Shrinking Of Space Research Articles

Trade Liberalization and Economic Development: A Critical Review

:This article examines the literature on trade liberalization and economic development. It also briefly looks at the theory of comparative advantage which is seen as justification for global trade liberalization under the auspices of the World Trade Organization. The study is important because once again the international institutions strongly advocate trade liberalization in the developing countries. Such policies may increase vulnerability and make the developing countries further hostages to international finance capital. It seems that trade liberalization is being presented as a suitable developmental strategy for developing countries despite weak empirical findings. It appears that with the current agenda of universal trade liberalization, not only will development space shrink but also self-determination and economic sovereignty will be undermined.

A novel variable selection approach that iteratively optimizes variable space using weighted binary matrix sampling.

In this study, a new optimization algorithm called the Variable Iterative Space Shrinkage Approach (VISSA) that is based on the idea of model population analysis (MPA) is proposed for variable selection. Unlike most of the existing optimization methods for variable selection, VISSA statistically evaluates the performance of variable space in each step of optimization. Weighted binary matrix sampling (WBMS) is proposed to generate sub-models that span the variable subspace. Two rules are highlighted during the optimization procedure. First, the variable space shrinks in each step. Second, the new variable space outperforms the previous one. The second rule, which is rarely satisfied in most of the existing methods, is the core of the VISSA strategy. Compared with some promising variable selection methods such as competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS), Monte Carlo uninformative variable elimination (MCUVE) and iteratively retaining informative variables (IRIV), VISSA showed better prediction ability for the calibration of NIR data. In addition, VISSA is user-friendly; only a few insensitive parameters are needed, and the program terminates automatically without any additional conditions. The Matlab codes for implementing VISSA are freely available on the website: https://sourceforge.net/projects/multivariateanalysis/files/VISSA/.

Exploration of Solutions for Revitalisation of Rural Areas in South Africa

Rural regions in South Africa need revitalisation. This paradigm shift is due to overpopulation and congestion in urban areas, technological advances leading to “space shrinking”, a growing need for food security, and a need for a sense of community and belonging. Since 2011, the national State of the Nation addresses (SONAs) in South Africa have focused on rural development as one of the main priorities of government, a neglected practice for more than two decades. This article analyses the state of rural development policies in South Africa and provides solutions for improved implementation. Government policies have been analysed and a need for improved rural development coordination is required. Possible solutions provided include categorising of rural regions, the “Feza iSimangaliso” rural development model, and rural development best practice principles and procedures. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n4p613

Equilibrium and vertical-instability considerations for vertical strike-point shifts on the ITER divertor targets

The study of operation with raised strike points on the first ITER divertor target plates is motivated by the need to gain experience with operation with strike points on tungsten (W) surfaces during the non-active phases (in the case of an initial carbon fibre composite (CFC)/W divertor); or (if ITER begins with a full-W divertor), to gain experience with plasma control and transients while operating with raised strike points to avoid damaging the baseline strike regions in preparation for the nuclear phase, and to provide a means for operation should damage occur in the baseline strike zone. For operation with raised strike points, we use the Corsica code to investigate the range of possible H- and L-mode equilibria, with emphasis on the maximum plasma current, achievable shapes, etc. With raised strike points the maximum achievable plasma current is close to 14 MA. The operating space (βp − li) for raised strike points has been studied. The size of the βp − li operating space shrinks (compared to using standard strike-point positions) at 14 MA. For 12 MA, however, the operating space is not affected when using raised strike points. For equilibria with elevated strike points (at roughly the CFC/W transitions, following the 2007 ITER Design Review) the vertical-instability growth-rates at high plasma current (14 MA) are somewhat high but are within the 20 s−1 which studies indicate are controllable in ITER. At lower currents (12 MA) in H-mode, the vertical-instability growth rates stay below 10.0 s−1 for most of βp − li space. At 12 MA in H-mode, multiple equilibria which meet our constraints have been found in overlapping regions of the βp − li operating space.

“Lately, Almost Constantly, Everything Seems Small to Me”: The Lived Space of German Jews under the Nazi Regime

Focusing predominantly on middle-aged, middle-class urban men, this article analyzes the spatial experiences of German Jews in Nazi Germany, dealing with their exclusion from different kinds of public spaces, their turn to closed Jewish spaces, and their withdrawal into private spaces. This process had a major impact on the bourgeois Jewish habitus that developed during the emancipation era. In the spirit of the spatial turn in social studies (following Henri Lefebvre and Michel de Certeau), the article demonstrates how the shrinking of lived physical space yielded parallel mental processes. The discussion is based on close reading of diaries, predominantly those of Victor Klemperer and Willy Cohn, along with additional primary sources.

Numerical Study of Effect of Polymer Additives on Heat Transport in Turbulent Rayleigh- Bénard Convection

In this study, the Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) model combined with the Cross Viscosity Equation is used, applied to the soft turbulence regime (Ra =5×105~4×107) and hard turbulence regime (Ra>4×107) of Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC). The relation curves between heat transport (Nusselt number) and other parameters, as well as flow pattern changes of RBC are obtained for the cases with different Rayleigh number and concentration of the polymer additive. The simulations show that the presence of polymer additive can lead to an enhancement of the heat transfer with larger effect in the hard turbulence regime than those in the soft turbulence regime. It is also shown that in the soft turbulence regime the reversal cycles are shorter than in hard turbulence regime. The symmetric vortices in the diagonal corner of enclosed space shrink and the velocities of large-scale circulation (LSC) increase accordingly.

Depth as an Extra Spatial Dimension and its Implications for Cosmology and Gravity Theory

I develop the idea that there exists a special dimension of depth, or of scale. The depth dimension is physically real and extends from the bottom micro-level to the ultimate macro-level of the Universe. The depth dimension, or the scales axis, complements the standard three spatial dimensions. I discuss the tentative qualities of the depth dimension and the universal arrangement of matter along this dimension. I suggest that all matter in the Universe, at least in the present cosmological epoch, is in joint downward motion along the depth dimension. The joint downward motion manifests itself in the universal contraction of matter. The opposite direction of motion, upward the dimension, would cause the expansion of matter. The contraction of matter is a primary factor, whereas the shrinking of space in the vicinity of matter is a derivative phenomenon. The observed expansion of the Universe is explained by the fact that celestial bodies become smaller due to matter contraction, while the overall space remains predominantly intact. Thus, relative to the contracting material bodies, the total span of cosmic space appears to be becoming vaster. I attempt to explain how the contraction of matter engenders the effect of universal gravity. I use over thirty animated and graphical color visualizations in the text to make the explanation of the proposed ideas more lucid.

Women Migrants and Faith Organisations: Changing Regimes of Gender, Religion and Race in London

This piece is based on the experiences of Southall Black Sisters (SBS), a grass roots casework, advocacy and campaigning organisation for Black and minority women.1 By drawing on the experience of SBS, I seek to show how since 9/11 and the London bombings in July 2005, the British State's new approach to race relations involves the implementation of a 'faith' and 'cohesion' agenda, which represents the 'softer' face of its counter terrorism measures. The shift from multiculturalism to 'multi-faithism' has led to the shrinking of secular spaces within minority communities. This has very specific consequences for gender equality and justice within minority communities, and threatens the gains that women have made to assert their human rights.

Anestetizzare il conflitto? Slittamenti di significato di due casi brasiliani di Bilancio Partecipativo

The article aims to analyze the transformations of two Brazilian experiences of Participatory Budgeting (PB) following a political change of the governing majority in 2005. The main focus relates to the shrinking of the potential for conflict which is usually considered a pivotal element in the success of such a participatory tool. The essay is based on two well-known case studies - those of the metropolises of Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre - whose last political period has not been the object of many studies, unlike previous phases during which their Participatory Budgeting practices became a worldwide references. The article highlights the ways such institutional transformations (which modified PB in Porto Alegre, while suspending and substituting it in Sao Paulo) have been associated with the emergence of a new discourse on participation, more focused on a partnership-driven perspective. The results underline that the shrinking of conflictive spaces provided by the new participatory arenas is part of a wider significant shift in the relationship established with stakeholders and citizens at large. The shift involves the institutional design of the participatory processes as well as the degree of empowerment fostered by the two experiences.

Creative Cities and Regions: The Case for Local Economic Diversity

In their recent discussion of the Richard Florida and Jane Jacobs‐inspired ‘creative cities’ policy literature, Hospers and Pen argue that despite increasingly more effective ‘space shrinking’ technologies, cities remain among the most suitable locations for creative activities of all types. This paper supplements their contribution by documenting more concretely how economically diversified cities provide a fertile environment for the discovery and development of new technological combinations. In doing so, we try to illustrate how a better understanding of the linkages between creativity and urban agglomeration would benefit from a multidisciplinary approach that studies both phenomena simultaneously.

Center Based Genetic Algorithm and its application to the stiffness equivalence of the aircraft wing

In this paper, a kind of Center Based Genetic Algorithm (CBGA) is proposed to overcome the premature convergence and to solve the stiffness equivalence problem. With the information of population center, central chaotic mutation and space shrinking strategy are designed to guide the evolutionary searching process. Meanwhile, the rank value based roulette selection and a new Cauchy preferential crossover operator are collaboratively used with the mutation operators in the CBGA. To avoid the loss of the best solution, the elitist strategy is employed as well. In addition, local search is embedded in the CBGA after the main evolutionary search process to enhance the exploitation ability by further improving the elite solution. Numerical simulation and comparison based on a set of benchmark functions show that, the proposed CBGA is superior to the hybrid genetic algorithm from the literature in terms of searching efficiency, solution quality, robustness and success ratio. Finally, CBGA is applied to successfully solve the stiffness equivalence problem of the small-aspect-ratio aircraft wing to tapered beam.

Childhood and leisure: Are leisure tools responsible for the evolution of ‘Little Adults’?

The revolution in information and communication technology, the shrinking of time and space and the creation of what Marshall McLuhan called ‘the global village’ have transformed the way the children of today are experiencing childhood. A major contributing factor in this transformation has been the enormous increase in leisure tools and easy access to them. Technological advance paves the way for not only a reduction in manual labour but also in community time. Leisure tools like radio, television, ‘Gameboy’, PSPs, mobiles and gaming stations have been targeted to provide leisure for the lonely. They work as vehicles for the segregation of human beings. The booming toy industry, the emergence of exclusive kids' stores, early brand imaging, and innovative promotional schemes are responsible for creating Little Adults. The early decision-making, peer pressure, me-too and me-alone syndrome, the portrayal of the child as an adult, double incomes, greater affordability of children-related leisure goods because of greater disposable income, and democratic values are some of the reasons which make a case for the emergence of Little Adults. This paper examines how the leisure choices of children in the age bracket 12–14 reflect this trend. A sample of 100 children was drawn from two public schools in Jaipur (India) and they were administered a schedule which was completed in front of the investigator. Case studies were also undertaken to acquire greater sociological insights.

Knowledge networks in local and global space

The objective of the paper is to discuss the space and scale of knowledge networks for innovation. The point of departure is a critical review of territorialised innovation theories according to which the source of growth and competitiveness is to be found in the innovative interplay among local actors and institutions. The region is believed to play a particular role as incubator or mediator for small firms. On this background the question raised is what globalisation and the emergence of time and space shrinking technologies imply to the spatial scale of knowledge networks. It is shown that the territorialised innovation theories rest on simplistic perceptions of embeddedness and space, and on functional notions of proximity which treat the firms as black box. The result is a considerable regional determinism. On the basis of recent network theory and empirical results, it is argued that firms do find knowledge sources on different spatial scales. Global networks or distant knowledge sources are particularly beneficial to innovation and firms are able to establish and participate in knowledge networks on all spatial scales. The political focus on local and regional innovation networks should therefore be changed and the role of the region redefined.

Three Non-Places of Supermodernity in the History of French Cinema: 1967, 1985, 2000. Playtime, Subway and Stand-by

The telescoping of time and shrinking of space are both effects of a modernist space that is made possible by the late Nineteenth Century’s new technologies such as the locomotive and the cinema. It is, then, no coincidence that the birth of cinema took place on the platform of a train station at La Ciotat in 1895, for since its inception, the cinema has been drawn to such spaces of modernity precisely because the transformation of human perception (or phenomenological space) that it renders possible is mirrored so closely by the reorganisation of physical space in the post-industrial urban sphere (or physical space). The confluence of the history of the cinema and that of the urban spaces of modernity has been examined at length by critics such as Benjamin and Kracauer; rather than expand upon this history, in this article I will instead examine cinematic representations of three spaces of modernity, each of which is situated at a distinct historical juncture: Jacques Tati’s Playtime (1967), Luc Besson’s Subway (1985) and Roch Stephanik’s Stand by (2000), each of which is produced in periods we might term, respectively (albeit somewhat problematically), the modern, the postmodern and, after Auge, the supermodern. However, what this analysis will make clear is that, in spite of the paradigm shifts that such a taxonomy appears to imply, what changes in these cinematic representations across this period is the relation of these films’ protagonists to the spaces in which they move as opposed to the spaces themselves, which are always, it will be argued, already supermodern or, perhaps, always simply modern.

A longitudinal study of open space zoning and development in Hong Kong

This study evaluates the land-use zoning and development of open space in the hyper-dense, land-hungry city of Hong Kong. The existing literature has generally found that its open space provision is unsatisfactory in both quality and quantity. The study fills the research gap by undertaking an archive research and interpreting the past zoning data from a total of 1573 statutory town plans published between 1965 and 2006. It elucidates how the current ungenerous provision of public open space can be attributed to a number of historical, political and institutional factors including: inefficient division of government responsibilities, lack of public representation, pro-growth planning ideology, revenue-maximizing land sale policy and privatization of urban space. This study concludes that the development of public open space has been prejudiced under the statutory planning system and land allocation process. It suggests that the shrinking of public open space may cause excessive development density that aggravates the deteriorating urban climate in Hong Kong.

Human Spatial Behaviour: The Spacing of People, Objects and Animals in Six Cross-Cultural Samples

AbstractThis study examines the principles we apply, when people, objects and animals are to be organized in relation to other representatives of their kind. Most cross-cultural studies on personal space focus on cultural differences, but here we look for proxetics (universals) as well as proxemics (cultural differences). 793 subjects from six countries (Greenland, Finland, Denmark, Italy, India and Cameroon) situated in four different climate zones are tested with a projective simulation measure (the 'IPROX'). A number of cross-cultural similarities are documented, and it is suggested that six of these are examples of high-level universals in the sense of Norenzayan and Heine (2005). But spacing also differs, and participants from Greenland, Finland, and Denmark systematically keep a larger interpersonal distance than subjects from Italy, India and Cameroon, which confirms the classic difference between southern 'contact-cultures' and northern 'low-contact cultures'. It is documented how personal space shrinks or expands depending on context and depending on whether a person occupies a territory or arrives at a territory occupied by somebody else. Personal space may even 'rub off ' on a person's belongings, and this opens up for a whole new area of spatial relations not studied before.

Transnational Networks, International Organizations and Political Participation in Cambodia: Human Rights, Labour Rights and Common Rights

Much international attention has been focused upon the promotion of a civil society in Cambodia, able to demand transparency and accountability from the Cambodian government. This article argues that international agencies, although apparently supportive of civil society, have in fact undermined the representation of collective interests in Cambodia through insistence on highly regulated and atomizing modes of participation, aimed at demobilizing and depoliticizing contentious groups in Cambodian society, and routing contentious politics through internationally sanctioned sites of participation. This trend in international engagement is traced across three issue areas – human rights, labour rights, and common rights in the forestry sector. In each case, it is argued, international agencies promoting neo-liberal agendas have taken the lead, at the expense of potentially radical transnational networks. The international backing awarded to local organizations has been highly conditional, and these organizations have consequently found it difficult to find political space to develop as autonomous actors. Because of this, an increasingly authoritarian state has been able to isolate and repress radical individual leaders. The result has been a dramatic shrinking of space for public participation in politics over the past ten years.

Dimensional duality

We show that string theory on a compact negatively curved manifold, preserving a $U(1{)}^{{b}_{1}}$ winding symmetry, grows at least ${b}_{1}$ new effective dimensions as the space shrinks. The winding currents yield a ``D-dual'' description of a Riemann surface of genus $h$ in terms of its $2h$ dimensional Jacobian torus, perturbed by a closed string tachyon arising as a potential energy term in the world sheet sigma model. D-branes on such negatively curved manifolds also reveal this structure, with a classical moduli space consisting of a ${b}_{1}$-torus. In particular, we present an anti-de Sitter (AdS)/conformal field theory (CFT) system which offers a nonperturbative formulation of such supercritical backgrounds. Finally, we discuss generalizations of this new string duality.

Differences between acoustic characteristics of spontaneous and read speech and their effects on speech recognition performance

Although speech derived from read texts, news broadcasts, and other similar prepared contexts can be recognized with high accuracy, recognition performance drastically decreases for spontaneous speech. This is due to the fact that spontaneous speech and read speech are significantly different acoustically as well as linguistically. This paper statistically and quantitatively analyzes differences in acoustic features between spontaneous and read speech using two large-scale speech corpora, “Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese (CSJ)” and “Japanese Newspaper Article Sentences (JNAS)”. Experimental results show that spontaneous speech can be characterized by reduced spectral space in comparison with that of read speech, and that the more spontaneous, the more the spectral space shrinks. This paper also clarifies that reduction in the spectral space leads to reduction in phoneme recognition accuracy. This result indicates that spectral reduction is one major reason for the decrease of recognition accuracy in spontaneous speech.

Attachment to “Place” and Coping with Losses in Changed Communities: A Paradox for Aging Adults

This article explores the meaning of place and connection to location among aging adults in America's Heartland. Focus groups were conducted in a rural and urban county with participants age 65 to 84 years, and age 85 years and older. A keen sense of place among participants was revealed, poignantly portrayed as “loss” among rural participants who described changes to the landscape, economic restructuring, and the loss of farming as a way of life. Changes in urban settings were depicted as a shrinking of space over which participants' exerted control (e.g., steering clear of freeway driving, limiting driving at night, traversing well‐known surface streets). These losses in community are balanced against a strong desire to age in place in familiar settings in which there are known social and resource connections. The investigation illustrates the power of place for aging adults, and the need to recognize its importance in public policy, practice, advocacy, and research.