The geography of British exports: country-level versus firm-level evidence

This study investigates the degree of regionalization of UK exporters. The firm-level findings, based on an original set of primary data of 356 UK exporters, are contrasted with the UK national trade flows as well as with the geographic spread of the UK, European and the world's largest MNEs. The analysis produced consistent findings of regionalization regardless of the classification thresholds or sales matrices employed. The findings also imply that country-level data supports the firm-level findings of regionalization. White the analysis presents relatively strong corroborating evidence of regionalization of UK exports, it also indicates that UK exporters might be more multi-regional and global oriented than previously thought. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. ALL rights reserved

A Novel Survey Tool to Quantify the Degree and Duration of STEMI Regionalization Across California.

IntroductionCalifornia has been a global leader in regionalization efforts for time-critical medical conditions. A total of 33 local emergency medical service agencies (LEMSAs) exist, providing an organized EMS framework across the state for almost 40 years. We sought to develop a survey tool to quantify the degree and duration of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) regionalization over the last decade in California.MethodsThe project started with the development of an 8-question survey tool via a multi-disciplinary expert consensus process. Next, the survey tool was distributed at the annual meeting of administrators and medical directors of California LEMSAs to get responses valid through December, 2014. The first scoring approach was the Total Regionalization Score (TRS) and used answers from all 8 questions. The second approach was called the Core Score, and it focused on only 4 survey questions by assuming that the designation of STEMI Receiving Centers must have occurred at the beginning of any LEMSA's regionalization effort. Scores were ranked and grouped into tertiles.ResultsAll 33 LEMSAs in California participated in this survey. The TRS ranged from 15 to 162. The Core Score range was much narrower, from 2 to 30. In comparing TRS and Core Score rankings, the top-tertiles were quite similar. More rank variation occurred between mid- and low-tertiles.ConclusionThis study evaluated the degree and duration of STEMI network regionalization from 2004 to 2014 in California, and ranked 33 LEMSAs into tertiles based upon their TRS and their Core Score. Successful application of the 8-item survey and ranking strategies across California suggests that this approach can be used to assess regionalization in other states or countries around the world

Region, Regionalization and Local Development

This contribution aims to stimulate a critical reflection about local development, with particular attention to the role of regionalization practices in the construction of territorial identity processes. It is believed that the identification of specific areas is essential in public policies that aim to promote local specificities, especially in reference to strong areas of excellent territorial capital, not properly valued. This is the case of the Upper Aniene Valley, the study area of my PhD research project, for which there is no shared regionalization, neither from the scientific world, no from the political - administrative one, and in which the construction of a shared territorial identity is hindered by the absence of training and information models that allow the people to know the territory where they live or work. In this contribution, after highlighting (in the introduction) the importance of regionalization processes in the social and political construction of space, the case study will be presented, underlining the difficulties encountered in the research and the methodology that is intended apply in the regionalization of the Aniene Valley. It is believed, in fact, that this operation is preliminary to any attempt to intervene in the territory

NAFTA: Will it ever have an EU profile? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 7 No. 3 April 2007

[Introduction]. Based on the experiences of regionalization and integration processes, this paper identifies the main transformations North America has undergone as a result of the implementation of NAFTA. The main argument is that the operation of NAFTA has set in motion a process of regionalization in North America and gradually an increasing number of policies encompass a regional dimension. In such process, the pivotal actor is the United States, while Canada and Mexico are reactive partners who seek to defend their domestic interests as well as accommodate themselves in the regional dynamic led by the United States. The emerging regionalism in North America reflects that NAFTA has accomplished some of its goals. Nonetheless, there is an ongoing discussion with regard to the expanded agenda of the region and several proposals have been brought to the academic and political debate. In this regard, five main sections are considered to asses the regionalization of North America. The first introduces some analytical elements about the regionalization in North America; the second shows perceptions of public opinion with regard to the regional agenda; the third refers to the effects of NAFTA, while the fourth evaluates the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SSP) Summits. The fifth presents the case of alternative models for the future of NAFTA

A Proposal for a Tourism Regionalization of Poland Based on the Highest Levels of Tourism in a Region

The paper presents a brief review of twenty proposals for tourism regionalization of either a part of or the whole of Poland (or attempts to delimit the most attractive areas in terms of leisure), formulated between 1938 and 2012. It also analyses selected definitions of tourism regions and discusses the indicators which are proposed for the delimitation of tourism regions. Moreover, the paper attempts to indicate areas with the highest levels of tourism, in part modelled on Maria Mileska (1908-1988). It includes academic (precise) criteria for the designation of tourism regions. Some researchers’ comment that Mileska’s work is (partially) outmoded not so much from the methods employed as in the number of tourism regions and the areas covered. This should be regarded as understandable given that this regionalization was formulated at the beginning of the 1960s. Another important issue raised is the most recent tourism regionalization of Poland as prepared by Durydiwka

Global-scale regionalization of hydrologic model parameters

Current state-of-the-art models typically applied at continental to global scales (hereafter called macroscale) tend to use a priori parameters, resulting in suboptimal streamflow (Q) simulation. For the first time, a scheme for regionalization of model parameters at the global scale was developed. We used data from a diverse set of 1787 small-to-medium sized catchments ( 10-10,000 km(2)) and the simple conceptual HBV model to set up and test the scheme. Each catchment was calibrated against observed daily Q, after which 674 catchments with high calibration and validation scores, and thus presumably good-quality observed Q and forcing data, were selected to serve as donor catchments. The calibrated parameter sets for the donors were subsequently transferred to 0.5 degrees grid cells with similar climatic and physiographic characteristics, resulting in parameter maps for HBV with global coverage. For each grid cell, we used the 10 most similar donor catchments, rather than the single most similar donor, and averaged the resulting simulated Q, which enhanced model performance. The 1113 catchments not used as donors were used to independently evaluate the scheme. The regionalized parameters outperformed spatially uniform (i.e., averaged calibrated) parameters for 79% of the evaluation catchments. Substantial improvements were evident for all major Koppen-Geiger climate types and even for evaluation catchments>5000 km distant from the donors. The median improvement was about half of the performance increase achieved through calibration. HBV with regionalized parameters outperformed nine state-of-the-art macroscale models, suggesting these might also benefit from the new regionalization scheme. The produced HBV parameter maps including ancillary data are available via

Forming Process, Pattern and The Need for Intergovernmental Management in Indonesia

Cooperation among neighbouring region is commonly termed regional cooperation. Inter-region cooperation in the study of public administration is categorized as public management especially intergovernmental management. Inter-region cooperation in Indonesia has been for a long time trying to find its form. However, in the middle of its process, the implementer is trapped in doubt. The paper aims to trace the institutional form and its problem in the neighbouring region cooperation. The research is done through literature study, observation on inter-region cooperation especially in the central Java and some facilitation done by the writer in the several regions in Indonesia. There are two forms of referred institution which is developed on the basis of this networking pattern; they are intergovernmental relation (IGR) and intergovernmental management (IGM). In the mean time, the governmental support on inter-region cooperation which is supposed to form collaboration is hampered by the inconsistency of regulation which is issued by several parties (ministries) in the central governmen