PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY UNCERTAINTY AND THE OPTIMAL LOCATION OF THE FIRM*

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the implication of production-technology uncertainty for the exclusion theorem. The paper presents the result that the risk-averse firm facing production technology uncertainty prefers an intermediate location to avoid risk under certain conditions. The firm chooses an intermediate location (over a corner location) particularly if its degree of risk aversion overwhelms the inherent convexity of profit with respect to location. The latter depends, in turn, on the structure of production technology characterized by the elasticity of substitution and returns to scale parameters.     

南宁市房地产价格分布规律的机助制图研究与开发方向的探讨

南宁市房地产业经历了由沉寂、复苏、火爆到稳步发展的过程．各公司开发的房屋类型相近,但价格差异却很大,价格分布呈现明显的规律性：一是城市中心价格高,边缘与郊区价格低;二是东部城区价格高,西部城区价格低．主导价格分布规律的三大影响因子是地理位置、交通便捷程度和生态环境质量．南宁今后的房地产开发和城市规划建设一要顺应价格分布规律,优地优用、保障房地产开发的高效益;二要加强交通设施建设和环境保护．促进全市房地产的升值;三要因势利导,发展城市副中心,逐步形成多中心的城市建设格局。     

A High-Performance Quadrilateral Flat Shell Element for Seismic Collapse Simulation of Tall Buildings and Its Implementation in OpenSees

Shear walls are important lateral force-resistant components of tall buildings. Hence, a reliable numerical model that can accurately represent the mechanical characteristics and large deformations of shear walls is critical for realistic collapse simulation of tall buildings. Based on the theory of generalized conforming element, a high-performance quadrilateral flat shell element, NLDKGQ, accounting for the large deformation using the updated Lagrangian formulation, is proposed herein and implemented in OpenSees. The reliability of NLDKGQ is validated using classical benchmark problems and reinforced concrete specimens. In addition, its capability in simulating the collapse of a tall building is also demonstrated.     

A new antiarch placoderm from the Emsian (Early Devonian) of Wuding,Yunnan, China

Pan, Z., Zhu, M., Zhu, Y. &; Jia, L., August 2017. A new antiarch placoderm from the Emsian (Early Devonian) of Wuding, Yunnan, China. Alcheringa 42, 10–21. ISSN 0311-5518.

Wufengshania magniforaminis, a new genus and species of the Euantiarcha (Placodermi: Antiarcha), is described from the late Emsian (Early Devonian) of Wuding, Yunnan, southwestern China. The referred specimens were three-dimensionally preserved in black shales, allowing a high-resolution computed tomography reconstruction of anatomical details. The new euantiarch is characterized by a large orbital fenestra, an arched exoskeletal band around the orbital fenestra and a developed obtected nuchal area of the skull roof. Maximum parsimony analysis, using a revised data-set of antiarchs with 44 taxa and 66 characters, resolves Wufengshania gen. nov. as a member of the Bothriolepididae, which is characterized by the presence of the infraorbital sensory canal diverging on the lateral plate, and the nuchal plate with orbital facets. New analysis supports a sister group relationship between Dianolepis and the Bothriolepididae. Luquanolepis, a coeval euantiarch from the neighboring site of the new form, is referred to the Asterolepidoidei and represents the basalmost and earliest member of the Asterolepidoidei.

Zhaohui Pan* [panzhaohui@ivpp.ac.cn], Min Zhu* [zhumin@ivpp.ac.cn], You’an Zhu^? [zhuyouan@ivpp.ac.cn] and Liantao Jia [jialiantao@ivpp.ac.cn] Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 643, Beijing 100044, PR China. *Also affiliated with University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, PR China. ^?Also affiliated with Uppsala University, PO Box 256, 751 05 Uppsala, Sweden.     

A Path to “Emergent Peace” in Northeast Asia: The Shadow of the Past Matters

This article explores the possibility of institutional multilateralism in Northeast Asia from the perspective of “emergent peace”. The main argument of the article is that a self-organising peace process arising from institutional multilateralism is constrained and enabled by the existing “morphogenetic fields”, the formative social spheres of collective action. Similar ideas or initiatives that are pursued by an agent/agents may result in different consequences depending on the characteristics of the morphogenetic fields. This argument is examined through two case studies. The first is Jean Monnet in Europe, who played a pivotal role in the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the other is Ahn Jung-geun in Northeast Asia, who proposed the detailed ideas of pan-Asianism akin to Monnet but failed to play a role as an agent. The case studies demonstrate that the feature of the morphogenetic fields is determined by the characteristics of embedded agency at a critical juncture, while the agency is bounded by the particular spatial and temporal conditions of the morphogenetic fields. In search of an emergent peace process in Northeast Asia, this article particularly highlights the Six-Party Talks, arguing that they are a by-product of, and an alternative to, the San Francisco System.     

Ming dynasty maritime provisions transport during the second stage of the East Asian War (1597–98)

Abstract

This article discusses the issue of the Ming army's maritime shipping of supplies during the second stage of the East Asian War of 1597–8. Despite the lack of historical sources and difficulty in finding accurate numbers, Zhang Yangmeng's 張養蒙 memorials include records of maritime transport decisions, implementation, effectiveness, and limitations and are of great help to filling in the blank areas of research in Ming army logistics.     

Traditions and transitions in Korean bronze technology

Metallurgical examination of Korean bronze artifacts shows that a technical tradition based on casting and use of leaded high-tin alloys was established in Korea at the early stages of bronze use. After the subsequent discovery of quenching methods that suppress formation of the brittle δ phase, new thermo-mechanical techniques were introduced between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. Lead-free alloys were used, and tin contents near that of the peritectic point in the Cu–Sn phase diagram were chosen. Leaded high tin alloys continued in use, but only in cast objects, and with significant composition variation. The unique conditions during the time of innovation suggest that the transition to new metallurgical techniques was gradually achieved through domestic technical innovation inspired by external influences.     

Transitions in cast iron technology of the nomads in Mongolia

Metallurgical study of seven cast iron artifacts recovered from sites of the former Xiongnu (BC 3rd to AD 1st), Turk (AD 6th to 8th), Khitan (AD 10th to 12th), and Mongolian empires (AD 12th to 15th) shows that the earlier Xiongnu and Turk artifacts were made of cast iron alloys of near eutectic composition. The later Khitan and Mongol objects had greatly reduced carbon content in the range of ultrahigh carbon steel rather than cast iron, and contained more than 0.5 mass % silicon as an alloying element. Inclusions high in sulfur, phosphorus or silicon are also present. These differences suggest that Mongolia experienced a technical transition a few centuries before the establishment of the Mongolian empire, which is in agreement with some written accounts. The microstructures of the cast iron artifacts are compared with the related archaeological and documentary evidence. The results suggest that the use of fossil coal in smelting and the state policy of controlling iron production were the major factors responsible for the transition.     

述海日楼藏旧抄本《贾氏谈录》

宋太祖开宝三年(970),南唐清辉殿学士张洎奉命使宋,纪录宋典客、左补阙贾黄中谈话,撰成<贾氏谈录>一书.此书虽记唐代琐事,又仅一卷,"篇帙无多,然如牛李之党其初肇衅于口语,为史所未及,而<周秦行纪>一书,晁公武亦尝据此录以辨韦璀之诬.