CHANGING PUBLIC ATTITUDES ABOUT PUBLIC WELFARE CLIENTS AND SERVICES THROUGH RESEARCH

Research findings aye useful in interpreting the widely misunderstood services of public welfare departments to the public. This article describes three research projects that were conducted and publicized by a state welfare department primarily to clarify public understanding of welfare programs. The three projects examined the characteristics of a special allowance given families to purchase school clothing for their children, the rate of turnover of Aid to Families with Dependent Children cases, and the numbers of and reasons for public employees receiving assistance from a state welfare department. Strategies for dealing with the media in interpreting public welfare programs are also suggested.     

近代中国大同思想的比较研究及其启示

大同思想是中国传统文化中的瑰宝.中国近代以洪秀全、康有为和孙中山为代表的不同阶级、阶层的先进人士,围绕"中国向何处去"的时代主题,在探索救国救民的征途中,设计了三种各具特色的大同理想方案.它们之间既有联系又有区别,是多种因素综合作用的结果.洪秀全、康有为和孙中山三人大同思想的演进更替过程,具有很强的历史继承性和内在的逻辑性,体现了近代中国乐观主义的时代气质.     

DATING OF THE HOMINID (HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS) REMAINS ACCUMULATION FROM EL SIDRÓN CAVE (PILOÑA,ASTURIAS, NORTH SPAIN): AN EXAMPLE OF A MULTI‐METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE DATING OF UPPER PLEISTOCENE SITES

The age of Neanderthal remains and associated sediments from El Sidrón cave has been obtained through different dating methods (¹⁴CAMS, U/TH, OSL, ESR and AAR) and samples (charcoal debris, bone, tooth dentine, stalagmitic flowstone, carbonate‐rich sediments, sedimentary quartz grains, tooth enamel and land snail shells). Detrital Th contamination rendered Th/U dating analyses of flowstone unreliable. Recent ¹⁴C contamination produced spurious age‐values from charcoal samples as well as from inadequately pretreated tooth samples. Most consistent ¹⁴C dates are grouped into two series: one between 35 and 40 ka and the other between 48 and 49 ka. Most ESR and AAR samples yielded concordant ages, ranging between 39 and 45 ka; OSL dating results permitted adequate bracketing of the sedimentary layer that contained the human remains. Our results emphasize the value of multi‐dating approaches for the establishment of reliable chronologies of human remains.     

A NEW DATE FOR THE NEANDERTHALS FROM EL SIDRÓN CAVE (ASTURIAS,NORTHERN SPAIN)*

Torres et al. (2010 ) published a series of radiocarbon, AAR, ESR and OSL dates from the site of El Sidrón, northern Spain, which is notable for the discovery of the partial remains of 12 Neanderthals. Whilst the non‐radiocarbon methods suggested an age beyond 32 600–46 300 years, direct radiocarbon dates on the human fossils were inconsistent, ranging between 10 000 and 50 000 bp . This study uses the ultrafiltration pre‐treatment protocol to obtain a date of 48 400 ± 3200 bp (OxA‐21 776) on a bone fragment and confirm the antiquity of the Neanderthal assemblage. Moreover, it demonstrates the comparability of the ultrafiltration and ninhydrin bone radiocarbon pre‐treatment protocols, and highlights the need for appropriate screening methods where valuable collections with poor biomolecular preservation are sampled for collagen extraction.