Search Results

The Law of the Market

Yaacov Lev

in The Administration of Justice in Medieval Egypt: From the 7th to the 12th Century

The chapter examine the nature of the hisba institution and early hisba manuals. Although the hisba law belongs to the realm of customary law, the Islamic concept of ‘commanding right and forbidding ... More

The chapter examine the nature of the hisba institution and early hisba manuals. Although the hisba law belongs to the realm of customary law, the Islamic concept of ‘commanding right and forbidding wrong’ had been grafted onto the hisba law. This mechanism provided an Islamic aura for the market inspector’s actions. The chapter also examines the grain economy of Fustat-Cairo and how the famine of 1024-1025 was handled by the market inspector and the regime. They handled the crisis at the political level, irrespective of doctrines related to fixing of prices.Less

Coinage and the Egyptian Economy

Henry P. Colburn

in Archaeology of Empire in Achaemenid Egypt

A major consequence of the integration of Egypt into the Achameneid Empire was its newfound need for silver in order to make tribute payments. This was achieved by selling grain and other products to ... More

A major consequence of the integration of Egypt into the Achameneid Empire was its newfound need for silver in order to make tribute payments. This was achieved by selling grain and other products to the Greeks. As a result Egypt acquired large quantities of Athenian tetradrachms, which became so prominent that by the end of the fifth century it appeared as a unit of account in Demotic and Aramaic documents, and was even imitated by the Egyptians. Indeed, the tetradrachm was so prevalent that during the Second Persian Period imitations of it were even issued in the names of the satraps Sabaces and Mazaces, and of Artaxerxes III himself. In this respect Achaemenid rule played an important yet indirect role in setting Egypt on the road to monetization.Less

Zhong Shan Park And The Ancestral Hall

M. A. Aldrich

in The Search for a Vanishing Beijing: A Guide to China's Capital Through the Ages

There are two parks, originally set up for imperial ceremonies, bordering each side of the Gate of Heavenly Peace. To the west is the main entrance for the Zhong Shan Park, so named in 1927 as a ... More

There are two parks, originally set up for imperial ceremonies, bordering each side of the Gate of Heavenly Peace. To the west is the main entrance for the Zhong Shan Park, so named in 1927 as a memorial to Sun Yat Sen. Upon entering the park from the south, a white marble pai lou with blue glazed tiles came across. Carrying on to the north, it then hits the Altar of Land and Grain. The Zhong Shan Hall is also discussed. The Imperial Ancestral Hall was built in 1420 as an exact replica of a similar temple in Nanjing. During the Ming dynasty, the Imperial Ancestral Hall housed the wooden ancestral tablets of the deceased members of the Ming imperial family. A walk along the imperial moat behind the Zhong Shan Park and the Imperial Ancestral Hall is especially enjoyable in mid-spring when the leaves of the willows have returned and the lilacs are in bloom.Less

People and Plants in the Precontact Caribbean: The View from Canímar Abajo, Cuba

David G. Smith

in Cuban Archaeology in the Caribbean

Research work at the site of Canímar Abajo in northern Cuba, one of the rare Cuban sites investigated through systematic, large scale excavations, has yielded exciting new data that contribute to our ... More

Research work at the site of Canímar Abajo in northern Cuba, one of the rare Cuban sites investigated through systematic, large scale excavations, has yielded exciting new data that contribute to our understanding of two major themes in circum-Caribbean archaeology: 1. the timing of first migration to the Greater Antilles as well as the origins of the first settlers; and 2. the nature and timing of the origins of resource production in the Caribbean. The discovery of starch grains of maize (Zea mays), common bean (Phaseous sp.), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and cassava (Manihotesculenta) in dental calculus from burials at this site have important implications for discussions on food production in the Neotropics. Research results indicate that a community of people practicing a subsistence regime of fishing, gathering, hunting and plant cultivation was already established in the area of the Canímar River estuary by 1200 BC. It is argued that the first migrants most likely crossed to the Greater Antilles from mainland Central America well before 1200 BC, and brought cultivated species originating in Mexico (maize and beans) and in Central America (sweet potato) with them.Less

Diagnosis of the Processing Methods of Starch-Rich Foods in Archaeological Artifacts: An Experimental Model

Roberto Rodríguez Suárez, Jorge Ezra Cruz Palma, and Guillermo Acosta Ochoa

in Cuban Archaeology in the Caribbean

Understanding the importance of plant food in the subsistence of local populations has been greatly enhanced by the study of starch grains that are specific to the Caribbean. Plants constituted an ... More

Understanding the importance of plant food in the subsistence of local populations has been greatly enhanced by the study of starch grains that are specific to the Caribbean. Plants constituted an important part in the diet of the pre-Hispanic populations of Cuba in their various stages of development. However, weather conditions have not in general allowed the preservation of their traces in archaeological sites that would enable researchers to reconstruct nutritionary intakes of the past populations. As a result, a new method in analysis of food residues on artifacts made of stone, as well as in sediments, ceramics, and other materials, can make an important contribution in our understanding of the dietary activities of archaeological populations. Furthermore, understanding changes that the plant starch undergoes during thermal and mechanical processing is an important empirical tool for future analyses. In this chapter, the authors examine the criteria that can be used in the identification and analysis of starch grains of phaseolus (common bean) in archaeological record.Less

State Regulation of Merchant Shipping 1839-1914: The Bulk Carrying Trades

Lars U. Scholl and Lars U. Scholl

in Merchants and Mariners: Selected Maritime Writings of David M. Williams

This chapter examines the state regulation of the timber and grain trades in the Britain in the nineteenth century, and the efforts made to combat the high loss of life relating to these cargoes.The ... More

This chapter examines the state regulation of the timber and grain trades in the Britain in the nineteenth century, and the efforts made to combat the high loss of life relating to these cargoes.The heavy losses began to draw public scrutiny in the 1830s, which eventually led to government regulation. Williams argues that it was not just the acts of government, but the significant advances in technology and growing expertise amongst seafarers and officers that sharply reduced loss of life toward the end of the century. An appendix tables the loss of life on both timber and grain vessels owned by Britain between 1875 and 1884, and again between 1884-1910, and a third table listing British vessels lost between 1884-1910.Less

The Provision of Specialist Cargo Facilities

Adrian Jarvis

in In Troubled Times: The Port of Liverpool, 1905-1938

This chapter explores the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in relation to specialist cargo. The previous policy of providing equipment that served multiple trades, and asking specialist traders to ... More

This chapter explores the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in relation to specialist cargo. The previous policy of providing equipment that served multiple trades, and asking specialist traders to provide for themselves, gradually became redundant as trade and technology expanded. It is particularly concerned with both the corn trade and the petroleum trade in Liverpool, and the specialist machinery they required.Less

Scorch and Scan: The Writing of Susan Howe

in Poetry and Language Writing: Objective and Surreal

This chapter examines the works of American poet Susan Howe in the context of the Surreal-O-bjectivist nexus. It highlights Howe's concern for the ‘dark side’ of American history and suggests that ... More

This chapter examines the works of American poet Susan Howe in the context of the Surreal-O-bjectivist nexus. It highlights Howe's concern for the ‘dark side’ of American history and suggests that her ‘project of recovery’ has a stake in the Surreal-O-bjectivist nexus. This chapter also considers the influence of William Carlos Williams' In the American Grain on Howe's My Emily Dickinson and contends that based on Howe's understanding of Puritan attitude it can be said that there already existed an American poetics of negation in the 1970s to which surrealism could be accommodated by a modernist writer so inclined.Less

The Development of Trade at the Port of Fremantle

Malcolm Tull

in A Community Enterprise: The History of the Port of Freemantle, 1897 to 1997

This chapter discusses the development of port activity to suit the flow of both passengers and cargo to Fremantle. The port trade reflected the growth of Western Australia’s economy during the early ... More

This chapter discusses the development of port activity to suit the flow of both passengers and cargo to Fremantle. The port trade reflected the growth of Western Australia’s economy during the early twentieth century. It demonstrates that the favourite location of the port and the good railway connections brought the port to the forefront of trade in the state.Less

Crop Domestication and Gender

Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz

in Flora Unveiled: The Discovery and Denial of Sex in Plants

“Crop Domestication and Gender” traces the rise of permanent settlements and incipient agriculture from the Pre-pottery Neolithic to the Pottery Neolithic in the Levant, together with the ... More

“Crop Domestication and Gender” traces the rise of permanent settlements and incipient agriculture from the Pre-pottery Neolithic to the Pottery Neolithic in the Levant, together with the iconographic changes that show a shift from the predominance of zoomorphic forms to female forms concurrent with the increasing importance of agriculture. It discusses relevant geographic features, climactic periods and changes in temperature, rainfall and glaciation while exploring the important transitional cultures and the artifacts that reveal the progress of agricultural development and plant domestication. Domestication of the founder crops of the Fertile Crescent are described, together with markers in the archaeological record that distinguish wild plants from domesticated plants. The abundance of female figurines at the Neolithic village of Sha’ar Hagolan and the presence of cryptic agricultural symbols at Hacilar and Çatalhüyük, support a close association of women, cats, and agriculture, most famously exemplified by the so-called “grain bin goddess“ of Çatalhüyük.Less

Plant-Female Iconography in Neolithic Europe

Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz

in Flora Unveiled: The Discovery and Denial of Sex in Plants

“Plant-Female Iconography in Neolithic Europe” covers the Neolithic transition to agriculture in the Aegean and Europe, which was accompanied by the production of a large corpus of anthropomorphic ... More

“Plant-Female Iconography in Neolithic Europe” covers the Neolithic transition to agriculture in the Aegean and Europe, which was accompanied by the production of a large corpus of anthropomorphic figurines, a genre dominated by images of women. Figurines with cereal grain eyes reminiscent of those at Sha’ar Hagolan, have been found in Greece, and this symbolic association between plants and women tracked the spread of agriculture into Europe. There female figurines appear bearing grain impressions, or incised with plant imagery. The dot and lozenge motif found on some figurines has been interpreted as symbolizing the planted field. Female images from the megalithic era of Malta, including engravings on the base of the monumental statue of a woman at the Tarxian temple, reveal symbols evidencing strong plant-female associations. This association shows continuity throughout the secondary products revolution and the Chalcolithic period and continues into the stratified patriarchal societies of the Bronze Age.Less

Social Capital and Social Norms Shape Human–Nature Interactions

Xiaodong Chen, Wu Yang, Vanessa Hull, Thomas Dietz, Ken Frank, Frank Lupi, and Jianguo Liu

in Pandas and People: Coupling Human and Natural Systems for Sustainability

Social factors can play a major role in human–nature interactions, but are understudied. This chapter explores the role of social norms and social capital in human–nature interactions in Wolong ... More

Social factors can play a major role in human–nature interactions, but are understudied. This chapter explores the role of social norms and social capital in human–nature interactions in Wolong Nature Reserve, with the focus being on labor migration and payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs. Results show that weak social ties of local residents to people in urban settings had a significant positive effect on labor migration—the availability of acquaintances increased the odds of labor migration by 2.45. Further, labor migration substantially reduced households’ use of fuelwood. Results also indicate partial substitutability among social capital, human capital, and natural capital. Regarding PES programs, social capital played a role in households’ collective action in forest monitoring of the Natural Forest Conservation Program, preventing or reducing illegal activities in one’s forest parcel and thus saving monitoring efforts. Households with strong social ties to local leaders spent an average of 54% less labor on forest monitoring than those with weak social ties. Farmers’ decision about the enrollment of their land in the Grain to Green Program (GTGP) was significantly influenced by social norms (the decisions of other community members)—an additional 10% of neighbors’ converting part of their GTGP plots back to agriculture reduced the respondents’ intention to re-enroll by 6.4%. In addition, the effect of social norms at an intermediate payment level was the highest. These findings suggest that as economies develop and conservation policies are implemented, social factors should be leveraged to shape human–nature interactions toward sustainability.Less

Human–Nature Interactions under Policy Interventions

Xiaodong Chen, Vanessa Hull, Wu Yang, and Jianguo Liu

in Pandas and People: Coupling Human and Natural Systems for Sustainability

Many government policies are implemented simultaneously, but often evaluated separately with little attention to their interaction effects. In Wolong Nature Reserve, a number of policies have been ... More

Many government policies are implemented simultaneously, but often evaluated separately with little attention to their interaction effects. In Wolong Nature Reserve, a number of policies have been implemented for conservation, including reserve zoning schemes and incentive-based programs such as the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) and the Grain to Green Program (GTGP). This chapter explores the role of these policies in mediating human–nature interactions and illustrates surprises resulting from their implementation. The zoning scheme has been largely effective for adjusting many human activities in different zones, but has not prevented all harmful human actions in the core zone. NFCP has substantially reduced illegal harvesting. GTGP has converted about half of local people’s cropland into forest plantations. Separately, NFCP and GTGB (GTGP and the local Grain to Bamboo Program [GTBP] together as a cropland conversion policy) each had a negative impact on household income, but jointly their interaction led to a positive effect. Even though households receive 36% higher payment from GTGP than NFCP, the latter is responsible for the majority of forest recovery. Also, there has been an unexpected increase in wildlife raiding of farmers’ crops as a result of both GTGP and NFCP. The effectiveness of these policies can be improved by including more panda habitat in the core zone, cost-effective targeting in GTGP, and incorporating energy needs and optimal monitoring mechanisms into the design of NFCP. These studies suggest that multiple policies should be designed and conservation resources be allocated together to maximize their effectiveness.Less

Defects

Adrian P Sutton

in Concepts of Materials Science

Over time materials change. A material changes towards thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment, or away from equilibrium if it is subjected to external influences such as mechanical ... More

Over time materials change. A material changes towards thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment, or away from equilibrium if it is subjected to external influences such as mechanical deformation, irradiation and chemical attack. In crystalline materials defects are the agents of change. Point defects are agents of diffusion, line defects called dislocations are agents of plastic (permanent) deformation, and planar defects called grain boundaries are agents of recrystallisation and many other processes. In metals diffusion occurs primarily through the motion of vacancies. There is a population of such vacancies in thermodynamic equilibrium. Experimental evidence for their existence and their free energy of formation is presented. The ease of movement of dislocations governs the strength and ductility of crystalline materials. In insulators defects may be electrically charged. Many properties of crystalline materials are governed by defects and their interactions.Less

The World Food Crisis and the End of the Postwar Food System

Bryan L. McDonald

in Food Power: The Rise and Fall of the Postwar American Food System

The end of the 1960s brought turbulence in American affairs at home and abroad, and sparked a set of changes that resulted in the first global food crisis since the end of World War II. In the early ... More

The end of the 1960s brought turbulence in American affairs at home and abroad, and sparked a set of changes that resulted in the first global food crisis since the end of World War II. In the early 1970s, just as American surpluses were being used up, a series of unexpected political, demographic, economic, and environmental shocks converged to plunge the world into the deepest food crisis in twenty-five years. Though American ideas and plans were central to the emergence of the postwar world food system, those ideas could not weather the convergence of so many trends into a world food crisis. The crisis ended the postwar system and replaced it with a world food network that involved many more actors and priorities in world food relations.Less