Hundreds Of Towns Research Articles

Сравнительный анализ показателей детской смертности в российских городах и селениях XVI—XVIII вв.

The authors present a paleoanthropological study of the necropolises from several 16 th—18 th century towns and villages in the western part of Russia. In this area and time period, the average life expectancy was very low. The lowest, 14.5 years, is observed in the population of the borderline fortress Blokhino-1 in Saransk County. The higher the infant mortality in the groups, the lower the average life expectancy. The infant mortality rate in different localities was different. The peak of infant mortality falls on 0—5 age group in all studied groups from the western part of Russia of the 16 th—18 th centuries. The representativeness of this cohort often depends on the mortality rate of children in the first year of life. The high mortality rate of young children was associated with a low level of medical development, lack of antibiotics, and sometimes with historical situations. Mortality in the first year of life, especially newborns, was the highest in the borderline fortress Blokhino-1 of Saransk County. The reason for such a dangerous demographic situation here was the historical purpose of the fortress and the task of the population to defend their homeland. Much less attention was paid to everything else. In general, the most prosperous demographic situation was in the village of Isupovo, Kostroma region, in the city of Kazan and on the territory of Nizhny Novgorod Posad near the Kremlin (necropolis on the Verkhnevolzhskaya embankment) in the 16th—18th centuries.

Legal Cynicism and System Avoidance: Roma Marginality in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract The Roma are Europe’s largest minority group and face extensive discrimination across the continent. Drawing on a survey of Roma and non-Roma households in twelve Central and Eastern European countries, we analyze the extent to which legal cynicism, as a cognitive frame, is connected to the avoidance of helpful social institutions. We thus expand existing research on legal cynicism to focus on individuals’ contacts with potentially helpful institutions that can buffer inequality. We conclude that the interplay of legal cynicism and system avoidance, which have provided deep insights into the reproduction of structural disadvantage in American cities, also provide us with international insights into the causes of inequality and minority disadvantage across hundreds of towns in Central and Eastern Europe. In this way, legal cynicism and system avoidance work to reproduce durable inequality.

Wave overtopping and splash-up at seawalls with bullnose

Seawalls have been erected to protect hundreds of towns and tourism areas stretching along the coast of Vietnam. During storm surges or high tides, wave overtopping and splash-up would often threaten the safety of infrastructures, traffic and residents on the narrow land behind. Therefore, this study investigates these wave-wall interactions via hydraulic small scale model tests at Thuyloi University. Remarkably, the structure models were shaped to have different seaward faces and bullnoses. The wave overtopping discharge and splash run-up height at seawalls with bullnose are significantly smaller than those without bullnose. Furthermore, the magnitude of these decreasing effects is quantitatively estimated.

Key to the Indies: Port Towns in the Spanish Caribbean: 1493–1550

Seaborne commerce, communication, and transportation to a great extent defined and enabled the Spanish enterprise in the Caribbean from the time Europeans first arrived in the islands. With the exception of a minority of towns such as Concepción de la Vega in Española that were established in the interiors of the islands to provide access to gold mines and the indigenous labor to exploit them, the majority of new towns and cities were located on the coasts. Although Santo Domingo, San Juan, and eventually Havana emerged as the principal ports and administrative capitals of the large islands of the northern Caribbean in the first half of the sixteenth century, many secondary and small port towns played essential roles in the rapid development of systems of local and regional exchange, indigenous slave raiding, and transatlantic commerce that linked the islands to Seville, the Canaries and other islands of the Atlantic and the southern Caribbean. Allowing island residents to take advantage of waterborne transportation often via indigenous-built canoes, linking the islands to one another and the circum-Caribbean mainland, and serving as staging grounds for slave-raiding and other expeditions that radiated out from the islands, these towns helped to forge a diverse and dynamic region that was closely tied both to Spain and later to the developing societies of Spanish America.

The Distributional Impact of Greater Responsiveness: Evidence from New York Towns

Making leaders more responsive to voters is a frequent goal of institutional reforms in democracies. Given that some citizens participate more in politics than others, however, there is a risk that increased responsiveness may conflict with another democratic value: the equality of policy outcomes. This article studies this trade-off using institutional reforms in New York towns, where officials known as assessors are charged with ensuring equitable treatment in property taxation. Over time, hundreds of towns reduced responsiveness by making their assessors appointed instead of elected. The local context thus allows for more precise measurement of who gets what from government, as well as more credible estimates of the effects of institutions. Results show that local policy decisions are biased against low-income residents and that elections serve only to compound this bias.

О ЧЕМ «РАССКАЗЫВАЕТ» ИСТОРИЯ И ЧТО «ПОКАЗЫВАЕТ» АРХЕОЛОГИЯ: ИСТОЧНИКИ И МЕТОДЫ ИЗУЧЕНИЯ РУССКОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ СИБИРИ

Over the last two decades, the archaeological study of the Russian sites in Siberia has expanded not only in scale and geography, but also in the scope of research issues. As a result, the archaeology of Siberian Russian cities has turned into a separate subdiscipline within Siberian studies. Excavations of late 16th to 19th century forts, towns, and cities has had a positive impact on public attitudes. These sites are now viewed as an integral part of the nation’s cultural heritage and an invaluable source of historical knowledge. The importance of historical archaeology is gradually being acknowledged by historians, who, until recently, tended to monopolize historical reconstructions of Muscovy and the Russian Empire. Historical archaeology sets up a broader format of research focused on this pivotal period. The article outlines the fi ndings of archaeological excavations at old Russian sites in Siberia, juxtaposing them with written evidence. The following tasks are addressed: (1) localizing historical sites and attributing excavated ones; (2) modeling wooden architecture; (3) reconstructing the composition of herds through faunal remains.

Hot geospatial intelligence from a Cold War: the Soviet military mapping of towns and cities

As part of its secret military mapping program the Soviet Union produced large-scale maps and plans of hundreds of towns and cities around the world. The end of the Cold War and the subsequent fall of communism saw the eventual closure or transformation of cartographic factories in the former Soviet republics, and, for the first time, these highly detailed products of geospatial intelligence became available to a wider audience. This paper focuses on maps and plans of non-Soviet towns and cities that were produced from the 1940s to the 1990s. Through a comparison of their style and content with contemporary cartographic and documentary sources, it aims to examine the key questions of how and why they were made, before exploring their possible strategic value.

Pipe Rehabilitation CIPP Provides Low‐Cost Alternative

Cities facing water main replacement or rehabilitation should consider cured‐in‐place piping (CIPP), which offers minimal disruptions and is less expensive than many other methods. Hundreds of towns and cities have already discovered the benefits of trenchless CIPP.

Bacteriological Pollution of Artesian Ground Water Sources Used by Local Communities Living in and Around Bukavu Town (Democratic Republic of Congo) as Sources of Potable Drinking Water

Pollution of water for human consumption is a major environmental challenge in hundreds of towns across Sub-Sahara Africa. The objective of this work was to evaluate the degree of bacterial pollution of ground water sourcesas sources of safe drinking water consumed by local human communities living in urban and peri-urban zones of Bukavu town (eastern DR Congo). Populations living in these zones are generally disfavored in terms of safe watersupply services by the national water corporation (REGIDESO). This study was conducted in 2011 during the dry and rainy seasons from 15 ground water sources used by the population from these peri-urban zones as sources of safe drinking water and as source of safe water for other domestic needs. In total, 150 samples were taken from these water sources. During both rainy and dry seasons, 5 water samples were taken for every source. These samples were analyzed for their physic-chemical and bacteriological properties in comparison to world health organization standards. Results indicated that the degree of bacterial pollution of water was high (T=4.56, P<0.05) during rainy season (20.6 ± 25.3 total coliforms/100 ml of water on average) than during the dry season (3.10 ± 6.023 total coliforms/100 ml of water on average) across all sources studied. Sources (sites) that were highly polluted included Mulehe I, Kaliba, Kahuranyi, Cemu, Bagira, Funu et Gihamba. Overall, bacterial pollution of drinking water sources was significantly (P<0.05) high during the rainy season than during the dry season. Similarly, cholera epidemic outbreak is high in these zones during the rainy season (September-December). In November-December 2011, more than 400 cases of death were registered in hospital and the victims were from these highly polluted areas where the study was conducted. In fact, the presence of Vibrio cholerae was detected in all rainy season water samples from these areas. The results of this study indicated that Vibrio cholerae is the principal dangerous pollutant agent of these drinking ground water sources used by more than half million people living in peri-urban areas and in over-populated areas in Bukavu town. There is a need to set a system of monitoring water quality for human consumption. Results (findings) of such a monitoring program may be used to inform policy makers and health agents on better strategies to control water pollution in Bukavu and in related Sub-Sahara African towns. There is a need for policy makers to develop new strategies to improve water sanitation and supply everyone safe drinking groundwater in Bukavu Town. The adoption of water sanitation, rainwater harvesting technologies may help in areas where the national water corporation can’t be able to supply water in short to mid terms.

SUSTAINABLE FOOD PRODUCTION USING HIGH DENSITY VERTICAL GROWING (VERTICROP¿)

Europe’s first vertical farm is currently being piloted with VertiCrop at Paignton Zoo in Devon. It is experimenting High Density Vertical Growing as a sustainable solution to feeding increasing urban populations in twenty-first century towns and cities. The technology comes at a time when alternative land uses, such as biofuel and fiber production, are competing with traditional food production for the available soil and water resource. While increasing pressure is being placed on the managers of land to adapt and contribute to the mitigation of climate change through less intensive resource management. VertiCrop (VC) is an integrated hydroponic approach that addresses the central issue of optimising resource use to grow crops near to where they are consumed, using the most advanced technology to ensure efficient crop production. Advanced irrigation equipment and a soilless culture removes the need for good agricultural land, while utilizing vertical space further reduces the area of land required to grow any crop. The pilot project grows 11,200 plants in a greenhouse of 100 m2, using a conveyor driven stacked growing system various micro greens, lettuce and salad mixes have been planted sequentially to provide a regular supply of fresh green leaves; with the primary focus of economic profitability, improved nutritional value and environmental enrichment to improve animal feeding regimes at the zoo. The potential of VC opens up the way for schools, hospitals and housing estates in cities and towns to grow their own vegetables, to reduce their carbon footprint and associated food miles. In the future, it will be possible to extend the research direction to include vertical cultivation of food, biofuels and medicinal crops, such as high market value pharmaceutical products.

DEVELOPMENT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL UNITS AND URBAN SYSTEMS IN CHINA

On the basis of spot investigation of dozens of cities and hundreds of towns and villages in different regions in China, combining with the fundamental methods of municipal solid waste management (MSWM), three development modes of MSWM were proposed according to the land area, economic level, nature condition and population distribution of various geographical units and urban systems. They were respectively for the city/district system, the city/town (district)/village system and the city/ county/town/village system. Different city or district can choose one of these modes flexibly based on its practical situation, to comprehensively plan and properly layout the MSW disposal system, so as to optimize the resources reallocation of lands, funds, and technologies and achieve the integrated management of MSW.

O VISÍVEL E O INVISÍVEL: A paisagem arqueológica da morte em São Cristóvão e Laranjeiras – SE

This paper aimed to characterize the death archeological landscape in the eighteenth century towns of Sao Cristovao and Laranjeiras in Sergipe state, by using the roughness for the identification of old and contemporary territories of the death. In order to carry out the study, the representation and the history information were employed as characterization methods, with a qualitative analytical approach. Therefore, the initial premise proclaims that the death led to the formation of a dominant landscape in the towns by means of its relationship with the catholic religion. Currently, towns that preserve traces of such landscapes, as Sao Cristovao and Laranjeiras, are liable to archeological studies. By analyzing the death roughness, it was recognize that, during the past, the representation of death was daily present in the people´s life. Thus, it was inferred that there is a death landscape in these eighteenth century towns created by visible and invisible roughness. The visible ones are constituted by still existent Churches, tombstones, and cemeteries. The invisible ones are represented by everything that is covered or was reinterpreted as tombstones, cemeteries, and rituals.

BTX measurements in a medium-sized European city

The BTX levels are significantly high compared to the EU directive for benzene in European cities with population around or higher one million. Since there are hundreds of towns in Europe with smaller population, it is important to know the levels of aromatics in these areas. This work presents the results of a benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) measurement campaign that took place in Ioannina, a medium-sized Greek city. As a result of traffic situation and the local meteorological conditions, pollution levels in Ioannina are unusually high, at least for a city of that size. BTX levels were measured using passive samplers placed at several points around the city, as well as across a selected street canyon using both passive and active samplers, combined with simultaneous measurements of traffic flow and wind speed. The measurement procedure was repeated in an exact manner for all four seasons and the results suggest that benzene levels, at all sampling points, exceed the limit set by EU Directive 2000/69. Benzene levels appear correlated to traffic density, while benzene/toluene/xylene ratios present a seasonal variation linked to meteorological conditions.

Over the Top

Sculptures of infantrymen—or “doughboys,” as soldiers in the Great War were called—were among the most popular American memorials to World War I. Fighting soldiers, in particular, held special appeal in the 1920s. Their charging figures grace the intersections and parks of hundreds of towns and cities across the United States. Images of the doughboy in the interwar period served important public functions: as an antidote to radicalism, a sign of vigilance and loyalty, and a reassuring vision of American manhood and fitness. Doughboys were also mythologized in magazine illustrations, advertisements, sheet music covers, and posters, which contributed to popular attitudes. The vigilant soldier, the stalwart soldier, and the soldier “going over the top” resonated with the antiradical convictions of the Red Scare and assuaged anxieties about the well being of returning veterans. In addition to serving their communities as sites of mourning and remembrance, these memorials, both mass‐produced designs and individually commissioned works, stood as symbols of loyalty and stability. In Chicago, for example, a memorial to an African American regiment of the Illinois National Guard was deemed incomplete until a fighting black soldier was added several years later. The Chicago memorial is a notable exception to the absence of depictions of African‐American combat soldiers. Despite the art world’s desire that World War memorial makers aspire to loftier forms, the image of the soldier, of “the boy himself,” as one critic suggested, best satisfied the emotional and political needs of the U.S. public in the 1920s.

From a Ruined Garden: The Memorial Books of Polish Jewry

An indispensable sourcebook...Emphasis falls on the variegated, often joyful, culture of the Polish Jews, on what existed before the garden was ruined. - Geoffrey H. Hartmann, Republic. From these marvelous selections, one can see an entire culture unfolding. From a Ruined Garden accomplishes what editors from hundreds of towns sought to do for their destroyed communities - create paper monuments wherein a bit of that extinguished flame is fanned back to life. - Curt Leviant, New York Times Book Review. In the years after World War II Polish Jewish survivors of the Holocaust who had made their way to America or Israel resolved to preserve the memory of their destroyed communities by compiling memorial books, narrative accounts of Jewish life in Polish towns before, during, and to some extent after the Holocaust. From a Ruined Garden gathers some 65 selections from the nearly one thousand memorial books published since World War II. The texts describe typical market days, communal institutions, prayer houses, peculiar town types, outstanding personalities, and local customs and legends, as well as everyday life during the Holocaust and the experiences of returning survivors. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography of the memorial books and a gazetteer of place names mentioned in the text. A substantial introduction by the editors illuminates the history of the memorial books and their importance in the construction of memory culture through the response of survivors.

The Guatemalan Military and the Economics of La Violencia

From 1980 to 1983, the Maya peoples of central and northern Guatemala experienced a brutal military assault in which hundreds of towns were destroyed, tens of thousands of people killed, and hundreds of thousands displaced. Ostensibly, such actions were undertaken as part of a counter-insurgency effort designed to protect the integrity of the Guatemalan state. This study argues, however, that the military's motivation for the escalation and indiscriminate attack against the Maya and guerrilla presence arose from an imperative to establish a secure investment climate for the Guatemalan state and investors. The article offers a chronological account of the rapid development of economic projects in the region—related to oil exploration, hydroelectric facilities, mining and infrastructure—by the military-dominated regimes during the 1970s and early 1980s. It then attempts to demonstrate how these projects became of increasingly greater importance to the state over time, thus prompting the violent repression of the Maya and the perceived threat to economic stability in the region.

Expansion of Television in Eastern Amazonia

Walking down the dusty streets of an isolated frontier boomtown in the Brazilian state of Para in the evening, one can follow the dialogue of the country's favorite evening soap operas streaming from front-room television sets. The pling-pling noise that marks the end of commercials on the Globo network, now the fourth largest in the world, echoes down the squatter-settled streets. From this simple observation, three striking points emerge. The Amazon region, until recently only sparsely inhabited and isolated from international and even national Brazilian culture, is experiencing a rapid spread of television. Although this trend was pointedly pictured in the movie Bye Bye wherein a band of Brazilian gypsies fruitlessly travel to Amazonia in search of a part of their country without television (Godfrey 1993), it has scarcely been commented on in the growing scholarly literature on the region. The second observation is that the Globo network has a near monopoly on viewership in the region. In hundreds of towns across the Amazon region viewers have no choice but Globo on their dials. A third extraordinary feature is that there are intervals when viewers in interior towns of Para watch a blank screen with a clock in the corner counting the minutes until the nationwide programming returns, just as the Indians in Bye Bye Brazil watched the test pattern on seeing their first television set. Because only big cities have the capacity to mount full television stations, most small towns have set up satellite dishes and small retransmitting towers that draw signals directly from distant transmitters in the country's south. Without local input in television programming, all the images received on television sets in Para come from the other Brazil, the urbanized and modern Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro corridor where most shows and advertisements are produced or are imported, chiefly from the United States. Exposure to images of the outside world has implications for whether Amazonia can maintain a distinct regional identity, which in turn bears both on the ecological fate of the region and on hopes of integrated or sustainable development there. An analysis of television in Amazonia, of which this article constitutes only a beginning, must explain the odd geographical patterns of networks, retransmitters, and groundlinks spreading across the region. The rapid creation and change of these patterns cannot be explained by a natural and even diffusion of the technology, because state politics and the deliberate policy of the Brazilian military regime from 1964 to 1985 to spread television throughout the country must be taken into account. The military regime wanted to create a national culture and to legitimate itself through televised modern images of the most developed southern regions. The policy of bringing television to all Brazil was achieved by providing infrastructure for the industry and special credit to consumers for the purchase of television sets (Straubhaar, Olsen, and Nunes 1993). The new image of Brazil promulgated by the regime and Globo was one of modernity: mobility, development, and consumption (Pereira, Santos, and de Carvalho 1988; Kottak 1990). This article begins an analysis of the spread of electronic media into Amazonia by examining the geographical distribution of television during 1990 in Para [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED]. It includes discussion of some causes and consequences of this distribution and of the lack of locally produced programming. The text is organized around three simple but profoundly important questions. To what extent has television expanded into eastern Amazonia? What channels are residents there watching? How much television content there is of local origin? The study has four sources of information: Brazilian Ministry of Communications data on Para; a household survey in one Para town during 1989-90; interviews with local governmental officials and television executives in 1990, 1992, and 1993; and analysis of network program listings for Belem, the state capital. …

The Evolution, Impact and Significance of the Health Cities/Healthy Communities Movement

The Healthy Cities movement, or Healthy Communities as it is known in some parts of the world, has grown rapidly since it was launched in 1986. In addition to the 35 cities formally associated with the WHO Europe project, there are now 18 national networks and hundreds of towns and cities actively involved in Europe, North America, and, increasingly, the developing world. This article reviews the concept, its evolution and current practice, considers some of the problems in applying the concept, and speculates on its potential future development.

Esquisse d'une histoire des intérieurs angevins au XVIIIe siècle

While there has heen a marked increase in the number of studies dealing with the living conditions in French 18th century towns, it would seem appropriate to define the situation of the inhahitants of Angers and to compare them with other towns. It Would seem front evidence that over half of the « Angevins » lived in individual houses which possessed between 2 to 4 rooms. This domicile was in general rented (84 %) and the rent formed the greater part of household expenses. Over the century, the floor space of these houses was increased with, in addition to the general rooms such as the kitchen and salon, other rooms being annexed such as offices, cabinets or « bureaux ». It would also seem that it took some time before household comforts were introduced into the houses of Angers. The kitchen was generally nothing more than a large open hearth, while water came from wells situated not far from the latrines. However, by the end of the 18th century undergarments and general garnments became more abundant. One can also note the growing difference between the mentalities ; with « Les lumières » having little influence on the elite who remained attached to the practise of prayer and the deepening of their faith.

A REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE FOR CONTINUITY IN BRITISH TOWNS IN THE 5TH AND 6TH CENTURIES1

Summary. An attempt is first made to define ‘town’and ‘continuity’for this period, and to assess the vigour of towns in the fourth century. The body of the article is a review of the fifth and sixth century archaeological evidence (including structures, artefacts and dark soil) and an analysis of the interpretations based upon it especially the theories of (1) Germanic ‘mercenaries’and (2) the prolongation of towns into the fifth century so that they overlap with early English activity. The conclusion is reached that there is no archaeological evidence for continuity in fifth and sixth century towns.