The Dystopic Theme Park: The Role of Lorelei in Marcelo Cohen's El oído absoluto

The purpose of this article is to analyze the function of theme-park design in Argentinean author Marcelo Cohen's novel El oído absoluto. Cohen's work takes place in a fictitious theme park in a not-so-distant future that serves the double duty of utopia for entertainment and consumption as well as reformatory for social deviants posing a danger to greater society. The article examines the parallels between the theories at the heart of the design of modern-day theme parks, such as Disney World, and the dystopic theme park in Cohen's novel. The shared ideology behind the design of these dystopic spaces demonstrates how the theme-park designers manipulate architectural spaces to facilitate consumption and the homogenization of global culture as a response to social fragmentation and disintegration in a postindustrial world.     

“What do people do all day”

U. S. Department of Transportation. Final Environmental Impact Assessment for Darien Gap Highway from Tocumen, Panama, to Rio Leon, Colombia. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Department of Transportation, 1974. xvii + 203 pp. Tables, figures, and appendices. (Available gratis from USDOT.)

Kurt Finsterbusch. A Methodology for Analyzing Social Impacts of Public Policies. Vienna, Virginia: Braddock, Dunn, and McDonald, 1975. ix + 52 pp. Tables, illustrations, and appendices. (Availablegratis from BDM, Inc., 1920 Aline Avenue, Vienna, Virginia 22180.)     

Who brought in the rabbits? Taphonomical analysis of Mousterian and Solutrean leporid accumulations from Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar,Portugal)

In the Iberian Peninsula, leporids, and specifically rabbits, play a key role in the understanding of hunter-gatherer economies. They appear to have been especially important in the Tardiglacial, when large numbers of small prey animals and of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in particular, are a ubiquitous feature of faunal assemblages from archaeological sites. Since a large number of non-human predators can also contribute to the formation of such assemblages, the ability to discriminate between bones accumulated by humans and by other kinds of predators is a key prerequisite to their interpretation. On the basis of systematic actualistic studies carried out on modern leporid remains produced by mammalian terrestrial carnivores, nocturnal and diurnal raptors, and humans, we identified diagnostic taphonomic indicators of the different predators. In this paper, the patterns observed on the modern material are applied to the taphonomical analysis of two archaeological samples of rabbit and hare remains from Mousterian and Solutrean layers of Gruta do Caldeirão, a cave site located in Central Portugal. Our results suggest that Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) were mainly responsible for the Mousterian accumulations, whilst the Solutrean ones were most likely the result of human activity. These data support the notion that, in Iberia, significant reliance on rabbits does not become a feature of subsistence strategies until later Upper Palaeolithic times.     

O deslocamento de interesses da Índia para o Brasil durante a União Ibérica: mapas e relatos

This paper proposes the insertion of cartographic production about the Portuguese possessions into a wider context of interests and need for information experienced by the Hapsburgs during the Iberian Union (1580–1640). I focus on two documents, compiled as a result of two requests made by the monarchs who wished to learn about their domains in India and Brazil: the 1612 Livro que dá razão do Estado do Brasil, written by Captain Diogo Campos Moreno, with maps by João Teixeira Albernaz I, and the Livro das Plantas de todas as fortalezas, cidades e povoações do Estado da Índia oriental, dated 1635, by the official chronicler of the Estado da India, Antonio Bocarro, with city views usually attributed to Pedro Barreto de Resende.

These texts and maps show a shift of interests from India to Brazil. They incorporate the various aspects that the authors considered relevant, interesting or representative of the Portuguese presence in these spaces. At the same time, the royal orders that gave rise to these surveys bring some elements that give specificity to each region, but emphasize the effort to standardize the information and to ensure a common administration over different areas of the empire.     

Traitana und Θraēta(o)na

An attempt is made to reconstruct a Proto-Indo-Iranian legend, mainly on the basis of a passage in the Avestan Ardvsr-Yast (Yt. 5,61 f.) and a so far misinterpreted RVedic verse (1,115,5). The legend seems to involve a hero named *Traitana/*Tritana who rescues a devout mortal from water by killing a hostile creature (*dsa-). By comparing this legend with a set of closely related RVedic legends, in which mortals are rescued at sea or from imprisonment by Indra or the Avin, it is assumed that the story of *Traitana/*Tritana belonged to a genre once forming a part of an otherwise lost heroic poetry of Indo-Iranian age.     

Rethinking Jagiełło Hungary (1490–1526)

Abstract

Historians of the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania have identified the Sejm (Diet) of 1712–13 as a moment when, after the chaos of the Great Northern War, orderly government might have been restored and some political reforms enacted. Specifically, the efforts of August II to persuade the Sejm to pass wide-ranging fiscal and military reforms have been examined by Józef Gierowski, who argued that August II missed an opportunity at this Sejm to cement an alliance with the envoys (pos?owie) that might have curbed the powers of the hetmans, and gone on to enact further political reforms.

This focus on the king’s agenda, however, overlooks the reform programme pursued independently by the Sejm envoys. The envoys were hostile to the hetmans, but sought different reforms from the king. Examining their agenda allows a fuller understanding of this Sejm, as well as broadening our understanding of szlachta political thought more generally.     

What do aqueous geothermometers really tell us?

The application of chemical geothermometry to shallow groundwaters or spring discharge assumes that there is minimal mixing or re-equilibration of water as it travels from depth to the surface. In this study, we examine the potential for mixing and re-equilibration by examining heat and fluid flow along crustal-scale faults in tectonic geothermal systems. Numerical modeling results indicate that maximum in situ temperatures could be under-predicted by up to 30% due to mixing of fluids that enter the fault at different depths. This, coupled with the depression of isotherms by downward groundwater flow in the hanging wall, could cause underestimates of maximum circulation depth of greater than 80% in extreme cases. Kinetics does not favor re-equilibration in the shallower portions of faults due to low temperatures and higher fluid velocities. However, in areas of deeper circulation or higher heat flow such reactions are possible.     

When do Citizens Demand Punishment of Corruption?

Under what conditions do citizens demand punishment of corrupt government officials or actions? Citizens' demands complement and motivate government actions. Studies suggest, however, that citizens' demands are weak and not credible. This paper considers that credible demands are the outcomes of strategic interaction between citizen groups. The results from experimental surveys in Australia and the United States show citizens' demands are credible across various conditions, including size of participants or groups, and regardless of whether they suffer losses from corruption, or whether other participants suffer losses from corruption. This paper makes three contributions. Firstly, it delineates a theoretical model that predicts concerted action. This is a useful alternative to extant treatments that generally report outcomes where coordination problems and free-ridership undermine citizens' concerted action and credibility. Secondly, experimental results clarify several conditions under which citizens' demands are credible, that is, when citizens act in concert to demand punishment. Thirdly, the consistent results across Australia and the US where individualism is high provide useful baselines for further studies.

公民们在什么情况下会要求惩治腐败的政府官员和腐败行为？研究证明,公民的要求虚弱而不可靠。本文认为可靠的要求来自公民群体间的战略互动。澳大利亚和美国的实验调查表明,公民的要求可靠与否取决于诸如参与者或群体规模等条件,而不论他们是否从腐败中受损,或别人是否从腐败中受损。本文有以下三点贡献。第一,勾画了预测腐败的模型。目前的方法报告了协调问题和免费搭车消弱公民协调行动和工信度的结果。该模型可为替代方法。第二,实验结果表明在一些情况下公民的要求是可靠的,那就是,当公民协调一致要求惩治腐败的时候。第三,个人主义发达的澳大利亚和美国的调查结果可以成为进一步研究的基点。     

临川方言V+得+o+补语的句法分析

临川方言的句法研究相对于临川方言的语音和词汇的研究来说是比较薄弱的。这可能是在研究语言变化时,句法是比较稳定的。因此临川方言中的一些句式与普通话相比没有很大的差别,而句法研究这一领域被研究者所忽视。事实上,临川方言中也有很多值得研究的句式,如下文所要分析的"v+得+o+补语"句式。     

临川方言V＋得＋o＋补语的句法分析

临川方言的句法研究相对于临川方言的语音和词汇的研究来说是比较薄弱的。这可能是在研究语言变化时,句法是比较稳定的。因此临川方言中的一些句式与普通话相比没有很大的差别,而句法研究这一领域被研究者所忽视。事实上,临川方言中也有很多值得研究的句式,如下文所要分析的“v＋得＋o＋补语”句式。     

Why do Mothers Harm their Babies? Evolutionary Perspectives

Young conspecifics are killed in many animal species, often by unrelated males. The role that females — particularly mothers — play in harming infants is often overlooked, as it appears an evolutionary paradox. Life-history theory offers potential explanations, as females are under pressure to time births optimally, produce an optimal number of offspring and secure paternal investment. Furthermore, socio-cultural circumstances across human societies may favour sex-specific infanticide. These constraints can lead mothers to terminate pre- or post-natal investment in current offspring. Incorporating evolutionary theory in policy making may offer opportunities to assess which measures are likely to reduce the rate of maternally committed infanticide.