The Iranian Nuclear Challenge

In December 2003 Iran signed an Additional Protocol to its Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Authority. The signing followed 18 months of mounting international pressure on Iran to prove its benign motives following revelations about past failures to declare work on uranium enrichment and plutonium separation–the two routes to producing nuclear weapons-grade material. Although Iran has strenuously denied having a nuclear weapons programme, both the United States and the European Union have been highly suspicious. However, their responses to Iran have shown a divergence in how to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The way forward on Iran will be influenced significantly by the extent to which the American and European approaches can be reconciled or otherwise.     

The Hornby Castle Estates: Agrarian change from the 1582 Survey to the 1751 Sederunt

Abstract

English Catholicism has generally been ignored by mainstream historiography. In the last decade work on the early seventeenth century has shown that English Catholics actively engaged in ensuring their own survival and played a prominent part in national politics. Catholicism in the latter half of the century has received no such attention. Using a case study of the Lancashire Catholic, William Blundell, from the Civil War period to his death in 1698, it will be argued that by manipulating existing power structures and creating networks of both Protestants and Catholics who protected him, he was able to avoid the extremes of the penal laws and assert an influence on local and national affairs. Despite his professions of loyalty, many of his activities in support of English Catholicism and religious houses abroad posed a direct threat to the Protestant regimes under which he lived.     

Evaluating the Relationship between Ceramic Wall Thickness and Heating Effectiveness,Fuel Efficiency,and Thermal Shock Resistance

ABSTRACT

In 1983, David Braun proposed that a shift from thicker- to thinner-walled cooking vessels in the midwestern United States was triggered by an increased dietary reliance on starchy grains (Braun 1983). Drawing on well-established principles of materials science (Van Vlack 1964), he suggested that, compared to thicker-walled vessels, thinner-walled ones would have been more thermally efficient and less likely to break from thermal shock. These attributes, he suggested, would have been advantageous for preparing seeds and grains that require lengthy cooking periods. Although consistent with materials science principles, Braun’s proposition has never been tested. In this paper, we present results of experiments undertaken to evaluate the relative cooking efficiency of thin- versus thick-walled vessels and consider the implications of these findings for understanding traditional ceramic technologies.     

The consequences of Wari contact in the Nasca region during the Middle Horizon: archaeological,skeletal, and isotopic evidence

During the Middle Horizon (AD 650–1000), the Wari polity expanded its sphere of control in various regions of the Andes, including Nasca on the south coast of Peru. The nature of the interaction between Wari and local communities varied. This study explores the consequences of Wari contact in the Nasca region at the site of La Tiza, which includes individuals dated to the Early Intermediate, Middle Horizon, and Late Intermediate periods. Using evidence for burial ritual along with demographic, paleopathological and isotopic data, population composition, mobility, diet, and health are investigated. δ¹³C data indicate a relatively stable diet through time at La Tiza with evidence for continued maize consumption, and paleopathological results indicate health problems associated with this type of diet. δ¹⁸O and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr data suggest that most of the individuals buried at La Tiza were local to the area. However, two female adults from the Middle Horizon burials are characterized as nonlocal based on δ¹⁸O and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values and several individuals overlap with the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr local range for the Wari heartland. In conjunction with the use of new tomb types during this period these results highlight the ideological and populational changes occurring with Wari contact at La Tiza.     

Mind and nature the physical geography of Alexander Von Humboldt

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Foundations of Climatology. By E. T. Stringer, xiii+586 pp., 194 illustrations. Techniques of Climatology. By E. T. Stringer, xiii+539 pp. 124 illustrations. Both books 10 1/4×7 3/4: W. H. Freeman, Reading, 1972. £6.30.

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

Land, work and resources: an introduction to economic geography. By J. H. Paterson. 15 × 22.75 cms: xiv + 266 pp. 43 maps and diagrams. Edward Arnold, London, 1972. £3.60 (boards), £1.80 (paper).

A Geography of Trade and Development in Malaya. By P. P. Courtenay. 7 1/2 × 5 1/4, xii+286 pp., 28 maps, and 52 tables. Bell's Advanced Economic Geographies, London, 1972. £3.

SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Population Geography and the Developing Countries. By John I. Clarke. 8 1/4 × 5 3/4, xiii+282 pp., 43 ilust. Pergamon, Oxford, 1971. £1.75.

Cities and Immigrants. By David Ward, 9 1/4×6 1/4, xv+164 pp., 24 figures, 27 photographs, 17 tables, Bibliography, index. Oxford University Press, London 1971. £3.

REGIONAL

The Greeks how they live and work. By T. R. B. Dicks. 8 3/4 × 5 3/4, 175 pp., 16 illust. David &; Charles. Newton Abbot, 1972. £2.25.

Melanesia: a geographical interpretation of an island world. By H. C. Brookfield with Doreen Hart. 9 1/2×6 1/2, lx+463 pp., 76 figures, 46 tables, 24 plates, indexes. Methuen, London, 1971. £6.25.

Africa and Its Explorers. Edited by Robert I. Rotberg. 9 1/2×6 1/2, 351pp. London, Oxford University Press, 1971. £3.75.

Scandinavia. By B. Fullerton and A. F. Williams. 9×6, xiv+374 pp., 64 maps and diagrams 34 tables. Chatto &; Windus, London, 1972. £3.

EDUCATIONAL

Geography in Secondary Education. By N. J. Graves. 9 3/4 × 7 1/2 125 pp. 41 figs., References. Bibliographies. Geographical Association. Sheffield, 1971. 85p.     

Fracture‐focused fluid flow in an acid and redox‐influenced system: diagenetic controls on cement mineralogy and geomorphology in the Navajo Sandstone

Differential cement mineralogy is influenced by depositional textures, structural deformation, pore fluid chemistry, and ultimately influences landscape evolution by introducing heterogeneities in erodibility. In Southern Utah, the region West of the Kaibab uplift known as Mollies Nipple (Mollies) in Grand Staircase‐Escalante National Monument exhibits a complex history of fluid–sediment interactions, which has resulted in a localized zone of anomalous diagenetic iron sulfate (jarosite) mineralogy in a well‐exposed dune–interdune deposit within the Navajo Sandstone. Mineralogy and geochemistry of cements within this region are examined using reflectance and imaging spectroscopy, field investigations, microscopy, and whole‐rock geochemical analyses. These data show that the in‐situ jarosite cement is localized to a plane along the highest ridge of the butte, providing an armor along with other secondary cements, which controls the butte's geomorphic evolution. The jarosite cement is associated with other mineralogies suggesting that the sulfate was one of the latest fluid‐related precipitates in the paragenetic sequence. It was preceded by a regional bleaching event, precipitation of clay cements, some localized concretionary iron oxide precipitation, and formation of deformation bands. At least one generation of dense iron oxide mineralization is associated with cataclastic brittle deformation predating the sulfate precipitation. Trace element geochemistry of cements shows certain metal oxide populations associated with extremely high (>2000 ppm) arsenic values. We interpret the combination of spatial mineral distribution, observed paragenetic sequence, and trace element geochemistry to suggest this region experienced acid sulfate diagenesis along fracture‐controlled fluid conduits related to weathering of proximal, unidentified, sulfides, or H₂S associated with deep source beds. Jarosite is highly soluble, and its presence suggests that abundant fluid flow has not occurred in this region since its formation. This terminal cement‐forming event must have occurred prior to sandstone exhumation and erosion to form the current extreme landscape at Mollies. This site exhibits the influence that fluid geochemistry, sedimentary mineralogy, and structural fabric have on geomorphic evolution.