Isotopic Determination of Seasonality in Diet and Death from Nubian Mummy Hair

Sections of human hair from naturally desiccated Sudanese Nubian mummies representing X-Group (AD 350-550) and Christian (AD 550-1300) periods in the Wadi Halfa area have been analysed for their isotope ratios. Because the carbon in hair represents food intake over the growth period of this tissue, analysis comparing segments taken next to the scalp with those further along the shaft can indicate diet just prior to death as well as any recent shift in food consumption. Modern populations in this area practise seasonal crop scheduling which involves the cultivation of C₃ plants (wheat, barley and most fruits and vegetables) in the winter and the hardier C₄ plants (sorghum and millet) in the summer. Shifting isotopic values along the length of hair strands of the ancient inhabitants of this area demonstrate that this practice has its roots at least as far back as the Initial Phase of Intensive Agriculture. The most common season of death appears to have been summer, the time of greatest climatic, nutritional and physiological stress for both ancient and modern inhabitants.     

Rediscovering Australian federalism by resurrecting old ideas

The federal organisation of government in Australia is one of the least understood aspects of the Australian political system. Despite the durability of federal structures, federal theory in Australia remains largely underdeveloped. Aside from a few scholars who have persistently analysed the federal process, federalism in Australia has received attention as an outmoded system with little scope for distinguishing the benefits to be gained from understanding how government is organised. But where Australian federal theory has languished, American federal theory has flourished. This paper borrows some of the major ideas which have influenced analyses of government functions in the American ‘ system and posits them against analyses of Commonwealth and State government functions in Australia.     

Comparison of four ballistic and thrusting target materials: An experimental and Bayesian approach using static testing of stone and steel arrow tips

Researchers use a variety of target materials, and sometimes combinations of materials, in their archaeological experiments to examine thrust-spear or projectile penetration, impact angle, durability, and other issues involving prehistoric hunting weaponry. This variety of target materials is beneficial to archaeological science in several ways, but it may also hinder the comparison of results because many of these target materials do not necessarily share similar physical properties. Here, we assess the penetration properties of four different target materials—store-bought meat, clay, and two types of gelatin—via static penetration tests of a modern broadhead-tipped arrow and a stone-tipped projectile attached to an Instron Universal Materials Tester. Our analyses of load-deflection curves, peak load, and work energy demonstrate how the four target materials are similar in some ways but different in others, which suggests that researchers may strategically employ one or several depending on the question asked or hypothesis tested.     

Generalizing Impact Computations for the Autoregressive Spatial Interaction Model

We extend the impact decomposition proposed by LeSage and Thomas-Agnan (2015) in the spatial interaction model to a more general framework, where the sets of origins and destinations can be different, and where the relevant attributes characterizing the origins do not coincide with those of the destinations. These extensions result in three flow data configurations which we study extensively: the square, the rectangular, and the noncartesian cases. We propose numerical simplifications to compute the impacts, avoiding the inversion of a large filter matrix. These simplifications considerably reduce computation time; they can also be useful for prediction. Furthermore, we define local measures for the intra, origin, destination and network effects. Interestingly, these local measures can be aggregated at different levels of analysis. Finally, we illustrate our methodology in a case study using remittance flows all over the world.     

UNDERPOPULATION, TELEVISION ECONOMIES, AND THE POWER OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL IMAGINATION

This article addresses the power of popular geographical ‘imaginations’ and ‘knowledges’ to foreclose public debate and, in the process, to reinforce often contentious policies or practices. It argues that historically, a prominent example of such a powerful geographical knowledge has been that of ‘ overpopulation’. The concept of ‘underpopulation’, meanwhile, has been much less discussed, but in this article I argue that it, too, needs to be queried in much the same way that critics have examined claims of overpopulation. I make this case first at a generic level, describing some of the main situations in which notions of underpopulation are popularly invoked, before substantiating it in much greater detail in one specific context: that of the television economy in New Zealand, a country, it is frequently said, with ‘too few people’ to support a publicly funded broadcaster. I show that in this particular instance the underpopulation thesis is backed by flawed arguments, but that none the less it is widely accepted and seldom countered, hence serving to protect its protagonists from disclosing in public debate the real reasons for the television policies they pursue and which the idea of underpopulation actively allows.     

On the Performativity of Pill Pricing: Theory and Reality in the Economics of Global Pharmaceuticalization

One often‐highlighted contemporary phenomenon in the pharmaceuticals industry is the use of “tiered pricing”, where essential medicines are sold more cheaply in low‐income than high‐income countries to widen access. With economists having for decades championed the applicability of such pricing to pharmaceuticals, this could be interpreted as a textbook case of “economic performativity”—the economic world increasingly conforming to economic models. In reality, however, tiered pharmaceutical pricing remains rare. Yet this article nonetheless urges retention of the performativity concept, albeit suitably reworked. For, insofar as the industry demonstrates nominal commitment to the model and to the social principles associated with it, it performs valuable political work. Moreover, it does help perform the pharmaceutical economy, by reproducing it in its existing form: repeatedly questioning the model's workability, Western manufacturers are able to continue to avoid putting it widely into practice and, in the process, jeopardizing the profits generated by conventional pricing.     

Challenges to Bridging Discrepant Knowledge Bases: A Case Study of the Norwegian Centre for Offshore Wind Energy

From a theoretical perspective, it is possible to enhance the innovation of firms and institutions by combining the analytic (scientific) knowledge base of research and development (R&D) institutions with the synthetic (practical) knowledge base of industries. Such combinations of knowledge are also believed to support regional development. One such initiative to bridge knowledge from the R&D sector and industry is the Norwegian Centre for Offshore Wind Energy (NORCOWE). However, as our case study shows, it is hard to bridge knowledge from these two partner groups. We found that this is mainly because of differences in the partners' timelines (long versus short), their attitudes toward knowledge (research based versus experience based), application of the knowledge (knowledge per se versus commercialization), and organizational dimensions (linear/closed process versus interactive/open process). These differences show that the knowledge bases of these two groups may not just be different; they can also be seen as discrepant. We also argue that the NORCOWE initiative is influenced by a “policy push” logic. This implies that the initiative was not properly embedded in the industrial or R&D institutions before being launched, but was instead driven by a political will to promote the development of a new renewable energy source.