scholarly journals Retrospective mapping of the XVI century Samtskhe-Javakheti viticulture and fruit farming

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-15
Author(s):  
Roman Maisuradze ◽  
Tamar Khardziani ◽  
Tea Eradze

AbstractThe presented work deals with the spread of viticulture and fruit farming in the Middle Ages in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region in Georgia. The current state of the farming sectors mentioned and those pivotal moments in Georgian history that had an influence on agriculture are also considered in the article. The changes that determined the viticulture geography from the second part of the 16th century up to the present day are also discussed. The study is mainly based on the census document created in 1574. The article represents the geographic distribution patterns of vineyards and orchards, as well as wine production capacity and the fruit harvest. Retrospective mapping made it possible to restore the distribution of farms and gardens of the mentioned period and to analyse the importance of viticulture and fruit farming in the 16th century. The maps represented show spatial patterns of vineyards, gardens, and main terroirs.

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 295-297
Author(s):  
Sergej A. Borisov

For more than twenty years, the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences celebrates the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture with a traditional scholarly conference.”. Since 2014, it has been held in the young scholars’ format. In 2019, participants from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Togliatti, Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, and Rostov-on-Don, as well as Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania continued this tradition. A wide range of problems related to the history of the Slavic peoples from the Middle Ages to the present time in the national, regional and international context were discussed again. Participants talked about the typology of Slavic languages and dialects, linguo-geography, socio- and ethnolinguistics, analyzed formation, development, current state, and prospects of Slavic literatures, etc.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos García-García ◽  
Guillermo García-Contreras ◽  
Michelle M. Alexander ◽  
Rowena Y. Banerjea ◽  
Aleks Pluskowski

AbstractThis article presents the results of the zooarchaeological analysis of an assemblage dating to the second quarter of the 16th century that was discovered on the current university campus of Cartuja, on the outskirts of Granada (Andalusia, Spain). During the Middle Ages, this area was largely used for agricultural purposes, including as estates owned by high officials of the Nasrid dynasty, the last Islamicate polity in the Iberian Peninsula. The Castilian conquest of Granada in 1492 brought significant changes to the area, with the construction of a Carthusian monastery and the transformation of the surrounding landscape, including changes in property structures, different agrarian regimes and the demolition of pre-existing structures. Among these transformations was the filling up of a well with construction materials, and its further use as a rubbish dump. This fill yielded an interesting and unique zooarchaeological assemblage, the study of which is presented here. The results advance our understanding of changing patterns in animal consumption during the formative transition from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern period at the heart of the former Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, and indicate the continuity of some Andalusi consumption patterns along with specialised production and distribution systems of meat products that have no archaeological precedent in the region, suggesting that the bones were dumped by a possible ‘Morisco’ community (autochthonous Muslims forced to convert to Christianity in 1502).


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Di Liu ◽  
Qinglin Chen ◽  
Pangzhen Zhang ◽  
Deli Chen ◽  
Kate S. Howell

AbstractThe flavours of foods and beverages are formed by the agricultural environment where the plants are grown. In the case of wine, the location and environmental features of the vineyard site imprint the wine with distinctive aromas and flavours. Microbial growth and metabolism play an integral role in wine production from the vineyard to the winery, by influencing grapevine health, wine fermentation, and the flavour, aroma and quality of finished wines. The mechanism by which microbial distribution patterns drive wine metabolites is unclear and while flavour has been correlated with bacterial composition for red wines, bacterial activity provides a minor biochemical conversion in wine fermentation. Here, we collected samples across six distinct winegrowing areas in southern Australia to investigate regional distribution patterns of both fungi and bacteria and how this corresponds with wine aroma compounds. Results show that soil and must microbiota distinguish winegrowing regions and are related to wine chemical profiles. We found a strong relationship between microbial and wine metabolic profiles, and this relationship was maintained despite differing abiotic drivers (soil properties and weather/ climatic measures). Notably, fungal communities played the principal role in shaping wine aroma profiles and regional distinctiveness. We found that the soil microbiome is a potential source of grape- and must-associated fungi, and therefore the weather and soil conditions could influence the wine characteristics via shaping the soil fungal community compositions. Our study describes a comprehensive scenario of wine microbial biogeography in which microbial diversity responds to surrounding environments and ultimately sculpts wine aromatic characteristics. These findings provide perspectives for thoughtful human practices to optimise food and beverage flavour and composition through understanding of fungal activity and abundance.


2020 ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
Ivan Zubar ◽  
Yuliia Onyshchuk

Purpose. The aim of the article is research of theoretical, organizational and economic aspects of functioning and effective development of farms for growing and processing of snails and substantiation of prospects of heliceculture as a branch of agriculture on the basis of analysis of world experience. Methodology of research. In the course of the research the methods of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, abstraction) and empirical methods (observations, questionnaires, conversations) of economic science are used, which are based on a systematic approach, which allowed to characterize the current state of production and export of heliceculture products, as well as identify key issues in this area of agricultural production. Findings. The concept of “heliceculture” is substantiated and its content is analysed in terms of prospects as a new direction of agricultural production. The historical genesis of the development of traditions of snail products consumption has been studied, as a result of which the first mentions in the history of Ancient Rome, as well as France and Italy have been revealed. An analysis of the dynamics and current state of development of domestic heliculture entrepreneurship, which showed a rapid increase in the number of snail farms and increasing exports of snails to Europe. An overview of the world market for edible snails is made, where there is a noticeable tendency to a gradual annual increase in the consumption of heliculture products. The key elements of the technological process of growing edible snails are analysed, which allowed to systematize a number of basic technological processes and to conclude about the complexity and complexity of this production. The commodity assortment of heliculture has been determined, which includes meat, caviar and snail secretion. The key advantages of Ukraine as a producer and exporter of heliculture products are highlighted, including the availability of labour, proximity to markets, high land supply and dissatisfaction with global demand for these products, which makes it significant for the development of heliculture as an agricultural production. The key problems that hinder the development of snail farming are summarized, namely: legislative unregulation, limited industrial production capacity, lack of diversified processing, limited information and scientific research. The key directions of development of the heliceculture industry are determined, among which: organization of production and marketing heliceculture cooperatives, provision of in-depth processing and year-round uninterrupted production, development of agro-tourism on the basis of snail farms. Originality. A systematic approach to clarifying the definition of “heliceculture” is proposed. On the basis of a thorough study of official statistical information on the state of production of snail products, the importance of heliculture as a promising area of agricultural production is substantiated. Practical value. The obtained research results can be used in the development of an effective concept for the development of the heliculture industry. Key words: heliceculture, heliceculture market, snail farming, small business, family farm.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Benjamin Magana-Rodriguez

<p>The current crisis in loss of biodiversity requires rapid action. Knowledge of species' distribution patterns across scales is of high importance in determining their current status. However, species display many different distribution patterns on multiple scales. A positive relationship between regional (broad-scale) distribution and local abundance (fine-scale) of species is almost a constant pattern in macroecology. Nevertheless interspecific relationships typically contain much scatter. For example, species that possess high local abundance and narrow ranges, or species that are widespread, but locally rare. One way to describe these spatial features of distribution patterns is by analysing the scaling properties of occupancy (e.g., aggregation) in combination with knowledge of the processes that are generating the specific spatial pattern (e.g., reproduction, dispersal, and colonisation). The main goal of my research was to investigate if distribution patterns correlate with plant life-history traits across multiple scales. First, I compared the performance of five empirical models for their ability to describe the scaling relationship of occupancy in two datasets from Molesworth Station, New Zealand. Secondly, I analysed the association between spatial patterns and life history traits at two spatial scales in an assemblage of 46 grassland species in Molesworth Station. The spatial arrangement was quantified using the parameter k from the Negative Binomial Distribution (NBD). Finally, I investigated the same association between spatial patterns and life-history traits across local, regional and national scales, focusing in one of the most diverse families of plant species in New Zealand, the Veronica sect. Hebe (Plantaginaceae). The spatial arrangement was investigated using the mass fractal dimension. Cross-species correlations and phylogenetically independent contrasts were used to investigate the relationships between plant life-history traits and spatial patterns on both data bases. There was no superior occupancy-area model overall for describing the scaling relationship, however the results showed that a variety of occupancy-area models can be fit to different data sets at diverse spatial scales using nonlinear regression. Additionally, here I showed that it is possible to deduce and extrapolate information on occupancy at fine scales from coarse-scale data. For the 46 plantassemblage in Molesworth Station, Specific leaf area (SLA) exhibits a positive association with aggregation in cross-species analysis, while leaf area showed a negative association, and dispersule mass a positive correlation with degree of aggregation in phylogenetic contrast analysis at a local-scale (20 × 20 m resolution). Plant height was the only life-history trait that was associated with degree of aggregation at a regional-scale (100 × 60 mresolution). For the Veronica sect. Hebe dataset, leaf area showed a positive correlation with aggregation while specific leaf area showed a negative correlation with aggregation at a fine local-scale (2.5-60 m resolution). Inflorescence length, breeding system and leaf area showed a negative correlation with degree of aggregation at a regional-scale (2.5-20 km resolution). Height was positively associated with aggregation at national-scale (20-100 km resolution). Although life-history traits showed low predictive ability in explaining aggregation throughout this thesis, there was a general pattern about which processes and traits were important at different scales. At local scales traits related to dispersal and completion such as SLA , leaf area, dispersule mass and the presence of structures in seeds for dispersal, were important; while at regional scales traits related to reproduction such as breeding system, inflorescence length and traits related to dispersal (seed mass) were significant. At national scales only plant height was important in predicting aggregation. Here, it was illustrated how the parameters of these scaling models capture an important aspect of spatial pattern that can be related to other macroecological relationships and the life-history traits of species. This study shows that when several scales of analysis are considered, we can improve our understanding about the factors that are related to species' distribution patterns.</p>


Author(s):  
Richard Viladesau

The reformers of the 16th century brought to the fore questions regarding sacred images that had arisen in the context of changes in society, religion, and art in the late Middle Ages. Late medieval Catholicism already produced warnings against idolatry in the cult of images, superstition, and the misuse of popular devotional practices for monetary gain. Reformation-era re-evaluations of sacred images arose primarily from three overlapping impulses: (1) the humanistic enlightenment and critique of external religion; (2) concern for the Scriptures, including the Old Testament prohibition against idolatrous images; and (3) the ethical complaint against ecclesiastical luxury and neglect of the poor. Some of the Reformers fostered a more or less complete iconoclasm (e.g., Karlstadt, Bucer, and Hätzer). Others had positive attitudes toward art in general, but had reservations about religious representations (Calvin). Yet others had more ambiguous attitudes. Zwingli thought that images are inherently dangerous because of the temptation to idolatry, but his position softened toward the end of his life. Luther’s ideas on sacred representations changed through his career from a somewhat negative to a fairly positive evaluation. He held that the Old Testament prohibition pertained only to idols, not to images themselves. His primary concern was that images and devotion to them could foster a spirituality of external works as the means to salvation. This problem could be met by uniting images with texts and stressing their didactic function. The Council of Trent dealt with sacred art in 1568. The Council agreed with the reformers that abuses were possible in the cult of the saints and in the use of art, and also that much of the art itself was “inappropriate” for sacred use because of its worldliness. However, its decree insisted on the validity and usefulness of images and their veneration. The decree of Trent did not give specific guidelines for sacred art, but only general principles, leaving implementation in the hands of bishops. The vagueness of Trent’s decree made room for a wide range of practical judgments about what was “appropriate” or “fitting” in sacred art. But in the second half of the 16th century, several bishops and theologians wrote treatises on painting to guide artists. The Tridentine reforms, although put into practice in varied ways, included several general characteristics: (1) elimination of “sensual” and secular elements from sacred art; (2) faithfulness to Scripture and tradition; (3) concern for doctrine and devotion above artistry; (4) use of art as a means of education, indoctrination, and propaganda; (5) the valuing of visual naturalism; (6) polemical concentration on contested dogmatic themes in content; and (7) the sensual as a means of entry into the spiritual. With the advent of the Baroque in the later stages of the Counter-Reformation, a spirit of triumph prevailed. Art that was pleasing to the senses brought an atmosphere of spiritual exaltation. Baroque art was purposefully theatrical, artful, and dramatic. An unintended result of the image controversies was the separation of sacred and secular art and the formulation of separate criteria for each.


Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4751 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-104
Author(s):  
MAURICIO M. ROCHA ◽  
ELIANA M. CANCELLO

In this contribution we present updates on the taxonomy and morphology of the South American species of Amitermes. Two new species are described: Amitermes bandeirai, sp. n., from Brazil, and Amitermes lilloi, sp. n., from Argentina. Amitermes nordestinus is a junior synonym of Amitermes aporema. The imago of A. aporema is described for the first time. Detailed comparative gut anatomy of the eight species is presented for the first time. The geographic distribution of Amitermes in South America is expanded and the distribution patterns of some species are discussed. 


Primates ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark L. Weiss ◽  
Morris Goodman ◽  
William Prychodko ◽  
Toshio Tanaka

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