ON STATISTICAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF CERAMIC ARTEFACTS USING GEOCHEMICAL AND PETROGRAPHIC DATA*

The scientific analysis of ceramics often has the aim of identifying groups of similar artefacts. Much published work focuses on analysis of data derived from geochemical or mineralogical techniques. The former is more likely to be subjected to quantitative statistical analysis. This paper examines some approaches to the statistical analysis of data arising from both kinds of techniques, including ‘mixed‐mode’ methods where both types of data are incorporated into analysis. The approaches are illustrated using data derived from 88 Late Bronze Age transport jars from Kommos, Crete. Results suggest that the mixed‐mode approach can provide additional insight into the data.     

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONAL DATA AND THE COMPARISON OF ANALYSES

Recent statistical work on approaches to analysing compositional data - where variables sum to a constant for each row of a data matrix - may encounter difficulties when applied to data of the kind typically arising in scientific archaeology. The reason is that results obtained may be unsatisfactory from a substantive viewpoint for identifiable technical reasons. This paper explores and illustrates some possible resolutions of the problem. A feature of the approach used is to analyse subsets of the variables on separate scales. A synthesis of the results obtained from separate analyses is essential and the use of multiple correspondence analysis for this purpose is illustrated.     

地理学期刊与地理学的传统——西方主要国家地理学期刊评价

SCI是世界公认的自然科学领域最为权威的研究成果检索和评价工具,另一方面,一门学科的学会刊物也是反映该领域最重要研究成果的平台。在许多自然学科领域,学会会刊都是SCI的必检刊物,但世界各国多数地理学会的会刊却都不在SCI索引之列。这就产生了一个疑问:如何来评价地理学的研究成果?本文认为,地理学刊物的评价应该遵循其学科特点,以会刊作为成果评价的核心更符合实际。本文介绍了英美德法日等主要国家的地理学会和会刊的情况,并借此呼吁,在当前以SCI期刊论文作为第一标准的中国学术行政体制下,应维护地理学自身的发展规律,保持地理学的传统,建立合理的地理学研究成果评价体系。     

STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF THE PRESENTLY ACCUMULATED LEAD ISOTOPE DATA FROM ANATOLIA AND SURROUNDING REGIONS

Several hundred new stable lead isotope ratio determinations of ore and slag specimens from ancient mining sites throughout Anatolia and of samples of artefacts of the Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Early Iron Age from museum collections in Turkey and the United States have been combined with the accumulated published isotope determinations of such specimens from throughout the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean regions to form a data base of nearly 1000 analyses. It is the purpose of this paper to evaluate the practical effectiveness of using this now extensive data base to discriminate between the many sources of metals throughout this region and to propose methods to enhance this discrimination. By using the full three-dimensional isotopic data in multivariate statistical treatments and by separating isotopically resolvable source groups within some of the source areas and isolating statistically outlying specimens from them, it has been possible to characterize some ore sources more precisely and compactly and thereby achieve better resolution between ore sources. It has also been possible to isolate isotopically compatible artefact groups which possibly relate to ore sources that, as yet, have not been well defined by isotopic analysis.     

《地理科学导论》及其学术基础

"‘地理科学导论’是一门使学生全面了解地理科学和初步掌握地理科学研究方法,力求培养学生的地理科学思维和地理科学能力的专业主干课程……具有其他课程无法替代的作用" (郑度, 《地理科学导论》序言,2009).课程的重要基础是教材特别是国家规划教材.自国家启动国家规划教材以来,在十一五期间出版了潘玉君教授等编著的"普通高等教育‘十一五’国家级规划教材"《地理科学导论》.同时,《地理科学导论》得到科技部创新方法工作(2007FY140800)资助,是国家自然科学基金课题"中国20世纪初叶以来地理思想研究(40761001)"主要成果.就其性质和内容而言, 《地理科学导论》不仅是国家规划教材,而且是地理学基础理论著作.     

BASE-ISOLATION DESIGN PRACTICE IN JAPAN: INTRODUCTION TO THE POST-KOBE APPROACH

Japan has twenty years of experience in designing and constructing base-isolated building structures. Construction has increased significantly since the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake, having reached over 150 annual construction projects. Many new developments and refinements have been made in the material, device, design, and construction of these structures. This paper summarises recent design and construction of base-isolated building structures in Japan, including statistical data with respect to the common usage as well as the number of new projects. It is notable that the size, height, and fundamental natural period of new base-isolated buildings increase steadily with time, indicating that base-isolation in Japan is reaching maturity. Base-isolators and dampers commonly adopted in Japan are also introduced, with emphasis on recent design efforts to enlarge the natural period of base-isolated structures and reduce the lateral forces induced in the superstructure. Basic design procedures are presented, including determination of design earthquake forces, modelling of base-isolation layers, modelling of the superstructure, selection of ground motions, time-history analyses, and performance criteria. A mandated peer-review system, unique for design of base-isolated structures, is also noted. Several characteristic issues in the design of base-isolated structures are discussed: Variation of base-isolation material properties, applications to high-rise buildings, effects of vertical ground motions, and response when subjected to near-fault ground motions.     

CONVRT: A COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR THE CONVERSION OF FREE-FIELD DATA TO FIXED-FIELD DATA FORMAT

Abstract

Historians of the U.S. Congress often draw claims from interpretations of legislators’ rhetoric and the outcomes of key votes. In this article, the author tells a cautionary tale: Such strategies ignore the correspondence between roll-call voting on select issues and broader coalitional structures in Congress. He does so by examining contrary positions about a key issue during the New Deal: On the one hand, some researchers claim that reasoned congressional deliberation on the issue of administrative oversight was separate from the prevailing legislative concerns of the day. Other scholars, on the other hand, assert that the prevailing issue dimensions in Congress included administrative oversight. Using a Bayesian measurement method, Ordinary Least Squares, and probit regression, and a novel selection of roll-call data, the author tested these claims, concluding that broader coalitional structures subsumed issues of administration.     

THE BAYESIAN APPROACH TO THE INTERPRETATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA

Archaeologists are increasingly becoming aware of an approach to data investigation known as Bayesian statistics. In this paper we outline both the philosophical and statistical background to the approach. We show that it provides a logical and coherent framework in which to make inferences on the basis of both data and a priori expert knowledge. We note that adoption of the Bayesian framework is particularly timely since there have been recent dramatic developments in numerical methods which mean that a number of previous implementation problems have now been solved. As a result, many questions of archaeological interest, which require the use of complex statistical models, are being investigated using this methodology. We use a variety of recently published examples from a range of archaeological areas to illustrate the type of questions that can be answered and the nature of the methodologies used, and we make comparisons with the results obtained using more traditional statistical techniques.     

INTRODUCTION TO GEOGRAPHICAL ECONOMIES OF CREATIVITY, ENTERPRISE AND THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

This special issue brings together creativity and enterprise through the geographies of the creative industries. In recent years the focus of academic debate has privileged business and corporate economies, and so this issue seeks to contribute both empirically and theoretically to the burgeoning literature of creative industries. Economic geography offers a rich domain through which to engage with these debates, exploring the nuances of creativity and enterprise. Our aim, as well as bringing together a set of interesting papers, is to contribute critically to understanding the organization and spatial structure of creative industries and the broader creative economy.     

《人文地理》1986-2004年刊载论文统计分析

《人文地理》是我国唯一专门研究人文地理学的学术期刊,本文对该刊1986~2004年19年共81期的论文、论文第一作者和引文进行了统计分析,从中揭示了载文量的时空分布特点,展示了该刊作者群的基本特点,确定了该刊活跃作者群的数量和比例,归纳出人文地理科学工作者利用文献的基本特点和规律.同时也回顾了我国人文地理学的发展历程,掌握我国人文地理研究队伍的变化及发展状况,力求对人文地理学的进一步发展与研究队伍建设有所启示,并对《人文地理》期刊的发展提供有益的参考.     

A STATISTICAL APPROACH TO THE CALIBRATION OF FLOATING TREE-RING CHRONOLOGIES USING RADIOCARBON DATES

The bristlecone pine tree-ring calibration of radiocarbon dates, while necessitating changes of up to 700 years in Holocene chronology before 1000 b.c. , offers possibilities of very accurate dating when ¹⁴C determinations from floating tree-ring chronologies are utilized. A statistical approach assuming linear regression is developed and used to position the floating tree-ring chronologies at Swiss neolithic sites, using radiocarbon dates published by Ferguson, Huber and Suess and by Suess. The statistical method gives objective estimated dates with estimates of error related, in a consistent and explicit manner, to the inherent inaccuracies of the radiocarbon dates. Most of the method may readily be tested by standard statistical procedures. For the particular cases considered the assumptions of linearity and parallelism are investigated, and the precision of the estimated dates is comparable with that claimed by Suess and his co-workers. A precise calibration is thus possible without utilizing the short-term fluctuations in the Suess calibration curve. The analysis, while avoiding some assumptions of Suess and his collaborators, offers an explicit procedure for establishing controlled teleconnections with the Ferguson dendrochronology, and supports their emphasis on the importance of radiocarbon dates from floating tree-ring sequences for the construction of precise prehistoric chronologies.     

AFTERWORDS: AN INTRODUCTION TO ARTHUR DANTO'S PHILOSOPHIES OF HISTORY AND ART*

This essay is written as an introductory essay to celebrate the third edition of Arthur Danto's Analytical Philosophy of History, first printed in 1965. It raises questions about what it means to write an introduction and whether it is possible to write an introduction‐given Danto's own philosophical theses on history, the essay pays special attention to the connections between Danto's philosophy of history, philosophy of art, and the other areas of his philosophy that he regards to be all of a piece. It considers the nature of analytical philosophy and its heyday in America in the postwar period, when, to some degree, it was used as an antidote to an ideology of history that had perverted some of the most influential claims in a philosophy of history developed in Germany (mostly by Hegel) around 1800.