Characterization of elemental and firing-dependent properties of Phlegrean ceramics by non-destructive ED-XRF and NMR techniques

A combination of energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) and 2D proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) relaxometry was employed for the characterization of two groups of similar ceramic fragments from the high-medieval production of the Phlegrean area (Miseno and Cuma, Southern Italy). Both methods are based on the use of non-destructive and portable instruments. This approach allows to correlate complementary microstructural features of ceramics, both dependent and independent of the firing technique.     

Developing cross-industry innovation capability: regional drivers and indicators within firms

ABSTRACT

The role of firms in the process of regional renewal and path development is a somewhat neglected area in the existing literature. With few exceptions, the literature is mainly concerned with aggregated development paths. To cover this gap, the current study turns its attention to cross-industry innovation capability (CIIC) building in firms and discusses how conditions for innovation and learning in a region drive this process. We introduce a new concept of CIIC – that is, the firm’s ability to transform knowledge and ideas from different industries into new products, processes and systems and/or its ability to adapt existing products, processes and systems to new industries – and identify its drivers and indicators. The discussion is supported by empirical studies of firms in three Norwegian case regions that undergo the restructuring process due to the recent severe decrease in oil prices. Our empirical data demonstrate that organizationally thick and diversified regions are more favourable for firms’ abilities to develop CIIC and cross-industry innovation activity. As a result, we emphasize that future regional policies should have a stronger focus on the linkages between internal firm characteristics and regional innovation systems to contribute to the firms’ absorptive capacity for developing cross-industry innovation.     

Evidence concerning the roman military diet at Bearsden,Scotland, in the 2nd Century AD

Analyses of sterols and biological studies have shown that a Roman defensive ditch was also a cesspit. The plant debris includes wheat fragments dispersed from defecated bread or other farinaceous food. These techniques may reveal ancient diets in a detail previously impossible to achieve.     

Application of lipid biomarker analysis to evaluate the function of ‘slab-lined pits’ in Arctic Norway

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and bulk carbon isotope determinations have been performed on samples (‘cemented organic residues’, charcoal, sediment and fire-cracked rock) excavated from 12 slab-lined pits from various locations in Arctic Norway to test the premise that these archaeological features were used for the extraction of oil from the blubber of marine mammals, such as seal, whale and walrus. A wide range of lipid compound classes were detected especially in the cemented organic residues and in the charcoal samples. The presence of long-chain unsaturated and isoprenoid fatty acids together with oxidation and thermal alteration products of unsaturated acids such as dicarboxylic acids, dihydroxyfatty acids and ω-(o-alkylphenyl)alkanoic acids suggests that these features were used for marine oil extraction at elevated temperatures. Notably the location of the hydroxyl groups in the dihydroxyfatty acids provides a record of the positional isomer of the precursor fatty acid and allows confirmation that 11-docosenoic (cetoleic) acid, the most abundant C_22:1 isomer in marine oil, was a major component of the original lipid. Further information was provided by the presence of long-chain fatty acyl moieties in surviving triacylglycerols and the presence of cholesterol. A fungal metabolite, mycose (trehalose), was found in all samples apart from a fire-cracked rock and points to microbiological activity in the pits. Bulk isotope analysis conducted on the ‘cemented organic residues’ is consistent with modern reference samples of blubber and oil from seal and whale. These data provide clear analytical evidence of the function of slab-lined pits in the archaeological record and suggest widespread exploitation of marine mammals for producing oil for heating, lighting and myriad other uses in the past.     

Retelling the Past: Distance,Voice, and Time in the Narrative Shaping of History in Finland-Swedish Legends of the Finnish War

This article examines how narrators of four historical legends construct their relation to the past through the use of particular narrative strategies. They do this by manipulating patterns of speech representation, allowing themselves to merge with history; and by focusing on memories embedded in the landscape and material traces of the past in the present.     

Persistence in regional learning paradigms and trajectories: consequences for innovation policy design

Inspired by the first evaluation processes on how nations and regions have interpreted and specified the smart specialization strategy, this paper applies the lens of evolutionary economic theory to interpret the causes of the lock-in mechanisms in learning processes that seem to prevail in most regions. The paper elaborates the notion of regional learning paradigms and trajectories to interpret evolution in the way innovation occurs in regions. By identifying the sources of path-dependence in regional learning paradigms and trajectories, the paper explains the difficulties faced by regions in ‘jumping’ on a new paradigm/trajectory and initiating an explorative entrepreneurial discovery process. Once the reasons for lock-in are highlighted, the paper advances some suggestions on possible adjustments to the design of a smart specialization strategy.     

Folk-Lore from South-East Suffolk

THE ANATOMY OF PUCK. An examination of fairy beliefs among Shakespeare's contemporaries and successors. By KATHERINE M. BRIGGS. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1959. Pp. 284,12 plates. Cloth 30s. Reviewed by H. J. Rose.

MANUEL DE FOLKLORE FRANCAIS CONTEMPORAIN. Vol. 1, Pts. V, VI, VII, By ARNOLD VAN GENNEP. A. et J. Picard et Cie, Paris, 1951, 1953. 1958. Pp. xxviii, xxiv, xi; 2137–3166; 19, 9, 20 maps and portraits. Paper. Reviewed by H. J. Rose.

LO KUAN-CHUNG'S ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS. Translated by C. H. BREWITT-TAYLOR. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan, 1959, 2 vol. (by photo-offset). Reviewed by W. H. Hudspeth.

DEVON TRADITIONS AND FAIRY-TALES. By J. R. W. COXHEAD. The Raleigh Press, Exmouth, 1959. Pp. 122. Cloth, 10s. 6d., Paper, 6s. 6d. Reviewed by Theo Brown.

FIFTY YEARS A POTTER. By W. FISHLEY HOLLAND. IX, 105. The Caravel Press, 1958. 18s. Reviewed by R. U. Sayce.

VON PRINZEN, TROLLEN UND HERRN FRO, Märchen der europäischen Völker. Yearbook of the Society zur Pflege des Märchengutes der europäischen Völker. 4 vols. Rheine, 1956–9. Pp. 176, 176, 247, 256. Reviewed by E. Ettlinger.

OESTERREICHISCHER VOLKSKUNDEATLAS. Ed. by E. BURGSTALLER and A. HELBOK. ist issue (Linz, 1959). 13 maps; comments 95 pp. — Index of places pp. 125. Reviewed by E. Ettlinger.

SEEKING LIFE. By VERA LASKI. American Folklore Society, Philadelphia, 1958. Pp. 176 (mimeographed). Reviewed by Beatrice Blackwood.

THE LORE AND LANGUAGE OF SCHOOLCHILDREN. By IONA AND PETER OPIE. Oxford University Press, 1959. Pp. 417. 35s. Reviewed by Violet Alford.

THE LULLABY BOOK. By LESLIE DAIKEN. Edmund Ward Ltd, 1959. Plates and other illustrations. Reviewed by Violet Alford.

STUDIES IN FOLKLORE. Edited by W. EDSON RICHMOND. Indiana University Publications, Folklore Series, no. 9. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1957. Pp. xv, 270. Reviewed by W. B.

WELSH FOLK CUSTOMS. By TREFOR M. OWEN. Cardiff, 1959. Pp. 258. 10s. 6d. Reviewed by Raglan.     

Ancient DNA provides new insights into the origin of the Chinese domestic horse

Domestic horses played a pivotal role in ancient China, but their exact origin remains controversial. To investigate the origin of Chinese domestic horses, we analyzed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 35 horse remains, aged between 4000 and 2000 years, excavated from nine archaeological sites in northern China. The Chinese ancient horses exhibited high matrilineal diversity, falling into all the seven haplogroups (A–G) observed in modern horses. These results suggest that several maternal lines were introduced into the gene pool of Chinese horses in the past. Haplogroups A and F were more prevalent in ancient horses than the other haplogroups. Interestingly, only haplogroups A and F were present in the samples older than 4000 years, while the more recent horses (between 2000 and 3000 years BP) fell into all seven haplogroups. Comparison with DNA data of present-day horses suggests that haplogroup F is like to be an ancient haplogroup of East Asian origin. These analyses also suggest that the origin of Chinese domestic horses is complex, and external mtDNA input occurred after initial domestication. Our results indicate that the Chinese ancient horses are more related to the modern Mongolian horses. Lastly, our results cannot support the previous hypothesis that early Chinese domestic horses were derived from the Przewalski horse.