Preliminary Report on the Excavation of the 17th-Century Anglo-Dutch East-Indiaman Avondster in Bay of Galle, Sri Lanka

The Avondster was a 17th century British ship captured by the Dutch and used by the United Dutch East India Company (VOC) trading with Asia until it was wrecked in Galle Harbour, Sri Lanka in 1659. The shipwreck was found in 1997 to be in very good condition but under threat from development in the harbour. From 2001–2004 an archaeological project was implemented by the Dutch/Sri Lankan Mutual Heritage Centre. The aims were to record and recover important cultural material as well as to build up the capacity of a Sri Lankan Maritime Archaeology Unit for implementing future work.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Viking woollen square-sails and fabric cover factor

The discovery of the five scuttled Viking ships of Roskilde Fjord in Denmark and the subsequent excavation, preservation and analysis of the remains has initiated a programme of reconstructive archaeology led by the Viking Ship Museum of Roskilde in which four of the five hulls have now been reconstructed together with their rigs and square-sails. The reconstruction of the sails has been based on fragments of heavy woollen cloth found within the roof of Trondenes church in Norway dating to the mid-13th century. This paper uses the'cover-factor' modelling methods of modern textile engineering to analyse the'Viking' sail fabrics and assess their strength, resilience and performance in comparison with the linen sails from the wreck of the Vasa .     

Neural Network Modeling of Constrained Spatial Interaction Flows: Design, Estimation, and Performance Issues

In this paper a novel modular product unit neural network architecture is presented to model singly constrained spatial interaction flows. The efficacy of the model approach is demonstrated for the origin constrained case of spatial interaction using Austrian interregional telecommunication traffic data. The model requires a global search procedure for parameter estimation, such as the Alopex procedure. A benchmark comparison against the standard origin constrained gravity model and the two–stage neural network approach, suggested by Openshaw (1998), illustrates the superiority of the proposed model in terms of the generalization performance measured by ARV and SRMSE.     

Enhancing spatial learning and mobility training of visually impaired people—a technical paper on the Internet-based tactile and audio-tactile mapping

Thanks to advances in technology such as Internet-based mapping and the development of special inks, papers and global positioning systems, map making for vision impaired people can provide a range of products (e.g., tactile, haptic and audio-tactile maps) that can improve their independence, self-confidence and everyday life. The applications of tactile maps include learning spatial concepts and geography; audio-tactile maps combined with access to geospatial information can enhance mobility and independence. In 1998, the Mapping Services Branch (MSB) of the Earth Sciences Sector of Natural Resources Canada initiated a tactile mapping program. Now referred to as the Government on Line—Mapping for the Visually Impaired Project (Natural Resources Canada 2003a), it aims to serve the community with special needs, with emphasis on those who are blind or visually impaired, their teachers and mobility instructors. This technical paper discusses the various types of tactile and audio-tactile maps of Canada developed by the MSB in cooperation with its partners and describe the current research and development activities carried out within the project. It also leads the reader to further information on audio-tactile maps and touch- and sound-based computer interfaces.     

The origins of university education in KwaZulu-Natal: The Natal University College 1909–19491

Public demand for university facilities in the then Colony of Natal began to gather momentum from the mid-nineteenth century. The Natal University College that was eventually launched in 1909/1910 in Pietermaritzburg and extended to Durban during the 1920s was characterised by three prominent features: First, it was initially affiliated to the University of the Cape of Good Hope and, in 1918, became a constituent college of the University of South Africa before maturing to become the independent University of Natal in March 1949. Second, the College remained an exclusively white institution until 1936 when the ‘Natal Experiment’ was launched in the form of separate classes for so-called ‘Non-Europeans’. Third, competition between Pietermaritzburg and Durban was seemingly resolved in 1928 by mutual acceptance of the principle of duality but a dual campus structure had serious implications with regard to the equitable distribution of limited financial and other resources. Since 1949 the multi-campus concept has been expanded. The present-day University of KwaZulu-Natal, established in January 2004, has a fivecampus structure, with four sites in greater Durban in addition to the original base in Pietermaritzburg. It is also multi-racial and of mixed gender with regard both to its student and staff complement.     

Reaping ‘rewards’ in sickle use-wear analysis

Recently in their research Goodale et al. (2010) as well as that of Vardi et al. (2010) independently tackled issues of effectively measuring attrition/gloss rates on sickle blade tools from Southwest Asia. Interestingly, while applying new methodology to analyzing sickle tools from different cultural and temporal contexts, these two papers arrived at a similar conclusion: sickle tools were likely very expensive to make, and thus, considerations were made during their production to ensure long use-lives to benefit the people who made and used them in prehistory. Stemp et al. (in this issue) provide a methodological critique of both studies. In addressing their critique we make several points. First it is important to note that Stemp et al. provide no new experimental analysis to justify their assertions, and their critique is ultimately, at best, guesswork. Second, the minimal reanalysis of the data Stemp et al. do conduct arguably lead to the same preliminary conclusion at which we originally arrived: the prehistoric sickle blades we examined were used longer than those we replicated. As stated in our original paper, lithic use-wear studies often do not address issue of reliable and reproducible methods. We believe that our original study helps fill this missing component, and that measuring edge thickness is much less subjective than conventional features on stone tools traditionally identified microscopically. From our perspective, Stemp et al. present largely unsupported critical commentary, lacking substantial reanalysis or experiments to complement or justify their commentary. In the end Stemp et al. provide little more than interesting ideas and conjecture.     

Urban research and child-friendly cities: a new Australian outline

Recent public debates about Australia's children and young people have begun to acknowledge the direct impact of urban development on their health and well-being. This paper reviews a broad range of trans-disciplinary literature addressing child-friendliness in contemporary Australian cities, drawing particular attention to the fact that even some of the most recognised texts on children and young people in Australia still make few references in their analysis to the issue of place and neighbourhood. More specifically, the paper points to two particular research challenges confronting the ongoing study of young people's well-being in urban areas, including (a) the need for a more thorough analysis, both conceptual and applied, about how children and young people's well-being is affected by different urban forms and by the social and ecological variations that occur throughout cities; and (b) the focus on younger children needs to be complemented by a focus on adolescents and young adults who in turn need to be actively involved in confronting these challenges.     

The Making of “World‐Class” Delhi: Relations Between Street Hawkers and the New Middle Class

Urban India is undergoing transformation as formal electoral politics increasingly favors the new middle class. Scholarship tends to compartmentalize the politics of the new middle class and the poor, and this article focuses on inter‐class relations. By focusing on relations between street hawkers and the new middle class in Delhi, I show that rather than engaging in zero‐sum conflicts over urban space, conflict is typically over the terms of its use. The analysis shows that these classes are interdependent; the poor depend on the new middle class for their livelihoods, and the lifestyles of new middle class are enabled by services provided by the poor. While the poor enable and participate in Delhi's transformation into a so‐called “world‐class” city, the reconciliation of competing visions of urbanization—one geared toward social reproduction and the other subsistence—is what is at stake in contemporary inter‐class relations.