The Balancing Act in a Military‐Dominated Transition to Democracy in Egypt After the Arab Spring

This article genealogically traces the historical development of democracy in Egypt and the military and Islamists’ involvement in politics since the British occupation in Egypt in 1882, following the semi‐independence in 1922, through the 1952 revolution, and up to the revolutionary waves of the Arab Spring of January 25, 2011 and June 30, 2013. In this article, the author provides perceptual and analytical insight into the outcome of the Arab Spring of 2011 within the complicated realities of Egypt's politics during the transition to democracy, where the military and Islamists are competing to retain power in order to shape Egypt's future. The author argues that it is too early to make a judgmental argument that the transition to democracy has failed since the process of democratization is long and not linear, with periods of political trajectories while adapting in response to national, regional, and international events, dynamics, and forces. The research concludes that the coping models of democracy from outside of the Egyptian context may not work. Egypt should develop its own model of democracy based on an all stakeholders consensus accompanied by an incremental process of demilitarizing and desecuritizing the nation.     

A Nonlinear Frame Test Structure with Repeatable Behavior for Experimental Dynamic Response History Investigation

This article describes a novel, small-scale nonlinear beam-column connection and an associated six-story frame test structure for the experimental dynamic response investigation of multi-story buildings subjected to earthquake loading. The objective is to create a re-configurable, reusable experimental platform on which several aspects of nonlinear dynamic response can be investigated through successive, exhaustive testing under suites of earthquake records. Static and dynamic calibration tests demonstrate excellent test-to-test repeatability of four structure configurations. These results confirm that the properties of each configuration (period, strength, energy dissipation) remain invariant, thus allowing future experimental investigations (e.g., of peak engineering demands) under earthquake loading.     

The place of immigration in studies of geography and race

This paper argues that geographical research on immigration and geographical research on race and racism in the USA must be explicitly connected. Geographic processes such as globalization and urban development already link immigration with race and racism and suggest a need to conceptualize research agendas around immigration and race in relation to each other. Not only are racialized groups spatially connected in many neighbourhoods, cities and regions of the USA, but they are also linked through policies structured by the state at various scales and narratives produced about subordinated and racialized groups. In making this argument, I attempt to highlight work in geography, in related social sciences and in ethnic studies that demonstrates the necessity and usefulness of this approach. Geographers are uniquely positioned to illuminate how the construction of space, place and scale overlaps with the construction of racial-ethnic and immigrant identities and with racism itself. The paper argues that these and other research questions also benefit from linking race and immigration to gender, as some feminist geography and feminist studies have done. Likewise, ethnic studies offer a wealth of theoretical, methodological and empirical insight into linking immigration, race and racism in geographical work.     

OSL and TL dating of the Middle Stone Age sequence at Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa): a clarification

Diepkloof Rock Shelter offers an exceptional opportunity to study the onset and evolution of both Still Bay (SB) and Howiesons Poort (HP) techno-complexes. However, previous age estimates based on luminescence dating of burnt quartzites (Tribolo et al., 2009) and of sediments (Jacobs et al., 2008) were not in agreement. Here, we present new luminescence ages for 17 rock samples (equivalent dose estimated with a SAR-ITL protocol instead of classical MAAD-TL) as well as for 5 sediment samples (equivalent dose estimated with SAR-single grain OSL protocol) and an update of the 22 previous age estimates for burnt lithics (modified calibration and beta dose estimates). While a good agreement between the rock and sediment ages is obtained, these estimates are still significantly older than those reported by Jacobs et al. (2008). After our own analyses of the sediment from Diepkloof, it is suspected that these authors did not correctly chose the parameters for the equivalent dose determination, leading to an underestimate of the equivalent doses, and thus of the ages.     

‘Voluntary’ Poverty Alleviation Resettlement in China

Current conceptualizations of resettlement in China as either voluntary or involuntary are too rigid. New guidelines and policies, particularly around Poverty Alleviation Resettlement (PAR), are emphasizing the importance of voluntarism. Little is known, however, about how the principle of voluntary relocation of villagers has actually been implemented. This study explores this process by examining local implementation and experiences of PAR in Linfen Prefecture, Shanxi. It introduces China's nationwide PAR programme, and then identifies the spatial and temporal characteristics of PAR in Linfen from 1997 to 2010, highlighting the factors that contribute to widespread voluntary resettlement.     

The Burial Rite of the Early Scythian Nomads of Tuva (based on the Bai-Dag I Cemetery)*

Excavations at the Bai-Dag I cemetery, the Eerbek River valley, Tuva, have revealed a burial rite typical of the Aldy-Bel culture, Early Scythian period. Above-ground and underground structures, principal features of the burial rite, and burial goods are described with regard to sex and age. Basic trends in the evolution of early nomadic funerary ritualism in Tuva are reconstructed.     

A New Methodology for the Provenance of Marble Based on EPR Spectroscopy

Fifteen years of research in investigating the characteristics of the EPR spectra of different types of white marble from several quarries in the Eastern Mediterranean has produced an accumulation of a large number of data, and much experience. Statistical treatment of these EPR data (statistical distributions and parameter correlations), has led to the selection of 10 parameters that are useful for quarry discrimination. Apart from the EPR parameters, the maximum grain size, measured with a stereomicroscope, has been found very useful. Boxplots have been found to be very useful as a first easy visual tool for evaluating the discrimination capacity of each parameter. On the basis of these results, a new methodology for determining the provenance of an archaeological sample was developed in stages, using a different pair or combination of parameters each time. In the first stage, the Penteli, Naxos, Hymettus and Proconnessus quarries are completely separated from each other. However, overlapping occurs between the parameter fields of Paros and Proconnessus, Paros and Hymettus and between the two archaic quarries of Melanes and Apollon on Naxos. If the sample is located in a non‐overlapping area, its provenance is obvious and easily determined. If the sample lies in one of the above three overlapping areas, an additional stage is necessary, in which other parameters are used to eliminate or decrease the overlap. Despite the partial overlapping of Paros with other quarries, the famous Lychnites marble of Paros, which was quarried underground, is clearly distinguished.     

A scientific study of Choson white ware: early porcelain from a royal kiln at Kwangju Usanni

Scientific study of kiln site no. 9 at Usanni, one of the earliest royal Kwangju kiln complexes in operation (from the early 15th to the early 16th century), shows that the technological expertise used to produce white ware was inherited from the celadon technology of the Koryo dynasty. The body material, of low Al₂O₃ and high SiO₂ content, is based on porcelain stone. Such a material, with almost no titanium and a low level of iron, was a rediscovery of the white ware material used earlier at the Sori kiln from the 9th century through to the 11th century. Ash continued to be one of the major ingredients of the glaze, and wares were fired in much the same way as the Koryo celadon, in kilns constructed of mud and rocks and in two steps. The Confucian philosophy and aesthetic of frugality and simplicity adopted from the Ming dynasty onwards by the new government acted as the catalyst for the successful ascent of the new technology.