1997 Abstracts  - Volume 4, Numbers 1&2

Number 1

Chicago's Role in the National and Regional Information Network, 1982-1990
Trent C. Palmer, Defense Mapping Agency, Bethesda, MD
James 0. Wheeler, Department of Geography, University of Georgia
Ronald L. Mitchelson, Dept. of Geography, Government and History, Moorehead State University

Chicago has long been a dominant national center among the US. system of cities, as well as a preeminent regional capital. This study examines the significance at Chicago as a sender of Information throughout the United States and within the Midwest. Using a competing destinations model, it is found that only population size of the destination centers is important in determining the flow of Federal Express letters, packages, and boxes sent from Chicago to 47 national centers in both 1982 and 1990. In contrast, for the Midwest region, holding population size and distance constant, the more 'isolated' centers (Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, and Kansas City) received considerably higher-than-expected flows. From this analysis, it appears that Chicago strengthened its position somewhat within both its national and regional setting.

Characteristics and Genesis of Two Gray Brown Luvisols, Southwestern Ontario, Canada
Paul J. McCarthy, Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Western Ontario
Roger H. King, Department of Geography, The University of Western Ontario

Soils belonging to the Luvisolic Order and characterized by clay-enriched Bt horizons are widespread in the Great Lakes region. The formation of the Bt horizon is generally believed to be the result of clay translocation. It is likely that this interpretation of the nature and genesis of these soils is, for some soils, overly simplistic. An analysis of two well drained Luvisols located on Late Quaternary moraines in the vicinity of London, Ontario reveals that the soils are polygenetic. Multiple criteria, based on particle size, elemental and mineralogical data, indicate the presence of lithologic discontinuities in both soils, separating a basal calcareous silty clay till from a relatively thin, non-calcareous clay-rich deposit which grades upwards into a silty surficial veneer. The Bt horizon in these soils coincides with the clay-rich deposit. Clay mineralogy indicates pre-weathering of the till prior to deposition. However, the clay content of the Bt horizons cannot be accounted for simply in terms of the decalcification of the original till or pedogenic clay translocation. The characteristics of the two Luvisolic soils are largely a function of the inherent stratification of the parent materials on which have been superimposed the relatively minor effects of Holocene pedogenesis.

The Suburbanization of Portuguese Canadians in Toronto
Carlos Teixeira, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus

This paper will examine Portuguese Canadian home buyers' relocation process, as well as the spatial aspects of their suburbanization, in the city of Mississauga, a western suburb of Toronto. Attention will be focused on their settlement patterns, housing choices/preferences and search behaviour. Data wee obtained primarily from a questionnaire survey administered to a sample of 110 Portuguese in the city of Mississauga. Supplementary data wee obtained from informal interviews with "key" members of Portuguese Canadian communities in the Toronto area. The empirical evidence indicates that Portuguese Canadian home buyers move to Mississauga in search of a single family dwelling located in a good neighbourhood in which to raise their children. Already there are indications that these Portuguese Canadians are more dispersed in the suburbs than they used to be in Toronto. Results indicate that resegregation is taking place in Mississauga with some Portuguese Canadian respondents who choose to live within, or in close proximity to, existing pockets or nuclei of Portuguese concentration; while for other respondents geographical dispersion became the most important outcome of their relocation process. Thus, two distinct and separate Portuguese communities seen to be evolving in Mississauga. The primary conclusion from this study is that Portuguese Canadian home buyers, and particularly those who decided to resegregate in the suburbs, may be defined as a culturally oriented group which relies on kinship/friendship ties as well as on housing information provided by "ethnic" sources - sources who share a common ethnicity, language and cultural values. Thus, the most important explanation for Portuguese resegregation in Mississauga rests on "cultural" forces, rather than on "economic" or "discriminatory" forces in the housing market.

The Earnings and Occupational Structure of Business and Professional Services in Illinois
Jeff R. Crump, Department of Geography, Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, Western Illinois University
Fiona M. Davidson, Department of Geography, University of Arkansas

The majority of nonmetropolitan workers are now employed in the service sector. At issue is whether service industries can provide nonmetro workers with the jobs needed to replace manufacturing and natural resource employment. This research focuses on the wage and occupational structure of nonmetro business and professional services in Illinois to assess the potential of these services to provide high wage employment for nonmetro workers. The results indicate that employment in business and professional services (SIC codes 73,87 and 89) expanded rapidly from 1980 to 1990 in nonmetro counties of Illinois. However, wages in business and professional services are significantly lower in nonmetropolitan locations than in urban ones. The findings also indicate that the nonmetro business and professional service sector is dominated by low paying sales, clerical, and blue collar occupations.

Metro-Nonmetro Comparisons Of Satisfaction In The Rural-Urban Fringe Southern Ontario
Kenneth B. Beesley, Dept. of Humanities, Rural Research Centre, Nova Scotia Agricultural College

The purpose of this paper is to present a preliminary discussion of comparative research assessing resident satisfaction with life and community in contrasting rural-urban fringe areas in Southern Ontario. The focus is on a comparison of responses from surveys undertaken in the fringe northwest of Toronto and in the rural-urban fringe of Peterborough, representing metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions respectively. The analysis concentrates on descriptive accounts of satisfaction with life and community in the two regions, including comparative mean satisfaction scores, and models of life and community satisfaction. The results are interpreted in light of the hypothesis that a metropolitan effect contributes to metropolitan-nonmetropolitan differences, that is, that the scale of life in the metropolitan region makes both positive and negative contributions to life in the metropolitan fringe. At the same time, similarities between the two regions reflect the notion that life on the fringe, regardless of scale, is a satisfactory experience for most fringe residents.

Working for the War Effort: Women and Manufacturing Industry in Ontario, 1939-1945
Gerald T. Bloomfield, Department of Geography, University of Guelph
A. Victoria Bloomfield, Department of Geography, McMaster University

World Wan was a defining period in the employment of women in manufacturing industry In Ontario the number of women wage-earners mom than doubled between 1939 and 1942 and increased further to a peak in 1944. Many traditional barriers were temporarily dismantled in the quest for more workers in the factories. The mobilization of women made a vital contribution to the war industries producing aircraft, guns and munitions. Life cycles for these industries are developed at the sectoral and community levels. In a case study of de Havilland aircraft, oral histories are used to give a sense of women's work at the plant scale. The longer-term implications for women's work in industry are outlined.

Number 2

Retail Pull Factor: An Analysis of Indiana Counties
Paul T. McGurr, General Business Programs, Purdue University
Sharon A. DeVaney, Consumer Sciences and Retailing, Purdue University

Mapping of retail trade in Indiana shows a concentration in a small number of retail centers. The ability of a county or community to keep the shopping dollars of its local residents and to draw shoppers from outside its boundaries is measured by a ratio called the retail pull factor. A multivariate ordinary least squares regression was used to examine retail pull factor of Indiana counties based on retail geographic, economic, and demographic factors. increased retail pull was significantly related to the number of retail outlets, the number of destination stores, the percentage of wage earners employed within their county of residence, the urban status of the county, and average per capita income. Retail sales success requires the combination of employment opportunities, in-county residential areas for employees, and an in-place retail infrastructure.

Exploring Distance and Caregiver Gender Effects in Eldercare: Towards a Geography of Family Caregiving
Bonnie C. Haliman, Department of Geography and Planning, California State University at Chico
Alun E. Joseph, Department of Geography, University of Guelph

This paper extends an earlier analysis of the geography of eldercare provision by focusing on the 'gender map' of caregiving. Two questions are posed: do women and men respond differently, in terms of the assistance they provide, to Increasing distance between themselves and their elderly relatives; and, do women and men have distinctive ways of handling eldercare at a distance? Data drawn from the 1995 Work & Eldercare Survey conducted by CARNET: The Canadian Aging Research Network indicate a greater sensitivity among women to distance as a barrier to caregiving activity. Factors mediating gender-specific distance effects include perceptions of elder's health, incidence of crises, availability of other helpers and use of community services. Female respondents' greater apparent sensitivity to distance is consistent with a growing literature documenting the restricted geographies of women and is echoed also in the greater proclivity of female caregivers to consider and arrange residential moves which reduce their 'journeys-to-care'. Male respondents' eldercare behaviour is somewhat contrary to expectations, but we see this as driven by the self-selection of males in 'atypical' caregiving circumstances (e.g., long distance, primary and international caregivers) into our sample.

Economic Impacts of Highway Infrastructure Improvements: Lessons from Past Research
Pavios S. Kanaroglou, Department of Geography, McMaster University
William P. Anderson, Department of Geography, McMaster University

Governments at all levels frequently plan and implement highway infrastructure improvements. The environmental and economic impacts of such improvements are often the subject of considerable public debates which are in formed through required impact studies. In Ontario, for example such impact studies are required by the Environmental Assessment Act. Research reported in this paper is part of a project that intends to develop an analytical framework that can be used as a flexible tool for the assessment of economic Impacts of highway projects on Ontario communities. The resulting model is to be used at the planning stage when data at the community level are not available. The literature on the economic impact assessment of highway development expenditures is scant and rarely finds its way into the pages of academic journals. The objective of the research reported in this paper Is to identify and review the relevant literature as a prelude to our intended model development. We thus synthesize the methods and data used in past research and we summarize the major findings. We are particularly interested in evaluating the transferability of parameter values estimated in previous studies. Two general classes of studies, ex ante and ex post, are Identified. The ex post studies are further classified into six categories.

The Early Development of Terminal Elevators at the (Canadian) Lakehead
John Everitt, Department of Geography, Brandon University
Warren Gill, Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University

The opening up of the prairies for wheat cultivation had a major impact upon this region by transforming it from a frontier dependent upon the fur trade into a series of very well defined cultural landscapes where agriculture became the norm. But in addition, this agricultural revolution has also had a significant impact outside the region, reflecting the location of the Prairie Provinces within the country This is particularly noticeable where terminal elevators were constructed in order to ensure the efficient overseas export of grain. The construction of Western' terminals had its earliest impact upon the (Canadian) Lakehead cities of Port Arthur and Fort William - now Thunder Bay. This paper details the rise of grain terminals in these centres, discusses the variable patterns of ownership of the structures, and explains the changes in the 'balance of terminal power' during the early years of The Lakehead.

Mid-Lake Versus Shoreline Dry Deposition: Eastern Lake Erie
Stephen J. Vermette, Department of Earth Science and Science Education, State University College of Buffalo
Dennis M. Torok, Department of Earth Science and Science Education, State University College of Buffalo

Atmospheric monitoring sites are located along the shores of the Great Lakes in an effort to quantify the atmospheric inputs of toxic chemicals and other contaminants. However, shorelines should be characterized as unique transition zones similar to neither land nor water. This leads to a question of how representative these monitoring stations are of large bodies of water like the Great Lakes. To address this question, airborne particles were measured at four sites along a transect across the eastern basin of Lake Erie. These sites consisted of one on-shore station, two near-shore and one mid-lake. The mass of particles in ambient air at the mid-lake site was found to be approximately half that of the shoreline site. The majority of the particle mass over the lake can be attributed to particles between 5-11 um in size. The deposition rate at the mid-lake site was from one-third to one-sixth that calculated for the shoreline site. The majority of the over-lake deposition can be attributed to particles between 5 and 17 um in size. We suggest that there is a significant difference in atmospheric input to the lakes near the shore as compared to midlake, and that the majority of the deposited mass is attributable to particles between 5-17 um in size. Depending on wind velocity, on-shore stations may have a significant fraction of the depositional mass attributed to particles greater than 17 um in size. Current modeling efforts must consider that mid-lake deposition may be overestimated when shoreline deposition values are used in their place.

Technological Progress And Stability Among Small Canadian Inventive Firms
S.L. Brian Ceh, Department of Geography, Wilfrid Laurier University

It seems that regional economic growth is often associated with the technological progress of large rather than small firms. The present study examines the typology and technological contributions of small Canadian inventive firms. The results show that such firms developed one-quarter of Canada's firm inventions in 1989. Further, unlike their larger counterparts, small Canadian firms have come to develop more inventions since 1981. Also, these firms, primarily established before die 1980s, are developing more critical technology compared to the past, are primarily creating product technology are associated with newer and technology oriented industries.