Suchergebnisse

"This article is dedicated to application of theory and methodology of fractal geometry in historical research. The article represents the concrete historic issue mathematical model, specifically: the dynamics of the conscience and social environment modernization. On the basis of this model a computer program, which generates fractal images of attractors, attractor basins, and phase transformations of the social systems studied subject to user-entered numerical indicators of certain factors, has been developed. The article represents the principal approaches to the qualitative interpretation of the fractal images obtained." (author's abstract)

"The article presents several results of the computer modeling of demographic processes in the late traditional rural communities by means of fractal geometry. A team of contributors developed a model and software for it, then carried out its verification, data processing, computer modeling and Interpretation of results. The analysis of modeling outcomes allowed to build a holistic picture of the demographic behavior in rural communities of the Tambov province - one of the typical agrarian regions of 19th and 20th century Russia. Authors describe the degree and ways of how demographic behavior of the society was influenced by such factors as famine, war, epidemics, a level of health care infrastructure development, etc. Besides, it was possible to trace some non-linear effects in demographic strategies agrarian communities followed during modernization processes in Russia in the second half of the 19th and 20th centuries." (author's abstract)

This study focused on a Russian agrarian microregion (12.5 km2) situated in a forest steppe area (in Tambov Oblast) during the 18th–19th centuries. The research illuminates the mechanisms, patterns, and impact that the environment has on social processes, and vice versa — the human impact on the environment (and particularly on landscape). The authors created a geographic information system which they used to compare the results of aerial survey and satellite imagery, with historical maps and other sources, including archival documents. Morphological anomalies were identified on an orthophotomap, and then interpreted. The conclusions of the research concern the nature of interaction between the agrarian society and the environment. Settlement in the plains of the forest steppe was heavily dependent on the water regime, which directly affected the condition and dynamics of communication routes and economic infrastructure. The vanished settlement found in this study is an example of such an effect: it grew up along a road and was abandoned when the areas through which the road ran were waterlogged. Plain rivers can alter the surrounding landscape quite drastically over relatively short historical periods, and are themselves subject to anthropogenic influence. Changes in living conditions and economic management led to variability in settlement patterns and land use. This can be seen especially well in the lowland, where such schemes were predominantly temporary. The processing of Earth remote sensing data makes it possible to fill gaps in sources and discover new evidence of the past.