Quaestiones Geographicae vol. 30 (2), 2011
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Evolution of regional disparities in Poland(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2011) Czyż, Teresa; Hauke, JanThe article presents the state of and changes in the pattern of regional disparities in Poland over the years 1995-2007. The differences in the level of economic development of regions are examined in a dynamic approach on the basis of per capita income, indices of local government finances, and investment outlays. The effect of development-activating factors on regional income is considered. An answer is sought to the question of whether the growth dynamics had a favourable effect on the evolution of regional disparities in Poland.Item Comparison of values of Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficient on the same sets of data(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2011) Hauke, Jan; Kossowski, TomaszSpearman’s rank correlation coefficient is a nonparametric (distribution-free) rank statistic proposed by Charles Spearman as a measure of the strength of an association between two variables. It is a measure of a monotone association that is used when the distribution of data makes Pearson’s correlation coefficient undesirable or misleading. Spearman’s coefficient is not a measure of the linear relationship between two variables, as some “statisticians” declare. It assesses how well an arbitrary monotonic function can describe a relationship between two variables, without making any assumptions about the frequency distribution of the variables. Unlike Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient, it does not require the assumption that the relationship between the variables is linear, nor does it require the variables to be measured on interval scales; it can be used for variables measured at the ordinal level. The idea of the paper is to compare the values of Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient as well as their statistical significance for different sets of data (original - for Pearson’s coefficient, and ranked data for Spearman’s coefficient) describing regional indices of socio-economic development.Item Modern economic and geographical characteristics and prospects of development of environmental protection infrastructure in the Baikal region of Russia(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2011) Zabortseva, TatianaIn the administrative division of Russia, the Baikal region is traditionally considered as embracing three parts: the Irkutsk oblast’, the Republic of Buryatia, and Zabaikalsky Kray. Its area is three times larger than that of France (1.6 million km²), but its population size and density are typical of “the Siberian depth of the country” (4.6 million people, under 3 persons/km²). One of the most important global features of a part of this region – the Baikal Natural Territory – is to ensure the preservation of Lake Baikal as a World Heritage Site. A strategy of environmentally oriented land use determines an adequate level of development of ecological infrastructure and its most important sector – environmental protection infrastructure (EPI). The article presents an analysis of the current infrastructure for managing solid waste, and proposes a forecast scenario of its development with the use of the gravity model in the EPI sector involving recycling collection points.Item State strategic planning and spatial development in the Siberian regions(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2011) Syssoeva, Natalia M.; Dets, Igor A.The paper presents an analysis of the influence of strategic planning projects on the socio-economic development of the Siberian regions of Russia. Zoning for strategic planning is now based on the market principle rather than the production one, as used to be the case during the Soviet period. The dynamics of intra-regional migration flows during the period of implementation of major industrial projects shows an absence of spatial correlation among those processes. The existing institutional framework for regional development does not contribute to the achievement of the main strategic objectives. The economy of the regions remains underinvested and tends towards simplification. An increasing dependence on foreign Asian markets should be taken into account when developing new strategic plans.Item Level of development of electronic services in Poland compared with the European Union states(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2011) Dominiak, JoannaThe development of information and telecommunications technology has been a breakthrough in the economy and social life. Both modern and traditional sectors of the economy rely on ICT to manufacture new or much improved products and to modify and improve various types of services, e.g. educational, financial, medical, or administrative. With the propagation of ICT there have appeared new ways of acquiring information, learning, doing shopping, or spending leisure time. Thus, progress in ICT contributes to the formation of a knowledge-based economy and an information society. The chief aim of this article is to analyse the level of development of electronic services in Poland against the backcloth of other European Union states. The following issues will be discussed in more detail: (1) the state of physical infrastructure necessary for the development of e-services in Poland and other EU states, (2) the level of development of selected types of e-services for individual consumers and enterprises in Poland, and (3) a comparison of the level of development of selected types of e-services with other EU states.Item Diversification of farming systems in Poland in the years 2006-2009(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2011) Kołodziejczak, Anna; Kossowski, TomaszThe use of methods based on the Gini coefficient and the Lorenz curve in studies of the spatial structure of agriculture offers a great possibility of presenting changes in it and assessing their causes. They provided a basis for a research on changes in the farming systems employed in Polish agriculture over the years 2006-2009. The results confirm there to be a further diversification of this sector of the economy, and even if slower than in the previous years, it shows agriculture to keep adapting to natural and economic conditions.Item Current state and development prospects of the Russian economy(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2011) Rodionova, Irina; Kokuytseva, TatianaThe article characterises changes that have occurred in the economy of Russia and its foreign trade over the recent years. It estimates the country's position in the world ranking. The process of Russia's involvement in integrated world economic development after the collapse of the socialist system has been far from simple, because it was simultaneous with the country's system transformation and economic restructuring. The economy of modern Russia operates in difficult conditions. In the 20th century the burden of the socialist period of the country's development combined with the mistakes of the structural economic transformation of the 1990s already generated new systemic disproportions which have greatly modified the entire economic complex of the country. An analysis of the Russian share in the production of principal types of industrial products over the last three decades as well as a comparison of particular development indicators of the largest world economies and the share of countries and country groups in the world's high technology production reveals a weakening of the Russian position in the world economy. The article also presents changes in Russia's foreign trade and the decrease in its main economic indicators in the conditions of the current world financial crisis. The article underlines the necessity of change in the current model of Russian participation in the globalising world towards a search for a new place in the world economy and the world market, and, first of all, in knowledge-intensive industries and the sphere of high technology.Item Empirical-scientific model of geography(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2011) Chojnicki, ZbyszkoThe article presents a philosophical-methodological conception of an empirical-scientific model of geography as an empirical science. It consists of an introduction and two parts. The introduction discusses the notion of philosophical-methodological models of geography and philosophical orientations. Part one addresses the philosophical-methodological foundations of the model, which are three successive philosophical streams: empiricism, logical empiricism (neo-positivism), and scientific philosophy. Part two offers a characterisation of the empirical-scientific model in terms of the principles of scientific philosophy embracing three chief problem areas: ontological, epistemological and methodological.Item Editorial(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2011) Stryjakiewicz, Tadeusz