Identifying donkey domestication through changes in cross-sectional geometry of long bones

The initial phases of donkey domestication are difficult to identify in the archaeological record due to late and inconsistent changes in morphology and body size in the earliest domestics. Use of donkeys for load carrying and the management of captive herds resulted in a distinctive behavioral shift away from the free-ranging speed and mobility characteristic of wild asses toward slower, more steady pacing. Given the ability of bone to adapt to its mechanical environment, bone remodeling in the limbs of wild asses and donkeys are evaluated using cross-sectional geometry to determine whether weight bearing or locomotor differences between the wild and domestic forms may be used to recognize early domestication. Cross-sectional data were collected on the humeri, radii, metacarpals and metatarsals of eight wild ass and six donkey skeletons. Wild ass forelimbs have greater overall strength and more cylindrical humeral diaphyses, indicating better resistance to a varied locomotor repertoire. These results demonstrate that analyses of shaft geometry can provide information on changes in locomotor behavior during domestication. Our finding that shifts in gait had greater effects on the morphology of early domestic donkeys than did load-carrying places a new emphasis on understanding selection for gait changes in domestication dynamics.     

Spatial Patterns of March and September Streamflow Trends in Pacific Northwest Streams, 1958–2008

Summer streamflow is a vital water resource for municipal and domestic water supplies, irrigation, salmonid habitat, recreation, and water‐related ecosystem services in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) in the United States. This study detects significant negative trends in September absolute streamflow in a majority of 68 stream‐gauging stations located on unregulated streams in the PNW from 1958 to 2008. The proportion of March streamflow to annual streamflow increases in most stations over 1,000 m elevation, with a baseflow index of less than 50, while absolute March streamflow does not increase in most stations. The declining trends of September absolute streamflow are strongly associated with seven‐day low flow, January–March maximum temperature trends, and the size of the basin (19–7,260 km²), while the increasing trends of the fraction of March streamflow are associated with elevation, April 1 snow water equivalent, March precipitation, center timing of streamflow, and October–December minimum temperature trends. Compared with ordinary least squares (OLS) estimated regression models, spatial error regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models effectively remove spatial autocorrelation in residuals. The GWR model results show spatial gradients of local R ² values with consistently higher local R ² values in the northern Cascades. This finding illustrates that different hydrologic landscape factors, such as geology and seasonal distribution of precipitation, also influence streamflow trends in the PNW. In addition, our spatial analysis model results show that considering various geographic factors help clarify the dynamics of streamflow trends over a large geographical area, supporting a spatial analysis approach over aspatial OLS‐estimated regression models for predicting streamflow trends. Results indicate that transitional rain–snow surface water‐dominated basins are likely to have reduced summer streamflow under warming scenarios. Consequently, a better understanding of the relationships among summer streamflow, precipitation, snowmelt, elevation, and geology can help water managers predict the response of regional summer streamflow to global warming. Patrones espaciales de las tendencias de los caudales de marzo y septiembre en el Pacífico Noroccidental. Los caudales (streamflows) de verano son recursos hídricos vitales para el abastecimiento de agua municipal y domestico así como para el riego agrícola, el hábitat de los salmónidos, la recreación, y para varios servicios de los ecosistemas en el Pacífico Noroccidental (Pacific Nortwest‐PNW) de los Estados Unidos. Este estudio identifica tendencias negativas considerables en los caudales absolutos de septiembre en la mayoría de las 68 estaciones de medición situadas en ríos y arroyos no regulares del PNW entre 1958 y 2008. La proporción del caudal de marzo con respecto al caudal anual aumenta en la mayoría de las estaciones situadas a más de 1000 metros de altitud, que tienen un índice de caudal base (base flow index‐BFI) de menos de 50, pero se mantiene estable en el resto (la mayoría) de las estaciones. Las tendencias decrecientes de los caudales absolutos de septiembre están fuertemente asociadas con el caudal mínimo para siete días (seven‐day low), con las tendencias de temperatura máxima entre enero y marzo, y con el tamaño de la cuenca (19‐7,260 km2). Las tendencias crecientes de la proporción del caudal total correspondiente a marzo están asociadas con la elevación, con un equivalente a agua de la nieve de abril (one April snow wáter equivalent ‐SWE), con la precipitación de marzo, el center timing (TC) de los caudales, y con las tendencias de temperatura mínima entre octubre y diciembre. En comparación con los estimados de modelos de regresión de tipo mínimos cuadrados ordinarios (ordinary least squares‐OLS), los modelos de regresión de error espacial (spatial error regression‐SER) y de regresión ponderada geográficamente (geographically weighted regression‐GWR) eliminan eficazmente la autocorrelación espacial en los residuos. Los resultados del modelo GWR producen mapas con gradientes espaciales donde los valores de los R² locales son consistentemente más altos en las cascadas del norte. Este resultado pone de manifiesto que diferentes factores hidrológicos del paisaje, tales como la geología y la distribución estacional de la precipitación, también influyen en las tendencias de los caudales en el PNW. Adicionalmente, los resultados del modelo de análisis espacial muestran que la inclusión de diversos factores geográficos ayuda a aclarar la dinámica de las tendencias de los caudales en un área geográfica grande, corroborando la mayor utilidad de modelos con enfoque de espacial sobre modelos. Los resultados indican también que en cuencas transicionales (entre lluvia y nieve) donde predominan las aguas superficiales existe una probabilidad más alta de reducccion de caudal de verano en el contexto de escenarios de calentamiento. En consecuencia, una mejor comprensión de las relaciones entre caudal de verano, la precipitación, el derretimiento de nieve, la elevación y la geología puede ayudar a los gestores del agua a predecir la respuesta de los caudales de verano en un escenario de calentamiento global. 夏季径流是美国太平洋西北部地区(PNW)市政与居民水供应、灌溉、鱼类栖息、娱乐及水相关生态系统服务的重要来源。本研究通过1958–2008年PNW地区68个地理位置上未调节的径流测量站分析揭示出九月绝对径流量与该地区水来源呈显著的负相关趋势。三月径流占年际径流量的比例在大多数海拔超过1000米的地区是增加的,然而大多数地区基本径流指数（BFI）少于50,表明三月绝对径流量在多数地区并没有增加。九月绝对径流量的下滑趋势与年均为期7天的低流量,1月–3月最大温度趋势及流域面积（19–7,260 km²）呈强相关性,而三月绝对径流量微量增加的趋势则与海拔高度,四月一日的雪水当量（SWE）,三月降水,径流中心时序（CT）和十月至十二月最小温度趋势相关。与OLS(普通最小二乘法估计)回归模型相比,空间滞后回归（SER）和地理加权回归模型（GWR）能有效剔除空间自相关的残差而更有效。GWR结果显示局部R²值在空间上渐变梯度,并且在北美洲喀斯喀特山脉（Cascade）：北部地区高于其他地区。该发现表明不同水文景观因子,如地质、降水的季节分布,也会对PNW的径流趋势产生影响。另外,我们的空间分析模型结果显示,考虑多种地理因素可解析大面积的地理区域中径流量空间分布趋势的动力机制, 为预测径流趋势提供一种优于OLS空间估计回归模型的空间分析方法。结果表明气候变暖背景下,季节性降水、地表水主导的流域极可能减少夏季径流量。因此,更好地理解夏季径流量与降水、融雪水、海拔和地质的关系,可帮助水资源管理者预测区域夏季径流对全球变暖的响应。     

Consistent and Transparent? The Problem of Longitudinal Poverty Records

The World Bank and leading donors have emphasized the importance of evidence‐based policy making in addressing entrenched poverty. Adoption of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers has also required establishing and updating poverty baselines, typically through Living Standards Measurement Surveys. Although the conceptual basis of these surveys has been questioned, little attention has been paid to whether frequent revisions to the longitudinal record have undermined their value. This article argues that changes to the poverty record have been sufficiently frequent and often sufficiently large to compromise the creation of a sound longitudinal poverty record. The lack of transparency also weakens national debate and ownership and undermines the construction of evidence‐based policy.     

Making sense of remembrance

In recent years the annual cycle of war remembrance in Britain has been punctuated by major anniversaries and the inauguration of new war memorials. This paper explores whether time and forgetfulness are gradually eroding the power of twentieth century war memorials as traces of memory in the everyday landscape. It finds that at least some war memorials are retaining their significance and even evolving new significance as time passes. The paper considers how the sensuous and spectacular nature of war remembrance has contributed to this process and draws attention to the centrality of sight, sound and touch to remembrance activities. Case studies are then used to explore how war memorials in specific localities provide a locus for making sense of remembrance in the twenty‐first century.     

Why Authorship Matters: The Grimké Essay on Marriage

In the 1850s, one of the Grimké sisters wrote an essay on marriage that included an unprecedented discussion of what later generations would label marital rape. But which sister was responsible for the work? Angelina's experience of pregnancy and motherhood offers parallels to the essay's horrific portrayal of marriage. Yet Sarah's late-life search for purpose and recurring themes within her correspondence suggest just as strongly that the essay is hers. The bulk of the evidence points toward Sarah's authorship. Yet this complicates the essay's placement within the history of antebellum reform ideology, for its writing coincides with a shift in Sarah's broader reform philosophy, including an abandonment of earlier abolitionist goals. If Angelina's, the essay might be cast as a continuation of earlier efforts as an abolitionist. But if Sarah's, the essay must be viewed as a redirection, even repudiation, of her earlier efforts, informed by a loss of confidence in men and the possibilities for temporal reform.     

Missing the Jackpot? The Proliferation of Gambling in Australia and its Effect on Local Communities

Research assessing the consequences of gambling proliferation fails to recognise the influence of local circumstances on its costs and benefits. The consequences of new gambling facilities need to be assessed at the community level. The introduction of poker machines to hotels in the South Australian town of Peterborough has exacerbated pre-existing socio-economic problems associated with the wider effects of the rural crisis. The growth of gambling worldwide requires new policies that reflect the current geographies of gambling.     

Frustrated,reconciled or divided? The Australian labor party and federalism

The Australian Labor Party has always been, and remains, a complex entity which encompasses both centralist/national and decentralist/federal interests and values. The common interpretation that the party has been historically ‘frustrated’ by federalism but is now ‘reconciled’ with it thus exaggerates both the frustration and the reconciliation.     

Regional environmental planning: Progress and possibilities in Western Europe

The challenge of environmental thinking is putting extreme stresses on the imagination and techniques of planners, at least in those European countries where ecological issues are being taken seriously. Generally, city or regional planners, and academics as well, are only at the beginning of a necessarily rapid learning curve. It is argued here that a spatial planning approach to guiding environmental change could usefully complement other sectoral or financial instruments, particularly if focused at regional levels. Important dimensions of different approaches are analyzed, including the political economic model, the degree of development and wealth (north‐south variation) and the institutional framework in each country. The progress made so far is examined in case studies of the Netherlands, England and Catalonia. It is suggested that some aspects of the Dutch approach could form a useful basis, if suitably adapted, for regional planning elsewhere. But, above all, much more fundamental thinking on the goals and means of desirable regional transitions will be necessary.