bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Is there a cost of parasites to caribou?
Authors: HUGHES J. , ALBON S. D. , IRVINE R. J. , WOODIN S.
Published: December 2008

Macroparasites potentially play a significant but often ignored role in the ecology and dynamics of wild ruminant populations. In the Arctic, parasites may impact on host populations by exacerbating the effects of seasonal and limited forage availability on the condition, fecundity and survival of individuals. We studied the effects of abomasal nematode parasites and warble flies,Hypoderma tarandi, on condition and pregnancy of caribouRangifer tarandusin the Dolphin-Union herd, Nunavut, Canada. By the end of winter, female caribou over 2 years old showed a significant decrease in body weight with increasing nematode burden, and a decrease in back fat depth with increasing warble abundance. These effects were exaggerated in the non-pregnant fraction of the population. High warble larvae burdens were also associated with significantly reduced probability of being pregnant. Our research demonstrates a negative relationship between parasites and caribou condition that may have consequences for their fitness. Additionally, we discuss the possibility that muskoxOvibos moschatusshare some parasite species with the caribou and could lead to elevated burdens in the sympatric host. Parasites may have been a contributory factor in a previous winter range-shift of the caribou herd and this may reflect a form of apparent competition between the two ungulate species.
An anomaly against a current paradigm – extremely low rates of individual fecundity variability of the Gordian worm (Nematomorpha: Gordiida)
Authors: HANELT B.
Published: December 2008

Extreme variation in reproductive success (VRS) has been reported as a common feature of populations. Few individuals producing most of the offspring for the next generation has potential consequences for the population dynamics, genetics, and evolution of a group of organisms. High VRS has been described as a normal feature of helminth populations, although studies have focused largely on parasites of vertebrate hosts. Paragordius varius, a parasite of crickets, was used as a model system to study VRS. In this life cycle, worms absorb and store resources for reproduction from their hosts before being released into water. Egg output varied significantly with worm length, indicating that female length is an excellent predictor of fecundity. Analyses using the Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient suggest that there were no marked fecundity differences. This result was supported by data collected from a natural gordiid population, Gordius difficilis, suggesting that within gordiid populations the offspring of the next generation are contributed nearly equally by females. In addition, male body length appeared to be limited by intensity, whereas females showed no length limitation by crowding. These results contrast previous studies of parasites.
‘Community’, semiotic flows, and mediated contribution to activity
Authors: Thorne Steven L.
Published: December 2008

This article begins with an overview and problematization of the term community through a brief assessment of its history, diverse uses, core attributes, heterogeneous elements, and collocational companions. Following this, I describe demographics and processes associated with collective engagement in digitally mediated environments. Utilizing select alternatives to the term ‘community’ and incorporating the cultural-historical notions of mediation and activity, I then present research describing exogenous influences affecting educational uses of technology in L2 settings, the use of instant messaging and blogging for out-of-class FL interaction at the secondary school level, and a pedagogically focused example of a remixing text posted to an online fan fiction website. I conclude by proposing bridging activities as an approach for connecting the emergent logics of digital vernaculars with the analytics of formal schooling.
Linguistic Modality as Expressions of Social Power
Authors: Winter Simon , Gärdenfors Peter
Published: December 2008

The semantics of the linguistic modals is argued to be determined mainly by the power structure of the participants in the interaction. In the deontic uses of the modals, another determining factor is the expectations of the participants' attitudes towards the relevant action. By viewing the evidence as a power in its own right, our analysis can be generalized to the epistemic uses in a coherent way. The epistemic uses are seen as pragmatic strengthenings of the deontic uses, rather than as metaphorical mappings.
Counting Objectis. A Dubious Constraint on Norwegian pronominalization
Authors: Hagen Jon Erik
Published: December 2008

An interesting restriction on Norwegian identity-of-sense anaphoric reference when the anaphor occurs as second object is discussed. Fretheim (1974) proposed to account for this by a global rule constraining pronominalization in such contexts, and claimed that the necessity of this constraint renders any interpretive account of identity-of-sense anaphoric reference untenable. The present paper purports to demonstrate the contrary, that Fretheim's observations in fact provide support for an interpretive theory of identify-of-sense anaphora as far as Norwegian is concerned.
The Problem of Merger
Authors: Ringgaard K.
Published: December 2008

The paper discusses the problem of merger. Examples are taken from the development of the Scandinavian languages, especially the retention or disappearance of tones. The author argues that merger is not necessarily followed by a structural change to compensate for the loss of information, even if the merger is on a large scale. If there is a causal connection, the author prefers to see it the other way round; the merger may take place when other means of discrimination already exist.
Nordic Umlaut and Breaking Thirty Years of Research (1951–1980)
Authors: Benediktsson Hreinn
Published: December 2008

The article contains a critical survey of Nordic umlaut research during the last thirty years. An attempt is made to evaluate the various contributions to this research which have been based, alternately, on structural generative phonological theory; in contrast to the earlier heavily datae-based research, recent work in this field has indeed been more exclusively theory- oriented. that the results of these ene deavors have on the whole not been commensurate with the effort; in spite of the evident optimism which, at certain times at any rate, has dominated this research, it apperars indeed that some of the traditional or classical problems of Nordic umlaut research tend to persist, or continually toreappear, in one guise or another, and thus to continue to defy a convincing solution.
Om preposisjonens syntaktiske status i de såkalte ≪transitive verbalgrupper≫ i norsk
Authors: Askedal John Ole
Published: December 2008

The present article aims to show that the prepositions in so-called “transitive verb groups” in Norwegian, like, e.g., på and til in passe på and ta hensyn til, respectively, are not to be conflated with the real verb particles in cases like drikke opp etc. The two groups of words have quite distinct semantico syntactic properties. In particular, the NP constituent in cases like drikke opp vinen is subject to the well-known non-specificity condition at work in Norwegian impersonal passive constructions with a purely formal subject det, whereas its counterpart in cases like passe på hunden is not. This difference is readily accounted for if it is assumed that prepositions are a rudimentary species of one-place predicates, where the one argument to be found cannot be classified as either a logical or syntactic subject or object.
Consonant Strength Hierarchies and Danish
Authors: Bauer Laurie
Published: December 2008

This article uses evidence from Danish to test the hierarchies of consonant strength set up in Foley (1977). It is argued that Danish provides evidence to show that the α hierarchy (the hierarchy based on place of articulation) cannot be universal, and may not have any predictive power. There is also some evidence to suggest that some of Foley's other hierarchies may require some minor changes.
Subjekt—Sobjekt? Eine Diskussion der Subjektsdefinition im Dänischen
Authors: Jakobsen Lisbeth Falster , Olsen Jørgen
Published: December 2008

Through a critical exposition of the essential literature on the concept of “subject” in Danish it is demonstrated that the subject properties which are put forward there — and which are related to different levels of description: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics — are mutually incongruous. We argue that it is only possible to define the subject as a collection of features drawn from several levels. On the basis of the feature collection which we postulate the problem “subject as sentence constituent” is incorporated into the valency model, and in this connection a distinction is made between the abstract valency-conditioned entity and its realization in given sentence patterns. Sentence constituents are entities which can be defined only for sentence patterns.
Der
Authors: Erteschik-Shir Nomi
Published: December 2008

This paper presents a unified account of the distribution of Danishderwithin the framework of Government and Binding, analyzingderas a subject filler. The existence of empty subjects in cases of extraction out of embedded questions is explained by assuming proper government by AGR, not due to verbal inflection as in pro-drop languages, but rather due to the absorption by AGR of the features of an empty co-superscripted postverbal position.
On Ergativity in Modern Norwegian
Authors: Askedal John Ole
Published: December 2008

The present paper deals with the syntactic status of the indefinite NP in Norwegian existential-presentative constructions with a formal subject det in a typological perspective. It is argued that the NP in question is identifiable as a syntactic object both on account of its behaviour and control properties and its coding properties. Moreover, this analysis parallels Itkonen's description of “existential subjects” in Finnish as belonging to an “inverted ergative system”, which is clearly relationally different from the two kinds of ergativity systems described elsewhere in the literature.
Constraints on Code-Switching: Evidence from Swedish and English
Authors: Schmid Beata
Published: December 2008

In this paper, I have shown that Joshi's (1982) framework of codeswitching constraints can largely be applied to Swedish-English code-switches. I feel qualified to conclude that Joshi's claims concerning the non-switchability of closed class items and matrix language and embedded languages are held up by the Swedish- English data. The need for corresponding categories proved to be less clear-cut than originally proposed by Woolford (1983) and others. It seems that optimal switching conditions are given if the categories, rules and metarules correspond in the two languages. Apparently, however, it is also possible to switch if the node admissibility conditions for the matrix language only are met, as was shown by code-switched sentences containing RPs. This requires that the speaker has a clear sense of which language is the host and which is embedded. Rules from the embedded language only are not acceptable. This calls for some sort of determination strategy by the parser. I found no evidence for determining Lm at any specific point in the sentence, except at the topmost S. Rather, the judgments by code-switchers that a sentence “comes from” one language seems to coincide with the fact that the resulting sentence is based on the rules from that language. Other than that, the matrix language is determined by the communicative context as a whole.

The data involving RPs also seemed to indicate that RPs are not separate ategories, but are NPs, introduced by a “de-slashing” rule (Sells 1984). If they were separate categories, this would be evidence for there being no need for category equivalence. In this case, we would have to explicitly state all other cases which require category equivalence (the majority of cases), which is undesirable.
Verb Second—Predication or Unification?
Authors: Cooper Robin
Published: December 2008

This paper reports work in progress. It concerns the relationship in Germanic languages between the sentence initial constituent XP, and the rest of the sentence S, assuming a rule S → XP S. An informal proposal is presented, according to which that relationship is better characterized in terms of the notion of unification than that of predication. The author is currently working with Elisabet Engdahl on producing a precise grammar of some long distance dependency constructions which should be able to embody the ideas sketched here.
Unification as a Grammatical Tool
Authors: Carlson Lauri , Linden Krister
Published: December 2008

The present paper is an introduction to unification as a formalism for writing grammars for natural languages. The paper is structured as follows. Section 1 briefly describes the history and the current scene of unification based grammar formalisms. Sections 2–3 describe the basic design of current formalisms. Section 4 constitutes a tutorial introduction to a representative unification based grammar formalism, the D–PATR system of Karttunen (1986). Sections 5—6 consider extensions of the unification formalism and its limitations. Section 7 examines implementation questions and addresses the question of the computational complexity of unification. — Some notes on terminology.
Lexical Overgeneration in Icelandic
Authors: Stong Margaret
Published: December 2008

Bound neuter i-stems in Modern Icelandic, which occur as heads of compounds in for examplesalanguryroi‘slang word’, support an overgenerating model of the lexicon. Bound stems are shown to be generated as constituents at level 1 of the lexicon and combined to form compounds at level 2. Bound stems are blocked from becoming inputs to the syntax by the Avoid Synonymy principle (Kiparsky 1983), revised as a constraint on the output of the lexicon as a whole. Because Avoid Synonymy operates in lexical Logical Form, it has access to word-internal structure at each lexical level. The revised version of Avoid Synonymy is given additional support from Icelandic and English.
General Purpose Semantics: Hyponymy and Generic Relationships
Authors: Ruus Hanne
Published: December 2008

The paper examines the concept of semantic subordination in terminology and lexical semantics. Although the two traditions differ in their view of language, their inventories of semantic relations are very similar. It is shown that the defining characteristics of the generic relationships from the principles of terminology correspond to most of the salient features of contrast sets. It is argued that the onomasiological dictionaries constitute a valuable collection of data on the semantic relationships in the general language. Examples are given fromDansk Begrebsordbog. It is claimed that the registration of contrast sets is one step towards an operational definition of word sense.
Speech Management—on the Non-written Life of Speech
Authors: Allwood Jens , Nivre Joakim , Ahlsén Elisabeth
Published: December 2008

This paper introduces the concept of speech management (SM), which refers to processes whereby a speaker manages his or her linguistic contributions to a communicative interaction, and which involves phenomena which have previously been studied under such rubrics as “planning”, “editing”, “(self-)repair”, etc. It is argued that SM phenomena exhibit considerable systematicity and regularity and must be considered part of the linguistic system. Furthermore, it is argued that SM phenomena must be related not only to such intraindividual factors as planning and memory, but also to interactional factors such as turntaking and feedback, and to informational content. Structural and functional taxonomies are presented together with a formal description of complex types of SM. The structural types are exemplified with data from a corpus of SM phenomena.
The Analysis of Language According to Carl Svedelius
Authors: Kuure Olli
Published: December 2008

The work of a Swedish linguist, Carl Svedelius (1861–1951), though fairly brief and unaccomplished as it was, deserves a closer look from the point of view of today's linguistics. Svedelius himself characterized his own approach with the term “den verklighetsbetonade eller funktionalistiska språ;kanalysen”-i.e. he emphasized the referential or “real” and functional dimensions of language. Thus, the object of study should be “det sammanhängande språ;ket”, language as a whole. The basic unit in the comprehensive study of language is “une communication”, in modern terms,an utterance. Svedelius distinguishes two main categories of utterances:Utterances of process describedifferent events in life, whereasutterances of relationclassify and describe different phenomena in reality.
Consonant Clusters—Some Thoughts: Comment on Velta Rūķe-Draviņa's paper
Authors: Snow Catherine E.
Published: December 2008

In her paper “The acquisition process of consonantal clusters in the child: some universal rules?”, Velta Rūķe-Draviņa focuses on one of the oldest and most persistent issues in language development—the degree to which order of acquisition is governed by universals. An alternative way of formulating her question is: does one do a better job of predicting features of child language acquisition from knowing about the specific language being learned or from knowing about characteristics of all the world's languages? Suppose the language to be learned makes frequent use of a structure that is relatively rare in the world's languages, and thus presumably highly marked? Will the child learn the structure in question early because of its importance in the target language, or late because of its markedness?
A Case of Obligatory Access to Morphological Constituents
Authors: Libben Gary
Published: December 2008

This case study reports on a patient RS who showed obligatory and automatic access to the constituents of all English compounds. She would thus interpret the compoundblueprintas ‘a print that is blue’. She also showed interpretations that suggested a blending of the whole-word and decomposed meanings of compounds. The compoundseahorsewas interpreted as ‘a small horse that swims’. It is argued that her behaviour presents evidence in favour of a parallel access model of multimorphemic word recognition in which constituents and whole-word forms are simultaneously accessed. Within such a framework, RS's performance can be interpreted as resulting from the inability to suppress the results of morphological decomposition.
Typology Versus Mythology: The Case of the Zero-Copula
Authors: Stassen Leon
Published: December 2008

It is widely believed that copulas perform a mere grammatical function, as carriers of grammatical categories such as Tense, Mood and Aspect in sentences with non-verbal predicates. Accordingly, zero copulas are predicted to occur only in contexts where these grammatical categories are unmarked. This article argues that this view of copulas, and especially of zero copula encoding, is untenable as a principle of Universal Grammar. More generally, the article demonstrates how typological generalizations can be used as an evaluation measure for putative abstract principles of linguistic theory.
Why Norwegian Right-Dislocated Phrases are not Afterthoughts
Authors: Fretheim Thorstein
Published: December 2008

A right-dislocated phrase in Norwegian is either a full lexical phrase of the canonical sort, which is richer in semantic content than its coreferential intraclausal partner, or it is a pronoun which adds no semantic content that was not already present in the coreferential intraclausal phrase. A frequently occurring subcategory of right dislocation in Norwegian involves a lexical phrasein situand a coreferential dislocated pronoun. While an afterthought analysis of pronominal right-dislocated items may easily be dismissed offhand, an afterthought account of the canonical type of Norwegian right dislocation may seem initially plausible. However, on the basis of prosodic, syntactic and pragmatic criteria it is argued that there is no viable afterthought analysis of any subtype of right dislocation in Norwegian.
GPS-GLONASS-GALILEO: A Dynamical Comparison
Authors: Cojocaru Stelian , Birsan Eugen , Batrinca Ghiorghe , Arsenie Paulica
Published: December 2008

The new millennium brought an asymptotic interest in space technology. Besides existing operational global positioning systems i.e. GPS and GLONASS, another two have already emerged: GALILEO and Compass/Beidou. Alternatives to GPS imposed the GNSS concept, which has crystallized in a short time. The true reasoning of this excessive need for positioning information is beyond the scope of this paper; instead, an analysis of orbital behaviour of GPS, GLONASS and GALILEO is conducted. GNSS orbits have similar characteristics permitting us to encompass them under the term Medium Earth Orbits (MEO). However, small differences between mean orbital elements of the three systems produce a significantly different reaction of their satellites' orbits to the natural perturbing factors. This study analyzes the three space segment characteristics, introduces the analytical method used to evaluate variations of orbital elements under the most significant perturbing influences and offers a broad comparative image of the dynamic behaviour of the three GNSS constellations.
The Ship Domain – A Criterion of Navigational Safety Assessment in an Open Sea Area
Authors: Pietrzykowski Zbigniew , Uriasz Janusz
Published: December 2008

One of the basic tasks in shipping is to ensure safe navigation of vessels. The concept of the ship domain is of major importance in the assessment of a navigational situation and the avoidance of ship collisions. It is difficult to determine a ship domain as its shape and size depend on a number of factors. One question to be answered before the determination of the ship domain is which method to use: statistical, analytic, or expert method using artificial intelligence tools; other questions are connected with domain interpretation. The authors have analyzed the ship domain as a criterion for the assessment of ship navigational safety in an encounter situation in the open sea. The research results are used to answer some of the questions.

Part 2 includes definitions of the ship domain and ship fuzzy domain. Part 3, in turn, presents methods of their determination as well as relevant questions. The results of the authors' research, described in Part 4, make up a basis for the determination of the domain and ship fuzzy domain. These have been determined with the so-called dynamic domains as a point of departure. The criteria of ship domain and closest point of approach are compared and discussed. Encounters of various size ships are considered in Part 5. The research and its results are described. Both ship domains and ship fuzzy domains of encountering ships are analyzed. Then, conclusions have been formulated in relation to the effect of the sizes of encountering ships on the shapes and sizes of their domains. Final conclusions are given in Part 6.
The Taï Plaque and Calendrical Notation in the Upper Palaeolithic
Authors: Marshack Alexander
Published: December 2008

Analysis of the Taï plaque, the most complex Upper Palaeolithic composition, has revealed evidence of the problem-solving and visual cueing strategies involved in the accumulation of the marks. The composition consists of a boustrophedon sequence of short horizontal containing lines or sections, each of which carries irregular subsets of marks. The analysis proceeded in stages over a period of twenty years, initially with use of a microscope, but did not involve cross-sectional analysis or counting. The theoretical assumption guiding the analysis was that notations represent a cognitive form of visual problem-solving and structuring. A test of the sequence of containing lines and their subsets of marks suggested the notation on the Taï plaque was a non-arithmetic form of lunar/solar observational recording. The analysis, if validated, carries profound implications for our understanding of Upper Palaeolithic culture, and cultural features of the indigenous European population in the periods that followed.
Rock Art and the Perception of Landscape
Authors: Bradley Richard
Published: December 2008

Studies of the prehistoric landscape are best suited to the analysis of sedentary communities with enclosed resources. Studies of prehistoric art show different limitations, especially an excessive subjectivity. This paper attempts to bring these areas of research together by considering the changing content of rock art in relation to topography, the movement of people in the cultural landscape, and the operation of specialized kinds of monument. The characteristic designs found in the open air are analyzed in terms of their organization and visual impact, and the results of this pilot study are employed in a more detailed assessment of the positioning of prehistoric petroglyphs in two areas of Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Britain: Northumberland and Mid Argyll.
The Archaeology of Ancestors: The Saxe/Goldstein Hypothesis Revisited
Authors: Morris Ian
Published: December 2008

Since the mid-1980s, debates between competing schools of archaeological interpretation have become more theoretical and abstruse, moving away from confrontations over specific methods of analyzing our data. This article reopens arguments over one of the more controversial propositions of the New Archaeology - Saxe's claim that the emergence of formal cemeteries corresponds to the appearance of agnatic lineages monopolizing vital resources through inheritance. The hypothesis is examined in three ways: through a generalized ethnological model; through specific ethnographic data from Taiwan and Kenya; and through a historical comparison of Athens from 500 to 100 BC and Rome from 200 BC to AD 200. It is argued that all three methods lead to a similar conclusion, that many societies do indeed talk about the dead in the way the Saxe/Goldstein hypothesis maintains, but that in any specific instance the cemetery/property message may well be subverted by other arguments which the buriers are making.
Tools, Grammar and the Archaeology of Cognition
Authors: Wynn Thomas
Published: December 2008

Use of archaeological evidence in discussions of the origin and evolution of grammar has proved unconvincing largely because of undeveloped theoretical assumptions about the cognitive connection between language and tool behaviour. This paper examines the cognitive basis of tool use and tool making and concludes that there is no sound theoretical basis for inferring grammatical abilities from prehistoric stone tools. Our knowledge concerning the cognitive basis of tool behaviour can, however, be used to document evolutionary developments in hominid cognition. Analysis of early biface culture, for example, reveals a cognitive complexity greater than that demonstrable for the earlier Oldowan or for modern apes.
Reconstructing the Sphinx
Authors: Lehner Mark
Published: December 2008

From 1979 to 1983 the American Research Center in Egypt carried out an architectural, archaeological and geo-archaeological study of the Giza Sphinx. Photogrammetry and conventional surveying techniques were used to prepare detailed plans and front and side elevations of the monument. These have made it possible to construct a computer model of the current condition of the Sphinx, and its hypothesized condition in ancient times, both as originally carved in the 4th Dynasty, and as remodelled and renovated during the 18th Dynasty. Careful analysis of surviving detached fragments of the Sphinx allowed details of beard and uraeus to be included in the reconstruction. This process of creating a computer model of the Sphinx is akin to sculpting the statue again in computer memory.
Palaeoart and Archaeological Myths
Authors: Bednarik Robert G.
Published: December 2008

This article addresses the question of human symbolic behaviour in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic. Bednarik argues that the case against such early symbolic behaviour usually relies on untestable propositions about the stages of human cognitive development, and that too little attention has been paid to the full range of evidence for Lower and Middle Palaeolithic symbolism. He urges that the same criteria should be applied in assessing this evidence as in assessing the more widely accepted evidence for Upper Palaeolithic symbolism. In their following reply, Chase & Dibble observe that many quite reasonable hypotheses in the historical behavioural sciences cannot be refuted absolutely, and that where competing hypotheses are presented it may be difficult to decide which is most probable. Finally Davidson, also replying to Bednarik's criticisms, concludes that their different views of the evidence for early hominid symbolic behaviour arise from different objectives and conventions of understanding
There's no Art-To Find the Mind's Construction-In Offence
Authors: Davidson Iain
Published: December 2008

The editor invited a comment on this ‘attack’ on Davidson and Noble (1989), but asked me ‘not merely toattack points of detail’. Any careful reading of Bednarik's article and comparison with the works it attacks would show that in almost every detail it lays itself open to such attack. Nevertheless I am grateful to the editor for the opportunity to set out some of the argument that Noble and I have been trying to develop, and that so clearly Bednarik has not understood. There are good reasons why it has not been understood: it is clear from every phrase of his article that our objectives are utterly different.
The Archaeology of Archaic and Early ModernHomo Sapiens: An African Perspective
Authors: Allsworth-Jones Philip
Published: December 2008

Whereas in Europe the transition from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic and the replacement of Neanderthal by anatomically modern humans appear to be synchronous events, in Africa this is not the case. Neanderthals as such were not present in Africa, and if the ‘Out of Africa’ model is correct, the ancestors of anatomically modern humans must have made their appearance in a Middle Stone Age context before 100,000 years ago. Subsequently, it seems that they coexisted with Neanderthals for up to 70,000 years in the Near East. If a direct biological correlation can be ruled out, the question arises: what was the impetus for an Upper Palaeolithic ‘revolution’ and why should it have taken place at all?
The Construction of Prehistoric Ideation
Authors: von Gernet Alexander
Published: December 2008

An understanding of prehistoric belief systems is made possible by the existence of constraints on variability in human ideation. These have generated regularities in the ethnographic record which may be located on a continuum ranging from assumed universality to virtual idiosyncrasy. While some regularities are engendered by ecological factors or psychophysiological invariants in the human species, others are clearly the result of specific culture-historical continuities. When the latter are shown to transcend significant spatiotemporal boundaries, they become useful in diminishing the uncertainty that often accompanies efforts to infer prehistoric cognition, ideation, or symbolic meanings
Incorporating the Body: Adornment, Gender, and Social Identity in Ancient Iran
Authors: Marcus Michelle I.
Published: December 2008

Drawing on literature on social group identity, this article explores the possible meaning of the so-called lion pins from Hasanlu, Iran (c. 800 BC). The discussion raises the possibility that the Hasanlu pins served as highly visible emblems of within-group cohesion with respect to outsiders, while at the same time reinforcing hierarchies within Hasanlu society. The lion pins are examined in the light of other unusual types of pins from elsewhere in western Iran, and in the context of the specific historical conditions facing the region in the early first millennium BC. The analysis also explores the possible role of women and children in marking and reinforcing social boundaries; and the potential use of personal ornaments in attempts to clarify social roles and relations in archaeology.
An Alternative Approach to Cognition in the Lower Palaeolithic: The Modular View
Authors: Brown Kate Robson
Published: December 2008

Recent literature has attempted to infer aspects of ‘mind’ from early tool production. It is suggested here that adoption of the modular view of cognition could provide an alternative and complementary approach to that which makes use of Piagetian developmental theory. The modular view, which is concerned with multiple intelligences, permits emphasis on the multiplicity of distinct features involved in spatial cognitive competence, and may provide greater descriptive resolution than is possible with Piagetian schemes. Using an integrated framework to analyze a later Lower Palaeolithic collection from Zhoukoudian, it is suggested that the hominid producers possessed a cognitive capacity for which no current analogue exists
The Significance and Symbolism of Aksumite Stelae
Authors: Phillipson David
Published: December 2008

Research has recently resumed at Aksum, capital of a major state which flourished in what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea during the early centuries ad. A wide-ranging investigation is planned into many aspects of Aksumite civilization. This paper summarizes results from the first season's work on the setting and symbolic meaning of the monumental stelae for which the site is justly famous, as well as on the technology which they illustrate. It is argued that the stelae were grave markers and that the tradition which they represent was substantially modified following the adoption of Christianity at Aksum in the fourth century.
Cup and Ring Marks in Context
Authors: Waddington Clive
Published: December 2008

The key argument presented in this article is that a threefold temporal sequence can be recognized in the deployment of cup and ring marks and that these changes can throw new light on the nature of ideological evolution in northern Britain during the Neolithic. It is proposed that the initial phase relates to the symbolic portrayal of the ideological beliefs which constituted the ‘Neolithic’ (c. 4000–3200 BC) by mapping them on the landscape via outcropping bedrock. During the second phase (c. 3200–2000 BC) the significance of this symbolism is thought to be appropriated, as it is reworked into ‘man-made’ megalithic constructions which ‘monumentalize’ the landscape under the aegis of increasingly overt human control. By the third phase (c. 2000–1800 BC) a disjuncture is apparent in both the function and meaning of the cup and ring tradition culminating in its expropriation as human control of the natural world becomes more fixed.
Passage to India? Anuradhapura and the Early Use of the Brahmi Script
Authors: Coningham R.A.E. , Allchin F.R. , Batt C.M. , Lucy D.
Published: December 2008

The island of Sri Lanka, situated off the tip of southern India, is often perceived as the recipient of material culture diffused from more northerly regions. This article counters this model by suggesting that Sri Lanka may have played a pivotal role in the development of Brahmi, South Asia's earliest readable script. Sherds inscribed with this script, recently found at Anuradhapura, with dates of the beginning of the fourth century BC, now represent its earliest dated examples anywhere in the subcontinent. By analyzing the sherds' archaeological and scriptural context it presents a tentative mechanism for Brahmi's development and spread through South Asia and concludes by discussing the dynamic relationships between scripts, langtiage, material culture and ethnic division within Sri Lanka.
The La Marche Antler Revisited
Authors: Marshack Alexander , d'Errico Francesco
Published: December 2008

In the last issue of the Cambridge Archaeological Journal (Vol. 5:2, October 1995) Francesco d'Errico presented a new analysis of the La Marche antler, one of the most intriguing examples of Palaeolithic ‘notation’. That article has stimulated the following response from Alexander Marshack, who for many years has been a leading researcher in this field. On p. 111 below, Francesco d'Errico replies to Marshack's critique.
Cave Art, Autism, and the Evolution of the Human Mind
Authors: Humphrey Nicholas
Published: December 2008

The emergence of cave art in Europe about 30,000 years ago is widely believed to be evidence that by this time human beings had developed sophisticated capacities for symbolization and communication. However, comparison of the cave art with the drawings made by a young autistic girl, Nadia, reveals surprising similarities in content and style. Nadia, despite her graphic skills, was mentally defective and had virtually no language. I argue in the light of this comparison that the existence of the cave art cannot be the proof which it is usually assumed to be that the humans of the Upper Palaeolithic had essentially ‘modern’ minds.
Some Abstraction for a Practical Subject: the Neolithization of Western France Seen Through Funerary Architecture
Authors: Boujot C. , Cassen S. , Lastres J. Vaquero
Published: December 2008

This article discusses the establishment of the Neolithic in western Europe, and presents two models which integrate aspects of the Neolithic funerary structures of western France. One model presents a cyclical evolution of tombs in France, in which there is a transformation of the funerary space around the corpse (the grave itself). This includes the modification of the anatomical order of the skeleton which becomes dependent on this transformation of the enclosing space, delimited by architectural forms such as allées couvertes.

The second model places emphasis on relationships which were observed in north-west Spain between the visual references inherent in any natural environment, and the location of the earliest monumental funerary structures. This model also emphasizes the location of these monuments in space, a location which seems to depend on human movement through the landscape.

When applied to such a region as the Morbihan débartement of Brittany (famous for sites such as Carnac and Locmariaquer), the two models converge. Together, they contribute to a better understanding of the succession of cultural complexes through time; but above all they suggest a radical process of transformation which is without doubt connected to the emergence of the Neolithic.
The Never-Changing and the Ever-Changing: the Evolution of Western Pueblo Ritual
Authors: Plog Stephen , Solometo Julie
Published: December 2008

The evolution of Western Pueblo ritual has long been a focus of ethnographic and archaeological research in the American Southwest. Most of these studies emphasize the continuities between the late prehistoric period and the early historic era and highlight the role of katsina ritual in promoting social harmony or controlling weather and fertility. We suggest that a more complete understanding of ritual change during this time span requires a closer examination of the highly dynamic social landscape of the the thirteenth through eighteenth centuries. In particular, we suggest that the increasing evidence for raiding, conflict, and social opposition must be incorporated into new models of social and ritual change.
Probiotics, prebiotics and competitive exclusion for prophylaxis against bacterial disease
Authors: Callaway T. R. , Edrington T. S. , Anderson R. C. , Harvey R. B. , Genovese K. J. , Kennedy C. N. , Venn D. W. , Nisbet D. J.
Published: December 2008

The microbial population of the intestinal tract is a complex natural resource that can be utilized in an effort to reduce the impact of pathogenic bacteria that affect animal production and efficiency, as well as the safety of food products. Strategies have been devised to reduce the populations of food-borne pathogenic bacteria in animals at the on-farm stage. Many of these techniques rely on harnessing the natural competitive nature of bacteria to eliminate pathogens that negatively impact animal production or food safety. Thus feed products that are classified as probiotics, prebiotics and competitive exclusion cultures have been utilized as pathogen reduction strategies in food animals with varying degrees of success. The efficacy of these products is often due to specific microbial ecological factors that alter the competitive pressures experienced by the microbial population of the gut. A few products have been shown to be effective under field conditions and many have shown indications of effectiveness under experimental conditions and as a result probiotic products are widely used in all animal species and nearly all production systems. This review explores the ecology behind the efficacy of these products against pathogens found in food animals, including those that enter the food chain and impact human consumers.
Bacteriophages for prophylaxis and therapy in cattle, poultry and pigs
Authors: Johnson R. P. , Gyles C. L. , Huff W. E. , Ojha S. , Huff G. R. , Rath N. C. , Donoghue A. M.
Published: December 2008

The successful use of virulent (lytic) bacteriophages (phages) in preventing and treating neonatal enterotoxigenicEscherichia coliinfections in calves, lambs and pigs has prompted investigation of other applications of phage therapy in food animals. While results have been very variable, some indicate that phage therapy is potentially useful in virulentSalmonellaandE. coliinfections in chickens, calves and pigs, and in control of the food-borne pathogensSalmonellaandCampylobacter jejuniin chickens andE. coliO157:H7 in cattle. However, more rigorous and comprehensive research is required to determine the true potential of phage therapy. Particular challenges include the selection and characterization of phages, practical modes of administration, and development of formulations that maintain the viability of phages for administration. Also, meaningful evaluation of phage therapy will require animal studies that closely represent the intended use, and will include thorough investigation of the emergence and characteristics of phage resistant bacteria. As well, effective use will require understanding the ecology and dynamics of the endemic and therapeutic phages and their interactions with target bacteria in the farm environment. In the event that the potential of phage therapy is realized, adoption will depend on its efficacy and complementarity relative to other interventions. Another potential challenge will be regulatory approval.
Environmental changes during Frasnian‐Famennian transition in south China: A multiproxy approach
Authors: Xu Bing , Gu Zhaoyan , Han Jingtai , Wang Chengyuan
Published: December 2008

This study presents high‐resolution multiproxy analyses on two Late Devonian sequences for characterizing the environmental changes during the Frasnian‐Famennian (F‐F) transition in south China. Carbon isotope signatures of the carbonate and organic matter consistently show two positive excursions in the late rhenana zone and around the F‐F boundary, implying two increased organic carbon burial events. These observations are consistent with the records from other continents, providing further support for the documented perturbations of the global carbon cycle. Redox indices, mainly of the Cu/Al and U/Al ratios, and hydrothermal‐volcanic proxies, Al/(Al + Fe) and Zr/Al, indicate reducing conditions and increased hydrothermal‐volcanic activities during these carbon isotope excursions. High‐resolution investigations revealed that the reducing conditions predate the onset of the carbon isotope excursions, suggesting that the two positive carbon isotope shifts are likely caused by the expansion of anoxic conditions. The low Al/(Al + Fe) ratio around the F‐F boundary leads the U/Al and Cu/Al anomalies in timing, implying that this anoxic event might have resulted from a long‐term cumulative effect of intense hydrothermal‐volcanic activities. In the late rhenana zone, enhanced hydrothermal activity also seems responsible for the reducing conditions.
NASA Mars mission delayed to 2011
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: December 2008

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory has been rescheduled to launch in the fall of 2011, two years later than previously planned. The decision to delay, announced on 4 December, was made following an assessment that more time is needed for testing and to resolve hardware challenges. The length of the delay is because the 2009 launch window ends in October, with the next launch opportunity in 2011.

The mission will study the early environmental history of Mars, exploring a site where there were wet conditions in the past that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life.
Studying seasonal changes in wildlife
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: December 2008

A new Wildlife Phenology Program is enlisting professional and citizen scientists to monitor and record seasonal wildlife events to help U.S. land managers understand and respond to climatic and other environmental changes. The Wildlife Society and the USA National Phenology Network (USA‐NPN) announced the program on 2 December as the second phase in the network's phenology monitoring efforts; a plant phenology monitoring initiative began in 2007.

Phenology is the study of seasonal timing of plant and animal life‐cycle events, including migration, hibernation, and the leafing and fruiting of plants. Changes in the timing of such events are among the most sensitive biological responses to climate change. With spring events occurring earlier than previously in many regions of the world, some time‐sensitive biological relationships are being disrupted.
Coupling Processes in the Inner Magnetosphere: Inner Magnetosphere Coupling (IMC) Workshop; Espoo, Finland, 28 July to 1 August 2008
Authors: Shprits Yuri , Ganushkina Natalia
Published: December 2008

In recent years, satellite measurements (e.g., Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES); Imager for Magnetopause‐to‐Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE); Polar; Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO); Cluster; Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX); and Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions During Substorms (THEMIS)) and theoretical and modeling studies have significantly advanced the understanding of the dynamics of various plasma populations in the inner magnetosphere. Observations and modeling have revealed that the dynamics of the inner magnetospheric plasma populations not only depend on solar wind conditions but also are coupled to each other bymeans of the electromagnetic field, currents, and wave‐particle interactions.

The understanding of coupling processes between the plasmasphere, ring current, radiation belts, magnetic field, and waves was the subject of discussion at the recent Inner Magnetospheric Coupling (IMC) workshop, which brought together more than 50 researchers studying various plasma populations and processes that may influence the inner magnetosphere, as well as the effects of the inner magnetosphere on the ionosphere, atmosphere, and global magnetospheric interactions.