Health Care in Rural Texas

The purpose of this article is to assess the quality of health and health care services available to rural Texans. Specifically, we seek to answer two related questions. First, do people living in rural areas of Texas generally suffer from poorer health than people living in urban Texas? One undoubtedly would think so, given frequent references to the low quality of personal services in general for rural America. Moreover, the persistence of the congressional Rural Health Care Caucus over the past two decades points to a rural health care crisis. Second, to what extent are these differences in health conditions explained by differences in access to health care enjoyed by people living in the two different regions? Access certainly appears to be the problem alluded to above. Rural people apparently lack physician care. In addition to providing answers to these questions, we also examine the difference in the health conditions and access to care enjoyed by minority and non‐minority rural Texans. Is this a part of the rural health care problem given the high incidence of non‐whites in rural Texas? If so this may be minority rather than rural neglect. We briefly conclude the article with some recommendations for improving the problems we identify.     

Iran's Free Trade Zones: Back Doors to the International Economy?

Since the late 1980s, Iran has pursued a policy of attracting foreign investment and fostering regional trade by granting favored status to the so-called “Free Trade-Industrial Zones” (FTZs) and “Special Economic Zones” (SEZs). To date six FTZs and sixteen SEZs have been set up throughout Iran. The FTZs are strategically positioned for their potential international links and have their eyes on markets beyond Iran, and the SEZs for their value in serving main industries and for improving the country's distribution system and supply network. This paper examines the experience of these zones in Iran in the context of Iran's contradictory and ambivalent approach to international economic integration in general. It is shown that liberal policies pursued in the free zones have been in marked contrast to the approach in the mainland, which has been generally inward-looking in much of the post-revolutionary period. We examine first the rise of free zones as a global phenomenon followed by an overview of Iran's zones and their characteristics. It is argued that serving mainly as “back doors” to the international economy, Iran's free zones have stalled mainly because their promotion has been decoupled from, if not at odds with, official attitudes to the international economy at large. As a result, the zones' ability to attract investment has been limited by both adverse external perceptions of Iran as an investment destination and internal complexities discouraging such investment.     

Ancient Egyptian Pottery from the Subsurface Floodplain of the Saqqara–Memphis Area: Its Mineralogical and Geochemical Implications*

Potsherds recovered from the Saqqara–Memphis floodplain in Egypt, dated according to their typology and radiocarbon dating of the included sediments, are analysed geochemically and mineralogically to identify source materials and fabrication characteristics. Pottery layers were identified and potsherds were recovered from several settlement levels. Sherd typology was used to identify sherds from four periods (the Old and New Kingdoms, and from the Late Period to the Ptolemaic). The Pharaonic pieces were found at depths of between 8 and 12 m and the later material was between 6 and 3 m. Chemical analyses of the potsherds revealed three main source materials: local Nile silt, marl clay and mixed Nile silt–marl. Two marl clay types were recognized: marl clay from Upper Cretaceous marine sediment and another one from Late Pliocene deltaic sediments. The mineralogical composition of the pottery samples shows that the estimated firing temperature was about 850–900°C. No consistent differences in sherd mineralogy and geochemistry were found according to pottery types, so that the ancient Egyptian potters used essentially the same materials throughout the Pharaonic period. However, this initial study has revealed the existence of extensive pottery‐rich occupation sites buried within the Nile floodplain deposits between Memphis and Saqqara.     

Understanding Saudi Arabia's Influence on Pakistan: The Case of the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism

The launch of the Saudi‐led so‐called Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT) in 2015 tested the strong strategic alliance between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. In light of concerns about the positioning of the coalition of 41 states against Iranian interests in the Middle East, Pakistan's initial response to the Saudi demand to join the war in Yemen was a polite refusal by means of a unanimous decision of the parliament. However, under tremendous pressure from Riyadh and other Gulf States, Islamabad later capitulated and backtracked from its initial decision. This paper analyses the unique nature of the relationship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia through a dissection of the various dimensions of the Kingdom's cultural and political influence on Pakistan. It also illuminates Saudi hegemonic strategies and the manner in which Islamabad adjusts and is influenced as well as coerced to revise its foreign policy choices. This paper argues that Saudi's diplomatic strategies, political pressure and pledges of generous financial assistance ensured Pakistan's participation in IMAFT.     

Population growth and cultural evolution

Brian Spooner, ed. Population Growth: Anthropological Implications. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1972. xxvii + 425 pp. Figures, tables, notes, bibliography, and index. $15.00.