Sceloporus woodi

Number of Pages: 2Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Barons and Yeomen, Venison and Vert: A Comparative Analysis of the Magna Carta and A Gest of Robyn Hode in the Context of Forest Law

The extensive control of English forests by a king can be traced back to the Norman Conquest and William the Conqueror’s establishment of a royal monopoly over resource rich lands by proclaiming them forests and protecting them with harsh laws. Henry II’s Assize of the Forest, however, was the first legal document solely focused on regulating the forest (Danziger and Gillingham 2005; Knight and Ohlgren 2000, note for line 1429). Legislated in 1184, the Assize of the Forest affirmed the king’s absolute power over the lands he claimed as his forests and the natural resources such as timber and game within them. The forests covered a significant portion of the kingdom and served as an “integral part of the social and economic structure of the country,” and as a result the strict enforcement of the king’s interests by foresters and sheriffs denying noblemen and commoners alike from accessing the wealth of the land led to deep discontent at both ends of the societal spectrum, now preserved in law codes and literature (Douglass and Greenaway 1981, 450). One of the earliest surviving sources to mention Robin Hood, the romantic ballad, A Gest of Robyn Hode (c. 1450), glorifies violations of such laws in narratives sourcing from lower in the social hierarchy as embodied by the yeoman status of the titular character. Although markedly different in origin and audience, the barons’ attempt to overthrow the king’s control of the forest in the Magna Carta provides a framework to better comprehend the interplay between the Assize and the Gest. How do the Magna Carta and A Gest of Robyn Hode portray and respond to forest law and what role does social class play in shaping those reactions? What does a comparison of the Magna Carta and the Gest in the context of forest law reveal about the similarities and differences in class structure between the time periods of the two texts? Additionally, how can the concept of yeomanry, both as a social rank and a household station, as presented in the Gest, inform us about society during the time of its composition and the changes in societal hierarchy from the time of Magna Carta? Despite being separated by approximately two centuries and representing differing forms of composition, the Magna Carta provides the context required to understand how and its lower class audience responded to elements of forest law

Barons and Yeomen, Venison and Vert: A Comparative Analysis of Magna Carta and \u3cem\u3eA Gest of Robyn Hode\u3c/em\u3e in the Context of Forest Law

The extensive control of English forests by a king can be traced back to the Norman Conquest and William the Conqueror’s establishment of a royal monopoly over resource-rich lands, which he proclaimed forests and protected with harsh laws. Henry II’s Assize of the Forest, however, was the first legal document focused solely on regulating the forest. Legislated in 1184, the Assize of the Forest affirmed the king’s absolute power over the lands he claimed as his forests and the natural resources, such as timber and game, within them. The forests covered a significant portion of the kingdom and served as an “integral part of the social and economic structure of the country,” and the strict enforcement of the king’s interests by foresters and sheriffs, who denied noblemen and commoners alike from accessing the wealth of the land, led to deep discontent at both ends of the societal spectrum, now reflected in law codes and literature. One of the earliest surviving sources to mention Robin Hood, the romantic ballad entitled A Gest of Robyn Hode (c. 1450), glorifies violations of such laws in a narrative derived from lower in the social hierarchy, embodied by the yeoman status of the titular character. Although markedly different in origin and audience, the barons’ attempt to overthrow the king’s control of the forest in Magna Carta provides a framework to better comprehend the interplay between the Assize and the Gest. How do Magna Carta and A Gest of Robyn Hode portray and respond to forest law, and what role does social class play in shaping those reactions? What does a comparison of Magna Carta and the Gest in the context of forest law reveal about the similarities and differences in class structure between the time periods of the two texts? Additionally, what can the concept of yeomanry, both as a social rank and a household station, as presented in the Gest, tell us about society during the time of its composition and the changes in societal hierarchy from the time of Magna Carta? Despite being separated by approximately two centuries and representing differing forms of composition, Magna Carta provides the context required to understand how the Gest and its lower-class audience responded to elements of forest law

Location, concentration, and performance of economic activity in Brazil

What are the prospects for economic development in lagging sub-national regions? What are the roles of public infrastructure investments and fiscal incentives in influencing the location and performance of industrial activity? To examine these questions, the authors estimate a spatial profit function for industrial activity in Brazil that explicitly incorporates infrastructure improvements and fiscal incentives in the cost structure of individual firms. The authors use firm level data from the 2001 annual industrial survey along with spatially disaggregated regional data and find that there are considerable cost savings from being located in areas with relatively lower transport costs to reach large markets. In comparison, fiscal incentives, such as tax expenditures, have modest effects in terms of influencing firm level costs. Although the results suggest that firms benefit from being in locations with good access to markets, the authors do not suggest that improving interregional connectivity would necessarily assist lagging regions. In the short run, improving interregional connectivity implicitly reduces a natural tariff barrier so firms currently serving large markets and benefiting from economies of scale can more easily expand into new markets in competition with local producers. Therefore, producers in the leading regions can crowd out local producers, which would be detrimental for local production and employment in the lagging region.Decentralization,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Municipal Financial Management

Linking highway improvements to changes in land use with quasi-experimental research design: A better forecasting tool for transportation decision-making

An important issue for future improvement and extensions of highways will be the ability of projects to sustain challenges to Environmental Impact Statements based upon forecasts of regional growth. A legal precedent for such challenges was established in 1997 when a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the EIS for a proposed Illinois toll road was deficient because the growth projections were the same in the build and no-build scenarios. This paper incorporates popular regional growth forecasting models into a quasi-experimental research design that directly relates new highway investments in three California counties to changes in population and employment location, while controlling for no-build historical counterfactuals. The authors model simultaneous employment and population growth from 1980 to 2000 in Merced, Orange, and Santa Clara counties, three California counties that received substantive highway improvements during the mid-1990s. The strategy permits a comparison of the before-and-after tests for effects of investments on economic growth and land use in three regions that contrast how increased highway access affects development patterns: (1) for an urban center in Santa Clara County, (2) for an exurban region in Orange County, and (3) for a small town in Merced County. We find that traditional forecast approaches, which lack explicit control selection, can lead to erroneous conclusions about an impact. Our integrated form of the lagged adjustment model confirms results from a conventional form of the model that includes all cross-sectional units as observations; in both forms of the model we estimate a statistically significant increase in employment development in the exurban region in Orange County where new toll roads were constructed. In the case of Santa Clara County, neither our quasi-experimental integrated approach nor the conventional lagged adjustment approach estimates a significant effect on population or employment growth that can be attributed to the new highways constructed in the urban center. For the small town environment in Merced County, the conventional simultaneous growth regressions produce a materially different estimate than the approach we develop and examine in this paper. Isolating effects to local spatial units where the intervention occurred and their no-build counterfactual produces estimates of a statistically significant decrease in employment growth in the small town near the newly constructed highway bypass

Evaluation of Surface Preparation and Bond Angle Combinations for Joint Replacement using Ultra-High Performance Concrete

Deterioration of bridges is often attributed to declining performance of the longitudinal connections between precast members or transverse deck joints. Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is a cementitious composite with mechanical and durability properties far exceeding those of conventional concrete, making it an ideal material for bridge deck joints. This project included a multi-faceted evaluation of the proprietary UHPC material, Lafarge Ductal®, to determine best practices for placing UHPC joints and to better understand their behavior. Composite modulus of rupture (MOR) specimens were tested in flexure to determine the effects of varying interface angles and levels of surface roughness on bond strength. Slant shear tests were performed on composite cylinders to provide a baseline of bond strength with no surface manipulation. Static and fatigue flexural testing was performed on three medium-scale slabs with heat cured UHPC joints to determine their flexural capacity and the effects of cyclic loading on the joint interface. The MOR specimens exceed the flexural strength of the base concrete, and most did not experience interface failure. Two slabs, tested statically in flexure, had experimental capacities exceeding the estimated capacity. The third slab, loaded cyclically, achieved 3 million cycles of a load less than the cracking load and experienced degradation in performance. It then failed at a much lower number of cycles after the load was increased. These results indicate that UHPC provides superior structural performance for slab joints and is worth studying further in future research

An Analysis of Farmers\u27 Soil Testing Practices in Three Louisiana Parishes.

The study examined the soil testing practices of farmers in Northeast Louisiana. The research further examined soil fertility levels in Franklin, Morehouse, and Tensas Parishes to determine whether there have been changes in soil fertility levels in these parishes between 1964-67 and 1982-83. The sample was taken from the population of farmers in Franklin, Morehouse, and Tensas Parishes who had used the Louisiana State University soil testing laboratory in 1982-83. One hundred farmers were interviewed regarding their use of soil testing. Also, all the soil fertility data was collected from soil tests in 1982-83 in Franklin, Morehouse, and Tensas Parishes, and compared with a 1964-67 study. The research revealed that farmers who soil sampled more frequently averaged higher yields of both cotton and soybeans than farmers who soil sampled less frequently. Younger and better educated farmers soil sampled more often than older and less educated farmers. Farmers who had been active in 4-H and/or FFA soil sampled more often than farmers who had not been active in these organizations. Farmers who placed much confidence in the County Agent and in soil testing for fertilization recommendations soil sampled more often than did farmers who placed no faith in the County Agent or soil testing for fertilizer recommendations. Farmers who placed much faith in fertilizer dealers for fertilizer recommendations soil sampled less often than did farmers who placed little influence in fertilizer dealers for fertilizer recommendations. There was no relationship between sampling frequency and the amount of influence consultants, agricultural magazines, and other farmers had on fertilization decisions. In Franklin Parish, levels of extractable P have remained constant, levels of K and Mg have decreased, and levels of Ca and pH have increased between 1964-67 and 1982-83. In Morehouse Parish, levels of P and pH have remained constant, levels of K and Mg have decreased, and levels of Ca have increased between 1964-67 and 1982-83. In Tensas Parish, levels of Mg and P have remained constant, while levels of K, Ca, and pH have increased