Framing in geographical analysis of environmental conflicts: Theory, methodology and three case studies

When applied to environmental concerns, framing offers a rigorous conceptual and analytic approach with potentially practical significance for dealing with complex issues relevant to geography. The purpose of this article is to introduce framing concepts, typology and modes of analysis to address issues which geographers commonly treat: disputes over land ownership and uses, competition for water resources, cultural clashes over control of territory and resources and the impact of spatial patterns and structures when siting noxious sites. Framing analysis is applied to three cases of environmental conflict in Israel and, more generally, for understanding conflicts revolving around the management of human habitats in relation to the physical environment.     

The Faunal Remains from Evron Quarry in Relation to Other Lower Paleolithic Hominid Sites in the Southern Levant

The mammalian assemblage and archaeological finds from the Lower Palaeolithic hominid site of Evron Quarry, situated on the northern coastal plain of Israel, are described and discussed. In their lithic and faunal composition, the sites of Latamne (QfIII) (Latamne Formation, Orontes, Syria) and Sitt Markho (Nahr elKebir, Syria) resemble Evron and are probably contemporaneous. It is suggested here, based on their lithic and faunal composition, that these sites may be chronologically closer to the site of Ubeidiya ('Ubeidiya Formation, Jordan Valley, Israel; 1.4 myr) than to the sites of Gesher Benot Ya'akov (dated as <800,000 yr B.P.), which differs in both aspects from Evron. The mammalian faunule from Evron comprises a biogeographical mixture, a result of biotic exchanges with Africa, the Oriental region, and the Palaearctic. This exchange may have been associated with a post-'Ubeidiya hominid dispersal, either from Africa or south Asia via the Levantine "corridor."     

Transnational networks of administrating disease and urban planning in West Africa: the inter-colonial conference on yellow fever,Dakar, 1928

The organisation, guiding rationale and the conclusions of the conference on yellow fever that was held in Dakar in April 1928 provide us an insight on how inter-colonial networks for administrating disease and urban planning in sub-Saharan Africa operated. During the period of ‘empire building’ national rivalries were strengthened but at the same time there emerged international and inter-colonial coordination. This contemporary cooperation-cum-competition is well reflected in the Dakar conference, throwing some light on the meaning and implications of such transnational networks of scientific expertise. Against this background another issue will be discussed, residential segregation on a racial basis in British and French sub-Saharan Africa.     

Embracing Informality – A Commentary

This short commentary surveys an international exhibition entitled ‘The cartography of the unseen’, presented at HIT's Faculty of Design Research Gallery, Israel, February 2015. For a better understanding of this exhibition and its implications, also theoretically, we intervened with a further interpretation on one of the exhibited projects, that is, Map Kibera.     

Earthquake readiness in volatile regions: the case of Israel

Natural Hazards - The Jordan Rift Valley is a high-risk low-occurrence zone for earthquakes, with documented incidences within the last millennium causing widespread destruction. This research...     

Dating the Lower Paleolithic Open-Air Site of Holon, Israel by Luminescence and ESR Techniques

The open-air Acheulian site in Holon, Israel, was dated by the luminescence methods and by electron spin resonance (ESR). Situated in the coastal plain Quaternary Kurkar Group, the Holon site was first excavated in the late 1960s, when typical lower Paleolithic lithics and middle Pleistocene fauna were found. In order to date the site, new test pits were dug adjacent to the earlier excavations and the archaeological bed was exposed in a section comprising a series of paleosols and aeolianites. Alkali feldspars separated from the sediments were dated using the infrared stimulated luminescence and thermoluminescence signals, and quartz was dated using the optically stimulated luminescence signal. The age of the archaeological bed is constrained by two samples to 198,000 ± 22,000–201,000 ± 17,000 yr. The age of the base of the section is 240,000 ± 29,000 yr, and the age of the top is 81,000 ± 8000 yr. Two teeth from the archaeological bed, recovered from the original excavation collection, yielded an average ESR age of 204,000 ± 16,000 yr, calculated using the linear uptake model, which is in a very good agreement with the luminescence ages. These dates place Holon within the range of other late Acheulian and Acheulo-Yabrudian sites in this region such as Tabun E (younger chronology), Yabrud I (archaeological level 18), and Berekhat Ram.     

Degradation of Adsorbed Sarin on Activated Carbons: A 31P‐MAS‐NMR Study

The fate of the OP nerve agent isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate (sarin) on granular activated and metal‐impregnated activated carbons that are used in gas‐mask filters was investigated by means of ³¹P magic‐angle‐spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy. The results show that most of the adsorbed sarin on extensively dried carbons decomposes with a half‐life of 5–12 days. A MAS‐NMR signal of the degradation product isopropyl methylphosphonic acid (IMPA) appears in the spectra of sarin on non‐impregnated carbons. The IMPA signal is not visible in the spectra from metal‐impregnated carbons, probably due to strong binding of the acid molecule to paramagnetic Cr³⁺ and Cu²⁺ ions. Exposure of BPL and ASC carbons to air of 53% relative humidity shortens the degradation time by approximately an order of magnitude. Wetting shortens the half‐life of sarin on BPL carbon to approximately 2 hours.