POPULATION DISPERSION VS. CONCENTRATION IN A TWO‐REGION MIGRATION MODEL WITH ENDOGENOUS NATURAL AMENITIES*

ABSTRACT Contrary to the predictions of the basic spatial equilibrium model, the long‐run distribution of population across rural U.S. counties with high‐valued natural amenities has become relatively more concentrated versus dispersed. We provide an explanation by developing a two‐region model with mobile labor, production externalities and endogenous natural amenities. We find that strong preferences for natural amenities generally foster population dispersion. However, such preferences can also lead to population concentration when ecological degradation is low and man‐made capital is a relatively scarce input into natural amenity production. Investments that enhance natural amenities are found to reduce the divergence between the steady state and optimal outcomes.     

Stuttering and stress

Ruby Rohrlich Leavitt. The Puerto Ricans: Culture Change and Language Deviance. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1974. ix + 268 pp. Tables, bibliography, and index. $4.95 (paper).     

Neanderthal Shell Tool Production: Evidence from Middle Palaeolithic Italy and Greece

The vast majority of tools recovered from Palaeolithic sites are made of stone varieties. Only rarely do non-lithic implements come to light, let alone tools produced on marine mollusc shell. Interestingly, a good number of shell implements made on Callista chione and Glycymeris sp. valves have been reported from 13 Middle Palaeolithic (Mousterian) sites in southern peninsular Europe. Of these, more than 300 specimens display evidence of deliberate edge retouch. They are all considered products of Neanderthals and date from ~110?ka BP to perhaps ~50?ka BP. In this paper, we review the evidence for Mousterian shell tool production in Italy and Greece??the only two countries in which such tools have been securely identified??and present experimental results obtained in the effort to understand the production process and typo-functional role(s) of the artefacts. We examine the general provisioning pattern of raw materials, as well as the typological, species-related and chronological data pertinent to the production of shell tools by Neanderthals. The data suggest that the Mousterian shell scrapers are a response to poor availability of lithic raw material in the areas of occurrence, and may be best described as an extension of chipped stone technologies to specific types of marine shell, their form defined by an existing mental template. As such, they constitute evidence for refined adaptation strategies and advanced provisioning of resources amongst Neanderthals, and may lend further support to the idea that these hominids displayed a degree of complex behaviour.     

Industry Influence in Stakeholder‐Driven State Climate Change Planning Efforts

Drawing from the literature on public participation and stakeholder collaboratives, this article investigates the influence of power and wealth, as well as political and economic context on the output of stakeholders advisory committees convened to formulate state greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policies. Using small sample regression techniques, we analyze the outputs of stakeholder groups in 18 states that have completed Climate Action Plans to reduce GHGs. We find that an increase of 1 percent in the number of energy industry representatives that participate in Climate Action Councils significantly predicts a 4 percent reduction of GHG mitigation targets for the energy sector. More surprisingly, the results also show that where the utilities represent a larger share of the state economy, the Climate Action Plans identify more aggressive GHG reduction goals for the energy sector. We also find that the political orientation of the executive of the state is not correlated with GHG mitigation requirements for the energy sector, suggesting that GHG mitigation is less partisan at the state level than in Washington, DC. We find no evidence that state wealth is associated with GHG mitigation requirements. Finally, we suggest additional research needed to clarify the role of stakeholder participation processes in the evolving arena of climate change policy.     

Postcolonial criticism in one world archaeology: Where is North Africa's place?

áfrica del Norte hace tiempo ha sido considerada una extensión de Europa del sur. Cuando fue claro que los arqueólogos de áfrica del Norte siguieron la dinámica no-europea, ellos fueron excluidos de los actuales debates y recientes rese?as. Este trabajo ofrece una crítica postcolonial derivada de muchos a?os de trabajo en el campo en dos países árabes africanos: Libia y Sudan. Yo comienzo analizando el papel de tema/objeto del arqueólogo, que conlleva hacia una vista engendrada del presente. Después, yo discuto la perspectiva del arqueólogo sobre el desarrollo económico y explotación de recursos. Finalmente, yo sugiero reposicionar al áfrica del Norte en el actual debate arqueológico, igual que en relación a los actuales eventos políticos y sociales.

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Résumé L'Afrique du Nord a longtemps été considérée comme une extension de l'Europe du Sud. Quand il est devenu évident que les archéologues nord africains suivaient une dynamique non-européenne, ceux-ci ont été exclus des débats courants et des révisions. Ce papier offre une critique postcoloniale consécutive à de nombreuses années de travaux passées sur le terrain dans deux pays arabes d'Afrique du Nord: la Libye et le Soudan. Je commence par déconstruire les r?les sujet/objet de l'archéologue, qui mènent à une vision orientée du passé. Puis, j' examine la perspective des archéologues quant au développement économique et l'exploitation des ressources. Enfin, je suggère de replacer l'Afrique du Nord dans le débat archéologique courant, et de la mettre en relation avec les évènements sociaux et politiques en cours.

     

Monitoring façade soiling as a maintenance strategy for the sensitive built heritage

The color patterns generally found on the façades of architecturally sensitive buildings have an adverse impact on their aesthetics, to the detriment of their identity and potential economic value. A quantitative and qualitative study was conducted of the perception of aesthetic decay in the limestone on a heritage building. The study assessed building aesthetics between two façade cleaning operations, conducted in 1984–1986 and 2006–2008. Based on the calculation of the final or total soiling index, by means of in situ lightness measurement and three architectural design variables, the color distribution of the façades was quantified in 2006 and a model was developed to monitor façade soiling over time. The proposed model, a tool for planning preventive façade maintenance on architecturally sensitive buildings, advocates for sustainable cleaning operations. Its premise that periodic cleaning should only be conducted in areas where the limestone is affected by aesthetic decay redounds to minimised intervention and lower building management costs.     

Production of the Roman Cement in Italy: characterization of a raw material used in Tuscany between 19th and 20th century and its comparison with a commercialized French stone material

An experimental approach in order to investigate the possibility that some Italian limestones were used for the production of Roman Cement is proposed. Three types of Pietra Alberese, a marly limestone used since Roman times for the production of “lime” in Tuscany (Italy), were selected. By burning of these stones, specimens of binders were realized. The characteristics of these binders were compared with the binder obtained by burning a French marly limestone commercially used for the production of Roman Cement.

All samples of carbonate stones were preliminarily characterized from the chemical, mineralogical, and petrographic point of view. The colorimetric coordinates were measured on both rock samples and hardened binder samples. The analysis carried out shows that Pietra Alberese with an high content of clay minerals develops a similar microstructure with respect to that developed by the French marly limestone used for the production of Roman Cement.     

Nikolai V. Konovalov (1900-1966): his role in the development of neurology and the creation of the Institute of Neurology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences

Nikolai V. Konovalov (1900-1966) has left a significant imprint in the history of Russian neuroscience. He was among the coryphaei of international and national neurology. Along with the large number of fundamental scientific papers that have determined several aspects of the development of neuroscience, his contribution has been equally important to the establishment and development of one of the distinguished Russian scientific centers - the Institute of Neurology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, which he headed from 1948 until 1966.     

Absolute chronology of fluvial events in the Upper Dnieper River system and its palaeogeographic implications

A set of 121 radiocarbon and OSL dates has been compiled from the Upper Dnieper River and tributary valleys, Western European Russia. Each date was attributed according to geomorphic/sedimentological events and classes of fluvial activity. Summed probability density functions for each class were used to establish phases of increasing and reducing fluvial activity. The oldest detected reduction of fluvial activity was probably due to glacial damming at LGM. Within the Holocene three palaeohydrological epochs of millennial-scale were found: (1) high activity at 12,000–8,000 cal BP marked by large river palaeochannels; (2) low activity at 8,000–3,000 cal BP marked by formation of zonal-type soils on -floodplains; short episodes of high floods occurred between 6,500—4,400 cal BP; (3) contrasting hydrological oscillations since 3,000 cal BP with periods of high floods between 3,000–2,300 (2,000) and 900–100 cal BP separated by long interval of low floods 2,300 (2,000)-900 cal BP when floodplains were not inundated — zonal-type soils were developing and permanent settlements existed on floodplains. In the last millennium, four centennial-scale intervals were found: high flooding intervals are mid-11–mid-15^th century and mid-17–mid-20^th century. Intervals of flood activity similar to the present-day were: mid-15–mid-17^th century and since mid-19^th century till present. In the context of palaeohydrological changes, discussed are selected palaeogeographic issues such as: position of the glacial boundary at LGM, role of changing amounts of river runoff in the Black Sea level changes, floodplain occupation by Early Medieval population.     

Transnational abductions and transnational responsibilities? The politics of ‘protecting’ female Muslim refugees abducted from Spain

This article examines evolving gendered protection narratives surrounding four ‘abduction’ cases in which Sahrawi refugee girls and young women living in Spain were ‘abducted’ by their birth-families and forcibly returned to the Algerian-based Sahrawi refugee camps between 2002 and 2009. By exploring Spanish state and civil society responses to these girls' ‘abductions’, I argue that there has been a major shift in the ways in which legitimate responsibility and authority over Sahrawi refugee women as Muslim female forced migrants have been conceptualised and invoked by Spanish actors. I therefore assess the gendered nature of competing claims of responsibility to ‘protect’ Sahrawi refugee women both within and outside of the Algerian-based Sahrawi refugee camps, exploring the motivations and implications of different actors' in/actions towards these girls and women. With Polisario claiming to represent and act as a liberal ‘state’ committed to protecting the rights of its ‘refugee-citizens’ in some instances, while denying politico-legal responsibility in others, the question of ‘who’ or ‘what’ claims the legitimate authority to ‘protect’ Sahrawi refugee women and girls is thus accentuated by such cases. By exploring shifts in Spanish public and political discourses of responsibility over the past decade on the one hand, and the accentuation of competing discourses as presented by Spanish, Polisario and Algerian actors on the other, this article highlights the complex nature and implications of the ‘intimate’ Spanish civil society networks that ensure the physical and political survival of the Sahrawi refugee camps. Ultimately, I argue that Sahrawi girls and women have become hypervisible in Spain, being conceptualised as women who ‘belong’ to the Spanish nation that in turn has a responsibility to ‘protect’ ‘our’ Sahrawi women from ‘their’ culture.