Famines past, famine's future

Famine, like poverty, has always been with us. No region and no century has been immune. Its scars — economic, psychological and political — can long outlast its immediate impact on mortality and health. Famines are a hallmark of economic backwardness, and were thus more likely to occur in the pre-industrialized past. Yet the twentieth century suffered some of the most devastating ever recorded. That century also saw shifts in both the causes and symptoms of famine. This new century's famines have been "small" by historical standards, and the threat of major ones seemingly confined to ever-smaller pockets of the globe. Are these shifts a sign of hope for the future?     

Critical Issues in Earthquake Scenario Loss Modeling

The assessment of human or economic losses due to single events (scenario) may effectively support decision makers in the development of important risk mitigation actions. The study presented herein sheds light on several problems and limitations in the current practice of scenario loss modeling, such as: the number of simulations required to achieve convergence; epistemic and aleatory uncertainty in the ground motion prediction and vulnerability models; and consideration of the earthquake rupture geometry. These issues are investigated using the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (Portugal), and it has been observed that distinct assumptions in the loss modeling can lead to considerably different results. The findings of this study are also pertinent for probabilistic seismic risk analyses in which a large number of stochastically generated events are employed to assess probabilistic losses.     

U-Pb zircon age of the youngest magmatic activity in the High Tatra granites (Central Western Carpathians)

Detailed cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging of zircon crystals, coupled with Laser Ablation Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS) U-Pb zircon dating was used to develop new insights into the evolution of granitoids from the High Tatra Mountains. The zircon U-Pb results show two distinct age groups (350±5 Ma and 337±6 Ma) recorded from cores and rims domains, respectively. Obtained results point that the last magmatic activity in the Tatra granitoid intrusion occurred at ca. 330 Ma. The previously suggested age of 314 Ma reflects rather the hydrothermal activity and Pb-loss, coupled with post-magmatic shearing.     

National functions of the imperial institute

Fragments of Earth Lore. By Professor Geikie, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., etc. Edinburgh: John Bartholomew and Co., 1893. Pp. 428.

Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical, and Historical. New Edition. Edited by Francis H. Groome. London: William Mackenzie, N.D. Vols. 1. and 11. Aan to Eynort. Pp. 288 and 272.

Geografia y Geológia del Ecuador. Publicada por Órden del Supremo Gobierno de la Kepública por Teodoro Wolf, Dr. Phil., Antiguo Profesor de la Escuela Politecnica de Quito y Geó1ogo del Estado. Con 12 Laminas autotípicas, 47 Ilustraciones en el texto, y 2 Cartas. Leipzig: Tipografía de F. A. Brockhaus, 1892. Pp. xii + 671.

Venice: An Historical Sketch of the Bepublic. By Horatio F. Brown. With Maps and Plan. London: Percival and Co., 1893. Pp. xxiii + 434. Price 16s.

Lettres sur l'Inde. Par Monseigneur Laouenan, de la Société des Missions‐étrangères, Archevêque de Pondichéry. Publiées par Adrien Launay, de la même Société. Paris: Librairie Victor Lecoffre, 1893. Pp. 296.

Russia. Note e Ricordi di Viaggio. Di Giuseppe Modrich. Torino‐Roma: L. Roux e C., 1892. Pp. 550. Price 5 L.

Historic Towns: York. By James Raine, M.A., D.C.L. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1893. Pp. xi + 223. Price 3s. 6d.

Scotland Before 1700: From Contemporary Documents. Edited by P. Hume Brown. Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1893. Pp. xx + 368.

Sunny Manitoba: Its Peoples and its Industries. By Alfred 0. Legge. With Map and Iilustrations. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1893. Pp. 297.

Carnet d'un Voyageur. Au Pays des Veddas, Ceylan. Par Emile Deschamps, Officier d'Académie, etc. etc. Avec 116 figures d'après les croquis et photographies de l'auteur, et une carte. Paris: Société d'Editions Scientifiques, 1892. Pp. iv + 492.

A Collection of Treaties, Engagements, and other Papers of Importance relating to British Affairs in Malabar. Edited with notes by W. Logan, Madras Civil Service. Second Edition. Madras: Printed by the Superintendent, Government Press, 1891. Pp. xxvi + 402 + xlv.

Four Months in Persia, and a Visit to Transcaspia. By C. E. Biddulph, M.A., etc. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co., 1892. Pp. 137. Price 3s. 6d.

Letters from Queensland. By The Times Special Correspondent. London: Macmillan and Co., 1893. Pp. 110. Price 2s. 6d.

Amerika. Eine allgemeine Landeskunde. In Gemeinschaft mit Dr. E. Deckert und Professor Dr. W. Kükenthal herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Sievers. Leipzig und Wien, 1893.

Longmans’ School History of India. By the Rev. G. U. Pope, D.D., sometime Fellow of the Madras University. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1892. Pp. 303. Price 2s. 6d.

Philips's Geographical Manuals. The Geography of the British Colonies and Dependencies, Physical, Political, Commercial. By William Hughes, F.R.G.S., and J. Francos Williams, F.R.G.S. London: George Philip and Son, 1892. Pp. viii + 232. Price 2s. 6d.

Practical Guide to the Geography of the British Isles and General Geography. By R. Burnett. Aberdeen: John Adam, 1893. Pp. 132. Price 1s. 6d.

The Geography of Asia: A Brief Handbook for Students. London: Blackie and Son, Limited, 1893. Pp. 38. Price 6d.

The Elements of Physiography. By John I. Prince. Part II.: Advanced Stage. Seventh Edition. London: John Heywood, 1889. Pp. 176. Price 1s. 6d.

To the Other Side. By Thomas Rhodes. With Maps and Illustrations. London: George Philip and Son, 1893. [Edinburgh: Sold by J. and H. Lindsay.] Pp. 106. Price 1s.

Carlsbad: A Medico‐Practical Guide. By E. Kleen, M.D. Pp. 101. G. P. Putnam's Sons: New York and London, 1893.

Where to Go Abroad: A Guide to the Watering‐Places and Health‐Resorts of Europe, the Mediterranean, etc. Edited by A. E. Hope Moncrieff. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1893. Pp. 466. Price 3s. 6d.

Liberton in Ancient and Modern Times. By George Good. With Introduction by Kev. W. H. Gray, D.D. Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot, 1893. Pp. xx + 185.

A Ride from Land's End to John o’ Groats. By Evelyn Burnaby, M.A., S.C.L. London: Sampson Low, Marston, and Company (Limited), 1893. Pp. xxiv + 146.

Kamerun und Sudan. Von H. Jäger. Berlin: F. K. Beuge, 1893. Pp. 162.

Un Voyage au Yunnan. Par le Dr. Louis Pichon (of Shanghai). Paris: Plon, Nourrit et C^ie., 1893.

Louis Agassiz: His Life and Work. By Charles Frederick Holder, LL.D., Author of The Life of Charles Darwin, Living Lights, etc. (Leaders in Science Series.) 12mo, pp. xviii + 327. 28 Illustrations. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1892. Price $1.50.

Argentine, Patagonian, and Chilian Sketches, with a Few Notes about Uruguay. By C. E. Akers. London: Harrison and Sons. N. D. Pp. vi + 190.

The Australians: A Social Sketch. By Francis Adams. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1893. Pp. 314.

Letters from South Africa. By The Times Special Correspondent. London: Macmillan and Co., 1893. Pp. 116.

Tropical America. By Isaac N. Ford. London: Edward Stanford, 1893. Pp. 409. Price 10s. 6d.

Shearer's Illustrated Guide to Stirling, Stirling Castle, Bannockburn, Wallace's Monument, and Neighbourhood. Stirling: K. S. Shearer and Son, 1893. Pp. 108.

Northumberland: its History, its Features, and its People, by the Rev. James Christie, B.A. London. Carlisle: Charles Thurnam and Sons; Newcastle: Mawson, Swan, and Morgan; London: Presbyterian Publication Committee, 1893. Pp. 152.     

Exactly As People Tell,or an Ethnography of the (In)Visible Things of Mayajigua

This paper explores some of the consequences of using archival materials produced by an anthropologist's informants. What happens when a resident from a rural area of Cuba is hired to write about the “world”, a term used by Carl L. Withers, in which he, his relatives and his neighbours live? By reading letters and other papers sent during the late 1940s, and kept by Withers for more than thirty years, my hypothesis is that his informants took seriously their capacity to create something other than a simple “testimony”. Withers's principal informant, created himself, his neighbours, strange beings and the world in which they cohabited as a certain type of artefact, as “data”.     

Systematic position of two Early Devonian sinistral heterostrophic gastropods from the Garra Limestone,New South Wales

Two Early Devonian gastropod genera, Garraspira gen. nov. and Anoriostoma from the GarraLimestone, with sinistrally heterostrophic shells, share several shell features and are placed in the new tribe Anoriostomatini within the subfamily Agnesiinae. In contrast to the other members of the latter subfamily these genera represent a lineage in which the apertural slit was lost during evolution. This fact supports the opinion that the presence or absence of the apertural slit does not necessarily have significance for high-level taxonomy. Morphology of the gerontic whorl in Anoriostoma sinistra and Garraspira imtsitata suggests their limited mobility during the last ontogenetic stage.     

Modified Moran's I for Small Samples

The most common indicator used to measure spatial dependence is Moran's I proposed by statistician Patrick A. P. Moran in 1950. The index is simple to use and applies the principle of the Pearson correlation coefficient, although it incorporates a proximity measure between elements. However, Moran's I tends to underestimate real spatial autocorrelation when the number of locations are few. This study aims to present a modified version of Moran's I that can measure real spatial autocorrelation even with small samples and check for spatial dependence.     

Moulds,Graminhos and Ribbands: a pilot study of the construction of saveiros in Valença and the Baía de Todos os Santos area,Brazil

The survival of late medieval Mediterranean techniques to conceive and build ships and boats in Brazil was noted by John Patrick Sarsfield in the 1980s, but his study of the Valença shipwrights was interrupted by his untimely death in 1990. This paper summarizes Sarsfield's account of these shipbuilding techniques, examines that published by Lev Smarcevski (1996), and provides some preliminary results of the pilot stage of a project to further research traditional shipbuilding in Valença and the Baía de Todos os Santos region.     

Famine and the changing role of NGOs: an Irish perspective

The paper discusses how the recent history of famine has influenced the mission of relief-oriented non-governmental organisations (NGOs).