Iron-57 Mössbauer spectral studies of medieval stained glass

⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectral data for six excavated and two simulated medieval stained glass samples are reported. Iron-containing precipitates are observed in the two simulated medieval glasses and are responsible for the amber colour of these samples. The ferrous/ferric ratio of the other samples is dependent on the glass composition and glass making conditions. The green glasses are associated with the presence of both ferrous and ferric iron, the ratio being very similar in three of the glasses studied, while in the purple and emerald green glasses the iron which is constitutionally incorporated in the glass is solely in the ferric oxidation state. The UVvisible spectra of some of the glasses are used to assist in interpretation of the colourant action of iron, and the role of Mössbauer spectroscopy in linking separate glass fragments with a common source is also indicated.     

Studies on Amerindian dogs, 3: Prehistoric wolf/dog hybrids from the northwestern plains

Discriminant function analysis is an invaluable statistical tool for the taxonomic identification of hybrids between various extant species of Canis in the eastern United States. This technique has recently been applied to the taxonomic identification of canid skulls from several Wyoming archaeological sites. Analysis indicates most canid remains, originally identified as wolf (Canis lupus), to be wolf/dog hybrids exhibiting constant and continual backbreeding to the local wolf populations. The spatial and temporal extent of the form is discussed.     

“We're socialists not nationalists”: British labour and the national question(s)

The UK Labour Party, which in government delivered devolution to Scotland and Wales, has struggled to adapt to a multilevel and increasingly territorialised political space, where demands for significant territorial reform grow ever louder. These challenges intensified with the Scottish independence referendum and the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. During this prolonged constitutional moment, the Labour Party has had to articulate the case for a plurinational and multicultural British identity and for the Union, and to a large degree, has struggled to do so. Capturing the period from 2012 to 2020, this article examines the discursive strategies adopted by the Labour Party and individuals within it. It identifies a deep discomfort, more pronounced in London and Edinburgh than in Cardiff, with the national questions and a reliance on largely instrumental arguments, albeit ones rooted in traditional left-wing values of welfare and social solidarity between working people.     

Visions of the North-West

Like so many European cities that developed city planning to handle urbanization and industrialization in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the municipality of Copenhagen (Denmark) discussed, planned, and erected new neighbourhoods for the growing working-class population on the city outskirts. In doing so, the politicians and professionals expressed different visions of the working class and its territories, thus creating a symbolic space of representations alongside the physical spaces of the actual neighbourhoods. Taking the north-west neighbourhood of Copenhagen as a case, I investigate the socio-historical construction of this neighbourhood from the early 1900s to 1950. Drawing on a selection of state policies and municipal plans and debates, as well as on public debates among the professionals who took part in building the new neighbourhood, I analyse the symbolic struggles involved in the construction of the neighbourhood and the population that was meant to live there.     

Hydraulic engineering and irrigation agriculture in the Moche Valley,Peru: c. A.D. 1250–1532

This paper examines the hydraulic properties (i.e. velocity and discharge) of the main late prehistoric canals of the Moche Valley. Velocities, estimated from excavated canal sections using the Manning flow equation, are compared to tables of maximum permissible velocities and reveal that canals were constructed to transport water efficiently, but that on gradients steeper than 1:100 the Chimu and Inca engineers were unable to transport large discharges without severe erosional problems. Discharge estimates are compared with modern field requirements, using a known ethnographic watering cycle. This demonstrates that in almost every instance the channel size was of the same order of magnitude as that predicted from the requirements. The construction of the Inter-valley canal to bring water to the state lands in Moche was a technological disaster.     

Possibilities and pitfalls of the concept of national indifference

This introduction to the themed section ‘The history of national indifference. A critical appraisal’ explores the challenges and possibilities of the concept of national indifference. It starts from the premise that national indifference remains a very useful concept to avoid falling into teleological narratives of nationalism. The central argument is that national indifference needs to be theorized as a non-binary, relative concept that is not the complete opposite of national identification. Indeed, the contributions show that national indifference has gradations and can coexist with explicit, banal or everyday forms of nationalism, both among elites and ordinary people, both in and outside of East Central Europe, both before and after the Two World Wars. This central argument results from an engagement with three areas of debate surrounding the national indifference literature, which all relate to its (inadvertent) reproduction of binary understandings of nationalism: the dichotomous conceptualization of east versus west, nationalisation versus non-nationalisation and elites versus masses.     

Distributed Tuned Mass Dampers for Multi-Mode Control of Benchmark Building under Seismic Excitations

The effectiveness of the multi-mode control of seismically excited building installed with distributed multiple tuned mass dampers (d-MTMDs) is investigated by comparing dynamic response with the other controllers, such as passive friction dampers, semi-active dampers, single tuned mass damper (STMD), and multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMDs-all.top), both installed at the top of the building, and arbitrarily distributed MTMDs (ad-MTMDs). It is concluded that the d-MTMDs exhibit improved performance as compared with the STMD, MTMDs-all.top, and ad-MTMDs. The d-MTMDs are also convenient to install owing to the reduced space requirements, being placed at various floors.     

Migrant masculinities in-between private and public spaces of reproductive labour: Asian porters in Rome

Abstract

This article explores the construction of migrant masculinities in the context of reproductive labour. It focuses on Asian Christian men working as porters in upper middle-class residential buildings in Rome (Italy). This masculinised niche of reproductive labour combines differently gendered chores: feminised tasks (cleaning and caring) - mainly performed in the most private spaces of the home - and masculinised tasks (maintenance and security), carried out in the public or semi-public spaces of the buildings. The analysis addresses the dearth of studies on the sex-typing of jobs in the context of migrant men’s work experiences. It also contributes to ongoing debates on the geography of reproductive labour, by exploring how gendered practices of migrant reproductive labour construct private and public places. The construction of masculinities and place is shaped by the gendered racialisation of migrant men at the wider societal level, which materialises in the construction of ‘dangerous’ and ‘respectable’ urban areas. The article suggests that widespread concerns over religious difference and public security play a key role in defining migrant men’s access to the workplace and in shaping work relations.     

明益王“秋波”琴的漆涂层材料与工艺分析

孙中山故居纪念馆馆藏一张明代落霞式古琴“秋波”,据考证为明代受封于江西抚州的益王监制。清代以后,它被广东的文人琴士评为广东四大名琴之一。运用剖面显微观察、扫描电镜能谱分析、显微拉曼、光学光热红外显微光谱、热裂解-色谱质谱分析等科学检测手段,对古琴脱落的大漆残片进行了无机和有机成分分析,并对其工艺进行了讨论。实验结果表明,大漆残片保存了两个时期的不同髹漆工艺,早期以蛋白质类和非/半干性油黏结剂混合黏土类无机矿物做灰胎,晚期以大漆和干性油黏结剂混合鹿角霜/骨灰做灰胎并掺加少量黄铜屑。将科学分析与古琴槽腹、琴背的铭文相印证,进一步明确了“秋波”琴明末斫髹、清末修复的流传历史。此外,运用盖蒂保护中心研发的ESCAPE数据分析方法,首次在中国传世古琴样品中明确鉴定出一般认为产自越南的野漆品种laccol,其为清代重修时广东中山的修琴师使用添加的。本研究立足于古琴文物实体,以详尽的科学实验为支撑,并参阅《太古遗音》《髹饰录》等文献,为明代益王琴的制作工艺提供了参考,同时为古琴文物的保护修复提供了科学支撑。