The identification of charred archaeological remains of vegetative parenchymous tissue

The biased way in which some inferences may be drawn from archaeobotanical assemblages, due to problems in identification, is briefly discussed. A potentially important class of plant remains, vegetative parenchymous organs, commonly sources of food, are indicated as being such a class rarely identified from archaeological contexts. Their identification based on characters of the plants' anatomy and morphology together with an understanding of the way in which tissues degrade on preservation by charring is suggested. Characters of the charred tissues that make up vegetative parenchymous organs are described in detail. The processes of sorting and identification are then briefly discussed.     

Prehistoric wooden bows and arrows in the Turpan Basin,Northwest China: Wood selection and utilization in a mosaic landscape

In the present study, we analyzed seven wooden bows and 13 arrows excavated from the cemeteries of Subeixi Culture (13th century BCE–AD second century) in the Turpan Basin, northwest China. A total of six taxa, viz. Morus sp., Salix sp., Picea sp., Lonicera sp., Betula sp., and Tamarix sp. were identified. Some of these taxa have been generally accepted to be suitable for bow-and-arrow production. All these taxa were local in origin but distributed in different ecotonal zones, including oases, saline-alkali lands, and mountain areas. Previous archaeological studies have confirmed that the Subeixi populations lived an agro-pastoral life. By analyzing the possible provenance of these wood samples, it can be hypothesized that these ancient agro-pastoralists moved between the Turpan Basin and the Tianshan Mountains on a seasonal basis.     

城市治理问题的空间识别与影响因素研究——基于武汉城市留言板数据的探索

电子政务平台用户数据为认知城市问题、开展空间治理提供了新路径。研究以武汉市为例,以日常治理问题为对象,基于留言板数据及自然语言处理技术,提出城市治理问题空间识别方法,利用空间自相关和负二项回归分析,探究治理问题空间特征及影响因素。研究发现：(1)治理问题热点区集中于开发区及新旧城区交界,冷点区集中于老城核心地带;(2)社会交互因素上,老年群体在线上治理中存在“失语”现象,高学历群体更重视多元包容类问题表达;(3)地理因素上,人口密度增加并不必然导致城市治理问题增加,为高密度城市实现高质量治理提供依据。     

Is Cross‐Section Shape a Distinct Feature in Plant Fibre Identification?

Correct identification of textile fibres is an important issue in archaeology because the use of different materials can yield crucial information about the society that produced the textiles. Textiles made of plant and animal fibres can normally be easily distinguished, but to distinguish between different types of plant fibres, in particular different types of bast fibres, is difficult. Some years back it was shown that the features fibre diameter, lumen diameter, dislocation (nodes), and cross markings cannot be used on their own to distinguish between the typical bast fibres used for textiles in ancient Europe: flax, hemp, and nettle. Particularly not when only a few fibres are available for an examination so that statistical analysis is not possible, as is often the case in archaeology. The last two characterization features typically used to distinguish between bast fibres are cross‐section shape and lumen shape. In this paper, we present a study of retted and unretted fibres (in the stem) of flax, nettle, and hemp, and show that also cross‐section shape and lumen shape cannot be used as distinguishing features on their own.     

Use of vegetative remains in the identification of dyeplants from waterlogged 9th–10th century AD deposits at York

Vegetative remains of four dyeplants (Rubia tinctorum L., Genista tinctoria L., Diphasium complanatum (L.) Rothm. and Isatis tinctoria L.) found in 9th–10th century deposits at York, are described in detail. A fifth species (Reseda luteola L.), so far only found as seeds, is also described.     

Which national group will I identify myself with? The role of preferred and perceived identity representations

Research shows that the more people identify with a national in‐group, the more their citizenship representation becomes in line with the citizenship discourse attached to this national‐identity. However, although national identification may lead to a preference for a specific citizenship representation, national identification might itself depend on preexisting citizenship representation preferences. In line with this, a longitudinal study among Flemish‐Belgian high‐school students (N = 275) showed reciprocal relations between national identification and citizenship representation. A second study among Flemish‐Belgian high‐school students (N = 407) then showed that strength of national identification does not simply depend on preexisting citizenship representation preferences but on the (mis)match between such preferences and the citizenship representation perceived to be attached to a national‐identity. In addition, results showed that the relation between national identification and out‐group attitudes depends on the national‐identity under consideration.     

ON THE OPTIMAL LOCATION OF SENSORS IN MULTI-STOREYED BUILDINGS

A new approach has been developed for finding optimal location of sensors in 3D multi-storeyed buildings. This approach is based on the compact probabilistic representation of acceleration response in terms of its covariance matrix. For a specified number of sensors, the optimal location has been taken to be the one for which the computed covariance matrix is closest to the exact covariance matrix of the random field constituted by the acceleration response process. It has been found that the determined sensor locations match favourably with those predicted by earlier studies for the special case of shear buildings. Further, the optimality of the determined sensor locations has also been verified by identifying the system parameters from the time series data and comparing them with those of the Finite Element Model.     

Election Administration Reform and State Choice: Voter Identification Requirements and HAVA

This research examines factors that have influenced state choices about methods of voter identification practices in the current environment of election administration reform. State voter identification practices have been an active area of state policy action since 2000. Rival explanations for state adoption of voter identification requirements are analyzed for three national election cycles following the 2000 presidential election. State voter identification practices are classified according to levels of relative stringency and in terms of variation from federal requirements for voter identification under the Help America Vote Act of 2002. State decisions to adopt more stringent forms of voter identification are significantly influenced by intrastate factors including Republican Party control of state government, traditionalist state political culture, and greater levels of racial/ethnic diversity. Federal review of election practices under the Voting Rights Act is positively associated with more moderate approaches to voter identification but is not significant over this time period.     

Morphometric identification of bovid metapodials to genus and implications for taxon-free habitat reconstruction

Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of measurements on twelve metacarpal and ten metatarsal dimensions indicates that metapodials differ much more in size than in shape among the twenty-three genera of extant Sub-Saharan bovids. The only conspicuous shape variation is in metapodial length, which sometimes differs significantly among genera that are similar in all other dimensions. It follows that Discriminant Analysis (DA) intended to identify metapodials to genus will depend primarily on size, and except for the occasional like-sized genera that differ in metapodial length, DA will often confuse genera of similar size. DA of the same metapodials subjected to PCA supports this prediction. PCA further shows that bovid species that favor the same habitat often differ in metapodial size, shape, or both, and species that favor different habitats often overlap substantially in their metapodial morphometrics. DA intended to assign metapodials to habitat will thus produce different results depending on the species used to characterize each habitat type and on the number of specimens by which each species is represented. Habitat reconstruction founded in DA is therefore taxon dependent rather than taxon-free, and it cannot supplant reconstruction based on taxonomic identifications below the family level.     

Distinguishing between archaeological sheep and goat bones using a single collagen peptide

We describe a method of isolating and analyzing a single collagen peptide able to distinguish between sheep and goat bone collagen. The 33 amino acid peptide from both sheep and goat collagen was sequenced and shown to differ between the two species at two positions. Analysis of a range of caprines indicated that the sequence changes occurred between the divergence of the Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus) and the ibex (Capra ibex) and that the proposed goat marker is diagnostic of all Capra species and breeds. The survival of these markers in archaeological bones was tested using a set of 26 ovicaprid specimens from Domuztepe, a Neolithic site in south central Turkey. These markers were used to test the osteological determination of 24 of the Domuztepe bones, and determine the species for two immature specimens. The collagen-peptide method has advantages over other non-morphological methods of sheep/goat distinction because of the long-term survival of collagen over other biomolecules such as ancient DNA. The results also highlighted the problems in relying upon one morphological criterion, in this case on the distal radius, to distinguish between sheep and goat bones.