A Box Containing Carpenter's Accessories from The Akko 1 Shipwreck,Israel: Archaeometallurgical Analysis of Surviving Ironwork

The Akko 1 shipwreck was an Egyptian armed vessel, built at the beginning of the 19th century. A wooden saw handle and a box containing iron nails and two split pins were discovered towards the stern. Given their function, location and context, these were part of the ship's carpenter's tools and accessories. A methodology was developed for conducting systematic metallurgical analysis in order to understand the manufacturing process of the surviving ironwork items, as well as to enlarge our knowledge regarding ironworking technologies during the early 19th century. Such methodology may assist in the future understanding of the technological evolution of similar wrought‐iron objects. The results demonstrated that the artefacts have a wrought‐iron heterogeneous microstructure and were manufactured by hot‐working prior to surface hardening by pack carburization.     

The Effect of NAFTA on Energy and Environmental Efficiency in Mexico

Prior to Mexico's entry to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), predictions of the consequent impact on the environment in that country ranged from the dire to very optimistic. This article investigates NAFTA's outcomes in terms of energy use and the emission of atmospheric pollutants. Specifically, has entry into NAFTA led to a convergence or divergence in indicators of emissions, environmental efficiency, and emissions‐specific technology in Mexico, the United States, and Canada? A battery of tests is applied to these indicators for energy use and carbon, sulfur, and NOx emissions in the three countries. The results show that the extreme predictions of the outcomes of NAFTA have not materialized. Rather, trends that were already present before the introduction of NAFTA continue and, in some cases, improve post‐NAFTA, but not yet in a dramatic way. There is strong evidence of convergence across the three countries toward a lower intensity of energy use and emissions per unit of GDP. Although intensity is rising initially for some variables in Mexico, it eventually begins to fall post‐NAFTA. Per capita emissions of sulfur and NOx also show convergence, but this is not the case for energy and carbon, and the latter variables also drift moderately upwards. The state of technology in energy efficiency and sulfur abatement is improving in all countries, although there is little, if any, sign of convergence and NAFTA has no effect on the rate of technology diffusion. However, total energy use and carbon emissions increase both pre‐ and post‐NAFTA and total NOx emissions increase in Mexico. Only total sulfur emissions are stable and falling in all three NAFTA partners.     

Dysentery in the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem: an ELISA analysis of two medieval latrines in the City of Acre (Israel)

Dysentery was a significant cause of ill health during medieval times according to written sources of the period. However, it has been very difficult to detect the organisms that cause dysentery in archaeological samples from latrines and cesspools. This is because the cysts of the enteric parasites that cause dysentery are very small and usually fragment in the soil, in contrast to the robust ova of parasitic intestinal worms. This study uses a monoclonal enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique to identify the fragments of those enteric parasites that cause diarrhoea. Samples were taken from two excavated medieval latrines in the city of Acre. Coins and radiocarbon dating suggest that the latrines were in use during the thirteenth century CE. Positive results were noted for Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia duodenalis, while Cryptosporidium parvum was negative. This is the first time that either of these parasites have been identified in the Middle East using these methods.     

Reminiscences of the Solicitor General's Office

A few years ago Danielle Stern suggested to her grandfather that as the oldest member of the family, he ought to put down his memories of both the family and of his law practice. Stern did, and in it he describes various members of the family, and how he came to go to Harvard Law School, graduating in 1932 during the Great Depression. Although he had been an editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude, the major New York firms passed him by because he was a Jew. He did manage to get a job with a small law firm at $25 a week, and about a year later went to Washington to join the New Deal. We are pleased to present that part of Mr. Stern s memoirs that deals with his years in the Justice Department and then in the Solicitor General s office.     

Origins of the Creutzfeldt and Jakob concept

A review of the publications of Hans Creutzfeldt and Alfons Jakob pertaining to the concept which bears their name (CJD) reveals that they described a neuropathological syndrome and were opposed to its classification as a neurological disease. The evidence on which Creutzfeldt and Jakob based their view is reevaluated, and studies by other workers are cited in which a range of environmental and genetic factors generated the CJ syndrome, challenging the proposition that CJD is a disease with a single cause.     

The Formation of a Composite Urban Image

Since image formation depends on the cognitive organization of perceptions, a change in the individual's available cognitive structure may affect his or her perceptual selectivity. This, in turn, might lead to a reconstruction of the image through selected fields of attention. Although this process is widely accepted, little is known of its neurophysiology, and the formation of an image, therefore, is drawn inferentially from introspective reports. This paper presents, accordingly, a conception of image formation and tests it with a model presenting paths among locational and nonlocational environmental stimuli and an introspective measure of a composite urban image. Changes in the paths due to information and personal attributes that reflect different realms (for example, fields of attention) are further examined with an expanded version of the model. Across the realms, the perceived residential appeal and the perceived level of activities are the main determinants of the composite urban image. Information and personal attributes not only affect the mix of image determinants, but also rearrange their relative effects on the emerging image.     

Eisenhower and Kennedy: A Comparison of Confrontations at Little Rock and Ole Miss

The purpose of this study is to assess the ways in which President Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy reacted to the civil rights crises in Little Rock in 1957 and at Ole Miss in 1962. A side theme is to assess presidential learning by seeing whet Kennedy learned from the lessons taught by Eisenhower. Each president was reluctant to commit federal troops to enforcing civil rights, was concerned about the problems associated with federalism, and ended up feeling forced to commit troops nonetheless. The message is that despite the presidents' best intentions, troops ultimately had to be committed. Kennedy was unable to avoid the traps that Eisenhower had encountered, and the imposition of the national government on the enforcement of civil rights was firmly established.     

COMPOSITIONAL VARIATIONS IN AGED AND HEATED PISTACIA RESIN FOUND IN LATE BRONZE AGE CANAANITE AMPHORAE AND BOWLS FROM AMARNA,EGYPT*

This study examines resinous deposits from the interior surfaces of sherds of imported Canaanite amphorae and locally produced bowls from the 18th Dynasty site of Tell el‐Amarna, Egypt. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Canaanite amphorae were used for resin transport, whilst the bowls are associated with burning resin as incense. A number of characteristic triterpenoids identify all the resinous deposits from both vessel types as Pistacia spp. No other resins were observed and there was no evidence of mixing with oils or fats. The composition of the archaeological resins is more complex than that of modern pistacia resin, due to degradation and generation of new components. Experimental heating alters the relative abundance of the triterpenoid composition of modern pistacia resin. One component, the triterpenoid 28‐norolean‐17‐en‐3‐one, is produced by such heating; however, an increase in its relative abundance in ancient samples is not matched by the archaeological evidence for heating. It is therefore not possible to use this component reliably to identify heated resin. However, additional unidentified components with a mass spectral base peak at m/z 453 have been associated with seven (out of 10) bowls and are not observed in resins associated with Canaanite amphorae. It is proposed that these components are more reliable molecular indicators of heating.