Medieval shipbuilding in Catalonia,Spain (13th–15th centuries): one principle,different processes

Late medieval shipbuilding in Catalonia followed the Mediterranean trend in adopting a frame‐first shipbuilding principle with planking placed edge‐to‐edge. The predetermination of frame shapes using moulds had modified the construction process, as seen in the 11th‐century Serçe Liman? vessel with the use of a series of moulds, and 13th‐century Culip VI, with the use of a master mould, rising square and rule. Between the 13th and 15th centuries all known Mediterranean shipwrecks were built using the master‐mould method, but other factors caused variation in the construction process—not the principle—as exemplified by the 14th‐century Les Sorres X built with two overlain keel timbers.     

The Holy War in Syria: Cemal Pasha and the Ottoman Plan to conquer Egypt in the First World War

This article aims to analyse the importance of the Egyptian campaign to Ottoman policy in the First World War. It seeks to add to our knowledge of the Ottoman war experience by putting the focus on the empire’s preparations for conquering Egypt and by giving priority to understand the aims of the expedition. The expedition itself is placed within the context of the jihad policy adopted at the beginning of the war and which sought to put an end to the Entente’s colonial domination of Muslim countries. The Ottomans’ propaganda initiatives in support of the measures were meant to motivate support among the Syrian population through the idea of holy war.     

Models for Pore Pressure Response of Low Plastic Fines Subjected to Repeated Loads

Cyclic pore pressure response of low plastic fines is examined with regard to factors influencing overall behavior of such soils under repeated loads. A model for pore pressure generation under repeated loads and another model for relationship between cyclic pore pressure and straining are proposed. The models are developed in consideration of an extended database generated through a comprehensive literature review. The models are evaluated based on the comparisons between predicted and measured pore pressure responses.     

Contouring the Cataclysm: A Geographical Analysis of the Effects of the Minoan Eruption of the Santorini Volcano

This study is a step forward in understanding the palaeoenvironmental effects of the Minoan eruption of Santorini (1627–1600 BCE). We employ geostatistics to produce a prediction map for the thickness of the tephra fallout over the Eastern Mediterranean, and we reconstruct the effects by comparisons with recent eruption analogues. Based on the geostatistical map, the amount of environmental disruption over so far undocumented areas is estimated by comparison with archaeological sites where emplaced Minoan tephra has been recorded before. Nevertheless, independent field evidence suggest that the environment responded differently in places, occasionally posing challenges to the presented interpolation. A second line of evidence coming from contemporaneous fluvial archives provides clues for a widespread ‘Minoan flood’ over a large part of the Eastern Mediterranean, associated with the eruption itself. This simultaneous hydrological event may have had a counterbalancing effect on the impacts of the Minoan tephra cover, and could explain the sporadic discrepancies between the predicted effects and the palaeoenvironmental evidence. Traces of the effects of this extraordinary volcanic event are also sought in the regional Late Bronze Age literature.     

Where does all the talent flow? Migration of young graduates and nongraduates,Canada 1996–2001

It has recently been suggested that cities and regions should focus upon attracting talented individuals as a means to develop. Such a suggestion implies two things: first that it is possible to meaningfully alter migration flows by way of local policy, and second that these flows have an effect on local growth (and not the reverse as has generally been admitted). In this paper, we begin to investigate the empirical foundations of such assertions by examining some structural determinants of graduate migration flows by comparing them, in a gravity model context, to flows of nongraduates. Our contention is that, if migration flows are structured by such factors, then policies aimed at modifying flows—and any research purporting to give such policy advice—must first take them into account. We show that migration flows are strongly dependent on basic gravity variables such as size and distance, but that these and other variables (such as income differences, presence of graduates and border effects) do not affect all flows equally. Furthermore, we show that certain factors that are assumed to be local (such as wage levels) in fact only operate at a provincial level. Thus policies implemented locally may have little or no effect if they are manipulating factors that operate at a different scale.     

The Cold War's cultural ecosystem: angry young men in British and Soviet cinema, 1953–1968

Using examples from postwar British and Soviet cinema, this article interprets European Cold War culture within the framework of a shared cultural ecosystem. The case study of reformist movements in 1950s and 1960s British and Soviet cinema makes clear that analogous sociopolitical and economic developments across postwar Europe inspired film heroes, narratives, and aesthetics that transcended national and ideological borders. The concept of a continent-wide cultural ecosystem elucidates how and why specific cultural phenomena—such as the figure of the “angry young man”—reflect an existence of a dynamic trans-systemic Cold War culture.     

A multi-analytical approach to characterize an Early Bronze Age cosmetic material from Müslümantepe,Southeastern Anatolia

The present paper reports the chemical and mineralogical composition of a black pigment material contained in a Syrian Bottle-shaped vessel excavated on an Early Bronze Age grave in Müslümantepe, a site located at the right bank of the Tigris River in Southeastern Anatolia. A combination of different analytical tools like state-of-the-art non-destructive μ-XRD², μ-XRF and μ-Raman spectroscopy compared to classical powder XRD was used to characterize the content of the bottle. The results attest the presence of a manganese mineral (pyrolusite) most probably used for cosmetic purposes. This is the first evidence, which is scientifically tested, of the earliest use of cosmetics in the Upper Tigris of Southeastern Anatolia during the Early Bronze Age period, c. 2700–2550 bc.