The Unitary Association Method of Relative Dating and Its Application to Archaeological Data

The primary objective of relative dating techniques is to determine a reliable sequence of archaeological deposits. This task becomes more difficult whenever our research steps beyond individual sites to the study of intercommunity relationships because we need to develop some means of associating unconnected deposits in time. Radiocarbon dating, as a stand-alone method, cannot always be used to draw reliable correlations between sites. The relevance of archaeological dates, including absolute dates, relies ultimately on the determination of artifact or sample associations and their respective superpositional relationships. The Unitary Association Method of Relative Dating is an alternative to seriation methods that is less susceptible to spatial variation and offers analytical strengths needed for regional chronological analyses.     

Collagen deamidation in archaeological bone as an assessment for relative decay rates

Attempts to extend methods for dating archaeological bones beyond that of radiocarbon dating, such as amino acid racemization, have met with limited success owing to the dependence on multiple environmental factors and controls. Despite facing similar challenges, deamidation of glutamine has recently been investigated as a potential indicator of ‘thermal age' in archaeological bones, as well as a measure of their preservation quality. In this study, we undertook a series of simulated diagenetic experiments to understand the various factors affecting deamidation. Further, we analysed bones from different Middle Palaeolithic layers from Grotte Mandrin (France), with the results suggesting potential use of deamidation for relative dating, but only in case of extremely well‐preserved layers. The results also suggested the possible use of attenuated total reflectance‐Fourier transform infrared (ATR‐FTIR) spectroscopy as a screening test for soluble collagen before proteomic analysis.     

经济欠发达地区旅游公路网络发展对策研究--以陕北黄土高原旅游公路网络的分析为例

本文通过对陕北黄土高原地区区内旅游公路网络的平均通达度和相对连通性的分析发现：陕北黄土高原地区旅游公路交通的平均通达度和相对连通性地区差异较大;旅游公路网络存在支线公路建设滞后、通达深度不够、知名景点的通达度差、各景点间联系不够紧密等问题。针对上述问题,本文提出了加强该区旅游公路交通网络建设的对策。     

中国星级酒店相对效率集聚的空间分析及提升策略

选取大陆31个省级区域2000-2009年的面板数据,基于改进的DEA模型,对省际星级酒店的相对效率进行测算,进一步对相对效率的空间集聚态势及影响机理进行分析。大陆星级酒店相对效率的变动主要受规模效率驱动,大部分省份星级酒店的规模效率处于递减状态,这种粗放型的增长方式从长远角度看,不利于星级酒店业的健康良性发展。中国星级酒店相对效率及其空间集聚态势都表现出与经济发展水平负相关的态势,各项效率的影响机理不同。最后基于波士顿矩阵分析法,对提高星级酒店相对效率提出相应的策略。     

Environmental Education in Russian Universities

This paper presents the results of a simulation exercise designed to explore and understand the implications of trying to survive in a marginal and poverty-stricken African community. The aim of the simulation was to create an approximation of a community involved in an income-generating project, akin to a Public Works Programme. This project sought to enable every person to earn a dollar a day on which to live. In addition, the exercise helped the participants to question and assess whether the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have a chance of reaching their proposed targets. The nearly one hundred participants were undergraduate geography students, reading Development Studies and Demography at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. The outcome of the simulation was that the students developed a clearer understanding of poverty, particularly the ‘Deprivation Trap’, and how complex the development process is in practice.     

INTERNAL VERSUS INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND THE ROLE OF MULTIPLE DEPRIVATION

This study disentangles the concept of relative deprivation by distinguishing feelings of individual and collective relative deprivation as sources of individual aspirations. Both concepts are then operationalised and empirically tested with regard to their relative importance in migration decision-making. Based on data from the National Sample Survey in 2008, two factors turn out to be relevant in understanding the Indian migration pattern. First, individual and collective relative deprivations are both strong predictors for out-migration, but only for short-distance, intra-state movements. The likelihood of out-migration towards international destinations is significantly higher for households with lower levels of individual and collective relative deprivation. Second, leaving aside the effects of relative deprivation, absolute deprivation plays a rather ambivalent role: while economically better-off households have a higher propensity for sending (primarily male) migrants to distant inter-state and international destinations, shorter distance out-migration is mainly dominated by female migrants stemming from poorer households.     

1995年来中国省际入境旅游相对优势演化的空间特征分析

从区位商的角度,通过引入演化概率矩阵,定量的探讨了1995-2005年来中国省际入境旅游相对优势差异的演化情况,并通过对演化概率矩阵的空间分解,分析了空间环境对入境旅游相对优势演化的影响。结果表明,中国省际间入境旅游相对优势存在差异,但这种差异在10年的演化过程中整体上呈现不断下降的态势,差异的变化和政策以及突发事件密切相关。自身的相对优势基础对该地区入境旅游相对优势的演化存在着十分重要的影响,高相对优势基础地区的演化趋向于衰退演化;低相对优势地区的演化趋向于增长演化,且低相对优势基础地区发生突变演化的概率高于高相对优势基础地区。相对优势演化概率在空间上并不独立,东部区域中低相对优势基础地区的增长演化概率明显高于中西部地区,说明东部区域中低相对优势基础地区入境旅游的发展好于中西部地区。区域合作、交通改善、资源开发是演化重要影响因素。     

Testing Area‐Scale Fractal Complexity (Asfc) and Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy (LSCM) to Document and Discriminate Microwear on Experimental Quartzite Scrapers

Few microwear studies have been conducted on tools made from quartzite. Most rely on visual observation of microwear features using optical light microscopes and scanning electron microscopes. Quantification of microwear on quartzite tools is extremely rare, even though numerous methods to mathematically document surface roughness have been applied to other silicate tools. In this paper, laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) was used to document surface roughness on four experimental scrapers made from two different subtypes of Mistassini quartzite that were used on either fresh or dry deer hide. Surface roughness data were analysed using area‐scale fractal complexity (Asfc). The results of this test case indicate that Asfc can effectively discriminate between the unused and used regions on the quartzite tools based on surface roughness, and that it can also discriminate between surface roughness produced by working dry versus fresh hides. Differences in the subtypes of Mistassini quartzite did affect surface roughness, but not significantly enough to prevent discrimination of the dry and fresh hide‐working tools. Although the use of the Asfc parameter for lithic microwear analysis requires further testing, these first results suggest it could be a reliable technique to mathematically document and discriminate wear patterns on archaeological quartzite tools.     

Relative and absolute dating of the human skull and skeleton from Galley Hill,Kent

Over a period of some 100 years it has gradually been accepted that the human skeletal remains found in the late nineteenth century in ancient gravels at Galley Hill, Kent are not those of early man, but are of much more recent date. This conclusion was finally verified by means of relative (N, F) and absolute (¹⁴C) dating. Here we present the results of further analysis of the remains from Galley Hill for their uranium content by a method having general application to the relative dating of fossil human and other mammalian bone.     

Review on Late Pleistocene-Holocene relative sea-level changes in Kuwait: New evidence from Failaka island

New results from fieldwork carried out on Failaka island testify to relative sea-level fluctuations during Late Pleistocene and Holocene. This study is based on analysing, sampling and dating geomorphological sea-level indicators, including beach ridges or beachrocks. The results have been compared and harmonised with recalibrated data from pre-existing literature to reconstruct the relative sea-level local chronology. The vertical displacement identified may have induced coastline mobility and significant environmental changes and impacted the human occupation in Failaka and along the coastal areas of Kuwait. Eventually, the results highlight the impact of large-scale crustal deformations on regional relative sea-level variations.