveys because many large national surveys, such as the American Community Survey, do not collect enough representative responses to make precise estimates. In collecting their own survey data, researchers face a number of challenges, such as sampling and coverage limitations. This article summarizes those challenges and tests mail and Internet methodologies for collecting data in small towns and rural communities using the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File as a sample frame. Findings indicate that the Delivery Sequence File can be used to sample households in rural locations by sending them invitations via postal mail to respond to either paper-and-pencil or Internet surveys. Although the mail methodology is quite successful, the results for the Internet suggest that Web surveys alone exclude potentially important segments of the population of small towns and rural communities. However, Web surveys supplemented with postal questionnaires produce results quite similar to those of mail-only surveys, representing a possible cost savings for researchers who have access to Web survey capabilities.

Álamos, Sonora. Architecture and Urbanism in the Dry Tropics (review)

Reviewed by: Álamos, Sonora. Architecture and Urbanism in the Dry Tropics Lawrence A. Herzog Álamos, Sonora. Architecture and Urbanism in the Dry Tropics. John Messina. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2008, xxii and 165 pp., maps, photos, notes, glossary and index. $35.00 cloth (ISBN 978-0-8165-2651-2). Geographers will find much to savor in John Messina's crisp, concise and skillfully presented townscape portrait of colonial Alamos, Mexico. This is a very readable architect's study of a lesser known, but well-preserved colonial Mexican mining town in the southeast corner of the state of Sonora. The reader may wonder, as I did, why bother to write an entire book about colonial architecture for a small Mexican town (population approximately 10,000), when others have trod this path before on larger stages? The author's response: it's personal. He visited Alamos in the mid- 1980s and discovered not merely a town, but a cultural artifact worthy of a book. I decided to give Messina the benefit of the doubt, especially when, on page five, he promised he would offer "an attempt at fervor rather than pedantry." I thought: "órale!" In a discipline that has rocketed forward with its embrace of flashy technology and hard science over its more humanistic past, cultural and urban geographers will appreciate a basic premise of Messina's townscape study—that the greatness of cities and towns lies in their deep connection to the land. The book emphasizes that Alamos' was literally built from the earth-- its structures derived largely from adobe crafted from the region's sand, clay, silt and water. Further, this town would never have risen up near the banks of the Río Mayo, had it not been for rich silver deposits on the slopes of the neighboring Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. This premise serves as a thread that weaves through the book, and resurfaces at its close, as one of the critical lessons of Alamos' urbanism. Among its virtues is the book's compact presentation—six chapters that run logically from history (Chapter 1) and urban morphology (Chapter 2), to more micro-design issues like the plaza (Chapter 3), the Alameda and other elements of urban place (chapter 4), private residences (chapter 5) and finally, lessons learned (chapter 6). Chapter 1, "The Making of A Town in Northern New Spain, " traces the evolution of Alamos from its origins as a silver mining center in the late 17th century. We learn that the town lies on an important ecological frontier, at the cusp between the dry arid lands of the desert to the north, and the tropical latitudes that begin to the south. This unique ecological [End Page 237] zone ultimately defines the economic base for Alamos, and its building typologies and settlement pattern. The above point is driven home in Chapter 2, "Urban Morphology." A key theme in this chapter is the connection between Alamos' urban form and its natural environment. Not only are adobe buildings born from the clay and sand they sit upon, but building forms and the larger urban pattern were shaped by local climate and topography. For example, the use of Islamic/Spanish patios creates an important air circulation system for homes and other buildings; narrow streets provided shade from the hot desert sun, and hilly terrain altered the flow of the rectangular street grid. Taken together, these elements, in the author's words, "all contribute to an extraordinary sense of one being in a very habitable place." (p. 29). Using photographs, computer-generated figure-ground maps, floor plans, archival history and detailed description, the author walks the reader through Alamos, along its winding streets that lead to the plaza. Chapter 3 (The Plaza and the Bishop's Dream) and Chapter 4 (Urban Realities and Fantasies) cover history and contemporary public spaces, and other iconic design elements, including the government palace, church, 18th century casonas (mansions with interior patios), the market, and the town's true social center—the Alameda. Chapter 5 ("La Casa Alamense") describes the architecture of private homes in Alamos, which the author argues display a mix of influences, from Islamic and Spanish colonial designs to the architecture...

A new academical village

When the rich learning environment of inpatient stays is completely plowed under, where can students be exposed to the hidden curriculum of a transparent clinical decisionmaking process [1]? Its remaining habitat is the small community practice. More patients are receiving outpatient community care. Although outpatient educational settings have their limitations (no nearby clinical and basic research, no academic culture, and no faculty consultative ‘‘village’’) [2] revenue considerations are diluting teaching and research [3]. As a private solo practitioner of general surgery in a small town (population 17,000) for the past 7 years, I have had the close personal experience of another phenomenon: the disappearance of the general surgery workforce [4, 5]. There is an increasing majority of surgical residents going onto subspecialty fellowships. In urban areas, general surgeons’ scope of practice is limited by this burgeoning supply of subspecialist surgeons [6]. The other effect of the shortage of rural surgeons is a considerable wealth of clinical experience, including endoscopy. These small communities cannot support subspecialty practices. This confluence of factors results in a unique opportunity for academic medical centers, rural surgeons, and students and residents. The small practice environment allows close personal observation of the clinical decisionmaking process. The surgical experience is intimate and seamless. Indeed, this model offers the opportunity for the establishment of a continuum of competency involving students, residents, and practising alumni [7]. With email, text messaging, web conferencing, podcasts, and a created electronic medical records (EMR) interface, the issues of specialty consultation, conferences and lectures, and teaching and learning assessment can be successful at a distance. Academic faculty and administration must be committed to flexibility, and community physicians must be committed to the educational process. As a rural surgeon I am ready to be part of this solution and hope we are all ready to make this bold move.

Small-Town Housing Needs: Resource Inefficiencies and Urban Bias in the United States

An urban bias is evident in policies and programs addressing housing and community development issues in the U.S. Analysis of American Housing Survey data comparing non-metropolitan housing conditions to central city and suburban housing conditions indicates a higher incidence of structural deficiencies combined with low housing values, suggesting that non-metropolitan housing offers particular challenges. To explore the obstacles faced by organizations attempting to take up these challenges, this paper offers a case study of local housing needs and issues in the Brazos Valley of Texas. It was found that poor housing conditions, high vacancy rates, and stagnant or declining home values plague large proportions of small-town populations. In addition, it was found that because funding mechanisms are designed to serve urban populations, local organizations struggle to offer a product that meets the needs of lower-income households in non-metropolitan areas.

Employment and Satisfaction Trends Among General Surgery Residents from a Community Hospital

Physician satisfaction is an important and timely issue in health care. A paucity of literature addresses this question among general surgeons. To review employment patterns and job satisfaction among general surgery residents from a single university-affiliated institution. All general surgery residents graduating from 1986 to 2006, inclusive, were mailed an Institutional Review Board-approved survey, which was then returned anonymously. Information on demographics, fellowship training, practice characteristics, job satisfaction and change, and perceived shortcomings in residency training was collected. A total of 31 of 34 surveys were returned (91%). Most of those surveyed were male (94%) and Caucasian (87%). Sixty-one percent of residents applied for a fellowship, and all but 1 were successful in obtaining their chosen fellowship. The most frequent fellowship chosen was plastic surgery, followed by minimally invasive surgery. Seventy-one percent of residents who applied for fellowship felt that the program improved their competitiveness for a fellowship. Most of the sample is in private practice, and of those, 44% are in groups with more than 4 partners. Ninety percent work less than 80 hours per week. Only 27% practice in small towns (population <50,000). Of the 18 graduates who practice general surgery, 94% perform advanced laparoscopy. Sixty-seven percent of our total sample cover trauma, and 55% of the general surgeons perform endoscopy. These graduates wish they had more training in pancreatic, hepatobiliary, and thoracic surgery. Eighty-three percent agreed that they would again choose a general surgery residency, 94% of those who completed a fellowship would again choose that fellowship, and 90% would again choose their current job. Twenty-three percent agreed that they had difficulty finding their first job, and 30% had fewer job offers than expected. Thirty-five percent of the graduates have changed jobs: 29% of the residents have changed jobs once, and 6% have changed jobs at least twice since completing training. Reasons for leaving a job included colleague issues (82%), financial issues (82%), inadequate referrals (64%), excessive trauma (64%), and marriage or family reasons (55% and 55%, respectively). One half to three fourths of the graduates wished they had more teaching on postresidency business and financial issues, review of contracts, and suggestions for a timeline for finding a job. Although general surgical residencies prepare residents well technically, they do not seem to be training residents adequately in the business of medicine. This training can be conducted by attendings, local attorneys, office managers, and past residents with the expectation that job relocations can decrease and surgeon career satisfaction can increase.

Patterns of Violence: The Local Population and the Mass Murder of Jews in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, July–August 1941

Recently, there has been growing interest among historians in the question of popular participation in the Holocaust of European Jews, particularly in the territories to the east of the Soviet Union's 1941 western border. (1) Many factors have contributed to this avalanche of high-quality scholarly texts, among them the opening of the archives after the fall of communism, the centrality of complicity in the mass murder of Jews of people of particular ethnic origin to the perception and self-perception of the respective nations, and the incessant public demand for works that deal with this kind of emotionally charged issues. While scholars research events that occurred in different places and under circumstances that were substantially different as well, they address number of problems that are to some extent similar, among them the role of traditional antisemitism in determining popular participation in the murder of Jews, the extent to which the experience of the Soviet occupation framed the perception of Jews as Communists and enemies of the local Gentiles, and finally the influence the Germans and their allies exerted on the locals' attitudes toward and treatment of Jews. One small book, Jan Gross's Neighbors, occupies an especially important place in this recent historiography. The book not only reconstructed one especially horrid episode of the mass murder of Jews, in which the participation of local Gentiles (Poles) was truly massive, but made, in manner which is both subtle and radical, number of general theoretical suggestions. Gross's rendering of the Jedwabne story as the one in which of the population of small East European town murdered the other half is predicated on his intimation that the killers were guided neither by Nazi occupiers' orders nor, really, by their own resentment against the Jews' supposedly treacherous behavior during the Soviet occupation (which, he insists, was not nearly as massive as Polish general public and even historians came to believe) but rather by the centuries-long antisemitic tradition in Poland. (2) While Gross does say that the Holocaust has to be accounted for as system which functioned according to the preconceived (though constantly evolving) plan, he expresses his doubts about the tendency in the scholarly literature to read Shoah as phenomenon rooted in modernity and invites us to see it as heterogeneous phenomenon, as a mosaic composed of discreet episodes, improvised by local decision-makers, and hinging on unforced behavior. (3) By invoking the imagery of the Henryk Sienkiewicz national saga of 17thcentury wars, Trilogy, from the pages of which the murderous peasant mobs appear as if by magic, he suggests that the motivations of killers should be sought not in the context of the multiple occupations of 1939-41 and the Nazis' racial war but in the longue duree of Polish and--more broadly--East European history. (4) The immediate debates over Jan Gross's book tended to focus on what actually happened in Jedwabne and the surrounding areas in July 1941, and among the many merits of such debates is that they helped clarify with exceptional precision the highly complex and volatile context in which the event took place. (5) But the book and the debates it provoked have wider implications for framing the research agenda on the motivation of local non-Nazi killers of Jews in other areas of the Soviet borderlands during World War II. This article locates itself within this context of scholarly preoccupations and self-consciously addresses the debates over Gross's book as especially relevant for the case it studies. The article seeks to establish patterns of popular antisemitic violence in the two eastern provinces of Romania, Bessarabia and Bukovina, in July and August 1941, and to explain its variations. (6) The tragedies in Bessarabia and northern Bukovina took place simultaneously with the Jedwabne slaughter, and the character of the place--the western Soviet borderland--was also comparable, though, of course, in this case the land at the border was Romania, not Poland. …

TS06 NEUROTRAUMA IN THE RURAL AND REMOTE SETTING

This paper reviews the management of head injuries arising in the rural and remote areas of Queensland.Methodology Data was obtained from the Queensland Trauma Registry from January 2003 to December 2004, a total of 3,088 patients, 1667 classified as major injury.Queensland is the second largest state in Australia with most of the 4 million population living along the eastern seaboard, mainly in the southeast corner and a widely dispersed rural population in small towns. There are neurosurgical services in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Townsville.Results Forty percent of patients are referred from another hospital for definitive care with transfer times of up to 10 hours between the referring and definitive care hospital. Of those requiring craniotomy 60% of patients are referred from a another hospital again with lengthy transfer times well beyond the 2 hour transfer time for the deteriorating head injury with intracranial haemorrhage as recommended in the NSA/RACS set of guidelines for the “Management of Acute Neurotrauma in Rural and Remote Locations”.This paper reviews the problems which include deficient retrieval resources, a reluctance by non‐neurosurgeons to perform emergency neurosurgery, a lack of training amongst younger surgeons, and perceived medicolegal issues.The paper also compares the situation in other states and territories.Conclusions Recommendations are made to improve the delivery of neurotrama care.

The Holy Thorn Ceremony: Revival, Rivalry and Civil Religion in Glastonbury

Glastonbury and Holy Ceremony Glastonbury is a small market town (population approximately 9000) that rises up steeply from Somerset Levels, an area of drained marshland, in south west of England. centre of town is dominated by ruins of once magnificent Glastonbury Abbey, one of most significant British pilgrimage destinations of Middle Ages until its dissolution at Reformation in 1539. Despite Abbey's demise, people continued to be drawn to town; throughout twentieth century, Glastonbury attracted increasingly numerous and varied spiritual seekers (Hexham 1981; Benham 1993; Bowman 1993; Prince and Riches 2000). Glastonbury's current status as a significant and sacred site for a great range of people is unparalleled in British Isles (Ivakhiv 2001; Bowman 2005), being variously considered Isle of Avalon, site of a great Druidic centre of learning, a significant prehistoric centre of Goddess worship, cradle of English Jerusalem, a communication point for alien contact, epicentre of New Age in England, and heart chakra of planet Earth. degree of legend and speculation surrounding town and its past is such that some refer not to Glastonbury's history, but its mythtory. Alternative spirituality in Glastonbury tends to be designated as such in implied contrast to Christianity, as if Christianity itself was a monolithic, tightly-defined phenomenon. As I have argued elsewhere, however (Bowman 2000), much of Glastonbury's success as a Christian centre has been built on what is often thought of as folk religion, defined by Yoder as the totality of all those views and practices of that exist among people apart from and alongside strictly theological and liturgical forms of official religion (1974, 14; 2001, 80), and many of myths and practices of alternative community relate to vernacular Christian tradition. Contemporary Christianity in Glastonbury is also varied, not simply in terms of denominational divisions, but in attitudes to Glastonbury's myths and their significance, degree of interaction there might be with alternative community, and how best to promote Christianity in twenty-first century. One of town's most significant myths is that St Joseph of Arimathea (the man who provided a tomb for Jesus) brought Christianity to Glastonbury, and planted there Holy that blossoms both in spring and in winter. Each December since 1929 a calendar custom has taken place in Glastonbury commemorating and celebrating this legend--the Holy Ceremony. By 1990s, when I first started to study it, there were three main elements to this custom: * cutting of sprigs from Holy outside Anglican church of St John Baptist in Glastonbury in presence of vicar of St John's and other clergy, Mayor, members of town council, children from Church of England St John's Infants School, and some of their parents and other relations. is cut by eldest child at St John's School. * (re)telling of legend--also contained in The Holy Thorn song [1] sung by children--that St Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury, bringing with him Holy Thorn. * After ceremony, sending of sprays of Christmas flowering thorn to Queen. (It is widely believed that Queen has thorn on her breakfast table on Christmas Day.) This is very much a Gastonia custom, which attracts few outsiders. Local press and television are always in attendance, and photographs of cutter, vicar and Mayor beside tend to appear each year in local papers. In this article, I shall expand upon rather bald account already given to explore topic under three broad headings: story of Holy Thorn, ceremony based upon it, and significance of custom. …

Urban and rural differences in mortality and causes of death in historical Poland

The purpose of this paper is to document and interpret urban-rural differences in mortality in the past. To this end, we used data on mortality in Wielkopolska, Poland, in the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. The data on mortality in rural areas (N = 1,173,910 deceased), small towns (N = 573,903 deceased), and Poznań, the capital of the Wielkopolska region (N = 86,352 deceased), were gathered from original Prussian statistical yearbooks (Preussische Statistik). Causes of death were also analyzed (rural areas, N = 449,576 deceased; small towns, N = 238,365 deceased; Poznań, N = 61,512 deceased). Mortality measures such as crude death rate (CDR), infant death rate (IDR), and neonatal and postneonatal death rates were calculated. Life tables were constructed for both stationary and stable population models and measures of the opportunity for natural selection calculated (Crow's index I(m), potential gross reproduction rate R(pot), and biological state index I(bs)). Relative frequencies of leading causes of death were computed. Stratification depending on the place of residence was evident in all mortality measures as well as in the values of the life tables and the measures of the opportunity for natural selection, but it was reverse of what is observed today in developed countries. In Poznań (a large industrial city), the mortality situation was the least favorable. It was caused by large population density, lack of water supply and sewage systems (up to 1896), and bad working conditions. The values of CDR ranged between 26.89-31.46, and IDR between 190.6-280.5. Newborn life expectancy (for a stable population model) was 31.6 years, I(m) = 0.79, R(pot) = 0.85, and I(bs) = 0.47. The most common causes of death were tuberculosis, other diseases of the respiratory and circulatory systems, dysentery and diarrhea, and cancer. These diseases were less common in rural areas, so they had the most favorable values of mortality measures (CDR between 22.87-27.32, IDR between 181.8-219.4, life expectancy of newborn e(0) = 42.12, I(m) = 0.55, R(pot) = 0.93, I(bs) = 0.60). Infectious diseases (other than tuberculosis), frailty at birth, and frailty in old age were the most frequent causes of death in rural areas. Small towns (population <20,000) had a mortality intermediate between city and rural areas.

Intracellular and dissolved microcystin in reservoirs of the river Segura basin, Murcia, SE Spain

The seasonal sampling of irrigation or drinking water reservoirs in the province of Murcia (SE Spain) in the hydrological year 2000–2001 revealed the presence of intracellular microcystins in the benthic cyanophyte communities throughout the year. The total microcystin levels, as measured by HPLC, were relatively high but lower than others published for planktonic communities of the European continent or certain African countries. The diversity of forms was also very high and comparable to those found for other European countries. The concentrations of microcystins dissolved in the water were always below limits recommended by the WHO for drinking water and, during most of the year, undetectable by immunological methods. We discuss the need for setting up a control network for detecting benthic cyanobacteria growth to prevent long-term undesirable effects in the human population in small towns (through drinking water or the consumption of vegetables) and in wild animals. In the particular case of the Iberian Peninsula, a joint strategy between Portugal and Spain is recommendable.

Civic Community in Small‐Town America: How Civic Welfare Is Influenced by Local Capitalism and Civic Engagement*

Abstract The aims of this paper are twofold: first, to gain a fuller understanding of factors that foster community cohesion and contribute to the residents' social and economic well‐being; and, second, to move beyond previous research that used larger spatial units such as states, counties, or aggregates of counties and to focus instead on American small towns (population 2,500–20,000). The data on small towns are drawn from public‐use files and from confidential microdata from various economic censuses. From these sources we construct measures of locally oriented firms, self‐employment, business establishments that serve as gathering places, and associations. The local capitalism and civic engagement variables generally perform as hypothesized; in some cases they are related quite strongly to civic welfare outcomes such as income levels, poverty rates, and nonmigration rates. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working with place‐level data and suggest some strategies for subsequent work on small towns and other incorporated places.

Marine ecotourism as a potential agent for sustainable development in Kaikoura, New Zealand

The terms &quot;sustainability&quot; and &quot;ecotourism&quot; have become much used in recent years, yet there have been few examinations of how they might apply in practical cases. Kaikoura, a small coastal town (population 3600) on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island, has a rapidly developing tourism industry. This industry has helped to transform the town from an economically depressed area with few opportunities for local employment into one of New Zealand's &quot;boom towns&quot;. However, this growth has not been without costs and controversies. The development of a successful ecotourism business by local indigenous Maori has caused some resentment amongst residents, and there is evidence that the marine mammals targeted by the tourism industry are experiencing increasing pressure. As a consequence, researchers and local people recognise that sustainability is an important issue for the future of the area. This case study provides important insights into the challenges associated with the rapid growth of an ecotourism destination.

The Dixie Diaspora: The "Loss" of the Small Southern Jewish Community

The major purpose of this paper is to describe recent changes in the geographic distribution of the Jewish population of the U.S. South and to discuss competing theories as to why small southern Jewish communities have been declining over the past few decades. First, this paper discusses the increase in Jewish population of the South Census Division, from 330,000 in 1937 to 1,264,000 in 1997. However, when one defines a "Jewish South," omitting Florida and Maryland/DC, the increase is not nearly as striking, and most of it is spatially concentrated in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and northern Virginia. Second, this paper examines the geographic distribution of the Jewish population in the South in 1997. At the MSA scale, Southeast Florida (507,000) and the Washington/Baltimore corridor (244,000) are the two largest centers. Atlanta (77,000), Dallas (45,000), and Houston (42,000) can be seen as secondary centers. Third, this paper discusses the significant gains made by some larger metropolitan areas and the loss of small southern Jewish communities. By 1997, 44 southern Jewish communities that had existed in 1960 had ceased to exist, or had dropped below 100 members. More than 20 other small (100-499 person) Jewish communities lost population during this period. Only six small Jewish communities (three in Florida) showed significant growth. Finally, the paper examines the history of anti-Semitism in the South, the changing occupational structure of southern Jews, the intermarriage and assimilation of the southern Jewish population, and the general population decline of small southern towns. All these factors help provide explanation for the decline of the Jewish population in small southern towns.

The Relationship Between Adolescent Alcohol Use and Delinquent and Violent Behaviors

ABSTRACT Longitudinal and cross-sectional relationships between alcohol use, psychological risk (as measured by four MMPI-A scales), and delinquent and violent behaviors were analyzed using self-reported data from eighth and ninth grade students from a rural and small town population. Alcohol use and acknowledgement of alcohol and drug-related problems were statistically associated with delinquent and violent behaviors, even after adjusting for personality and behavioral risk. These results suggest that alcohol use is an independent risk factor for delinquent and violent behaviors among young people. Violence prevention efforts among adolescents, therefore, should recognize and address alcohol use. Alcohol use prevention efforts among adolescents should evaluate the effects of reducing alcohol use on subsequent violent behaviors.

Introduction to general practice: For want of better

It was a small town (population 900) in rural Western Australia, and there had not been a doctor there for years. Two hours ago I had arrived to change all that. The man who got out of the pick up that stopped in front of the house asked if I was the new doc. There …

Swift and sure-footed on the Savanna: A study of Hadzabe gaits and feet in Northern Tanzania.

Data on footprints and gait of 54 Hadzabe, 6-70 years of age expand understanding of pedal morphology of unshod people and assist the development of ideas about the evolution of hominid bipedality and upright posture. Contrary to published data on gaits and pedal morphology of unshod populations, Hadzabe (also known as Hadza) from northern Tanzania exhibit values of stride length, relative stride length, and walking speeds that exceed those of rural and small-town populations. In all observable plantar features, including foot indices, an interdigital space between the hallux and second toe, fanning of the foot anteriorly, and foot angles (in-toeing and out-toeing), Hadzabe feet are comparable with those of never-shod Machiguengas in Perú. On average, Hadzabe hallucal gaps and ball widths are narrower than those of Machiguengas and other unshod short people. Hadzabe feet are also characterized by valgus halluces versus the varus halluces of never-shod Machiguengas and certain West Africans. Although characterized by a valgus toe, Hadzabe hallucal angles, which do not exceed 20°, are lower than those of Northern Hemispheric urbanites and shod rural populations of the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. Hadzabe also exhibit less medial and lateral rotation of the hip joint than Machiguengas do. The heel and the longitudinal arch impressions of the Hadzabe footprints closely resemble those of the Laetoli bipeds in the manner of weight distribution during locomotion. The striking similarity of footprint impressions, especially the heel and the longitudinal arch, between Hadzabe and Laetoli hominid footprints clearly imply that the pedal features of the Laetoli printmakers are remarkably humanoid. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 9:303-321, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Growth trends and changes in small towns in Saudi Arabia (1974–1993)

This study examines some of the factors affecting growth and change in small towns in Saudi Arabia (1974–1993), namely, their relative location and population size. The study hypothesizes that small town's rate of growth increases with distance from the nearest large city and that small towns' having larger population in 1974 will likely be the ones to grow more in 1993. The research data were obtained from population censuses of 1974 and 1993. Findings indicate that there is a positive but low association between small towns population growth rate and distance from the nearest large city and a strong negative relationship between growth rate and town population size.