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[Health surveillance and territory: theoretical and methodological possibilities].

Diagnoses of living conditions and health status, the constitutive elements for the reproduction of social life in various places, are listed and treated as contents disconnected from the territory. The recognition of social dynamics, habits, and customs is highly important for the determination of human health vulnerabilities, which originate in the interactions of social groups in given geographic spaces. The full use of the territory as a strategy for analyzing and intervening in health conditions presupposes the identification of geographic objects, their utilization by the population, and their importance for flows of persons and materials. It is thus necessary to develop methodologies for the recognition (both in the field and through secondary data) of objects and their forms, which are a condition for human action and existence. This article presents an approach to the incorporation of concepts from human geography in health practices, in light of two main authors: Milton Santos ("constitution of territory") and Anthony Giddens ("constitution of society").

Geography↗

[Science and nation: romanticism and natural history in the works of E. J. da Silva Maia].

The works of physician and naturalist Emílio Joaquim da Silva Maia (1808-59) can be viewed as a scientific project that discovers Brazil and its inhabitants. Maia's nationalism and his romantic view of nature formed the underpinnings of his scientific theories, especially his studies on zoological geography. He subordinated the issue of the biological specificity of different regions of the world to his era's debates on the construction of Brazil as an independent nation. In his interpretations of European natural history, Maia endeavored to understand Brazilian nature as a specific achievement of the Cosmos, in keeping with Alexander von Humboldt's approach.

Brazil↗

The Lake Erie Agricultural Systems for Environmental Quality project: an introduction.

In the last part of the twentieth century, recognition became widespread of the important effect of agricultural runoff on the health of aquatic ecosystems in the Lake Erie basin and elsewhere. Because of the efforts to remediate Lake Erie, the "dead lake" among the Laurentian Great Lakes, a number of research and demonstration projects were undertaken in the Lake Erie basin to evaluate and foster adoption of conservation tillage and other farming techniques that would reduce runoff while maintaining productivity. In addition, intensive water quality studies of long duration were begun on major tributaries to Lake Erie during this time. The Lake Erie Agricultural Systems for Environmental Quality (LEASEQ) project examined governmental programs, changes in agriculture, and changes in water and soil quality during the period 1975-1995, and sought to evaluate the linkages among these factors. The study area is characterized by extensive agricultural land use of soils developed from glacial materials deposited on Paleozoic sedimentary bedrock, mostly limestone. Tile drainage is extensive, particularly in slow-draining clay-rich lacustrine soils in the lower reaches of the watersheds. This paper introduces the study area, its geology, geography, soils, and agricultural history. In addition, we provide an overview of the LEASEQ concept and introduce the 11 other papers in this series, which provide a detailed exposition of the results of our studies.

Agriculture↗

HIV epidemic among young Thai Men, 1991-2000.

Characterization of the HIV epidemic in Thailand has benefited from the systematic testing of young men upon entry into the military. These data, which have shown that public health measures can reverse an HIV epidemic, have been reanalyzed with current geographic information systems methods. The resulting maps are, thus far, the best means of visualizing the geography of the dynamic HIV epidemic in Thailand.

Adult↗

Coding geographic areas across census years: creating consistent definitions of metropolitan areas.

"This paper presents suggested matches for the geographical coding (geocoding) of metropolitan areas in the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Censuses. The Census Bureau used different definitions and taxonomies to describe the geography of metropolitan areas in these three Census years. As a result, the geographical areas referred to by the standard Census Bureau definitions differ among the three Census data sets. The geographic matching scheme explained in this paper attempts to maximize consistency over time for metropolitan areas in the U.S."

Americas↗

A basis for bias in geographical judgments.

To determine why North Americans tend to locate European cities south of North American cities at similar latitudes (Tversky, 1981), we had observers provide bearing estimates between cities in the U.S. and Europe. Earlier research using latitude estimates of these cities has indicated that each continent has several subjective regions (Friedman & Brown, 2000a). Participants judged cities from two subjectively northern regions (Milwaukee-Munich), two subjectively southern regions (Memphis-Lisbon), and the two "crossed" regions (Albuquerque-Geneva; Minneapolis-Rome). Estimates were biased only when cities from the subjectively northern regions of North America were paired with cities from the subjectively southern region of Europe. In contrast to the view that biases are derived from distorted or aligned map-like representations, the data provide evidence that the subjective representation of global geography is principally categorical. Biases in numerical location estimates of individual cities and in bearing estimates between city pairs are derived from plausible reasoning processes operating on the same categorical representations.

Attitude↗

Clusters and the new economics of competition.

Economic geography in an era of global competition poses a paradox. In theory, location should no longer be a source of competitive advantage. Open global markets, rapid transportation, and high-speed communications should allow any company to source any thing from any place at any time. But in practice, Michael Porter demonstrates, location remains central to competition. Today's economic map of the world is characterized by what Porter calls clusters: critical masses in one place of linked industries and institutions--from suppliers to universities to government agencies--that enjoy unusual competitive success in a particular field. The most famous example are found in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, but clusters dot the world's landscape. Porter explains how clusters affect competition in three broad ways: first, by increasing the productivity of companies based in the area; second, by driving the direction and pace of innovation; and third, by stimulating the formation of new businesses within the cluster. Geographic, cultural, and institutional proximity provides companies with special access, closer relationships, better information, powerful incentives, and other advantages that are difficult to tap from a distance. The more complex, knowledge-based, and dynamic the world economy becomes, the more this is true. Competitive advantage lies increasingly in local things--knowledge, relationships, and motivation--that distant rivals cannot replicate. Porter challenges the conventional wisdom about how companies should be configured, how institutions such as universities can contribute to competitive success, and how governments can promote economic development and prosperity.

Commerce↗

The Australian health system: continuity and change.

The health of Australians, with the exception of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, compares favourably with other industrialised nations. Since 1984, universal access for citizens to medical and public hospital services has been achieved under a national Health Insurance Scheme called Medicare, partially funded by a 1.4 percent levy on all taxpayers. Medicare found early widespread support from the electorate but continues to be buffeted by a minority coalition of some medical associations, private health insurers, and conservative "libertarian" politicians. Over the decade since its inception, Medicare has provided stability in maintaining total health costs around 8 percent of GDP. This has been largely due to capping hospital costs via Commonwealth-State agreements. Medicare has failed in the past five years to contain medical costs which have increased proportionally with increases in the medical workforce. This article examines the structure and performance of Medicare and its role within Australia's overall health system. Benefits of a universal access insurance program are outlined together with challenges associated with inequities in health status, geography, aging of the population, burgeoning technology, ideological diversity, and an economic climate requiring cost containment and favouring privatisation and the role of the market. It can be concluded that, despite these challenges, universal access to health care is here to stay. Australia's Medicare program has become popular with the electorate.

Australia↗

Reducing variation in care.

What care a patient receives reflects not only best practices and available technology but also geography, provider experience and patient preference. Spurred on by payers and a growing body of evidence-based methodology, providers are seeking to make patient care more consistently reflect best practices.

Benchmarking↗

The linguistic pattern of Hungarian population.

"This study focuses on some aspects of the linguistic geography of Hungary.... Hungary today is a small country having a relatively homogeneous ethnic composition. However, it shows several interesting peculiarities when examined in terms of its linguistic pattern. The main goal of the study is to reveal these peculiarities and to find explanations for the great territorial differences therein. Along with a universal use of Hungarian as the first language, an east-west, a core-periphery and a north-south dichotomy is observed in respect of the second language knowledge."

Communication↗

Urbanisation in Himachal Pradesh during the present century.

"The paper examines urbanisation in Himachal Pradesh [India] in terms of size, growth, evolution, site and functional characteristics of urban centres for [the] 1901-91 period. In addition, the role played by the changing political and administrative geography has also been considered."

Asia↗

Population growth in Algeria, 1966-1977, with some comparisons from Tunisia.

"The first results of the delayed 1977 census of Algeria permit an up-dated analysis of national and regional trends in its population geography. After considering several basic parameters of Algeria's population as revealed by the census, this article focusses firstly on the high population growth rate and reviews the limited approach to family planning taken by the government. Comparisons with Tunisia, with its more active population policy, suggest a divergence between the demographies of the two countries. Regional population growth is then examined."

Africa↗

On some faulty concepts in Soviet urban studies.

"The authors attack what they call 'superurbanism' and 'agglocentrism,' an excessive preoccupation among some Soviet geographers with urbanization and the formation of urban agglomerations. The authors advocate what is known in Soviet geography as a 'unified system of settlement,' meaning a harmonious blend of both urban and rural forms. The 'agglocentrists' are said to derive their ideas from Western models, and the authors [note the growing] disenchantment with excessive urbanism in the West."

Demography↗

Census-based information systems for ethnic groups: a study of Leeds and Bradford.

"In this paper are explored the problems involved in using Census data as a guide to the evolving ethnic geography of British cities. The relationship between the concept of ethnicity and Census questions on place of birth is traced. The country-of-birth statistics for Small Areas from the 1971 and 1981 Censuses are employed in an attempt to ascertain the influence of technical specifications on the measurement of the residential segregation of ethnic groups in order to distinguish real differences from apparent ones. The attempt is not fully successful, but it does provide clear pointers on how to proceed further in research on the ethnic spatial mosaics that [British] cities now are."

Censuses↗

Recent population characteristics and growth in the USSR.

"Data from the preliminary results of the 1989 census and Naseleniye SSSR 1987 permit analyses of age-sex structures of the Soviet population and distributions by civil divisions of natural growth rates, total population growth, urban growth, rural growth, percent urbanization, and growths of cities. The paper complements the treatment of census results by macroregions appearing in the November 1989 issue of Soviet Geography...by summarizing trends emerging at a finer scale of analysis and providing recent background information on demographic components of population change."

Age Distribution↗

The role of region and coastal location in explaining metropolitan population growth differentials during the 1980s.

"There has recently been some speculation that the physical location of a community on the coast plays an equal or even more important role than does region in terms of the importance of geography upon population growth. This paper explores in empirical fashion the relative importance of coastal siting, as well as location, in the South or West, along with variables measuring economic base and demographic structure in explaining the relative rates of population growth in American metropolitan areas from 1980 to 1990."

Americas↗

The TIGER system: automating the geographic structure of the United States census.

The success of a census rests not only on how well the Bureau of the Census collects data, but also on how well the Census Bureau links those data to geographic areas. Problems with the geographic materials produced for the 1980 census caused confusion on the part of the Census Bureau's field staff, the staff processing the collected data, and the users of the resulting information. To avoid similar problems in 1990, the Geography Division of the Census Bureau is developing an automated geographic system that will support numerous Census Bureau operations beginning with the 1990 Decennial Census. A major component of this automated system is the computer-readable map data being developed in cooperation with the US Geological Survey using their 1:100-000-scale map series as the source.

Americas↗

Russia's disappearing towns: new evidence of urban decline, 1979-1994.

"A specialist on the urban geography of Russia and the USSR presents findings from important new sources of data that shed additional light on the phenomenon of urban population decline. The analysis focuses on regional patterns of urban decline in the late Soviet period through 1994, and investigates the functional characteristics of towns and cities that are experiencing population decline or even disappearing altogether. Complementing earlier work on the subject by the author, the present research extends the analysis to include all officially designated urban places in Russia."

Demography↗