Regional Development Modeling: Theory and Practice

This volume contains a collection of papers presented at IIASA's conference on "Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Regional Development Modelling". Of the 50 papers presented , 26 were selected for publication, in such a way as to strike a balance between theory and application of regional systems analysis. The book is divided into seven parts. After an introduction, the second and third parts contain overviews of current modelling practice and planned economies. In the next two parts, the focus shifts to the theoretical problems encountered in structural and multi-objective analysis of regional systems. The final two sections contain examples of regional development models currently ready for use or in operation and analyze the success of these models in clarifying regional planning and policy problems

Large-scale long-term passive-acoustic monitoring reveals spatio-temporal activity patterns of boreal bats

The distribution ranges and spatio-temporal patterns in the occurrence and activity of boreal bats are yet largely unknown due to their cryptic lifestyle and lack of suitable and efficient study methods. We approached the issue by establishing a permanent passive-acoustic sampling setup spanning the area of Finland to gain an understanding on how latitude affects bat species composition and activity patterns in northern Europe. The recorded bat calls were semi-automatically identified for three target taxa; Myotis spp., Eptesicus nilssonii or Pipistrellus nathusii and the seasonal activity patterns were modeled for each taxa across the seven sampling years (2015-2021). We found an increase in activity since 2015 for E. nilssonii and Myotis spp. For E. nilssonii and Myotis spp. we found significant latitude -dependent seasonal activity patterns, where seasonal variation in patterns appeared stronger in the north. Over the years, activity of P. nathusii increased during activity peak in June and late season but decreased in mid season. We found the passive-acoustic monitoring network to be an effective and cost-efficient method for gathering bat activity data to analyze spatio-temporal patterns. Long-term data on the composition and dynamics of bat communities facilitates better estimates of abundances and population trend directions for conservation purposes and predicting the effects of climate change

Monitoring international migration flows in Europe. Towards a statistical data base combining data from different sources

The paper reviews techniques developed in demography, geography and statistics that are useful for bridging the gap between available data on international migration flows and the information required for policy making and research. The basic idea of the paper is as follows: to establish a coherent and consistent data base that contains sufficiently detailed, up-to-date and accurate information, data from several sources should be combined. That raises issues of definition and measurement, and of how to combine data from different origins properly. The issues may be tackled more easily if the statistics that are being compiled are viewed as different outcomes or manifestations of underlying stochastic processes governing migration. The link between the processes and their outcomes is described by models, the parameters of which must be estimated from the available data. That may be done within the context of socio-demographic accounting. The paper discusses the experience of the U.S. Bureau of the Census in combining migration data from several sources. It also summarizes the many efforts in Europe to establish a coherent and consistent data base on international migration. The paper was written at IIASA. It is part of the Migration Estimation Study, which is a collaborative IIASA-University of Groningen project, funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). The project aims at developing techniques to obtain improved estimates of international migration flows by country of origin and country of destination

Avoiding pitfalls in interdisciplinary education

As the world's social-environmental problems increasingly extend across boundaries, both disciplinary and political, there is a growing need for interdisciplinarity, not only in research per se, but also in doctoral education. We present the common pitfalls of interdisciplinary research in doctoral education, illustrating approaches towards solutions using the Nordic Centre for Research on Marine Ecosystems and Resources under Climate Change (NorMER) research network as a case study. We provide insights and detailed examples of how to overcome some of the challenges of conducting interdisciplinary research within doctoral studies that can be applied within any doctoral/postdoctoral education programme, and beyond. Results from a self-evaluation survey indicate that early-career workshops, annual meetings and research visits to other institutions were the most effective learning mechanisms, whereas single discipline-focused courses and coursework were among the least effective learning mechanisms. By identifying the strengths and weaknesses of components of NorMER, this case study can inform the design of future programmes to enhance interdisciplinarity in doctoral education, as well as be applied to science collaboration and academic research in general.Peer reviewe

Popularity markers on YouTube’s attention economy: the case of Bubzbeauty

This article focuses on issues of attention and popularity development in YouTube’s beauty community. I conceptualise the role of views and subscriptions as popularity markers, based on a broader ethnographic examination of 22 months of immersed fieldwork on the platform. I consider the case of Bubz, a British-Chinese beauty guru, through a purposeful sample of 80 videos. A content typology is introduced, presenting four distinctive video categories: content-oriented, market-oriented, motivational, and relational. Drawing from the concepts of ‘attention economy’ and ‘metrics of popularity’, I explore content characteristics and affordances for the creation and maintenance of viewers’ attention. I argue that the guru’s uploads lead to two types of audiences–casual viewers and loyal subscribers. Vlogs renew attention and help maintain the interest first generated by tutorials, leading to treasured subscribers–an essential commodity within YouTube’s highly competitive environment

Effects of drifting algae on fishing in the archipelago between Askö and Herröskatan, Lemland, SE Åland

Local fishermen were interviewed in the investigated area between Askö and Herröskatan, Lemland, SE Åland. To strengthen the results from the interview, additional field work was conducted. In the study area, six stations were sampled with gill nets, the occurrence of drifting algal mats was investigated along six transects and the biomass of drifting algae was quantified with small nets. According to the interview, the two main problems in the area are: decreased catches of herring (Clupea harengus) and flounder (Platichthys jlesus) since the middle of 1990s, and occurrence of drifting algae together with water currents caused by ferry traffic during the gill net fishing. Results from the test fishing did not considerably differ from other investigations done in the Archipelago Sea. Trapped algal masses in the gill nets were a considerable problem during the two fishing occasions in June. During the third fishing occasion in August the amount of trapped algal masses in the gill nets were small. Results from the mapping of drifting algal mats and the quantitative measurements with small nets indicate that the problem with drifting algae is mos! obvious in the Flakaviken area, and especially during spring and early summer

Human-Robotics Interface for the Interaction with Cognitive and Emotional Human Domains

For a human-robot interface it is important to have a good model of how the human subject operates. However, since such a model is difficult to obtain, then the robotics interface must observe accurately the subject's behaviour when interacting with him. We present here a new human-robot interface for active interaction with the cognitive and emotional human domains. Since eye movements convey a lot of information about one subject's cognitive and emotive status, we have designed a new human-robot interface which uses a video-based Eye-Tracker (ET) to observe the subject's line of gaze. Since we are also interested in using our interface for studying and treating depression, our interface can send stimulating inputs to the subject using both a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulator (TMS) and a visual stimulus. The latter elicits the subject's emotions and consists of a set of pictures of facial expressions, which have been shown according to a novel visualization protocol, called Memory-Guided Filtering (MGF). Its effectiveness has been verified by means of many experimental results. We also present the application of our human-robot interface for preliminary studies concerning new cognitive rehabilitation strategies in depression