Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis cases found in Joseon Dynasty Human Sample Collection of Korea

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a disorder showing hyperostosis of the spinal column and ossification of extraspinal ligaments or tendons. The prevalence of DISH has been found to be higher in historic peoples of the upper‐ and ruling classes, and in fact was closely correlative with nutritional and high‐caloric diets. DISH is also known to be a function of genetic factors; as such, there have been very few cases of DISH found among the specimens of Asian skeletal collections. In our osteoarchaeological study on the Joseon Dynasty Human Sample Collection (JDHSC), we found four DISH instances among the 96 cases (4.17%) we examined. This prevalence is not so different from those discovered in already‐published studies on collections in Europe and other regions. However, as already stated, it must be considered that most of the JDHSC individuals we examined were remains of people from the highest social classes of 16th–18th century Joseon society. Therefore, when collections from medieval European monastic sites, the appropriate control from well‐fed populations, were used for comparison, the prevalence of DISH was found to be far lower among the JDHSC. Reports on DISH from examinations of collections in Asian countries have been spotty, leaving gaps in the social‐strata spectrum. Further researches into the prevalence of DISH among the different social strata of ancient or medieval Asian peoples are still required. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Deterritorialising the nation? Internet and the politics of the Greek‐American diaspora

In this article, analysis focuses on the websites of Greek‐American diaspora organisations. The aim is to study these media outlets on two levels: (1) with regard to their communication function(s), in order to understand the spectrum of usages they offer to their visitors; and (2) with regard to the way they signify identity specificity at the crossroads of a parallel ethnic or national adherence. The low interactivity constitutes one of the general features of the media analysed. The persistence of the nation as the framework to apprehend collective belonging and the interaction with the ‘other’ is another recurrent and important element. The ‘identity specificity’ of the Greek diaspora community is not presented in articulation to the host society, but in terms of a continuous attachment to a ‘mother‐nation’, as a historic and cultural entity. The nationhood claimed and promoted in this manner is ethnic and cultural, and it espouses the form of an ecumenical and transcendent Hellenism.     

The risk of harm to archaeological artefacts in soil from dynamic subsurface pressures generated by agricultural operations: experimental studies

An investigation was made of the fracture risk to buried ceramic pots and bones from the subsurface pressures generated by agricultural operations. A method for generating subsurface pressures at 0.25 m depth in a soil bin was developed and used to explore fracture failure of modern replicates of ceramic pots corresponding to different archaeological periods and aged medieval human bone. Application of conductive traces to the objects’ surfaces allowed detection of fracturing in real‐time without excavation. Predictive models relating fracture of objects to subsurface pressure application were developed by relating the probability of fracture to observed survival statistics at increasing subsurface pressures. Subsurface pressures of above 100 kPa were sufficient to fracture the more fragile pots at a probability level of 90%. The lowest subsurface pressure causing bone fracture was 280 kPa; however, no relationship was observed between subsurface pressure and bone fracture, probably due to variation in bone material. The subsurface pressures generated and applied are within the range reported from field measurements during typical agricultural operations. They indicate that measures to control the generation of subsurface pressures would be necessary to mitigate risk of harm from agriculture to buried archaeology; for example, via low‐pressure tyres, tracks and appropriate tillage.     

Sustainable Graduation from Social Protection Programmes

Efforts to reduce extreme poverty by assisting poor people to cross income or asset thresholds are receiving increasing attention in social protection programming. Livelihood‐promoting interventions aim to reduce vulnerability, so that participants can manage moderate risk and ‘graduate’ from social protection provision. This article elaborates the theory of change underpinning the notion of graduation and explores the range of enabling and constraining factors that facilitate or undermine this change process, drawing on case studies from Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Rwanda. The authors distinguish ‘threshold’ graduation from ‘sustainable’ graduation and argue that multiple factors operating beyond the household level — such as market conditions, community investment and scale effects — have significant implications for the graduation potential of social protection programmes.     

How China Navigated the Dilemma of Trade Liberalization and Government Revenues

Many economists believe that in the long run, the aggregate performance of open economies is better than that of closed ones, and that open policies contribute significantly to economic development. At the same time, many political scientists and policy makers fear that, in the short run, one of the steps towards openness — trade liberalization — may harm government revenues. However, in the 1990s, China successfully navigated the dilemma of trade liberalization and government revenues. In this period, China decreased tariff and non‐tariff barriers for WTO accession, but has achieved dramatically increased tariff revenues since 1999. This study explores how China implemented trade liberalization and simultaneously increased tariff revenues in the 1990s. It demonstrates that a series of institutional arrangements, including a reform of Criminal Law, rigorous anti‐smuggling activities and a de facto tax imposed on the export sector, successfully curbed smuggling activities through the processing trade, and made foreign‐invested manufacturing enterprises the major contributors to the stability of customs revenue. China's case shows that a prosperous, export‐oriented and foreign‐invested manufacturing sector could potentially provide a developing country with a source of customs revenue.     

Panda politics

This article argues that China's agreement in 2012 to loan Canada two panda bears is emblematic of animals’ simultaneous material‐symbolic inclusion and exclusion in contemporary politics. Employing a material focus, this article draws a connection between the panda gift and the promise to which it is attached: a promise of material flows; of Chinese access to Canadian resources, especially; and controversially, tar sands oil. Common to geographical flows of both pandas and oil is a devaluation of nonhuman life. In one flow, two pandas cross the Pacific for a decade of captivity at the Toronto and Calgary Zoos, where visitors will pay to view the permanently visible pandas. In the other instance, oil will be shipped across the same ocean, oil whose production comes at great cost to wildlife, including caribou, birds, and fish, and whose spill at any point along its journey to China would devastate marine and terrestrial wildlife populations. Stark power imbalances between species are at the heart of both of these flows and their material consequences. This article argues that, in emphasizing what the pandas symbolize, the extent to which their own and others’ lives are materially affected is elided.