The World Bank's ‘Assault on Poverty’ as a Political Question (1968–81)

This article analyses the actions of the World Bank between 1968 and 1981, under the presidency of Robert McNamara, in the context of the Cold War and the directions of US foreign aid policy. It discusses the reasons for, and the means by which the World Bank led, the ‘assault on poverty’, with an emphasis on rural poverty. It problematizes the theory which supported this initiative, analysing its operationalization in the countryside; it discusses the principal format that it assumed, the reasons which propelled it, the political calculation which guided it, the interests at play, and the results that were reached. Finally, the article argues that the ‘assault on poverty’ slogan expresses the disposition and the willingness of the World Bank to intervene in domestic questions, aiming to alter, in a selective and focused manner, the condition of particular social groups in client countries, rather than improving the general conditions of economies. This in turn demanded the strengthening of its advisory, technical assistance and economic research functions. If McNamara's policy of fighting poverty can be considered a failure in economic and social terms (a diagnosis widely accepted in the literature), this article argues that, politically, it was successful by constructing the foundations for the neoliberal-type focused social policies that were in vogue in the following decades.     

Sailing the Pepper Wreck: a Proposed Methodology for Understanding an Early 17th-Century Portuguese Indiaman

Discovered in 1993 at the mouth of the Tagus River, the SJB2 shipwreck—or ‘Pepper Wreck’—was tentatively identified as the Portuguese Indiaman Nossa Senhora dos Mártires, lost on its return voyage from Cochin, India, on 14 September 1606. Following archaeological excavation and a tentative reconstruction of the ship's hull and rigging, the next step is the study of its structural strength and sailing characteristics using the tools of modern naval architecture. This paper presents a methodology for investigating the sailing and structural characteristics of the ‘Pepper Wreck’, combining archaeological, iconographic and contemporary written sources with modern naval architectural calculations. © 2005 The Authors     

The Upper Paleolithic Rock Art of Iberia

Nearly 200 rock art sites of Upper Paleolithic age are currently known on the Iberian Peninsula, in both caves and the open air. Over half are still concentrated in Cantabrian Spain and they span the period between c. 30–11 kya, but–tracking the course of human demography in this geographically circumscribed region–many of the images were probably painted or engraved during the Solutrean and, especially, Magdalenian. Dramatic discoveries and dating projects have significantly expanded the Iberian rock art record both geographically and temporally in recent years, in close coincidence with the growth of contemporaneous archeological evidence: cave art loci in Aragón and Levante attributable to the Solutrean and Magdalenian, many cave art sites and a few open-air ones in Andalucía and Extremadura that are mostly Solutrean (in line with evidence of a major Last Glacial Maximum human refugium in southern Spain), the spectacular Côa Valley open-air complex in northern Portugal (together with a growing number of other such loci and one cave) that was probably created during the Gravettian-Magdalenian periods, and a modest, but important increase in proven cave and open-air sites in the high, north-central interior of Spain that are probably Solutrean and/or Magdalenian. Despite regional variations in decorated surfaces, themes, techniques and styles, there are broad (and sometimes very specific) pan-Iberian similarities (as well as ones with the Upper Paleolithic art of southern France) that are indicative of widespread human contacts and shared systems of symbols and beliefs during the late Last Glacial. As this Ice Age world and the forms of social relationships and ideologies that helped human groups survive in it came to an end, so too did the decoration of caves, rockshelters and outcrops, although in some regions other styles of rock art would return under very different conditions of human existence.     

Simulation of Shake Table Tests on Out-of-Plane Masonry Buildings. Part (IV): Macro and Micro FEM Based Approaches

ABSTRACT

This article presents a study on the out-of-plane response of two masonry structures without box behavior tested in a shaking table. Two numerical approaches were defined for the evaluation, namely macro-modeling and simplified micro-modeling. As a first step of this study, static nonlinear analyses were performed for the macro models in order to assess the out-of-plane response of masonry structures due to incremental loading. For these analyses, mesh size and material model dependency was discussed. Subsequently, dynamic nonlinear analyses with time integration were carried out, aiming at evaluating the collapse mechanism and at comparing it to the experimental response. Finally, nonlinear static and dynamic analyses were also performed for the simplified micro models. It was observed that these numerical techniques correctly simulate the in-plane response. The collapse mechanism of the stone masonry model is in good agreement with the experimental response. However, there are some inconsistencies regarding the out-of-plane behavior of the brick masonry model, which required further validation.     

In Situ Flat-Jack Testing of Traditional Masonry Walls: Case Study of the Old City Center of Coimbra,Portugal

Single and double flat-jack tests are presently used widely for assessing the mechanical characteristics of stone masonry. This technique remains as one of the most versatile in situ test procedure for the estimation of the main mechanical properties of masonry walls. Nevertheless their application is still controversial due to the difficulty of accepting in some cases the results as reliable. This article presents and discusses the results of an experimental campaign resorting to flat-jack technique carried out with the scope of the rehabilitation process of the historical city center of Coimbra.     

The Emirate of Córdoba (756–929 AD) and the introduction of the Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) in Iberia: the remains from Muge,Portugal

We describe new finds of Herpestes ichneumon (Egyptian mongoose) from an archaeological context in Portugal, directly ¹⁴C dated to c. 800 AD. This is at least two centuries older than a previously reported find of this species from Andalusia (southern Spain; Riquelme-Cantal et al., 2008). Our finding provides further support to the hypothesis that the Muslims introduced this animal to the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, we suggest that Berber settlers might have brought it some time during the Umayyad conquest of Iberia or with the establishment of the Emirate of Córdoba.