Some spatial analyses of Chalcolithic settlement in Southern Israel

This paper is a brief investigation of one of the outstanding problems in Chalcolithic archaeology in the Negev desert of Israel: that of the spatial distribution of sites and the possible relationships between these sites that may be inferred. Although the region is rich in archaeological data for the Chalcolithic period, very little work has thus far been undertaken in terms of the quantification of the archaeological data – a necessary prerequisite for complex spatial analysis. Nevertheless, simple analysis of settlement patterns using the data presently available for 403 Chalcolithic sites in the Negev is given as an example. Autocorrelation tests measuring clustering and dispersion of sites show that the overall impression of clustering is a factor of access to farming land, water, grazing and Mediterranean maquis, but that smaller scale analysis suggests that settlement patterns were essentially random. This makes it difficult to argue in favour of settlement hierarchies or structured settlement of any kind.     

1953年东德事件与美国对苏东"演变"战略的起源

研究冷战高潮时期苏东地区的重大政治事件与美国针对苏东内部事态的政策演进历程,有助于更准确地认识“演变”战略的起源与性质。本所利用的档案材料表明,1953年的东德事件对美国决策层初步反省原先过于露骨的旨在激发或助长苏东内部社会紧张乃至“造反”行动的“激变”战略,开始酝酿“演变”战略产生了重要影响。“演变”战略的特征在美国对东德事件的反应中已初露端倪。这一政策转变的原因,除了原有政策在实践中的弊端和斯大林之后苏东形势的变化,也与美国决策的战略指导思想有关。     

Big Game and Small Prey: Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic Economy from Valencia (Spain)

This study analyzes the faunal assemblages corresponding to the Middle and Upper Paleolithic and the Early Epipaleolithic for the central Spanish Mediterranean Region dated from between 135,000 and 9,000 B.P. To interpret these data, we employ a zooarchaeological and paleoeconomic perspective. Human large and small game hunting systems are analyzed through the identification of the origins of faunal assemblages, bone breackage patterns, and prey selection patterns. Our study shows that hunting systems changed significantly through time, which may be related to the characteristics of the Mediterranean ecosystem and, above all, to cultural changes.     

New,early ostracods from the Ordovician (Tremadocian) of Iran: systematic,biogeographical and palaeoecological significance

New Tremadocian ostracod material from the Alborz Mountains of Iran confirms the early and widespread occurrence of the Ordovician genus Nanopsis, and the apparently simultaneous first appearance of ostracods in the fossil record at the level of the P. deltifer conodont biozone (485.5 Ma) from China to Argentina. Nanopsis pairidaeza sp. nov. adds to the pool of species diversity for the Early Ordovician, though documented Tremadocian ostracod generic diversity remains low, with only four genera. The presence of Early Ordovician ostracods in Alborz, their occurrence elsewhere in palaeocontinental Gondwana, Baltica and China coupled to their marked absence from the Tremadocian of Laurentia and Siberia, supports the notion of the earliest occurrence of ostracods centred on Gondwana/Baltica.     

‘Islands within Islands?’ The Maldivian resort,between segregation and integration

Abstract

The Maldives resort islands are a type of tourist enclave subject to a dual form of borderization. The islands have an external border that coincides with each island’s coastline and with the limits of the private property of the resort; this border regulates the movement of tourists and locals. The islands also have an internal border that separates the outer edge of the island from the inner edge. The outer edge, which is supposed to represent the perfect landscape of the ‘tropical island,’ houses all of the tourist facilities, while the interior contains the structures dedicated to the metabolic activities of the resort. The frontline staff members and the tourists share the ‘dreamscape’ of the outer edge, whereas the maintenance workers live in the secluded space inside the island, where they are typically hidden from the sight of tourists by high walls, and their movement is usually restricted from staff designated areas to their location of work. For maintenance workers, these spaces, necessarily limited due to the small size of the coral islands, risk becoming ‘islands within islands.’ Recently, the Maldivian government has begun to promote projects and initiatives in support of territorial integration between the resorts and communities of neighboring islands. Thus, the outer limits of the resort islands are, today, more porous. Their internal borders, in contrast, remain very difficult to cross.     

THE IMPACT OF CRIME ON APARTMENT PRICES: EVIDENCE FROM STOCKHOLM,SWEDEN

This study uses data of about 9,000 apartment sales in Stockholm, Sweden, to assess the impact of crime on property prices. The study employs hedonic pricing modelling to estimate the impact of crime controlling for other factors (property and neighbourhood characteristics). Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to combine apartment sales by coordinates with offences, land use characteristics and demographic data of the population. The novelty of this research is threefold. First, it explores a set of land use attributes created by spatial techniques in GIS in combination with detailed geographical data in hedonic pricing modelling. Second, the effect of crime in neighbouring zones at one place can be measured by incorporating spatial lagged variables of offence rates into the model. Third, the study provides evidence of the impact of crime on housing prices in a capital city of a traditional welfare state, information otherwise lacking in the international literature. Our results indicate that apartment prices in a specific area are strongly affected by crime in its neighbouring zones, regardless of crime type. When offences were broken down by types, residential burglary, theft, vandalism, assault and robbery individually had a significant negative effect on property values. However, for residential burglary such an effect is not homogenous across space, and apartment prices in central areas are often less discounted by being exposed to crime than those in the city's outskirts.     

Significance of new species of Cryptorhynchia (Brachiopoda) from the Middle Jurassic of Kutch,India

Cryptorhynchia is a brachiopod genus, until recently known only from the late Bathonian. Two new species C. karuna and C. jhooraensis are here described from the middle Bathonian at Kutch, western India and record the earliest known occurrences of the genus. They constitute ancestor-descendant lineages with the two existing younger species C. pulcherrima and C. rugosa respectively. Evolution in both cases shows ‘parallel’ trends and the descendants are scaled-down versions of their respective progenitors. Statistical analyses reveal that this evolutionary miniaturization involves allometry-induced heterochrony, especially progenesis, and is marked by a rapid speciation event compatible with the punctuational model. Evolution appears to be anagenetic and may be attributed to the unstable nature of environment where onshore innovation produced smaller descendants that adopted r-strategy. Facies distribution and functional morphology suggest that species of Cryptorhynchia were well adapted to shallow, unstable carbonate shelf. However, they disappeared suddenly at the Bathonian - Callovian boundary which was marked by a global transgression. The possible causal factors of their extinction may be the consequent changes in bathymetry and substrate condition.     

REGIONAL TRAJECTORIES OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN CANADIAN MANUFACTURING

Techniques of production were measured for 18 manufacturing industries across 6 regions of Canada between 1961 and 1988. In any given year, production technology, measured by a pair of capital and labour input coefficients, varies markedly over space. The relative positions of regions in a two-dimensional technology-space appears consistent across industries. With industry-mix effects removed, multivariate analysis of variance confirms that regional differences in production techniques are significant. Further investigation reveals that spatial variations in techniques of production persist over time. These findings support the claims of evolutionary theorists, demonstrating that in Canadian manufacturing industries regions tend to move along distinct trajectories of technological change.
On a mesuré les techniques de production dans 18 industries manufacturières de 6 régions du Canada au cours de la période 1961-88. La technologie de production, mesurée par deux coefficients des entrées du capital et du travail, diffère considérablement d'une région à l'autre à une année donnée. Les positions relatives des régions par rapport aux deux dimensions espace-technologie se maintiennent dans toutes les industries. Si on écarte les effets de la composition industrielle, l'analyse de variance à plusieurs variables démontre qu'il existe d'importantes différences régionales en techniques de production. L'analyse complémentaire révèle que les variations spatiales des techniques de production persistent à travers le temps. Ces résultats confirment la position des théoriciens évolutionnistes à l'effet que dans les industries manufacturières canadiennes, les régions ont tendance à suivre des trajectoires distinctes de changements technologiques.     

Villagizing the city: turning rural ethnic heritage into urban modernity in southwest China

This paper examines the rural ethnic heritage-inspired transformation of the built environment of a relatively small county town in China. The paper explores the ways village-based ethnic heritage is being repositioned by local leaders as a resource for tourism-oriented revenue generation and for ‘improving’ the ‘quality’ and behaviour of town residents. Viewing heritage as a ‘technology of government,’ the paper provides an analysis based on three interrelated themes: the discourses by which town leaders and planners have conceived the heritage development project as one of improvement, the spatial practices by which those discourses have been realised in the built environment, and the ways residents themselves have appropriated and ‘inhabited’ this new ‘villagized’ city as they go about their everyday urban lives. Based on ethnographic field work, a survey, and extended interviews over a period of four years, the paper finds the town leadership’s faith in the ability of the built environment to shape and improve the conduct of citizens to be overstated. While the town’s transformation has generated a new sense of urban modernity among residents, their ways of inhabiting and using urban space have little relevance to the ‘heritagized’ environment in which they now live.     

Health centre visits among the elderly with chronic ailments: Evidence from the Kanchanaburi Demographic Surveillance System, 2004, Thailand

This study deployed statistical and spatial (GIS) analyses to test the effects of geographic, demographic and occupational factors in predicting health centre visits among the elderly (≥60 years) with chronic ailments in Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand. Datasets from the Kanchanaburi Demographic Surveillance System (2004 baseline survey and a 2006 project follow-up) comprised five land-use landscape and occupational strata: urban/semi-urban (industrial), rice field, plantation crop, upland and mixed economy. Travel distance to the nearest health centre was calculated following transportation routes and the GPS coordinates of individual home locations, and the number of healthcare visits under the national free universal coverage (UC) scheme reported for the previous year was used as a dependent variable in regressions. Broadly, the study found that distance was not a significant predictor of the rate of elderly health centres visits for those with co-residing spouses and/or adult children (77% of sample), and for the elderly still working (48% of the sample) who were the least likely to access healthcare. Owning motorised vehicles did not encourage visits, which also varied by land-use and occupational strata.