Linking land displacement and environmental dispossession to Mi'kmaw health and well‐being: Culturally relevant place‐based interpretive frameworks matter

For over five decades, Pictou Landing First Nation, a small Mi'kmaw community on the northern shore of Nova Scotia, has been told that the health of its community is not impacted by a pulp and paper mill pouring 85 million litres of effluent per day into a lagoon that was once a culturally significant place known as “A'se'k,” and which borders the community. Based on lived experience, the community knows otherwise. Despite countless government‐ and industry‐sponsored studies indicating the mill's pollutants are merely “nuisance” impacts and harmless, the community's concerns have not gone away. Using a “Piktukowaq” (Mi'kmaw) environmental health research framework to guide the interpretation of oral histories coming from the Knowledge Holders in Pictou Landing First Nation, we convey the deep, health‐enhancing relationship with A'se'k that the Piktukowaq enjoyed before it was destroyed, and the health suppression that has occurred since then. Conducting the research using a culturally relevant place‐based interpretive framework has demonstrated the absolute necessity of this kind of approach where Indigenous communities are concerned, particularly those facing health impacts vis‐à‐vis land displacement and environmental dispossession.     

Excavating the 18th- and 19th-Century Urban Flour Mill: the Example of the Archaeological Investigations at the Former J.A. Symes Factory Site,Highbridge Road,Barking

Abstract

The area occupied by the former J.A. Symes match factory, Highbridge Road, Barking, was once home to a large steam- and water-powered flourmill. The mill was originally driven by the tidal flow of the River Roding, prior to its expansion and gradual conversion to steam. A residential redevelopment, undertaken in spring 2006, provided an opportunity to conduct a developer-funded archaeological investigation, carried out by Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd. The excavation exposed the partial, multi-phase remains of the mill's below-ground foundations, in particular the evidence for successive power systems. These remains were interpreted with the help of documentary research, demonstrating the complementary nature of these two forms of evidence on an urban industrial site.     

Pear Mill,Stockport: An Edwardian Cotton Spinning Mill

Abstract

Pear Mill, Stockport, was one of the last cotton spinning mills to be built, commencing production in July 1913. It therefore represents the end of a line of development which commenced with Arkwright's mill of 1771, and is an example of a type of building which is fast disappearing. The architects were A.H. Stott & Sons and the building is typical of their work of that period both in terms of construction, with concrete floors, and detailing. The power plant was a Manhattan type steam engine by George Saxon, driving the machinery via a rope drive. The mill had 137,312 mule spindles which remained until the 1950s when they were replaced by 33,636 ring spindles, the mill being electrified at the same time. It ceased operation as a textile mill in March 1978.     

Midlatitude measurements of the ionospheric electric field during the ALADDIN programme

Three measurements of ionospheric electric field were made during the 24 h ALADDIN rocket programme at Wallops Island (37°50′N, 75°29′W) on June 29–30, 1974. The first of these used a double probe instrument, flown at 1500 Local Solar Time, and the second and third measurements were made by barium cloud releases at evening and morning twilight. These three electric field vectors have been compared with the predictions of a number of models of electric field due to the dynamo effects of various atmospheric tides, and also of a possible magnetospheric origin. On the assumption that the measurements were made at a location equatorward of the afternoon convergence and poleward of the morning divergence in the electric field patterns related to the Sq current cystem, Stening's model of the diurnal variation of the electric field induced by the (1, −2) tidal model at the time of the Summer solstice correctly predicts the directions of the observed electric field. Forbes and Lindzen's model, incorporating the three major propagating tidal modes as well as the evanescent (1, −2) mode, also bears an acceptable relationship to the ALADDIN electric field directions. The ALADDIN E-field magnitudes are comparable with those obtained by ground-based observations (incoherent scatter) from Millstone Hill and from Saint Santin but are about half of Stening's model values, and three times those of Forbes and Lindzen.While the Millstone Hill E-field directions are compatible with the ALADDIN observations, Saint Santin E-field directions, at the same latitude but 75° difference in longitude, are distinctly different from ALADDIN, implying that longitudinal differences are significant.     

The Cooper in Liverpool

Abstract

This report assesses the efficiency in timing and layout of the mass-production system at the Portsmouth Dockyard block mill in the early 1800s. It is based on study of the extant buildings and machines as well as pictorial and written evidence from the past. Early output figures for some of the block-making machines reveal 8 to 17 per cent discrepancies from perfect coordination in timing. This difficulty was apparently offset by use of duplicate machines and by short-term stacking up of semi-finished parts between machine processes. An old line shafting diagram implies that the three sets of machines for making pulley-block shells of different sizes were arranged on one shop floor in a hollow rectangle, each set in its own production sequence. Although not ideal, the machinery's coordination and layout showed a greater rationality of design for efficient production 'flow' than has heretofore been documented for it.     

RECENT ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN THE SOUTHWESTERN CANADIAN PLAINS

This paper examines 20th-century environmental change in the subhumid southwestern Canadian Plains, specifically in relation to the dominant agricultural landscape and to the climate of the past millennium as reconstructed from proxy data. Anthropogenic landscape change in the last century has been dominated by the conversion of grasslands to ranchland and cropland. This has heightened landscape vulnerability to climatic fluctuations, especially drought. Instrumental climate records, extending back to the 1880s, highlight the variability of precipitation in this region. Proxy environmental records, derived from lake cores and tree-ring analysis, extend this picture into the last millennium and show that drought has been a recurring theme of the Prairie climate. Tree-ring records suggest that some droughts in the last millennium may have exceeded in severity any in the instrumental record. The sustainability of Prairie agriculture depends on adaptation to the amplitudes of climatic change and variability evident in these proxy records. Dans cet article nous examinons les changements environnementaux qui sont survenus pendant le 20^ème siècle dans les plaines canadiennes sèches du sud-ouest, spécifiquement par rapport au paysage agricole dominant et au climat du dernier millénaire qui a été déterminéà partir de données de procuration. La transformation des prairies en ranchland et cropland est le changement du paysage le plus important dont l'homme est responsable, pour le dernier siècle. À cause de ce changement, le paysage est plus vulnérable aux fluctuations climatiques - à la sécheresse en particulier. Les enregistrements instrumentaux de climat, qui reculent jusqu'aux années 1880, mettent en évidence la variabilité des précipitations dans cette région. Les enregistrements environnementaux de procuration, dérivés d'échantillons pris dans les lacs et de la dendroanalyse, étendent cette image dans le dernier millénaire et prouvent que le thème de la sécheresse est apparu souvent dans les analyses du climat du prairie. Les enregistrements de boucles d'arbre suggèrent que, dans le dernier millénaire il y avait des sécheresses qui étaient peut-être si sévères que les instruments n'ont pas pu les enregistrer. Si l'agriculture veut survivre comme entreprise dans les prairies, il faudra qu'elle s'adapte aux amplitudes de changement et de variabilité du climat qui ont été constatées dans les données de procuration.     

'Creating a Place to Belong': Girls' and Boys' Hut-building as a Site for Understanding Discourses on Childhood and Generational Relations in a Norwegian Community

The empirical focus of this article is children's huts as a particular place for constructions of identities and peer relations among children in a Norwegian local community. Building huts can be seen as children's construction of special places during childhood. Often these places are seen as secret places, reflecting a separate 'children's culture' developed within a particular microcosm. I argue that the social practices developed among girls and boys are related in complex ways to local cultural practices and the construction of gendered generational relations in the community. The title 'Creating a place to belong' refers not only to children's attachment to particular physical places, but also to children's place within a field of age-related as well as inter-generational relations.     

Work,Gender & History in the 1990s and Beyond

By the end of the 1980s, having amply demonstrated that the study of class could no longer be separated from the study of gender, feminist historians were advocating a new gendered history of work. At the beginning of the 1990s, American historian Ava Baron identified four problems that women's labour history had left unresolved: the need to move women's labour history out of its ghetto; an explanation for the mechanisms of sexual difference in labour relations; the theorisation of women's and men's ‘consent’ to oppression; and an understanding of the differences among women. The quest for a gendered labour history required new conceptual tools and new theoretical approaches. This paper tests this agenda against research on work and gender in the last decade of Gender & History. The moves toward the interrelation of public and private, work and family, as well as toward the construction of identities calls into question whether work remains a distinctive historical field.     

The geoelectric field at Davis station,Antarctica

An electric field mill is used to measure the vertical component of the geoelectric field at Davis station, Antarctica (68.6°S, 78.0°S, geographic coordinates; 74.6°S magnetic latitude). Local influences on the measurements are determined. Approximately a year of data is subjectively examined to determine periods when the ‘fair-weather’ electric field is expected to be dominant. Using a ‘cumulation of consecutive differences’ method, small intervals of data are combined to determine winter, spring and autumn diurnal ‘fair-weather’ electric field curves. A paucity of intervals not locally influenced precludes determination of a summer diurnal curve.The seasonal-diurnal curves each show a peak between 19 UT and 22 UT that is similar in temporal location and relative magnitude to the global, fair-weather, seasonal diurnal curves (see Reiter, 1992, p. 130). A local influence persists between 03 UT and 10 UT and precludes determination of a magnetospheric influence on the geoelectric field for these data.     

Nash Mills—The Endless Web Revisited

Abstract

A watermill is known to have existed on the river Gade since the 11th century on the site of Nash Mills, Hertfordshire, where a purpose-built paper mill was constructed in the late 18th century. In 1810 the mill was purchased by John Dickinson, one of the great innovators of the paper industry. The mill evolved significantly during the 19th and early 20th centuries as part of Dickinson's expanding business, which at one stage comprised five mills in the locality. Nash Mills remained in the ownership of John Dickinson and his successors until 1990, ceasing production in 2006, the last of Dickinson's mills to do so. Using documentary and building evidence, this article examines the development of the mill, emphasising the relationships between personalities, events, structures, processes, and changing business and technological influences.     

The Forest Products Industry,A Specialized Activity of the Sos'va Valley Section of the Ob' Basin

The construction of the Ivdel'—Ob' railroad has opened up the rich timber resources of the Sos'va section of the Ob' River basin. Fifteen logging centers are in operation along the rail line, shipping 3.5 million cubic meters of timber, mainly as roundwood. Selective logging practices used at the present time tend to deplete timber reserves more rapidly than planned. To preserve the Sos'va region as a long-term supplier of timber for the industrial regions of the USSR, sound forest management is recommended, including multipurpose utilization of felled timber and reforestation. The forest products industry will be more economical if about 70 percent of the felled timber is converted into marketable wood products in major mill complexes planned for the region, leaving 30 percent for shipment as roundwood (pitprops, pulpwood, shipbuilding timber). The proposed Lower Ob' hydroelectric power project, even with the lower normal headwater surface now under consideration, would prevent economic development of the region by flooding valuable resource lands.     

Transferring the Spinning Jenny to Barcelona: An Apprenticeship in the Technology of the Industrial Revolution

Abstract

The exceptional documentation which exists on the introduction of the spinning jenny in Barcelona between 1784 and 1788 has been used in this article to reconstruct the early history of Spain's first cotton spinning mill. The extent of the data available serves to provide information on the technical characteristics of the machine. Of particular interest is the information about the character of the pre-spinning processes before the adoption of the carding engine. Light is also thrown on the issue of technological transfer, shown to be a 'wide' process requiring the learning of manufacturing as well as machine-making skills.     

Three-component a.c. E-field observations during the rocket and scatter experiment in 1988–1989 under radar auroral conditions in northern Scandinavia

During the ROSE (ROcket and Scatter Experiments) campaigns of 1988–1989 in northern Scandinavia a newly designed spherical probe (short name: KUSO, KUgelSOnde) was used to determine, in the frequency range 120–3500 Hz, the three components of the a.c. electric field being present under radar auroral conditions in the auroral E-region. Different from the normally utilized large d.c. double probes observing potential differences, the small (d = 23 cm) metallized KUSO probe measured the a.c. currents flowing through the sphere. These are mainly determined by the a.c. electric field existing in the surrounding plasma, and by the resitivity of the (small) Debye layer around its surface. Thus, if the relevant parameters are measured at the same time on one rocket the required a.c. E-field vectors can be deduced. With the aid of a simultaneously recording star sensor the rocket attitude could further be traced back to a non-rotating ground-based coordinate system. Afterwards the directions of the oscillating E-fields were deduced, both in the plane perpendicular to the Earth's magnetic (H-)field and relative to the H-field vector at the same time. The frequency distributions of these directions for about every second of flight time, for example, of more than 8000 E-field vectors contained in one such distribution, are discussed. Moreover, using FFT analyses, the spectral energy distributions of the total a.c. E-fields are obtained for the different heights. Different smaller spectral ranges of the E-field could be synthesized within the total bandwidth. The results of all the analyses are compared with the STARE, the EISCAT and the d.c. E-field observations. The electron densities measured by the Digital Impedance Probe (DIP) are also presented.     

Electric field sources in the quiet plasmasphere from whistler observations

Existing evidence for the ionospheric dynamo being the source of quiet time electric fields in the plasmasphere is reviewed. Part of a 24 h set of whistler data recorded continuously at Sanae, Antarctica (L = 4), during quiet magnetic (average K_p = 1) is analysed to obtain westward electric fields in the equatorial plane. These electric fields are examined as a function of L-value in order to infer their source. It is found that for periods of outward flow of plasma during the noon-midnight local time period, the electric fields are consistent with the dominant source being the ionospheric dynamo. There is some evidence that during the evening period of inward flow the electric fields are magnetospheric in origin, although this could also be consistent with a refined dynamo model. The observed whistler duct convection patterns do not fit either of two theoretical models, which invoke a magnetospheric field but not a dynamo field.     

Middle atmospheric electrodynamics: status and future

Middle atmospheric electrodynamics is a field stimulated by the recent discovery that large electric fields may occasionally exist in the mesosphere and upper stratosphere. The measurements suggest V m⁻¹ magnitudes for these fields, which have been reported to occur in both horizontal and vertical configurations. Since they are usually confined within bounded height regions, they might be of local origin. Although the measurements are still considered controversial, the implications of such fields, if real, could be important. Should these fields persist in both space and time, they could perturb the global electric circuit with a component subject to modulation by phenomena related to solar activity. This might help explain the numerous correlations which exist for tropospheric electrical response to solar and geomagnetic activity. Further work is now required to validate the earlier findings and determine the morphology and extent of the large electric fields. Experiments must also be derived and conducted to determine the physical origin of such fields and their relationships to external influences, such as magnetospheric electric fields and tropospheric thunderstorms. The current status of results regarding V m⁻¹ fields in the middle atmosphere is reviewed in perspective with the more widely accepted electric field structure established for this region from balloon and rocket data. Other factors such as ion conductivity, ion mobility and aerosols are also considered for their potential influence on the middle atmospheric electrical environment.     

A MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF FARM OUTPUT IN SELECTED LAND-REFORM AREAS OF JAMAICA

The claim of many that certain features of Jamaican land reform discourage optimum increases in farm output has been pointed out. To test the argument, seven land-reform features, which meet methodological, theoretical, and practical restrictions, have been examined. An hypothesis derived mainly from agricultural- economic theory about the linear relation between each of the seven features and farm output per acre has been devised. The hypotheses have been tested with a multiple regression analysis of data from six land settlements selected to represent a variety of geographic settings. The hypotheses have been partially upheld, but must be revised in the following form: (1) in many cases, particularly in the early years of production, farm acreage is negatively related to output per acre; (2) in subsistence areas, where great diversity in agriculture is common, greater diversification leads to greater output per acre; (3) in most cases where farmers live an appreciable distance from their holdings (at least 0.3 miles), output per acre is negatively related to the distance; (4) output per acre declines as the age of operator increases, but only if the operator is mainly dependent on his own labour, and only after a relatively advanced age (60 years, perhaps) has been attained; (5) the number of a farmer's dependents does not affect output (gross income per acre); (6) a farmer's non-farm income does not exhibit a negative relation to output per acre, and may be positively related if the outside income can be used to purchase productive farm inputs; (7) in some cases acreage of additional land used is positively related to output per acre on settlement properties. Hopefully, further research will lead to a more rational basis for the formulation of these hypotheses. Using the regression equations, estimates have been made of the changes in output per acre which could have been achieved with feasible changes in relevant factors. Estimates indicate that current farm output could have been greatly increased in some settlements, thus justifying some of the criticism of Jamaican land reform.     

The ‘French’ mill in medieval Tuscany

At the beginning of the thirteenth century the territory of Florence possessed three types of grain mill: the floating mill, found particularly on the River Arno in the immediate vicinity of the city of Florence itself; the suspension mill, located on the Arno as well as the free-flowing Elsa to the southwest; and the horizontal mill situated primarily along the streams throughout the Florentine countryside. The floating mill and suspension mill were run predominantly by the Vitruvian gearing system while the horizontal mill was operated by the apparently less efficient ritrecine or horizontal walerwheel. An examination of the notarial chartularies lodged in the Archivio di Stato of Florence shows that after 1250 the Florentines, while incorporating northern- European methods for the manufacture of woolen cloth, began to use overshot and undershot mills, the former being designated as French and the latter as orbital. The orbital mill was constructed along the banks of navigable rivers like the Arno and the Elsa and soon was partly responsible for the disappearance of the floating mill. The French mill, on the other hand, was located by the erratic torrents of the hills and mountains of the countryside. It did not by any means replace the horizontal mill. In many cases, it simply became part of a pre-existing complex housing a ritrecine. In others, particularly in the latter half of the fourteenth century, there was a successful symbiosis of the principal mechanisms of the overshot and horizontal types, creating the French horizontal mill. By the end of the fourteenth century the territory of Florence thus had five types of grain mill and thereby anticipated the basic milling technology of the High Italian Renaissance as illustrated in Agostino Ramelli's compendium of machines completed in 1588.     

Geophysical Investigations at Teotepec,Mexico (1000 B.C.–A.D. 1000)

Abstract

Recent investigations at the site of Teotepec in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas in southern Veracruz, Mexico explored Middle Formative through Late Classic (1000 B.C.–A.D. 1000) socioeconomic conditions. A central focus was the form and function of the site's distinctive architectural configuration, the Long Plaza Group. During the 2007 and 2008 field seasons, a systematic geophysical survey of Teotepec obtained initial information on the layout, orientation, and possible function of the site's central architectural core. Results from the survey allow for a clear definition of the site's Long Plaza Group in addition to the identification of a possible ball court along its eastern edge. It is also clear that Teotepecans incorporated natural features into their architectural core by placing a pyramid atop a volcanic landform and modifying a natural basalt flow in order to create a level plaza. Finally, the geophysical data indicate significant time depth in architectural construction by suggesting diffirent mound construction techniques, thus underscoring the importance of Teotepec as a persistent place in a region marked by significant population fluctuations in the Formative and Classic periods.     

The effect of mid-latitude electron precipitation on the geoelectric field

A simple model is outlined to describe electron precipitation from the population of charged particles trapped in the Earth's magnetic field; almost all of the precipitation is shown to occur in the region of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA). When the effect of a dawn-to-dusk electric field across the magnetosphere is included in the model, a diurnal modulation of the precipitated electron flux is predicted. Experimental evidence which supports the diurnal modulation model is described; the measurements which are discussed are principally those from University of Houston rocket payloads flown in the region dominated by the SAA. The resulting diurnal variation in atmospheric conductivity in the SAA is shown to be such that it could account for part of the daily UT variation in the geoelectric field. The observed seasonal variation in the pattern of geoelectric field modulation is also shown to be consistent with the proposed source of the daily variation. The difficulty of altering global conductivity by intense ionization of the mesosphere is discussed and the point is made that further in situ investigation of the Antarctic mesosphere is needed.     

The investigation of electromagnetic interactions between regions surrounding the Earth—2. Results of the numerical simulation

A numerical simulation of the penetration of the global atmospheric electric field from the troposphere into the ionosphere has been performed. The numerical model, which we use here, has been described in paper 1 (Kuznetsov et al., 1995). Evaluations of the amplitude of the electric mode penetrating into the upper regions, which depends on the frequency, the characteristic spatial scale of the field and the wave electric field orientation relative to the geomagnetic field have been made using realistic models of the anisotropic conductivity. We show that in an inhomogeneous medium the high-altitude behaviour of the electric mode is characterized by the appearance of regions with either vertical or horizontal currents being dominant. The possibility of using an analogy with the laws for calculating the currents in different regions, namely Kirchhoff's laws for circuits with lumped parameters, is demonstrated. Characteristics of the magnetic modes excited in the ionosphere due to the action of the penetrating atmospheric electric fields are also described.