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Item type: Publication , Access status: Metadata only , The dog shogun: The Personality and Policies of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi(University of Hawai'i Press, 2006) Bodart-Bailey, BeatriceTsunayoshi (1646-1709), the fifth Tokugawa shogun, is one of the most notorious figures in Japanese history. Viewed by many as a tyrant, his policies were deemed eccentric, extreme, and unorthodox. His Laws of Compassion, which made the maltreatment of dogs an offense punishable by death, earned him the nickname Dog Shogun, by which he is still popularly known today. However, Tsunayoshi's rule coincides with the famed Genroku era, a period of unprecedented cultural growth and prosperity that Japan would not experience again until the mid-twentieth century. It was under Tsunayoshi that for the first time in Japanese history considerable numbers of ordinary townspeople were in a financial position to acquire an education and enjoy many of the amusements previously reserved for the ruling elite. Based on a masterful re-examination of primary sources, this exciting new work by a senior scholar of the Tokugawa period maintains that Tsunayoshi's notoriety stems largely from the work of samurai historians and officials who saw their privileges challenged by a ruler sympathetic to commoners. Beatrice Bodart-Bailey's insightful analysis of Tsunayoshi's background sheds new light on his personality and the policies associated with his shogunate. Tsunayoshi was the fourth son of Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651) and left largely in the care of his mother, the daughter of a greengrocer. Under her influence, Bodart-Bailey argues, the future ruler rebelled against the values of his class. As evidence she cites the fact that, as shogun, Tsunayoshi not only decreed the registration of dogs, which were kept in large numbers by samurai and posed a threat to the populace, but also the registration of pregnant women and young children to prevent infanticide. He decreed, moreover, that officials take on the onerous tasks of finding homes for abandoned children and caring for sick travelers. In the eyes of his detractors, Tsunayoshi's interest in Confucian and Buddhist studies and his other intellectual pursuits were merely distractions for a dilettante. Bodart-Bailey counters that view by pointing out that one of Japan's most important political philosophers, Ogyû Sorai, learned his craft under the fifth shogun. Sorai not only praised Tsunayoshi's government, but his writings constitute the theoretical framework for many of the ruler's controversial policies. Another salutary aspect of Tsunayoshi's leadership that Bodart-Bailey brings to light is his role in preventing the famines and riots that would have undoubtedly taken place following the worst earthquake and tsunami as well as the most violent eruption of Mount Fuji in history-all of which occurred during the final years of Tsunayoshi's shogunate. The Dog Shogun is a thoroughly revisionist work of Japanese political history that touches on many social, intellectual, and economic developments as well. As such it promises to become a standard text on late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth-century Japan.Item type: Publication , Access status: Metadata only , Crustal Structure of Southwest China and Northern Vietnam From Ambient Noise Tomography: Implication for the Large-Scale Material Transport Model in SE Tibet(2018) Qiao, Lei; Yao, Huajian; Lai, Ya Chuan; Huang, Bor Shouh; Zhang, PingSeveral models have been proposed to describe the tectonic evolution of SE Tibet and its marginal areas. Hence, high-resolution crustal velocity models are essential to address this controversy. With waveform data from 73 broadband stations in southwest China and northern Vietnam, we invert for a 3-D shear wave velocity model of the crust and uppermost mantle from ambient noise tomography. Our model reveals that the midlower crustal low-velocity zone in the Xiaojiang Fault Zone extends farther southward across the Red River Fault to Vietnam and is approximately bounded by the Xiaojiang and Dien Bien Phu faults to the east. We suggest that the observed low-velocity zone represents a mechanically weak zone in the mid-lower crust, which may serve as a channel for efficient southward material transport in SE Tibet. With our results and previous evidence, we propose a combined model that integrates rigid block extrusion and crustal channel flow to describe the large-scale material transport in SE Tibet. We further propose a two-phase material transport model in SE Tibet after the India-Eurasia plate collision: (1) rigid block extrusion between the right-lateral Sagaing Fault and left-lateral Red River Fault during the early Oligocene-early Miocene and (2) a combined model of rigid block extrusion and material channel flow in the mid-lower crust from the late Miocene to the present. The southward crustal material transport is likely to be diverted along two major channels around the more rigid crust beneath the inner zone of the Emeishan large igneous province.Item type: Publication , Access status: Open Access , Stepwise joint inversion of surface wave dispersion, Rayleigh wave ZH ratio, and receiver function data for 1D crustal shear wave velocity structure(2017-12-01) Zhang, Ping; Yao, HuajianAccurate determination of seismic velocity of the crust is important for understanding regional tectonics and crustal evolution of the Earth. We propose a stepwise joint linearized inversion method using surface wave dispersion, Rayleigh wave ZH ratio (i.e., ellipticity), and receiver function data to better resolve 1D crustal shear wave velocity (vS) structure. Surface wave dispersion and Rayleigh wave ZH ratio data are more sensitive to absolute variations of shear wave speed at depths, but their sensitivity kernels to shear wave speeds are different and complimentary. However, receiver function data are more sensitive to sharp velocity contrast (e.g., due to the existence of crustal interfaces) and vP/vS ratios. The stepwise inversion method takes advantages of the complementary sensitivities of each dataset to better constrain the vS model in the crust. We firstly invert surface wave dispersion and ZH ratio data to obtain a 1D smooth absolute vS model and then incorporate receiver function data in the joint inversion to obtain a finer vS model with better constraints on interface structures. Through synthetic tests, Monte Carlo error analyses, and application to real data, we demonstrate that the proposed joint inversion method can resolve robust crustal vS structures and with little initial model dependency.Item type: Publication , Access status: Metadata only , Communities actively seek nature for well-being despite constraints: (Re)representation of nature experiences through composite narratives(2026-04-15) Palmer, Andrew K.; Riley, Mark; Brockett, Beth F.T.; Jones, Laurence; Clement, Sarah; Evans, Karl L.While the physical and mental health benefits of greenspace exposure are well documented, ethnic minority communities in the United Kingdom continue to engage with these environments at disproportionately lower rates. This persistent disparity points to an oversight in existing literature, specifically regarding how these communities navigate everyday encounters with nature. This qualitative study employs interviews and diary methods to explore the restorative processes, motivations and preferences of ethnic minority residents in Bristol, United Kingdom. By communicating these experiences through the novel approach of composite narratives, the research endeavours to situate lived realities within intersectional contexts, ensuring the findings remain nuanced and resistant to essentialist assumptions. Our findings reveal that engagement with nature is a purposeful element of daily life, with psychological restoration serving as a conscious and instrumental strategy for well-being. Distinct preferences revealed a range of landscape typologies, including blue spaces, urban woodlands and family-oriented parks, while a range of constraints to engagement and visitation were also present. Using composite narratives further illuminates the role of social relationships in shaping greenspace experiences, highlighting a tension between positive experiences and overlapping constraints. While participants negotiate challenges that are both universal and culturally specific, these obstacles do not simply override restorative encounters; instead, they form a constellation that evolves across multiple scales. This study demonstrates that, despite these constraints, urban greenspaces remain vital resources for these communities. The findings underscore the necessity of enhancing everyday access for those who need it most, living in densely populated or low-income urban areas. By developing safe, welcoming environments and including communities in environmental planning, we can instil more equitable approaches to provision that enhance well-being for all urban residents. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.Item type: Publication , Access status: Metadata only , Inaugural Issue: Philosophies of the City: Editors’ Note(2023) Wittingslow, Ryan; Lehtinen, Sanna; Counihan, Marian; Lobo, Tea; Stone, TaylorThe Philosophy of the City Research Group celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2023. It was founded asa forum to bring together scholars from different philosophical traditions—as well as those workingon inter- or trans-disciplinary topics—who take the city as a topic of inquiry.Over the last 10 years, this group has organised an annual series of conferences and summer col-loquia, in addition to a variety of special issues and edited volumes, all of which have furnished newconceptual foundations, methodological approaches, and practical case studies. And yet, despitethe volume and vigour of our scholarly cut and thrust, the Research Group and its community havethus far been without a common venue to have these conversations. A dedicated journal was longoverdue. ThePhilosophy of the City Journalis thus born of the need to build on and consolidate thisnew philosophical tradition, offering a venue for original research into the philosophy of the city.We conceive of the philosophy of the city as a set of problems without a canon: problems about(but by no means restricted to) the ontology of cities, urban aesthetics, urban technologies, inclu-sivity, public space, justice, and political expression. In seeking to help answer these problems,philosophers of the city contribute analyses of urbanism, city life, urban planning, urban design,infrastructures, and lots of other things besides. These analyses themselves contribute to our properunderstanding and evaluation of cities in their myriad of forms.These analyses are vital for all kinds of good reasons. Cities are not only places where philosophyhappens. They are also, increasingly, the place where most human life happens. As the world con-tinues to urbanise, cities now function as the loci for the social, political, and ecological challengesof the 21st century. There is a need to apply the tools and approaches of philosophical inquiry tothe city as both a real and imagined phenomenon, to processes of urbanisation, and to the specificdynamics and challenges of different cities in particular.As philosophy of the city has become a vibrant and relevant area of study, we envision thePhi-losophy of the City Journalas a space to address these questions. As the editorial team, we hope thatcontributions will help improve the basic ideas and methods in this field, promote useful conver-sations among different disciplines and sub-disciplines—not just philosophy!—and see how philo-sophical ideas can be useful in planning and designing cities.