COMPACTNESS AND ELECTORAL BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT: AN ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVE MEASURES

Spatial compactness has been proposed as a suitable criterion for assessing whether electoral boundaries reflect partisan interests. Although several different measures of spatial compactness have been developed, only limited efforts have been made to compare and evaluate them in the context of electoral redistricting. This paper assesses alternative spatial compactness measures and applies conceptually appealing measures to the provincial ridings proposed by British Columbia's Royal Commission on Electoral Boundaries (1988).     

Molluscan evidence for diet and environment at Saar in the early second millennium BC

Molluscan shells were abundant throughout the archaeological deposit at Saar. Analysis of species composition and abundance provided evidence for marine food in the diet and for local marine environments. The most important edible species were bivalves such as pearl oyster and clams with smaller numbers of gastropods, for example conch and muricid snails. The range of archaeological species indicated that there were no major changes in the intertidal marine habitats. They have not provided further evidence for the location of the prehistoric coastline which might have differed from the present day. Flotation samples contained small freshwater gastropods which have not been recorded previously from sites in the Arabian Gulf. These gave evidence for the use of water in the site and for nearby freshwater springs.     

PREFERENCES FOR RURAL LAND SEVERANCE POLICIES: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

The increasing demand for residential land in rural Ontario has generated a widespread interest in land severance activity and policy. This paper examines resident preferences for alternative land severance policies using a paired comparison experiment. The analysis identifies those severance policies most preferred by township residents and characterizes groups of residents with similar preferences. Differences in policy preferences are more closely associated with residents' property size, income, and length of residence in the area than with whether they are farmers, countryside non-farmers, or village dwellers.
La demande croissante d' espace résidentiel en Ontario rural est responsable pour l' intérêt grandissant envers le phénomène de détachement en parcelles et les politiques qui s'y rattachent. Le présent article examine les préférences des résidents d' un township ontarien envers différentes politiques de parcellement au moyen d' une méthode comparative. L' analyse des résultats identifie quelles sont les politiques de parcellement préférées et détermine des groupes de résidents qui ont des préférences semblables. Les différences au niveau des préférences des résidents en matière de politiques de parcellement sont plus particulièrement reliées à la grandeur des propriétés, le revenu, et la durée de résidence dans la région plutôt qu'avec leur statut résidentiel tel qu'exploitant agricole, habitant rural non-fermier, ou villageois.     

The End of the Gamble: The Termination of the Virginia Lotteries in March 1621*

The sudden cancellation of the Virginia lotteries during the first sitting of the parliament of 1621 was not part of a general parliamentary attack on monopolies but a calculated political act intended to pressure the Virginia Company of London to pay more taxes than required by its charter of 1612. The appropriate context for considering the cancellation is the financial difficulties of James I and the search for funds by Sir Lionel Cranfield. The cancellation coincided with a rejection of a new charter for the company, possibly incited by Count Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador in England. The cancellation of the lotteries was the most important turning point in the history of Jamestown and started the company on its downward spiral.     

Capacity for Freedom – Using a New Poverty Measure to Look at Regional Differences in Living Standards within Australia

Using a recently developed measure of multidimensional poverty, the Freedom Poverty Measure, the difference in poverty rates of major cities, inner regional, and other areas have been compared. The population living in ‘other areas’ had the highest proportion of individuals living in freedom poverty. Those in inner regional areas (P = 0.0303) and those in major cities (P < 0.0001) were significantly less likely to be in freedom poverty than those in ‘other areas’. However, when breaking the analysis down to look at the different poverty rates for different age groups across the three regional classifications, it was found that there was no difference in the likelihood of being in freedom poverty between children in inner regional and other areas, adults in inner regional and other areas, and older people in inner regional and other areas. This may indicate that the disadvantage experienced by those living in regional centres has been overlooked in the past and is an emerging contemporary issue for health and education equity as well as economic equality.     

Risking Connection Across Difference: Reply to Sokal and Smith

William W. Howells. Evolution of the Genus Homo. Reading, Mass.: Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1973. 180 pp. Illustrations, Bibliography, and index. $3.95 (paper).

Frank E. Poirier. Fossil Man: An Evolutionary Journey. St. Louis: C. V. Mosby Company, 1973. xvii + 219 pp. Illustrations, bibliography, glossary, and index. $6.50 (paper).     

Between Worlds: Considering Celtic feminine identities in The Secret of Roan Inish

This article explores the ways in which Celtic oral traditions concerning the 'place' of women are replayed within a contemporary textual form, namely the 1995 film, The Secret of Roan Inish. Through an examination of the representation of gender relations within the film, we address how the incorporation of mythic elements is intended to provide a sense of female 'empowerment'. While the film has been praised for its positive portrayal of Irish Celtic women, we suggest that the various qualities of strength associated with the female lead characters are expressed within the context of a discursive framework that valorizes certain roles and behavior as 'natural' at the expense of other modes of life, and, further, ties the construction of subject identities into a fixed, or essentialist, notion of 'place'. Rather than presume that this filmic vision of Irish Celtic feminine identities is intrinsically regressive, however, we note that in our act of viewing Roan Inish those identities are recontextualized further in, we hope, a progressive, post-structuralist manner.     

FUNCTION AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF FLINT ARTIFACTS FROM PINCEVENT SECTION 36 LEVEL IV 40

Summary. A recently excavated Magdalenian habitation at Pincevent (Seine-et-Marne, France) provided flint material, which is the subject of a new functional analysis. The analysis is built upon and compared with previous work on the technology and functions of stone tools at Pincevent and other European sites. The new sample is very fresh and, therefore, unbiased by the effects of differential preservation. The artifacts, distributed around a hearth, show uses associated predominantly with hide, suggesting that the locality may be an 'extensive', or out-lying activity area, rather than a domestic living floor. A fuller interpretation will be possible after all of the archaeological results have been integrated.