The environment as a life support system: the case of Biosphere 2

This paper studies an attempt to replicate the Earth’s biosphere in the second half of the twentieth century with the aim of preserving and refashioning the environment as a self‐reproducing ecological system. Ecosystems dynamics framed the planet Earth as a closed system and directed scientific attention to questions of global environmental management. The image of the Earth as a spacecraft and operable in a similar way supported ideas of placing the environment in a laboratory setting. Using the case of Biosphere 2, launched in the Arizona desert in 1983, this paper studies the images of nature and environment contained in this quest to create an ecosystem and human habitat as good as, or superior to nature on Earth (known in this context as Biosphere 1). The second biosphere was designed as ‘a prototype for a space colony’ that would eventually enable its deteriorating predecessor, the Earthly biosphere, to reproduce and allow human settler societies to migrate to other planets. The paper draws on the cultural history of the ship in Western culture and on ships and spaceships as archetypes of autarkic enclosures set apart from nature. It argues that Biosphere 2 as an example of a technologically controlled endosphere advanced an understanding of the environment as a ‘life support system’ that emphasized not completeness but systems integrity, and was based on principles of functionality and replaceability. The paper will explore how notions of biospheric life support shaped demands on the natural and social environments in Biosphere 2 and Biosphere 1.     

Efficient but destructive: a test of the dental wash technique using secondary electron microscopy

The Boyadjian et al dental wash technique provides, in certain contexts, the only chance to analyze and quantify the use of plants by past populations and is therefore an important milestone for the reconstruction of paleodiet. With this paper we present recent investigations and results upon the influence of this method on teeth. A series of six teeth from a three thousand years old Brazilian shellmound (Jabuticabeira II) was examined before and after dental wash. The main focus was documenting the alteration of the surfaces and microstructures. The status of all teeth were documented using macrophotography, optical light microscopy, and atmospheric Secondary Electron Microscopy (aSEM) prior and after applying the dental wash technique. The comparison of pictures taken before and after dental wash showed the different degrees of variation and damage done to the teeth but, also, provided additional information about microstructures, which have not been visible before. Consequently we suggest that dental wash should only be carried out, if absolutely necessary, after dental pathology, dental morphology and microwear studies have been accomplished.     

Besuchermonitoring in Nationalparken: Eine Bestandsaufnahme in Deutschland, ?sterreich und der Schweiz

Derzeit ist eine Zunahme und Intensivierung natur- und landschaftsgebundener Erholungs- bzw. Freizeitaktivit?ten zu beobachten. Wenn Fl?chen gleichzeitig durch Naturschutz „genutzt“ werden, resultieren daraus Konflikte. Vor allem in Nationalparken, deren Ziel eine freie und vom Menschen unbeeinflu?te Naturentwicklung ist, kommt dem Spannungsfeld „Naturschutz versus Erholungsnutzung“ wachsende Bedeutung zu. Planungsma?nahmen zur Erholungsnutzung im Einklang mit Naturschutzgedanken sollten sich daher auf ein Besuchermonitoring stützen. Generell kann „Monitoring of Visitor Flows“ den Entscheidungstr?gern Aussagen über Besucherzahlen, -charakteristika, -verhalten und -wünsche bereitstellen. Die Literatur weist jedoch auf bestehende Defizite beim Besuchermonitoring (mittel-)europ?ischer Schutzgebiete hin. Um einen methodischen überblick und eine theoretische Grundlage für die Weiterentwicklung zu einem ad?quaten Besuchermonitoring bereitzustellen, wurden verschiedene Nationalparke in Deutschland, ?sterreich und der Schweiz zu dem von ihnen durchgeführten Monitoring befragt. Die Ergebnisse spiegeln Bedarf und Probleme wider.     

Experimental Studies on Buried Barrel Vaults

The paper concerns an interaction problem between soil and masonry vaults in historic buildings. A particular emphasis was placed on the influence of finishing method of vaults extrados and fill material properties on the behavior of masonry vaults. The results of experimental studies on barrel vaults with and without backfill are presented. During the experiments three finishing methods of vaults extrados and three fill materials were investigated. The results of the experiments show that the presence of backfill and type of vaults extrados finish affect the behavior and load-carrying capacity of tested elements. Moreover, tests were performed on vaults without fill for comparative purposes. The comparison of experimental results obtained for specimens with and without fill shows that the presence of backfill in vault haunches modifies the failure mechanism and increases load capacity of the analysed models. The presented results confirm the importance of backfill as a structural element of vaulted structures.     

Living in commodified history: constructing class identities in neotraditional neighbourhoods

This paper examines how residents of neotraditional neighbourhoods in the Netherlands socially construct a ‘classed’ place identity and what role the historicised architecture plays within that process. Given that place identity is constructed through social and cultural practices, the paper argues that residents' consumption of historicised environment is bound up with drawing symbolic boundaries that have been explored here by analysing residents' narratives. Three prominent types of narratives were found: (1) residents' locational choice, (2) their aesthetic judgement of the residential environment and (3) the way they use it. Through these layered narratives, all interviewees appear to use historicised aesthetics to classify themselves as part of a valued social category. However, the way of boundary drawing took several forms, based either on fostering moral judgements of social behaviour accompanied by sophisticated efforts to keep neighbourhoods' historicised image unchanged, or by conducting cultural practices shared with fellow residents by which ‘the other’ living outside the neighbourhood is ‘bracketed out’ symbolically and socially.