Local indicators for categorical data: impacts of scaling decisions

When the geographic distribution of landscape pattern varies, global indices fail to capture the spatial nonstationarity within the dataset. Methods that measure landscape pattern at a spatially local scale are advantageous, as an index is computed at each point in the dataset. The geographic distribution of local indices is used to discover spatial trends. Local indicators for categorical data (LICD) can be used to statistically quantify local spatial patterns in binary geographic datasets. LICD, like other spatially local methods, are impacted by decisions relating to the spatial scale of the data, such as the data grain (p), and analysis parameters such as the size of the local neighbourhood (m). The goal of this article is to demonstrate how the choice of the m and p parameters impacts LICD analysis. We also briefly discuss the impacts spatial extent can have on analysis; specifically the local composition measure. An example using 2006 forest cover data for a region in British Columbia, Canada where mountain pine beetle mitigation and salvage harvesting has occurred is used to show the impacts of changing m and p. Selection of local window size (m = 3,5,7) impacts the prevalence and interpretation of significant results. Increasing data grain (p) had varying effects on significant LICD results. When implementing LICD the choice of m and p impacts results. Exploring multiple combinations of m and p will provide insight into selection of ideal parameters for analysis.     

权力集中化、生产片断化与全球价值链下本土产业的升级

全球领先企业的权力集中化和生产的片断化导致价值分配的非均衡,并进一步加剧了全球生产网络中权力结构的不对称。本文提出全球价值链上的权力是一种建立在战略资源基础上的不对称的话语权,并归纳了八种基本的市场权力形式。通过对全球十大工业制成品及服务业的市场份额分析,发现技术能力和品牌能力是全球领先企业市场权力集中的主要根源,也是决定全球价值链上价值分配的决定性因素。嵌入全球价值链有利于发展中国家的本土企业迅速提高生产能力、接近全球市场和技术通道,但是从生产能力到创新能力的升级过程并非自动发生;全球价值链生产片断化带来创新过程的垂直分离和重新整合,发展中国家产业升级的关键在于本土企业的吸收能力和学习速度。     

2001-2008年无锡市土地利用景观格局变化分析

无锡市作为位于长江三角洲地区的核心地域,2000年实施新城市化战略以来城市化水平大幅上升,但对这一时期无锡市土地利用景观变化的研究相对较少。本文从景观生态学的角度研究无锡市2001-2008年间的土地利用景观变化,发现无锡市的土地利用变化速率较快,且递减最快的为耕地,而递增最快的为建设用地及园地;无锡市2000年之前景观格局基本构型以大斑块为主,景观格局较为单一,但2001-2008年该地区剧烈的人类活动使得这些大斑块发生破碎化,导致不同景观类型的斑块数量不断增加,各类用地所占比例的差异逐步减少。总体上看,无锡市的景观多样性在增加,景观优势度在减少。     

Political and institutional constraints on structural reforms: interpreting the Italian experience

During 2011 Italy reached the verge of a financial default because of its huge public debt. Neither the centre-right nor the centre-left governments that alternated in power in the 2000s were able to introduce the reforms necessary for reducing the debt and promoting growth. The impotence of the government became incompatible with the requirements of the country's continued presence in the eurozone. In November 2011, under the pressure of financial markets and eurozone institutions and leaders, the incumbent centre-right government was obliged to resign, and was substituted by a government composed of technocrats and experts, the Monti government. This lasted until December 2012 and was supported in parliament by a cross-partisan coalition; it was able to introduce some of the structural reforms required, because of the threat of default but also because it did not need to seek the electoral support of powerful constituencies. This article advances an interpretation of the Italian crisis of November 2011, identifying the political and institutional structures and the specific political conditions that fostered a policy stalemate in the country in the 2000s and whose persistence makes the continuation of reforms after the February 2013 elections uncertain.     

LET MANY FLOWERS BLOOM

In this rich and sensible assessment of historians' practice and prospects, Allan Megill focuses on the obligation that historians have to support their accounts with evidence. He does this, first, by illustrating the difference between real and merely claimed evidence and, then, by giving an analysis of the underlying nature of evidence in historical accounts. Turning later to the question of how historians and their public should feel about diminishing unity (fragmentation) in historiography and the practices that generate it, Megill explains the sources of fragmentation and then argues that it doesn't matter whether historians are doing the same thing and/or doing it in the same way. What matters, rather, is whether they are doing interesting things and doing them well.     

Why are cut mark frequencies in archaeofaunal assemblages so variable? A multivariate analysis

Cut mark frequencies in archaeological faunal assemblages are so variable that their use has recently created some skepticism. The present study analyses this variability using multivariate statistics on a set of 14 variables that involve differential skeletal element representation, fragmentation processes, carnivore ravaging impact, carcass size and tool type. All these variables affect the resulting cut mark frequencies reported in archaeological sites. A large sample of archaeofaunal assemblages has been used for this study. It was concluded that the best estimator of cut mark frequency in any given assemblage is the percentage of cut-marked long bone specimens (probably due to its better preservation than other anatomical areas), which is determined by fragmentation and carnivore ravaging. Carcass size and tool type also play a major role in differences in cut mark frequencies. Fragmentation is also a key variable determining the abundance of cut-marked specimens. It is argued that general cut mark percentages are of limited value, given the number of variables that determine them, and that a more heuristic approach involves quantifying cut marks in a qualitative manner.     

The regional division of Greece and the functional economic areas estimated from the 2011 commuting patterns

Written as the statistical institutes of the EU member-states discuss the development of a common technique for delineating functional economic areas (FEAs) after people's commuting patterns, the paper expresses concern over the imposition of qualifications that distort the economic reality on the ground, and over the use of asymmetric thresholds as they are bound to produce formations with different labor-market-related diffusion levels compared to the rest. To illustrate with in example, it algorithmically groups localities and delineates Greece's FEAs, entirely on the basis of people's travel-to-work flows at four different in- and out-commuting thresholds; and finds that unless neat shapes, equivalent sizes or other features are imposed by some assumption, they are not borne out by the situation on the ground. It also estimates the country's spatial fragmentation on the basis of the recovered formations; and compares the shapes of these formations to the regional/subregional division of Greece. To the extent the two grids diverge, there is room for better targeted policy interventions. On the whole, the paper advances our understanding regarding the diffusion of labour marker phenomena and interventions across the terrain in a crisis-hit country of the EU South, thus contributing to the analysis and formulation of relevant policies.     

A bone grease processing station at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village: Archaeological evidence for the exploitation of bone fats

Recent excavations at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village, an Initial Middle Missouri site in Mitchell, South Dakota have revealed a large, clay-lined feature filled with fractured and fragmented bison bones. Fracture and fragmentation analysis, along with taphonomic evidence, suggests that the bones preserved within the feature represent evidence of prehistoric bone marrow and bone grease exploitation. Further, the character of the feature suggests that it served as a bone grease processing station. Bone fat exploitation is an activity that is frequently cited as a causal explanation for the nature of many fractured and fragmented bone assemblages in prehistory, and zooarchaeological assemblages have frequently been studied as evidence of bone fat exploitation. The Mitchell example provides some of the first direct, in-situ archaeological evidence of a bone grease processing feature, and this interpretation is sustained by substantial analytical evidence suggesting bone fat exploitation. This new evidence provides a clearer concept of the nature of bone fat exploitation in prehistory as well as an indication of the scale and degree to which bone grease exploitation occurred at the Mitchell site. Finally, this research demonstrates the importance of careful zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis for the interpretation of both artifactual remains as well as archaeological features.     

灵宝西坡遗址的肉食消费模式——骨骼部位发现率、表面痕迹及破碎度

本文对河南灵宝西坡遗址出土动物的骨骼部位发现率、表面痕迹、破碎度及空间分布进行了详细分析,旨在通过建构遗址的肉食消费模式,认识仰韶文化中期中心聚落的经济社会状况。结果表明,绝大多数的猪和鹿很可能是在居住址被屠宰和消费的,后埋藏过程对骨骼表面的影响很小,人们对骨髓和脂肪的需求是造成骨骼破碎的主要原因。西坡没有把猪用作祭祀动物,而是作为宴饮活动中的消费对象。宴饮可能用来创造和强化社会群体的认同感,并为某些个人或群体获取威望提供竞争机会。