More than an offender location tool: Geographic profiling and body deposition

In homicide cases, it is difficult to provide resolution for the bereaved or to obtain a successful criminal conviction of the guilty party when no body is found. Since the mid-nineteenth century, geographic and environmental patterns have been used to better understand the relationship between crime and its environment. Now known as geographic profiling, practitioners in this field amalgamate criminological, psychological, and geographical knowledge, as well as aspects of mathematics, statistics, and physics to identify spatial patterns associated with criminal behaviour as a means of locating anchor points of an offender (where they live, or work). The same techniques can also be used to locate the covert body deposition sites of their victims. This paper aims to (1) provide a brief summary of criminal behaviour and the environment and how understanding their relationship can be helpful to geographic profiling, (2) amalgamate the available literature on the application of geographic profiling in locating clandestine graves (as most documented uses are to locate offender residences), and (3) include a geographic profile of Ivan Milat, an Australian serial killer (officially) active from 1989 to 1992, demonstrating how geographic profiling techniques can help to identify additional victims and potential body deposition sites. The information in this review will be helpful to law enforcement and practitioners to improve missing persons investigations and searches for clandestine graves.

Towards a Disciplinary-Conscious New Zealand School Geography

<p>This research sought to establish a dialogue between the academic discipline and school subject of geography, by exploring the potential of disciplinary-conscious teaching and learning. Although there have been advocates for utilising the concept of perspectives to develop disciplinary-consciousness (Bliss, 2005; Chalmers, 2003; BOGT, 1999; Puttick, 2013) it is unclear the extent to which that pathway has been navigated in school geography policy and practices (Firth, 2011a; Maude, 2015). Broadly, the focus of my research was underpinned by a ‘Futures-3’ curriculum stance (Young & Muller, 2010), in which geography teachers and students were encouraged to engage with the nature of knowledge production in a multi-paradigmatic discipline. The study drew upon the theoretical energy of Bernstein (1999; 2000), whose sociological analysis of the segmented structure of social science knowledge has congruence with accounts of the development of geographical thought, and therefore helps give direction to the substantive focus of the research problem. Furthermore, Bernstein’s articulation of the field of recontextualisation offers further theoretical support for how academic geographical knowledge, such as the concept perspective, is (re)imagined for school geography knowledge. As my study is mostly focused on the field of recontextualisation, my sequential case-study design included three distinct phases of empirical inquiry: i) a document analysis of the place and role of the concept of perspectives in curriculum and assessment materials 2001-15; ii) an e-questionnaire of subject specialists; and iii) a Lesson Study inspired collaboration with two teachers and a group of senior secondary students. This latter component of my study was supported by the pedagogical frameworks of Puttick (2013), Hodson (2014) and Moje (2015). Phase 1 and 2 analysis concluded that the concept of perspective has been recontextualised across multiple documents as a stakeholder framing, which emphasises the views of individuals, groups and organisations, rather than signalling a disciplinary-conscious approach to the subject. Evidence from the geography education specialists suggested disciplinary-consciousness had been considered too challenging for teachers and students alike and therefore was unlikely to dislodge the orthodox stakeholder framing. The lesson study collaboration showed, however, that disciplinary-consciousness is not out of the question for students or teachers, and that Puttick’s (2013) looking at and looking along conceptual framework is a productive guide for teachers who are starting to provide their students in a basic grounding of paradigms and perspectives influencing geographical thought. The major implication of this research points towards a recontextualising field in which the social relations within it are structurally configured to make it difficult for a creative engagement with the nature of geographical knowledge to prosper. In this case study, disciplinary-consciousness has been marginalised by subject specialists who are mostly distant from the academic discourses that shape geographic knowledge production. Consequently, curriculum and assessment signalling of perspectives is surface level, and sometimes confusing. Moreover, the prevailing educational discourses that currently shape New Zealand education generate little ‘ideological space’ (Bernstein, 1996) for conversations about the variegated nature of geographical knowledge to ferment. The study concludes with some recommendations for the wide range of actors within the current field of recontextualisation. It is suggested that a collectively aligned response across the sector is required if geography students are to be given the opportunity of exploring different ways of seeing in the construction of geographical knowledge.</p>

Towards a Disciplinary-Conscious New Zealand School Geography

<p>This research sought to establish a dialogue between the academic discipline and school subject of geography, by exploring the potential of disciplinary-conscious teaching and learning. Although there have been advocates for utilising the concept of perspectives to develop disciplinary-consciousness (Bliss, 2005; Chalmers, 2003; BOGT, 1999; Puttick, 2013) it is unclear the extent to which that pathway has been navigated in school geography policy and practices (Firth, 2011a; Maude, 2015). Broadly, the focus of my research was underpinned by a ‘Futures-3’ curriculum stance (Young & Muller, 2010), in which geography teachers and students were encouraged to engage with the nature of knowledge production in a multi-paradigmatic discipline. The study drew upon the theoretical energy of Bernstein (1999; 2000), whose sociological analysis of the segmented structure of social science knowledge has congruence with accounts of the development of geographical thought, and therefore helps give direction to the substantive focus of the research problem. Furthermore, Bernstein’s articulation of the field of recontextualisation offers further theoretical support for how academic geographical knowledge, such as the concept perspective, is (re)imagined for school geography knowledge. As my study is mostly focused on the field of recontextualisation, my sequential case-study design included three distinct phases of empirical inquiry: i) a document analysis of the place and role of the concept of perspectives in curriculum and assessment materials 2001-15; ii) an e-questionnaire of subject specialists; and iii) a Lesson Study inspired collaboration with two teachers and a group of senior secondary students. This latter component of my study was supported by the pedagogical frameworks of Puttick (2013), Hodson (2014) and Moje (2015). Phase 1 and 2 analysis concluded that the concept of perspective has been recontextualised across multiple documents as a stakeholder framing, which emphasises the views of individuals, groups and organisations, rather than signalling a disciplinary-conscious approach to the subject. Evidence from the geography education specialists suggested disciplinary-consciousness had been considered too challenging for teachers and students alike and therefore was unlikely to dislodge the orthodox stakeholder framing. The lesson study collaboration showed, however, that disciplinary-consciousness is not out of the question for students or teachers, and that Puttick’s (2013) looking at and looking along conceptual framework is a productive guide for teachers who are starting to provide their students in a basic grounding of paradigms and perspectives influencing geographical thought. The major implication of this research points towards a recontextualising field in which the social relations within it are structurally configured to make it difficult for a creative engagement with the nature of geographical knowledge to prosper. In this case study, disciplinary-consciousness has been marginalised by subject specialists who are mostly distant from the academic discourses that shape geographic knowledge production. Consequently, curriculum and assessment signalling of perspectives is surface level, and sometimes confusing. Moreover, the prevailing educational discourses that currently shape New Zealand education generate little ‘ideological space’ (Bernstein, 1996) for conversations about the variegated nature of geographical knowledge to ferment. The study concludes with some recommendations for the wide range of actors within the current field of recontextualisation. It is suggested that a collectively aligned response across the sector is required if geography students are to be given the opportunity of exploring different ways of seeing in the construction of geographical knowledge.</p>

An 1853 Map of the Yoruba Country

This paper examines an 1853 map of Yorubaland that reflects the evangelisation discourse of the American Southern Baptist Convention. Starting from 1845, the SBC began an evangelical drive towards the ‘saving’ of Africans in West Africa as a form of self-compensation in their attempt to prove that they were not against ‘Black Africans’ in the United States. Yet there were geographical notions of distinguishing Africans to be converted but these views of the white Southern Baptist brethren were reframed owing to field experiences of the missionary-explorer in the early 1850s. Drawing on a critical cartographic approach, this article argues that this map was culturally constructed. This study explores the map construction within the contexts of evangelical zeal, the preconceived geographical theories of West Africa, and exploratory accounts of Thomas Bowen. Consequently, the article reveals the interconnectedness of the church, the missionary-explorer, African informants and the mapmaker in geographical knowledge production. As a result, the study concludes that an ideological perspective reflects in cartographic knowledge presented on the map.

Uneven geographies in the various language editions of Wikipedia: the case of Ukrainian cities

The paper tackles the issue of uneven geographical representations on Wikipedia, the most visible and powerful user-generated encyclopaedia. In particular, it addresses language imbalances on Wikipedia with regard to geographical information and uneven spatial patterns of territory coverage on the different language versions in an attempt to verify expectations about the cultural factors that influence these imbalances and uneven spatial patterns. Ukraine is a promising case for testing the formulated expectations, as it has a large number of neighbouring countries, and most of them had political and cultural influence on its territory in the past. The volumes (word counts) of articles about the Ukrainian cities were analysed for seven language versions of Wikipedia, including the Ukrainian version and the versions of all bordering countries. The results show that historical geography is the strongest and central factor, and most of the key relic borders (former boundaries) can be traced. Ethnic composition appears to be another important factor, although weaker than the previous one. The role of the border factor is often unclear, but in some cases it definitely makes an impact and therefore cannot be completely ignored. Thus, the geographies of Wikipedia are not indifferent to the issues of ethnicity and geopolitics. The research calls into question the ability of modern Wikipedia to be a reliable and balanced source of geographical knowledge, as the described imbalances may create lopsided and biased geographical representations in people from different countries and nations.

On Mending the Peace of the World: Sir Francis Bacon’s Apocalyptic Irenicism

This essay is about irenicism and science, i.e. about the interrelationship between the quest for peace on earth and the quest for knowledge about the world. Both are global aspirations, the former focused on achieving concord among rival peoples and ideologies, nations, and religions; the latter on comprehending the earth and the heavens and the way the things in them are made. Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Viscount St. Alban and sometime Lord Chancellor of England, who, citing in Latin the Biblical prophecy in Daniel 12:4 – “Many shall go to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” – linked together the increase of geographical knowledge in his own day with the prospect for new discoveries in all fields of learning. For Bacon, the advancement of all branches knowledge, fated to come together in the same age, would in time bring religious unity and with it this-worldly peace, thereby paving the way for the fulfillment of the apocalyptical prophecy in the Book of Daniel, which in Christian discourse was interpreted to mean the Second Coming of Christ. This essay explores Bacon’s discussions of his aims and the methods he advocated as addressed the consequences of “discovery” for mending world back to its wholeness.

A Method for Constructing Geographical Knowledge Graph from Multisource Data

Global problems all occur at a particular location on or near the Earth’s surface. Sitting at the junction of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, knowledge graphs (KGs) organize, interlink, and create semantic knowledge, thus attracting much attention worldwide. Although the existing KGs are constructed from internet encyclopedias and contain abundant knowledge, they lack exact coordinates and geographical relationships. In light of this, a geographical knowledge graph (GeoKG) construction method based on multisource data is proposed, consisting of a modeling schema layer and a filling data layer. This method has two advantages: (1) the knowledge can be extracted from geographic datasets; (2) the knowledge on multisource data can be represented and integrated. Firstly, the schema layer is designed to represent geographical knowledge. Then, the methods of extraction and integration from multisource data are designed to fill the data layer, and a storage method is developed to associate semantics with geospatial knowledge. Finally, the GeoKG is verified through linkage rate, semantic relationship rate, and application cases. The experiments indicate that the method could automatically extract and integrate knowledge from multisource data. Additionally, our GeoKG has a higher success rate of linking web pages with geographic datasets, and its exact coordinates have increased to 100%. This paper could bridge the distance between a Geographic Information System and a KG, thus facilitating more geospatial applications.

Environmental Geopolitics of Climate Engineering Proposals in the IPCC 5th Assessment Report

Environmental geopolitics offers an analytical approach that considers how environmental themes are brought into the service of geopolitical agendas. Of particular concern are claims about environment-related security and risk and the justification of actions (or inactions) proposed to deal with those claims. Environmental geopolitical analysis focuses on geographical knowledge and how that knowledge is generated and applied to stabilize specific understandings of the world. Climate engineering is a realm in which certain kinds of geographical knowledge, in the form of scientific interpretations of environmental interactions, are utilized to support a selective agenda that, despite claims about benefiting people and environments on a global scale, may be shown to reinforce uneven relationships of power as well as patterns of injustice. This paper focuses on how the IPCC AR5 discusses and portrays climate engineering. This particular conversation is significant, since the IPCC is widely recognized as reflecting current, international science and understanding of climate change processes and possible responses. We demonstrate an initial, environmental geopolitical analysis of this portrayal and discussion around climate engineering proposals by observing how the role and meaning of environmental features is limited, how human agency and impact in these scenarios is selective, and how insufficient attention is paid to spatial dimensions and impacts of these proposals. This paper contributes to a larger conversation about why it matters how we engage in discussion about climate impacts and issues; a central argument is that it is vital that we consider these proposed plans in terms of what they aim to secure, for whom, how and where.

Unfaithful translation and translation purposes: The Discovery of America by Joachim Heinrich Campe, in Romanian version

This paper investigates the purpose of using certain translation strategies in the Romanian version of the novel Die Entdekkung von Amerika (1781) by Joachim Heinrich Campe, translated from German by the merchant and teacher Nicola Nicolau from Brașov and published at the Printing House of the University of Buda in 1816 with the title Descoperirea Americii. Starting from the skopus theory developed by Hans Vermeer, the purposes of producing the Romanian version are analysed, in comparison with those of writing the original text and of the translations in other languages. At the textual level, through the comparative analysis, strategies are highlighted, especially omissions and interpolations, which help to achieve the goals of the translator or the text. Thus, through the transfer between the source and the target culture, one can observe the maintenance of the pedagogical Enlightenment goals, of instructing the masses regarding moral virtues and historical and geographical knowledge, and the addition of the one of cultivating the Romanian language.

The Concept of “Contemporary Place Names” in the Tibetan Translation of the Da Tang Xiyu Ji

The Da Tang Xiyu ji (Тhe Great Tang Records on the Western Regions) was translated into Tibetan by the Mongolian scholar Gombojab (Mgon-po-skyabs) of the Qing dynasty (16441912), using the original Chinese text of the Qianlong Tripitaka, also called the Dragon Tripitaka. In the manuscript copy kept at Otani University (Kyoto), interlinear explanatory notes of the contemporary place names are found. The notes on the Central Asian place names might reflect the new geographical knowledge that Chinese society obtained after Qianlongs campaigns against the Dzungars. In the present paper, the author discusses some of these notes. As the notes are not accurate and contain much misunderstanding, it is hard to use them as research sources. Nevertheless, they reveal the scope of knowledge of the time and deserve attention.