Just Warfare, or Genocide?: Oliver Cromwell and the Siege of Drogheda

Oliver Cromwell has always been a subject of fierce debate since his death on September 3, 1658. The most notorious stain blotting his reputation occurred during the conquest of Ireland by forces of the English Parliament under his command. This essay will concentrate on Cromwell and his New Model Army’s siege at Drogheda, the most brutal of all the military confrontations which transpired during the settlement. From the time Cromwell’s body was exhumed and mutilated in 1661, up unto the present day, the way in which he is remembered has changed significantly. While some position Cromwell as just one of many key actors in a wider drama, others assert that his savagery cannot be excused as just merely reflecting the bloody and unprincipled nature of war in that country. The siege of Drogheda provides a glimpse into the severity of that savagery. Cromwell undoubtedly killed thousands, and adversely impacted countless more, but it is not clear if his actions which occurred amid a time of war departed from or exceeded the accepted laws, practices, and norms of the day. Drogheda’s siege, which began in August 1649, was Cromwell’s first major, and most infamous, action in Ireland. He was by this time the new lord lieutenant of Ireland and arrived between August 15-23, in a fleet of over 130 ships, bringing with him a large artillery train, a full treasury, and well- disciplined regiments. The invasion was a long-delayed response to the Irish revolt which occurred in Ulster in 1641, though the defenders and victims of Drogheda were not the Irish responsible for the attacks on English and Scottish settlers years earlier. It is the siege which remains with Oliver Cromwell to this day

Petrography of the Roan Village area, Carter County, Tennessee

The area considered in this study encompasses a twenty-five square mile portion of the White Rock Mountain and Iron Mountain quadrangles in the vicinity of Roan Village, Tennessee. The Roan Village area is composed of metamorphic and igneous rocks of Precambrian and Cambrian rocks. The two major formations are the Cranberry Gneiss and the Beech Granite. The Cranberry Gneiss is Precambrian metasediments. The gneiss is a layered rock of varied composition. Texturally the Cranberry ranges from equigranular to porphyroblastic. Perthitic microcline, albite, quartz, and biotite are major constituents. The Beech Granite is a Precambrian igneous rock which is intrusive into the Cranberry Gneiss. The Beech is an inequigranular, holocrystalline, pink granite. Microperthitic microcline, albite, and quartz are major constituents. Minerals commonly show signs of alteration and deformation. The Cranberry Gneiss has been cut by numerous intrusions of granitic, diabasic, aplitic and ultramafic composition. The Beech is cut by many diabase dikes

Modelling Hot Spots of Soil Loss by Wind Erosion (SoLoWind) in Western Saxony, Germany

Land Degradation and Development published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. While it needs yet to be assessed whether or not wind erosion in Western Saxony is a major point of concern regarding land degradation and fertility, it has already been recognized that considerable off-site effects of wind erosion in the adjacent regions of Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg are connected to the spread of herbicides, pesticides and dust. So far, no wind erosion assessment for Western Saxony, Germany, exists. The wind erosion model previously applied for Germany (DIN standard 19706) is considering neither changes in wind direction over time nor influences of field size. This study aims to provide a first assessment of wind erosion for Western Saxony by extending the existing DIN model to a multidirectional model on soil loss by wind (SoLoWind) with new controlling factors (changing wind directions, soil cover, mean field length and mean protection zone) combined by fuzzy logic. SoLoWind is used for a local off-site effect evaluation in combination with high-resolution wind speed and wind direction data at a section of the highway A72. The model attributes 3·6% of the arable fields in Western Saxony to the very-high-wind erosion risk class. A relationship between larger fields (greater than 116 ha) and higher proportions (51·7%) of very-high-wind erosion risk can be observed. Sections of the highway A72 might be under high risk according to the modelled off-site effects of wind erosion. The presented applications showed the potential of SoLoWind to support and consult management for protection measures on a regional scale. © 2016 The Authors. Land Degradation and Development published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.The authors would like to thank Jürgen Heinrich and Gudrun Mayer for the technical revision of the model conception and the German Weather Service, the Saxon State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology, the Saxon State Office for Road Construction and Traffic, the Saxon State Ministry of the Environment and Agriculture, the Saxon State Spatial Data and Land Survey Corporation, the Saxon Road Maintenance Depots, OpenStreetMap and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for providing the datasets. We would also like to thank three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Green and animal manure use in organic field crop systems

Dual-use cover/green manure (CGM) crops and animal manure are used to supply nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to organically grown field crops. A comprehensive review of previous research was conducted to identify how CGM crops and animal manure have been used to meet N and P needs of organic field crops, and to identify knowledge gaps to direct future research efforts. Results indicate that: (a) CGM crops are used to provide N to subsequent cash crops in rotations; (b) CGM-supplied N generally can meet field crop needs in warm, humid regions but is insufficient for organic grain crops grown in cool and sub-humid regions; (c) adoption of conservation tillage practices can create or exacerbate N deficiencies; (d) excess N and P can result where animal manures are accessible if application rates are not carefully managed; and (e) integrating animal grazing into organic field crop systems has potential benefits but is generally not practiced. Work is needed to better understand the mechanisms governing the release of N by CGM crops to subsequent cash crops, and the legacy effects of animal manure applications in cool and sub-humid regions. The benefits and synergies that can occur by combining targeted animal grazing and CGMs on soil N, P, and other nutrients should be investigated. Improved communication and networking among researchers can aid efforts to solve soil fertility challenges faced by organic farmers when growing field crops in North America and elsewhere