The Italian white-goods industry and the European Common Market during the years of the ‘economic miracle’ (1958–63): quantitative evidence and interpretative hypotheses

The white-goods industry is one of the key fields of Italian economic development following the Second World War, and it represents the most resounding example of how, in just a few years, Italian entrepreneurs managed to reach the top of a market already occupied by the largest foreign multinationals. This article offers a quantitative view of the role played by foreign markets during the ‘economic miracle’, which is generally taken to be the first five years of the European Common Market (1958–63). There is a lack of an aggregate study of this subject for the Italian white-goods industry. As well as supplying some starting points for new research into the rapid international success of Italian producers, this study has allowed two inter-connected objectives to be reached. Firstly, it has highlighted how intense the inter-dependence of foreign markets was when the Common Market was set up, and therefore before the date claimed by the literature: the first important process of the rationalisation of the sector and the consequent formation of a national oligopoly was the result of the battle with competitors in foreign markets. Secondly, it seems to confirm how the process of European integration was not a substitutive factor, but the accelerant for a process of development that had already started.     

Climate Aridity and Land Use Changes: A Regional‐Scale Analysis

In recent years, aridity and drought have become crucial issues at the global scale because of their environmental and socio‐economic implications. On the one hand, aridity causes a reduction in the biological and economic productivity of terrestrial ecosystems, and represents a serious threat to ecological, biogeochemical, and hydrological processes. On the other hand, human use (and abuse) of vulnerable dry land ecosystems may lead to unsustainable land management. Based on these considerations, this paper analyses the recent land cover changes observed in Latium (Italy) during the exceptionally dry period 2000–2007. More than 50% of the area investigated was classified as dry in 2004–2007 compared with 0% in 2000–2003. Moreover, climatic aridity impacted differently on semi‐natural, agricultural, and built‐up land. These findings illustrate a possible scenario for suburban Mediterranean regions: increasing aridity (mainly due to rising temperatures) mainly impacting on peri‐urban land.     

中国建筑遗产再认识

中国仿生的构架体系建筑,在历史早期就已传播到邻近的东亚国家,从而形成了一个东方建筑体系。18世纪以来,又影响到欧洲,与西方新材料、新技术相结合,使摩天楼得以矗立;中国《老子》的空间学说,引起世界"近代建筑革命";中国的陶制砌块用植物油处理的原理,促成抗酸、碱的"有、无机相结合"的建材理论,被誉为世界"建材革命"。直至今日,不同于西方"花园"(ga rden)和"林园"(pa r k)的中国人为环境与自然环境相融合的园林原理,促成了现代景观学;中国的精神与物质统一功能场效应的风水学说,已经在日、韩、美、德、法等西方国家兴起。作为全人类的财富——中国建筑遗产,将继续对人类生存环境的建设做出贡献。     

城市轨道交通建设对沿线古建(构)筑影响分析及保护对策研究

城市轨道交通建设对周围地层和周边古建(构)筑物的影响是不可避免的。通过分析隧道盾构施工对周围土体的影响因素及处于影响区域内古建(构)筑因地层扰动带来的安全风险,针对性地研究并提出盾构施工对文物建(构)筑的保护和控制措施,尽可能规避和减少盾构施工对古建(构)筑物的扰动和损害,以保证文物安全,实现城市建设与历史文化资源保护的协调和可持续发展。     

THE ORIGIN AND GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF RED OCHRES FROM THE TITO BUSTILLO AND MONTE CASTILLO CAVES (NORTHERN SPAIN)*

Ochres were the most common source materials for pigments used in Palaeolithic rock art paintings. This work analyses the petrographic and geochemical signatures of different ochre samples from outcrops inside Tito Bustillo Cave and the Monte Castillo Caves using the most common techniques (petrography, XRD, SEM–EDS and ICP–MS) in archaeological pigment characterization studies. The results obtained permit the identification and characterization of the different source ochre types and, furthermore, allow the establishment of mineralogical and geochemical proxies for the study of questions related to ochre characterization, formation processes and provenance.     

Life and Death Decisions in our Posthuman(ist) Times

Abstract: Geography, like much of social science, is witnessing a resurgence of interest in Michel Foucault's formation of biopower—the power to make live and foster life. This paper seeks to engage with this interest by staging a dialogue between the work of Nikolas Rose and Paul Rabinow on the one hand and that of Giorgio Agamben on the other. I propose that, while Rose and Rabinow provide a diagnostic for our emerging geographies of “life itself” and outline allied forms of political citizenship known as “biosociality” or “biological citizenship”, it is Agamben who enables us to consider the limit figures to this form of political inclusion. To draw out these limit figures I focus on recent debates surrounding end‐of‐life decisions and provide examples from the Dignity in Dying campaign and the Not Dead Yet movement. Throughout, I situate this paper within recent debates on posthumanism and the posthuman in geography. In doing so I effectively ask: why, in our seemingly posthuman(ist) times, does much of Western politics seek to decide on the form, the right and, inevitably, the limit of human beings?     

Nodes and edges: A network approach to hierarchisation and state formation in Japan

This paper argues that the centralised hierarchy that emerged at the beginning of the Kofun (mounded tomb) period in Japan can be explained by the locations that the polities to be hierarchised occupy and the differences in the topological potentials that these locations generate. Previous attempts of explaining the phenomenon by attributing its cause to factors such as differential access to resources and control over their distribution have been proven not to fit with the available body of evidence. The application of social network analysis-derived concepts and methods reveals that the topological locations that polities occupied generated different centralities, i.e. different degrees of connectedness to other polities and of mediating interactions between polities, which led to the hierarchisation and centralisation of their relationships. The paper concludes that the topological structure of a social network itself can be a significant cause of its own hierarchisation, and it compares the finding with the manner in which the concepts of agency and power are applied to the explanation of social hierarchisation and centralisation.     

Aging mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella): refining methods of tooth eruption and wear and bone fusion

This paper refines current methods for aging mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), one of the most common species hunted by prehistoric humans in the southern Levant. Most importantly, we present a new tooth wear scheme for aging the lower deciduous fourth premolar (dP₄), the lower permanent molars (M₁, M₂, M₃) and the lower fourth premolar (P₄) of the gazelle. Broader wear stages for complete mandibles and individual teeth and bone fusion stages are also provided. Finally, a comparison of the tooth wear and bone fusion data indicates that the two methods can be linked at the important transition when a gazelle reaches adulthood (ca. 18 months of age). The completion of the fusion of the gazelle skeleton corresponds directly to the replacement of the dP₄ by the P₄ and the beginning of wear of the M₃. The coincidence of these aging indicators allows for direct comparison of gazelle bone fusion and tooth wear data.     

An Etruscan ointment from Chiusi (Tuscany,Italy): its chemical characterization

This paper focuses on the chemical characterization of the original contents of an Egyptian origin alabaster unguentarium, found in an Etruscan burial in Chiusi (Tuscany, Italy) and dated 150/125–100 B.C. The unguentarium, found in an intact tomb belonging to a noble woman of Chiusine society, preserved a good part of its original contents owing to a protective layer of clay. The chemical characterization was carried out using a combination of two analytical procedures based, respectively, on Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS).     

The Neolithic site of Maddalena di Muccia (Umbria–Marche Apennine,Italy): a tip to reconstruct the geomorphological evolution and human occupation during the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene

The geomorphological evolution of the upper Chienti river basin, during the late Pleistocene and the Holocene, was characterized mainly by numerous landslides, strongly affecting the river dynamics, that produced falls, deviations and in some cases total obstructions with the formation of lakes sometimes extending for some kilometres. Moreover, particularly during the Holocene, phytoclastic and phytohermal travertine deposits were deposited in correspondence of steps along the river bed; one of these deposits, by means of radiocarbon dating, has been dated between 8260 ± 100 yr BP and 7740 ± 80 yr BP. Stromatolithic travertine is also present at the base of Holocene channels, slightly incised on the top of the upper Pleistocene alluvial plain.