The Baptism of an Indian Juggler: Event and Narrative in the Swedish Press, 1827–1852

In 1827, an Indian juggler named Mooty Madua Samme converted to Christianity in Stockholm, Sweden. This historical event got much attention in the press at the time – as did his succeeding marriage to a Swedish woman named Erica – and was celebrated as a victory for the Evangelical Lutheran faith. Later, in the 1840s, a narrative depicting the event spread via a travelogue by Xavier Marmier, which was translated and mediated through the Swedish press, and reacted to by Samme's priest; in the 1850s, Samme's name surfaced again – now in context of the contemporary freedom of religion debates in Sweden. In this article, we explore Samme's baptism (and interrelatedly, his marriage) by looking at newspaper mediations of the event and the related narratives. Seen from a microhistorical perspective, we show how Samme's conversion and religious otherness was utilised in contemporary religious and political discussions, and we argue that the event and narratives surrounding the baptism can augment our understanding of the Swedish nineteenth century religio-cultural landscape in which he was situated.     

Updating Numerical Models of Masonry Arch Bridges by Operational Modal Analysis

This article aims at presenting and discussing the strategies for updating the finite element numerical modeling of stone masonry arch bridges using operational modal analysis. The study comprehended three bridges: two old ones, the St. Lázaro and the Lagoncinha bridges, and a recently constructed bridge in Vila Fria, Portugal. Updating of the bridge models is performed by comparing the numerical and experimental modal parameters. Three-dimensional detailed numerical models are used to perform modal analysis of the bridges. Experimental modal identification of the bridges is based on the measurement of their acceleration responses during normal operation. The assigned material properties are also based on available results obtained from in situ and laboratory tests and on the results of visual inspection and historical research carried out for both old bridges.     

External Financial Liberalization and Macroeconomic Performance in Emerging Countries: An Empirical Evaluation of the Brazilian Case

This article evaluates the effects of external financial liberalization on Brazilian macroeconomic performance from 1995 to 2016. Its main contributions are to assess the influence of the global financial cycle on the level of external financial liberalization and to analyse the short- and long-run macroeconomic effects of such liberalization on the performance of a peripheral economy in the global currency hierarchy. Methodologically, the article employs the Markov-Switching Vector Autoregressive and Vector Error Correction models. The results show that the global financial cycle directly affects cross-border financial flows and frames the impact of external financial liberalization on the macroeconomic performance. The article concludes that external financial liberalization has negative macroeconomic effects in the short run and generates a trade-off between stability and growth in the long run.     

Late Palaeozoic South American pectinids revised: biostratigraphical and palaeogeographical implications

Neves, J.P., Anelli, L.E., Pagani, M.A. & Simões, M.G., 2014. Late Palaeozoic South American pectinids revised: biostratigraphical and palaeogeographical implications. Alcheringa 38 ISSN 0311-5518.

A revision of the late Palaeozoic South American pectinid Heteropecten multiscalptus (Thomas) and the establishment of Heteropecten paranaensis sp. nov. have important implications for the relationship between faunal realms within South America. Late Palaeozoic bivalve faunas occur in three distinct realms in South America: a Central Gondwanic Realm with endemic taxa showing affinities to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Namibia, a cold Perigondwanic Realm, and a warm Extragondwanic Realm with tethyan-like affinities similar to faunas of the American Midcontinent. In South America, faunas east of the southern Andes belong to the first two realms and previous interpretations of bivalve faunas suggested biocorrelations with those of the Extragondwanic Realm because they shared the taxon Heteropecten multiscalptus (Thomas). A revision of the Peruvian and Brazilian material does not confirm this. Instead, a re-analysis suggests that two species are present, rather than one: Heteropecten multiscalptus in the Cerro Prieto Formation, Amotape Mountains (Peru; Extragondwanic Realm), and Heteropecten paranaensis sp. nov. in the upper part of the Itararé Group, Paraná Basin (Brazil; Central Gondwanic Realm). Thus, the correlation between the late Palaeozoic faunas of the Central Gondwanic and Extragondwanic Realms in South America can no longer be supported. Heteropecten paranaensis sp. nov. lived in a siliciclastic-dominated, cold, epeiric sea of Brazil and Argentina, and is morphologically similar to some Australian species, whereas the Peruvian H. multiscalptus thrived in the warm seas of the Extragondwanic Realm.

Jacqueline P. Neves [nevesjp.unesp@gmail.com], Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro campus, SP, Brazil, 13506-900; Luiz E. Anelli [anelli@usp.br], Instituto de Geociências, Universidade de São Paulo, 05508–080, Brazil; M. Alejandra Pagani, [apagani@mef.org.ar], CONICET-Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF), U9100GYO, Chubut, Argentina; Marcello, G. Simões [profmgsimoes@gmail.com], Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu campus, SP, 18618-970, Brazil. Received 19.7.2013; revised 12.11.2013; accepted 19.11.2013     

The Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in Southeastern Central Europe (Czechoslovakia and Hungary)

Southeastern Central Europe is quite rich in finds of progressive Neandertals from Middle Paleolithic contexts and early modern humans associated with evolved Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian and Pavlovian). There are no human fossils that can be related to the transitional Middle-Upper Paleolithic units (the Bohunician and the Szeletian); thus, from anthropology we know only that the transitional period began with Neandertals and ended with modern humans. The archaeological record is more complex. The Jankovichian industries of Hungary differ from the mostly non-Levallois Middle Paleolithic of Central Europe in the presence of some Levallois; they seem to be technologically related to the Levallois-Leptolithic Bohunician industries of Moravia, dated to 43,000–38,000 B.P., which are the first transitional Upper Paleolithic unit. The appearance of the Szeletian before 42,000 B.P. in Hungary and at about 39,000 in Moravia represents a technological variation of the transition, although retaining marked local Middle Paleolithic elements. The date of the appearance of the typical Aurignacian, the first culture clearly related to modern humans, is unclear, but it certainly developed after 36,000 B.P. and has several dates between 35,000 and 30,000 B.P.     

Trafficking in US Agriculture

Based on a qualitative methodology that includes in‐depth interviews with 90 Mexican migrant smugglers and 45 Central American farmworkers, this article analyzes the three separate elements of trafficking in US agriculture, namely acts, means, and purposes. We conclude that some US employers participate in human trafficking by financing or helping to recruit and transport Mexican and Central American migrants to the US by means of “abuse of a position of vulnerability” for the purposes of involuntary servitude, debt bondage, and sex exploitation.     

Faeces deposition on Amazonian Anthrosols as assessed from 5β-stanols

In the Amazon Basin, within a landscape of infertile soils, fertile Anthrosols of pre-Columbian origin occur (Amazonian Dark Earths or terra preta de Índio). These soils are characterized by high amounts of charred organic matter (black carbon, biochar) and high nutrient stocks. Frequently, they were considered as sign for intensive landscape domestication by way of sedentary agriculture and as sign for large settlements in pre-Columbian Amazonia. Beyond the archaeological interest in Amazonian Dark Earths, they increasingly receive attention because it is assumed that they could serve as a model for sustainable agriculture in the humid tropics (terra preta nova). Both questions lack information about the pre-Columbian practices which were responsible for the genesis of Amazonian Dark Earths. It has often been hypothesized that deposition of faeces could have contributed to the high nutrient stocks in these soils, but no study has focussed on this question yet. We analyzed the biomarkers for faeces 5β-stanols as well as their precursors and their 5α-isomers in Amazonian Dark Earths and reference soils to investigate the input of faeces into Amazonian Dark Earths. Using Amazonian Dark Earths as example, we discuss the application of threshold values for specific stanols to evaluate faeces deposition in archaeological soils and demonstrate an alternative approach which is based on a comparison of the concentration patterns of 5β-stanols with the concentration patterns of their precursors and their 5α-isomers as well as with local backgrounds. The concentration patterns of sterols show that faeces were deposited on Amazonian Dark Earths.