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Simon Deakin and Christopher Markou (eds), Is Law Computable: Critical Perspectives on Law and Artificial Intelligence, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2020
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Local canyons, global views: results of the Vayots Dzor Silk Road Survey Project based on the 2015 – 2019 seasons
No full textThis paper presents a summary of the ongoing research of the Armenian-American collaborative ''Vayots Dzor
Silk Road Survey'' (VDSRS), and its goals, methods and results from the past five years.The aim of our investigations is to
reconstruct the medieval archaeological landscape in Vayots Dzor region in the broader cultural and historical context
of the “Silk Roads”, over a pivotal period running from the 12th to the 15th centuries. The targeted area of our research
is the road networks which extended along the Arpa and Yeghegis rivers and their tributaries. The physical remains of
archaeological sites and architectural buildings make up the medieval archaeological landscape of Vayots Dzor, which
was actively integrated into the material and cultural exchanges, entailed within the phenomenon of the Silk Road.
Across the 2015 – 2019 seasons VDSRS has carried out an integrated study in the broad area from Chiva village to
Vardahovit and from Gnishik to the Selim pass, recording and mapping multifarious archaeological sites (settlements,
fortresses, caravanserais, bridges, monastic complexes, chapels, khachkars (i.e. cross-stones), cemeteries) located both
along the primary routes and within tributary valleys. The core of our research is based on the combination of three main
groups of methods: a) fieldwork, including site-based surveys and excavations generating spatial and material data, b)
study of literary and epigraphic sources, c) study of travel notes, archival materials and ethnographic data, as well as
related literature. The VDSRS is also focused on the study of daily life in the local communities which lived along the
route, and questions how local people were linked with external worlds in all directions. As we will explore, our research
program provides a picture of the Vayots Dzor region as a local world; at the same time, we will explore how due to the
political strategies of the Orbelyans the region was involved in the greater Silk Road system. Ultimately, our ongoing
work moves between explorations of how medieval inhabitants of Vayots Dzor experienced the world, and reflections on
the continuing importance of the medieval landscape of Vayots Dzor in negotiations of Armenian memory, identity, and
world politics
Does it pay to invest in environmental stocks?
Get PDFThis paper examines market-based returns and risks of environmental vis-à-vis non environmental stocks from a portfolio selection point of view. The selection of environmental stocks is a function of greenhouse gas emissions of firms in S&P 500 for the period from 2005 to 2018. Our findings show that stocks with superior environmental performance have lower idiosyncratic risk, but higher systematic risk, while we also control for endogeneity issues. We show that that it pays to invest in environmental stocks. Robustness analysis, such as counterfactual regressions and panel VAR, confirms our main findings, though it demonstrates some of underlying complexities
Aquas ab Aquis: aqueous creation in Andreas
No full textAndreas is unusually wet, even for an Old English poem. Water defines the landscape of the city of Mermedonia and the approach to it, but does so in a way that, like Grendel’s mere in Beowulf, continues to frustrate critical interpretation. Dry land is shaped and defined in opposition to water, but Mermedonia confounds our preference for the sharp edges of modern cartography. Water also presents dangerous and uncertain terrain of the kind that swallows mariners in The Whale and Juliana, and operates in Andreas both as a metaphor for the earthly journey through life, and as a means for an initially reluctant, Jonah-like Andrew to demonstrate his heroic commitment to God’s plan. Finally, baptismal waters are summoned from the base of a pillar and swell up within the walls of Mermedonia, becoming a flood that prompts its devil-worshipping cannibal inhabitants into a hasty conversion. Though the author’s evident interest in the presence and action of water throughout the poem has been a focus of discussion throughout much of its critical history, the coherency of its symbolism has not been fully recognised. These approaches to these different facets of water’s symbolism in Andreas are not, as this essay will argue, as disparate as they may first appear, but rather serve to align the author’s poetic work with the word of God. The poet creates and orders the watery world of the poem, just as God sets out and orders the parts of the world in Genesis 1:6, ‘aquas ab aquis’ (the waters from the waters). The poet’s work is not merely mimetic; through the poet’s authorship, the authority of the divine word flows through the poem, irrigating the barren City of Man with the living waters of Heavenly Jerusalem
Microscopic and NanoSIMS characterization of black shale-hosted pre-kinematic pyrites: Possible gold source of the orogenic gold deposits in the Truchas Syncline (Variscan Iberian Massif)
No full textThe Truchas Syncline contains orogenic gold deposits (OGDs), hosted mainly by the Armorican Quartzite Fm. In order to look for the source of gold in these deposits, pre-kinematic sulphides from black shales from the overlying Luarca Fm. were studied using both optical and scanning electron (SEM) microscopy, as well as nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS). NanoSIMS images allowed the observation of relevant structures (pyrite with high As content nodules) hidden to SEM.
Microscopy and 36S, 75As32S, 75As, 75As34S, and 197Au mappings, as well as δ34S analysis (‰ Vienna-Canyon Diablo Troilite) allowed 4 types of pyrite to be characterized. According to their sequence of deposition, the pyrite types identified are the following: (1) framboid nuclei (FmPy), with δ34S between +4.1‰ and +57.5‰; (2) overgrowths (OgPy), with presence of Au, As and δ34S of approximately +20.5‰; (3) pyrite with high As content (AsPy), replacing previous pyrites, with δ34S of approximately +23‰, nodular shapes and non-detected Au; (4) subhedral pyrite (ShPy), with δ34S of approximately +19.7‰ and Au and As distribution showing (a) nuclei, (b) rims with Au and As and (c) structures interpreted as replacements of previous pyrite. Luarca Fm. pyrite framboids reach 75 µm in size, larger than framboids described in most previous NanoSIMS work, with microcrystals sufficiently large to be analyzed without contamination from edge effects. The FmPy formed in early diagenetic conditions by dissimilatory reduction of marine sulphate plus Rayleigh distillation or anaerobic oxidation of methane processes. The first FmPy nuclei formed in the periphery of framboids, and then started to form in the central region until completion of the framboidal structure. Growth of OgPy, AsPy and ShPy corresponded to more advanced diagenetic conditions, although the last stage of ShPy growth followed an aggregation model, in which ShPy metamorphic pyrites grew over ShPy diagenetic pyrites.
The sulphur isotopic signature of the four types of pyrite is in good agreement with a source from Ordovician marine sulphate. A hypothesis stating that the source of Au in OGDs in the district could be in Luarca Fm. is supported by the results of the present research. Firstly, a source of Au in the district could have been the replacement of previous pyrites by AsPy and the release of Au to the system, instead of the framboidal to euhedral pyrite recrystallization process observed in other gold deposits. Secondly, by the correspondence between δ34S isotopic signature of the pyrites from Luarca Fm. and those from sulphides in OGDs. However, these results do not rule out other possible sources
A multi‐proxy record of abrupt cooling events during the Windermere Interstadial at Crudale Meadow, Orkney, UK
Get PDFThree clearly defined abrupt cooling events (ACEs) can be observed within Greenland Interstadial
(GI)‐1 in the Greenland ice‐core records. However, the spatial variation in amplitude and timing of these ACEs is
poorly understood due to the paucity of well‐dated records with quantified temperature reconstructions. This
study presents high‐resolution chironomid‐inferred July air temperature (TJul) and oxygen isotope (δ18O) records
from Crudale Meadow (Orkney Isles, UK). Three centennial‐scale ACEs punctuate the Windermere Interstadial at
Crudale Meadow. The largest ACE shows an amplitude of 5.4 °C and a 1% isotopic decline and is centred on ~14.0 ka
BP, consistent with the timing of the GI‐1d event in the Greenland stratigraphy. The two other observed ACEs are of
smaller magnitude and are centred on ~13.6 ka BP and ~13.2 ka BP, with these smaller magnitude events tentatively
correlated with the GI‐1cii and GI‐1b events, respectively, but lack sufficient chronological constraint to fully assess
their timing. When comparing the Crudale Meadow record with other locations in the British Isles a strong relationship
can be observed between the magnitude of TJul cooling and latitude, with a reduced signal in more southerly locations,
indicating that oceanic forcing may be a key driver of the ACEs
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