Research Infinity - All Articles

The Mystery of the Missing Horses: How to Uncover an Ottoman Shadow Economy

Abstract In the 1690s, Ottoman bureaucrats reformed the sprawling postal system, a vital communications infrastructure that undergirded imperial power. Despite the expanding monitoring capacity that resulted, a constant shortage of horses regularly left couriers stranded for days and delayed official correspondence. This essay investigates this paradox and draws on a series of fifty-one Ottoman im...
Posted 2 years ago

Not All Who Ascend Remain: Afro-Asian Jewish Returnees from Israel

In the wake of Israeli Black Panther activism in the mid-1970s, the Arab League invited Mizrahi (AfroAsian) Jews, especially those in Israel, to return to their homeland. Some Israelis used the invitation as an opportunity to highlight the extent of anti-Mizrahi discrimination by departing for the Arab world. Albeit small in number in comparison to thosewho left Israel for other destinations, thos...
Posted 2 years ago

Keeping Britain ‘in the Fore’: The Establishment of the British Council in South Africa and Its Contribution to the 1960 Union Festival

This article discusses the establishment of a British Council presence in South Africa through the appointment of a cultural advisor at the British High Commission in 1958. It analyses the role of cultural advisor, what policymakers hoped to achieve by creating it, and why they were initially hesitant about establishing a British Council presence in South Africa. The article will highlight how the...
Posted 2 years ago

A Comparative Study on Register Based on Chinese and International Studies: A Scientometric Analysis in CiteSpace (2010-2021)

This paper conducts a comprehensive review and comparative analysis of the research on register published in Chinese and international authoritative journals from 2010 to 2021 by employing CiteSpace 5.8.R3, a visual bibliometric software. It describes the number of publications, the keywords with the strongest citation bursts, research institutions, journals and influential authors, and pinpoints ...
Posted 2 years ago

The Flemish and German Nation of SevilleCollective Strategies and Institutional Development of the Northern European Merchant Community in Seville, Spain (1568-1598)

This article studies how northern European migrants adapted their collective strategies to Seville’s institutional framework in the last third of the sixteenth century and how these strategies shaped the emergence of the so-called Flemish and German nation. It analyzes the group’s motivations to refuse the creation of a particularized commercial institution, as well as the alternative institut...
Posted 2 years ago

Emergent geographies of chronic air pollution governancein Southeast Asia: Transboundary publics in Singapore

Haze is a product of in‐situ biomass fires that becomes mobile as it moves across state boundaries in Southeast Asia. The literature on the governance of transboundary air commons has largely been fixed at the national or supranational scalar of reference. Hence, successes and failures tend to be evaluated based on policy and diplomatic (non)progress. This paper contributes to recent literature ...
Posted 2 years ago

“Wings of Freedom”: Petr Miturich and Aero-Constructivism

The article focuses on the aerodynamic experiments of Petr Vasil’evich Miturich (1887–1956), in particular his so-called letun, a project comparable to Vladimir Tatlin’s Letatlin, but less familiar. Miturich became interested in flight during the First World War, elaborating his first flying apparatus in 1918 before constructing a prototype and undertaking a test flight on 27 December 1921�...
Posted 2 years ago

From Kiyoshi Shiga to Present-Day Shigella Vaccines: A Historical Narrative Review

We are at an exciting moment in time with the advancement of many vaccines, including a shigella vaccine for the world. It is instructive to look at the long road that some vaccines have traveled to recognize the remarkable accomplishments of those who were pioneers, appreciate the evolution of scientific and applied technology, and inform the future history of a vaccine that would have great pote...
Posted 2 years ago

From Multiracial to Monoracial: The Formation of Mexican American Identities in the U.S. Southwest

The last decade saw a rapid increase in the number of studies where time–frequency changes of radiocarbon dates have been used as a proxy for inferring past population dynamics. Although its universal and straightforward premise is appealing and undoubtedly offers some unique opportunities for research on long-term comparative demography, practical applications are far from trivial and riddled w...
Posted 2 years ago

Statistical Inference of Prehistoric Demography from Frequency Distributions of Radiocarbon Dates: A Review and a Guide for the Perplexed

The last decade saw a rapid increase in the number of studies where time–frequency changes of radiocarbon dates have been used as a proxy for inferring past population dynamics. Although its universal and straightforward premise is appealing and undoubtedly offers some unique opportunities for research on long-term comparative demography, practical applications are far from trivial and riddled w...
Posted 2 years ago