Open field system

The open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in parts of western Europe, Russia, Iran and Turkey. Under the open-field system, each manor or village had two or three large fields, usually several hundred acres each, which were divided into many narrow strips of land. The strips or selions were cultivated by individuals or peasant families, often called tenants or serfs. The holdings of a manor also included woodland and pasture areas for common usage and fields belonging to the lord of the manor and the church. The farmers customarily lived in individual houses in a nucleated village with a much larger manor house and church nearby. The open-field system necessitated co-operation among the inhabitants of the manor.

The Lord of the Manor, his officials, and a Manorial court administered the manor and exercised jurisdiction over the peasantry. The Lord levied rents and required the peasantry to work on his personal lands, called a demesne.

Field system

The study of field systems (collections of fields) in landscape history is concerned with the size, shape and orientation of a number of fields. These are often adjacent, but may be separated by a later feature.

Types of field system

Although agriculture was practised earlier, the earliest recognisable field systems in England are neolithic. Cairnfields, which are pre-historic in date, are found in upland areas. They contain scattered stones and boulders and originated in surface clearance for agriculture.

So called Celtic fields can date from the Bronze Age through to the early Middle Ages. These fields are typically small and rectangular. They are frequently coaxial - that is they form a system in which the boundaries of adjacent fields make a series of long, roughly parallel lines. The extensive coaxial field systems established by the Romans are described as centuriation.

Open fields were very large fields in which many individual farmers cultivated their own strips. These were a frequently found feature in the Midlands but less so in the South-east and West country. No documents survive which explain how and when the change to open fields took place, but signs of the change are apparent in some areas in the 8th, 9th or 10th centuries. The use of open fields began to decline in the 15th century. The landscape of open fields was frequently called "champion country".

Open-field

Open field may refer to:

Open Field

Open Field is the debut album by the Swedish solo act Taken By Trees. It is the first studio album to be released by Victoria Bergsman after shedding her duties as the lead singer of The Concretes. It was released on June 18, 2007 on Rough Trade Records.

Track listing

All tracks written by Victoria Bergsman except where noted.

Personnel

Performance

Open Field (animal test)

The Open Field Test (OFT) is an experiment used to assay general locomotor activity levels and anxiety in rodents in scientific research.

Experimental Design

Developed by Calvin S. Hall to test the emotionality of rodents, the open field test (OFT) is a commonly used qualitative and quantitative measure of general locomotor activity and willingness to explore in rodents. However, the extent to which behavior in the open field correlates with general locomotor activity in other situations (e.g., in a home cage or on an activity wheel) is controversial.

The open field is an arena with walls to prevent escape. Commonly, the field is marked with a grid and square crossings. Rearing and time spent moving are used to assess the activity of the rodent. In the modern open field apparatus, infrared beams or video cameras with associated software can be used to automate the assessment process. The OFT is also often used to assess anxiety by including additional measures of defecation, time spent in the center of the field, and the first few minutes of activity. The relation between the OFT and other tests of exploratory activity (elevated plus maze and emergence) have been analyzed in two mouse strains. Changes in these measures are often used to assess the sedative or stimulant effects of pharmacological agents.