Bridging Top Down and Bottom Up: Modelling Community Preferences for a Dispersed Rural Settlement Pattern

This paper explores the scope to bridge top-down and bottom-up perspectives on spatial planning by drawing on EU-funded action research in relation to rural settlement planning in Northern Ireland. The empirical work is located within a review of planning theory that exposes a long running tension between the technocratic stances of government planners and the aspirations of engaged citizens. It demonstrates the operation of a large group planning methodology that delivers community preference with environmental responsibility as a participatory input into planning policy formulation. Transferable insights into the dynamics of spatial planning are identified.     

Investigating the resetting of OSL signals in rock surfaces

There are many examples of buried rock surfaces whose age is of interest to geologists and archaeologists. Luminescence dating is a potential method which can be applied to dating such surfaces; as part of a research project which aims to develop such an approach, the degree of resetting of OSL signals in grains and slices from five different cobbles/boulders collected from a modern beach is investigated. All the rock surfaces are presumed to have been exposed to daylight for a prolonged period of time (weeks to years). Feldspar was identified as the preferred dosimeter because quartz extracts were insensitive. Dose recovery tests using solar simulator and IR diodes on both K-feldspar grains and solid slices taken from the inner parts of the rocks are discussed. Preheat plateau results using surface grains and slices show that significant thermal transfer in naturally bleached samples can be avoided by keeping preheat temperatures low. Equivalent doses from surface K-feldspar grains were highly scattered and much larger than expected (0.02 Gy to >100 Gy), while solid surface slices gave more reproducible small doses (mean = 0.17±0.02 Gy, n = 32). Neither crushing nor partial bleaching were found to be responsible for the large scattered doses from grains, nor did the inevitable contribution from Na-feldspar to the signal from solid slices explain the improved reproducibility in the slices. By modelling the increase of luminescence signal with distance into the rock surface, attenuation factors were derived for two samples. These indicate that, for instance, bleaching at a depth of 2 mm into these samples occurs at about ∼28% of the rate at the surface. We conclude that it should be possible to derive meaningful burial doses of >1 Gy from such cobbles; younger samples would probably require a correction for incomplete bleaching.     

Evaluating Polygon Overlay to Support Spatial Optimization Coverage Modeling

Minimizing costs and maximizing coverage are important goals in many planning contexts. These goals often necessitate an abstraction of a continuous demand region, resulting in potential errors when applying traditional coverage models. To reduce coverage errors caused by spatial abstraction, a number of spatial representation schemes have been proposed and applied. A new representation scheme using polygon overlay recently received much attention because potentially it can eliminate representation errors in coverage modeling. However, this overlay‐based approach is computationally challenging in terms of both the generation of demand units and the complexity of the resulting coverage model. This article investigates the operational and computational challenges of polygon overlay for delineating continuous demand in coverage models, an issue that has yet to be fully explored. We present a theoretical evaluation of the computational complexity associated with representation using polygon overlay in coverage modeling. Evaluations of two study regions provide empirical support for the computational complexity analysis. The analysis results provide insight regarding expected problem size and computational requirements if polygon overlay is relied upon to delineate demand unit boundaries in coverage modeling. La minimización de costos y la maximización de la cobertura espacial son objetivos importantes en muchos contextos de planificación. Estas metas a menudo requieren una abstracción de una región continua de demanda , dando lugar a posibles errores en la aplicación de modelos de cobertura tradicionales. Para reducir los errores de cobertura provocadas por la abstracción, la comunidad académica ha propuesto y aplicado una serie de esquemas de representación espacial. Recientemente un nuevo esquema de representación que utiliza la superposición de polígonos ha recibido mucha atención porque potencialmente puede eliminar los errores de representación en el modelado de la cobertura. Sin embargo, este enfoque es computacionalmente difícil, tanto en términos de la generación de unidades de demanda, como en la complejidad del modelo de cobertura resultante. Este artículo investiga los retos operacionales y de cómputo de la superposición de polígonos para delinear la región continua de demanda en los modelos de cobertura, un problema que aún no se ha explorado a fondo. Se presenta una evaluación teórica de la complejidad computacional asociada a la representación mediante superposición de polígonos en el modelado de cobertura espacial. Se presentan evaluaciones de dos regiones de estudio como apoyo empírico para el análisis de la complejidad computacional. Los resultados del análisis proporcionan información sobre el tamaño del problema esperado y los requerimientos computacionales en los casos en que el método de superposición de polígonos es usado para delinear límites de la región de demanda para el modelado de cobertura espacial 最小成本和最大区域覆盖是许多规划情境研究中的重要目标。实现这些目标通常需要对连续需求区域进行抽象,而这又会导致在应用传统覆盖模型时出现潜在误差。为减小由空间抽象引起的覆盖误差,已提出了一系列空间表达方案并得到应用。一种新型的利用多边形覆盖的表达方案,因其或可消除覆盖建模过程的表达误差,近来得到较多的关注。然而,这种基于覆盖的方法在需求单元生成与覆盖模型结果复杂性等方面面临着计算挑战。本文提出了一种在覆盖建模中采用多边形叠加表征的计算复杂度的理论评估方法。两个研究区域的评估为计算复杂度分析提供了经验支撑,如果在覆盖建模中多边形叠加依赖于描述需求单元边界时,该分析结果有助于深入考察预期问题规模大小及计算需求。     

Establishing Best Practices for Photogrammetric Recording During Archaeological Fieldwork

Archaeologists have recently embraced photogrammetry as a low-cost, efficient tool for recording archaeological artifacts, active excavation contexts, and architectural remains. However, no consensus has yet been reached about standard procedures for reliable and metrically accurate photogrammetric recording. The archaeological literature describes diverse equipment and approaches to photogrammetry. The purpose of this article is to open a discussion about when and how photogrammetry should be employed in archaeology in an effort to establish “best practices” for this new method. We focus on the integration of photogrammetry within a comprehensible research plan, the selection of equipment, the appropriate apportionment of labor and time on site, and a rubric for site photography that is conducive to successful and efficient modeling. We conclude that photogrammetric modeling will soon become an indispensable tool in most archaeological applications but should always be implemented in ways that do not place undue burdens on project personnel and budgets and that aid research goals in well-defined ways.     

Book Reviews

IN SARA'S TENTS. By WALTER STARKIE, Litt.D. London, 1953. Pp. 339. 25s. net. Reviewed by Violet Alford.

THE SHEPHERDS' PLAY OF THE PRODIGAL SON. Coloquio de pastores del hijo prodigo. GEORGE C. BARKER. University of California Press, 1953. Reviewed by Violet Alford.

THE PEOPLE OF THE SEA. By DAVID THOMSON. Turnstile Press. London. 1954. Pp. ix + 214. Reviewed by E. Ettlinger.

THE PERSONNEL OF FAIRYLAND. By K. M. BRIGGS, M.A., D. Phil. (Oxon.). Pp. 228. Oxford. 1953. 93. 6d. Reviewed by M. A. Murray.

BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGION. By S. H. HOOKE. Hutchinson's University Library, London. 1953. Pp. xii + 128. 8s. 6d. Reviewed by S. G. F. Brandon.

THE BIBLE. Historical Social and Literary Aspects of the Old and New Testaments. Published by The Times. 1954. Pp. 32, with illustrations, 1s. net. Reviewed by E. O. James.     

Witches and the Number Thirteen

JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL, VOL. X, 1958. Reviewed by E. J. N.

PATTERNS IN COMPARATIVE RELIGION. By MIRCEA ELIADE. Translated by Rosemary Sheed. Sheed and Ward, 1958. Pp. 484. 25s. Reviewed by E. O. James.

THE NEW OXFORD HISTORY OF MUSIC, Vol. I, ‘Ancient and Oriental Music’. Edited by EGON WELLESZ. O.U.P., 1957. Pp. xxiv, 530; bibliography; illus. Reviewed by Margaret Dean-Smith.

ORAL TALES OF INDIA. By STITH THOMPSON and JONAS BALYS. Indiana University Press. Pp. 448 + xxvi. $5.00. Reviewed by J. H. H.

GASTER CENTENARY PUBLICATION. Edited by B. SCHINDLER. Percy Lund, Humphries, and Co. Ltd., 1958. Pp. 40. 10s. 6d. Reviewed by E. O. James.

‘The Dead Obolus of the Slavs of Bohemia and Moravia’. By P. RADOMěRSKÝ. Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, vol. IX, A. Historia, no. 2. Prague, 1955. Pp. 82, with 5 plates and a Map. Reviewed by L. V. Grinsell.

MYTH AND RITUAL IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST. By E. O. JAMES. Thames and Hudson, 1958. 35s. Reviewed by E. P. Baker.

ANDROW MYLLAR: a short study of Scotland's first printer. By THOMAS RAE. Greenock, The Signet Press, 1958. Pp. viii, 21. Cloth boards (25 copies) 15s. 6d.; paper covers 7s. 6d. Reviewed by Wilfrid Bonser.

PERIODICAL LITERATURE. Reviewed by Christina Hole.