Disentangling the Harrisson Archive to Interpret the Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Vertebrate Remains at Niah Caves, Sarawak

During the 1950s and 1960s, excavations by the Sarawak Museum at Niah Cave in northwest Borneo produced an enormous archive of records and artefacts, including in excess of 750,000 macro- and micro-vertebrate remains. The excellent state of preservation of the animal bone, dating from the Late Pleistocene (c. 40 kya) to as recently as c. 500 years ago had the potential to provide unparalleled zooarchaeological information about early hunter-gatherer resource procurement, temporal changes in subsistence patterning, and the impact of peoples on the local and regional environment in Island Southeast Asia. However, the coarse-grained methods of excavation employed during the original investigations and the sheer scale of the archaeological record and bone assemblages dissuaded many researchers from attempting to tackle the Niah archives. This paper outlines how important information on the nature of the archaeological record at Niah has now finally been extracted from the archive using a combination of zooarchaeological analysis and reference to the extensive archaeological records from the site. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Size Distribution of US Banks and Credit Unions

This study examines the firm size distribution of US banks and credit unions. A truncated lognormal distribution describes the size distribution, measured using assets data, of a large population of small, community-based commercial banks. The size distribution of a smaller but increasingly dominant cohort of large banks, which operate a high-volume low-cost retail banking model, exhibits power-law behaviour. There is a progressive increase in skewness over time, and Zipf’s Law is rejected as a descriptor of the size distribution in the upper tail. By contrast, the asset size distribution of the population of credit unions conforms closely to the lognormal distribution.

The Coxian Phase-type distribution with a Hidden Node

Healthcare providers are under increased pressure to ensure that the quality
of care delivered to patients are off the highest standard. Modelling quality of
care is difficult due to the many ways of defining it. This paper introduces a potential
model which could be used to take quality of care into account when modelling
length of stay. The Coxian phase-type distribution is used to model length of stay
and quality of care incorporated into this using a Hidden Markov model. This model
is then applied to

Integrated Optimal Power Flow for Distribution Networks in Local and Urban Scales

This paper develops an integrated optimal power flow (OPF) tool for distribution networks in two spatial scales. In the local scale, the distribution network, the natural gas network, and the heat system are coordinated as a microgrid. In the urban scale, the impact of natural gas network is considered as constraints for the distribution network operation. The proposed approach incorporates unbalance three-phase electrical systems, natural gas systems, and combined cooling, heating, and power systems. The interactions among the above three energy systems are described by energy hub model combined with components capacity constraints. In order to efficiently accommodate the nonlinear constraint optimization problem, particle swarm optimization algorithm is employed to set the control variables in the OPF problem. Numerical studies indicate that by using the OPF method, the distribution network can be economically operated. Also, the tie-line power can be effectively managed.

History Matters: How International Regimes Become Entrenched—and Why We Suffer for It

International regimes are composite historical constructions. They are built-up through bricolage, as resource-strapped officials combine operational capacities, frequently turning to outside assistance. Who wins and loses—and why—when organisations are added or subtracted? What happens when inter-organisational relations are recalibrated? Why do regimes cohere as they do? By comparing the development of financial-regulatory regimes and probing other illustrative cases, I offer an explanatory framework that emphasizes the importance of timing and sequencing in determining outcomes. Thinking beyond interstate network effects and switching costs, I distil new data and theoretical insights into how and why temporality matters in global politics. I find that time structures the strategic bargaining contexts that mediate the intense distributional struggles between organisations driving key institutional reforms. The explanatory power of this framework upsets conventional wisdom whereby the distribution of state power, and the dynamics of interstate bargaining, are assumed the critical sources of institutional reform.