Looking at landscapes

[From text] Landscape, for me, is Geography, for landscape is the focus of the four great traditions of my subject: spatial; area studies; man-land relationships; earth science (Pattison, 1964,1990). Hedd Wyn and Thomas Roberts, each in his own way, was a Geographer, for each was obviously a student of landscape. My own interest in Geography originated in the view from my bedroom window. I was lucky, Dad was a clergyman, and when he came bade from the army he accepted the parish of St. Peter's Glasbury, in the Wye valley of Wales. From my bedroom window I looked out across The Vicarage lawn, beyond the yew hedge and the orchard, to a series of mounds set in parkland. They were orderly, forming the outline of a rectangle, and when a group of archaeologists excavated the site they discovered that the mounds were the remains of the walls of an Iron Age fort (Savoury, 1955). Although I did not know it at the time, the landscape was already talking to me.Inaugural Lecture delivered at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 17 April 199

Effects of Specific Training on the Ability to Deal with Cultural References in Translation

The aim of this empirical study (carried out as part of a wider research project – see “Credits” below) was to discover the effects of specifically designed pre-service translator training on the trainees’ ability to deal with cultural references, a text segment type which is widely considered as potentially problematic for the translator. Specifically, we set out to discover any significant differences, as a result of said training, in trainees’ ability to: (a) detect cultural references within a text, (b) provide multiple feasible options (variants) to translate them, (c) evaluate those potential options, and (d) apply reasoning in making a final choice from the options. The rationale and nature of the specific training involved has already been extensively reported in González Davies and Scott-Tennent (2005). In the present article, we focus our attention on reporting and discussing its observed effects. The design of the specific training drew heavily on a previous study on specific translator training in problem-solving, reported in Scott-Tennent et al. (2000) and González Davies et al. (2001).L’objectif de cette étude empirique (qui fait partie d’un projet de recherche plus large) est de découvrir les effets de la formation professionnelle du traducteur mise en place spécifiquement pour mesurer la capacité des étudiants à aborder les références culturelles, généralement considérées comme un type de segment textuel potentiellement problématique pour le traducteur. Plus particulièrement, nous nous sommes proposé de mettre en relief les différences significatives relevant de cette modalité formative, en ce qui concerne la capacité des étudiants à : (a) répérer des références culturelles dans le texte ; b) fournir de multiples options valables (variantes) afin de les traduire ; c) évaluer ces options potentielles ; d) appliquer le raisonnement lors du choix final à partir des différentes options proposées. Cette analyse raisonnée ainsi que la nature de cette formation spécifique ont été déjà largement abordées par González Davies et Scott-Tennent (2005). Dans cet article, nous centrons notre attention sur l’analyse et la discussion des effets observés. La conception de cette formation spécifique s’appuie sur une étude antérieure relative à la résolution de problèmes dans la formation spécifique de traducteurs dont la référence se trouve dans Scott-Tennent et al. (2000) et dans González-Davies et al. (2001)

New Firm Growth: Exploring Processes and Paths

This paper provides a new methodology for the diachronic study of new firm growth, theoretically grounded in the work of Penrose (1995). We show that a model of firm growth as an unfolding process makes possible draw simple, measurable inferences from firm level to aggregate evidence on growth paths of new firms, expressed as propositions. Metrics on growth paths of new firms in three longitudinal samples of new firms are examined for evidence at the aggregate level consistent with the dynamic model. Dynamic processes in the early development of young firms result in variations in the timing, magnitude, duration and rate of change of growth as between firms and in the same firm over time. The conceptual and methodological framework in this paper provides a basis for future research aimed at explaining the development of new firms.entrepreneurship;Penrose;growth paths;new firm growth;resource-based perspective

Grèzes litées and their genesis: the site of Enscherange in the Rhenish-Ardennes Massif as a case study

The freeze-thaw cycles in periglacial areas during the Quaternary glacials increased frost weathering, leading to a disintegration of rock formations. Transported downslope, clasts allowed in some areas the formation of stratified slope deposits known as "grezes litees". This study reviews the existing theories and investigates the grezes litees deposits of Enscherange and Rodershausen in Luxembourg. This process was reinforced by the lithostructural control of the parent material expressed by the dip of schistosity (66 degrees) and its orientation parallel to the main slopes in the area. This gave opportunities to activate the frost-weathering process on top of the ridge where the parent material outcropped. As the stratified slope deposits have a dip of 23 degrees and as there is no significant lateral variation in rock fragment size, slope processes that involve only gravity are excluded and transportation in solifluction lobes with significant slopewash and sorting processes is hypothesized. The Enscherange formation, the biggest known outcrop of grezes litees in north-western Europe, shows evidence of clear layering over the whole profile depth. A palaeolandscape reconstruction shows that ridges must have been tens of metres higher than presently. The investigation of the matrix composition shows Laacher See tephra in the overlying periglacial cover bed with infiltrations of the minerals in the reworked upper layer of the grezes litees deposit. Chronostratigraphic approaches using the underlying cryoturbation zone and Laacher See heavy minerals in the overlying topsoil place the formation of grezes litees deposits in the Late Pleistocene