EMERGENCE OF LEAPFROGGING FROM RESIDENTIAL CHOICE WITH ENDOGENOUS GREEN SPACE: ANALYTICAL RESULTS

Leapfrog development is a typical form of sprawl. This paper aims at analyzing the existence, size, and persistence of leapfrogging in a dynamic urban economic model with endogenous green amenities. We analyze whether incoming households choose to settle at the fringe of the city or to jump further away depending on their preferences and the structure of the city. We first provide an analytical treatment of the conditions and characteristics under which a first leapfrog occurs and show how the optimal choice is affected by the size of the city, income, commuting costs, as well as the size of the area where green amenities are considered. We then study how further leapfrogging and multiple urban rings may appear and be maintained in the long‐run equilibrium, and how infill processes take place through time.     

Gyptis: Sailing Replica of a 6th‐century‐BC Archaic Greek Sewn Boat

A sailing replica based on the archaeological remains and structural analysis of the 6th‐century archaic Greek sewn boat Jules‐Verne 9 was built in Marseille as part of the city's European Capital of Culture 2013 programme. Full‐scale reconstruction allowed investigation of specific aspects of the methods used to build a shell‐first, sewn‐plank, and lashed‐frame vessel, as well as learning the gestures and know‐how of the original shipbuilders. The first two seasons of sailing trials, including short journeys in the Bay of Marseille and longer, coast‐hopping expeditions, reflecting the uses of the original vessel have taken place and are reported here.     

Taxonomic characterisation of fresh Dipterocarpaceae resins by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS): providing clues for identification of unknown archaeological resins

Plant and particularly non-wood forest products have played an important role in the evolution of human cultures all over the world, as source of food but also of raw substances fulfilling material, spiritual, and medicinal requirements. Plant exudates and particularly dammar resins (Dipterocarpaceae family) were widely used in the past in Asia notably as waterproofing and caulking materials. This study focuses on the GC–MS chemical characterisation of freshly collected dammars and establishes new molecular parameters enabling discrimination between dammars and other types of plant resin, whatever their botanical origin. Such analyses provide clues for a precise identification (taxonomy, occurrence of other material in addition to the resin, alteration state) of unknown resinous material discovered in archaeological contexts. The value of our approach is illustrated by the taxonomic characterisation of two samples collected in jars from the Brunei wreck and a Chinese junk lost more than 40 km off the Sultanate of Brunei during the end of the fifteenth century or the early beginning of the sixteenth century.     

Aggregation of Sampling Units: An Analytical Solution to Predict Variance

Geographical variables generally show spatially structured patterns corresponding to intrinsic characteristics of the environment. The size of the sampling unit has a critical effect on our perception of phenomena and is closely related to the variance and correlation structure of the data. Geostatistical theory uses analytical relationships for change of support (change of sampling unit size), allowing prediction of the variance and autocorrelation structure that would be observed if a survey was conducted using different sampling unit sizes. To check the geostatistical predictions, we use a test case about tree density in the tropical rain forest of the Pasoh Reserve, Malaysia. This data set contains exhaustive information about individual tree locations, so it allows us to simulate and compare various sampling designs. The original data set was reorganized to compute tree densities for 5 times 5-, 10 times 10-, and 20 times 20-meter quadrat sizes. Based upon the 5 times 5-meter data set, the spatial structure is modeled using a nugget effect (white noise) plus an exponential model. The change of support relationships, using within-quadrat variances inferred from the variogram model, predict the spatial autocorrelation structure and new variances corresponding to 10 times 10-meter and 20 times 20-meter quadrats. The theoretical and empirical results agreed closely, whereas neglecting the autocorrelation structure would have led to largely underestimating the variance. As the quadrat size increases, the range of autocorrelation increases, while the variance and the proportion of noise in the data decrease.     

Le Grand Abri aux Puces,a Mousterian site from the Last Interglacial: paleogeography,paleoenvironment, and new excavation results

Le Grand Abri aux Puces (GAP), located on the right bank of the Ouvèze River of southern France, has been known to contain well-preserved stone tools and faunal remains, but our work in 2008 was the first professional, controlled excavation at the site and has exposed at least 1 archaeological layer with a very rich and diverse faunal assemblage (23 macrofaunal species, as many for the microfauna, 27 land snail species), abundant charcoals (fragments are large and preserve small twigs with their pith and bark still intact), and stone tools with immaculate surface preservation (retaining their original freshness and preserving microscopic use wear). The information issuing from paleontology, micropaleontology, malacology, and anthracology all place the principle GAP human occupation unambiguously in a temperate climatic phase. Different biometric and biochronological characters of the fauna converge to place the layers found thus far from before the last glacial, and most likely in MIS 5e (127–117 kya). The lithic elements, mainly composed of tools of superior quality, demonstrating particular technical investment, and made from widely distributed raw material sources, lead us to hypothesize brief passages of hunting groups in the cave focused around an anticipated activity. This hypothesis will be refined and tested during further excavations.     

The Role of Engineer-in-Chief and the Introduction of Foreign Hydraulic Dredging Technology and River Conservancy into China, 1890s–1930s

This paper discusses studies of the development of river conservancy in modern China, and the role of engineers-in-chief in river improvement planning on rivers such as the Hai-ho (Haihe) and the Whangpoo (Huangpu). It discusses the introduction of foreign hydraulic dredging technology and management into two major Chinese ports. It then analyses the process by which two agencies of the Chinese government absorbed and adjusted this technology to suit local circumstances in the treaty ports of Tianjin and Shanghai beginning in the 1890s. Without prior experience in river conservancy, the conservancy boards adopted a range of foreign technologies. This allowed them to develop into major institutions that facilitated increasing trade flows between China and the rest of the world. Of particular significance in this process of technological change was the role of the expatriate engineers-in-chief who were employed as chief executive officers of both agencies. They were responsible for establishing the operations of the agencies, accommodating an increasing range of responsibilities such as financial and human resource management, and training Chinese engineers and managers for senior positions until they were ready to replace the expatriate engineers-in-chief after the 1930s.