International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B2. Istanbul 2004 
  
meaningful indicator for the spatial pattern analysis in this 
study. 
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
This study is supported by the Earmarked Research Grant 
(Project No. HKBU 2086/01 P), Research Grants Council. Hong 
Kong. The authors would like to thank staff of institute of 
Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, particularly Mr 
Alishir Kurban, for their support for the fieldwork. 
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