bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hittites and Arzawans: a view from western Anatolia
Authors: Mac Sweeney Naoíse
Published: June 2012

There has been much recent research in archaeology on the dynamics of imperial systems, and valuable work has been done on the complex relationships between the Hittite state and groups on its imperial periphery. The nature of the available source material means that these relationships are usually studied from a Hittite perspective, and that interactions with the Hittites are often seen as centrally important for these groups. In this paper, however, it is argued that archaeological evidence can be used to gain insight into alternative views – views which may not necessarily privilege relationships with the Hittites over those with other groups. One well-documented example of such a group is Arzawa, a quarrelsome coalition of principalities in western Anatolia. This paper will focus on the western Anatolian site of Beycesultan, caught between the Hittite and Arzawan heartlands. It will show that people at Beycesultan did not define themselves primarily in relation to either the Hittites or the Arzawan confederacy, but had their own dynamic and shifting world-view.
How old was the Ankara Silver Bowl when its inscriptions were added?
Authors: Durnford S.P.B.
Published: June 2012

The artefact known as the Ankara Silver Bowl bears two short Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions, each in a different ‘handwriting’. They tell us about the origin of the bowl in the year that TudhaliyalabarnaconqueredTara/i-wa/i-zi/a.Unparalleled phrasing and tantalising historical allusions make dating and interpretation problematic. The conquest mentioned is widely held to be that of Taruisa in the Troad by the 14th-century bce Hittite king Tudhaliya I/II, but epigraphy points to a Karkamiš origin for the inscriptions and probably to a post-Empire date. Treating the text as contemporary with the conquest requires either that the bowl be classed as an exceptional Empire document or that a later Tudhaliya is intended. This paper offers a new approach. It accepts a late date, offers an amended translation and proposes that the narrative be viewed as literature alluding to the past and not as contemporary chronicle. The bowl's possible status as a relic prompts questions about the transmission of history, motives for alluding to the past and the words chosen for the purpose. An interpretation of sign *273 is ventured within a speculative scenario that encompasses the bowl's various oddities.
The building complex on the Tepecik acropolis at Patara
Authors: Işın Gül
Published: June 2012

The ongoing excavations initiated in 2003 on the Tepecik acropolis at Patara have brought to light many noteworthy results concerning the somewhat obscure history and archaeology of Archaic Patara. The very rich pottery finds confirming the Archaic dating of the building complex are particularly important. The building complex, which was not used during the late Hellenistic, Roman or Byzantine periods, presents a good example of Archaic planning with its well-preserved foundations. In this study, the excavation work conducted on this building complex is introduced together with the associated finds.
‘Pisidian’ culture? The Classical-Hellenistic site at Düzen Tepe near Sagalassus (southwest Turkey)
Authors: Vanhaverbeke H. , Waelkens M. , Vyncke K. , De Laet V. , Aydal S. , Mušič B. , De Cupere B. , Poblome J. , Braekmans D. , Degryse P. , Marinova E. , Verstraeten G. , Van Neer W. , Šlapšak B. , Medarič I. , Ekinci H.A. , Erbay M.O.
Published: June 2012

In 2005, during the annual ‘intensive’ archaeological survey in the peri-urban zone of Sagalassus (Pisidia, southwest Anatolia), the remains of an extensive Classical-Hellenistic settlement were identified at Düzen Tepe, 1.8km southwest of Sagalassus. The results of three seasons of site investigation (2005–2007), comprising archaeological and geophysical surveys, architectural and topographical mapping, test soundings, and archaeometric and environmental research, are presented here, together with a discussion of the settlement's most probable socio-economic background. According to the latest results of all excavated or sampled survey ceramic artefacts and AMS C14dating of faunal remains, the (proto-)urban settlement at Düzen Tepe was inhabited during the fifth to second century BC. It is the first of its kind to shed light on the material culture of the ancient inhabitants of the region, the ‘Pisidians’.
A terracotta spacer pin: evidence for a Roman baths at Amorium
Authors: Koçyiğit Oğuz
Published: June 2012

During the 2008 field season at the Byzantine city of Amorium an unusual and unexpected surface find was recorded. It was a terracotta spacer pin of the type that was frequently used in Roman provincial baths. As such it provides the first evidence for the existence of a Roman-period bathhouse at Amorium, which may be regarded as a predecessor to the Byzantine bathhouse that has been excavated there.
Tools and souvenirs: the shells from Kilise Tepe (1994–1998)
Authors: Debruyne Sofie
Published: June 2012

In the summers of 1994–1998 a rescue excavation took place at Kilise Tepe, an archaeological site occupied from the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine period, located in the Göksu valley in Cilicia in southern Turkey. This article analyses the shell finds from environmental and archaeological perspectives. Three categories of molluscs are identified: terrestrial, freshwater and marine. The first two are the remnants of local fauna that lived on or near the site; the marine shells came from the Mediterranean shore adjacent to the Göksu delta and the delta itself. There are indications that freshwater mussels served as tools. Marine shells were worn as ornaments.
Ring and module structures on dimension groups associated with a shift of finite type
Authors: KILLOUGH D. B. , PUTNAM I. F.
Published: June 2012

We study invariants for shifts of finite type obtained as the K-theory of various C*-algebras associated with them. These invariants have been studied intensively over the past thirty years since their introduction by Wolfgang Krieger. They may be given quite concrete descriptions as inductive limits of simplicially ordered free abelian groups. Shifts of finite type are special cases of Smale spaces and, in earlier work, the second author has shown that the hyperbolic structure of the dynamics in a Smale space induces natural ring and module structures on certain of these K-groups. Here, we restrict our attention to the special case of shifts of finite type and obtain explicit descriptions in terms of the inductive limits.
Effect of Cyclone Aila on estuarine fish assemblages in the Matla River of the Indian Sundarbans
Authors: Mukherjee Sudeshna , Chaudhuri Atreyee , Sen Shilpa , Homechaudhuri Sumit
Published: June 2012

The present study examined the effect of a catastrophic cyclone (Aila) on ichthyofaunal assemblages in a tidal river of the Sundarban Delta. Sampling in six stations with a gill-net of 20-m length and 1-cm mesh size resulted in the collection of 63 species in a pre-Aila survey. Among them, 16 species were not available in the year after the cyclone. However, 12 new species were added to the assemblages in the post-Aila year during which 59 species were recorded. Analysis of Similarity (ANOSIM) confirmed significant changes in fish assemblages after the cyclone with a corresponding reduction of the species diversity and variation in the seasonal pattern of abundance. Hydrological parameters also differed with a significant surge in nutrient concentrations. Tolerance to low dissolved oxygen seemed to be a determinant factor as evident from the higher abundance of certain fishes viz. Harpadon nehereus, Liza parsia, Pampus argentius, Tenualosa ilisha and Toxotes chatareus during post-Aila year. Despite the recovery of the ichthyofaunal assemblages at the later stage of the study, a strong seasonal variation was persistent. The study therefore suggests that environmental variation in terms of increasing temperature and salinity elicit greater response in an estuarine community than temporary natural disturbances even as severe as cyclones.
Leaf-cutting ants alter seedling assemblages across second-growth stands of Brazilian Atlantic forest
Authors: Silva Paulo S. D. , Leal Inara R. , Wirth Rainer , Melo Felipe P. L. , Tabarelli Marcelo
Published: June 2012

Secondary forests promote an increased abundance of leaf-cutting ants (LCA) but the consequences on forest dynamics have been poorly addressed. Here we examine seedling assemblage attributes, seed germination and seedling survival across foraging zones ofAtta cephalotescolonies inhabiting 15 second-growth patches (25–47 y old) of Atlantic forest. Seeds and seedlings were monitored within foraging zones and control sites over 1 y, including spots around ant nests. Overall, 1862 seedlings from 108 plant species were recorded. Seedling density decreased by 53% in foraging-zone plots (3.31 ± 0.23 seedlings m−2) when compared with control plots (7.02 ± 0.44 seedlings m−2) and a similar decrease was observed for species richness. Ant-induced alterations in the seedling assemblage were further indicated by segregation between foraging-zone and control plots (NMDS), habitat effects on species similarity (ANOSIM), and indicator tree species associated with control plots. While seed germination and seedling survivorship were uncorrelated to either nest distance or age of second-growth stands (with the exception ofTapirira guianensis), defoliation by LCAs was a significant cause of seedling mortality. Our results suggest that LCAs interfere with successional trajectories of Atlantic forest as foraging zones filter seedling establishment, supporting less-dense, impoverished and convergent seedling assemblages.
Insect visitation rates and foraging patterns differ in androdioecious and hermaphrodite-only populations of Laguncularia racemosa (Combretaceae) in Florida
Authors: Landry Carol L. , Rathcke Beverly J.
Published: June 2012

Insect-pollinated Laguncularia racemosa has a variable breeding system; some populations are androdioecious, with male and hermaphroditic plants, while others lack male plants. We observed the foraging behaviours of insects in three androdioecious and three hermaphrodite-only populations of L. racemosa in Florida. In each population, insect visitation rates were estimated from 30–108 timed intervals. We recorded the number of flowers visited by 144–224 insects during foraging bouts made to 15–40 male and hermaphroditic plants. Male plants in androdioecious populations had significantly more visitors than hermaphroditic plants, increasing the number of vectors carrying pollen from male plants. Further, many insects visited few flowers during foraging bouts, which should increase outcrossing frequency. According to mathematical models, male plants benefit from these combined factors. Plants in hermaphrodite-only populations had significantly more visitors than hermaphroditic plants in androdioecious populations. Proportionately more insects visited many flowers during foraging bouts in hermaphrodite-only versus androdioecious populations. The increased likelihood of geitonogamous self-pollination could help explain the lack of male plants in hermaphrodite-only populations. Differences in pollinator assemblages and the relative abundances of several species were responsible for differences in foraging behaviours: Apis mellifera, Bombus sp., Melissodes sp., Xylocopa sp., Euodynerus sp. and a calliphorid species.
Diet and habitat-niche relationships within an assemblage of large herbivores in a seasonal tropical forest
Authors: Ahrestani Farshid S. , Heitkönig Ignas M. A. , Prins Herbert H. T.
Published: June 2012

There is little understanding of how large mammalian herbivores in Asia partition habitat and forage resources, and vary their diet and habitat selection seasonally in order to coexist. We studied an assemblage of four large herbivores, chital (Axis axis), sambar (Cervus unicolor), gaur (Bos gaurus) and Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), in the seasonal tropical forests of Bandipur and Mudumalai, South India, and tested predictions regarding the species’ seasonal diet browse : graze ratios, habitat selection and habitat-niche preference and overlap. Field data collected for the study included the seasonal variation in grass quality, the seasonal variation in δ13C in the species’ faeces and the seasonal variation in the species’ habitat selection and overlap using a grid-based survey. Results of the δ13C analyses showed that the chital was more of a grazer in the wet season (−17.9‰ to −21.6‰), but that it increased the proportion of browse in its diet in the dry season (−25.6‰ to −27.7‰); the gaur was a grazer for most of the year (−15.3‰ to −18.6‰); the sambar preferred to browse throughout the year (−21.1‰ to −30.4‰); and that the elephant was a mixed feeder (−14.2‰ to −21.4‰). Elephant habitat-niche breadth was high (0.53 in wet and 0.54 in dry) and overlapped equally with that of the other species in both seasons (0.39–0.94). The gaur had the most restricted habitat-niche breadth in both seasons (0.25 in wet and 0.28 in dry), and it switched from the moist deciduous habitat in the dry season to the dry deciduous habitat in the wet season. These results offer the first insights into the seasonal variation in browse : graze diet ratios and the habitat-niche overlap amongst the common largest-bodied mammalian herbivore species found in South India.
Differential growth responses in seedlings of ten species of Dipterocarpaceae to experimental shading and defoliation
Authors: Paine C. E. Timothy , Stenflo Martin , Philipson Christopher D. , Saner Philippe , Bagchi Robert , Ong Robert C. , Hector Andy
Published: June 2012

The responses of plants to shade and foliar herbivory jointly affect growth rates and community assembly. We grew 600 seedlings of ten species of the economically important Dipterocarpaceae in experimental gradients of shading (0.3–47.0% of full sunlight) and defoliation (0, 25%, 50% or 75% of leaf area removed). We assessed stem diameters initially, after 2 and 4 mo, and calculated relative growth rates (RGR) with a linear model. Shading interacted with defoliation, reducing RGR by 21.6% in shaded conditions and 8.9% in well-lit conditions. We tested three hypotheses for interspecific trade-offs in growth responses to shading and defoliation. They could be positively related, because both reduce a plant's access to carbon, or inversely related because of trade-offs between herbivore resistance and tolerance. We observed, however, that species varied in their response to shading, but not defoliation, precluding an interspecific trade-off and suggesting that plants tolerate shade and herbivory with differing strategies. Shading most strongly reduced the growth of species with less-dense wood and larger seeds. The strong and variable growth responses to shade, contrasted with the weak and uniform responses to defoliation, suggest that variation in light availability more strongly affects the growth of tropical tree seedlings, and thus community assembly, than does variation in herbivory.
Not Under Command
Authors: Salinas Carlos F. , Peña Victoria , Pérez Gonzalo , Horton Tricia L.
Published: June 2012

Vessels are found frequently operating under the Automatic Identification System (AIS) ‘Not Under Command’ (NUC) option near ports and close to shores in order to report their manoeuvre status to nearby traffic. When asked if they are under any kind of restriction regarding their engines or steering, they often answer that they are just drifting or waiting for the pilot or shipowner's orders. The question that arises is this: “Are these vessels really under an NUC situation or can the AIS Navigational Status menu adapt to the different circumstances of navigation?”.
Trajectories of spiny lobster Jasus edwardsii recovery in New Zealand marine reserves: is settlement a driver?
Authors: FREEMAN DEBBIE J. , MACDIARMID ALISON B. , TAYLOR RICHARD B. , DAVIDSON ROBERT J. , GRACE ROGER V. , HAGGITT TIM R. , KELLY SHANE , SHEARS NICK T.
Published: June 2012

Monitoring species’ response in marine protected areas is important for informing both the management of those areas and the establishment of additional protected areas. Populations of spiny lobsters Jasus edwardsii were monitored in eight New Zealand marine reserves for up to 34 years. The populations displayed highly variable responses to protection. While a few showed rapid (within 1–2 years of protection) increases in abundance, others showed little response even after a decade of protection. Some reserves displayed little initial recovery, then a sudden increase following several years of protection, while others displayed significant declines in abundance following initial recovery. Marine reserves located in areas with initially high densities of juveniles tended to have rapid recovery, but aspects of reserve design had no significant influence on the recovery rate. Variability among recovery trajectories also suggests that supply-side dynamics may be a key driver of lobster recovery. Densities of legal-sized lobsters were positively correlated with reserve age, but the abundance of juvenile lobsters increased in all but one reserve, indicating enhanced recruitment, survival and/or movement of juvenile lobsters into reserves. It is important to consider the placement of reserves, with respect to potential levels of larval supply, when establishing marine reserves for either conservation or fisheries management purposes and for evaluating their effectiveness.
Identifying newly acquired cases of hepatitis C using surveillance: a literature review
Authors: SACKS-DAVIS R. , VAN GEMERT C. , BERGERI I. , STOOVE M. , HELLARD M.
Published: June 2012

Surveillance of newly acquired hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is crucial for understanding the epidemiology of HCV and informing public health practice. However, monitoring such infections via surveillance systems is challenging because they are commonly asymptomatic. A literature review was conducted to identify methodologies used by HCV surveillance systems to identify newly acquired infections; relevant surveillance systems in 15 countries were identified. Surveillance systems used three main strategies to identify newly acquired infections: (1) asking physicians to classify cases; (2) identifying symptomatic cases or cases with elevated alanine aminotransferases; and (3) identifying cases with documented evidence of anti-HCV antibody seroconversion within a specific time-frame. Case-ascertainment methods varied with greater completeness of data in enhanced compared to passive surveillance systems. Automated systems that extract and link testing data from multiple laboratory and clinic databases may provide an opportunity for collecting testing histories for individuals that is less resource intensive than enhanced surveillance.
Serological investigations on West Nile virus in birds and horses in Shanghai, China
Authors: LAN D. L. , WANG C. S. , DENG B. , ZHOU J. P. , CUI L. , TANG C. , YUE H. , HUA X. G.
Published: June 2012

West Nile virus (WNV) infection is an emerging zoonosis that threatens global public health. In this study, a total of 95 bird serum samples from 14 species and 341 horse serum samples were collected from 2008 to 2010 in Shanghai, China. All serum samples were screened initially for WNV-reactive antibodies using a competitive ELISA. The positive samples detected by ELISA were further confirmed using a plaque-reduction neutralization test (PRNT) for WNV and its most closely related flaviviruses in the area to avoid false positives due to cross-reactivity. Five (5·3%) of the bird serum samples and none (0·0%) of the horse serum samples tested positive for WNV antibodies. The findings strongly suggest that some of the birds, specifically the resident birds in China, had been exposed to WNV.
The role of biomarkers in evaluating human health concerns from fungal contaminants in food
Authors: Turner Paul C. , Flannery Brenna , Isitt Catherine , Ali Mariyam , Pestka James
Published: June 2012

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites that globally contaminate an estimated 25 % of cereal crops and thus exposure is frequent in many populations. Aflatoxins, fumonisins and deoxynivalenol are amongst those mycotoxins of particular concern from a human health perspective. A number of risks to health are suggested including cancer, growth faltering, immune suppression and neural tube defects; though only the demonstrated role for aflatoxin in the aetiology of liver cancer is widely recognised. The heterogeneous distribution of mycotoxins in food restricts the usefulness of food sampling and intake estimates; instead biomarkers provide better tools for informing epidemiological investigations. Validated exposure biomarkers for aflatoxin (urinary aflatoxin M1, aflatoxin–N7-guaunine, serum aflatoxin–albumin) were established almost 20 years ago and were critical in confirming aflatoxins as potent liver carcinogens. Validation has included demonstration of assay robustness, intakev.biomarker level, and stability of stored samples. More recently, aflatoxin exposure biomarkers are revealing concerns of growth faltering and immune suppression; importantly, they are being used to assess the effectiveness of intervention strategies. For fumonisins and deoxynivalenol these steps of development and validation have significantly advanced in recent years. Such biomarkers should better inform epidemiological studies and thus improve our understanding of their potential risk to human health.
A usage-based analysis of phrasal verbs in Early and Late Modern English
Authors: ISHIZAKI YASUAKI
Published: June 2012

This article presents a historical cognitive analysis of the development of phrasal verbs (PVs) with out and away in Early and Late Modern English. Semantically, PVs in Present-Day English can be classified as being (a) fully compositional (e.g. go out), (b) partially idiomatic, with the particle having an aspectual (i.e. grammatical) function (e.g. work away) and (c) (fully or highly) idiomatic (e.g. make out ‘understand’; see Quirk et al. 1985, Jackendoff 2010). As is clear from this classification, the development of PVs has, at least, involved grammaticalization and idiomatization. However, there is no consensus in recent grammaticalization research on how these two kinds of changes are related.

The literature suggests that the particles used in the partially idiomatic PVs were undergoing grammaticalization in the Old and Middle English periods. Therefore, to understand the semantic and conceptual relationships between partially idiomatic and idiomatic PVs, a closer investigation of the uses of PVs after Early Modern English is in order. In this article, focusing on the distributions of away and out taken from colloquial corpora of Early and Late Modern English, namely, the Corpus of Early English Correspondence Sampler (CEECS) and the Penn Parsed Corpus of Modern British English (PPCMBE), it is shown through descriptive characterizations that the partially idiomatic and idiomatic PVs are instances of idiomatization caused by grammaticalization and by lexicalization, respectively. Based on these observations, the developments of these two types of PVs can be explained by a Usage-Based Model put forth mainly by Langacker (2000) and Bybee (2006, 2010). Specifically, the idiomatization of partially idiomatic PVs involves repeated schema extractions leading to productivity, whereas the idiomatization of fully or highly idiomatic PVs involves the ‘conserving effect’, whereby a highly entrenched linguistic expression with high frequency resists further language change.
Late Modern English in a Dutch context
Authors: TIEKEN-BOON VAN OSTADE INGRID
Published: June 2012

The translation of Lindley Murray'sEnglish Grammar(1795) into many different languages is often taken as a starting point for the spread of English as a world language. This article places the developing European interest in English much earlier than that, and it does so by analysing a series of letters in the library of the University of Leiden written by Englishmen from the Late Modern English period to men of letters in the Netherlands. The letters show that English as a medium of communication was not as a rule an issue, even though Dutch letter writers were rarely exposed to English and often lacked the tools – or the teachers – to acquire the language, a situation which would change drastically during the nineteenth century. The article also analyses the earliest attempts at writing in English by Johannes Stinstra, the Dutch translator of Samuel Richardson'sClarissa.
A bit ofthisand a bit ofthat: on social identification in Early and Late Modern English letters
Authors: NEVALA MINNA
Published: June 2012

This article deals with the use of deictic pronounsthis/theseandthat/thoseas demonstrative determiners in person-referential terms in Early and Late Modern English personal letters. The material for the study comes from theCorpus of Early English Correspondenceand its Extension. The data chosen for this study cover personal correspondence between 1600 and 1800. The main purpose of the study is to show the link between the use of such demonstratives and what e.g. Tajfel & Turner (1979; also Hogg & Abrams 1988) call social identification. Since previous research has shown that the use of person reference in Present-Day English is biased towards group distinction, linking positive characteristics to members of one's in-group and distancing people in the out-group with negative reference, it is probable that this was the case in historical language use as well.

The study shows that most of the referents in the letter writers’, and in many cases also in the recipients’, in-group are indexed with positive descriptions and reference terms in positive contexts, whereas identifiable out-group referents mostly receive negative descriptions. The negatively, positively and neutrally evaluative functions were found to be central during both centuries. The neutral function is more prevalent than the others in the seventeenth century, but the negative and positive gain more emphasis in the eighteenth century. This shows that when both pronouns increasingly started to appear as connotative demonstrative determiners, their use as mere indexicals decreased. Overall, we can conclude that although the historical use of demonstrative pronouns as determiners in reference did not show a similar bias towards negative foregrounding to their Present-Day English equivalents, there is some indication that a change towards a more specialised use was on the way from the eighteenth century onwards.
Special issue: selected papers from the fourth International Conference on Late Modern English
Authors: BEAL JOAN C. , FITZMAURICE SUSAN , HODSON JANE
Published: June 2012

This issue ofEnglish Language and Linguisticscontains a selection of papers from the fourth conference on Late Modern English, held at the University of Sheffield in May 2010. Twenty-one years previously, when Charles Jones referred to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the ‘Cinderellas of English historical linguistic study’ (1989: 279), such a conference, let alone the fourth in a series of such conferences, would have seemed highly unlikely. Jones was alluding to the comparative neglect of the more recent past in historical studies of English. Up to this point, linguistic scholars had tended to regard the Late Modern period as unworthy of their attention. Morton W. Bloomfield & Leonard Newmark reflect this view in their assertion that ‘after the period of the Great Vowel Shift was over, the changes that were to take place in English phonology were few indeed’ (1963: 293). They also argue that any changes in the language that had occurred between the eighteenth and the mid twentieth centuries were ‘due to matters of style and rhetoric . . . rather than to differences in phonology, grammar or vocabulary’, going on to claim that ‘historical or diachronic linguistics, as such, is traditionally less concerned with such stylistic and rhetorical changes of fashion than with phonological, grammatical and lexical changes’ (1963: 288). This tendency to disregard anything not viewed as structural is very much of its time, but almost thirty years later, Dennis Freeborn was still claiming that ‘the linguistic changes that have taken place from the eighteenth century to the present day are relatively few’ (1992: 180).
Preferential Trade Agreements and Unilateral Liberalization: Evidence from CAFTA
Authors: TOVAR PATRICIA
Published: June 2012

There is no consensus in the literature on whether preferential trade agreements help or hinder trade liberalization toward non-members. We examine the link between preferential trade liberalization and tariffs imposed against non-member countries for the case of CAFTA-DR. Using product data at the 6-digit HS level, we find that products with larger reductions in preferential tariffs experienced larger increases (or smaller decreases) in most-favored nation tariffs applied against non-members. However, we also uncover some interesting dynamics regarding the relationship between preferential liberalization and tariffs imposed against non-members. When we split the sample period into two sub-periods, we find an initial negative relationship between changes in preferential and most-favored nation tariffs during the first half of the sample period, followed by a positive relationship during the second half, although the evidence on the latter is not as strong. The results thus provide the first evidence of an initial stumbling block effect of preferential trade liberalization on unilateral liberalization, as well as (weaker) evidence of a subsequent building block effect.
Differential mortality and redistribution in the Italian notional defined contribution system
Authors: MAZZAFERRO CARLO , MORCIANO MARCELLO , SAVEGNAGO MARCO
Published: June 2012

In this paper, we adopt a financial measure (net present value ratio) to assess the extent of the redistribution of lifetime earnings operated by the introduction of a notional defined contribution (NDC) system in the Italian PAYGO system. Our simulations are based on a representative sample of the Italian population consisting of individuals born between 1975 and 2000. We identify three channels of redistribution: between genders (from men to women), along educational lines (from the less-well-educated to the highly educated) and between diverse lifetime-earnings quintiles (from the poor to the rich). This happens because certain groups of individuals systematically live shorter-than-average lives (men, the less well-educated and the poor), whereas others live longer-than-average lives (women, the highly educated and the rich) and, at the same time, the NDC system does not take into account such differences. Comparison between the old defined benefit system and the reformed NDC one shows that intergenerational fairness has improved sensibly but differences between gender and educational levels remained nearly the same. Sensitivity analysis and the consideration of survival pensions in our simulations confirm the general trends of our base case.
Intragenerational externalities and intergenerational transfers
Authors: KOLMAR MARTIN , MEIER VOLKER
Published: June 2012

In an environment with asymmetric information and intragenerational externalities, the implementation of a first-best efficient Clarke–Groves–Vickrey mechanism may not be feasible if it has to be self-financing. By using intergenerational transfers, the arising budget deficit can be covered in every generation only if the initial allocation is not dynamically efficient. While introducing a pay-as-you-go scheme without addressing the externality already yields a Pareto improvement, further welfare gains can be captured by using the additional resources to achieve a perfect internalization.
A robustly chain transitive attractor with singularities of different indices
Authors: Bonatti Christian , Li Ming , Yang Dawei
Published: June 2012

Given a 4-manifold, we build a non-empty ${C}^{1} $-open set of vector fields having a (chain transitive) attractor containing singularities of different indices. Then, we begin the study of the hyperbolic properties of such a robust singular attractor.
Box splines and the equivariant index theorem
Authors: De Concini C. , Procesi C. , Vergne M.
Published: June 2012

In this article, we begin by recalling the inversion formula for the convolution with the box spline. The equivariant cohomology and the equivariant $K$-theory with respect to a compact torus $G$ of various spaces associated to a linear action of $G$ in a vector space $M$ can both be described using some vector spaces of distributions, on the dual of the group $G$ or on the dual of its Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$. The morphism from $K$-theory to cohomology is analyzed, and multiplication by the Todd class is shown to correspond to the operator (deconvolution) inverting the semi-discrete convolution with a box spline. Finally, the multiplicities of the index of a $G$-transversally elliptic operator on $M$ are determined using the infinitesimal index of the symbol.
FOUNDATIONS OF UNLIMITED CATEGORY THEORY: WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE
Authors: FEFERMAN SOLOMON
Published: June 2012

Following a discussion of various forms of set-theoretical foundations of category theory and the controversial question of whether category theory does or can provide an autonomous foundation of mathematics, this article concentrates on the question whether there is a foundation for “unlimited” or “naive” category theory. The author proposed four criteria for such some years ago. The article describes how much had previously been accomplished on one approach to meeting those criteria, then takes care of one important obstacle that had been met in that approach, and finally explains what remains to be done if one is to have a fully satisfactory solution.
High fluid pressure and triggered earthquakes in the enhanced geothermal system in Basel, Switzerland
Authors: Terakawa Toshiko , Miller Stephen A. , Deichmann Nicholas
Published: June 2012

We analyzed 118 well‐constrained focal mechanisms to estimate the pore fluid pressure field of the stimulated region during the fluid injection experiment in Basel, Switzerland. This technique, termed focal mechanism tomography (FMT), uses the orientations of slip planes within the prevailing regional stress field as an indicator of the fluid pressure along the plane at the time of slip. The maximum value and temporal change of excess pore fluid pressures are consistent with the known history of the wellhead pressure applied at the borehole. Elevated pore fluid pressures were concentrated within 500 m of the open hole section, which are consistent with the spatiotemporal evolution of the induced microseismicity. Our results demonstrate that FMT is a robust approach, being validated at the meso‐scale of the Basel stimulation experiment. We found average earthquake triggering excess pore fluid pressures of about 10 MPa above hydrostatic. Overpressured fluids induced many small events (M < 3) along faults unfavorably oriented relative to the tectonic stress pattern, while the larger events tended to occur along optimally oriented faults. This suggests that small‐scale hydraulic networks, developed from the high pressure stimulation, interact to load (hydraulically isolated) high strength bridges that produce the larger events. The triggering pore fluid pressures are substantially higher than that predicted from a linear pressure diffusion process from the source boundary, and shows that the system is highly permeable along flow paths that allow fast pressure diffusion to the boundaries of the stimulated region.
On the dynamics of current jets trapped to the flanks of mid‐ocean ridges
Authors: Lavelle J. W.
Published: June 2012

Time‐mean abyssal current observations over the flanks of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 9–10°N and at the Juan de Fuca Ridge at 45°N document the occurrence of paired along‐ridge current jets that are trapped to the ridge flanks and sheared across the ridge in an anticyclonic sense. A coincident feature, where local hydrothermal discharge effects are not in play, is the upward bowing of isopycnals over ridge crests and isopycnals plunging into ridge flanks. It would be tempting to explain the jets primarily as geostrophic responses to the doming/plunging isopycnal distribution, though that should lead to the question as to how the isopycnal perturbations originate. A numerical model of time‐dependent flow on a cross‐ridge (x–z) transect, forced in a way to be consistent with a yearlong, hourly sampled record of currents measured at the EPR ridge crest, is used to investigate some of the underlying physics. It will be shown that the jets can arise from oscillatory flows via eddy‐momentum, eddy‐heat, and eddy‐salt fluxes that ultimately cause the isopycnals to dome over the ridge. As the probable offspring of velocity‐velocity and velocity‐density correlations that depend upon oscillatory motion, the jets are likely examples of stratified topographic flow rectification. An ancillary feature is a slight yearlong‐averaged downward current O (0.1–0.5 mm/s) over the EPR ridge crest that crosses the time‐mean, upward bowing isopycnals in a counter‐intuitive vertical direction.
Particulate organic carbon and inherent optical properties during 2008 North Atlantic Bloom Experiment
Authors: Cetinić Ivona , Perry Mary Jane , Briggs Nathan T. , Kallin Emily , D'Asaro Eric A. , Lee Craig M.
Published: June 2012

The co‐variability of particulate backscattering (bbp) and attenuation (cp) coefficients and particulate organic carbon (POC) provides a basis for estimating POC on spatial and temporal scales that are impossible to obtain with traditional sampling and chemical analysis methods. However, the use of optical proxies for POC in the open ocean is complicated by variable relationships reported in the literature between POC and cp or bbp. During the 2008 North Atlantic Bloom experiment, we accrued a large data set consisting of >300 POC samples and simultaneously measured cp and bbp. Attention to sampling detail, use of multiple types of POC blanks, cross‐calibration of optical instruments, and parallel measurements of other biogeochemical parameters facilitated distinction between natural and methodological‐based variability. The POC versuscp slope varied with plankton community composition but not depth; slopes were 11% lower for the diatom versus the recycling community. Analysis of literature POC versus cp slopes indicates that plankton composition is responsible for a large component of that variability. The POC versus bbp slope decreased below the pycnocline by 20%, likely due to changing particle composition associated with remineralization and fewer organic rich particles. The higher bbp/cp ratios below the mixed layer are also indicative of particles of lower organic density. We also observed a peculiar platform effect that resulted in ∼27% higher values for downcast versus upcast bbp measurements. Reduction in uncertainties and improvement of accuracies of POC retrieved from optical measurements is important for autonomous sampling, and requires community consensus for standard protocols for optics and POC.
The wave state and sea spray related parameterization of wind stress applicable from low to extreme winds
Authors: Liu Bin , Guan Changlong , Xie Lian
Published: June 2012

Recent field and laboratory observations indicate that the variation of drag coefficient with wind speed at high winds is different from that under low‐to‐moderate winds. By taking the effects of wave development and sea spray into account, a parameterization of sea surface aerodynamic roughness applicable from low to extreme winds is proposed. The corresponding relationship between drag coefficient and sea surface wind speed agrees well with the existing field and laboratory observational data. It is shown that, under low‐to‐moderate wind conditions so that the sea spray effects could be neglected, the nondimensional aerodynamic roughness first increases and then decreases with the increasing wave age; whereas under high wind conditions, the drag coefficient decreases with the increasing wind speed due to the modification of the logarithmic wind profile by the effect of sea spray droplets produced by bursting bubbles or wind tearing breaking wave crests. The drag coefficients and sea surface aerodynamic roughnesses reach their maximum values when the 10 m wind speeds are between 25 and 33 m s−1 for different wave developments. Correspondingly, the reduction of drag coefficient under high winds reduces the increasing rate of friction velocity with increasing wind speed.
Mindanao Current/Undercurrent in an eddy‐resolving GCM
Authors: Qu Tangdong , Chiang Tzu‐Ling , Wu Chau‐Ron , Dutrieux Pierre , Hu Dunxin
Published: June 2012

Analysis of results from an eddy‐resolving general circulation model showed two subsurface velocity cores in the mean within the depth range between 400 and 1000 m below the Mindanao Current (MC). One is confined to the inshore edge at about 126.8°E and connected with the Sulawesi Sea. The other takes place somewhat offshore around 127.7°E, being closely related to the intrusion of South Pacific water. Both cores are referred to as the Mindanao Undercurrent (MUC). The MC/MUC is approximately a geostrophic flow, except on the inshore edge of the MUC where up to 50% of the mean flow can be explained by ageostrophic dynamics. In contrast with the well‐defined southward flowing MC, the MUC is of high velocity variance relative to the mean. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis shows that approximately 60% of the total velocity variance is associated with two meandering modes, with their major signatures in the subthermocline. The dominant time scale of variability is 50–100 days. An ensemble of these meso‐scale fluctuations provides a northward freshwater flux on the offshore edge of the Philippine coast, which to a certain extent explains why water of South Pacific origin appears to extend farther northward than the mean MUC. In the offshore velocity core of the MUC, for example, eddy induced freshwater flux is equivalent to a mean flow of about 0.3 m s−1 in the density range between 26.9 and 27.3 kg m−3, which is greater than the mean current by a factor of 6.
Seven‐year trends of CO2exchange in a tundra ecosystem affected by long‐term permafrost thaw
Authors: Trucco Christian , Schuur Edward A. G. , Natali Susan M. , Belshe E. Fay , Bracho Rosvel , Vogel Jason
Published: June 2012

Arctic warming has led to permafrost degradation and ground subsidence, created as a result of ground ice melting. Frozen soil organic matter that thaws can increase carbon (C) emissions to the atmosphere, but this can be offset in part by increases in plant growth. The balance of plant and microbial processes, and how this balance changes through time, determines how permafrost ecosystems influence future climate change via the C cycle. This study addressed this question both on short (interannual) and longer (decadal) time periods by measuring C fluxes over a seven‐year period at three sites representing a gradient of time since permafrost thaw. All three sites were upland tundra ecosystems located in Interior Alaska but differed in the extent of permafrost thaw and ground subsidence. Results showed an increasing growing season (May – September) trend in gross primary productivity (GPP), net ecosystem exchange (NEE), aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), and annual NEE at all sites over the seven year study period from 2004 to 2010, but no change in annual and growing season ecosystem respiration (Reco). These trends appeared to most closely follow increases in the depth to permafrost that occurred over the same time period. During the seven‐year period, sites with more permafrost degradation had significantly greater GPP compared to where degradation was least, but also greater growing season Reco. Adding in winter Reco decreased, in part, the summer C sink and left only the site with the most permafrost degradation C neutral, with the other sites still C sinks. Annual C balance was strongly dependent on winter Reco, which, compared to the growing season, was relatively data‐poor due to extreme environmental conditions. As a result, we cannot yet conclude whether the increased NEE in the growing season is truly sustained on an annual basis. If it turns out that winter measurements shown here are an underestimate, we may indeed find these systems are already losing net C to the atmosphere.
Disproportionately high rates of sulfide oxidation from mountainous river basins of Taiwan orogeny: Sulfur isotope evidence
Authors: Das Anirban , Chung Chuan‐Hsiung , You Chen‐Feng
Published: June 2012

Sulfur isotopic tracing of river sulfate (SO42−) suggests that sulfide oxidation accounts for 85 ± 7% of the dissolved SO42−in one of the largest river systems (the Kaoping) of the Taiwan orogeny in the high‐discharge season. This corresponds to a basin‐wide contribution of ∼1.2–1.6% of pyrite‐derived SO42− exported by rivers globally, from a river basin, which is only ∼0.003% of the global drainage area. Intense rainfall, high relief and active tectonics all favor intense physical weathering of the Kaoping basin, which promotes continuous exposure of fresh (sulfide) mineral surfaces for oxidative weathering. This coupling between physical and chemical weathering sustains disproportionately high sulfide oxidation, ∼400 times relative to surface area, in the Kaoping basin.
Improving GPS Radio occultation stratospheric refractivity retrievals for climate benchmarking
Authors: Ao Chi O. , Mannucci Anthony J. , Kursinski E. Robert
Published: June 2012

Global Positioning System radio occultation (GPS RO) measurements have been shown to be valuable for climate monitoring. The refractivity retrieved from these measurements are most accurate below 25 km altitude. At higher altitudes, the atmosphere becomes increasingly tenuous, and the measurement noise becomes comparable to or exceeds the bending signal. This necessitates some form of smoothing or modeling of the bending angles at high altitudes before Abel inversion. In this paper, we introduce a new approach to reduce the systematic bias that could result from such high‐altitude initialization. We show that the climatological average of refractivity can be computed as the Abel inversion of the average bending angles with very little error in the stratosphere. By using the average bending angles, we can substantially reduce the random noise in the measurements and increase the altitude at which the initialization needs to be applied. We performed a simulation study which validated this approach and demonstrated the significant improvement in stratospheric refractivity retrieval. Applying the method to actual COSMIC data showed a similar level of difference between our method and the conventional method above 25 km. This implies that the improvement seen in the simulation could be achievable with the real data.