The role of policy narrators during crisis: A micro-level analysis of the sourcing,synthesizing, and sharing of policy narratives in rural Texas

How do policymakers respond to crises? The Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) answers this question by focusing on the contest over policy narratives. This paper focuses on the individuals constructing those policy narratives, conceptualizing them as policy narrators. Using a case study approach, we analyze seven counties located in a major oil and gas formation in Texas, which in early 2020 faced both an oil bust and the onset of COVID-19. We explore four sets of propositions about how policy narrators source, synthesize, and share their policy narratives. We find that while their narratives vary, the structure of those narratives is similar; their backgrounds shape how they source narratives, and they tailor their levels of narrative breach to the action (or inaction) they hope for. They avoid casting other local actors as villains, place their audience as the hero, and situate themselves as either supporting or a member of that audience, stressing their common ties. From these findings, we put forward a working definition of policy narrators, identify how they fit into the NPF, and discuss how they relate to other types of policy actors, including policy entrepreneurs.     

Rodent-based age appraisal of the Lower Siwalik Subgroup of Kalaunta,Ramnagar, Jammu,India

Parmar, V., Magotra, R., Norboo, R. & Prasad, G.V.R., July 2016. Rodent-based age appraisal of the Lower Siwalik Subgroup of Kalaunta, Ramnagar, Jammu, India. Alcheringa 41, xx-xx. ISSN 0311-5518.

Rocks of the Lower Siwalik Subgroup exposed around Ramnagar town in Jammu, India, have been known for more than 90 years to yield Chinji-equivalent (14.2–11.2 Ma) hominoid fossils. In 1997, the fossil ape Sivapithecus reported near Kalaunta village in the vicinity of Ramnagar was argued to be about 18 Ma old by its discoverers. This had implications for hominoid evolutionary studies, as molecular clock calibrations are commonly based on Sivapithecus first appearance datum (FAD). In a paper published in 2010, the identification of this hominoid tooth was questioned and reassigned to a suid. Recently, based upon the discovery of an indeterminate fossil bovid from the supposedly hominoid-yielding site near Kalaunta, an age estimate between ca 13.9 and 10.8 Ma was provided. As rodent biochronology has proven to be useful in age assignment of upper Cenozoic terrestrial sequences, the age of the fossil-bearing Lower Siwalik Subgroup of Kalaunta is re-assessed based upon newly recovered cricetid taxa. The cricetid rodents from this site comprise Punjabemys downsi and P. mikros. These two species are known to exist in the well-dated Potwar Siwalik Group succession between 14.3 and 12.6 Ma and between 16.3 and 13.0 Ma, respectively. Based on the overlapping temporal ranges of the cricetid taxa and an indeterminate Bovidae (ca 13.9–10.8 Ma) reported previously from this area, an age of 13.9–13.0 Ma is inferred for rocks occurring in the vicinity of Kalaunta. The new finds refute earlier claims of rocks in the area extending back to ca 18 Ma or as young as 10.8 Ma.

Varun Parmar [varunparmarvp@gmail.com], Rahul Magotra [rahulmagotra01@gmail.com] and Rigzin Norboo [norboo04@gmail.com], Post Graduate Department of Geology, University of Jammu, Jammu, 180 006, India; Guntupalli Veera Raghavendra Prasad [guntupalli.vrprasad@gmail.com], Department of Geology, Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110 007, India.     

Mineralogical and Mechanical Properties of Masonry and Mortars of the Lucknow Monuments Circa the 18th Century

The Lucknow monuments of the 18th century are large masonry structures built using thin burnt-clay bricks (Lakhauri) and lime-crushed brick aggregate (surkhi) mortars. Investigations were carried out to characterize the engineering properties of old masonry materials and new mortars being used for renovation work. Mechanical properties of reclaimed Lakhauri bricks were found comparable to good quality contemporary bricks of the region. Moreover, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS) analyses indicated that mineralogical composition is not too different, except for few minerals. The lime-surkhi mortar used in old masonry work was found to be lime-rich with binder to aggregate ratio of approximately 1:2 to 3 by volume. The renovation mortar had poor hydraulic property as compared to old mortars indicated by thermal gravimetric analysis–differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA) analyses. The compressive behavior of multi-wythe recreated Lakhauri masonry prisms was characterized with low compressive strength, low modulus, and significant deformability which result in lower stress demands imposed on the structural assemblages by various environmental forces.