Bryn Greer-wootten - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Bryn Greer-wootten

Biometrician Sewall Wright introduced to genetics a procedure that would revolutionize data analy... more Biometrician Sewall Wright introduced to genetics a procedure that would revolutionize data analysis. With the advent of Wright’s method of path coefficients in early twentieth century, the statistical landscape widened significantly. However, the adoption of Wright’s methods provoked great controversy. Essential to this controversy were claims, originally advanced by Wright, that the method could be applied to problems in which causality among variables could be assumed. In the present piece, we seek to provide an historical understanding of how path analysis became associated with causation. We begin by interpreting Wright’s early work on path coefficients, then trace key studies that utilized path analysis following Wright’s innovative contribution. By mid-century, path analysis had established itself as a causal modeling methodology and was gaining popularity in the social sciences. We conclude that today’s procedure be somewhat divorced from issues of causation, both semantically and hermeneutically.

I z ,.Included in this bibliography are resource materials available to both college instructors,... more I z ,.Included in this bibliography are resource materials available to both college instructors, and students on statistical appli'cations in geographic.research. Two stages of Stati ical 'devielopmentlare treated in the 'bibliography. They are 1) descriptive(statistics, in which the sample is the focus of interest, vld analytical statistics, in which the' population is the primary interest. For each of the sections, a short introductory statement is Ilade concerning the general nature of problems investigated using that technique, where applicable. The bibliography treats 34 catego#es of geographic statistical concepts, such as measurement, set thory, geographic data, geography matrix, computer applications, sample designs and methods, descriptive' statistics, index" construction, analysis of variance, geostatisstics,point pattern analysis, among others. Not included in the' bibliography are references to Sample space, expected Values, random variables, population and sampling distributions. Entries are listed alphabetically by author, and include the title, source, number ofpages, date, and place of publication. (Author/JR) 4 r Cr! * A. via the ERIC Document' Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * responsible for, the gUality of the oFiginal document. Reproductiohs * * supplied by,EDRS,are the best that can-die made from the originl.

Pour D. Mercure (1974) la crise actuelle appelle « une transformation radicale des valeurs, condi... more Pour D. Mercure (1974) la crise actuelle appelle « une transformation radicale des valeurs, condition sine qua non de la réussite de la lutte écologique et la naissance de nouvelles structures. C’est dans ce nouveau contexte que la planification devra se soumettre à la décentralisation, la rationalité des moyens à celle des fins, et le niveau de vie à la qualité de la vie ». Dans cette perspective, les géographes ont-ils une contribution spécifique à apporter ? Nous avons évoqué bon nombre de..

Canadian Geographer, Sep 1, 1967

... BRYN GREER-WOOTTEN McGill University ... 2). It may appear that any re-thinking that might be... more ... BRYN GREER-WOOTTEN McGill University ... 2). It may appear that any re-thinking that might be undertaken about first-year courses in geography is necessarily a stop-gap before the new wave of high school geographers breaks upon North American ivory foreshores. ...

The Professional Geographer, Mar 1, 1968

McGill Uniuersity ECENTLY an editorial in Science stated that, because global environmental probl... more McGill Uniuersity ECENTLY an editorial in Science stated that, because global environmental problems were becoming so severe, the time had come for a "systems study of mankind in relation to his planet." (1 J Certainly many geographers would agree: as a group of leading American geographers reported to the National Academy of Sciences, the overriding problem with which geography is concerned is the "analysis of the vast system of the earth's surface comprising man and the natural environment." (2) Given that such a systems analysis is necessary and that geography, as a science,

Espace géographique, 1981

In central place studies the proposition that there is a hierarchy of settlements continues to be... more In central place studies the proposition that there is a hierarchy of settlements continues to be a contentious issue. In both empirical and theoretical approaches, a hierarchy represents a classification of centres according to their number and variety of functions or services. A broad study of the evolution of the community system of Southern Manitoba, from 1961 to 1971, provides a background for the evaluation of a number of methods used to classify centres. A multivariate classification proved to be most effective : the changing functional composition of the resulting five-level hierarchy is then examined. Methodological issues that are raised include the effects of boundary definition, the difficulties of inferring process from structural analysis, and the question of purpose in carrying out the classification exercise.

Annales de géographie, 1973

Progress in Human Geography, Sep 1, 1983

Moravian Geographical Reports

On Sunday, August 13, 2023, Stanislav Martinát – a respected Czech geographer and member of the E... more On Sunday, August 13, 2023, Stanislav Martinát – a respected Czech geographer and member of the Editorial Board of Moravian Geographical Reports journal – died after a short serious illness at the age of 47. Despite his relatively young age, Stanislav Martinát was one of the most productive and the most cited Czech geographers. He is the author or coauthor of over 100 peer-reviewed articles, of which more than 70 were published in journals indexed in the Web of Science database. This article is a collection of personal memories from people from different workplaces from several countries who had the opportunity to work with Stanislav (Standa) and to share a part of their life stage with him.

Canadian Geographer, Oct 11, 2017

This undergraduate full-year (two terms/semesters) textbook is welcomed on several fronts, largel... more This undergraduate full-year (two terms/semesters) textbook is welcomed on several fronts, largely because it does present the bewildering array of environmental topics in a relatively well-structured format that will be comprehensible to senior undergraduate students. Although it is not structured in parts, it seems that its 12 chapters do in fact

Canadian Geographer, Apr 24, 2017

Given that I believe that we are all students for all of our lives, academic and otherwise, the t... more Given that I believe that we are all students for all of our lives, academic and otherwise, the title of the book under review should not be problematic for me. But my first reaction was: "Is this Geographic Thought for Dummies?" I do not think it is. At least, it does not have a yellow and black cover, but the level of the student addressed is of some concern. And, in a recent search on Amazon, there were 1,771 Dummies titles and only one came even close to being "geographic"-on map reading by J. Hill (2014). This book is presumably oriented to senior undergraduates, at least from the comments on the end cover. My view on reading the text is that such persons must be quite advanced in their understanding of not only geography as a discipline, but also of the various philosophical ideas that impinge upon it. In fact, I would think that many students, at whatever level, would gain enormously from the breadth of the coverage of the various issues contained in this book, even though most would have to devote some serious effort in matching the coverage and its level of sophistication. As the author notes: "Students often find studying 'geographic thought' difficult, not least because philosophy and theory are, by definition, rather abstract" (p. 3). In terms of implied objectives, then, the author appears to be attempting to make such study less abstract, less demanding, more. .. user-friendly? At least, that seems to be the tone of the

Pendant des siècles, l’insertion de l’homme dans l’écosystème n’a soulevé aucun problème majeur p... more Pendant des siècles, l’insertion de l’homme dans l’écosystème n’a soulevé aucun problème majeur pour ce dernier. L’équilibre écologique n’a jamais été menacé par l’une ou l’autre des innombrables espèces vivantes qui ont peuplé la biosphère jusqu’à l’époque très récente où notre espèce a mis au point de nouvelles méthodes d’exploitation de la nature, de nouvelles technologies altérant la surface de la terre, de façon délibérée et à un degré inégalé. Depuis l’apparition des premières civilisat..

The Professional Geographer, 1967

Moravian Geographical Reports, Mar 1, 2017

The Environment and Sustainable Development in the New Central Europe

The Moravian Geographical Reports does not often publish Book Reviews (let alone essays), but thi... more The Moravian Geographical Reports does not often publish Book Reviews (let alone essays), but this new book on "Renewable Energies and European Landscapes" is a well-deserved exception to the rule! It is an edited collection of essays gathered together by Frolova (University of Granada, Spain), Prados (University of Sevilla, Spain) and Nadaï (Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement: CIRED -CNRS, France), based on a series of Workshops organised under the auspices of several agencies (from both Spain and France) in the period from 2007 to the present. In particular; the Spanish Network on Renewable Energies and Landscape (RESERP) began in 2010, with an emphasis on wind and solar power. Published by a well-respected agency, the question can be clearly stated at the outset: Do the editors fulfil their ambitious agenda of providing case studies of value for the emerging research on landscapes of renewable energies of Europe, writ large, i....

Ecology and Society, 2020

An analysis of community resilience in South Sudan, based on household survey data, is presented ... more An analysis of community resilience in South Sudan, based on household survey data, is presented in this paper. The data were collected as part of the Fortifying Equality and Economic Diversification (FEED) Project (a consortium project of World Vision, Oxfam, and CARE). The goal of the project was to meet basic food security needs and reduce vulnerability amongst empowered communities and households in Greater Bahr el Ghazal and the Equatorias in South Sudan. Three dimensions of resilience (absorptive, adaptive, and transformative) were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA). In this analysis, the components identified those characteristics of households, such as avoidance of negative coping strategies, capacity for disaster management at the community level, and access to social capital, that are important factors in resilience with respect to food security. Some of the principal components point to targets for programming. For example, in times of food scarcity, programming could target capacity building to construct storage facilities that are resistant to pests, rain, and dampness. This finding supports positive coping strategies, e.g., drawing upon stores of food in times of food scarcity. Similarly, building social capital is another programming opportunity indicated by these results, because drawing upon social networks to feed household members is a better coping strategy than, for example, selling liquid assets, harvesting immature crops, or simply going hungry. Furthermore, the analysis using PCA lends itself to the development of indices of resilience. Household scores on three resilience indices are produced: absorptive, adaptive, and transformative resilience. This allows for the identification of most and least resilient households. With this approach household scores on these indices can be aggregated to higher levels, such as the village level.