Iron Age hydraulic plaster from Tell es-Safi/Gath,Israel

Hydraulic plasters or mortars prior to the Roman period are rare. Here, we report the identification and characterization of 3000 year old (Iron Age) hydraulic plaster surfaces from the site of Tell es-Safi/Gath. This site, located in central Israel, was occupied almost continuously from prehistoric through modern times, and is identified as the Canaanite and Philistine city of Gath. A survey using an on-site Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) identified the presence of amorphous silicates, in addition to calcite, in each of two superimposed plaster layers. This suite of minerals is characteristic of hydraulic plaster. An in-depth characterization of the plasters using FTIR, acid dissolution, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray powder diffractometry (pXRD), heating experiments and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS), shows that special silicate-containing minerals were brought from some distance to the site in order to produce these plaster surfaces. We therefore conclude that the plasters were deliberately produced, and were not the result of a fortuitous addition of local silicate minerals. A layer of around 150 μm thick enriched in carbonate hydroxylapatite was found in both plaster surfaces, and the same mineral was identified by infrared spectrometry in the surrounding sediments. This suggests that organic materials were used on these surfaces. These surfaces are among the oldest hydraulic plasters known.     

Modern and fossil charcoal: aspects of structure and diagenesis

The structures and compositions of modern and fossil charcoal samples were compared in order to evaluate charcoal degradation processes in archaeological sites. Modern charcoal samples produced in campfires contain two major phases: graphite-like microcrystallites and a non-organized phase. These phases create a mosaic-like structure with differing relative proportions depending on the taxonomic source of the wood used. Fossil charcoal samples (Tel Dor, Israel: 3000 years BP and Kebara Cave, Israel: 40,000 years BP) also contained the graphite-like microcrystallites and the non-organized phases, but were clearly altered compared to modern charcoal. The graphite-like phase of the fossil charcoal has much higher electrical resistivity, and its ESR properties show that it has markedly altered surface electronic states. Infrared spectra show the presence of additional carboxylate groups. Oxidation has therefore altered the structure. This appears to be a “self-humification” process that affects the graphitic component, and probably the non-organized phase as well.     

A Cross-Cultural Study of Young Children's Mapping Abilities

The mapping abilities of four-year-old children in York, England, Durban, South Africa, Tehran, Iran, Mexico City, Mexico and Evanston, Illinois, USA were investigated, using a methodology involving air-photo identification and simulated navigation on an air photo. The results show that essential mapping abilities (perspective and scale transformations) are well developed by the age of four in these cultures, and provide some evidence in support of the hypothesis that mapping abilities emerge without training in very young children of all cultures.     

Why Do Suburban Offices Cluster?

The clustering of suburban office space in “office parks,” as well as the larger activity nodes of polycentric cities, has been widespread in recent years. The reasons for this clustering are not well understood, as the footloose nature of firms suggests a variety of patterns might evolve. This paper explores three traditional explanations: economies of scale in the supply of space, demands for access, and face-to-face contact needs of firms. Finding that those explanations do not completely explain the clustering pattern, an alternative explanation is considered, the demand for image or prestige.     

MASCULINISM,THE USE OF DUALISTIC EPISTEMOLOGIES AND THIRD SPACES*

First, this paper establishes a ground from which to question not only the relationship between power and knowledge in the construction of geographical knowledge, but also the gendering of this relationship. From this starting position, second, it is argued that dualisms permit the gendering of particular binary opposites. The argument is not that certain dualistic categories - such as Reason and Emotion or Time and Space - are inherently wrong or to deny that western societies are organized through them, at least in part. Instead, dualisms are shown - at particular times and in particular places - to mark and help police supposedly fixed, natural divisions between the powerful and the disempowered (as in the masculine versus the feminine). In assuming away dualistic economies of meaning, the danger is that this helps to maintain the reproduction of the power-ridden values which dualisms help to sustain. Indeed, it is because dualist architectures are not as fixed, stable or natural as they are meant to be (i.e., precisely because they need to be policed) that it is possible to refuse them. Finally, this paper describes one alternative episte-mology which draws on the notion of a third space. The idea of third spaces uses a spatial metaphor to suggest an alternative radical geography which mobilizes place, politics and hybrid identities. One such third space is illustrated by an empirical example.     

Spatial Analysis of the Factors Contributing to the Relationship between the Transient,Meridional Eddy Sensible,and Latent Heat Flux in the Southern Hemisphere

In this paper principal component analysis (PCA) and singular value decomposition (SVD) are used to define the importance of the variables contributing to the relationship between the transient latent and sensible heat fluxes and to show their temporal and spatial variation. SVD is offered as an alternative means of isolating spatial and temporal structures in data with the advantage that it can depict simultaneous space‐time variations that are aggregates of the results produced by PCA. Both methods of analysis produced two very important uncorrelated modes of variability in January and July, indicating that the transient heat fluxes are influenced by few controlling factors. We suggest that these modes of variability represent the influences of the meridional temperature gradient, atmospheric moisture, and activity within the source and sink regions of the transient heat fluxes. The physical relationships between the heat fluxes that appear to represented by the statistical modes of variability are discussed.     

Intervention publique sur le développement de grappes industrielles au Québec

This article describes the conditions for the development of four industrial clusters and the mechanisms of their integration in the regional economy. The case studies are the aerospace and apparel clusters in Montreal, and the agri‐food and marine science and technology clusters in the Lower St. Lawrence region. Clusters are defined as arrangements of businesses, government actors, public authorities, and local intermediary organizations in a local area. However, the study shows that clusters are based on actors and processes operating at different scales, from the local to the global. It also shows the importance of the sectoral leadership acknowledged by the different stakeholders.