Interventions in the political geography of ‘libertarian paternalism’

Contributions from political, health and economic geography, social policy and environmental policy studies are brought together here in order to examine the implications of a ‘libertarian paternalist’ political ‘project’ which seeks to react in pragmatic and ideological terms to the excesses and limitations of neoliberalism in liberal democratic contexts. The authors explore the contemporary relevance and historical antecedents of so-called ‘nudge’ tactics of governing, and draw attention to the political geographies encountered in this popular political programme in specific cases.     

Reproducing Political Subjects: Feminist Scholarship and the Political Science Curriculum

In this article we analyse 16 politics textbooks that feature in introductory courses in politics, political theory or political thought taught in Australian universities. Our concern was to investigate how commonly used first-yearintroductory texts position feminist political theory (and its underlying scholarship) within political theory, and by extension within the discipline of political science. Our findings suggest that the scholarship of feminist theorists remains only occasionally visible to students of political science. It is mostly confined to the safety of managed enclaves, occasionally acknowledged, but certainly not integrated into what counts as the real knowledge of political theory.     

Changes in natural OSL sensitivity during single aliquot regeneration procedure and their implications for equivalent dose determination

Measurement of low temperature (90°C–120°C) Thermoluminescence (TL) sensitivity of natural quartz samples subjected to pre-heating and optical stimulation indicate that significant sensitivity changes can occur during measurement of the natural Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL). During the measurement of natural signal, the luminescence sensitivity of samples can change by 40%. The sensitivity changes both during the initial preheat and the measurement of natural OSL. The currently used version of Single Aliquot Regeneration (SAR) protocol measures and corrects for the sensitivity changes after preheat and readout of natural OSL. However, it does not take into account the changes in sensitivity during the readout of the natural signal. We therefore developed a correction procedure so that both the natural and the regenerated OSL intensities can be measured and plotted with the same sensitivity and suggest that in the absence of such a correction, a considerable fraction of the SAR based ages could have systematic errors. The correction for the sensitivity is based on the use of sensitivity of 110°C TL quartz peak, which is correlated to OSL signal (Murray and Roberts, 1998). The use of 110°C peak provides a reasonable measure of the changes in OSL sensitivity of quartz. A modified Natural Sensitivity Corrected-SAR (NSC-SAR) procedure, that comprises the measurement of, 1) the TL intensity of 110°C peak for a test dose on sample as received (i.e. natural sample) and, 2) the sensitivity of the 110°C peak of the same sample after the preheat and read out of the natural OSL, is proposed. This ratio, termed as Natural Correction Factor (NCF), then provides a way to correct for sensitivity changes. Results on samples from diverse depositional environments indicated that the NSC-SAR consistently (without exception) provided improved distribution in paleodoses i.e. a lower scatter compared to the standard SAR protocol. In addition, the use of this protocol also resolved anomalous cases where the intensity of natural OSL was significantly above the saturation intensity of the regenerated OSL. Implicitly, this study implies a caution on the use of palaeodoses obtained from single grains as such a correction is not possible in the currently used automated single grain OSL measurement systems. The only way now on will be to analyze aliquots with only a grain on them.     

Policy Narratives and Policy Processes

The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) has influenced a generation of policy scholars with its emphasis on causal drivers, testable hypotheses, and falsification. Until recently, the role of policy narratives has been largely neglected in ACF literature partially because much of that work has operated outside of traditional social science principles, such as falsification. Yet emerging literature under the rubric of Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) demonstrates how the role of policy narratives in policy processes is studied using the same rigorous social science standards initially set forth by Paul A. Sabatier. The NPF identifies theories specifying narrative elements and strategies that are likely useful to ACF researchers as classes of variables that have yet to be integrated. Examining this proposition, we provide seven hypotheses related to critical ACF concepts including advocacy coalitions and policy beliefs, policy learning, public opinion, and strategy. Our goal is to stay within the scientific, theoretical, and methodological tradition of the ACF and show how NPF's empirical, hypotheses, and causal driven work on policy narratives identifies theories applicable to ACF research while also offering an independent framework capable of explaining the policy process through the power of policy narratives. In doing so, we believe both ACF and NPF scholarship can contribute to the advancement of our understanding of the policy process.     

Ancient DNA analysis of desiccated wheat grains excavated from a Bronze Age cemetery in Xinjiang

Wheat has been one of the most important crop in Eurasia since the Neolithic period. Understanding the spread of wheat cultivation is crucial to understanding the spread of agriculture as a whole and the interactions between prehistoric populations across the Eurasian continent. However, the routes by which wheat cultivation spread eastwards have been poorly understood to date, due to the scarcity of plant remains recovered from archaeological sites. Desiccated wheat grains excavated from the Xiaohe cemetery in Xinjiang, and dated to the early Bronze Age, show excellent DNA preservation. Here we present an ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of wheat (Triticum sp.) grains excavated from Xiaohe and provide the first definitive evidence for bread wheat in China during the Bronze Age. The nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS1 and ITS2) and the intergenic spacer region (IGS) were amplified. The IGS region within the D genome of wheat has a 71 bp insertion that is absent from corresponding regions in the A and B genomes. The results showed that the Xiaohe wheat showed most sequence similarity to hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), including the characteristic insertion into the D genome. The presence of bread wheat at the Xiaohe cemetery is discussed in relation to it having spread into Xinjiang by the Bronze Age, providing new insight into the origins of bread wheat in East Asia.     

Mixed-use ‘regeneration’ of employment land in the post-industrial city: challenges and realities in London

This article explores the relationships between land-use planning, property and economic development, with a focus on the changing attitudes towards employment land in post-industrial cities. Drawing on case study data from two London local authorities, it finds that planning authorities are moving away from protecting employment land to actively promoting the mixed-use redevelopment of employment sites, even when there are thriving businesses on these sites and a shortage of supply of employment premises and land, relative to demand. We examine the drivers for changing policy including the national and regional policy contexts, housing targets, the influence of austerity measures, rise of Neighbourhood Planning and changing conceptions of regeneration and the role of housing therein. The article highlights the complex task faced by local planners and the tensions involved in simultaneously finding sites for housing, fostering economic development and promoting mixed-use redevelopment in planning policy and decisions. We find that changes in policy are fuelling speculation for housing development on sites occupied by viable businesses, supporting rather than responding to deindustrialization. This is leading to a gap between aspirations for delivering mixed-use environments on hitherto employment sites and realities on the ground.     

Writing on Stone; Writing on Paper: Myth,History and Memory in NW Amazonia

This paper deals with the relation between different kinds of indigenous speech and music and various iconographic forms such as petroglyphs, house painting, basketry designs and also features of landscape that are understood in graphic terms. It examines how Northwest Amazonian myth-history is structured and memorized, how it can appear in both verbal and non-verbal forms, and how contemporary books, maps and diagrams produced by indigenous organizations as part of programmes of research and education show continuity with these traditional forms. Rather than making firm distinctions between peoples with and without writing, I argue that it is more profitable to focus on how various mnemonic systems—“writing”—work in tandem with different narrative forms—“myth”. When “writing” and “myth” are understood in indigenous terms, contemporary written documents appear in a new light.     

A review of the taxonomy and systematics of the echinoid genus Monostychia Laube, 1869

Sadler, T., Kroh, A. &; Gallagher, S.J., March 2016. A review of the taxonomy and systematics of the echinoid genus Monostychia Laube, 1869 Laube, G.C., 1869. Über einige fossile Echiniden von den Murray Cliffs in Süd-Australien. Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Wien, mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Classe. Abtheilung I 59, 183–198. [Google Scholar]. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

A review of Monostychia, a stratigraphically important clypeasteroid echinoid genus in southern Australian Oligocene/Miocene strata, reveals uncertainty in relation to morphological features used in taxonomy. The result is that the exact systematic position of the genus remains unresolved at subfamily level. Monostychia and its type species, M. australis, are redescribed. Monostychia australis is restricted to the lower to middle Miocene Glenforslan Formation of the Murray Basin. Three other species currently within Monostychia, M. etheridgei, M. loveni and M. elongata, are discussed. Although it is concluded that M. etheridgei belongs in the genus and is a distinct species, the taxonomic position of M. loveni is questioned, and the validity of M. elongata as a separate species from M. australis remains uncertain. This work lays the foundation for further revisions of Monostychia with an expectation that such work will provide the basis for character determination that may be useful across other echinoid taxa.

Tony Sadler [t.sadler@uq.edu.au] and Stephen J. Gallagher [sjgall@unimelb.edu.au], School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia; Andreas Kroh [andreas.kroh@nhm-wien.ac.at], Natural History Museum Vienna, Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Burging 7, 1010, Vienna, Austria.     

Exceptional fossils and biotas of Gondwana: the fortieth anniversary issue of Alcheringa

McLoughlin, S., September 2016. Exceptional fossils and biotas of Gondwana: the fortieth anniversary issue of Alcheringa. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

Stephen McLoughlin [steve.mcloughlin@nrm.se], Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Box 50007, S-104 05, Sweden. Submitted 22.8.2016.