Bernstein's Long Path to Membrane Theory: Radical Change and Conservation in Nineteenth-Century German Electrophysiology

This article aims at illustrating the historical circumstances that led Julius Bernstein in 1902 Bernstein, J and Tschermak, A. 1902. Ueber die Beziehung der negativen Schwankung des Muskelstromes zur Arbeitsleistung des Muskels. Pflügers Arch, 89: 289–331.  [Google Scholar] to formulate a membrane theory on resting current in muscle and nerve fibers. It was a truly paradigm shift in research into bioelectrical phenomena, if qualified by the observation that, besides Bernstein, many other electrophysiologists between 1890 and 1902 borrowed ideas from the recent ionistic approach in the physical-chemistry domain. But Bernstein's subjective perception of that paradigm shift was that it constituted a mere reinterpretation of the so-called preexistence theory advanced by his teacher Emil du Bois-Reymond in the first half of the nineteenth century.     

GIS-based methodology for Palaeolithic site location preferences analysis. A case study from Late Palaeolithic Cantabria (Northern Iberian Peninsula)

Factors involved in the selection of a settlement location are key issues in the understanding of hunter–gatherer subsistence strategies and social organization. Site location preferences are the result of a complex decision-making process, in which both economic and cultural needs are involved. This paper presents a specific methodology for site location analysis, based on the definition and calculation of a series of variables. This methodology, applied to Late Palaeolithic sites from the Cantabrian coast, enables an objective comparison between archaeological sites, and consequently the analysis of settlement patterns of Palaeolithic societies.     

The Rio Grande do Norte Astrolabe

The Rio Grande do Norte astrolabe may have been found in Brazilian waters, although its provenance is unclear. It was bought and sold at auction in the Unites States in 2011, and the instrument represents a well-preserved specimen within a small and poorly understood collection of published marine astrolabes. It is signed by Agostinho de Goes Raposo, a member of a line of documented Portuguese astrolabe makers, and dated to 1656. This paper relates the condition, treatment, and ethical situation of the artifact, and hopes to advance our understanding of this class of navigation instruments.     

Ductility-Equivalent Viscous Damping Relationships for Beam-to-Column Partial-Strength Steel Joints

This paper seeks to contribute to the development and improvement of displacement-based design procedures, proposing improved ductility-equivalent viscous damping relationships for steel moment-resisting framed structures with dissipative beam-to-column partial-strength joints. These relationships can be used directly in procedures like the Direct Displacement-Based Seismic Design (DDBD) that uses effective stiffness, ductility-equivalent viscous damping relationships, and period-displacement relationships in a performance-based design approach. To this end, a finite element model of a steel beam-to-column sub-assemblage, characterized by an extended end-plate, is developed in ABAQUS. The model, which is validated against monotonic and cyclic experimental data obtained in previous research, is employed to carry out non-linear time-history (NLTH) analyses, using real records scaled to target several levels of ductility demand. A procedure is then proposed and applied to determine the ductility-equivalent viscous damping relationships of the sub-assemblages. The equivalent linearization technique is applied to the non-linear responses obtained in the NLTH analyses, using an elastic single degree of freedom structure and the elastic displacement spectra. The influence of joints mechanisms and of the dynamic characteristics of the structure in the equivalent viscous damping is investigated, and an expression for ductility-equivalent viscous damping is proposed. The proposed expression represents a clear improvement in relation to the existing expressions available in literature.     

Topoiesis de los dispositivos de registro del texto literario

ABSTRACT

Never before have the layout, the text format, and support been as important as they are today. Studies reflecting on the relationship between the meaning of the literary text and its form have rapidly increased. This kind of study has focused mostly on the history of the reading process and the history of the book as well as on the possibilities of new technologies in the literary field. However, none of these approaches has reached the point of creating a comprehensive methodology for the analysis of the relationship between the message and its channel. This work is intended to propose a methodology of analysis based on some concepts such as peritexts (Genette) and visuo-graphic zone (Cárdenas).     

Characterisation of obsidian subsource variability at El Paredón,Mexico

Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) geochemical analysis on obsidian from five Formative period (1200 BCE to AC 100) sites from Tlaxcala, Mexico, has revealed that most of the material had similar values to those found in the closest obsidian source, named El Paredón, Puebla. Nevertheless, initial analyses did not resolve whether these materials came from the same caldera or from a specific obsidian deposit. Here we present a methodology that allows the identification of obsidian subsources. The results reveal that Tlaxcalan populations took advantage of a specific obsidian deposit called Tres Cabezas, Puebla, providing valuable new data to identify associated regional exchange networks.     

A Quantitative Look at Mediterranean Lateen- and Square-Rigged Ships (Part 1)

Modern-day engineering can be a useful tool to help understand the technological changes which led to the development of the three-masted ships of the modern age of sail, in the beginning of the 15th century. Recent finding and excavation of an increasing number of medieval shipwrecks offers the opportunity, and the authors propose to build a database with technical characteristics of late-medieval vessels in the hope of finding patterns that will help understand the relatively-quick technological evolution of Mediterranean merchant craft of the 14th and 15th centuries.
© 2008 The Authors     

Virtual Forum: Archaeology and Decolonization

In this forum, patiently achieved through months of cyber-work, participants Nayanjot Lahiri (India), Nick Shepherd (South Africa), Joe Watkins (USA) and Larry Zimmerman (USA), plus the two editors of Arqueología Suramericana, Alejandro Haber (Argentina) and Cristóbal Gnecco (Colombia), discuss the topic of archaeology and decolonization. Nayanjot Lahiri teaches archaeology in her capacity as Professor at the Department of History, University of Delhi. Her books include Finding Forgotten Cities: How the Indus Civilization was Discovered (2005) and The Archaeology of Indian Trade Routes (1992). She has edited The Decline and Fall of the Indus Civilization (2000) and an issue of World Archaeology entitled The Archaeology of Hinduism (2004). Nick Shepherd is a senior lecturer in the Center for African Studies at the University of Cape Town, where he convenes the program in public culture in Africa. He sits on the executive committee of the World Archaeological Congress, and is co-editor of the journal Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress. In 2004 he was based at Harvard University as a Mandela Fellow. He has published widely on issues of archaeology and society in Africa, and on issues of public history and heritage. Joe Watkins is Choctaw Indian and archaeologist Joe Watkins is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. He is 1/2 Choctaw Indian by blood, and has been involved in archaeology for more than thirty-five years. He received his Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma and his Master’s of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University, where his doctorate examined archaeologists’ responses to questionnaire scenarios concerning their perceptions of American Indian issues. His current study interests include the ethical practice of anthropology and the study of anthropology’s relationships with descendant communities and Aboriginal populations, and he has published numerous articles on these topics. His first book Indigenous Archaeology: American Indian Values and Scientific Practice (AltaMira Press, 2000) examined the relationships between American Indians and archaeologists and is in its second printing His latest book, Reclaiming Physical Heritage: Repatriation and Sacred Sites (Chelsea House Publishers 2005) is aimed toward creating an awareness of Native American issues among high school students. Larry J. Zimmerman is Professor of Anthropology and Museum Studies and Public Scholar of Native American Representation at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. He is Vice President of the World Archaeological Congress. He also has served WAC as its Executive Secretary and as the organizer of the first WAC Inter-Congress on Archaeological Ethics and the Treatment of the Dead. His research interests include the archaeology of the North American Plains, contemporary American Indian issues, and his current project examining the archaeology of homelessness. Originally published in Spanish in Arqueología Suramericana 3(1), 2007     

The Infrastructures of Internal Colonialism: State,Environment, and Race in Lerma,Mexico

This article explores the relations between infrastructures, labour, and internal colonialism in Lerma, Mexico. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research of two hydraulic projects there, the article argues that infrastructures are productive of the racial, environmental, and political relations that constitute internal colonialism both historically and contemporarily. I show how these infrastructural projects imagined and produced colonial relations between the environment, racialised workers, and the nation-state, and how these colonial logics endure today through infrastructures and the forms of racialised labour that maintain them. In doing so, this article contributes to literature that interrogates the relations between infrastructure and coloniality by focusing on how infrastructural labour makes internal colonialism enduring. The article concludes by reflecting on how the labour practices that make internal colonialism enduring also point to ways of producing infrastructures otherwise.     

A Preliminary report of recording the Stella 1 Roman River Barge,Italy

The remains of a Roman barge were found in 1981 in the River Stella, Udine, Italy. Its cargo consisted mainly of roof tiles. It was excavated in 1998 and 1999, and detailed recording of the hull, and a second wooden structure, was achieved in 2011. A spread of material upstream of the wreck has been investigated 2012–2015. The barge was originally dated to the first quarter of the 1st century AD by the in situ cargo. This article describes the bottom‐based sewn‐plank hull construction and examines it in the light of local boatbuilding traditions. The second wooden structure is also described, along with recent finds and new dating evidence from the dispersed material. The Stella 1 excavation was part of the Anaxum Project, a wider study of the Stella River's cultural landscape through time.