The supernatural characters and powers of sacred trees in the Holy Land

This article surveys the beliefs concerning the supernatural characteristics and powers of sacred trees in Israel; it is based on a field study as well as a survey of the literature and includes 118 interviews with Muslims and Druze. Both the Muslims and Druze in this study attribute supernatural dimensions to sacred trees which are directly related to ancient, deep-rooted pagan traditions. The Muslims attribute similar divine powers to sacred trees as they do to the graves of their saints; the graves and the trees are both considered to be the abode of the soul of a saint which is the source of their miraculous powers. Any violation of a sacred tree would be strictly punished while leaving the opportunity for atonement and forgiveness. The Druze, who believe in the transmigration of souls, have similar traditions concerning sacred trees but with a different religious background. In polytheistic religions the sacred grove/forest is a centre of the community's official worship; any violation of the trees is regarded as a threat to the well being of the community. Punishments may thus be collective. In the monotheistic world (including Christianity, Islam and Druze) the pagan worship of trees was converted into the worship/adoration of saints/prophets; it is not a part of the official religion but rather a personal act and the punishments are exerted only on the violating individual

Breaking the boundaries: Integrating 200 years of the Census using GIS.

The census and similar sources of data have been published for two centuries so the information that they contain should provide an unparalleled insight into the changing population of Britain over this time period. To date, however, the seemingly trivial problem of changes in boundaries has seriously hampered the use of these sources as they make it impossible to create long run time series of spatially detailed data. The paper reviews methodologies that attempt to resolve this problem by using geographical information systems and areal inter-polation to allow the reallocation of data from one set of administrative units onto another. This makes it possible to examine change over time for a standard geography and thus it becomes possible to unlock the spatial detail and the temporal depth that are held in the census and in related sources

Fuzziness of Travel-to-Work Areas

Feng Z. Fuzziness of travel-to-work areas, Regional Studies. Travel-to-work areas (TTWAs) have been used widely by governmental agencies and academic institutions. However, their use has been criticized because the boundaries separating travel-to-work areas are imperfect in the sense that there are always commuting trips crossing them. This paper aims to investigate the fuzziness of travel-to-work areas by applying fuzzy set theory. The methodology of defining fuzzy travel-to-work areas is described. Indicators measuring size and the overlap of fuzzy travel-to-work areas are suggested. The cartographic representation of fuzzy travel-to-work areas is discussed. The last section proposes the advantages of fuzzy travel-to-work areas and some potential applications. [image omitted] Feng Z. Flou en matiere de zones d'emploi, Regional Studies. Les zones d'emploi (TTWA) ont ete largement utilisees par les agences gouvernementales et les institutions universitaires. En revanche, elles ont ete critiquees du fait que les limites qui separent ces zones sont imparfaites en ce sens qu'elles sont toujours traversees par des liaisons domicile-travail. L'objet de cet article est d'analyser le flou des zones d'emploi en appliquant la theorie des ensembles flous. Il decrit la methodologie utilisee pour definir les zones d'emploi floues et suggere des indicateurs pour mesurer la taille et le chevauchement de ces zones. Les auteurs debattent de la representation cartographique des zones d'emploi floues. Dans la derniere section, ils presentent les avantages des zones d'emploi floues et quelques applications potentielles. Zones d'emploi Theorie des ensembles flous Angleterre Representation Feng Z. Die Unscharfe von Arbeitsmarktregionen, Regional Studies. Arbeitsmarktregionen werden von Regierungsbehorden und akademischen Institutionen in grossem Umfang genutzt. Diese Methode ist jedoch kritisiert worden, weil die Grenzen zur Trennung von Arbeitsmarktregionen insofern Mangel aufweisen, als dass stets auch Pendler diese Grenzen uberschreiten. In diesem Beitrag wird die Unscharfe der Arbeitsmarktregionen durch Anwendung der Fuzzymengen-Theorie untersucht. Die Methodologie zur Definition unscharfer Arbeitsmarktregionen wird beschrieben. Es werden Indikatoren zur Messung der Grosse und Uberlappung von unscharfen Arbeitsmarktregionen vorgeschlagen. Die kartografische Darstellung unscharfer Arbeitsmarktregionen wird erortert. Im letzten Abschnitt werden die Vorteile unscharfer Arbeitsmarktregionen behandelt und einige potenzielle Anwendungen vorgeschlagen. Arbeitsmarktregionen Fuzzymengen-Theorie England Darstellung Feng Z. Ambiguedad de las cuencas de empleo, Regional Studies. Las cuencas de empleo han sido utilizadas con profusion por agencias gubernamentales e instituciones academicas. Sin embargo, se ha criticado que las fronteras que separan estas cuencas de empleo son imperfectas porque siempre hay viajantes que las cruzan. En este articulo investigamos la ambiguedad de las cuencas de empleo aplicando la teoria de conjuntos difusos. Describimos la metodologia para definir las cuencas de empleo difusas. Sugerimos indicadores para medir el tamano y el solapamiento de las cuencas de empleo difusas. Tambien analizamos una representacion cartografica de las cuencas de empleo difusas. En la ultima seccion, proponemos las ventajas de las cuencas de empleo difusas y algunas posibles aplicaciones. Cuencas de empleo Teoria de conjuntos difusos Inglaterra RepresentacionTravel-to-work areas (TTWAs), Fuzzy set theory, England, Representation,