Paget's disease in pre‐contact Florida? Revisiting the Briarwoods site in Gulf coast Florida

This report presents results of a reanalysis addressing the presence of Paget's disease (Osteitis deformans) in the pre‐contact Safety Harbour Briarwoods site (8PA66), a burial mound in Pasco County along Gulf coast Florida, dating around 1000–1500 AD. Due to the paucity of published histological and radiological analyses as well as the suspect nature of this Paget's disease report, a new study was conducted. The diagnosis was suspect for three reasons. First, the original diagnosis was based on five skeletal fragments from five different burials making the results questionable. Secondly, Paget's disease is very similar to treponemal disease and can possibly be misdiagnosed. The characteristic histological mosaic pattern found in Paget's disease provides the most definitive differential diagnosis. Thirdly, Paget's disease is found primarily in European populations and this is a pre‐contact site. Histological sections from the suspected Pagetic bones were analysed for the presence of the mosaic pattern. Macroscopic and microscopic analyses were unable to support or deny the presence of Paget's disease due to the fragmentary nature of the skeletal elements as well as extensive diagenesis resulting from exposure to the environment. The presence of Paget's disease could not be confirmed or refuted at Briarwoods due to extensive taphonomic damage. However, it is suggested that the presence of treponemal disease should be investigated because although not originally reported, the presence of saber‐shin tibiae consistent with this disease are present at this site. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

TAX COMPETITION IN THE PRESENCE OF INTERJURISDICTIONAL EXTERNALITIES: THE CASE OF CRIME PREVENTION*

ABSTRACT The paper analyzes the effect of fiscal competition when local governments choose the level of public goods that generate spillover effects elsewhere. For instance, law enforcement activities affect both the crime level in the jurisdiction providing the good and in neighboring communities. The model shows that when local governments rely on capital taxation to finance these expenditures the spillover effects may not lead to an inefficient provision of public goods as predicted by the tax competition literature. In the model, capital is costlessly mobile and offenders relocate responding to differential criminal opportunities and differential local law enforcement efforts.     

The Role of Universities in Urban Regeneration: Reframing the Analytical Approach

Universities have resources for urban dynamics that are difficult to provide by other means. For this reason, these organizations are crucial actors in urban regeneration. This article sets out a conceptual framework for the analysis of the role played by higher education institutions in urban renewal initiatives. It is based on an integrated analysis of the uses of the university both as promoters of business innovation and in terms of their civic and social outcomes. Urban regeneration of cities in decline is used as a “strategic research site” to understand universities’ potential. The discussion is organized around four types of contributions: physical infrastructure, human resources, economic development and civic engagement. The debate enlightens the options for integrating universities' capabilities as an asset for urban regeneration and sets out implications for the institutionalization of practices and decision-making in this field.     

Reaction to Fire of Existing Timber Elements Protected With Fire Retardant Treatments: Experimental Assessment

Fire safety is an important issue of building safety, especially when the building’s fire load contents enhance the risks of fire deflagration. When existing timber structures are involved, the most usual way to improve its reaction to fire is to treat wood with fire retardants. This study focuses on the surface protection of existing timber roof structures against fire, through the use of fire retardant (FR) treatments applied on site. An experimental investigation was carried out to study the effect of FR treatments on timber reaction to fire, with a special emphasis on timber members with biological deterioration and previously treated with preservative products. The behaviour and effectiveness of intumescent and non-intumescent treatments was also investigated. The study showed that the application of FR treatments improved the reaction to fire of timber, even in the presence of previous preservative treatments. However, the choice of the specific FR treatment should take into account the substrate conditions. In addition, test results suggest that protection systems involving multi layers (intumescent and non-intumescent) with different functioning modes each are likely to have a good global performance on the protection of timber elements against fire.     

Allowing Traffic Over Mainshock-Damaged Bridges

A criterion is proposed for deciding whether, after a damaging mainshock, a bridge can still be open for either emergency or ordinary traffic. The criterion is based on the comparison between the collapse risk of the mainshock-damaged structure and the pre-mainshock risk of the intact structure. The approach requires fragilities for multiple damage states for the intact structure, and transition probabilities from these states to collapse for the damaged structure. The aftershock risk decreases with time, hence a decision for reopening might have to wait until the risk level goes down to an acceptable value. A realistic application demonstrates the approach.     

The History of Emotions in Australia

In the last two decades, emotions have increasingly featured in Australian historical scholarship. This article reviews the history of emotions in Australia by examining the various ways in which historians have engaged with and mobilised the emotions in their research. It argues that, for most Australian historians, the emotions are a tool of investigation in projects with historical interests that are largely directed elsewhere. Historical scholarship in Australia suggests, then, that the emotions are most useful as a category of analysis in the service of a range of other historical agendas.     

Italian candidates under the Rosato mixed electoral system. In search of personal votes in the plurality tier?

The Rosato law has established a new electoral system featuring single-member districts (S.M.Ds) along with a prevailing proportional tier. S.M.Ds are typically associated with individual incentives to cultivate a personal vote and with a more direct link between representatives and their local constituency. This article investigates patterns of personalized votes in the Italian elections of March 2018 by analysing voting data about candidates for the Chamber of Deputies who ran in the plurality tier. Results reveal that only a minor – although not negligible – portion of Italian voters cast their ballot for an individual candidate only, and that these votes had almost no impact on the outcomes of competition in S.M.Ds. Moreover, some interesting differences across geographical areas, parties and coalitions emerge in the use of personalized vote.     

Confidence Factor?

Eurocode 8 Part 3 (EC8-3) is devoted to assessment and retrofitting of existing buildings. In order to take into account the uncertainty in the knowledge of structural properties, EC8-3 defines, analogously to the ordinary material partial factors, an adjustment factor, called “confidence factor (CF),” whose value depends on the level of knowledge (KL) of properties such as geometry, reinforcement layout and detailing, and materials. This solution is plausible from a logical point of view but it cannot yet profit from the experience of its use in practice, hence it needs to be substantiated by a higher level probabilistic analysis accounting for and propagating epistemic uncertainty (i.e., incomplete knowledge of a structure) throughout the seismic assessment procedure. This article investigates the soundness of the format proposed in EC8-3. The approach taken rests on the simulation of the entire assessment procedure and the evaluation of the distribution of the assessment results (distance from the limit state of interest) conditional on the acquired knowledge. Based on this distribution, a criterion is employed to calibrate the CF values. The obtained values are then critically examined and compared with code-specified ones. The results pinpoint a number of deficiencies that appear to somewhat invalidate the approach. The methodological significance of the work extends beyond the assessment procedure in EC8-3, since similar factors appear in other international guidelines (e.g., the knowledge factor of FEMA356).