Repositioning urban bias: Non-state providers' use of spatialised networks in Bangladesh

Urban bias theory predicts urban areas of developing countries receive disproportionately more resources than rural areas due to their concentration of numerically large, politically important “vote banks.” This has not been the case in Bangladesh. This study finds that this variation occurs due to non-state providers (NSPs) changing the landscape of resource allocation. Operating on the premise that state control leads to more services in urban areas, urban bias fails to account for NSPs as critical service providers. Employing a grounded theory strategy to explore urban-rural dynamics in service provision and to build on urban bias theory, this research highlights interactions between state and non-state actors. It argues that spatialized political networks, networks of formal and informal leadership more difficult to access in urban areas, influence the locality of service provision. Though NSPs recognize increased need in urban areas of Bangladesh, their interventions in those areas remain peripheral due to differing structures of government accountability and differing levels of community acceptance facilitating these networks. The need for NSPs to adapt their activities to restrictive governance mechanisms reflects the changing space for NSPs in the context of semi-democratic regimes.     

Public administration in smart city: A bibliometric analysis

The role of the public administration is crucial for the development of smart cities. Several scholars have highlighted the need for greater contributions focused on the relationship between public administration and smart cities. This work aims to map the contributions on the topic highlighting the status of the field in the recent years. A bibliometric analysis was performed on a sample of articles published in business and management journals. The analysis was carried out using the R-studio Bibliometrics package. Results show that research on the topic is still in an initial stage and has several gaps that future studies could fill. The study is useful for scholars because it identifies the topics analyzed by previous research and highlights future research questions that could be investigated. The analysis highlighted the areas studied by scholars on the topic: urban planning, sustainable development, governance approach, Internet of Things and information and communication technologies.     

Pay to protect: Examining the factors of the use of market-based instruments for local water sustainability

Given the myriad of policy instruments aimed at enhancing water quantity conservation available to municipalities, what drives them to opt for a market-based instrument (MBI)? MBIs can be effective and efficient policy instruments to enhance water quantity conservation, but there is little known about why municipalities utilize them. This study hypothesizes that three contextual elements influence a municipality's use of an MBI: the natural, political, and structural environment. The results from two logistic regression models suggest that in a municipality suffering a higher drought level, both a conservative political environment and operating under a council-manager form of government (with the effect more pronounced under a non-council-manager form) will increase the likelihood that it will use an MBI to address water conservation.     

Analyzing and Interpreting Lime Burials from the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939): A Case Study from La Carcavilla Cemetery

Over 500 victims of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) were buried in the cemetery of La Carcavilla (Palencia, Spain). White material, observed in several burials, was analyzed with Raman spectroscopy and powder XRD, and confirmed to be lime. Archaeological findings at La Carcavilla's cemetery show that the application of lime was used in an organized way, mostly associated with coffinless interments of victims of Francoist repression. In burials with a lime cast, observations made it possible to draw conclusions regarding the presence of soft tissue at the moment of deposition, the sequence of events, and the presence of clothing and other evidence. This study illustrates the importance of analyzing a burial within the depositional environment and taphonomic context.     

城市生活垃圾循环经济管理理念初探

以北京市城市生活垃圾处理的现状和问题为个案研究,揭示传统的垃圾管理思想和模式已不适应当前和未来经济和社会发展的客观需要,提出建立循环经济型城市生活垃圾管理模型的核心理念,是实现城市的可持续发展,建设资源节约型社会的必然转变,用科学的发展观认识和实现对城市生活垃圾管理理念和思路的转变,管理手段和方式的转变,从而妥善解决城市生活垃圾问题。     

吉林省统筹城乡发展的难点与对策

本文以吉林省正在实施的＂三化＂统筹战略为视角,提出城乡一体化进程中面临的难点主要集中在：人往哪里去、钱从哪里来、土地问题怎样解决三个方面。笔者认为,应通过加大对农村经济发展的财政支持,统筹城乡产业布局,开展农民职业技能教育,构建农村劳动力向城镇转移的制度体系和规范土地流转等措施,推动吉林省统筹城乡发展,实现城乡一体化。     

城市管理专业的人才培养目标与模式

城市管理专业是随着当代中国城市发展导致的城市管理专业化趋势及其对城市管理专门人才的急需而发展起来的一个新兴专业。城市管理的综合性特点要求城市管理专业的课程设置注重综合,强调应用,并实现文、理、工科相结合,其专业基础课应横跨管理学和城市科学两大学科基础,专业课则应突出城市管理作为一个独立学科、综合性专业的特点。完善符合城市管理专业应用型复合型人才培养需要的教学体系,当前的重点是强化实践教学,建立一体化的实践教学体系,相应地需要创新师资队伍,促进教师实践能力的提升和素质的优化,以保障城市管理专业教学体系高质量地运行。     

后奥运时代的城市文化特色与青岛城市发展

城市文化是指一个城市的地域特征、现存建筑及风格等实体性要素及其相互关系的总和;又是指一个城市的独特历史、市民的价值观、民俗民风、日常性和季节性的文化活动等直接相关的种种文化现象、文化因素及其相互关系的总和。城市文化是一个复杂的、多层次的系统。当今时代,培育城市、经营城市、发展城市已成为普遍的社会共识。以古齐文化为主脉,在欧陆文化碰撞交融下的青岛文化,具有务实性、开放性、平民化特性,青岛的海派文化特色孕育着休闲文化功能。奥林匹克精神为青岛文化与城市发展注入了新的生机和活力。     

我国城乡一体化研究述评

加快形成城乡经济社会发展一体化,是党的十七届三中全会对新形势下推动农村改革发展提出的根本要求,是具有重要创新价值的发展战略。城乡一体化是我国实现现代化的必然选择,对于我国的经济发展和社会变革具有十分重要的意义。     

Forensic Approach to an Archaeological Casework of “Vampire” Skeletal Remains in Venice: Odontological and Anthropological Prospectus*

Abstract: During the years 2006–2007, the Archeological Superintendent of Veneto (Italy) promoted a research project on mass graves located on Nuovo Lazzaretto in Venice, where the corpses of plague deaths were buried during the 16th and 17th centuries. The burials were of different stages and are believed to be the remains of plague victims from the numerous outbreaks of pestilence, which occurred between the 15th and 17th centuries. Among the fragmented and commingled human bones, an unusual burial was found. The body was laid supine, with the top half of the thorax intact, arms parallel to the rachis axis, the articulations were anatomically unaltered. Both the skull morphology and the dimensions of the caput omeris suggest the body was a woman. A brick of moderate size was found inside the oral cavity, keeping the mandible wide open. The data collected by the anthropologist were used to generate a taphonomic profile, which precluded the positioning of the brick being accidental. Likewise, the probability of the brick having come from the surrounding burial sediment was rejected, as the only other inclusions found were bone fragments from previous burials in the same area. The data collected by the odontologist were employed for age estimation and radiological dental assessment. The forensic profile was based conceptually on the “circumstances of death” and concluded that the positioning of the brick was intentional, and attributed to a symbolic burial ritual. This ritual confirms the intimate belief held at those times, between the plague and the mythological character of the vampire.