The Labyrinths of the City: A Guided Visit to Make a Journey Around Different Interpretations of the City

A partir de la utilización de la metáfora del laberinto se analizan las posibles formas de percepción de la ciudad. De esta manera, las reflexiones presentadas sirven como mapa a los posibles recorridos que nos permiten las distintas formas de entenderla, buscando examinar a la ciudad más allá de las formas organizativas y de los objetivos que se le asignan desde un plano abstracto que permite advertir la fragmentación de los sentidos

Geospatial Analysis and Modeling of Textual Descriptions of Pre-modern Geography

Textual descriptions of pre-modern geography offer a different view of classical geography. The descriptions have been produced when none of the modern geographical concepts and tools were available. In this dissertation, we study pre-modern geography by primarily finding the existing structures of the descriptions and different cases of geographical data. We first explain four major geographical cases in pre-modern Arabic sources: gazetteer, administrative hierarchies, routes, and toponyms associated with people. Focusing on hierarchical divisions and routes, we offer approaches for manual annotation of administrative hierarchies and route sections as well as a semi-automated toponyms annotation. The latter starts with a fuzzy search of toponyms from an authority list and applies two different extrapolation models to infer true or false values, based on the context, for disambiguating the automatically annotated toponyms. Having the annotated data, we introduce mathematical models to shape and visualize regions based on the description of administrative hierarchies. Moreover, we offer models for comparing hierarchical divisions and route networks from different sources. We also suggest approaches to approximate geographical coordinates for places that do not have geographical coordinates - we call them unknown places - which is a major issue in visualization of pre-modern places on map. The final chapter of the dissertation introduces the new version of al-Ṯurayyā, a gazetteer and a spatial model of the classical Islamic world using georeferenced data of a pre-modern atlas with more than 2, 000 toponyms and routes. It offers search, path finding, and flood network functionalities as well as visualizations of regions using one of the models that we describe for regions. However the gazetteer is designed using the classical Islamic world data, the spatial model and features can be used for similarly prepared datasets.:1 Introduction 1 2 Related Work 8 2.1 GIS 8 2.2 NLP, Georeferencing, Geoparsing, Annotation 10 2.3 Gazetteer 15 2.4 Modeling 17 3 Classical Geographical Cases 20 3.1 Gazetteer 21 3.2 Routes and Travelogues 22 3.3 Administrative Hierarchy 24 3.4 Geographical Aspects of Biographical Data 25 4 Annotation and Extraction 27 4.1 Annotation 29 4.1.1 Manual Annotation of Geographical Texts 29 4.1.1.1 Administrative Hierarchy 30 4.1.1.2 Routes and Travelogues 32 4.1.2 Semi-Automatic Toponym Annotation 34 4.1.2.1 The Annotation Process 35 4.1.2.2 Extrapolation Models 37 4.1.2.2.1 Frequency of Toponymic N-grams 37 4.1.2.2.2 Co-occurrence Frequencies 38 4.1.2.2.3 A Supervised ML Approach 40 4.1.2.3 Summary 45 4.2 Data Extraction and Structures 45 4.2.1 Administrative Hierarchy 45 4.2.2 Routes and Distances 49 5 Modeling Geographical Data 51 5.1 Mathematical Models for Administrative Hierarchies 52 5.1.1 Sample Data 53 5.1.2 Quadtree 56 5.1.3 Voronoi Diagram 58 5.1.4 Voronoi Clippings 62 5.1.4.1 Convex Hull 62 5.1.4.2 Concave Hull 63 5.1.5 Convex Hulls 65 5.1.6 Concave Hulls 67 5.1.7 Route Network 69 5.1.8 Summary of Models for Administrative Hierarchy 69 5.2 Comparison Models 71 5.2.1 Hierarchical Data 71 5.2.1.1 Test Data 73 5.2.2 Route Networks 76 5.2.2.1 Post-processing 81 5.2.2.2 Applications 82 5.3 Unknown Places 84 6 Al-Ṯurayyā 89 6.1 Introducing al-Ṯurayyā 90 6.2 Gazetteer 90 6.3 Spatial Model 91 6.3.1 Provinces and Administrative Divisions 93 6.3.2 Pathfinding and Itineraries 93 6.3.3 Flood Network 96 6.3.4 Path Alignment Tool 97 6.3.5 Data Structure 99 6.3.5.1 Places 100 6.3.5.2 Routes and Distances 100 7 Conclusions and Further Work 10

Pioneers of Modern Geography: Translations Pertaining to German Geographers of the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

This collection of English translations samples the writings and/or critiques thereon of six important German geographers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: those of August Meitzen, Eduard Hahn, Otto Schliiter, Alfred Hettner, Siegfried Passarge, and Karl Sapper. Each of these scholars influenced in various ways the course of modem geographical thinking and instruction in German universities, and their methodologies were also adopted in part by professional geographers in other European countries and in the United States. Four of them—Hahn, Schliiter, Hettner and Passarge— were students of Ferdinand von Richthofen, often considered the “father” of professional geography in Germany. In their writings, most of the men considered herein dealt mainly with the substance and methodology of human geography, but two, Passarge and Sapper, having received formal training in geology, considered problems in physical geography, although both treated various aspects of anthropogeography and ethnography. In the same vein, some of the human geographers of this group, namely Hettner and Schliiter, occasionally wrote on physical geography and emphasized that subject in their teaching. Writings of other leading German geographers of the time period here considered might well have been included; for example Friedrich Ratzel, whose first volume of his Anthropogeographie (1882) dealt in part with the influence of nature on mankind, and led directly to the ideas of one of his American students, Ellen Churchill Semple, who was instrumental in establishing the dogma of environmental determinism among geographers in the United States during the early part of this century. (from Introduction

Kinetic energy fluctuation-driven locomotor transitions on potential energy landscapes of beam obstacle traversal and self-righting

Despite contending with constraints imposed by the environment, morphology, and physiology, animals move well by physically interactingwith the environment to use and transition between modes such as running, climbing, and self-righting. By contrast, robots struggle to do so in real world. Understanding the principles of how locomotor transitions emerge from constrained physical interaction is necessary for robots to move robustly using similar strategies. Recent studies discovered that discoid cockroaches use and transition between diverse locomotor modes to traverse beams and self-right on ground. For both systems, animals probabilistically transitioned between modes via multiple pathways, while its self-propulsion created kinetic energy fluctuation. Here, we seek mechanistic explanations for these observations by adopting a physics-based approach that integrates biological and robotic studies. We discovered that animal and robot locomotor transitions during beam obstacle traversal and ground self-righting are barrier-crossing transitions on potential energy landscapes. Whereas animals and robot traversed stiff beams by rolling their body betweenbeam, they pushed across flimsy beams, suggesting a concept of terradynamic favorability where modes with easier physical interaction are more likely to occur. Robotic beam traversal revealed that, system state either remains in a favorable mode or transitions to one when energy fluctuation is comparable to the transition barrier. Robotic self-righting transitions occurred similarly and revealed that changing system parameters lowers barriers over which comparable fluctuation can induce transitions. Thetransitionsof animalsin both systems mostly occurred similarly, but sensory feedback may facilitate its beam traversal. Finally, we developed a method to measure animal movement across large spatiotemporal scales in a terrain treadmill.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2006.1271

An assessment of multiple drivers determining woody species composition and structure: a case study from the Kalahari, Botswana

Savannas are extremely important socio-economic landscapes, with pastoralist societies relying on these ecosystems to sustain their livelihoods and economy. Globally, there is an increase of woody vegetation in these ecosystems, degrading the potential of these multi-functional landscapes to sustain societies and wildlife. Several mechanisms have been invoked to explain the processes responsible for woody vegetation composition; however, these are often investigated separately at scales not best suited to land-managers, thereby impeding the evaluation of their relative importance. We ran six transects at 15 sites along the Kalahari transect, collecting data on species identity, diversity, and abundance. We used Poisson and Tobit regression models to investigate the relationship among woody vegetation, precipitation, grazing, borehole density, and fire. We identified 44 species across 78 transects, with the highest species richness and abundance occurring at Kuke (middle of the rainfall gradient). Precipitation was the most important environmental variable across all species and various morphological groups, while increased borehole density and livestock resulted in lower bipinnate species abundance, contradicting the consensus that these managed features increase the presence of such species. Rotating cattle between boreholes subsequently reduces the impact of trampling and grazing on the soil and maintains and/or reduces woody vegetation abundance

Decolonizing Pathways towards Integrative Healing in Social Work

Taking a new and innovative angle on social work, this book seeks to remedy the lack of holistic perspectives currently used in Western social work practice by exploring Indigenous and other culturally diverse understandings and experiences of healing. This book examines six core areas of healing through a holistic lens that is grounded in a decolonizing perspective. Situating integrative healing within social work education and theory, the book takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from social memory and historical trauma, contemplative traditions, storytelling, healing literatures, integrative health, and the traditional environmental knowledge of Indigenous Peoples. In exploring issues of water, creative expression, movement, contemplation, animals, and the natural world in relation to social work practice, the book will appeal to all scholars, practitioners, and community members interested in decolonization and Indigenous studies

Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies

In the second volume a wide range of economic actors – from kings and armies to cities and producers – are discussed within different imperial settings as well as the tools which enabled and constrained economic outcomes. A central focus are nodes of consumption that are visible in the archaeological and textual records of royal capitals, cities, religious centers, and armies that were stationed in imperial frontier zones

Landscape of the soul : a metaphorical model of Christian mysticism

What would happen if Christian spiritual life is seen, not as a pilgrimage through a landscape, but as the landscape itself? In order to explore this question, this thesis expands the metaphor of the 'landscape of the soul' into a model of Christian spiritual life. The 'landscape of the soul' is treated as a system; with its input being God's self-revelation of love through Jesus Christ; its transformational process being the re-creation of a person through the love of God; and its output being union with God. In a representational mapping of the model, three interrelated networks of systems are identified: a geology representing physical and psychological processes relating to human experiencing; a geomorphology connected with human growth and development; and an ecology depicting the flow of God's love through various interrelationships present in the 'landscape of the soul'. These systems are considered with reference to three characteristics of landscape: matrix, the area that is most prominent; patches, areas that are different from the common matrix; and corridors, areas that facilitate the flow of information, energy or materials. The 'landscape of the soul' is also thematically mapped using different types of understandings that are associated with mysticism. The geological network is seen as analogous to those discourses that interpret mysticism as a distinct type of altered state of consciousness; the geomorphological network, with those understandings that link mysticism with stages in prayer or psycho-spiritual development; and the ecological network, with those understandings that associate mysticism with the encounter and relationship with God in Christ. From this thematic exploration, the model proposes that the altered state of consciousness in the geology of experiencing be likened to being-in-love with God; that the process represented by stages in the geomorphology of growing be seen as the deepening and honing of attention to God; and the relationship depicted in the ecology of relating be perceived as a mutual selfgiving between God and a person in an exchange of love. The model is tested in an individual case study of the life and writings of Clare of Assisi and through a survey of spiritual directors and therapists. A model of Christian life based upon the metaphor of the 'landscape of the soul' emphasises an encounter with Christ in the present moment and provides a framework in which some different understandings of mysticism can be situated. Moreover, what emerges is a distinctly Christian understanding of a mysticism of everyday in which the apophatic and transformational encounter with God is grounded in Christ