scholarly journals Reconstructing the duty of water: a study of emergent norms in socio-hydrology

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 7517-7536 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Wescoat

Abstract. This paper assesses changing norms of water use known as the duty of water. It is a case study in historical socio-hydrology, a line of research useful for anticipating changing social values with respect to water. The duty of water is currently defined as the amount of water reasonably required to irrigate a substantial crop with careful management and without waste on a given tract of land. The historical section of the paper traces this concept back to late-18th century analysis of steam engine efficiencies for mine dewatering in Britain. A half-century later, British irrigation engineers fundamentally altered the concept of duty to plan large-scale canal irrigation systems in northern India at an average duty of 218 acres per cubic foot per second (cfs). They justified this extensive irrigation standard (i.e., low water application rate over large areas) with a suite of social values that linked famine prevention with revenue generation and territorial control. Several decades later irrigation engineers in the western US adapted the duty of water concept to a different socio-hydrologic system and norms, using it to establish minimum standards for water rights appropriation (e.g., only 40 to 80 acres per cfs). The final section shows that while the duty of water concept has now been eclipsed by other measures and standards of water efficiency, it may have continuing relevance for anticipating if not predicting emerging social values with respect to water.

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (12) ◽  
pp. 4759-4768 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Jr. Wescoat

Abstract. This paper assesses the changing norms of water use known as the duty of water. It is a case study in historical socio-hydrology, or more precisely the history of socio-hydrologic ideas, a line of research that is useful for interpreting and anticipating changing social values with respect to water. The duty of water is currently defined as the amount of water reasonably required to irrigate a substantial crop with careful management and without waste on a given tract of land. The historical section of the paper traces this concept back to late 18th century analysis of steam engine efficiencies for mine dewatering in Britain. A half-century later, British irrigation engineers fundamentally altered the concept of duty to plan large-scale canal irrigation systems in northern India at an average duty of 218 acres per cubic foot per second (cfs). They justified this extensive irrigation standard (i.e., low water application rate over large areas) with a suite of social values that linked famine prevention with revenue generation and territorial control. The duty of water concept in this context articulated a form of political power, as did related irrigation engineering concepts such as "command" and "regime". Several decades later irrigation engineers in the western US adapted the duty of water concept to a different socio-hydrologic system and norms, using it to establish minimum standards for private water rights appropriation (e.g., only 40 to 80 acres per cfs). While both concepts of duty addressed socio-economic values associated with irrigation, the western US linked duty with justifications for, and limits of, water ownership. The final sections show that while the duty of water concept has been eclipsed in practice by other measures, standards, and values of water use efficiency, it has continuing relevance for examining ethical duties and for anticipating, if not predicting, emerging social values with respect to water.


Author(s):  
Renata Gambino ◽  
Grazia Pulvirenti

Recent theories within the avenue of the bio-cultural turn, and particularly about embodied cognition are forecasted in the anthropological, philosophical, physiological and scientific debate of the late 18th century in Germany. Philosopher and theologian Johann Gottfried Herder contributed to this discourse sigificantly, opening up new perspectives on the link among thought and language and body. In this paper we aim at highlighting some core issues of Herders’s discourse about knowledge, perception and cognition, that seem to anticipate some of the most recent 4E Cognition issues.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 3399-3448
Author(s):  
M. J. Alcoforado ◽  
J. M. Vaquero ◽  
R. M. Trigo ◽  
J. P. Taborda

Abstract. Natural proxies, documentary evidence and instrumental data are the main sources used to reconstruct past climates. In this paper, we present the 18th century meteorologists (either Portuguese or foreigners), who made the first observations at several sites in Continental Portugal, Madeira Island and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), from 1749 until 1802. Information is given concerning observation site, variables observed, measurement period, methodologies and sources (both manuscript and printed). Some examples from the data usefulness are given: rainfall variability in Madeira (1749–1753) and in Continental Portugal (1781–1793) was reconstructed, allowing to extend towards the late 18th century the well known negative correlation between the NAO index and seasonal rainfall. Furthermore, previously unpublished data for 1783–1784 has allowed analysing the consequences of the Laki eruption in Portugal: foggy and haze days are referred to in summer 1783, but unlike the hot summer observed in Northern and Central Europe, temperatures in Portugal were lower than average. Additionally, observations from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil show that the Laki consequences may well have spread to sectors of the Southern Hemisphere. Although the series are short, the data will be used for climate reconstruction studies focused in Southern Portugal and are also useful to improve the quality of large scale reconstruction datasets.


Author(s):  
João Paulo Cabral

Resumo As primeiras observações e recolhas de eucaliptos ocorreram nas grandes viagens inglesas e francesas ao Pacífico, em particular à Austrália, em finais do século XVIII. O género Eucalyptus L'Hér. foi estabelecido em 1788, e logo nas duas décadas seguintes seriam descritas, por botânicos franceses e ingleses, muitas espécies novas. O primeiro eucalipto cultivado em Inglaterra foi trazido, em 1774, na segunda viagem de James Cook. Em França, a introdução terá sido feita em 1804, no Jardim Botânico de Montpellier, na Alemanha em 1809, no Jardim Botânico de Berlim, e em Itália, em 1813, no Jardim Botânico de Nápoles. Em Portugal, a introdução do eucalipto foi muito posterior a estas datas. Na propriedade do duque de Palmela no Lumiar, foram plantados dois eucaliptos em 1850-1852. No Horto Botânico da Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Lisboa, existia em 1852, pelo menos um espécimen, certamente para uso ou demonstração das suas propriedades terapêuticas. A partir da década de 1860, a expansão foi muito rápida. Em 1869, a companhia real dos caminhos-de-ferro portugueses iniciou a plantação de eucaliptos nas estações, casas de guarda e ao longo da via-férrea. As primeiras plantações em larga escala terão ocorrido na década de 1880 em propriedades perto de Abrantes arrendadas por William T. Tait. Em 1886 estavam já plantados 150 mil eucaliptos. Nesta mesma década começou a plantação, em escala apreciável, de eucaliptos nas Matas Nacionais. Em finais do século XX, tinham sido introduzidas em Portugal cerca de 250 espécies, sendo o Eucalyptus globulus Labill., a espécie largamente dominante. É interessante constatar que tendo sido um dos países europeus que mais tarde introduziu a cultura do eucalipto, Portugal é hoje, a nível mundial, um dos que apresenta maior percentagem da sua área florestal dedicada a esta cultura.Palavras-chave: eucalipto; jardins botânicos; Portugal. Abstract The earliest observations and collections of eucalypts occurred on the great English and French voyages to the Pacific, particularly Australia, in the late 18th century. The genus Eucalyptus L'Hér. was described in 1788, and soon in the following two decades, many species would be described by French and English botanists. The first eucalypt grown in England was brought in 1774 on James Cook's second voyage. In France, the introduction seems to have occurred in 1804, at the Botanical Garden of Montpellier, in Germany in 1809, at the Botanical Garden of Berlin, and in Italy, in 1813, at the Botanical Garden of Naples. In Portugal, the introduction of eucalypts was much later than these dates. In the property of the Duke of Palmela in Lumiar, two eucalypts were planted in 1850-1852. The Botanical Garden of the Medical-Surgical School of Lisbon had in 1852, at least one specimen, certainly for use or demonstration of its therapeutic properties. From the 1860s the expansion was very rapid. In 1869, the royal company of the Portuguese railways began planting eucalypts in the stations, guard houses and along the railroad. The first large-scale plantations occurred in the 1880s in properties near Abrantes leased by William T. Tait. By 1886, 150,000 eucalypts were already planted. In the same decade began the planting, on an appreciable scale, of eucalypts in “Matas Nacionais”. By the end of the 20th century about 250 species had been introduced in Portugal, being Eucalyptus globulus Labill., the species largely dominant. It is interesting to note that Portugal, one of the European countries that later introduced the eucalypt, is today, worldwide, one of the countries with the highest percentage of its forest area dedicated to this culture. Keywords: eucalypt; botanical gardens; Portugal.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 353-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Alcoforado ◽  
J. M. Vaquero ◽  
R. M. Trigo ◽  
J. P. Taborda

Abstract. Natural proxies, documentary evidence and instrumental data are the only sources used to reconstruct past climates. In this paper, we present the 18th century meteorologists (either Portuguese or foreigners) who made the first observations at several sites in Continental Portugal, Madeira Island and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), from 1749 until 1802. Information is given concerning observation site, variables observed, measurement period, methods of measurements and sources (both manuscript and printed). Some examples from the data usefulness are given: rainfall variability in Madeira (1749–1753) and in continental Portugal (1781–1793) was reconstructed, allowing to extend towards the late 18th century the well known negative correlation between the NAO index and seasonal rainfall. Furthermore, previously unpublished data for 1783–1784 have allowed analysing the consequences of the Lakagígar eruption in Portugal: foggy and haze days are referred to in summer 1783, but unlike the hot summer observed in northern and central Europe, temperatures in Portugal were lower than average. Additionally, observations from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil show that the Lakagígar consequences may well have spread to sectors of the Southern Hemisphere. Although the series are short, the data have been used for climate reconstruction studies and may also be useful to improve the quality of large scale reconstruction datasets.


2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gijsbert Rutten

Summary This paper focuses on Dutch grammar-writing in the 18th century so as to put the linguistic works of Robert Lowth (1710–1787) in an international, comparative perspective. It demonstrates that certain characteristics of the “Lowthian” approach to grammar and of 18th-century English linguistics in general are parallelled by similar developments in the history of Dutch linguistics. The transition from normative grammar to prescriptive grammar which characterises the English late 18th century has a counterpart in the Dutch development from ‘civil’ to national grammar. Lowth’s recognition of different stylistic levels with corresponding levels of grammatical acceptability has a Dutch counterpart as well. The transition towards prescriptivism and the relevance of different stylistic levels are closely connected, which is exemplified by a case study on the treatment of adnominal inflection in 18th-century grammars of Dutch.


Author(s):  
Kurt Anschuetz ◽  
Eileen L. Camilli ◽  
Christopher D. Banet

The discussion in this chapter is based on the premise that agricultural landscapes are the foundations of the economies, social organizations, and cultural identities of farming communities. It reviews selected archaeological districts between Sonora and the northern Rio Grande in which technologically diverse agricultural features, including trincheras, terraces, rock-bordered grids, gravel mulches, and canals, are well documented. This examination shows that large-scale field complexes, including those dependent on canal irrigation, are widespread throughout the pre-colonial North American Southwest, with some dating to the Late Archaic. Consideration of the Tewa Basin of north-central New Mexico as a case study introduces the idea that shrines are other essential agricultural landscape features, which possess the potential to contribute toward fuller understandings of farming settlement dynamics.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004051752110174
Author(s):  
Mateo M Kodrič Kesovia ◽  
Željko Penava ◽  
Danijela Jemo

Cultural heritage textile artifacts that have been preserved only in their smaller fragmented remains represent a very interesting and complex matter, very rarely analyzed and studied individually as a separate entity. This case study covers multidisciplinary research conducted on two 18th century silk fragments with a seemingly identical pattern. Demonstrating the possibilities and challenges which arise when analyzing and interpreting incomplete cultural heritage textile materials, this study can serve as a stimulus for creating a large-scale database of historical fabrics which would allow comparison based on their differences or common characteristics. By applying only non-destructive and micro-analytical methods it has been determined that the fragments were made of the same material and using the same manufacturing techniques. It has been proven that fragments were not part of the same historical fabric, but most likely originated from different parts of the same liturgical vestment. The reverse engineering process applied to preserved fragments has resulted in a detailed technical documentation and a complete reconstruction of the lost original pattern.


2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
SU YIN MAK

ABSTRACT Although recent scholarship has witnessed a welcome disavowal of the view that Schubert's formal and tonal designs in sonata form compositions bespeak the song composer's inability to master large-scale instrumental genres, it remains a commonplace to characterize Schubert's unorthodox practice as ““lyrical.”” Yet the historical, theoretical, and aesthetic bases of this lyricism have received little critical attention. A systematic and historically grounded approach to the notion of lyrical form in Schubert may be established by appealing to the rhetorical distinction between hypotaxis and parataxis, which pervaded late 18th-century discussions of both music and language. In particular, parataxis, a style that deliberately omits syntactical connections and relies instead on juxtaposition and parallelism, offers a suggestive technical link between Schubert's instrumental practice and the discursive techniques of contemporaneous lyric poetry. There are also aesthetic connections between idealist views of the lyric and the composer's own artistic beliefs, as confirmed by biographical documents. Schubert's approach to form was as much informed by these literary sensibilities as by the Classical compositional tradition. Like poets for whom the lyric served both as an Arcadian ideal of song and as an alternative to the prosaic realities of the present, Schubert evoked the lyric within the context of the sonata as a means of reunifying the dissociated sensibility of the Enlightenment. In so doing, he secured a place for the poetic imagination in instrumental music.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document