Archaeology Spindle Graphs in the 1930s

During the 1930s, archaeological spindle graphs in the form of seriograms (straight-sided spindle graphs) were published. Three of these represent the investigator’s suspicions about culture change rather than being strictly empirical. Stylistically, seriograms were seldom subsequently published, suggesting these graphs minimally influenced later researchers. By the 1920s, based on the basically unimodal frequency distributions observed in frequencies of specimens of various pottery types in the American Southwest, anthropologists had begun to suspect there were so-called stylistic pulses reflecting the vogue or popularity of particular kinds of artifacts. Explanations fell back on probability theory, likely as a result of the influence of Franz Boas’s statistical reasoning; kinds of phenomena simply should display unimodal temporal frequency distributions given probability theory. Although conceptually unsophisticated, graphic models of these stylistic pulses published by anthropologists in the 1920s took the rough form of spindle graphs and represent a then unrecognized nod to the theory of variational evolution. These spindle graph models may be the ultimate source of archaeological spindle graphs, but these models were a bit difficult to decipher. Many graphs of culture change appearing in the 1920s and 1930s imply variational evolution.

Mediaeval Gravestones from the Crimean Steppe

There are late eighteenth-century maps of the town of Eski-Krym (Solkhat, Krym, Staryi Krym) which Muslim commune shaped by the last third of the thirteenth century showing a number of significant architectural objects and gravestones with stone-carved decorations. The system of Muslim gravestones developed by O.-N. A. Akchokrakly and A. S. Bashkirov is based on the study of forms and the location of ornamental and epigraphic parts of monuments from the cemeteries of Staryi Krym. Carved decorations of medieval grave monuments of Solkhat show by the high artistic level of carving, the quality of technical execution, and original ornamentation. Their connection of stone carving of the Crimea in the Golden Horde Period with the Asia Minor appeared simultaneously with the development of Muslim architecture. Photographs and drawings made by an academic expedition in 1925 that surveyed ancient Tatar settlements and cemeteries in the Crimean steppe (its western areas close to Yevpatoria, as well as the north of the Crimean Peninsula and its east close to the town of Staryi Krym) show a wide range of gravestones, mostly of geometrical forms like pillars topped with turbans. There is a small group of grave monuments, or the so-called two-horned gravestones, representing a rough form of similar tombstones originating from the Muslim cemeteries of Solkhat as the capital of the Crimea in the Golden Horde Period and other large settlements, such as Eski-Iurt. The two-horned gravestones from the cemeteries of large settlements present elaborate forms and inscriptions; they are covered with ornaments featuring the Seljuk style of the Asia Minor. The two-horned gravestones from the cemeteries in the steppe have a high base, with their pillars following the shape of vertical

Identification of Opaque Sulfide Inclusions in Rubies from Mogok, Myanmar and Montepuez, Mozambique

The red variety of corundum owes its color and strong fluorescence to the presence of Cr, as well as traces of Fe. The latter can reduce the fluorescence and thus impact the appearance of the final gem. Gem quality rubies are rarely available for scientific study and even less common in their rough form. Opaque inclusions in rubies are often removed during faceting and remain unidentified. This study aims to identify opaque inclusions in rubies from the two most common origins seen in the high end market today: Mogok, Myanmar and Montepuez, Mozambique. Using electron probe microanalaysis (EPMA) the inclusions were identified as sphalerite and pyrrhotite in Mogok rubies. The paragenesis of Myanmar, marble-related rubies is fairly well understood and no Fe-rich minerals apart from sulfides have been identified. Opaque inclusions in Mozambican rubies are a complex mix of Fe-Cu-Ni sulfides with exsolution textures. These inclusions are interpreted to be small amounts of sulfide melt trapped during corundum formation. The different sulfide phases crystallized from this entrapped melt and some phases experienced later exsolution during cooling. The formation of amphibole-related, Mozambican rubies is not well understood, but it is obvious that very different processes are at work compared to the marble-related Myanmar ruby deposits.

Predicting the roughness length of turbulent flows over landscapes with multi-scale microtopography

The fully rough form of the law of the wall is commonly used to quantify velocity profiles and associated bed shear stresses in fluvial, aeolian, and coastal environments. A key parameter in this law is the roughness length, z0. Here we propose a predictive formula for z0 that uses the amplitude and slope of each wavelength of microtopography within a discrete-Fourier-transform-based approach. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling is used to quantify the effective z0 value of sinusoidal microtopography as a function of the amplitude and slope. The effective z0 value of landscapes with multi-scale roughness is then given by the sum of contributions from each Fourier mode of the microtopography. Predictions of the equation are tested against z0 values measured in ∼ 105 wind-velocity profiles from southwestern US playa surfaces. Our equation is capable of predicting z0 values to 50 % accuracy, on average, across a 4 order of magnitude range. We also use our results to provide an alternative formula that, while somewhat less accurate than the one obtained from a full multi-scale analysis, has an advantage of being simpler and easier to apply.

Predicting the roughness length of turbulent flows over landscapes with multi-scale microtopography

The fully rough form of the law of the wall is commonly used to quantify velocity profiles and associated bed shear stresses in fluvial, aeolian, and coastal environments. A key parameter in this law is the roughness length, z0. Here we propose a predictive formula for z0 that uses the amplitude and slope of each wavelength of microtopography within a discrete-Fourier-transform-based approach. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling is used to quantify the effective z0 value of sinusoidal microtopography as a function of the amplitude and slope. The effective z0 value of landscapes with multi-scale roughness is then given by the sum of contributions from each Fourier mode of the microtopography. Predictions of the equation are tested against z0 values measured in ~105 wind velocity profiles from southwestern US playa surfaces. Our equation is capable of predicting z0 values to 50 % accuracy, on average, across a four order-of-magnitude range.

Performance-based Design

Michalatos and Kaijima underline in their paper ‘Structural Information as Material for Design’ (2007) the importance to approach an informed design consistency and respect the “criteria of efficiency, architectural intentions as well as intrinsic properties of the geometry” rather than simple structural optimization of a certain design. Our paper investigates this consistency between architecture and structure within the framework of parametric modeling, which requires architects, engineers and constructors to re-evaluate the feedback loop between how things are designed and constructed. As Mario Carpo (2008) points out CAD and CAM technologies have overthrown the “Albertian Paradigm” which claims that architects should not make things, but should just design and annotate them. As digital tools can be used to design and fabricate at the same time, CAD-CAM technologies have already started to bridge the gap between designers and makers. One of the most influential form related factors on the lighting situation inside the building is – due to its shading behaviour – the dimension and position of the supporting structure of the façade. It is important to investigate these positions at the beginning in-depth, since they serve as hypothesis for the entire planning process. In order to compare a catalogue of various design approaches and different designs in a timely manner, a parametric model has been built defining the rough form of the design.

Affective neuroscience of the emotional BrainMind: evolutionary perspectives and implications for understanding depression

Cross-species affective neuroscience studies confirm that primary-process emotional feelings are organized within primitive subcortical regions of the brain that are anatomically, neurochemically, and functionally homologous in all mammals that have been studied. Emotional feelings (affects) are intrinsic values that inform animals how they are faring in the quest to survive. The various positive affects indicate that animals are returning to "comfort zones" that support survival, and negative affects reflect "discomfort zones" that indicate that animals are in situations that may impair survival. They are ancestral tools for living--evolutionary memories of such importance that they were coded into the genome in rough form (as primary brain processes), which are refined by basic learning mechanisms (secondary processes) as well as by higher-order cognitions/thoughts (tertiary processes). To understand why depression feels horrible, we must fathom the affective infrastructure of the mammalian brain. Advances in our understanding of the nature of primary-process emotional affects can promote the development of better preclinical models of psychiatric disorders and thereby also allow clinicians new and useful ways to understand the foundational aspects of their clients' problems. These networks are of clear importance for understanding psychiatric disorders and advancing psychiatric practice.