Spatial Dimensions of the Easterlin Hypothesis: Fertility Variations in Italy

The paper re–evaluates the Easterlin hypothesis in a multiregional context by conceptually and methodologically accounting for two processes of spatial interdependence in an open subnational demo–economic system: diffusion of fertility norms and values across space, and movements between labor markets. The empirical analysis estimates pooled cross–sectional, time–series models using data for 18 Italian regions from 1952 to 1995. The results suggest that accounting for spatial interdependencies is necessary to avoid model misspecifications. Moreover, the models lead to space–time landscapes of fertility elasticities that suggest, for the majority of space–time units, an inverse Easterlin effect for the diffusion component but support of the Easterlin hypothesis due to labor movements across space.     

浙江省平湖庄桥坟遗址出土石犁的保护修复

浙江平湖庄桥坟遗址出土的石犁是史前考古的新发现,属于痕迹文物。出土时木构件痕迹饱水,为暗褐色、开裂严重、整体呈腐蚀状,非常脆弱。针对器物的保存状况,因地制宜地制定一系列保护方法:木构件痕迹的脱水保护、底托的加固制作、木构件粘贴复原等,使文物得以长期保存。     

Daily risks: A biocultural approach to acute trauma in pre‐colonial coastal populations from Brazil

Brazilian coastal pre‐colonial skeletal series were examined for accidental fractures, which were grouped according to biomechanical interpretation of the causative events, and results were interpreted based on cultural and environmental aspects. More than 19% of the shell mound builders and 27% of the fisher–hunter–gatherers presented healed fractures. Both series presented balanced values between male and female (18.7 and 20%, respectively, for shell mound builders; 28.1 and 25.6%, respectively, for fisher‐hunter‐gatherers), and more than the double that proportion of the individuals (69.6% for shell mound builder and 88.5% for fisher–hunter–gatherers) had localised lesions, associated with only one traumatic event. The most common type of fractures were those caused by falls blocked by lower limbs (47.8% for shell mound builders and 46.1% for fisher–hunter–gatherers), interpreted as a result of moving along the rocky coastal cliffs. Despite these similarities, both series presented particular aspects which were related mainly to differences in subsistence strategies. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Real and spurious anti-correlations between short-period variations of field-parallel and field-perpendicular plasma velocities in EISCAT data

Measurement of the observed anti-correlation between the field-perpendicular component of F-region plasma velocity in the north-south plane and the downward, field-parallel component has been proposed as a way to determine the value of the O-O⁺ collision frequency. However, random noise errors in measurements of plasma velocity made at EISCAT may combine in analysis to induce a spurious anti-correlation between the derived values of these components which is hard to distinguish from any genuine anti-correlation.     

Constructing a Manufacturing Fixed Capital Stock Series for the Regions of Greece

Although regional variation in rates of capital accumulation is considered a major component of spatially uneven industrial development, it remains largely an understudied area. The theoretical and methodological problems that surround the measurement of capital, generally, alongside the lack of necessary information about a wide range of specific aspects, pose serious obstacles in any attempt to construct regional capital stock series. In such a context, the main aim of this paper is to make the best possible effort to construct a regional manufacturing fixed capital stock series for Greece. The limited availability of information (not unusual in regional as opposed to national contexts) and the necessity of making some arbitrary, but specified, assumptions mean that the estimation steps have to be presented in detail to assess reliability. Four regional fixed capital stock series for total manufacturing activity are generated. The results are then assessed in the context of uneven spatial development in Greece.     

胡锦涛对马克思主义民族理论中国化的贡献

中国特色民族理论是中国特色社会主义理论体系的重要组成部分。党的十六大以来,以胡锦涛同志为代表的中国共产党人站在时代发展的高度,在我国民族工作的实践中提出了一系列新观点、新论断,丰富和发展了中国特色社会主义民族理论,从而为马克思主义民族理论的中国化做出了新的贡献。     

Is the evaluation of millennial changes in stature reliable? A study in southern Europe from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages

Analyses of stature variation in prehistoric and historical populations encounter considerable problems of reliability of the comparisons. To properly compare the results of different studies, it is necessary to conduct a systematic review of the chronological and cultural context of the skeletal series used and identify the most appropriate method to calculate stature values, since stature reconstruction formulae are specific for certain times and places. Stature variations in the population of Sardinia (a Mediterranean island now part of the Italian Republic but considered separately given its unique genetic structure) from the Neolithic to the Modern Period were studied to evaluate the intensity of millennial changes. The results were then compared with the values of coeval skeletal series reported in the literature for other Southern European countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal). We used Sardinian skeletal series with radiocarbon dates or from culturally well-defined archeological contexts. The osteometric measurements were taken on femora of adults who had completed growth and who did not present evident pathological conditions. The data we collected and analyzed indicate that the conditions are lacking to reliably identify a common trend in millennial changes among the considered populations of southern Europe.     

Analytical modelling of the electric field distribution in the high-latitude ionosphere

An analytical approach is implemented for self-consistent modelling of the high-latitude convection electric field. Input parameters are determined as distributions of field-aligned currents and height-integrated conductivity. The high-latitude ionosphere is approximated with an arbitrary number (N) of concentric rings. The height-integrated conductivity (∑) is independent of co-latitude within any ring, but depends on the longitude ~ sin λ. The field-aligned currents flow only along the boundaries of each ring and are presented by Fourier series in longitude. The analytical solution for the potential φ as a function of longitude is also presented as a Fourier series. An analytical solution is obtained for the potential dependencies on co-latitude. For the extreme case, when the integrated conductivity does not depend on longitude, this solution coincides with the analytical results, obtained by other authors. Based on this solution, the potential distribution in the high-latitude ionosphere, an example with N = 5 is shown, the values of conductivity and field-aligned currents being similar to those values used by other authors.     

江西南昌交大明墓出土部分金玉器特征研究

本文运用宝石学和物理镨学的理论和方法,通过肉眼和宝石显微镜观察、红外吸收光谱、激光拉曼光谱、环境扫描电子显微镜和贵金属含量检测仪等大型仪器测试,对江西南昌市新建县华东交通大学校园内发掘出土的一件玉圭、两组玉组佩、五枚金镶宝玉石戒指和一枚金钗的材质成分作了科学鉴定。鉴定结果表明两种玉器的玉质成分是软玉,戒指的戒面有绿松石、蓝宝石和尖晶石,金钗的黄金含量为96.75%,而戒指金托的黄金含量仅为78.24%。从而提高了出土金玉器研究的科技含量。     

THE PERIODICITY OF DROUGHTS IN THE GRAIN-GROWING AREAS OF THE USSR

On the basis of a chronology of droughts in the grain-growing regions of the USSR, compiled from historical sources and the more recent period of instrumental observations, the author shows that the occurrence of drought may be regarded as a random process characterized as a quasi-stationary Poisson series of events. Most of the grain regions in the USSR follow this regularity. In the case of simultaneous drought throughout the principal grain zone of the USSR, comprising the European part and the Midland region (West Siberia and Kazakhstan), the sequence of events assumes a nonstationary character. Statistical parameters are developed for the time series of drought years and nondrought years, and are compared with extreme values in grain-yield fluctuations. Over the last 140 years, drought occurred in 76 years in at least one of the three major grain regions of the USSR (European part, West Siberia, Kazakhstan) while 64 years had no drought and corresponding normal or higher yields. A catastrophic drought affecting all three grain regions simultaneously is virtually (95%) certain to occur at least once in 20 years.     

学术之宗 明道之要——论《汉书·艺文志》的目录学价值

<汉书@艺文志>是我国现存的最早的一部综合性国家书目,奠定了"辨章学术,考镜源流"的传统,在中国目录学史上具有重要的理论价值.本文比较全面地论述了<汉书@艺文志>的著录体例及其中的总序、小序、大序所体现的学术思想.     

Analysis of sexual dimorphism of craniofacial traits using geometric morphometric techniques

This work deals with the assessment of cranial sexual dimorphism in human skeletal samples applying geometric morphometric techniques. The purpose of this research is to apply such techniques to quantitatively describe in craniofacial traits the degree and pattern of shape and size sexual dimorphism. Likewise, we evaluate the precision and accuracy of semilandmark‐based techniques for sex estimation. We employ a sample of 125 adult skulls of known sex from the Coimbra collection. A set of coordinate points was selected to describe glabella, mastoid, frontal and zygomatic processes. The results of intra‐class correlation coefficient (ICC) show excellent intra‐ and inter‐observer agreement (ICC > 0.96) in the location of the coordinates of points employed. The principal component analysis (PCA) performed on shape variables shows a large superposition of both sexes, suggesting a relatively low degree of dimorphism in shape. As a consequence, the average percentages of correct sex estimations based on these variables were of 60.12 and 68.90%, obtained by discriminant analysis with leave‐one‐out cross validation and k‐means clustering respectively. Conversely, when centroid size is included in PCA, females and males exhibit large separation along the first component. The highest values of correct assignment (77.86 and 72.15%) were found using shape–size variables with discriminant and k‐means clustering analysis, indicating that the traits analysed display marked sex differences related to the larger size and more robust features of males. Finally, the advantages of geometric morphometric techniques are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dairying in antiquity. III. Evidence from absorbed lipid residues dating to the British Neolithic

Absorbed lipid residue analysis has previously demonstrated that dairying was a major component of animal husbandry in Britain during both the Iron Age and Bronze Age. As a continuation of this research into the antiquity of dairying, the incidence of dairy fats associated with pottery vessels from six Neolithic sites from Southern Britain is presented herein. A total of 438 potsherds from Windmill Hill, Abingdon Causewayed Enclosure, Hambledon Hill, Eton Rowing Lake, Runnymede Bridge and Yarnton Floodplain were submitted for organic residue analysis. To date, this constitutes the largest number of sherds investigated from one particular archaeological period. The compound-specific stable isotope values of the major fatty acid components in animal fats, namely C_16:0 and C_18:0, enable absorbed lipids in pottery vessels to be classified to commodity group, i.e. ruminant adipose, dairy and non-ruminant adipose fats can be distinguished. The lipid extracts were relatively well preserved, and dairy fats were observed in approximately 25% of all of the sherds, demonstrating that milk was a valued commodity in the British Neolithic. These results confirm that dairying was an established component of the agricultural practices that reached Britain in the 5^th Millennium BC.     

Archaeological Amerindian and Eskimo cranioskeletal size variation along coastal western North America: relation to climate,the reconstructed diet high in marine animal foods,and demographic stress

A quantitative bioenvironmental study of cranioskeletal size has been made of a latitude-ordered sequence of 14 series of adult skeleton sets (N=305): the archaeological remains of aboriginal maritime peoples inhabiting the west coast of North America between southern California and the Arctic. Of eight osteometric parameters of cranioskeletal size developed, the most important are partial skeleton volume (PSK) and cranial capacity (CC); and the principal bone-affecting environmental factors are the northerly climate (CLIM2c), the reconstructed diet deficient in calcium and overabundant in animal foods and vitamin D (DIET3c), and demographic stress (DSg). Prior research has demonstrated that cranioskeletal size increases with geographical latitude and decreases under dietary calcioprivation and unphysiologically high birth rates. Upon linear multifactorial statistical analysis our main finding, limited to the Amerindian subsequence (n=11 series) from the Santa Barbara Channel, the San Francisco Bay Region and the Northwest Coast, is that PSK and CC vary in direct proportion to CLIM2c, and inversely with DIET3c and DSg. Controlling for the latter two osteoantitrophic factors, coastal Amerindian female PSK rises by 9% between 34 and 54°N latitude, CC by 5%; and the male incremental rates are somewhat higher, 13 and 10%, respectively. This newly discovered climate-dependent race cline, an example of Bergmann's Rule, is interpreted as factual evidence of a mid-Wisconsin or earlier arrival date for the first Palaeoindians. Cranioskeletal size of the very small (n=3 series) Western Eskimo subsequence approximates the northernmost values of the coastal Amerindian distribution. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An anthropologist among the film‐makers: A cautionary tale: Part 2. The politics of circulation (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

In this second part, Pat Caplan continues her account of the production of one episode in the Face values ethnographic film series, an early example of the efforts the Royal Anthropological Institute made to popularize anthropology under royal patronage in the 1970s. Part one, as published in the previous issue, sought to cover the aims of the series, and in this second part she considers the extent to which the original aims were realized.     

Cross-meridian refraction of ducted whistler-mode waves

The propagation of a ducted whistler-mode wave is considered for the case in which the wave normal has an azimuthal component. The meridional gradient in electron density associated with the duct is taken to be sufficient to keep the meridional component of the wave normal close to the direction of the ambient magnetic field. Because of the strong anisotropy effects at whistler-mode frequencies, this may lead to a considerable difference, even in cross-meridian propagation, from the unducted case, where there is no such constraint. When there is axial symmetry, the deflection in longitude may be found by a series of elementary steps followed by quadrature, and results are presented for a dipole magnetic field and realistic plasmaspheric density models. For the case of an azimuthal density gradient, a first-order theory is given in which the variation in longitude is given by quadrature, and results are shown exhibiting the dependence on frequency and on the density model used. The case of a duct limited in longitude is also discussed. Here., the ray path oscillates in longitude, and a simple analysis enables the `wavelength' and the relative amplitude of the oscillation to be estimated in terms of the density enhancement and the azimuthal width of the duct. Finally, in an Appendix, the effects of the oscillation in the meridional component of the wave normal. which are second-order, are analysed.     

The computation of ELF radio wave fields in the Earth-ionosphere duct

Evaluation of ELF radio wave fields using the mode theory requires the computation of Legendre functions. Four different representations of the Legendre functions in terms of hypergeometric series have been programmed for computation on a microcomputer. By an appropriate choice of series for given values of the propagation constant and distance from the source, only a few (typically eight) terms are needed to calculate the Legendre functions with a precision of six decimal digits.     

The Dahomean Feast: Royal Women,Private Politics,and Culinary Practices in Atlantic West Africa

Feasting is a central component of elite power strategies in complex societies worldwide. In the precolonial Kingdom of Dahomey, located in the Republic of Bénin, public feasts were a critical component of royal strategies to attract and bind political subjects over the course of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, a period of dramatic political transformation on the Bight of Benin. Archaeological excavations within the domestic quarters of a series of Dahomean royal palace sites have yielded diverse faunal and ceramic assemblages that represent clear examples of (1) ritualized food consumption and (2) everyday culinary practices. In this paper, faunal and ceramic evidence from two excavated contexts is marshaled to distinguish the archaeological signatures of feasting in Dahomey, highlighting the importance of private feasts in attempts to build political influence in the domestic zones of Dahomean royal palaces. In particular, this analysis foregrounds how royal women jockeyed for power and influence during a period of political uncertainty.     

The multivariate statistical analysis and XRD analysis of pottery at Xigongqiao site

A series of pottery samples excavated from the Xigongqiao site in Tengzhou city of Shandong province was determined using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Together with excavation data and archaeological analysis, the potential for provenance and technology of unearthed ancient pottery was studied by using multivariate statistical analysis and X-ray powder diffraction pattern (XRD) analysis. In order to characterize and classify these earthenware samples, the major and minor/trace element concentrations were studied with both cluster analysis and principal component analysis. The results showed that there were three different groups in cluster analysis dendrogram in good correlation with their colors. This indicated that the potteries were made from clays of different composition. These results were in agreement with the results of principal component analysis. XRD analysis further assessed the validity of multivariate statistical analysis.     

‘That still goes on,doesn't it,in their religion?’ British values,Islam and vernacular discourse

This article explores ‘everyday’ or ‘vernacular’ conceptions of Muslims, Islam and their relationship to ‘British values’. Drawing on original data from focus groups in the East of England, it argues that the relationship is typically constructed around a series of binary pairings. Where Islam is held to be traditional, conservative, pious and outmoded, British values are seen as progressive, liberal, secular and modern. This opposition matters for three reasons. First, it is a contingent construction rather than reflection of realities; one that draws upon Orientalist tropes and militates against alternative ways of imagining this relationship. Second, it does important work at the vernacular level in explaining political dynamics, especially successful integration (because of British liberalism) and the failure thereof (because of Islam's traditionalism). Third, its predication on an essentialised claim of difference inflects even competing efforts to story the British values/Islam relationship which tend, we suggest, to reinforce the positioning of Muslims and their values as somehow beyond or external to Britishness.