Variations in the adoption and willingness to use e-services in three differentiated urban areas

This study analyses electronic service (e-service) adoption in regards to socio-spatial dynamics. Conceptually the paper focuses on the interrelations of both private and public e-services and on the influence that demographic variables have on e-service adoption. To empirically engage in this discussion the study uses segmented residential areas representing different socio-spatial characteristics; namely ‘city center’, ‘high-income suburban’ area, and ‘lower-income suburban’ area. With data from an extensive postal survey and standard statistical methods for analyzing survey data the paper shows the extent of existing differentiation in e-service use between genders and according to age, education and income, as well as spatial differences between the studied residential areas. The study results, thus, clearly indicate that the e-service use has still statistically differentiated user profiles, particularly if it is considered in a spatial setting. The paper concludes by addressing directions for the future research.     

One Country Two Peoples?

This article weighs the demographic evidence for either assimilation or separation among Hong Kong residents who were born in British Colonial Hong Kong or Mainland China. Using successive waves of Hong Kong census data from 1991 to 2011, we show the effects of nativity on four indicators of social distance and differentiation: residential segregation, linguistic assimilation, wage inequality and educational opportunity. On the one hand, there is some evidence of assimilation in terms of residential location and home language. On the other hand, in terms of wage inequality and access to postsecondary education, our findings suggest that Hong Kong's population could become more divided depending upon birthplace.     

Improving Coastal Vulnerability Assessment Methodologies for Integrated Coastal Zone Management: an Approach from South Australia

The global concern about human-induced climatic change and its potential effect on sea-level has dominated the debate on coastal vulnerability, particularly since a common assessment methodology was developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1991. There have been numerous attempts to use or adapt this methodology but the focus has remained on sea-level rise as the single most important issue for coastal vulnerability. This paper presents a revised and more holistic coastal vulnerability assessment methodology which incorporates spatial and temporal scales relevant to the predicted impacts of climatic change and current human-induced hazards. Three studies in contrasting coastal environments of South Australia demonstrate that there are significant regional variations in sea-level response, human-induced hazards and local planning issues and that these may present a greater immediate threat than the possibility of sea-level rise.     

Commercial zooarchaeology in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The following paper presents the results from two surveys of zooarchaeologists involved with commercial work in the United Kingdom. The surveys had a number of aims: they investigated the demographic of commercial zooarchaeologists; their relationship with organisations; the information they produce; how the current recession is affecting their work and what their priorities for help would be. The main survey was carried out during March–April 2009 with a further follow-up survey conducted during August. The surveys indicate that the demographic of zooarchaeologists varies from that of archaeologists in the United Kingdom as a whole. It also shows that the economic recession is affecting commercial zooarchaeologists in a number of ways. The paper also discusses the general structure and nature of the profession.     

Property and Personal Crime in Istanbul

In recent studies on urban safety, close relationships between physical and demographic characteristics have been found in crime levels in cities. In many countries social, political and economic turmoil have been the main reasons for the increase in urban crime and violence in the last 50 years. In physically deprived environments, the most important factors that increase urban crime are socially isolated communities, economic discrimination and lack of equality in political citizenship rights. In developing countries, it is difficult to obtain data about crime and safety. For this reason, there are very few studies on crime compared to developed countries. In the research in this paper, the similarities and differences of crime ratios against property and persons in Istanbul are compared with those in other countries. For this purpose, the spatial distribution of crimes committed were analysed on a comparative basis between 1998–2002 in 32 districts displaying different characteristics in terms of distance to the centre, use of land, value of land, physical and demographic features. The research revealed that the crime rates in Istanbul against property and persons were in parallel with developed countries. The districts which have mixed use (residential and commercial, residential and industrial), high population increase, high number of households, high density and high land value, property and personal crime levels are high; when date of becoming a district is recent and the size of the district is large, property and personal crime levels are low.     

Characterizing the rural landscape during the Iron Age and Roman period (ca. 1200 b.c.–a.d. 400): An intensive survey of Wadi al-Feidh,southern Jordan

Abstract

Archaeological surveys in the southern Levant have traditionally focused on areas with favorable climates and flat terrain where large urban sites are found, corresponding with a research focus on social complexity and state formation. Fewer surveys have explored the rocky, difficult-to-reach areas where large-scale agriculture was rare. This article uses survey data from the 2009 survey of Wadi al-Feidh, southern Jordan, to demonstrate the importance of exploring these environmentally marginal areas. Employing an intensive survey methodology, we recorded a range of sites and features previously unrecognized in this region. These findings suggest that subsistence patterns shifted from small-scale, mixed agro-pastoralism in the Iron Age (1200–586 b.c.) to a more intensive, top-down strategy of agricultural production by the Roman period (ca. 100 b.c.–a.d. 400). The results provide new insight into regional socioeconomic change in the southern Levant from the perspective of peripheral communities.     

REVISITING LITHIC SCATTERS: A CRM PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The scope of an archaeological survey may be defined by environmental or cultural boundaries, or by arbitrarily defined boundaries, which is generally the case in cultural resource management (CRM) surveys. The most common site type encountered during the course of almost any Phase I CRM survey is the temporally nondiagnostic “lithic scatter.” The majority of surveys conducted within the United States today are compliance driven, and thus most lithic scatters are discovered and recorded by CRM firms. They are therefore investigated according to state standards, and their potential for contributing to the archaeological record is evaluated according to criteria established under the National Historic Preservation Act. Under these circumstances, the significance of the vast majority of these sites is dismissed outright during the course of initial investigation and reporting. While nondiagnostic lithic scatters may often be uninteresting as individual units of analysis, this paper argues that in aggregate they represent a vital component of the archaeological record. It further argues that their potential value as individual units of analysis is often dismissed too casually. The paper demonstrates that under currently accepted field methodology, many of these sites are not adequately investigated and are not entered into any meaningful database. Recommendations for improving the initial investigation and interpretation of these sites are offered, based on recent initiatives taken in Louisiana by the U.S. Forest Service on Kisatchie National Forest.     

Methods to Create a Longitudinal Integrated Demographic and Geographic Database on the Micro-Level

Abstract

The authors develop a methodology to create databases that can be used to add micro-level geographic context to longitudinal historical demographic analyses. The method transforms geographic objects as snapshots (digitized from historical maps) into temporal representations of longitudinal object lifelines and links individuals to these geographic objects. The methodology is evaluated via a case study using historical data from the Scanian Economic Demographic Database. The authors link approximately 53,000 individuals in five parishes for the period 1813–1914 to the property units in which they had lived. The results of this study are a unique contribution in terms of linking individuals to micro-level longitudinal geographic data over such long periods. Thus, these data may provide new knowledge for historical demographic research.     

广州市高峰小时居住用地交通产生与分布——基于出租车GPS起讫关联的分析

本文以广州为案例,通过通勤高峰期间出租车GPS数据的时空挖掘,分析基于GPS起讫关联的居住地交通产生与分布特征,并讨论其所隐含的城市职住空间关系及在交通需求分析中的潜在价值。研究发现居住用地交通产生的出行距离存在ZIPF法则所表现的衰减规律,到达工业、商业金融和公共服务等用地的距离依次降低,而空间上距离呈中心城区向郊区增加的同心环模式。此外,本文还尝试从交通模型参数设定、职-住关系等方面探讨本文研究的应用方向。     

Understanding the built environment at the Seneca Iroquois White Springs Site using large-scale,multi-instrument archaeogeophysical surveys

A landscape-scale conception of the circa 1688–1715 CE Seneca occupation at the White Springs Site (NYSM 1952; RMSC Plp-018), located in Geneva, NY, is important for understanding their built environment during a period of residential upheaval. This paper reports on approximately five hectares of high-resolution, multi-instrument archaeogeophysical surveys. These surveys allowed engagement with layered, temporal contexts and the gathering of otherwise inaccessible information. In combination with excavation, surface survey, and historic research, archaeogeophysical techniques provided expanded access to the site, a settlement size estimate of 1.42–2.75 ha, and tentative evidence for a palisade at the White Springs Site. The interplay between archaeogeophysics and other techniques was critical to this undertaking.     

Evaluation of Structure from Motion Software to Create 3D Models of Late Nineteenth Century Great Lakes Shipwrecks Using Archived Diver-Acquired Video Surveys

Here we demonstrate the ability to use archived video surveys to create photorealistic 3D models of submerged archeological sites. We created 3D models of two nineteenth century Great Lakes shipwrecks using diver-acquired video surveys and Structure from Motion (SfM) software. Models were georeferenced using archived hand survey data. Comparison of hand survey measurements and digital measurements made using the models demonstrate that spatial analysis produces results with reasonable accuracy when wreck maps are available. Error associated with digital measurements displayed an inverse relationship to object size. Measurement error ranged from a maximum of 18 % (on 0.37 m object) and a minimum of 0.56 % (on a 4.21 m object). Our results demonstrate SfM can generate models of large maritime archaeological sites that for research, education and outreach purposes. Where site maps are available, these 3D models can be georeferenced to allow additional spatial analysis long after on-site data collection.     

THE USE OF SURVEYS OF SATISFACTION FOR EVALUATIONS

The use of surveys by cities for planning or evaluation requires attention to several problems identified by users. An assessment of the impact of these issues was made using three surveys by the city of Dallas. It was determined that surveys may be particularly valuable in evaluating service delivery patterns for services which offer delivery agents a high level of discretion. For these services, non-whites reported higher levels of dissatisfaction than whites, a pattern not evident when low discretion services are evaluated. The study also allowed development of specific suggestions regarding the structure of survey questions and the evaluation of services by non-users.     

Inhabiting Remote Tropical Seashores at 1500–1100 b.c.: Water,Practicalities, and Rituals in the Mariana Islands

When people first inhabited the Remote Oceanic region of the world at 1500 b.c., they generated archaeological sites attesting to their practical coastal adaptations in tandem with their ceremonial traditions, wherein water figured vitally in daily living and ritual performance. Of eight known first-settlement sites in the Mariana Islands, Ritidian in Guam uniquely incorporates one residential habitation plus two caves related to water collection, pictographs, consumption of unusual foods, and use of exceptionally decorative objects. The inter-connected findings clarify what was “special” about the special-use caves, in total articulating a fuller sense of cultural life and landscape than otherwise could be possible.     

Shifting stones and changing homes: using toolstone ratios to consider relative occupation span in the northwestern Great Basin

Like Paleoindian populations elsewhere in North America, Pre-Archaic groups in the Great Basin are assumed to have been highly mobile and far ranging. This view is commonly based on analyses of lithic technology and source provenance studies. While these approaches have added to our knowledge of Pre-Archaic lifeways, they have rarely focused on occupation span – an aspect of hunter–gatherer behavior directly related to mobility. Here, I use the proportions of local and nonlocal toolstone in Pre-Archaic and later Archaic assemblages to consider occupation span with the assumption that assemblages should become increasingly dominated by local materials as occupation span increases. The results suggest that residential mobility was high and occupations short before 7500 radiocarbon years ago. Conversely, between 7500 and 1300 radiocarbon years ago, residential mobility decreased and many locations were occupied for extended periods. Occupation span once again decreased as residential mobility increased after 1300 radiocarbon years ago. These trends were likely influenced by changes in the environmental and demographic climate of the Holocene.     

Innovations to reduce residential energy use and carbon emissions: an integrated approach

Research in energy sustainability is gaining renewed priority because of the growing importance of climate‐change issues and the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by many countries. Increased energy efficiency and substitution of less carbon‐intensive fuels are proposed as the principal means to reduce greenhouse‐gas (GHG) emissions and associated climate change. The residential sector is an important area for improvement, as it accounts for 22 percent of global energy consumption. This paper illustrates the integration of four dimensions of energy issues within a single community study in Waterloo Region, Canada. First, it overcomes the limitations of single‐discipline approaches to energy studies by recognizing the importance of social context in measuring the potential to reduce energy consumption. The ‘sociotechnical’ potential to reduce residential consumption by 25 percent is lower in our analysis than traditional measures of the technical potential, but is considered more achievable. Second, the paper examines how community‐based implementation can enhance the effectiveness of a national energy efficiency program (EnerGuide for Houses, or EGH). Controlled marketing experiments demonstrated higher response rates for materials highlighting local partners. Third, the paper outlines how the local capacity developed by diverse stakeholders (city councils, regional government, federal government agencies, local utilities, local businesses, environmental nongovernmental organizations and the local university) was an important means of overcoming many of the barriers to taking action. Fourth, the paper details the examination of issues of energy efficiency and fuel substitution through a survey of residents’ attitudes and comparison to behaviour. For example, stated ‘willingness to pay’ was compared to the actual sign‐up rate for the first introduction of ‘green’ electricity in the Ontario residential market. The integration of these four dimensions in a single study offers a framework that can be reviewed and adapted to meet the needs of other projects.     

国内外城市居民职住空间关系研究进展和展望

城市居民职住空间关系是指城市居民居住地和工作地之间的社会空间关系,是城市空间结构的重要研究内容。体制转型时期中国城市居民职住空间关系正在经历着翻天覆地的变化。本文主要从职住空间关系研究学派、职住空间平衡和城市通勤、居住选择和居住空间分异等方面对国内外相关研究进行述评,认为国内相关研究应注重社会调查,加强个体层面的研究,从体制转型和个体社会经济特征等角度寻求城市居民职住空间关系及其演化的形成机制,并注重特殊群体,如外来人口、城市贫困人口和原单位制社区居民等社会群体的职住空间关系和社会空间后果研究。     

Changing Jobs and Changing Houses: Mobility Outcomes of Employment Transitions

The life-course approach to residential mobility and migration recognizes a central role for a variety of demographic and economic triggers in the mobility process. Having a child, getting married, separated, or divorced, have all been identified as triggers that generate residential relocations. It is obvious that a job change can also be viewed as a stimulus for residential relocation, although until now the interconnection has been evaluated mainly for long-distance migratory moves rather than for its effects on residential mobility. In this analysis we use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to test the association between employment changes and residential relocation. We examine both the occurrence and the timing of residential moves triggered by employment transitions. We show that job changes increase the likelihood of residential relocation in the aggregate and for singles when we hold other & "triggers" constant. The results of the analysis of the timing of job changes and residential relocations indicate that temporal differences exist between households types. Overall, the results establish that job change is an important triggering process in residential relocation and emphasizes the interconnected nature of life-course events.     

The Use of a Large-Scale Seismic Vulnerability Assessment Approach for Masonry Façade Walls as an Effective Tool for Evaluating,Managing and Mitigating Seismic Risk in Historical Centers

ABSTRACT

The vulnerability assessment of the building stock in a given territorial area, such as a city or an entire country, is a key prerequisite for evaluating risk, not only because of the potential physical consequences resulting from the occurrence of an event, but also because it is one of the few aspects in which engineering research can intervene. In fact, the rigorous vulnerability assessment of existing buildings followed by the implementation of appropriate retrofitting solutions can help to substantially reduce the levels of physical damage and economic impact of future events. Particularly regarding the seismic vulnerability assessment of historical centers, the amount of knowledge that has been accumulated over the past decades, together with the broad damage data obtained from post-earthquake damage surveys, provides a singular opportunity to develop and calibrate innovative large-scale seismic vulnerability assessment approaches, which can be used to outline and support risk mitigation and management strategies. This article addresses this issue by discussing the use of a large-scale seismic vulnerability assessment methodology for masonry façade walls as a tool for evaluating the potential benefit resulting from the application of different seismic retrofitting strategies, both considering their contribution to reduce post-event urban losses and accessibility.     

Planning Policies,Market Processes and Public Attitudes: Evidence from Central Perth

Australian central cities have undergone fundamental changes during the last decade. They have typically experienced massive office construction, while losing much of their residential communities, architectural and cultural heritage, retailing role and some recreational attractions. Government authorities have facilitated and participated in many central city projects. A metropolitan-wide survey conducted in Perth on these subjects shows increased dependence on the private car, increased preference for suburban living and shopping, but some willingness to consider central city living, a demand for further community participation in central city planning, and a preference for the future expansion of most non-office activities in the central area. The survey indentified notable gaps between government policies for the development of Perth's central area on one hand, and the preferences of Perth's residents on the other.