青海古代文化遗址时空分布特征

本文对青海古代各历史时期的文化遗址及文物进行了分析与探讨,提出了青海古代文化遗址有着分布的集中性、石器时代的完整性以及多元结构的民族文化特点;论证了以上特点是由地理环境及历史的各民族文化活动所致。     

广西玉林市博物馆馆藏七件铜鼓的初步分析研究

迄今已有2 700多年历史的铜鼓,是南方少数民族地区节日、喜庆、兵事、婚丧、祭祀、礼乐等场合使用的一种重器。为了对锈蚀状况做出科学的现状评估,为器物保护修复技术路线的制定和修复工作的开展提供科学指导,对玉林市博物馆馆藏7件铜鼓综合运用了体视显微镜、金相显微镜、激光显微拉曼光谱仪(RS)和环境扫描电镜及能谱仪(ESEM-EDAX)等仪器进行了金相组织和合金成分分析以及锈蚀产物的分析。分析结果显示:7件器物皆为泥范铸造成型,未见热、冷加工处理现象。7件铜鼓皆为铅锡青铜合金,总体呈低锡高铅的特点。组织形态呈典型α固溶体树枝晶偏析,锡含量处于6.0%～12.2%,分布较为集中,处于中等含量水平(5%≤Sn15%);铅含量处于14.4%～28.2%,铅含量普遍较高且分布较为集中,处于中高铅(10%≤Pb15%)和高铅含量(Pb≥15%)水平,合金中高铅含量配比应为工匠有意合金配比选择;铜鼓的腐蚀类型为α固溶体富铜相优先腐蚀,保存环境主要是富氧、少氯,铜鼓表面锈蚀产物主要为绿色孔雀石和蓝色蓝铜矿以及氧化物,有少量白色白铅矿。在保护修复工作中对于这些无害锈可保留,不予处理,并注重防氧。对于铜鼓表面夹杂泥土,需进行清洗去除。研究结果可为器物保护修复技术路线的制定和修复工作的开展提供科学指导。     

Evidence on economies of scale in local public service provision: A meta-analysis

The standard theory of optimal jurisdictional size hinges on the existence of economies of scale in the provision of local public goods and services. However, despite its relevance for forced local amalgamation programs and related policies, the empirical evidence on the existence of such economies of scale remains elusive. The main goal of this paper is to produce an updated and comprehensive quantitative review of the existence of economies of scale in the provision of local public goods using a meta-analysis approach to systematize the wide range of empirical approaches and modeling frameworks found in the previous literature. Our analysis confirms the presence of moderately increasing to constant returns to scale in the provision of local services with no reduction in the average costs of production in the delivery of most local public services beyond a certain, modest jurisdictional size, which many studies have estimated at 10,000 residents. Also, the potential for economies of scale differs at least across three traditional services: education, water and sanitation, and garbage collection, being highest for education and lowest for garbage collection. Our analysis also offers guidelines for future empirical research in this area. Physical output and production cost data should be used, together with translog specifications for the modeling of cost functions. Last, we find evidence that the determinants of output cost elasticity include bidirectional publication bias and population density but do not include the presence or absence of modern “lean” production technologies or the (perceived) capital intensity of the sector, contrary to conventional wisdom. These findings have significant policy implications for countries considering jurisdictional consolidation programs.     

Cultivation History Beyond the Periphery: Early Agriculture in the North European Boreal Forest

We have investigated the environmental history of human occupation and the development of agriculture in the eastern interior Lake District of Finland. The material consists of archaeological data, which is reviewed in topographical and agrogeological context, and pollen analytical evidence of agricultural indices from eight precisely dated (varved) lake sediment sequences. Before the Viking Age, archaeological evidence, consisting of stray finds, dwelling sites, and graves, is very scarce. Iron Age finds are clearly confined to the lowland environs with silty and clayey soils. During the Viking Age, the number of stray finds multiplies and the first cemeteries are established. Comparison between Viking and Crusade Period finds reveals a topographic shift toward higher locations and morainic soils. Most of the cup-stones are located on upland sites—that is, not in connection with known Iron Age sites. These are interpreted as medieval indicators of slash-and-burn farming of the fertile but stony supraaquatic morainic soils. There is pollen analytical evidence of sporadic cultivation in the area from the Bronze Age onward. Afterca. AD 700, the occurrence of cereal pollen grains becomes regular but remains discontinuous at each site until after the turn of the millennium. There is then an exponential rise in the cereal pollen rain, indicating a fully agricultural population.     

Ancestral pueblo population aggregation and abandonment in the North American Southwest

After over a century of archaeological research in the American Southwest, questions focusing on population aggregation and abandonment continue to preoccupy much of Pueblo archaeology. This article presents a historical overview of the present range of explanatory approaches to these two processes, with a primary focus on population aggregation in those regions occupied by historic and prehistoric Pueblo peoples. We stress the necessarily complementary nature of most of these explanations of residential abandonment and aggregation. Case studies from the northern Southwest illustrate the continuous nature of these processes across time and space. We suggest that additional explanatory potential will be gained by the use of well-defined theoretical units to frame our current approaches. We extend the use of the local community concept as a theoretical unit of organization that, along with explicit archaeological correlates, should help advance our research into population aggregation and abandonment in this and other regions of the world.     

多伦多都市区的居住空间结构研究

本文采用因子生态分析方法剖析多伦多都市区的居住空间结构。主成分分析表明,家庭构成、年龄构成、职业构成是形成城市居住分异的主要因素。聚类分析表明,家庭构成和年龄构成的分异呈同心园格局,职业构成的分异呈扇形格局。形成这种居住分异格局的机制包括动力机制、管理机制和行为机制三个方面。     

阆中大像山石窟的形制、题材与时代

位于四川省阆中市的大像山石窟,主要开凿于中晚唐和宋代,明清时期也有少量开凿。现有37龛,以方形龛、外方内圆拱形龛及圆拱形龛为主,方形龛最为多见。龛楣大多无装饰,雕刻简单。题材主要有弥勒佛、七佛、千佛、观音、天王、力士、经幢及舍利塔等。造像组合较少,以单身造像为多。阆中独特的地理位置,使得大像山石窟兼具广元、巴中两地石窟的特点,其丰富的内容为巴蜀佛教石窟寺的深入研究提供了重要的实物资料。     

The wealthier inhabitants of Croydon in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries

This article examines the wealthier inhabitants of Croydon in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, focusing on differences in wealth, ownership of property and social relationships. Using wills and subsidy lists, four broad categories of people were identified: gentlemen, yeomen, tradesmen and craftsmen and widows. There was no simple gradation of wealth between these groups; although gentlemen were generally among the richest subsidy payers, yeomen and tradesmen could also figure. In terms of social relationships and the ownership of property, there were differences. Gentlemen tended to marry within their own social group, appoint other gentlemen as overseers in their wills and were more likely to own land outside Croydon. The social relationships of yeomen and tradesmen/craftsmen were more focused on the town itself, as were their land purchases. Two groups of individuals can therefore be seen, not one homogenous entity as some scholars have argued.     

The Influence of Dowel-Bearing Strength in Designing Timber Pegged Timber Joints

ABSTRACT

The employment of timber pegs in timber structure joints is a widespread technology in the field of timber frame building in the United States, where the Timber Frame Engineering Council has published a special Standard to supplement the National Design Specification for Wood Construction. The authors have been studying the possibility of supplementing the Eurocode 5 design formulas, thought for timber joints with metal connectors, with specifications needed for a reliable design when employing timber pegs. The field of application envisaged is that of restoring timber structures and results obtained until now are quite encouraging. In this step of the research, more attention has been paid to deformation process: fir and chestnut samples have been tested to determine their dowel-bearing behavior with steel and ash timber peg while double-shear plane joints made of the same wood species, and fastened with steel as well as timber pegs, have been analyzed.     

Spatial optimisation of fire service coverage: a case study of Brisbane,Australia

In the context of changing demand for fire services, spatial optimisation of fire coverage has attracted little scholarly attention despite its potential to improve emergency response and to inform future service planning for fire stations. Drawing on small area population forecasts, this paper extends the application of the Maximum Coverage Location Model to compute and delineate the spatial coverage of current and proposed new fire stations to align with population growth estimates for Brisbane, Australia. Our results reveal important gaps in fire cover that are likely to emerge as a result of predicted population growth, the spatial patterns of which varies across the Brisbane metropolitan area. We draw on these results to delineate a series of new potential sites for fire stations to ameliorate the reduction in spatial coverage as a consequence of predicted population growth demonstrating the utility of our analytic approach for decision‐making and operational planning in the fire services.