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Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In situmegascale hydraulic diffusivities (D) of a confined loess aquifer were estimated at various scales (10 ≤ L ≤ 1500 m) by a finite difference model, and laboratory microscale diffusivities of a loess sample by empirical formulas. A scatter plot reveals thatDfits to a single power function ofL, providing that microscale diffusivities are assigned toL = 1 m and that differences in diffusivity observed between micro- and megascales are assigned to medium heterogeneity appraised by variations in the curvature and slope of natural hydraulic head waves propagating through the aquifer. Subsequently, a general power relationship betweenDandLis defined where the base and exponent terms stand for the aquifer storage capability under a confined regime of flow, for the microscale hydraulic conductivity and specific yield of loess, and for the changes in curvature and slope of hydraulic head waves relative to values defined at unit scale.Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discipline of hydrology has a long history of research in the practical and theoretical aspects of scaling and scale issues, but little effort has been focused on hydrologists’ perception of the scale terms. What exactly do hydrologists mean when they use the terms “pore scale” or “regional scale”? The application of hydrological research requires clear communication, both within the discipline, and with a broader audience. Quantitative and qualitative data on hydrologists’ perceptions of scale were collected using voluntary written surveys and face-to-face interviews. The results suggest that most hydrologists do not consistently define scale terms in the literature, and that this is a minor impediment when interacting with other disciplines and stakeholders. Yet, surface water and groundwater hydrologists agree, within one to two orders of magnitude, on the length scale for most scale terms. Most respondents suggest that the hydrological community needs to better define the length scale of scale terms. In the short term, hydrologists could more frequently and consistently clarify their own length scales whenever a scale term is used. A common and consistent language of scale for hydrological researchers could better enable communication, research, teaching and outreach. EditorZ.W. Kundzewicz;Associate editorT. Wagener CitationGleeson, T. and Paszkowski, D., 2013. Perceptions of scale in hydrology: what do you mean by regional scale?Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59 (1), 99–107. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precipitation and streamwater were analysed weekly for δ18O in seven tributaries and five main stem sites of a 2100 km2 catchment; >60% of it is upland in character. Precipitation δ18O followed seasonal patterns ranging from -20‰ in winter to -4‰ in summer. Seasonality was also evident in stream waters, though much more damped. Mean transit times (MTTs) were estimated using δ18O input-output relationships in a convolution integral with a gamma distribution. The MTTs were relatively similar (528-830 days): tributaries exhibited a greater range, being shorter in catchments with montane topography and hydrologically responsive soils, and longer where catchments have significant water storage. Along the main stem, MTTs increased modestly from 621 to 741 days. This indicates that montane headwaters are the dominant sources of runoff along the main stem of the river system. Models suggest that around 10% of runoff has transit times of less than two weeks during higher flows whilst older (>10-year old) water sustains low flows contributing around 5% of runoff. Citation Speed, M., Tetzlaff, D., Hrachowitz, M. & Soulsby, C. (2011) Evolution of the spatial and temporal characteristics of the isotope hydrology of a montane river basin. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(3), 426-442 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

McCann P. and Acs Z. J. Globalization: countries, cities and multinationals, Regional Studies. This paper explores the relationship between the size of a country, the size of its cities, and the importance of economies of scale in the modern era of globalization. In order to do this, it integrates three different literatures, namely the literature on the optimal size of a country, the literature on historical processes of urbanization and the performance of cities, and the literature on the role of multinational firms in the global economy. Using an economic geography perspective, but looking at these issues through the lens of economic history, it is demonstrated that the importance of agglomeration effects, and in particular relationship between city size and the prosperity of the nation-state, has changed over the different eras of globalization. In earlier eras of globalization, the importance of agglomeration was represented by a fairly simple relationship between the scale of the city and the scale of country-empire, whereas during the inter-war years of the twentieth century, this relationship began to change and to evolve into a much more complex set of relationships that are seen today. In the modern era of globalization the role of multinational companies has become critical for the global connectivity of a city-region, and city-regions in turn are seen increasingly to drive national economies. For industrialized countries the size of a city is nowadays much less important than its level of global connectivity, whereas the size of the city is still dominant in newly industrializing countries. As such, the relationships between firms, cities, and countries have in many ways been largely reversed, thereby casting doubt on various institutional economic theories regarding the optimal size of a country. [image omitted] McCann P. et Acs Z. J. La mondialisation: les pays, les grandes villes et les societes multinationales, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche a examiner le rapport entre la superficie d'un pays, la taille de ses grandes villes, et l'importance des economies d'echelle a l'heure de la mondialisation. Pour le faire, on combine trois sources de documentation, a savoir la documentation a propos de la taille optimale d'un pays, la documentation sur les processus historiques de l'urbanisation et la performance des grandes villes, et la documentation au sujet du role des societes multinationales dans l'economie mondiale. A partir de la geographie economique, et en examinant ces questions sous l'optique de l'histoire economique aussi, on demontre que l'importance des effets d'agglomeration, et notamment le rapport entre la taille des grandes villes et la richesse de l'Etat-nation, a change sur le temps au fur et a mesure de la mondialisation. Aux premieres phases de la mondialisation, l'importance de l'agglomeration a ete representee par un rapport relativement simple entre l'envergure des grandes villes et celle de l'Empire-nation, tandis que, pendant l'entre-deux-guerres du vingtieme siecle, ce rapport a commence a changer et a evoluer vers un ensemble beaucoup plus complexe de rapports qui persistent aujourd'hui. A l'etape actuelle de la mondialisation, le role des societes multinationales est devenu decisif pour ce qui est de la connectivite mondiale d'une region-cite, et, a leur tour, les regions-cites sont considerees de plus en plus les forces motrices des economies nationales. Pour les pays industrialises, la taille des grandes villes est de nos jours beaucoup moins importante que ne l'est son niveau de connectivite mondiale, alors que la taille des grandes villes predomine dans les pays en voie d'industrialisation. Par la suite, les rapports entre les entreprises, les grandes villes et les pays ont ete dans une large mesure inverses, mettant ainsi en doute diverses theories economiques recues quant a la superficie optimale d'un pays. Echelle Grandes villes Pays Societes multinationals Mondialisation McCann P. und Acs Z. J. Globalisierung: Lander, Stadte und multinationale Firmen, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird das Verhaltnis zwischen der Grosse eines Landes, der Grosse der Stadte dieses Landes und der Bedeutung der Rationalisierungseffekte im modernen Zeitalter der Globalisierung untersucht. Hierfur werden drei verschiedene Literaturen miteinander komsbiniert: die Literatur uber die optimale Grosse eines Landes, die Literatur uber die geschichtlichen Prozesse der Urbanisierung und Leistungsfahigkeit von Stadten sowie die Literatur uber die Rolle von multinationalen Firmen in der Weltwirtschaft. Anhand einer wirtschaftlichen Geografieperspektive, doch bei gleichzeitiger Betrachtung durch das Objektiv der Wirtschaftsgeschichte, wird nachgewiesen, dass sich die Bedeutung von Agglomerationseffekten und insbesondere der Beziehung zwischen der Stadtgrosse und dem Wohlstand des Nationalstaats in den verschiedenen Zeitaltern der Globalisierung geandert hat. In fruheren Zeitaltern der Globalisierung zeigte sich die Bedeutung der Agglomeration in einer relativ einfachen Beziehung zwischen der Grosse der Stadt und der Grosse des Landesreichs. Diese Beziehung anderte sich im 20. Jahrhundert in den Jahren zwischen den Weltkriegen allmahlich und entwickelte sich zu einem weitaus komplexeren Geflecht aus Beziehungen, wie wir es heute sehen. Im modernen Zeitalter der Globalisierung ist die Rolle der multinationalen Unternehmen fur die weltweite Anbindung einer Stadtregion unverzichtbar geworden, wahrend die Stadtregionen zunehmend als Antriebskrafte fur die nationalen Okonomien gelten. Fur industrialisierte Lander ist die Grosse einer Stadt heutzutage deutlich weniger wichtig als das Ausmass ihrer weltweiten Anbindung, wahrend in sich neu industrialisierenden Landern die Grosse einer Stadt weiterhin eine dominierende Rolle spielt. Daher haben sich die Beziehungen zwischen Firmen, Stadten und Landern in vielerlei Hinsicht grosstenteils umgekehrt, was Zweifel an den verschiedenen institutionellen Wirtschaftstheorien uber die optimale Grosse eines Landes aufkommen lasst. Massstab Stadte Lander Multinationale Firmen Globalisierung McCann P. y Acs Z. J. Globalizacion: paises, ciudades y multinacionales, Regional Studies. En este articulo analizamos la relacion entre el tamano de un pais, el tamano de sus ciudades y la importancia de las economias de escala en la moderna era de la globalizacion. Para ello, combinamos tres literaturas diferentes: la literatura sobre el tamano optimo de un pais, la literatura sobre los procesos historicos de urbanizacion y el desempeno de las ciudades y la literatura sobre el papel de las empresas multinacionales en la economia internacional. A partir de una perspectiva geografica economica y a la vez analizando estas cuestiones por el tamiz de la historia economica, demostramos que la importancia de los efectos de aglomeracion y en particular la relacion entre el tamano de las ciudades y la prosperidad del estado nacional, ha cambiado en las diferentes eras de la globalizacion. En periodos anteriores de la globalizacion, la importancia de la aglomeracion estaba representada mediante una relacion bastante sencilla entre la escala de la ciudad y la escala del pais-imperio, mientras que durante el periodo de entreguerras del siglo XX, esta relacion empezo a cambiar y convertirse en una serie de relaciones mucho mas complejas, tales como las conocemos hoy dia. En la era modera de la globalizacion, el papel de las sociedades multinacionales ha sido cada vez mas importante para la conectividad global de una region metropolitana mientras que se cree que las regiones metropolitanas impulsan cada vez mas las economias nacionales. Para los paises industrializados, el tamano de una ciudad es hoy dia mucho menos importante que su nivel de conectividad global mientras que el tamano de la ciudad todavia desempena un papel importante en los paises recien industrializados. De tal modo que las relaciones entre empresas, ciudades y paises se ha invertido en gran medida cuestionando las diferentes teorias economicas institucionales con respecto al tamano optimo de un pais. Escala Ciudades Paises Sociedades multinacionales Globalizacion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, climate change has been viewed as an environmental pollution issue with international agreements narrowly focused on mitigation, while neglecting other responses including adaptation. This article discusses barriers and opportunities for the upscaling of adaptation into the international policy arena. It argues for the development of global adaptation models accounting for actual adaptation actions; for the refinement of processes that lead to adaptation; and for the accumulation of evidence from a growing number of adaptation case studies. A new challenge for adaptation science will be to integrate adaptation into the next phases of mitigation and development policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical scale is a factor in interactions between climate change and sustainable development, because of varying spatial dynamics of key processes and because of varying scales at which decision-making is focused. In a world where the meaning of 'global' and 'local' is being reshaped by technological and social change, a challenge to sustainable development is realizing the impressive, but often elusive, potentials for climate-change-related actions at different scales to be complementary and reinforcing. Climate change adaptation is suggested as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I am concerned with the importance of knowledge spaces to the construction and politics of scale. I draw together literatures on re-scaling with feminist critiques of knowledge to show how struggles over the scale at which knowledge claims are represented and legitimized are an important, and under-recognized, element of rescaling. I draw from Neil Smith's (1984) concept of scale-jumping to see the construction of the global space of knowledge as a scale-jump in which one particular situated knowledge, Western folk belief, is redefined as global and universal. What distinguishes it from other forms of local/anecdotal/unrecognizable knowledges is its relation to power and its capacity to achieve a scale-jump in which it is defined as global knowledge. I contrast the social, economic and power relations associated with knowledge in the village of Puno in the Philippines with those of technoscientific knowledge, as manifested by regimes of intellectual property, to show that knowledges are not a natural way of understanding a separate, pre-existing world but inform how that world is experienced. I build upon David Turnbull's (1997) concept of knowledge spaces to reveal all knowledges as not only arising from a particular context but also as creating that context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]