The Roman quarries at Antinoopolis (Egypt): development and techniques

The aim of this research was the survey and the study of the many quarries located in the first spurs of the Gebel el-’Adila, close to Antinoopolis (Middle Egypt). These quarries are an excellent opportunity for observation and research concerning the “landscape archives” and preserve traces of man’s activity, representing a real cultural heritage. The paper gives a short geological setting of the area and reports our recent study (2006 onward) on traces, typologies, methods and development of the quarrying activity in the area, focussing on the Roman period. The working traces allowed us to define the working tools used for quarrying, the organisation of the works and of the quarry exploitation, as in the area many remains of the quarry organisation network are extant or recognisable, such as: service posts, sledge-ways, docks.     

Myths and the "Politics of Exceptionality": Interpreting Chicana/o Narratives of Achievement

Abstract: The author draws from select topical life histories conductedwith individuals who enrolled in doctoral programs at UC Berkeleyduring a ten-year period beginning with 1968. She examines themyths surrounding academic achievement for people of Mexicandescent and how these myths affected her initial interpretationof their childhood stories about their parents' relationshipto their achievements. She considers the interpretation of thesenarratives from the perspectives of various schools of thoughtand argues that the issue of educational achievement by minoritygroups is subject to a "politics of exceptionality." Hence,high academic achievement is not considered normative, and studentswho do achieve are treated as exceptions, not only to the presumedmeritocracy, but as exceptions to their racial/ethnic group.By individualizing their achievements and focusing on theircharacteristics as individuals, the focus of social policieswith respect to educational attainment remains focused on theindividual achiever and not on the institutional processes andstructural opportunities that maximize the possibilities forachievement.     

Book reviews

CHINA

JANE KATE LEONARD. Controlling from Afar, The Daoguang Emperor's Management of the Grand Canal Crisis, 1824–1826. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, 1996. 331 pp. Maps, figures, notes, reference list, index. US$50.00, hardcover.

KAM LOUIE and LOUISE EDWARDS, editors and translators. Censored by Confucius: ghost Stories by Yuan Mei. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1996. xxxv, 223 pp. List of stories by theme, illustrations, preface, introduction. US$67.95, hardcover; US$24.95, paper.

KARMA LEKSHE TSOMO. Sisters in Solitude: two Traditions of Buddhist Monastic Ethics for Women. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996. xii, 198 pp. US$19.95, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

MARK T. BERGER and DOUGLAS A. BORER, editors. The Rise of East Asia: critical Visions of the Pacific Century. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. xii, 308 pp. Introduction, editors’ preface and acknowledgments, figures, tables, index. US$25.99, UK£15.99, paper.

SOUTH ASIA

LISE McKEAN. Divine Enterprise: gurus and the Indian Nationalist Movement. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, 1996. xviii, 361 pp. Index, plates, bibliography. US$21.99, paper.

STANLEY J. TAMBIAH. Leveling Crowds: ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence in South Asia. Berkeley: California University Press, 1996. x, 395 pp. Index, plates, maps, bibliography. US$20.00, paper.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

NGUYEN VAN CHINH. Social Change in Rural Vietnam: children's Work and Seasonal Migration. Canberra: Department of Political and Social Change, Australian National University, 1997. 65 pp. A$8.00, paper.

JOHN GILLESPIE, editor. Commercial Legal Developments in Vietnam: Vietnamese and Foreign Commentaries . Singapore: Butterworths Asia, 1997. A$81.25, hardcover.

MARGARET LEIDELMEIJER. Van Suikermolen tot Grooibedrijf: technische Verniewing in de Java‐Suikerindustrie in de Negentiende Eeuw . [From sugar mill to factory: technical innovation in Java's sugar industry during the nineteendi century]. Amsterdam: Neder‐lands Economisch‐Historisch Archief, 1997. 388 pp. Tables, graphs, photographs. Dfl.52.50, paper.

NIELS MULDER. Inside Philippine Society . Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1997. No price given.

FAYDUMAGAT. Itneg (Tinggian) Justice & Conflict Resolution. Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1996. No price given.

RAUL PERTIERRA. Explorations in Social Theory and Philippines Ethnography. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1997. vii, 262 pp. Foreword by Clive Kessler. Introduction, photographs. No price given, paper.

DAVID M. E. ROSKIES, translator and editor. Black Clouds over the Isle of Gods and Other Modern Indonesian Short Stories . Armonk, New York, London, England: M. E. Sharp, 1997. xxiii, 224 pp. Introduction, notes and comments, suggested readings, glossary, index. US$62.95, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.     

Palaeoenvironmental implications of the giant crocodylian Mourasuchus (Alligatoridae,Caimaninae) in the Yecua Formation (late Miocene) of Bolivia

Tineo, D.E., Bona, P., Pérez, L.M., Vergani, G.D., González, G., Poiré, D.G., Gasparini, Z.N. & Legarreta, P., 1.10.2014. Palaeoenvironmental implications of the giant crocodylian Mourasuchus (Alligatoridae, Caimaninae) in the Yecua Formation (late Miocene) of Bolivia. Alcheringa 39, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

Outcrops of the Yecua Formation (late Miocene) are exposed for approximately 230 m along the La Angostura section of the Piraí River (50 km southwest of Santa Cruz de la Sierra). These reveal massive (argillic palaeosols) and laminated (quiet-water lacustrine and marsh settings) mudstones interbedded with thin sandstones containing microfossils, molluscs and vertebrate remains. Significantly, the succession hosts a giant crocodylian, Mourasuchus (Alligatoridae, Caimaninae), which is represented by both skull and postcranial fragments found in association with freshwater turtles and fishes. Mourasuchus was distributed widely from the middle Miocene of Colombia to upper Miocene of Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina, suggesting connections between major fluvial systems and an active mechanism for dispersal of South American freshwater vertebrates during the Miocene.

David Eric Tineo [tineo.d.e@gmail.com] and Daniel Gustavo Poiré [dgpoire@yahoo.com.ar], CONICET—Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Calle 1 (644), B1900FWA, La Plata, Argentina; Paula Bona [paulabona26@gmail.com] and Zulma Gasparini [zgaspari@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar], CONICET—División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata. Paseo del Bosque s/n, B1900FWA, La Plata, Argentina; Leandro Martín Pérez [pilosaperez@gmail.com] CONICET—División Paleozoología Invertebrados, Museo de La Plata. Paseo del Bosque s/n, B1900FWA, La Plata, Argentina; Gustavo Dardo Vergani [gvergani@pluspetrol.net]—Pluspetrol S.A. Lima (339), C1073AAG, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Gloria González Rigas [ggonzalez@pluspetrol.net]—Pluspetrol Bolivia Corporation SA, Av. Grigotá esq. Las Palmas, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia; Pablo Legarreta [plegarreta@pluspetrol.net]—Pluspetrol S.A. Lima (339), C1073AAG, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.     

Effect of SMA Braces in a Steel Frame Building

Pull-back and shaking table test results on a simple model of a three-storey structure that includes shape memory alloys (SMA) copper-based dampers are presented and discussed. The model corresponds to a rigid-framed steel structure and the dampers to austenite CuAlBe wires inserted as bracing at each story. The inclusion of the dissipators in the structure increases the percentage of critical damping from 0.59% for the bare case to 5.95% for the braced system. At the same time, the structural stiffness increases making the first fundamental frequency change from 2.5–3.7 Hz (0.4–0.27s). The net effect of these two factors is a 30–60% reduction of peak relative displacements compared to the ones obtained without dissipation devices when the structure is subjected to earthquake records. Depending on records frequency contents, a reduction of the peak accelerations to near 58% also can be obtained. Additionally, a crude nonlinear analytical model has been studied that can predict the earthquake responses reasonably well.     

STRATEGIES OF SINGLE-ISSUE INTEREST GROUPS

Using traditional models of electoral behavior one would not expect single-issue interest groups to have the impact on the American electoral system evident in recent elections. The difficulty in understanding their success lies in the assumption that the rational voter merely maximizes utility by choosing between the positions offered by the candidates/ political parties. Single-issue interest group activity has demonstrated, to the contrary, that it is possible for an assertive rational voter to successfully force candidates/ parties to take specific positions on issues and to form winning coalitions.