A postcolonial framing of Indian commercial surrogacy: issues,representations, and orientalisms

Although only legalised in 2002, Indian commercial gestational surrogacy (CGS) is an industry worth an estimated 2.3 billion USD to India at its height. Not only has this contentious topic been researched extensively from a spectrum of academic angles, representations of Indian CGS abound in both the Indian and Western popular media (novels, documentaries, films, etc.), and increasingly online, particularly in CGS websites, advertisements, and (personal) blogs. Popular media representations as well as commercial ones can often be inclined towards the sentimental and even sanctimonious, but are immensely influential in shaping public perception. This article seeks to position the discourse and representation of transnational Indian CGS more explicitly within the postcolonial framework. Thus, it addresses a theoretical gap in explicitly connecting the problematic issues of power and ethics in CGS within the paradigms of postcolonial studies, drawing also on gender and feminist frameworks. The neo-colonisation of the body has been already considered to some extent – mostly in neo-liberalist contexts – but the industry’s systemically orientalistic set up and structure has been surprisingly little mentioned, particularly where transnational surrogacy is involved, with little framing of the imperialistic hangovers and undertones dogging these particular sets of international contracts. This article maps the orientalisms (and sometimes re-orientalisms) at play in this already fraught and contentious context, positioning transnational surrogacy as another instance of imperialism, as yet another form of cultural colonisation, othering, subalternising, and peripheralising working-class Indian surrogate women in the twenty-first century.     

An Applied Method for General Regional Seismic Loss Assessment—With A Case Study in Los Angeles County

We describe the formulation and application of an integrated general regional seismic loss assessment (RSLA) method for buildings in seismic regions. An efficient method for RSLA is valuable for engineers involved in city planning, risk management, and insurance dealings. In contrast to previously reported methods, the framework presented herein is hazard-based and utilizes a regional rapid seismic hazard deaggregation tool that allows regional assessment to be conducted more efficiently. The proposed technique is implemented as an example to assess general regional seismic loss in Los Angeles County for a ground motion hazard with 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years.     

A Cost-Based Ripley’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis> Function to Assess Social Strategies in Settlement Patterning

Most quantitative approaches to distributional analysis in archaeology assume a homogeneous study surface that is amenable to easy generalisations. This framework has been widely used to describe settlement processes, disregarding the spatial heterogeneity inherent to geographic reality. In other words, researchers have often assumed that the correlation between the elements of a spatial distribution is a function of the Euclidean distance (i.e. straight line distance) between them. Other archaeological studies have tested alternative measures to Euclidean distances, such as cost-based ones, both to describe optimal routes and to assess spatial autocorrelation in a point pattern. Nevertheless, until now there has been no suitable model to introduce these measures into spatial statistical equations. In order to overcome this obstacle, we approach the implementation problem inversely by embedding the spatial pattern under study into a Euclidean frame of reference based on its cost-distance pairwise matrix. This paper describes the application of this methodology on one of the main tools used by archaeologists to assess settlement patterns: Ripley’s K function. We present two case studies, covering both macroscale and mesoscale, with significant variations in the results depending on the use of the Euclidean or cost-based approach. Data, functions and results have been R-packaged for the sake of reproducibility and reusability, allowing other researchers to build upon our methods.     

Restoration of paintings on domes with non-developable geometry (Los Santos Juanes Church in Valencia)

The restoration of paintings on elements in cultural heritage buildings (fundamentally, churches) involves two structural problems: capturing the geometry of the construction element and its development. In many cases, the geometries are regular (e.g., cylinders, spheres, elliptical domes). However, there are cases in which the elements cannot be adapted to any known geometry, much less one that can be mathematically developed. The development of surfaces becomes essential for the restoration of paintings over “flat elements” (over which work is performed on the ground) that are subsequently transferred to the real surface (ceilings). The mathematical transformations that allow regular geometries to be developed are widely known (cartographic projections). However, when the geometry is irregular, there is no development. This study presents a new methodology based on differential rectification and its application for the development of oculi in the Los Santos Juanes Church (Valencia), whose geometry is completely irregular both in shape and as a result of construction defects (and damage caused by fire). The present study focuses on the restoration of paintings damaged by fire.     

Clamming Up: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of a Costa Rican Artisanal Clam Fishery

A vibrant artisanal fishery of the brackish water marsh clam (Polymesoda acuta) is located in the lower Río Tempisque, Costa Rica. Fishermen harvest clams from shoals according to tidal and lunar cycles. They take most clams directly to riverside processing stations to be cooked and sold as salted meat, although some cooked clams are dried, and others sold live. Processing activities result in the formation of shellmounds that share significant similarities and some differences with ancient marsh clam shellmounds of coastal Chiapas, Mexico. In this study, procurement and processing activities are described and quantified, revealing the substantial amount of labor and skill involved in the modern fishery. Implications for archaeological preservation and predictions from optimal foraging theory are evaluated.     

Evaluation of Structural Intervention in the Quartel das Esquadras,Almeida (Portugal)

ABSTRACT

The “Quartel das Esquadras” is an 18th century infantry barrack located within the limits of the bulwarked fortress of Almeida, in Portugal. An ongoing adaptive reuse project of the building aims to recover its full capacity and also its importance, by implementing a variety of new uses. The architectural intervention results in the need of the structure to withstand new and diverse imposed loads. As the current configuration of the structure will be altered, the main objective of this article is to evaluate the suitability of some of the proposed structural interventions. The current condition has been characterized following a multidisciplinary approach comprising historical research, visual inspection, non-destructive testing, and structural analysis to identify the possible sources of major structural problems. A portion of the building particularly affected by the alterations has been selected to carry out structural analysis. A comparative safety assessment of the selected area in both current and altered condition has been done through finite element modelling and nonlinear static analysis, resulting in an identification of the weaker points against the new implemented loads and alterations. Finally, proposals for the implementation of the studied intervention, as well as recommendations for future research and analyses, have been given.     

Hierarchies of trade in Yiwu and Dushanbe: The case of an Uzbek merchant family from Tajikistan

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the trading trajectory of an Uzbek family of merchants from Tajikistan. This family runs businesses in both Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, and China’s famous international trading city: Yiwu. The analysis is centred on the accounts placed by Tajikistan’s Uzbek merchants about their historically sustained experience, often across several generations, in trading activities. These merchants’ claims of belonging to a ‘historical’ trading community rather than being ‘newcomers’ to long-distance commerce are articulated in relation to notions of ‘hierarchies of trade’ as they evolve in a twofold relational model linking Yiwu’s Changchun neighbourhood and Dushanbe. I suggest that the forms of conviviality enacted in Yiwu’s Changchun neighbourhood need to be understood in terms of the historical, multinational and transregional contacts that have occurred within the spaces of the former Soviet Union, as well as along the China-Russia and China-Central Asian borders. Equally, the hierarchies of trade of Uzbek merchants from Tajikistan in Yiwu’s Changchun neighbourhood cut-across markers of identity that juxtapose the roles of Tajik and Uzbek communities in Tajikistan’s contemporary politics and economics.     

Non-destructive spectroscopic investigation of artefacts from middle Hallstatt period—case study of a stone bead from Tărtăria I hoard,Romania

A stone bead, part of a necklace found in a middle Hallstatt period—type of settlement—the T?rt?ria site in Alba County, Romania, was investigated following a non-destructive approach, by means of energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The highly heterogenous object, found together with numerous bronze and iron objects, appeared to be a variety of chalcedony rich in iron and copper impurities, still preserving clay minerals from the sedimentary matrix in some of the areas. Organic molecules found at the surface of the stone artefact may indicate the presence of a wax or resin residue, possible evidence of early craft specialization. The non-destructive protocol applied allowed an in-depth characterization of the artefact, providing important information not only on the crystal structure but also on the diagnostic impurities present within this peculiar stone bead.