Land Classification: Providing an Explanation for the Decision Making Process

This paper considers the impact of technology on methods used to classify land potential. With developments in new technologies such as Expert Systems (ES) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), McKeown (1987) proposes a new method by which to explain the decision making process for land classification to an end user. Consideration is given to McKeowns' concept and the literature reviewing both traditional land classification methods and ES and GIS systems.     

WHITE LUMPS IN FIFTH- TO SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY AD MORTARS FROM NORTHERN ITALY

Ancient mortars from northern Italy, dating from the fifth to the seventeenth century AD, were examined in order to formulate an hypothesis regarding the origin of the white lumps often observed in these mortars and in other samples of the same geographical provenance. Various characterization techniques were employed, including scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and micro-FTIR spectroscopy.     

TECHNOLOGY AND COLOUR DEVELOPMENT OF HISPANO-MORESQUE LEAD-GLAZED POTTERY

Lead-glazed pottery from the medieval workshop of Les Olleries Majors (Paterna, Spain) has been studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and optical spectroscopy. Yellow, brown and honey-coloured glazes occur on pots glazed on only one surface. They have virtually identical compositions and transmittance spectra, their apparent differences in colour are due to the colours of the underlying pastes. Yellow glazes occur on cream-coloured calcareous bodies, honey-coloured glazes occur on less calcareous bodies with some development of hematite, while brown glazes occur on red siliceous cooking-pots. Green glazes are found on pots glazed on both surfaces; the glazes trapped CO₂ evolved by decomposing carbonates, resulting in an internal reducing environment. This caused the reduction of iron to the ferrous state which coloured the glaze green by diffusion.     

SPATIAL DEPENDENCY OF SEGREGATION INDICES

A few researchers have mentioned the scale sensitivity of segregation index, D. In this paper, I discuss analytically and empirically why using large enumeration areal units usually results in low segregation measures, and using small areal units produces relatively high segregation measures. The discussion is also applicable to the multi-group variant of D. A major finding is that if people of the same ethnic groups are positively spatially auto-correlated, increasing the size of areal units of analysis may not lower D initially, because only people of the same group are added. But enlarging the areal units subsequently may include population of other ethnic groups, and therefore could lower D. However, if the boundaries of the larger enumeration units are drawn to include only population of the same group, then D will not change significantly. Both the spatial autocorrelation of ethnic group population and zonal pattern are critical factors in determining the scale sensitivity of D.     

David Hartley's psychobiological associationism and the legacy of Aristotle

The idea that there are certain "laws" of learning (similarity, contrast, contiguity) can be traced to Aristotle. He maintained that external stimuli cause small movements in the vessels to the dominant heart, the vestiges of which can be linked to one another. Aristotle's laws of learning were incorporated into the writings of Hobbes, Locke, and Berkeley, men who said nothing about the physiological correlates of mental associations. This left the door open for David Hartley to combine mental associationism with the Newtonian idea that sensations can cause minute particle vibrations in the nerves. Hartley's amalgam of psychology, philosophy, and neurology was first presented in 1746, as a "trial balloon" at the end a little-known monograph on a treatment for kidney stones. It was repeated three years later in his better-known Observations on Man. In many ways, modern psychobiological connectionism can be traced back to Hartley's Conjectures of 1746, in which Aristotle's original thoughts were modified with then current ideas about functions of the mind and the nervous system.     

Alternative explanations of the dependence of the density of centers on the density of population

ABSTRACT. The paper is devoted to modeling the relationship between the density of service centers and the density of population (or on the density of demand). Several models lead to an exponential function with the exponent equal to ⅔. For a number of real systems of centers, the power is considerably different from ⅔ (more often it is nearer to 1). I describe a series of models that explain this difference.