Earthquakes,grants, and public expenditure: How municipalities respond to natural disasters

We analyze the response of municipalities to the occurrence of natural disasters in terms of spending behavior, use of upper-tier transfers and recovery, using balance sheet data of about 8,000 Italian municipalities for the period 2000–2015, and the universe of earthquakes events. We find evidence of increasing expenditure for about 12 years after the shocks, with asymmetric responses between earthquake-related and unconditional grants, and heterogeneous flypaper effects across the country. While in northern municipalities expenditure tends to regress to pre-earthquake levels, southern municipalities stick to higher expenditure levels when grants drop. This evidence is coupled with a faster recovery of private income and housing prices in northern municipalities.     

我们说什么?我们对谁去说?——在美国地理学家协会1987年年会上的讲话

地理学家的演讲与他们运用文字、图象所作的交流同样值得重视.美国的地理学可以通过下述途径得到加强,即围绕地点、地区和全球联系发展实质性演讲,促进自然地理的发展,恢复地理生态的传统.地理信息系统(geographic information systems)对于完成上述任务,对于改进地理学科以满足不断出现的需要,将是一个非常有用的工具.如果我们能够避免自己拆自己的台,避免不现实的空想,避免玩弄语言技巧,而是坚持在大学里进行高质量的教学,并在教师和从事地理实践工作的人员之间开展学术交流,那么地理学将会变得更加有效.我们有一个前所未有的机会来帮助改进美国的中小学地理教育.     

馆藏文物描述元数据方案探讨

信息社会中博物馆的知识传播职能从被动转向主动,博物馆采用信息技术管理藏品和相关数据,不仅要满足传统业务需求,也要面向网络环境中的使用者。在此过程中,文物藏品信息在互联网环境下的呈现,需要采用标准化的描述元数据方案和受控词汇描述文物的核心信息。该研究首先说明文物数据标准的定义与类型,阐述文物描述元数据的概念与作用,并对比CONA、CDWA Lite、Object ID和第一次全国可移动文物普查的描述元数据方案,说明元数据方案差异反映出的设计需求和结果差异;再进一步对比大英博物馆、大都会博物馆、北京故宫博物院、台北故宫博物院线上文物藏品检索方式,通过检视其检索结果的信息结构与内容,阐述合理的描述元数据方案能呈现丰富信息并导向精准检索。最后建议我国文物博物馆领域应完善文物数据标准,文博机构应制定规范化的文物描述元数据方案和配套实施的编目规则与本地受控词表;文博机构官网在线藏品检索系统应考虑用户需求,呈现完善的编目成果。     

Information transparency,monitoring, and incentives under decentralization: Evidence from China's fiscal reform of “province managing county”

Monitoring is deemed crucial for the incentivization of a decentralized organization, but its function relies on information transparency between the central authority and the delegated individuals. We test this hypothesis by considering changes in the fiscal behavior of Chinese county governments following an exogenous fiscal reform in 2004/2005 that removed information obstacles between provinces and counties. Employing data on 590 Chinese counties from 2000 to 2009, we find that counties in the reform provinces adopt a more proactive fiscal policy after the reform, suggesting that they become more incentivized in the political competition for economic growth. Such effects are stronger in counties with fewer competing peers and counties with either high or low ranks in the records of economic growth among peers. The increase in counties' productive spending leads to higher economic growth in later years.     

SPATIAL DEPENDENCY OF SEGREGATION INDICES

A few researchers have mentioned the scale sensitivity of segregation index, D. In this paper, I discuss analytically and empirically why using large enumeration areal units usually results in low segregation measures, and using small areal units produces relatively high segregation measures. The discussion is also applicable to the multi-group variant of D. A major finding is that if people of the same ethnic groups are positively spatially auto-correlated, increasing the size of areal units of analysis may not lower D initially, because only people of the same group are added. But enlarging the areal units subsequently may include population of other ethnic groups, and therefore could lower D. However, if the boundaries of the larger enumeration units are drawn to include only population of the same group, then D will not change significantly. Both the spatial autocorrelation of ethnic group population and zonal pattern are critical factors in determining the scale sensitivity of D.     

基于手机信令数据的大型足球赛事球迷当日空间行为特征研究

利用手机信令数据,以2014年3月上海申花与杭州绿城、上海上港对上海申鑫两场足球赛为研究对象,分析和归纳了观赛球迷的分布特征、活动特征,并进一步探索了球迷的行为对于球场周边商业体的影响,以此来分析大型赛事球迷的空间行为特征,希望能够对未来的城市相关设施规划起到一定的指导作用。研究表明,球迷的分布涵盖市域、呈现类圈层结构。球迷的出发时间与球赛开始时间相关,大部分球迷的出行目的较为明确。球迷对于球场周边一定距离范围内的商业体有影响,且商业体距离球场越远,影响越弱。最后,对于手机信令数据在大型活动或特定人群特征分析方面的应用提出了一些讨论思考。     

全球—地方视角下西安市软件产业集群的创新效应研究

全球—地方关系为产业创新研究提供了新的视角。本文基于全球（通道）—本地（蜂鸣）关系视角构建了软件产业集群创新效应研究的理论框架。以西安市软件产业集群为例,采用Stata13定量分析不同尺度创新合作的创新效应及其影响因素。研究发现,本地和国际创新合作均对集群创新具有积极的影响,且后者比前者的创新效应更强,说明搭建外部通道对集群创新的必要性;本地与国际创新合作交互对不同规模的软件企业产生的创新效应不同,对小型软件企业存在减法效应,对中型软件企业存在加法效应,对大型软件企业具有乘法效应。建立领先软件企业带动的开放创新系统,是西安市软件产业集群提升创新效应的有效路径。     

Coast–inland mobility and diet in the Danish Mesolithic and Neolithic: evidence from stable isotope values of humans and dogs

Here we present the stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen measured in bone collagen extracted from humans, dogs, herbivores and fish from Mesolithic and Neolithic coastal and inland sites in Denmark. Bones of freshwater fish from several Early Mesolithic lake-side sites have δ¹³C values surprisingly similar to those seen in marine fish. We propose a model, based on δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, for the correction for both marine and hard water reservoir effect in radiocarbon dates. A strong reliance on aquatic protein is demonstrated for the Mesolithic inhabitants of the region from the middle of the Early Mesolithic onwards. A significant part of the protein in the diets of the dogs and humans from the Middle and Late Mesolithic was of marine origin, even at inland sites. This observation points to a high degree of (seasonal) coast-inland mobility. The isotopic evidence indicates that during the Neolithic small quantities of aquatic foods were still common sources of dietary protein.     

关于利用历史文献信息进行环境演变研究的几点看法

针对如何更好地利用我国丰富的历史文献记录,开展历史时期环境演变研究,本文提出四点看法:从地球系统科学与全球变化研究的前沿中寻找研究的主题,在诸多不确定中寻找确定性答案,构建历史文献信息共享的环境演变研究平台,培养文理兼备的复合型人才。     

The changing nature of GIS and the provision of formal GIS education in the UK: a case study

The arrival of the term Geographical Information System (GIS) in the 1960s soon created a demand for training and education in the use of this specialist hardware and software. Initially the main focus was on training people to use GIS, formal named degree programmes leading to postgraduate and undergraduate qualifications arrived later. This paper explores the changing landscape of U.K. degree level GIS education drawing on contemporary information from Higher Education Institution websites and a case study of the first single honours degree in GIS in Europe. The paper identifies a rise and fall in the number of named undergraduate “GIS” degrees since the late 1980s sandwiched between the continuation and development of postgraduate qualifications. In parallel with this trend the teaching and learning of GIS skills has emerged as a core component of undergraduate degree programmes with “Geography” in their title and in national school and degree level benchmarking statements for the discipline.