scholarly journals Preface

There is money to be made in the financial industry. Academics, under pressure to exhibit relevance, are happy to point to their consultancies in the City as evidence of their value in the market, and the industry has shown a notable ability to recruit the brightest and best from our Universities. These observations should not obscure the profound scientific challenges posed by the area of finance. The area has both stimulated and benefited from advances in a range of mathematical sciences, most obviously probability, differential equations, optimization, statistics and numerical analysis. One thinks, for example, of Bernoulli’s resolution, in the 18th century, of the St Petersburg Problem through his introduction of a logarithmic utility, of Bachelier’s description, at the turn of this century, of the stochastic process we now call brownian motion, of Kendall’s investigation, forty years ago, of the statistical unpredictability of stock prices, and of the current enormously fertile interaction between economics and mathematics centred around martingale representations. Looking to the future, some of the mathematical ideas originally motivated by statistical mechanics, and since used to model the large-scale telecommunication networks upon which the financial industry relies, may also provide insight into the very difficult problems that arise in economics concerning interacting systems of rational agents.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Hellemans

<p>For the coming ten years, the heart of Europe will turn into a gigantic construction site for works on one of the largest hubs of the continent: Antwerp. The Oosterweel Link is the project whereby the motorway ring around Antwerp is undergoing a metamorphosis to reinvigorate traffic flow and add living space to the City. The project had come to a standstill for several years as a result of protests by assertive citizens, but was given a second lease of life following a large-scale participation project.</p><p>To ensure its successful completion, unparalleled efforts are being made in the field and in the area of digitization. It is therefore with good reason that in Belgium the project is referred to as “the construction site of the century”.</p>


2011 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 267-274
Author(s):  
Stanislav Popelka ◽  
Alžběta Brychtová

Olomouc, nowadays a city with 100,000 inhabitants, has always been considered as one of the most prominent Czech cities. It is a social and economical centre, which history started just about the 11th century. The present appearance of the city has its roots in the 18th century, when the city was almost razed to the ground after the Thirty years’ war and a great fire in 1709. After that, the city was rebuilt to a baroque military fortress against Prussia army. At the beginning of the 20th century the majority of the fortress was demolished. Character of the town is dominated by the large number of churches, burgher’s houses and other architecturally significant buildings, like a Holy Trinity Column, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Aim of this project was to state the most suitable methods of visualization of spatial-temporal change in historical build-up area from the tourist’s point of view, and to design and evaluate possibilities of spatial data acquisition. There are many methods of 2D and 3D visualization which are suitable for depiction of historical and contemporary situation. In the article four approaches are discussed comparison of historical and recent pictures or photos, overlaying historical maps over the orthophoto, enhanced visualization of historical map in large scale using the third dimension and photorealistic 3D models of the same area in different ages. All mentioned methods were geolocalizated using the Google Earth environment and multimedia features were added to enhance the impression of perception. Possibilities of visualization, which were outlined above, were realized on a case study of the Olomouc city. As a source of historical data were used rapport plans of the bastion fortress from the 17th century. The accuracy of historical maps was confirmed by cartometric methods with use of the MapAnalyst software. Registration of the spatial-temporal changes information has a great potential in urban planning or realization of reconstruction and particularly in the propagation of the region and increasing the knowledge of citizens about the history of Olomouc.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-293
Author(s):  
V. M. Rychka

Described in Primary Chronicle under 912 the story of the unusual circumstances of the death of Kyiv pagan prince Oleh the Prophetic is connected to Kyiv topographic realities, contemporary for chronist, in particular, to the toponym «Oleh Tomb», also known from other sources. According to this chronicle Oleh Tomb was placed on the hill Shchekovytsya but the exact localization of the latter is not provided. In the middle of the 19th century Kyiv people called Shchekovytsya the high hill rising over the Podil on the west side. In the works of the later Kyiv scholars this hill was unequivocally identified with Chronicle Shchekovytsya where they localized the grave of Oleh. This view was challenged by P. G. Lebedyntsev who suggested localizate the Oleh Tomb not on Shchekovytsya / Skavitsya but on the western slope of the Starokyivsky Plateau, on Kudryavka, opposite the Lybid’ River, near the Zhidovsky (Lviv) Gate of Medieval Kyiv. Basing on the analysis of Kyiv Chronicle information the scientist concluded that the toponym «Oleh Tomb» is separated from Shchekovytsya in the annals. The explanation of this contradiction in the chronicle was proposed by one of the best experts in the historical topography of Old Kyiv — M. I. Petrov. He suggested that under the name of Shchekovytsya one should consider not only the Podil hill but also all surrounding ravines and highlands. The Shchekovytsya ridge of mountains and hills stretched from the east to the southwest from the present Shchekovitsa hill to the edge of the present Lviv Square. The common for whole this territory name Shchekovytsya became gradually decay due to the large scale construction of the city in the 18th century and the appearance of proper names of new urban areas. The version of the death and burial of Oleh in Ladoga where one of the central and largest hills got the name «Oleh Tomb» is still popular in historiography, especially Russian. This mound was explored by archaeologists. The cremation burial was discovered under the barrow. It was dated to earlier (9th century) time than the date of Oleh death. Because of the impossibility of this «grave» to be burial place of the Prince of Kyiv, G. S. Lebedev has proposed to consider it the «Oleh Hill» — a «ritual seat» which had some public and religious functions. Despite the hypothetical nature of such interpretation the ghost of Oleh finds the visible features in Ladoga. At the end of the last century in Old Ladoga the stone was erected on that mound with a memorial plaque proclaiming this site of the 9th—10th centuries «The tomb of Prince Oleh the Prophetic». The story of the death of Kyiv pagan prince Oleh the Prophetic «due to horse» contained in the Primary Chronicle under 912 was compilled, apparently, on the base of some archaic mythological song or historical anecdote. It wins over not its factual authenticity but psychological one. However, there is no reason to doubt that Oleh died in Kyiv. The death of the prince, who was crowned with warrior glory, prompted his followers to muse about the choice of a place for the building of the great barrow over his grave. The slopes of the Lysa Gora (Yurkovytsia), where the pagan necropolis had already been laid near Oleh courtyard, probably seemed them to be cramped. This may have been the reason for choosing among the highlands, which rise above the Podil, the beautiful terrain of Kudryavka in the upper reaches of the Hlybochytsa river. The barrow built in the 10th century was probably quite large which explains the relatively long life of «Oleh Tomb» in the Kyiv toponimic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-131
Author(s):  
Guillaume Vanneste

Through the observation of land property (le foncier) and, specifically, large landholdings, this research aims to take a fresh look at urbanization and urban planning in the Belgian Walloon Brabant Province. In contrast with most Belgian urban studies that tackle the issue of sprawling urbanization through small-scale parcels, fragmentation processes and individual initiatives, this investigation complements recent research on estate urbanization by examining large-scale properties and how they played a role in the city-territory’s urbanization during the second half of the 20th century. Large landholdings in Walloon Brabant are remnants of 18th century territorial dominions inherited from nobility and clergy, progressively dismantled, reorganized or maintained as result of the urbanization dynamics integral to the reproduction of modern and contemporary society. The village of Rixensart is the subject of a series of these transformations. By mapping the de Merode family’s large landholdings in the south of the commune and analyzing the allotments permit, we retrace urban transformations and the reordering of social and ecological relations through changing land structure. The palimpsest notion is used as a tool to unravel the set of actors involved in urbanization dynamics and to highlight the socio-spatial transformations and construction of recent urbanization. The profound transformations taking place in Walloon Brabant today present an opportunity to reflect on its future, and questions regarding landed estates suggest potential for tackling the city-territory’s greater systemic challenges.


Author(s):  
Mykola Blyzniak

The article analyzes the demographic aspects and economic potential of the city of Shumsk as one of the structural elements of the Volyn properties of the princely house of the Radziwills in the second half of the 18th century. The inventory of this privately owned city and its informative potential was used as a basis for understanding the socio-economic aspects of the everyday life in the cities of Volyn at the time. In 1747 the Malynsky family sold Shumsk to the Radziwills. At the time of the acquisition of the property, the new owners gained a leading position among the magnates of the Ukrainian lands. The Radziwills significantly developed the city plan, expanded its infrastructure, and took care of its cultural and religious landscape. Overall, the new owners seemingly wanted to increase the significance of the settlement in terms of trade, economy and spiritual importance. Despite their large-scale efforts, the city continued to be under the influence of notably more powerful Volyn estates of the representatives of this princely house. At the time, the city and its citizens were considerably involved in the agricultural sector and did not have the opportunity to significantly strengthen the craft component. In fact, they often had to combine the former and the latter since the craft did not yet allow completely abandoning agricultural activities. In the second half of the 18th century, being an estate and economic unit of the Volyn estates of the Radziwills, Shumsk was closely connected with the neighboring town of Rokhmanov.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Pueppke ◽  
Qingling Zhang ◽  
Sabir Nurtazin

Central Asia’s Ili River is fed by mountain streams that flow down into an isolated and arid basin that today is shared by Kazakhstan and China. Agriculture in the basin is dependent upon irrigation, which was practiced as long ago as the Iron Age, when early pastoralists constructed ditches to channel water from streams onto nearby fields. Irrigation had become much more common by the 18th century, when the region was controlled by the Dzungarian Khanate. The khanate was toppled by the Qing Chinese in the 1750s in the first of a series of confrontations that destroyed and then rebuilt the basin’s agricultural economy. The region has since been dominated by a succession of Chinese and Russian (and later Soviet and independent Kazakh) governments, each of which recognized the essential role of irrigated agriculture in maintaining control. Thus every cycle of destruction led to reclamation of new lands, resettlement of farmers and upgrading of infrastructure to expand irrigation. This allowed an impressive diversity of fruits, vegetables and field crops to be grown, especially on loess soils of the more fertile upper basin, where tributaries could be easily tapped by gravity flow. Many of these tributaries were entirely diverted by the 19th century, so that they no longer reached the Ili. Large scale irrigation commenced in the 1960s, when the Soviets built Kapchagai dam and reservoir in the lower part of the basin and installed pumps to raise water from the Ili River onto nearby reclaimed sierozem soils, mostly for cultivation of rice. China later constructed a cluster of small- and medium-sized dams that enabled expansion of agriculture in the upper part of the basin. Many irrigated areas along the lower reaches of the Ili in Kazakhstan have been abandoned, but irrigation in the upper basin continues to expand. Declining soil fertility, salinization, pollution, insufficient inflows and adverse economic conditions currently challenge irrigation across the entire basin. Investments are being made in new technologies as a means to sustain irrigated agriculture in the basin, but it remains to be seen if these strategies will be successful.


Author(s):  
J. S. Rowlinson

The polite world took little interest in the Alps before the 18th century. The local inhabitants had ventured far enough to shoot chamois and to search for crystal (i.e. quartz), but few of the educated took any notice. The earliest natural philosophers to study the botany and mineralogy of these regions were from the German–speaking towns of Switzerland. Their first conclusions have not always stood the test of time; one of them, J.J. Scheuchzer (F.R.S., 1703) even reported the presence of dragons. Such frivolities did not appeal to the Calvinists of the city republic of Geneva. They could see the ‘montagnes maudites’ of Savoy to the south–east, but they never went to them. The first serious attempts to describe this world of snow and ice were made in 1741 and 1742.


Author(s):  
Néhémie Strupler

When: Karum Period: First centuries of the 2nd millennium B.C. when Assyrian and Anatolian merchants took part in large-scale commercial exchanges between Aššur and central Anatolia. Most of the epigraphic finds come  from the 19th century BC, and the 18th century is less known. We don’t know how the commercial exchanges came to an end. Until the establishment of the administration at the Hittite capital Hattuša/Boğazköy (1650), there is a hiatus in the epigraphical records for more than a century. Who: Anitta, son of Pithana, an ambitious ruler who created one of the first Kingdom in Central Anatolian (modern Turkey) in the mid 18th century.Where: Boğazköy (modern name, in Central Anatolia) was a city called Ḫattuš and was an exchange place in the Anatolian Network of the Karum period. The site was selected as the capital of the Hittites around 1650 by Ḫattušili I, the first well attested Hittite King.


2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-103
Author(s):  
Kamil Nieścioruk

Abstract Just as contemporary cartographic works, old maps were usually made for specific purposes, e.g. related to taxation, propaganda or military objectives. C. d’Örken’s map of Lublin of 1716 is an example of a cartographic work created for military purposes, as it was made in the context of negotiations of the Tarnogród Confederation. The author of the map focused on the thematic content – he marked control zones, as well as military outposts, and accommodation sites. In many instances, the base content is presented with little attention to detail. There are a few exceptions to this rule, with fortifications being the most noticeable one. It was most likely motivated by the author’s profession, as he was a military engineer. Still, although Lublin has never been a particularly well-fortified city, the aforementioned content of the map perfectly reflects not only the former shape of the city space, but also its contemporary organisation. This article, due to its detailed description of selected works and the methodology involving the use of old cartographic materials, can be used as an important source material for archaeological, restoration and regeneration works.


2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Ryszard Mączyński

The building of the old College of Piarist in Chełm – located on Lubelska Street, near the late baroque Church of Holy Apostles the Messengers – is now the seat of the Wiktor Ambroziewicz Chełm Land Museum. Until now, it has not raised much interest among researchers and – appearing as a work of architecture devoid of expressive style features – has not been the subject of scientific reflection. This situation is changed by the disclosure of the preserved drawing from 1698, showing the building in a horizontal projection and axonometric view, stored in the Archivio Generale delle Scuole Pie in Rome. The information contained in written documents kept there allow to determine the time of construction of the building for the years 1698-1700. The project proves that the preserved edifice did not change substantially its one-story block, set on the plan of the letter H. The innovations concerned only the roof part over the main body, which was originally the Krakow roof, and the extension of one of the side wings in 1720-1724 (so that the college was connected to the church). Neither did the subsequent transformations significantly affect the internal divisions, be it in the two-and-a-half tract main corpus, with the cross-corridor communication system introduced therein, or in the single tract side wings. The shape of the building and the severity of the development of its facade, representing the baroque in its classicizing version, suggests the designer – Giuseppe Piola, an architect working in Warsaw at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, building, at the request of the Piarist order, also their church and monastery complex in Szczuczyn. However, the extension of the college wing made in the first half of the 18th century should probably be associated with the person of another capital architect – Carlo Antonio Bay, who at the same time, together with his son-in-law, Vincenzo Rachetti, also an architect, made calculations for the Piarist priests from Chełm for the profitability of their parcel located in the suburbs of the city of Lublin. The building in Chełm was a monastic college, and at certain times also a “profesorium”, in which Piarist clerics learned philosophy at a higher level of education. Contrary to some suggestions, there was never a public school run by the Piarists in this building. It was founded – as a Russian gymnasium – only after the January Uprising and the dissolution of the Scholarum Piarum community.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document