External Ties and the Reduction of Knowledge Asymmetries among Clusters within Global Value Chains: The Case of the Ceramic Tile District of Castellon

Classical industrial districts' literature is not focused on the role played by external ties but gives more importance to the local districts' endogenous development. Global value chains connect clusters to other external agents through external linkages and constitute a framework to analyse the complex inter-linkages between clusters and other external agents. In the field of the external ties and the global value chain approach Academia is primarily focused on the ties which link clusters in developing nations to global markets, although global value chains also consider connections between clusters in similar activities and even when both are located in developed nations. Thus, external linkages are mainly performed by multinational enterprise (MNE) affiliates which play fundamental role of knowledge diffusers and absorbers in the process of knowledge exchange throughout global value chains. The work examines the process of knowledge exchange between clusters through external ties using the global value chain approach. For this purpose, empirical work is conducted with 22 face-to-face interviews to provide a case study about a leading cluster in the global ceramic tile industry. Results show that the basic knowledge to successfully compete is locally originated, although it can be complemented with global knowledge learnt or generated in other territories. MNE affiliates bridge structural holes through external ties and reduce knowledge asymmetries within global value chains. External ties on network-based governance chains exist, matter and affect clusters allowing upgrading even between developed nations.     

Anthropology in the financial crisis

This editorial considers the opportunities opened up for anthropologists by the financial crisis of 2008. The chief of these is the exposure of cracks in the intellectual hegemony of free-market economics which contributed to an unnecessarily defensive posture on the part of most anthropologists during the period of neoliberal globalization. The authors claim that anthropology can bridge the gap between everyday life and the world at large by combining the study of ideas and social actions. We draw on Ortiz's research among financial professionals to show how working practices informed by economic liberalism can have extremely unequal consequences for the global distribution of resources. The perspectives of Mauss and Polanyi on political economy can help us to make sense of the current situation and to recommend a path forward beyond market fundamentalism. Their general ideas lend power to the concrete findings of field research. The mask of neoliberal ideology has been ripped from the politics of world economy. Anthropology's highest mission is to start from where people are and go with them wherever they take you. What better time to follow this imperative than when the model the world has been compelled to live by for three decades is in such disarray?     

高句丽将军坟的陪葬墓

将军坟是集安高句丽古墓中保存最好的一座大型方坛阶梯石室墓。多数学者认为它是高句丽第20代王长寿王的陵墓。将军坟后面原有一排陪葬墓,中外学者对其数量存在着分歧。1997年清理发掘后,有人认为第二座陪葬墓北侧的长方形石砌台基可能是祭台。通过古代墓祭的相关记载与考古迹象分析,应当是串形的陪葬墓。     

Bear dentine aspartic acid racemization analysis: a proxy for the dating of Pleistocene cave infills

A high correlation between chronometric determinations based on aspartic acid racemization ratios and radioactive dating methods is described from samples of cave bear (Ursus deningeri and Ursus spelaeus) dentine. For samples from a very restrictive environment, as deep cave bear sites are (in view of their highly stable geochemical and thermal history), an age calculation algorithm was obtained. It has been found that there is a very close relationship between collagen preservation, from total aspartic acid in the > 3500 D fraction, and the amino acid racemization.     

Vulnerability Index: A New Approach for Preventive Conservation of Monuments

A new approach is developed for vulnerability analysis of monuments based on a matrix model and the relationships with static and structural factors, climatic conditions, air quality, urban planning and social agents for preventive conservation of cultural heritage in urban centers.

The objective is to provide tools for decision-makers in the current recession to allow them to prioritize strategies for cultural heritage preservation in a town, where territorial policies are applied and regions where restoration budget is distributed. This new tool allows to classify monuments in order to prioritize restoration and is useful in deeper analysis associated to risks assessment.

The degradation of building materials and structures is mainly due to deterioration caused by structural instability, weathering, pollution, and anthropogenic damage. The vulnerability approach of each monument (vulnerability indexes) was calculated, based on a Leopold matrix that depends on intrinsic variables and the life of the monuments. For the very first time, the influence of different deterioration agents has been balanced with a Delphi forecast based on architects’ opinions.

The result is a new pre-Artificial Intelligence tool that enables users to reproduce human reasoning to study relations between vulnerability factors, risk factors, and the historical parameters of the monuments.     

Exploring the potential linkages between oil‐field brine reinjection,crystalline basement permeability,and triggered seismicity for the Dagger Draw Oil field,southeastern New Mexico,USA, using hydrologic modeling

We used hydrologic models to explore the potential linkages between oil‐field brine reinjection and increases in earthquake frequency (up to M_d 3.26) in southeastern New Mexico and to assess different injection management scenarios aimed at reducing the risk of triggered seismicity. Our analysis focuses on saline water reinjection into the basal Ellenburger Group beneath the Dagger Draw Oil field, Permian Basin. Increased seismic frequency (>M_d 2) began in 2001, 5 years after peak injection, at an average depth of 11 km within the basement 15 km to the west of the reinjection wells. We considered several scenarios including assigning an effective or bulk permeability value to the crystalline basement, including a conductive fault zone surrounded by tighter crystalline basement rocks, and allowing permeability to decay with depth. We initially adopted a 7 m (0.07 MPa) head increase as the threshold for triggered seismicity. Only two scenarios produced excess heads of 7m five years after peak injection. In the first, a hydraulic diffusivity of 0.1 m² s^?1 was assigned to the crystalline basement. In the second, a hydraulic diffusivity of 0.3 m² s^?1 was assigned to a conductive fault zone. If we had considered a wider range of threshold excess heads to be between 1 and 60 m, then the range of acceptable hydraulic diffusivities would have increased (between 0.1–0.01 m² s^?1 and 1–0.1 m² s^?1 for the bulk and fault zone scenarios, respectively). A permeability–depth decay model would have also satisfied the 5‐year time lag criterion. We also tested several injection management scenarios including redistributing injection volumes between various wells and lowering the total volume of injected fluids. Scenarios that reduced computed excess heads by over 50% within the crystalline basement resulted from reducing the total volume of reinjected fluids by a factor of 2 or more.     

荥阳官庄遗址制陶作坊出土陶泥陶坯的科学分析

河南省荥阳官庄遗址发现了用于制陶的粘土原料以及未烧制的陶坯,这为研究西周中期以后中原制陶技术提供了不可多得的研究资料。为此,本研究利用能量色散X射线荧光光谱仪、X射线衍射分析仪分析了部分原料和陶坯,并使用马弗炉对其中的陶泥进行了烧制实验。结果发现,官庄遗址的制陶原料含铁量较高,烧制过程中析出磁铁矿等铁类矿物,且烧成陶色偏深;此外,制陶原料和同期陶片之间物相的趋同性和化学成分的聚类性,显示陶器本地生产的特性。研究结果为研究西周晚期至春秋早期时期制陶技术提供了基础材料。     

国内外旅游绅士化研究综述与展望

随着旅游发展与城市化进程的不断加快,旅游驱动下的绅士化现象日益显现,并受到国内外学者的关注。旅游绅士化现象不仅发生在城市区域,近年来旅游发展也推动了乡村地区的绅士化。旅游绅士化改变了特定区域社会结构、居民素养以及人居环境等,也改变了旅游发展格局,进而影响区域社会经济发展。从研究内容来看,国外相关研究主要聚焦在旅游绅士化的原因、过程和影响等领域,而国内研究主要集中在旅游绅士化的概念、类型、阶段、原因等方面。国内外已有研究较多关注旅游绅士化现象,研究方法较为单一,在旅游绅士化形成机理、旅游影响等方面缺乏深入系统的综合研究。通过丰富研究内容、完善研究方法、拓宽研究视角、夯实理论基础来构建研究体系是未来深化旅游绅士化研究的重要目标。     

洛阳新发现西汉画像砖

1996年洛阳市第二文物工作队征集一批汉画像砖.画像依题材分为10种,有车骑出行、山林狩猎、凤鸟与人物、兽斗、驯虎、龙、蟾蜍、玉兔、西王母等.画像砖时代为西汉晚期.这批汉画像砖的发现,为研究洛阳地区的汉画像砖艺术提供了新资料.