Gayl D. Ness

Population-environment dynamics: ideas and observations.

In October 1990 the University of Michigan hosted an International Symposium on Population-Environment Dynamics to bring together recognized leaders in this area. The meetings...focused on identifying the underlying theoretical issues and developing a research agenda for the field. Experts from the University other research and teaching institutions and a number of government agencies throughout the world participated in these discussions. The papers presented in this volume are the combined product of the international symposium and the interdisciplinary pilot projects generated from [an annual] seminar series. (EXCERPT)

The politics of population planning in Malaysia and the Philippines.

as a political problem only in the past decade. The gradual control over mortality has brought a long-term increase both in population density and in the rate of population increase in the world as a whole. The resulting ecological pressures brought a variety of adjustments in the form of population movements and changes in technology and social organization, also extending over a relatively long time period. More recently, population growth has come to be identified as a political problem, or a problem in national policy, in conjunction with a commitment to economic growth. Such an identification brings an adjustment in terms of specific national policy aimed at the control of population growth.

Human impacts on urban subsurface environments

This special issue assesses the effects of human activities on the urban subsurface environment, an important aspect of human life in the present and future but not yet fully evaluated. This is especially true in Asian coastal cities where population numbers and densities have expanded rapidly and uses of the subsurface environment have increased. The primary goal of the papers presented here is to evaluate the relationships between the developmental stage of cities and various subsurface environmental problems, including extreme subsidence, groundwater contamination, and subsurface thermal anomalies. The sustainable use of groundwater and subsurface environments is addressedwithin the contributions to provide for better future development and human well-being. The special issue comprises one overview paper and 15 original papers on the effects of human activities and climate changes on groundwater — the primary component of the subterranean environment. Most global environmental studies have long been focused on the environmental issues above ground such as air pollution, global warming, seawater pollution, and decreasing biodiversity. Subsurface environmental issues are also important for human life in the present and future, but have been largely ignored because of the invisibility of the phenomena and difficulty of the evaluations. Perhaps the most dramatic and obvious subsurface environmental problem occurring in Asian coastal cities is the subsidence due to excessive pumping of groundwater. This has occurred repeatedly inmajor cities throughout Asia with a time lag depending upon the developmental stage of urbanization.When the extent of subsidence becomes unacceptable, changes in reliable water resources from groundwater to surface water supplies are typically initiated. Unfortunately, this has not stopped subsidence in all cases and there is a serious danger of flooding in many coastal cities of Asia. On the other hand, even when land subsidence has ceased due to regulation of groundwater pumping (e.g., Tokyo, Osaka), the associated increase in groundwater level has caused other types of damage by flooding and buoyant forces to underground infrastructures (e.g., subways) that were constructed during the drawdown period.

Western Imperialist Armies in Asia

The European conquest of Asia is one of the major historical movementsof our time. Pannikar calls this the age of Vasco DeGama, Parry writesof the rise of European Hegemony, and McNeill sees it as part of an evenbroader historical process that he calls the rise of the west. For all observers it was truly a conquest, a violent and bloody struggle in which Europe gained the ascendence through superior military might.

Managing not-so-small Numbers Between Comparative and Statistical Methods

The problem here is what to do with an N of 20? Comparative case studies effectively deal with up to five or so observations. Aggregate statistical studies can easily with hundreds and thousands of observations. But with an N of 20 is too large for detailed case comparisons and too small for the use of powerful statistical analyses. This article proposes a middle ground that weaves an argument from a combination of multiple regression equations and case histories. Multivariate outliers identify cases for historical analyses; and the exposure of data in bivariate scattergrams permits useful validity testing. The procedure is illustrated with analyses of modern Asian population policy changes.