Dynamical Assessment of the Work Conditions of Reinforcement Tie-Rods in Historical Masonry Structures

Tie-rods are essential structural elements, which have been employed for centuries in masonry historical buildings, either during the construction or in successive strengthening interventions, with the aim of containing dangerous horizontal actions. The actual work conditions of these tie-rods, which are strongly influenced by their load history, are difficult to be quantified theoretically, and an effective method for their measure is of great importance in order to ensure the efficiency of these elements during the time and the stability of the entire building. Common measurements are often carried out adopting models based upon significant simplifications, like, for example, hinges at the extremities. These assumptions, rarely represent the real work conditions for anchorages. In this work, a non-destructive testing method is presented, based upon sophisticated dynamical models that can take into consideration many of the circumstances neglected by the simplified models. Four case studies are extensively described, trying to embrace the most common situations in term of peculiar features of the building, structural configuration, and load history. The discussion of the results yields the safety margin of the rod with respect to the material failure and provides important indications about the overall stability of the whole building.     

Coast–inland mobility and diet in the Danish Mesolithic and Neolithic: evidence from stable isotope values of humans and dogs

Here we present the stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen measured in bone collagen extracted from humans, dogs, herbivores and fish from Mesolithic and Neolithic coastal and inland sites in Denmark. Bones of freshwater fish from several Early Mesolithic lake-side sites have δ¹³C values surprisingly similar to those seen in marine fish. We propose a model, based on δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, for the correction for both marine and hard water reservoir effect in radiocarbon dates. A strong reliance on aquatic protein is demonstrated for the Mesolithic inhabitants of the region from the middle of the Early Mesolithic onwards. A significant part of the protein in the diets of the dogs and humans from the Middle and Late Mesolithic was of marine origin, even at inland sites. This observation points to a high degree of (seasonal) coast-inland mobility. The isotopic evidence indicates that during the Neolithic small quantities of aquatic foods were still common sources of dietary protein.     

Émile Meyerson,d'après sa correspondance

Building upon Emile Meyerson's correspondence and other personal papers, all of them hosted by the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem, this article presents a mainly personal portrait of the philosopher (1859–1933). Thus this article describes his family circle in Lublin (Poland), his higher education (in Germany) and his professional course: settled in France, he worked first in chemistry, then get a job as foreign news editor and later took an important position at the Jewish Colonization Association. This article deals also with Meyerson's contacts with the French and international intellectuel milieu (scientists as well as writers).     

LATE NEOLITHIC STENILDGÅRD GRAVE: RE-EXCAVATED,RE-ANALYSED AND RE-INTERPRETED

Occasionally, it becomes possible to re-excavate and re-analyse prehistoric monuments. Within the geographical area managed by Vesthimmerlands Museum, this happened in the case of the Late Neolithic Stenildgård grave on the western periphery of the town of Aars, Northern Danmark. The grave was excavated for the first time at the early 1930s and re-excavated in 2015 in connection with the construction of a ring road around the southern parts of Aars. In 2015, a series of state-of-the-art scientific analyses were conducted in relation to this grave. Following a detailed presentation of the original publication and later interpretations, this article presents the results of the new excavation and scientific analyses. The new results include identification of the human bones, the development of the stratigraphy, strontium isotope analysis, pollen analysis, macro-fossil analysis, and the analysis of pitch. Since the 1930s, the Stenildgård grave has been considered a burial, which, to a great extent, deviated from usual practice showing one of the earliest examples of cremation in prehistoric Denmark. Furthermore, the recent investigation revealed that the grave was equipped with a surrounding wooden structure and possibly influenced by West European Bell Beaker Cultures. Also, the grave seems to form part of an extensive Late Neolithic burial and settlement system, where complex rituals were carried out.     

Long-distance provenance for obsidian artifacts of Mesoamerica Preclassic and Early Classic periods found in the Los Naranjos Archaeological Park (Honduras)

Los Naranjos is one of the most important pre-Columbian human settlements of Honduras related to the south-easternmost border of the Mayan civilization. Although the archaeological site mostly spans from 850 BC to 1250 AD, the present obsidian study was only focused on the Preclassic and Early Classic periods (Jaral, 800–400 BC and Edén, 400 BC–550 AD) where undamaged blades and/or retouched obsidian flakes are rare. In this way, the INAA analyses of 17 obsidian samples, compared with major-trace elements data of Honduran and Guatemalan obsidian sources, are mostly representative of waste flakes. Lithic artifacts of Los Naranjos such as sandstones, basalts, and quartzites come from local geological outcrops; whereas, obsidian provenance has to be searched from sources which are located within a radius up to 300 km far away. San Luis, La Esperanza, and Güinope obsidian sources are located in Honduras while the three most exploited Highland Guatemalan obsidian outcrops, which have been dominating long-distance trade in the Maya area mostly for the Classic-Postclassic periods, are San Martin de Jilotepeque, El Chayal, and Ixtepeque. An Ixtepeque provenance, for all the investigated obsidian samples of Preclassic and Early Classic periods found in the Los Naranjos Archaeological Park, was established, thus emphasizing a long-distance source (180 km). This also confirms that Ixtepeque represents the most important provenance of the obsidian artifacts found in archaeological sites of Western and Central-Western Honduras. The possible role played by some of the most important rivers of Guatemala and Honduras as waterway networks of transport was finally pointed out. New INAA chemical data from the Honduran obsidian source of La Esperanza (“Los Hoyos”, 4 samples) are also reported in this paper.     

Governance in Multi-Project Networks: Lessons from a Failed Destination Branding Effort

Abstract

This article describes and analyses the process in which the establishment of a Christmas market led to an attempt to establish a regional destination brand named “Delightful Christmas”. Our focus is on the network dynamics of the process, in particular its multi-project network characteristics. Empirical findings are based on qualitative data from personal interviews, participant observation and documentation in an action research approach. The process is analysed as a so-called project network (Hellgren & Stjernberg, 1995 Hellgren, B. & Stjernberg, T. (1995) Design and implementation in major investments—a project network approach, Scandinavian Journal of Management, 11(4), pp. 377–394. doi: 10.1016/0956-5221(95)00020-V[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) involving different actors having different aims in event and destination brand development, thus creating a process with actors of existing, but resource-lacking, dependencies. Despite the disagreements between actors, the common beliefs and hopes for the integrated destination theme remained and innovative work continued for about three years in an environment where conditions were difficult due to insufficient financial resources, project coordination and long-term strategic planning. Conclusions concern the dynamics of a complex multi-project network organization and how its failure can be explained.     

Stadtentwicklung unter Wachstumsbedingungen

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