Reconstruction of regional and national population using intermittent census-type data: The case of Portugal, 1527–1864

Abstract

We offer a new methodology for the construction of annual population stocks over the very long run. Our method does not require the assumption of a closed economy, and can be used in situations in which local annual gross flows are obtainable. Combining gross flows with intermittent census-type data, it is possible to arrive at local, regional and national population stock estimates at annual frequencies. We provide an application to early modern and nineteenth century Portugal, using a large sample of parish-level statistics up to the first modern census of 1864. All six major regions of the country are considered.     

Confidence in Political Institutions in Canada and the United States: Assessing the Interactive Role of Region and Race

This article uses nationally representative sample survey data to assess the confidence of Canadians and Americans in four major state institutions: the police; the civil service; the federal government; and political parties. Long-standing arguments suggest that Canadians are more trusting of government than Americans. Results, however, indicate small national differences, with variations within countries being much more important, especially for regional and racial subgroups within each nation. Consistent with their traditional minority position in Canada, Quebecers stand out as having the least confidence of respondents in either nation. In contrast, and despite their minority position, nonwhites express more confidence in political institutions than do whites in both countries, especially in English Canada. One exception is somewhat lower confidence in the police among nonwhites, particularly in the northern United States. The findings demonstrate the need to go beyond an exclusive focus on national differences when comparing political attitudes and values in Canada and the United States.     

Exploring Goodness-of-Fit and Spatial Correlation Using Components of Tango's Index of Spatial Clustering

The ability to detect anomalies such as spatial clustering in data sets plays an important role in spatial data analysis, leading to interest in test statistics identifying patterns exhibiting significant levels of clustering. Toward this end, Tango (1995) proposed a statistic (and its associated distribution under a null hypothesis of no clustering) assessing overall patterns of spatial clustering in a set of observed regional counts. Rogerson (1999) observed that Tango's index may be decomposed into the summation of two distinct statistics, the first mirroring standard tests of goodness-of-fit (GOF), and the second an index of spatial association (SA) similar to Moran's I . In this article, we investigate the effectiveness of Rogerson's expression of Tango's statistic in separating GOF from SA in data sets containing clusters. We simulate data under the null hypothesis of no clustering as well as two alternative hypotheses. The first alternative hypothesis induces a poor fit from the null hypothesis while maintaining independent observations and the second alternative hypothesis induces spatial dependence while maintaining fit. Using Rogerson's decomposition and leukemia incidence data from upstate New York, we show graphically that one is unable to statistically distinguish poor fit from autocorrelation.     

Monitoring of Shipwreck Sites

A three-year research project, The Monitoring of Shipwreck Sites (MoSS), was initiated in 2001 as a partnership between several European countries: Finland (project leader), Germany, Holland, United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden. The aim was to establish a suitable programme for the monitoring, safeguarding and visualizing of shipwreck sites, based on the investigation of three wrecks located in the Baltic and North Seas. Phase I involved the monitoring process, with the investigation of physical, chemical and biological factors that will help to identify potential threats to buried and exposed archaeological material. Phases II and III considered safeguarding and visualizing of shipwreck sites.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Bernstein's long path to membrane theory: radical change and conservation in nineteenth-century German electrophysiology

This article aims at illustrating the historical circumstances that led Julius Bernstein in 1902 to formulate a membrane theory on resting current in muscle and nerve fibers. It was a truly paradigm shift in research into bioelectrical phenomena, if qualified by the observation that, besides Bernstein, many other electrophysiologists between 1890 and 1902 borrowed ideas from the recent ionistic approach in the physical-chemistry domain. But Bernstein's subjective perception of that paradigm shift was that it constituted a mere reinterpretation of the so-called preexistence theory advanced by his teacher Emil du Bois-Reymond in the first half of the nineteenth century.     

Sasanian glass from Veh Ardašīr investigated by strontium and neodymium isotopic analysis

A collection of 31 glass fragments, dated to the 3rd to 7th century AD and excavated in Veh Ardašīr, (modern Iraq), were analysed for their Sr and Nd isotopic compositions with the aim of deepening our knowledge on glass circulating within central Mesopotamia during Sasanian times and to highlight the merits of isotope ratios for the definition of the production scenery. Based on the elemental composition of the samples, two groups related to the exploitation of different plant ashes were previously distinguished, and also a change in the silica source in the course of the 4th century AD emerged. The determination of isotopic distributions of Sr and Nd offers a deeper insight. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratio, together with the Sr elemental concentration, confirms this use of different plant ashes, and permits one to distinguish distinct glass batches, although the isotopic Sr signature does not allow us to highlight evidences of different provenances for the samples of different composition. Moreover, the ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd isotope ratio suggests the use of sands belonging to a common geological area, and also allows the identification of a set of samples that were possibly produced exploiting a further different sand source. As a whole, Sr and Nd isotope ratio values for the samples considered, i.e. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70833 to 0.70916 and ?Nd = −8.69 to −4.98, differ from the published isotopic data on middle Eastern glass samples and can therefore define a characteristic Sr–Nd signature for plant-ash Sasanian glass excavated in Veh Ardašīr.     

Can national cultural policy approaches be used for sub‐national comparisons? An analysis of the Québec and Ontario experiences in Canada

There has been relatively little comparative research undertaken on sub‐national cultural policy. This article aims to contribute to the development of sub‐national comparative studies by assessing the utility of national cultural policy approaches for comparative research at the sub‐national level in Canada. Drawing on studies of national cultural policy, the authors develop three main approaches to cultural policy and administration – the French, British and hybrid approaches – and explore their applicability to the origin and evolution of cultural policy and administration in the Canadian provinces of Québec and Ontario. This exploratory research suggests there is room for optimism in drawing on national‐level experiences to undertake sub‐national comparative cultural policy research, particularly for comparisons over broad time periods. The study also suggests that it will be important in subsequent research to further elaborate the models for present‐day comparative analysis and to refine and adapt them to reflect specificities at the provincial level of analysis.     

ALARMISM AND DENIALISM IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: THE CASE OF THE NUTRIENT POLLUTION IN THE BALTIC SEA IN THE 1960S AND 1970S

Between 1975 and 1983 the Swedish labour movement discussed a proposal to establish wage earner funds that would gradually shift the ownership in medium to large companies from employers to workers. This article starts by shedding light on the genesis of the proposal in the 1960s and 1970s and the reactions it provoked in Swedish society. Focus then switches to how the Meidner plan was understood in Italy in a time of pronounced social conflict marked, on one hand, by the redefinition of the relationship between trade unions and politics and, on the other hand, by soaring opposition among the various trade unions and the growing distance between the two major leftist parties. These divisions reverberated on the ways the wage earner funds – in their various versions – were understood by the organizations of the Italian labour movement; the assessment of the plan's feasibility and its applicability to the Italian case came to reflect conflicting views on industrial and economic democracy and on the relationship between Nordic social-democracies and Italian reformism.