Restoration of paintings on domes with non-developable geometry (Los Santos Juanes Church in Valencia)

The restoration of paintings on elements in cultural heritage buildings (fundamentally, churches) involves two structural problems: capturing the geometry of the construction element and its development. In many cases, the geometries are regular (e.g., cylinders, spheres, elliptical domes). However, there are cases in which the elements cannot be adapted to any known geometry, much less one that can be mathematically developed. The development of surfaces becomes essential for the restoration of paintings over “flat elements” (over which work is performed on the ground) that are subsequently transferred to the real surface (ceilings). The mathematical transformations that allow regular geometries to be developed are widely known (cartographic projections). However, when the geometry is irregular, there is no development. This study presents a new methodology based on differential rectification and its application for the development of oculi in the Los Santos Juanes Church (Valencia), whose geometry is completely irregular both in shape and as a result of construction defects (and damage caused by fire). The present study focuses on the restoration of paintings damaged by fire.     

“We will not perish; we’re going to keep flourishing”: Race,Food Access,and Geographies of Self‐Reliance

Drawing from 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Washington, DC, this article outlines geographies of self‐reliance; a theoretical framework for understanding black food geographies that are embedded in histories of self‐reliance as a response to structural inequalities. Using a community garden as a case study, I argue that the garden functions as a site for addressing several manifestations of structural violence: racist and classist depictions of low‐income and working class people, joblessness, gentrification, and youth underdevelopment. Drawing on self‐reliance ideologies as well as collective and personal histories, the residents exhibit a form of agency that demonstrates unwavering hope in the sustainability of their shared community. Through this analysis, I show that self‐reliance functions as a mechanism through which residents navigate spatial inequalities.     

Political Commitment,Policy Ambiguity,and Corporate Environmental Practices

A lack of clear political commitment together with confusing rules and enforcement often characterize the institutional context of policy implementation and regulatory compliance in developing countries. By connecting such contextual features to existing models of policy implementation and regulatory compliance, we examine how regulatory factors are related to basic and proactive corporate environmental management practices in the Pearl River Delta region in China. Drawing on data derived from both a survey and in‐depth interviews, we show that a perception of clear political commitment to environmental protection across multiple government levels and units is positively associated with business efforts in basic environmental practices, regardless of the specific enforcement intensity. Nevertheless, a perception of clear political commitment is not related to proactive environmental practices. Conversely, a perception of policy ambiguity, in the form of confusing regulatory standards and enforcement, is negatively associated with corporate efforts in both basic and proactive environmental practices; yet, intensive inspections mitigate these negative associations with policy ambiguity.     

Revision of the damsel-dragonfly family Campterophlebiidae (Odonata) from the Early Jurassic of England reveals a new genus and species

Kelly, R.S. & Nel, A., October 2017. Revision of the damsel-dragonfly family Campterophlebiidae (Odonata) from the Early Jurassic of England reveals a new genus and species. Alcheringa 42, 87–93. ISSN 0311-5518.

Historical fossil insect collections from England were re-examined and the taxa revised. Lateophlebia gen. nov. is erected for Liassophlebia anglicanopsis (Zeuner) in Campterophlebiidae. Petrophlebia anglicana Tillyard is confirmed in this family and Archithemis liassina (Strickland) is transferred to this family. Lastly, Archithemis brodiei (Geinitz), Archithemis Handlirsch, and Architemistidae Tillyard (reduced to this sole species) are transferred to the Heterophlebioidea.

Richard Kelly [richard.kelly@bristol.ac.uk], School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK; Department of Natural Sciences, National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF, UK. André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr], Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB—UMR 7205—CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 50, Entomologie, F-75005, Paris, France.     

Identifying handedness at knapping; an analysis of the scatter pattern of lithic remains

Determining hand laterality during human evolution is important in order to identify brain hemispheric lateralization for motor tasks and, indirectly, to gain information on the complex cognitive functions of the human brain. In this paper, we present a new method for inferring handedness from lithic evidence. The study is based on an analysis of the scatter patterns of lithic remains from stone-knapping episodes. An experimental programme was carried out by 14 knappers (eight right-handed and six left-handed), ranging from individuals that had never even struck two pebbles together to individuals who were quite familiar with prehistoric tools and had some degree of practice. The results of the experiment show that the material scatter patterns of right- and left-handed knappers at group level are different, but they do overlap at certain intervals. At the individual level, the probability of falsely ascribing left- and right-handedness has also been estimated. In addition, we have adapted this method to be applied to the archaeological record. In this case, only well-preserved knapping events with no post-depositional alterations can be used to assign left- or right-handed knappers, with the former being more reliably detected than the latter.     

Food for all: An agent-based model to explore the emergence and implications of cooperation for food storage

Abstract

A consistent access to food is paramount for humans at individual and group level. Besides providing the basic nutritional needs, access to food defines social structures and has stimulated innovation in food procurement, processing and storage. We focus on the social aspects of food storage, namely the role of cooperation for the emergence and maintenance of common stocks. Cooperative food stocks are examined here as a type of common-pool resource, where appropriators must cooperate to avoid shortage (i.e. the tragedy of commons). ‘Food for all’ is an agent-based model in which agents face the social dilemma of whether or not to store in a cooperative stock, adapting their strategies through a simple reinforcement learning mechanism. The model provides insights on the evolution of cooperation in terms of storage efficiency and considering the presence of social norms that regulate reciprocity. For cooperative food storage to emerge and be maintained, a significant dependency on the stored food and some degree of external pressure are needed. In fact, cooperative food storage emerges as the best performing strategy when facing environmental stress. Likewise, an intermediate control over reciprocity favours cooperation for food storage, suggesting that concepts of closed reciprocity are precursors to cooperative stocks, while excess control over reciprocity is detrimental for such institution.     

Structural Funds and European Regional Growth: Comparison of Effects among Different Programming Periods

Strengthening social, economic and territorial cohesion is a central objective of the European Union (EU) and the Structural Funds reflect the main financial effort of the EU to pursue this goal. So far we have gone through four programming periods; to what extent the EU Funds have become more effective in promoting growth and reducing the disparities between EU Member countries is a matter of concern. We investigate the existence (or not) of learning effects and efficiency improvements following the reforms of Regional Policy. The study is applied to data from EU regions (EU12) in the most recent programming periods where data are available. The results suggest an improvement of the Funds efficiency in growth in 2000–2006 when compared to the previous programming period. Moreover, the returns from investments of Funds tend to be higher in richer, higher-educated and more innovative regions. Finally, the Cohesion group has not been able to transform the large transfers received into additional growth.