Geostatistical Smoothing of Areal Data: Mapping Employment Density with Factorial Kriging

This article summarizes area-to-point (ATP) factorial kriging that allows the smoothing of aggregate, areal data into a continuous spatial surface. Unlike some other smoothing methods, ATP factorial kriging does not suppose that all of the data within an area are located at a centroid or other arbitrary point. Also, unlike some other smoothing methods, factorial kriging allows the user to utilize an autocovariance function to control the smoothness of the output. This is beneficial because the covariance function is a physically meaningful statement of spatial relationship, which is not the case when other spatial kernel functions are used for smoothing. Given a known covariance function, factorial kriging gives the smooth surface that is best in terms of minimizing the expected mean squared prediction error. I present an application of the factorial kriging methodology for visualizing the structure of employment density in the Denver metropolitan area.     

Developing Geostatistical Space–Time Models to Predict Outpatient Treatment Burdens from Incomplete National Data

Basic health system data such as the number of patients utilizing different health facilities and the types of illness for which they are being treated are critical for managing service provision. These data requirements are generally addressed with some form of national Health Management Information System (HMIS), which coordinates the routine collection and compilation of data from national health facilities. HMIS in most developing countries are characterized by widespread underreporting. Here we present a method to adjust incomplete data to allow prediction of national outpatient treatment burdens. We demonstrate this method with the example of outpatient treatments for malaria within the Kenyan HMIS. Three alternative modeling frameworks were developed and tested in which space–time geostatistical prediction algorithms were used to predict the monthly tally of treatments for presumed malaria cases (MC) at facilities where such records were missing. Models were compared by a cross-validation exercise and the model found to most accurately predict MC incorporated available data on the total number of patients visiting each facility each month. A space–time stochastic simulation framework to accompany this model was developed and tested in order to provide estimates of both local and regional prediction uncertainty. The level of accuracy provided by the predictive model, and the accompanying estimates of uncertainty around the predictions, demonstrate how this tool can mitigate the uncertainties caused by missing data, substantially enhancing the utility of existing HMIS data to health-service decision makers.     

Reconstructing Population Density Surfaces from Areal Data: A Comparison of Tobler's Pycnophylactic Interpolation Method and Area-to-Point Kriging

We compare Tobler's pycnophylactic interpolation method with the geostatistical approach of area-to-point kriging for distributing population data collected by areal unit in 18 census tracts in Ann Arbor for 1970 to reconstruct a population density surface. In both methods, (1) the areal data are reproduced when the predicted population density is upscaled; (2) physical boundary conditions are accounted for, if they exist; and (3) inequality constraints, such as the requirement of non-negative point predictions, are satisfied. The results show that when a certain variogram model, that is, the de Wijsian model corresponding to the free-space Green's function of Laplace's equation, is used in the geostatistical approach under the same boundary condition and constraints with Tobler's approach, the predicted population density surfaces are almost identical (up to numerical errors and discretization discrepancies). The implications of these findings are twofold: (1) multiple attribute surfaces can be constructed from areal data using the geostatistical approach, depending on the particular point variogram model adopted—that variogram model need not be the one associated with Tobler's solution and (2) it is the analyst's responsibility to justify whether the smoothness criterion employed in Tobler's approach is relevant to the particular application at hand. A notable advantage of the geostatistical approach over Tobler's is that it allows reporting the uncertainty or reliability of the interpolated values, with critical implications for uncertainty propagation in spatial analysis operations.     

Combining Geostatistical Methods and Hierarchical Scene Models for Analysis of Multiscale Variation in Spatial Data

Concepts from Hierarchical Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) can be combined with ideas from geostatistics to describe the multiscale structure of spatial data. Hierarchical ANOVA involves modeling spatial data as the sum of effects associated with processes acting at different spatial scales. These effects can be modeled as stationary regionalized variables, whose spatial structure can be described using the variogram. According to this model, the variogram of the spatial data is the sum of variograms and cross‐variograms of the effects. Whereas hierarchical ANOVA reveals the relationship between scale and variability, the hierarchical decomposition of the variogram relates scale with spatial structure. This analysis method can reveal otherwise undetected features of spatial data, and can guide further analysis.     

A Geostatistical Analysis of Soil, Vegetation, and Image Data Characterizing Land Surface Variation

The elucidation of spatial variation in the landscape can indicate potential wildlife habitats or breeding sites for vectors, such as ticks or mosquitoes, which cause a range of diseases. Information from remotely sensed data could aid the delineation of vegetation distribution on the ground in areas where local knowledge is limited. The data from digital images are often difficult to interpret because of pixel-to-pixel variation, that is, noise, and complex variation at more than one spatial scale. Landsat Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Satellite Pour l'Observation de La Terre (SPOT) image data were analyzed for an area close to Douna in Mali, West Africa. The variograms of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from both types of image data were nested. The parameters of the nested variogram function from the Landsat ETM+ data were used to design the sampling for a ground survey of soil and vegetation data. Variograms of the soil and vegetation data showed that their variation was anisotropic and their scales of variation were similar to those of NDVI from the SPOT data. The short- and long-range components of variation in the SPOT data were filtered out separately by factorial kriging. The map of the short-range component appears to represent the patterns of vegetation and associated shallow slopes and drainage channels of the tiger bush system. The map of the long-range component also appeared to relate to broader patterns in the tiger bush and to gentle undulations in the topography. The results suggest that the types of image data analyzed in this study could be used to identify areas with more moisture in semiarid regions that could support wildlife and also be potential vector breeding sites.     

Parameterization and Visualization of the Errors in Areal Interpolation

Areal interpolation involves the transfer of data from one zonation of a region to another, where the two zonations of space are geographically incompatible. By its very nature this process is fraught with errors. However, only recently have there been specific attempts to quantify these errors. Fisher and Langford (1995) employed Monte Carlo simulation methods, based on modifiable areal units, to compare the errors resulting from selected areal interpolation techniques. This paper builds on their work by parameterizing and visualizing the errors resulting from the areal weighting and dasymetric methods of areal interpolation. It provides the basis for further research by developing the methodology to produce predictive models of the errors in areal interpolation. Random aggregation techniques are employed to generate multiple sets of source zones and interpolation takes place from these units onto a fixed set of randomly generated target zones. Analysis takes place at the polygon, or target zone level, which enables detailed analysis of the error distributions, basic visualization of the spatial nature of the errors and predictive modeling of the errors based on parameters of the target zones. Correlation and regression analysis revealed that errors from the areal weighting technique were related to the geometric parameters of the target zones. The dasymetric errors, however, demonstrated more association with the population or attribute characteristics of the zones. The perimeter, total population, and population density of the target zones were shown to be the strongest predictive parameters.     

在唐高句丽遗民遗物、遗迹的现状及其分布

对于在唐高句丽遗民问题,中外学界已积累了一定的研究成果。然而,全面探讨高句丽遗民关联问题的论著并不多见。随着高句丽遗民墓志铭及相关遗迹遗物的不断发现,在已有研究的基础上,通过实地考察和文献比较,探讨高句丽遗民遗迹遗物现状、分布、收藏地点,以及研究的意义,必将有助于整体研究的深入。     

Measures of Feature-Based and Areal Differentiations and their use in City Services

Two types of geographical differentiations are distinguished: feature-based differentiation, in which a selected property assumes values distributed over a particular area, and areal differentiation, in which an area is broken down into weighted segments. The concept of entropy, a measure of the amount of information transmitted, is borrowed from information theory to provide measures of feature-based and areal differentiations. A possible application of these measures of differentiation is suggested in the study and planning of city services.     

隋纪年墓出土铜镜的制作年代与历史价值

一、隋纪年墓出土铜镜制作年代汇考 据笔者统计,有考古发掘记录的隋纪年墓共38处,出土有铜镜的隋墓为13座(表一),现将所出铜镜逐一考说如下.     

Ethnogenesis from the Geographical Point of View (Landscape and Ethnos,IX)

The author deals with the question whether the biological evolution of the species Homo sapiens is continuing under conditions of established civilizations. He replies in the affirmative, but qualifies his answer. The evolution of modern man affects behavioral patterns rather than anatomical or physiologic traits, and is reflected in a greater capacity for adaptation and an expansion of the area of settlement rather than in the improvement of a particular phenotype. The evolution is analyzed best in terms of the ethnos, or ethnic group. Two states of the ethnos are distinguished: a persistent (static) state, in which the ethnos may be said to stagnate, each generation copies the behavioral patterns of the previous generation, and the life patterns are adapted to the landscape; a historical (dynamic) state, in which the new generation breaks new paths, the landscape is adapted to the needs of the economy, and the ethnos strives to expand its area of settlement.     

关于“燕行录”界定及收录范围之我见

本文认为,"燕行录"当有"广义"与"狭义"之分,《燕行录全集》或将来整理新编之本,皆当以"狭义"燕行录为定,即"燕行录"为朝鲜使臣与随员或负有秘密使命的官员"出使中国的使行录",而不是一般意义上"往来中国的纪行录"。一部书是否属"燕行录",必须具备两个充分必要条件:就作者而言,必须是国王派遣的使臣或使团中的某个成员,个别是负有国王某种特殊使命的官员;就其所到之地而言,必须是到过中国,或者到过两国边境的中国境内。反过来说,不同时具备这两个条件,而只具备其中的某一个条件,都不能算做是"燕行录"。而《漂海录》、《皇华集》、《东槎录》、《傧接录》之类的诗文,以及其他与中国相关之著述,皆不当混入"燕行录"之中,至多也只能作为《燕行录》的《附录》,缀于卷末。     

Discovering the Language of Data: Personal Pattern Languages and the Social Construction of Meaning from Big Data

Abstract

This paper attempts to address two issues relevant to the sense-making of Big Data. First, it presents a case study for how a large dataset can be transformed into both a visual language and, in effect, a ‘text’ that can be read and interpreted by human beings. The case study comes from direct observation of graduate students at the IIT Institute of Design who investigated task-switching behaviours, as documented by productivity software on a single user’s laptop and a smart phone. Through a series of experiments with the resulting dataset, the team effects a transformation of that data into a catalogue of visual primitives — a kind of iconic alphabet — that allow others to ‘read’ the data as a corpus and, more provocatively, suggest the formation of a personal pattern language. Second, this paper offers a model for human-technical collaboration in the sense-making of data, as demonstrated by this and other teams in the class. Current sense-making models tend to be data- and technology-centric, and increasingly presume data visualization as a primary point of entry of humans into Big Data systems. This alternative model proposes that meaningful interpretation of data emerges from a more elaborate interplay between algorithms, data and human beings.     

从“风水”学说看贵德的地理环境

“风水”是中国的一种古老学说,其渊源可追溯至老子的《道德经》和被誉为儒家“群经之首”的《易经》。数千年以来,风水学融进了很多地理学、地质学、星象学、气象学、景观学、建筑学、生态学以及人体生命信息学等多种学科知识,它与中国传统文化讲究的“天人合一”的主张是相一致的。但它在自身的发展过程中难免也掺入了一些迷信的成分,所以我们必须以科学的态度,去其糟粕,留其精华,使它真正为人类和社会服务。近年来,国内外一些著名的专家、学者纷纷发表文章,揭示出“风水”学的科学内核:它是古人认识自然、利用自然,与自然和谐相处的智慧结晶,时至今日,仍然对我们合理开发利用自然资源有着极高的借鉴价值。本刊特发表青海省考古研究所古建筑研究专家张君奇先生的这篇文稿,介绍贵德县城的自然环境以及建筑文化,希望读者能从阅读中对古人“天人合一”思想在人居环境方面的体现有所了解。     

遗址价值与历史环境的景观场景化诠释

<正>在丝绸之路申遗的国家行动中,环艺院配合历史所,先后完成了汉长安未央宫遗址环境修复工程的设计工作和标示系统控制导则的制定。汉长安未央宫遗址是丝绸之路的起点,是汉长安城申遗乃至丝绸之路整体申遗工作中的重要环节之一。在考古遗址公园的环境修复及植物专项设计中,环境修复与植物品种、种植方式的选择如何回归遗址的历     

Formal analyses and functional accounts of groundstone “plummets” from Poverty Point, Louisiana

Groundstone plummets of magnetite or hematite are commonly found artifacts of the Late Archaic period in Louisiana. While often assumed to have functioned as weights for fishnets or as thrown objects used to catch waterfowl, relatively little empirical evidence has been generated to explain their form and features relative to hypothesized performance in prehistoric behavior. To address this deficiency, we provide a morphometric analysis of the variability in plummet shape as a means for studying the performance constraints inherent to their use. Based on our analyses, we find that plummet form is well explained as a component of weighted looms, supporting the early use weaving technology in the Late Archaic of Eastern North America.     

Postmaterial Values and Age: The Case of Australia

Inglehart's thesis of value change is one of the most widely discussed accounts of social and political change in advanced Western nations. This article offers a critique of Inglehart's thesis and a clarification of the Australian case. While critics of Inglehart have attacked the validity of his values measures, or sought to improve them, we use Inglehart's own values index to show that even if--as Inglehart claims--his measures are valid, the age/values predictions do not hold as the theory suggests in Australia. In a recent article, Inglehart and Abramson (1999, 673) cite Australia among a group of '28 high-income' countries that exhibit 'stronger relationships between values and age' than found in the United States. We dispute Inglehart and Abramson's findings in relation to Australia. We show that the relationship between age and values in Australia, like the United States, is very weak, highlight the problematic nature of assuming a linear relationship between age and values without evidence, and discover a new non-linear relationship between values and birth cohorts in Australia that has implications for the study of values research internationally.