Re‐sampling for Soil‐caesium‐137 to Assess Soil Losses after a 19‐year Interval in a Hunter Valley Vineyard,New South Wales,Australia

Soils in a lower Hunter valley vineyard, New South Wales, Australia, were sampled and analysed for caesium‐137, an indicator of soil erosion status, in 1984–1985 and 2004. From the time of the vineyard's first establishment in 1971 to 1985, estimated soil losses were 250 tonnes (equivalent to 64.2 t ha^?1 yr^?1). Re‐sampling in 2004 showed that soil losses were 48 tonnes in the 19 years since 1985, equivalent to 9.7 t ha^?1 yr^?1. The decline in erosion rates may be explained by a change in land and soil management from intensive cultivation to one of no cultivation (sod culture) in 1998, and a lower annual rainfall and fewer rain‐days per year in the period from 1986 to 2004.     

THE STRUCTURE OF RUSSIAN IMPERIAL HISTORY

Path dependency is most valuable tool for understanding Russian history since 1480, which coincides with the ending of the “Mongol yoke,” Moscow's annexation of northwest Russia, formerly controlled by Novgorod, and the introduction of new method for financing the cavalry—the core of new service class. The cavalry had to hold off formidable adversaries (first Lithuania, then the Crimean Tatars, then the Livonians, the Poles, the Swedes, and the Ottomans) for Muscovy to retain its independence. Russia in 1480 was poor country lacking subsurface mineral resources and with very poor climate and soil for the support of agriculture. These basic problems inspired autocratic power and by 1515 an ideology was in place justifying it. Religion, literature, and law were employed to support the autocracy. A variant of caste society was created to support the army. This made up the substance of the first service‐class revolution in which all resources (human and intellectual) were mobilized to support garrison state. After 1667 the external threats to Muscovy diminished, but the service class kept its privileges, especially the land fund and the peasant‐serfs. Russia faced major foreign threats again in 1700 and in the 1920s and 1930s. Those threats precipitated the second and third service‐class revolutions. The second and third service‐class revolutions broadly paralleled the first. Reinvigorated service classes were created with state institutions to support them. As society became more complex, so did the service classes and their privileges. Ideologies (Russian Orthodoxy and then Marxism‐Leninism) were converted into devices to support the infallible autocratic ruler and his elites. Almost the entire population was bound to state service, either directly, working to support the service state, or paying taxes. The church and clergy were harnessed first by Peter's Holy Synod and then Stalin's Department 5 of the Secret Police after he revived the church during World War II. Writers and artists were also put into uniform, until they finally rebelled—but the arts retained their civic functions, first supporting the regime, and then criticizing it. Finally, law retained its traditional programmatic functions in regimes themselves beholden to no law. As the foreign threats diminished, the service classes lost their function, but the elite servicemen kept their privileges as the service states disintegrated and the service classes lost their collective élan. Both the Russian Empire (in 1917) and then the Soviet Empire (in 1991) collapsed almost without whimper.     

FIELDWALKING WITHOUT FLINTS: WORKED QUARTZ AS A CLUE TO THE CHARACTER OF PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT

Although the collection and analysis of lithic artefacts plays an increasing role in studies of prehistoric settlement in the British Isles, almost all this work has been conducted in regions with local sources of flint. This is not the case over large parts of highland Britain. This paper outlines a methodology for investigating the character of prehistoric activity using the evidence of worked quartz and illustrates these procedures with a case study from the Scottish Highlands     

Philosophy and International Relations

In recent years, International Relations theorists have turned to philosophy in search of new ontological and epistemological foundations or to clarify their existing commitments. Scientific Realism and International Relations, edited by Jonathan Joseph and Colin Wight, is a good example of the former: editors and contributors make the case for Scientific Realism—a leading philosophy of science—in International Relations. Patrick Thaddeus Jackson, author of The conduct of inquiry in International Relations, is motivated by the latter concern, and devises a typology based on two key fissures among social scientists: the relationships between the knower and the known, and between knowledge and observation. The Joseph and Wight volume, while containing some thoughtful essays, does not convince the reviewer that assumptions that might apply in the physical world are relevant to its social counterpart. The Jackson book is an intellectual tour de force and a compelling plea for pluralism.     

The Chapter-House of St Albans Abbey: Reconstructing its 15th-Century Vault

Before the 1978 excavation of the chapter-house site directed by Martin Biddle and the late Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle, nothing was known about the 15th-century building, beyond the brief documentary references in the Register to its remodelling during the second half of the century in the time of abbots John of Wheathamstead and William Wallingford. However, the exceptional quantity of late Gothic masonry fragments uncovered during the excavation has made it possible to attempt to reconstruct features of its design, particularly the vaulting, and has transformed our knowledge of this important building. This article reviews the information derived from the study of the fragments of the vault, assesses its significance in the development of late Gothic vaulting, and speculates on the identity of its designer.     

The roots to peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo: conservation as a platform for green development

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is endowed with an abundance of natural resources, and the presence of high‐value resources such as coltan and diamonds is well known. The country is also endowed with a wealth of biodiversity, although the value of this is often overlooked. This article describes the detrimental impact of armed conflict on this biodiversity and the dangers posed by the return of peace, which is likely to result in increased biodiversity exploitation. The resulting loss of key carbon sinks crucial to the global fight against climate change will affect not only the DRC, but also the international community. Biodiversity is therefore identified as a threat to security but also a valuable asset for development, and this article discusses methods to realize the value of biodiversity in the DRC through the benefits of ecosystem services and income generated from monetizing biodiversity. It concludes by arguing that the false dichotomy of conservation and development as separate entities and objectives needs to change so that conservation becomes a central pillar of security and development work in the DRC and other regions of current or recent armed conflict around the world.     

Talent,technology and tolerance in Canadian regional development

This article examines the factors that shape economic development in Canadian regions. It employs path analysis and structural equation models to isolate the effects of technology, human capital and/or the creative class, universities, the diversity of service industries and openness to immigrants, minorities and gay and lesbian populations on regional income. It also examines the effects of several broad occupations groups—business and finance, management, science, arts and culture, education and health care—on regional income. The findings indicate that both human capital and the creative class have a direct effect on regional income. Openness and tolerance also have a significant effect on regional development in Canada. Openness towards the gay and lesbian population has a direct effect on both human capital and the creative class, while tolerance towards immigrants and visible minorities is directly associated with higher regional incomes. The university has a relatively weak effect on regional incomes and on technology as well. Management, business and finance and science occupations have a sizeable effect on regional income; arts and culture occupations have a significant effect on technology; health and education occupations have no effect on regional income.