Description of the Interior of a Chamber in a Castle

Excavation of a mound at the meeting place of Secklow Hundred, Bucks., suggested that it was built in the tenth century; the evidence from twelve other excavated meeting place mounds is discussed and it is suggested that mounds were often built specifically for that purpose.     

谋生在都市的边缘

这里纪录的,是那些从边远山区来到城市谋生的农民,他们处于城市的底层.     

Transformation of Istanbul from a monocentric to a polycentric city

This paper investigates the spatial transformation of Istanbul from a monocentric to a polycentric city following the growth of the city and the development of its communications systems. The population and employment of peripheral districts have been growing rapidly, while those of the core districts have decreased. In addition, other variables are utilized for the identification of polycentres such as tax revenues from commercial enterprises, weighted average trip length and volume of mail. The results of the study reveal that the old CBD of Istanbul is no longer a dominant employment centre. Instead, a new CBD is emerging at the intersection of the radial and the peripheral highways, and subcentres are developing in some of the first and second ring districts. A major contributing factor to Istanbul's polycentric development has been the transformation of its economy into one that requires large modem office space and facilities for private automobiles—both of which are difficult to provide within the old CBD. In addition, the construction of peripheral highways has contributed to a pattern of polycentric development. Moreover, there is a desperate need for planned development of these subcentres in order to prevent their current haphazard development and to give a character to the peripheral areas of Istanbul.     

Geographical testimony: a short history of a Yugoslav family

ABSTRACT

I attempt in this essay to travel outside of and beyond the more spectacular or established geopolitical discourses associated with research on post-conflict regions, and follow instead the trail of another more essential or everyday history and geography. Listening to and responding to the testimony of a single Yugoslav family, I draw from and write of memories of former places, initially returning to the traumatic moments of 1992, and a journey across Europe. In so doing, I reflect upon the use of testimony in geographical writing, positioning it as an inherently geographical psychoanalytic technique, which not only eases suffering in individuals and communities, but also offers new possibilities for societal change and transitional justice in post-conflict regions.     

寻找一条"照片上的公路"--二战史上著名的"24拐"在哪里

编者按: 春节后,接到戈叔亚的电话,他几乎是叫喊着告诉我:他在贵州找到了"24拐"!我把他的问题随便问了几个不同行业的人(非学者):"24拐"在哪里?他们几乎是异口同声地说:在怒江吧?或者是在澜沧江.许许多多的人,尤其是云南人对这条公路,大都是从书籍、杂志和报纸上得知的.50多年来,我们都没有亲眼见到这条路,但都相信了专家和媒体的"专业见解".实际上,不只是战后出生的人,甚至战争的当事者,也不全知道.于是,大家都错了.戈叔亚自嘲自己一开始就找错了方向.     

Study of a Ground-Motion Simulation Method using a Causality Relationship

The causality of natural ground motions is evaluated through statistical values for the phase difference. The causality is expressed in terms of the Hilbert transform relationship between the real and imaginary parts of the Fourier transform of the ground motion. We find that ground motions with a shorter duration have a higher degree of causality. Furthermore, we propose a ground-motion simulation algorithm that incorporates causality. The simulated ground motions, compatible with design response spectra, have almost the same spectrum conversion factors as those estimated from natural ground motions.     

The Power of Infrastructures: a Counternarrative and a Speculation

“Infrastructural power” refers to how states “penetrate” their societies and also how local organizations resist such attempts. This essay explores the latter sense of infrastructural power. First, it notes aspects of local power in ancient Mesopotamia, tracing the existence of councils and assemblies over about 3000 years and establishing the concept of a “heterarchy of power” in Mesopotamia, which is a counternarrative to assertions of totalitarian power by kings and central governments. There follows a cross-cultural review of selected other ancient cities and states in order to assess comparable and contrasting local organizations and degrees of infrastructural power. Finally, resistance to state power is explored, and a speculation about the qualities of stability and fragility of political power in early cities and states is advanced.     

Pollen analysis of a soil sample associated with a Greek cult statue as a guide to provenance

A Classical Greek cult statue of a Goddess, “Aphrodite”, currently on display in the J. Paul Getty Museum has recently been reclaimed by the Italian government. The statue is thought to have been sculpted between 425 and 400 B.C. in southern Italy or Sicily, but its provenance is obscure. Soil incorporated into the true right arm socket of the acrolithic statue at the time of burial was pollen analyzed to provide information on its geographic origin. Since palynomorphs are often not well preserved in soils, a preliminary study was undertaken to investigate preservation and abundance of palynomorphs to determine the potential benefits of undertaking further analyses. Although concentration was low, the soil contained sufficient pollen and spores to determine the environment in the vicinity of the burial site of the statue. The landscape had been cleared of natural arboreal vegetation and intensively cultivated. Juglans regia and cereals were cultivated, and pastoralism may have been practiced. A specific geographic location could not be inferred without comparative soil analyses.     

An eleventh-century exchange of letters between a Christian and a Jew

A determining factor in the relations between Jews and Christians in the middle ages was the attitude adopted by these two groups towards each other's religious beliefs and customs. One of the most important types of sources we have to gain insight into these attitudes is the reports of dispulations held between Christians and Jews. The significance of one such disputation will be examined here: the correspondence between Wecelin, a convert to Judaism, and Henry, a court cleric of Henry II of Germany, contained in the well-known De diversitate temporum of Alpert of Metz. In the course of this examination new ideas will be offered on the method of study necessary for a correct interpretation of Jewish-Christian polemics. An annotated translation of the exchange of letters between Wecelin and Henry follows.     

Lepidostrobus muelleri Johnston is a skull fragment of a temnospondyl amphibian

A fossil described as Lepidostrobus muelleri Johnston is referred to temnospondyl amphibians and is shown to have affinities with either the Rhinesuchidae or the Rhytidosteidae.     

An eleventh-century exchange of letters between a Christian and a Jew

A determining factor in the relations between Jews and Christians in the middle ages was the attitude adopted by these two groups towards each other's religious beliefs and customs. One of the most important types of sources we have to gain insight into these attitudes is the reports of dispulations held between Christians and Jews. The significance of one such disputation will be examined here: the correspondence between Wecelin, a convert to Judaism, and Henry, a court cleric of Henry II of Germany, contained in the well-known De diversitate temporum of Alpert of Metz. In the course of this examination new ideas will be offered on the method of study necessary for a correct interpretation of Jewish-Christian polemics. An annotated translation of the exchange of letters between Wecelin and Henry follows.     

Constructing a diocese in a post-conquest landscape: a comparative approach to the lay possession of tithes

This article explores how territorial conquest and consolidation of Muslim-ruled lands in the medieval Iberian Peninsula influenced the restoration and growth of frontier episcopal sees through an analysis of tithing. In comparing two neighbouring dioceses in the Crown of Aragon, Tortosa and Lleida, restored following the same mid-twelfth-century expedition with similar privileges yet differing frontier conditions, the study finds that the ability of dioceses to develop parishes and impose episcopal privileges was limited by conditions on the frontier which in turn conditioned the course and progress of seigniorial and royal territorial consolidation. In the wake of conquest, bishops in both Tortosa and Lleida often negotiated with lay lords who seized tithes on their lands in order to found and foster parishes. As the dioceses succeeded in developing their lands and the border with Islam was pushed further afield, willingness to compromise on tithe collection and permit lay retention of episcopal and parish revenues accordingly faded away. While bishoprics on the Iberian frontier did face special challenges with tithing created or influenced by their territorial environments not witnessed in the interior of Christendom, the temporary deviations from canonical provisions necessitated by these special conditions did not usually result in enduring differences in episcopal tithing practices.     

Kriging the Local Risk of a Rare Disease from a Register of Diagnoses

A substantial problem in studying the geographical epidemiology of rare noncontagious diseases is to estimate the risks of their development within populations. A geostatistical solution is described and illustrated by a case study of cancer among children in the West Midlands of England for the years 1980 to 1984 inclusive. Data consist of the numbers of diagnosed cases of cancer and of healthy children in each of 838 electoral wards, the centroids of which are known accurately. The rate of incidence or frequency, equal to the number of cases divided by the number of children, is a binomial variable and is treated as a realization of the underlying risk of a child's developing the disease that varies from place to place. The experimental variogram of the frequency was computed using the standard formulation. The variogram of the risk was obtained from it taking into account the numbers of children at risk and the error associated with each observed frequency. The variogram of the risk increased monotonically from 0 at zero lag to about 50 kilometers, and it was modeled as Whittle's two-dimensional elementary correlation function. The covariances of frequency and cross-covariances between the frequency and the risk were derived from it, and these were then used together with the data to krige the risk and map it. The risk of developing the disease is shown to have a patchy distribution, strongly autocorrelated at the regional scale of the investigation.