Historical Archives (historical + archives)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Analysis of historical landslide time series in the Emilia-Romagna region, northern Italy

EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 10 2010
Mauro Rossi
Abstract A catalogue of historical landslides, 1951,2002, for three provinces in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy is presented and its statistical properties studied. The catalogue consists of 2255 reported landslides and is based on historical archives and chronicles. We use two measures for the intensity of landsliding over time: (i) the number of reported landslides in a day (DL) and (ii) the number of reported landslides in an event (Sevent), where an event is one or more consecutive days with landsliding. From 1951,2002 in our study area there were 1057 days with 1 , DL ,?45 landslides per day, and 596 events with 1 , Sevent , 129 landslides per event. In the first set of analyses, we find that the probability density of landslide intensities in the time series are power-law distributed over at least two-orders of magnitude, with exponent of about ,2·0. Although our data is a proxy for landsliding built from newspaper reports, it is the first tentative evidence that the frequency-size of triggered landslide events over time (not just the landslides in a given triggered event), like earthquakes, scale as a power-law or other heavy-tailed distributions. If confirmed, this could have important implications for risk assessment and erosion modelling in a given area. In our second set of analyses, we find that for short antecedent rainfall periods, the minimum amount of rainfall necessary to trigger landslides varies considerably with the intensity of the landsliding (DL and Sevent); whereas for long antecedent periods the magnitude is largely independent of the cumulative amount of rainfall, and the largest values of landslide intensity are always preceded by abundant rainfall. Further, the analysis of the rainfall trend suggests that the trigger of landslides in the study area is related to seasonal rainfall. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Tree-ring reconstructions of precipitation and streamflow for north-western Turkey

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 2 2008
Ünal Akkemik
Abstract We describe tree-ring reconstructions of spring (May-June) precipitation and spring-summer (May-August) streamflow for north-western Turkey, both beginning in AD 1650. These are among the first such reconstructions for the region, and the streamflow reconstruction is among the first of its kind for Turkey and the entire Middle East. The reconstructions, which both emphasize high-frequency variations, account for 34 and 53% of their respective instrumental variance. Comparison to precipitation and runoff data provides some means of verification for the instrumental streamflow record, which is very short (30 years). Drought and flood events in the reconstructions are compared to historical archives and other tree-ring reconstructions for Turkey. The results reveal common climatic extremes over much of the country. Many of these events have had profound impacts on the peoples of Turkey over the past several centuries. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


IDEC's History: Important Milestones 1963,1978

JOURNAL OF INTERIOR DESIGN, Issue 2 2010
Buie Harwood M. F. A.
IDEC began to compile its history in 1972, and later had anniversary celebrations at its annual conferences in 1982, 1987, 1992, and 2008. When the first efforts began, members recognized that IDEC had a significant history and that the history was important internally as well as externally to the profession as a whole. Without these early efforts and continuing ones by IDEC members, IDEC would not have its developmental footprint, historical archives, historical identity, or milestone markers charted herein. In essence, its history served as its memory keeper and its foundation for growth. [source]


Front and Back Covers, Volume 22, Number 3.

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 3 2006
June 200
Front and back cover caption, volume 22 issue 3 Front & back cover ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEMORY The front cover shows a statue Of General Francisco Franco In the exhibition 'Franco, Listen!', held at the Museum of Vilafranca del Penedčs, Barcelona. The statue was displayed with the aim of stimulating comment, dialogue and action among museum visitors around the time of the 30th anniversary of the dictator's death on 20 November 1975. It was attacked by a group of Catalan pro-independence activists, who poured red paint over Franco's head, invested him with a crown, and hung a sign around his neck reading: 'The Spanish Monarchy is a direct inheritance from Franco - end the hypocrisy.' The back cover shows a formerly unmarked mass grave strewn with floral tributes after a spontaneous ceremony led by relatives of the 46 people killed near Villamayor de los Montes (Burgos), following the exhumation of the bodies in July 2004. In this issue, Francisco Ferrándiz describes the debates taking place in Spain around the exhumation of mass graves from the Civil War (1936-1939). In the last few years the strength of the 'movement for the recovery of historical memory' linked to the exhumations has been such that some on the political right are denouncing the advent of a 'new hegemony of the defeated' that is taking the place of the 'agreement of all' which many believe was the trademark of the Spanish transition to democracy. Proposing that anthropologists visit and address the sites of memory - exhumations, cemeteries, political discourses, laws and commemorations, claims of victimhood, media reports, artistic performances, forensic laboratories, academic meetings and summer schools, historiographical debates, civil associations, historical archives, public and private rituals, narratives of the defeat and old photo albums, to name a few - Ferrándiz encourages anthropology to engage in 'rapid response' research, to diversify fieldwork locations, to modulate research strategies in order to address rapidly evolving problems, to continue visiting the sites of violence, past and present, and to produce the type of knowledge that allows us to participate in substantive ways in social and political debates well beyond our discipline and beyond our academic setting. [source]