Geodateninfrastrukturen in der Praxis

Geodateninfrastrukturen sollen den Zugang zu und die Nutzung von Geoinformationen besser und effektiver gestalten und dadurch den einen Markt für Geoinformationen etablieren, in dem sowohl Massendaten, wie auch spezielle Informationen im Sinne problemspezifischer Auskünfte nachgefragt und im Idealfall auch abgerechnet werden k?nnen. Auf verschiedenen Organisationsstufen und in unterschiedlichen fachlichen Zusammenh?ngen werden zur Zeit internetbasierte Geodateninfrastrukturen (GDI) aufgebaut. Sie orientieren sich an den internationalen Standards des Open GIS Consortium (OGC) und der Internationalen Standardisierungsorganisation (ISO). Eine wichtige Voraussetzung für das Gelingen der Initiativen ist, da? sie nicht nur Top-Down von staatlichen Instanzen eingerichtet und betrieben werden, sondern auch Elemente kooperierender Bottom-Up-Entwicklung enthalten und vor allem alle potentiellen Nutzer einer GDI, von Datenanbietern über -veredlern und Software-Herstellern bis hin zu Endkunden, einbeziehen. Der Beitrag stellt den aktuellen Stand der Entwicklung und wichtige aktuelle Beispiele in der Praxis dar.     

From 'neighbourhood watch group' to community?: The case of ASEAN institutions and the pooling of sovereignty

The term 'intergovernmental neighbourhood watch group' reflects best the character of ASEAN as a grouping whose members are only loosely associated, and whose preferences for cooperation are based on the 'ASEAN way' of informality, personalised rather than institutionalised relations, and distrust of definite and legally binding commitments. This paper argues that central ASEAN mechanisms and institutions are moulded in the traditional ASEAN way and are therefore not capable of effectively promoting ASEAN's objectives of deeper economic and political integration. Most recent developments in ASEAN suggest that political disunity and nation-centred navel-gazing continue to restrict rather than enhance ASEAN's capability to pool sovereignty and to engage in institutionalised community-building. This trend reinforces the legacy of an ASEAN identity based on the delimiting rather than integrative principles of the 'ASEAN way' and leaves ASEAN with the problem of how to integrate without actually integrating.     

Confiscated commerce: American importers of German synthetic organic chemicals, 1914–1929

Prior to World War I, the United States possessed virtually no synthetic organic chemicals industry, relying instead on importations of dyes and pharmaceuticals from Germany. For decades, the German companies had representatives in the United States that employed personnel who were skilled in the technical and sales aspects of synthetic organic chemicals. The war brought a steep decline in the importing business and also an outburst of anti‐German hysteria that directly affected the importers, many of whom were of German descent. As a result, many of the skilled employees found employment in the nascent domestic industry, providing an unusual case study in technology transfer.     

Dating the Trollesgave site and the Bromme culture – chronological fix-points for the Lateglacial settlement of Southern Scandinavia

The Bromme culture belongs to the Lateglacial, the period when people settled in the recently deglaciated Southern Scandinavia. Until now there have been only a few imprecise fix-points relating to the chronological position of this archaeological culture. This situation can now be improved with the aid of research results from a Bromme culture settlement at Trollesgave in SE Denmark. Using pollen and plant macrofossil data, Lateglacial lacustrine deposits containing waste material from the settlement can be assigned to the end of the climatically mild Allerød period. A series of ¹⁴C dates establishes the age of the settlement as c. 10 826 ± 49 ¹⁴C years BP (12 871–12 590 cal yr BP). By correlation with climate data from the Greenland ice cores, the occupation can be assigned to the early part of the cold climatic zone GS-1, thus demonstrating that the global ice-core climate zones are not absolutely synchronous with the regional division into biozones.     

Stories about building history told by wooden elements – case studies from Eastern Austria

The intention of this article is to show the benefit of an interdisciplinary approach within the various disciplines of building research (architectural archeology, art history, archive research, dendrochronology, etc.).

The exact determination of the age of historical timber is undoubtedly the most important contribution of dendrochronology to building research. The significance of dendrochronological dates is discussed in detail—problems of reuse, repair, drying time, and differences between felling and building dates are demonstrated. Several case studies in Eastern Austria showed a difference of two to four years between felling and building.

To answer questions of where the timber came from, dendroprovenancing was introduced to Eastern Austria. First results showed that it will be possible to differentiate the origin of timber between Eastern Austria and regions where rafts started towards Vienna, via the river Danube. The results showed that it is important to combine building archaeology and archival analyses with the dendrochronological results.     

Neutron imaging study of ‘pattern-welded’ swords from the Viking Age

We present novel imaging results from a non-invasive examination of three ‘pattern-welded’ swords from the Viking Age belonging to the National Museum of Denmark, using white beam and energy resolved tomographies with neutrons. Pattern-welded blades are made by forge welding together thin strips of iron and steel that were twisted and joined in various ways, producing a decorative pattern on the surface. The study shed light on the inner structure of the composite material and manufacturing techniques of these admired examples of past technology, revealing some otherwise invisible details of their assembly methods, phase distribution and extent of the corrosion.     

The Sky Came Down: Social Movements and Personhood in Mekeo Society1

This paper argues that the Mekeo cargo-cult centered on a young woman named Filo has to be understood in relation to local models of personhood and Mekeo social organization. It is argued that colonization brought a split between these two spheres of social life causing the movement, while the specific form taken by the movement has to be seen in relation to Mekeo models of personhood. Furthermore, the paper traces the social changes brought about by this movement to present day cargo activities that incorporate God, Jesus, The Virgin Mary and the Saints. Lastly it analyses how these beliefs compete for social hegemony with more traditionalist practices centered around the Mekeo sorcery complex.