bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Thermal decomposition of monomethylhydrazine: Shock tube experiments and kinetic modeling
Authors: Sun Hongyan , Catoire Laurent , Law Chung K.
Published: December 2008

The thermal decomposition of gaseous monomethylhydrazine (MMH) was studied by recording MMH absorption at 220 nm of the reacting gas behind a reflected shock wave at temperatures of 900–1370 K, pressures of 140–450 kPa, and in mixtures containing 97.5–99 mol% argon. Based on previous work (Sun and Law; J Phys Chem A 2007, 111(19), 3748–3760), a kinetic mechanism was developed over extended temperature and pressure ranges to model these experimental data. Specifically, the temperature and pressure dependence of the unimolecular rate coefficients on the dissociation of MMH and the associated radicals were calculated by the QRRK/Master equation analysis at temperatures of 300–2000 K and pressures of 1–100 atm based on published thermochemical and kinetic parameters. They were then fitted using the Troe formalism and incorporated in the kinetic model. This unadjusted model was then used to predict the MMH decomposition profiles at different temperatures and pressures for seven groups of MMH/Ar mixtures and the half‐life decomposition times from shock tube experiments. Good agreement was observed below 940 K and above 1150 K for the diluted MMH/Ar mixtures. The model predictions further show that the overall MMH decomposition rate follows first‐order kinetics, and that the N–N bond scission is the most sensitive reaction path for the modeling of the homogeneous decomposition of MMH at elevated pressures. However, the model predictions deviate from the experimental data with the incubation period of ca. 100 μs observed in the 1030–1090 K temperature range, and it also predicts longer ignition delays for highly concentrated MMH/Ar mixtures. The discrepancy between the model predictions and experimental data at these special conditions of MMH decomposition was analyzed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 41: 176–186, 2009
Quantitative iTRAQ proteome and comparative transcriptome analysis of elicitor‐induced Norway spruce (Picea abies) cells reveals elements of calcium signaling in the early conifer defense response
Authors: Lippert Dustin N. , Ralph Steven G. , Phillips Michael , White Rick , Smith Derek , Hardie Darryl , Gershenzon Jonathan , Ritland Kermit , Borchers Christoph H. , Bohlmann Jörg
Published: December 2008

Long‐lived conifer trees depend on both constitutive and induced defenses for resistance against a myriad of potential pathogens and herbivores. In species of spruce (Picea spp.), several of the late events of pathogen‐, insect‐, or elicitor‐induced defense responses have previously been characterized at the anatomical, biochemical, transcriptome, and proteome levels in stems and needles. However, accurately measuring the early events of induced cellular responses in a conifer is technically challenging due to limitations in the precise timing of induction and tissue sampling from intact trees following insect or fungal treatment. In the present study, we used the advantages of Norway spruce (Picea abies) cell suspensions combined with chitosan elicitation to investigate the early proteome response in a conifer. A combination of iTRAQ labeling and a new design of iterative sample analysis employing data‐dependent exclusion lists were used for proteome analysis. This approach improved the coverage of the spruce proteome beyond that achieved in any prior study in a conifer system. Comparison of elicitor‐induced proteome and transcriptome responses in Norway spruce cells consistently identified features associated with calcium‐mediated signaling and response to oxidative stress that have not previously been observed in the response of intact trees to fungal attack.
Molecular and Evolutionary Analysis of the Hd6 Photoperiod Sensitivity Gene Within Genus Oryza
Authors: Yamane Hiroko , Ito Tomoko , Ishikubo Harumi , Fujisawa Masaki , Yamagata Harumi , Kamiya Kozue , Ito Yukiyo , Hamada Masao , Kanamori Hiroyuki , Ikawa Hiroshi , Katayose Yuichi , Wu Jianzhong , Sasaki Takuji , Matsumoto Takashi
Published: December 2008

Heading date determines rice’s adaptation to its area and cropping season. We analyzed the molecular evolution of the Hd6 quantitative trait locus for photoperiod sensitivity in a total of 20 cultivated varieties and wild rice species and found 74 polymorphic sites within its coding region (1,002 bp), of which five were nonsynonymous substitutions. Thus, natural mutations and modifications of the coding region of Hd6 within the genus Oryza have been suppressed during its evolution; this is supported by low Ka (≤0.003) and Ka/Ks (≤0.576) values between species, indicating purifying selection for a protein-coding gene. A nonsynonymous substitution detected in the japonica variety “Nipponbare” (a premature stop codon and nonfunctional allele) was found within only some local Japanese japonica varieties, which suggests that this point mutation happened recently, probably after the introduction of Chinese rice to Japan, and is likely involved in rice adaptation to high latitudes. Phylogenetic analysis and genome divergence using the entire Hd6 genomic region confirmed the current taxonomic sections of Oryza and supported the hypothesis of independent domestication of indica and japonica rice.
KILLING THE CONDEMNED: THE PRACTICE AND PROCESS OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN BRITISH AFRICA, 1900–1950s
Authors: HYND STACEY
Published: December 2008

Capital punishment in British colonial Africa was not just a method of crime control or individual punishment, but an integral aspect of colonial networks of power and violence. The treatment of condemned criminals and the rituals of execution which brought their lives to an end illustrate the tensions within colonialism surrounding the relationship between these states and their subjects, and with their metropolitan overlords. The state may have had the legal right to kill its subjects, but this right and the manner in which it was enacted were contested. This article explores the interactions between various actors in this penal ‘theatre of death’, looking at the motivations behind changing uses of the death penalty, the treatment of the condemned convicts whilst they awaited death, and the performance of a hanging itself to show how British colonial governments in Africa attempted to create and manage the deaths of their condemned subjects.
Marriage patterns in Greece during the twentieth century
Authors: GAVALAS VASILIS S.
Published: December 2008

Typologies of marriage patterns in early modern Europe have been formulated by John Hajnal and Peter Laslett. However, demographic and anthropological studies have noticed that marriage patterns in the Balkan area have exhibited such great variability that it is difficult to classify them in any of the categories proposed by Laslett. This article examines the marriage patterns in Greece and some of her island populations in the time-span of the twentieth century. Although the marriage patterns examined do not conform to any pre-defined typology, it seems that up to the first half of the twentieth century the pattern of mainland Greece constituted an intermediate case between the West and the East European marriage patterns but that that on the islands was totally different. The marriage patterns on the Ionian Islands had more features in common with the West European pattern, while the marriage pattern of the Cyclades reveals certain characteristics (but not all) of the Mediterranean pattern.
Sale or gratuitous transfer? Conveyance of family estates in a manufacturing village: Lumezzane in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Authors: TEDESCHI PAOLO
Published: December 2008

This article illustrates various characteristics of the real-estate market in Lumezzane, a village in the Lombard Prealps between the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries. It reveals the types of property sold, the objectives of the buyers and sellers, the prices paid and, in some cases, the credit arrangements undertaken. The research indicates the relationship between the credit market and the type of manufacture in the region. Particular institutions, most notably religious foundations known as the Luoghi Pii, as well as private individuals, provided capital to artisans in the absence of banks. This availability of credit at favourable rates allowed artisans to produce manufactured goods at a competitive price even in difficult economic times. The importance of industry in the region both influenced strategies of inheritance and limited the need for the type of out-migration that characterized most Alpine regions during the period.
Norwegian og and å – a Cognitive View
Authors: Endresen Rolf Theil
Published: December 2008

Written Norwegian has two words, the co-ordinating conjunction og and the infinitive marker å, both of which are pronounced [o] in Spoken Norwegian. In this paper, an attempt is made to show that [o] in Spoken Norwegian constitutes a single polysemous word. Furthermore, it is argued that Spoken Norwegian [o], in all its usages and meanings, is a descendant of Old Norse ok “and”, while the Old Norse infinitive marker at has not survived in Spoken Norwegian.
Norwegian Speech Error Data – A Source of Evidence for Linguistic Performance Models
Authors: Foldvik Arne Kjell
Published: December 2008

122 Norwegian speech errors occurring in spontaneous speech have been analysed in the light of models of speech performance. Methods and problems in connection with data collection are discussed.
Stress and Accent in Swedish
Authors: Jensen John T.
Published: December 2008

A generative account of stress and accent in Swedish is developed. Contrary to traditional assumptions, Accent I and Accent II are not considered primitive categories, nor, as in earlier generative treatments, a feature of words. Rather, the accents are described in terms of universal features of pitch, which are assigned to words whose stress patterns are fully determined. Although the pitch rules differ from one dialect to another, the stress rules are substantially the same in all dialects.
A Close Look at Natural Serialization
Authors: Leinonen Marja
Published: December 2008

The article gives an overview of a universalistic hypothesis concerning world order change. Though noting the probabilistic nature of tendencies, it presents for comparison facts from the history of a specific language, Russian. It is a matter of opinion how such facts are weighted when they seem to be rathr against than for the hypothesis. However, what hopefully emerges clearly enough is that linearity and variation in syntax are guided by intonation and information structure as much as by structural analogy.
Infinitive Perfect and Backward Causation
Authors: Johan Sæbø Kjell
Published: December 2008

The present paper represents an attempt to explain the semantically deviant nature of causative constructions with present perfect effect sentences. As far as I known, such constructions have not been commented upon in the literature on causativity. I show that any counterfactual analysis of the traditional sort will bring them out as synthetic sentences, provided they are syntactically well-formed. On the other hand, if the notion os counterfactural dependence is re-interpreted along the lines of branching possible worlds, they can be shown to be systematically contradictory. I discuss the various revisions of the truth conditions for tensed formulae and of the general semantic framework which are necessary to accomplish this.
Velumtätigkeit bei der Erzeugung stimmhafter und stimmloser Nasalkonsonanten im Isländischen
Authors: Pétursson Magnús
Published: December 2008

In modern Icelandic, spoken in the South, West, and North-West of Iceland, there is a phonemic opposition between voiced and voiceless nasals before stop consonants. For the present investigation the research instrument was the velograph. The purpose of the research was to investigate patterns of velar movement associated with each type of nasal consonants. The results show different types of velar movement organized according to two separate temporal patterns. For the voiceless nasals the movement of the velum is more rapid and begins earlier than for the voiced nasals. There are also significant differences in the nasalization of the preceding vowel according to whether the following nasal consonant is voiced or voiceless.
The Analysis of Aspiration in Sanskrit Phonology
Authors: Ejerhed Eva I.
Published: December 2008

The paper is devoted to the thesis that all Sanskrit aspirates (voiceless as well: as voiced) should be represented as clusters of a consonantal segment /C/ plus a segment /h/, the latter being [-consonantal, -vocalic], and not as single consonantal segments with the feature [+aspirate], which is the usual analysis. The arguments for the correctness of this thesis are based on formal considerations, i.e. on the fact that a cluster analysis yields a simpler formul ation of a 1arge number of different phonological processes in the language. The paper compares the cluster analysis of aspirates with a non-cluster analysis with respect to ten different rules.
Coherence in Spoken and Written Discourse
Authors: Lautamatti Liisa
Published: December 2008

The article discusses two types of discourse coherence, propositional coherence and interactional coherence. These two types are related to the mode of discourse as well as to the level of style in the discourse. It takes up the concept of frame as an organised subsystem of knowledge shared by human beings, and suggests ways in which this concept could be used in studies of coherence in everyday conversations, prose texts and lyrical poetry. The article also suggests a way of describing discourse coherence in terms of the discourse topic and considers the relationship of the two types in different kinds of texts.
A Revised Explanation of the Causes of Palatal Vowel Harmony Based on Psychoacoustic Spectra
Authors: Suomi Kari
Published: December 2008

Recent research on vowel perception has seriously questioned the perceptual relevance of the formant concept and the conventional method of specifying vowel quality in terms of the lowest formants. The phonetic basis of the theory of palatal vowel harmony suggested by the author (Suomi 1983) was stated in this framework and, moreover, some of the central concepts were defined only qualitatively. The present paper is a restatement of the phonetic motivation of palatal vowel harmony against a body of perceptually more realistic and quantitative data on Finnish vowels.
Svenska nominalfraser och kontext-fri grammatik
Authors: Cooper Robin
Published: December 2008

Swedish noun-phrases of the form (Det) (Adj)* N are examined in the light of recent work in generalized phrase-structure grammar. It is argued that simple generalizations about the phrase-structure of these NPs are lost by trying to account for the precise morphological possibilities by using phrase-structure rules mentioning categories marked with morphological features. What could be accounted for by two rules must be broken down into subcases which need seven rules, thereby obscuring the overall syntactic structure of the NPs. An alternative is suggested which maintains the simple syntax which generates morphologically ill-formed NPs but only allows morphologically well-formed ones to be interpreted. It is suggested that this system can be constrained so as to generate only context-free languages.
Norwegian Verb Particle Constructions as Causative Constructions
Authors: Åfarli Tor A.
Published: December 2008

In this article I argue that Taraldsen's (1983) analysis of verb particle constructions cannot be maintained because it predicts a considerable subset of the grammatical particle constructions to be ungrammatical, as well as some ungrammatical particle constructions to be grammatical. In my analysis of verb particle constructions as causative constructions, I borrow the device of reanalysis from Taraldsen. This reanalysis is crucially taken as a licensing condition for the rule of particle movement, but it does not constitute a sufficient condition for the possibility of particle movement, since I will also argue that this rule is subject to essentially non-syntactic restrictions so that its output cannot be wholly deduced from GB syntax subtheories.
Stress Alternations and Vowel Length: New Evidence for an Underlying Nine-Vowel System in Swedish
Authors: Eliasson Stig
Published: December 2008

This paper presents new empirical evidence for a process description of quantity in Swedish. Like most other Germanic languages, Swedish possesses a rich array of stress-governing derivational suffixes which cause stress and length alternations in the stems to which they are attached. Such alternations bear crucially on the choice between a unit-oriented or process-oriented approach to Swedish phonology. Inasmuch as 18-vowel-phoneme solutions presuppose lexically inherent vocalic length, they result in a multitude of morphophonemic alternations between long and short vowels. In process solutions, such quantitative alternations follow predictably from independently motivated rules. These results have important implications for the description of the phonemic system, phonotactics, rule component, and morphological structure of the language. The conclusions are directly valid also for Norwegian.
On Detecting Words and Word Boundaries in Finnish: A Survey of Potential Word Boundary Signals
Authors: Suomi Kari
Published: December 2008

Two models are presented of how the listener detects words in utterances. The first model assumes that the listener takes advantage of phonetic word boundary signals (WBSs), non-phonetic information not being necessary for word detection. The second model assumes that word detection relies on the use of non-phonetic knowledge of the language, words being detected through the recognition of the preceding word. Thus WBSs may not be necessary for word detection. The WBSs suggested for Finnish are evaluated against this background. The phonotactic WBSs are found unreliable or useless, the others limited in applicability or experimentally unsupported. The models and the results of the survey will direct future investigations of word detection and recognition in Finnish.
The Segmental and Superasegmental Status of Preaspiration in Modern Icelandic
Authors: Árnason Kristján
Published: December 2008

The paper discusses the historical origin, present day distribution and prosodic status of preaspiration in Icelandic. Having developed as a movement of the openness of the glottis, originally a feature of “hard” stops, towards the nucleus of the stressed syllable, its distribution must be accounted for by a “segmental” rule operating on historical (underlying) hard stops. Its status with respect to length and stress is, however, shown to be that of a prosody of the nucleus of the Modern Icelandic syllable, since it carries length when the syllable is stressed. The development of preaspiration is seen as a part of a more general rule also responsible for voiceless sonorants and fricatives in the nucleus.
The Revised Alternation Condition in Lexical Phonology
Authors: Iverson Gregory K.
Published: December 2008

The present paper makes a case for retention of the (Revised) Alternation Condition in Lexical Phonology, a theory in which any single rule which presebts beytralizing, lexical effects restricted to derived forms along with allophonic, derivationally unterstricted dffects is cominally impossible. However, Korean obstruent palatalization does display both of these properties, whereby /t, th/ neutralize with /ĉ, ĉh/ before [i], but only if the [i] occurs in another morpheme (cf. /path + i/→ [paĉhi] ‘field-SUBJ’ vs. monomorphemic [pathi] ‘endure’), whereas / s / acquires the palatal allophone [∫[ before [i] both within ([∫i] ‘poem’) and between (/os + i/→ [o∫i] ‘cloth-SUBJ’) morphemes. The Revised Alternation Condition alone imposes just this restriction on a single palatalization rule functioning both lexically and post-lexically in Korean, which suggests that its removal from the theory is premature.
Sentence Synthesis from Situation Schemata: A Unification-based Algorithm
Authors: Dyvik Helge
Published: December 2008

This paper describes a system for automatic sentence synthesis (or “generation”) from semantic representations. The system is implemented in Interlisp as an extension of D-PATR, Lauri Karttunen's environment for the development of unification-based grammars (see Karttunen 1986, Carlson & Linden 1987).
Parsing Danish Text in Eurotra
Authors: Togeby Ole
Published: December 2008

The machine translation project Eurotra is described as a multilanguage modular translation system with 9 monolingual analysis modules, 72 bilingual transfer modules, and 9 monolingual synthesis modules. The analysis module for Danish is described as a three-step parser with structure generation rules for immediate constituent structure, syntactic structure, and semantic structure, and translation rules between them. The topological grammatical description of Danish proposed by Paul Diderichsen, is shown to be useful in building the parser for Danish, especially with respect to the interaction between empty slots and filled slot in the topological pattern. Lastly, the special problem with parsing and disambiguation of sentences that allow many pp attachments patterns is mentioned and a solution is suggested.
The Regrettable Neglect of Affect: Comment on Karin Junefelt's paper
Authors: Snow Catherine E.
Published: December 2008

The recent upsurge of attention to Vygotsky's writings in developmental psychology, with their welcome focus on the role of the adult, on interaction and on the connection between communication and cognition constitutes a healthy redress to the Piagetian focus on the autonomous child operating in a world of things and actions rather than a world of people and relationships. In light of the corrective potential of Vygotskian ideas, it is not surprising that they have been embraced widely. Unfortunately, despite the initial appeal of central Vygotskian notions like the zone of proximal development, the intraindividual recapitulation of interindividual processes and the use of language as mediational means, it is very hard to take these notions beyond the status of slogan to the status of explanatory concept. A valuable contribution made by Junefelt in her article “The zone of proximal development and communicative development” is to give concrete examples of how these Vygotskian notions can help us understand a particular domain of development — communication.
The Acquisition Process of Consonantal Clusters in the Child: Some Universal Rules?
Authors: Rūķe-Draviņa Velta
Published: December 2008

This article concentrates on the continual sequence of sound acquisition process in individual subjects. The basic material is taken from three longitudinal studies regarding three Latvian-learning (monolingual) children; additional observations were made of five other children. In spite of the fact that Latvian is rich in consonantal clusters, all children had difficulties in mastering them correctly: they tried to avoid them by omission of one or two consonants or by replacing them with other sounds. Even hypercorrect substitutions appeared. Medial clusters occurred much earlier than clusters in other positions, and final clusters several months before initial clusters. Similar observations in Czech children learning their mother-tongue point to some universal character of this phenomenon since consonantal clusters are absent in many world languages or are used in special positions, and they are among the first features which disappear in aphasia.
From Language Behaviour to Database: Some Comments on Plunkett's Paper
Authors: van Hout Roeland
Published: December 2008

It is evident that the Child Language Exchange System—CHILDES—will play a catalytic role in the study of first language acquisition. Plunkett rightly concludes that this system has the potential of bringing together work on first language acquisition from a wide range of theoretical and practical perspectives. The compilation of the CHILDES package, including a workbench with a set of computational tools, is an admirable achievement, which most certainly will have an impact on other branches in the study of language behaviour (e.g. discourse analysis, sociolinguistics).
Parsing with Situation Semantics
Authors: Polzin Thomas , Rieser Hannes
Published: December 2008

This paper integrates several related lines of research in an implemented model. Its main aim is to show how principles of situation semantics concerning meanings, constraints and the preferred ontology can be represented and mapped onto expressions of natural language in a straightforward way. For assembling larger chunks of information a unification-based approach is used. The semantics is grafted upon a shift- reduce parser which does the main work in associating expressions with meanings. In order to capture the much debated difference between sentence and utterance meaning the whole machinery provides first an abstract meaning (conceived as a constraint) where the parameters are non-anchored. Subsequently, a model in the technical sense provides anchors for parameters and thus yields the utterance meaning of the sentence parsed. Finally, it is checked whether this semantic representation of the parsing result can be regarded as a genuine situation semantic object. This is done by showing that it confirms to the axioms of a situation theoretic model. As a result, parses are far more constrained and theory-guided than usual. The idea of parsing used goes back to work originally done by Barwise and Perry, the coding of semantic entities owes much to proposals issued by K. Devlin and D. Westerdåhl. The whole model is implemented in PROLOG
On Paragrammatism in Finnish
Authors: Kukkonen Pirkko
Published: December 2008

Previous studies on the nature of paragrammatism in Finnish have established a continuum of syntactic complexity with normal speech at one end and Broca's aphasics at the other, while Wernicke's aphasics fall between these two groups. In the present analysis, two paragrammatic aphasics are described whose utterances are longer than normal and of a more complex syntactic structure than the utterances in the comparison data. The paragrammatic subjects also make plenty of morphological and syntactic errors. The comparison of the present results with earlier studies on paragrammatism in Finnish shows that paragrammatism is subject to considerable variation
The Role of Computer Simulation in Neurolinguistics
Authors: Eikmeyer Hans-Jürgen , Schade Ulrich
Published: December 2008

As a result of present-day technological standards, the technique of computer simulation is constantly gaining influence in cognitive science. Neurolinguistics is a special branch of this field in which cognitive capacities connected with language are related to the structure and functions of the brain. It is argued that computer simulation is a useful technique for evaluating neurolinguistic models. This is demonstrated with respect to neural network models of the process of language production.
The Prime Minister, Ingvar Carlsson, He or Ingvar? Anaphoric Expressions in Newspaper Discourse
Authors: Ledin Per
Published: December 2008

This paper deals with anaphoric expressions in news reports. It is argued that many aspects of discourse anaphora cannot be accounted for within the dominant cognitive paradigm, where anaphoric NPs are conceived of as representations of invariant and universal psychological phenomena. As demonstrated in the paper, anaphoric NPs are intertwined with different social and ideological processes. Anaphoric NPs can for example be used to individuate the main character to a lesser or greater degree, a use that in turn can be seen as a manifestation of basic news values, such as personalization and objectivity.
Precise Spacecraft Relative Positioning using Single-Frequency Pseudorange Measurements
Authors: Rudel Marc-Philippe , Gurfil Pini
Published: December 2008

The ranging accuracy provided by pseudorange-only techniques is usually no better than a few metres when no differential corrections are applied. Carrier-phase algorithms, on the other hand, yield higher-precision estimates – down to a few millimetres – but are prone to ambiguities difficult to resolve. An easier-to-implement method, using single-frequency pseudorange measurements only, is presented. It allows for a decimetre-level relative positioning accuracy. Results, derived from the GPS Relative Positioning Equations, are validated with actual satellite data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission.
Heuristic Reduction of Gyro Drift for Personnel Tracking Systems
Authors: Borenstein Johann , Ojeda Lauro , Kwanmuang Surat
Published: December 2008

The paper pertains to the reduction of measurement errors in gyroscopes used for tracking the position of walking persons. Such tracking systems commonly use inertial or other means to measure distance travelled, and one or more gyros to measure changes in heading. MEMS-type gyros or IMUs are best suited for this task because of their small size and low weight. However, these gyros have large drift rates and can be sensitive to accelerations. The Heuristic Drift Reduction (HDR) method presented in this paper estimates the drift component and eliminates it, reducing heading errors by almost one order of magnitude.
Transit Vessel Scheduling in the Strait of Istanbul
Authors: Ulusçu Özgecan S. , Özbaş Birnur , Altıok Tayfur , Or İlhan , Yılmaz Tuba
Published: December 2008

Managing the transit vessel traffic in the Strait of Istanbul is a highly complex operation since vessels, weather and water conditions, and a set of regulations affect its operation significantly. At the present time, the Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) operators manage the traffic based on some fundamental rules. After discussions with the VTS, in this report, we present a mathematical formulation of the scheduling process currently in place and validate it by comparing its results with scheduling decisions made by the operators in some days of 2005. The results are highly promising. The fundamental philosophy of the algorithm is to schedule the vessels with highest waiting time first while giving priority to large vessels carrying dangerous cargo. Our goal has been to incorporate the algorithm into a simulation model designed to be used for risk analysis purposes. The proposed algorithm can be slightly altered and used for traffic scheduling in other waterways as well.
Proportionality in Mind and Space in Ancient Egypt
Authors: Kemp Barry , Rose Pamela
Published: December 2008

Over the last twenty years experimental psychology has revived interest in the Golden Section, showing it to have some influence not only in visual perception but also in a certain kind of value judgement. The findings are here tested on ancient Egyptian sources, both archaeological and textual. They lead to a discussion of how Egyptian architects designed their buildings, and also to a consideration of the cognitive processes involved in modern analyses of the plans of ancient buildings by means of diagrammatic proportional schemes.
Scientific Archaeology and the Origins of Symbolism: a reply to Bednarik
Authors: Chase Phillip G. , Dibble Harold L.
Published: December 2008

In 1987, we published a review of archaeological data that had been interpreted by others as evidence for the making and use of symbols before the Upper Palaeolithic (Chase & Dibble 1987). It has become clear to us since then that our study raises a number of issues we did not address directly. The foregoing critique by Bednarik touches on a few of them, but there are more fundamental issues he does not confront. Also, some of his criticisms seem to stem primarily from a misunderstanding or misreading of our article. What we will do here, then, is to respond briefly to his criticisms (we will not discuss his comments on the work of other authors), and then go on to address some of the important issues that he has not considered.
Hands Up for the Individual! The Role of Attribution Studies in Aegean Prehistory
Authors: Morris Christine
Published: December 2008

Attribution studies, the identification of the work of individual artists, are a familiar aspect of art history, and have also been used to isolate individuals and workshops of the Aegean Bronze Age. This paper examines the methodological issues involved and argues that attribution is feasible for prehistoric material, albeit in only a limited way in comparison, for example, with Classical vase painting. It is further suggested that attribution should be viewed not as an isolated aesthetic pursuit, but be approached contextually, as an integral part of artefact analysis. In this way attribution studies can contribute towards the better understanding of the formation and development of style, the definition of closely contemporary groups of material, and the spatial distribution (and its significance) of the products of individuals. Two case studies are presented to illustrate this approach: Mycenaean pictorial pottery of the fourteenth-thirteenth centuries BC, and a contrasting group of material, clay figurines from the Minoan peak sanctuary of Atsipadhes.
The Darwinian Resurgence and the Cultural Virus Critique
Authors: Cullen Ben
Published: December 2008

While the greater part of recent theoretical discourse within archaeology and anthropology has revolved around the post-modernist manifesto, selectionist metaphysics have been enjoying a milder and less vociferous resurgence. This is reflected in the increasing number and diversity of neo-Darwinian approaches which are now available within cultural fields of enquiry. Two basic approaches may be identified, Sociobiology and Cultural Selectionism, and the latter of these can be further sub-divided into the ‘American’ or ‘Inclusive Phenotype’ position and the ‘Cultural Virus’ position. This paper presents a critique of the more established ‘Inclusive Phenotype’ position from the point of view of the ‘Virus’ position, and as the critique unfolds a number of logical problems are elucidated. It is stressed that this paper is not so much a presentation of the Cultural Virus Theory, as a critique of its nearest philosophical relatives.
The Monsters of Pergouset
Authors: Lorblanchet Michel , Sieveking Ann
Published: December 2008

The last underground room at Pergouset is engraved with a variety of signs and a series of unreal, or distorted, animal figures that are presented as variations on several themes. These fantastic creations are the Pergouset monsters. A few similar depictions are known mostly from nearby caves, but as a group the Pergouset monsters are unparalleled in Franco-Cantabrian art. The engravings of Room IV contrast with the conventional Upper Palaeolithic animal depictions found in the three preceding rooms but the use of particular tricks of depiction, as much as the style of certain figures, makes it likely that the same artist drew both conventional figures and monsters. Conditions in the cave suggest that few, if any, visitors reached this last room. In the light of these circumstances the authors consider possible explanations for the occurrence of the monster engravings and their implications.
Food and Genocide: Nazi Agrarian Politics in the Occupied Territories of the Soviet Union
Authors: GERHARD GESINE
Published: December 2008

This article explores the connection between food politics and genocide in the occupied eastern territories. The examination focuses on Herbert Backe, the ‘second man’ in the agricultural administration during the period of Nazi rule. Backe was in charge of food rationing during the war, and was involved in the planning of the economic exploitation of the Soviet Union after the invasion. Under Backe's directive, food policy turned into ‘starvation policy’ for people in the occupied lands of the Soviet Union. The author uses a range of archival sources, including rarely used personal letters and diaries of Backe and his wife, to understand Backe's role and motivations.
Current Climate Impact of Heating From Energy Usage
Authors: De Laat A.T.J.
Published: December 2008

Present‐day waste heat production as a result of energy use is a climate forcing that has not drawn much attention, although Chaisson [2008] recently discussed its potential future climate impact. Current global primary energy consumption amounts to 15.5 tera watts (U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) base year 2005; see Table 1). The global average primary energy consumption (0.03 watts per square meter) is relatively small compared with other anthropogenic radiative forcings, as summarized in the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [2007] report. Nevertheless, despite its relatively small magnitude, waste heat may have a considerable impact on local surface temperature measurements, as outlined below.
Comment on “Long‐Term Global Heating From Energy Use”
Authors: Fleming James R.
Published: December 2008

In a prominent article published in Tellus in 1969, Mikhail I. Budyko, with the Main Geophysical Observatory, Leningrad, Soviet Union, wrote that “all the energy used by man is transformed into heat, the main portion of this energy being an additional source of heat as compared to the present radiation gain” [Budyko, 1969, p. 618]. He pointed out that this heating was over and above any climate forcing from anthropogenic greenhouse gases and—since energy use was growing geometrically—it was likely to result in the retreat of the cryosphere, accompanied by excessive and potentially damaging global warming, perhaps in 200 years or less.

Eric J. Chaisson, in Eos (“Long‐Term Global Heating From Energy Use,” 89(28), 253254, 2008), does not acknowledge Budyko's research. Chaisson cites cosmic history and the history of the human species, but he provides no references to the conceptual history of the idea that human energy use could result in global heating. Budyko first published on the Earth's heat budget in 1948 and in 1998 received the Blue Planet Prize, sponsored by the Asahi Glass Foundation, for his lifetime accomplishments in quantitative climatology.
Use of atmospheric CO2‐sensitive trees may influence dendroclimatic reconstructions
Authors: Knapp Paul A. , Soulé Peter T.
Published: December 2008

We examined recent radial growth increases in western juniper trees using an 11‐site chronology dating from AD 1000–2006. By various measures, radial growth during the late 20th/early 21st centuries was exceptional, with increases occurring absent of regional climatic change. We found that 54% of annual radial growth variability was explained by June Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) values, but the inclusion of atmospheric CO2 values accounted for a 14% increase in explanatory power. We reconstructed June PDSI both including and excluding CO2, and found that PDSI values were overestimated at the end of the record with CO2 omitted from the model. We conclude that: 1) western juniper radial growth was associated with rising CO2 during the late 20th/early 21st centuries; and, 2) the use of CO2‐sensitive trees such as western juniper for dendroclimatic reconstructions may influence the results if the impacts of CO2 fertilization are omitted.
Direct observation of warping in the plasma sheet of Saturn
Authors: Carbary J. F. , Mitchell D. G. , Paranicas C. , Roelof E. C. , Krimigis S. M.
Published: December 2008

The ENA images from the Ion Neutral CAmera (INCA) on the Cassini spacecraft are projected onto the noon‐midnight plane of Sun‐Saturn orbital coordinates, and a composite “image” of Saturn's plasma sheet is constructed from dawn‐side observations of 20–50 keV hydrogens obtained from days 352 to 361 in 2004. The maxima in the intensity contours define the center of the plasma sheet in the noon‐midnight plane. This plasma sheet surface displays a distinct bending or “warping” above Saturn's equatorial plane at radial distances of beyond ∼15 RS on the nightside. On the dayside, the plasma sheet lies close to the equator all the way to the magnetopause. The observed warping agrees with the “bowl” model derived from measurements of Saturn's magnetic field, but fits more closely a simple third‐order polynomial.
Glacier melt, air temperature, and energy balance in different climates: The Bolivian Tropics, the French Alps, and northern Sweden
Authors: Sicart Jean Emmanuel , Hock Regine , Six Delphine
Published: December 2008

This study investigates the physical basis of temperature‐index models for three glaciers in contrasting climates: Zongo (16°S, 5050 m, Bolivian Tropics), St Sorlin (45°N, 2760 m, French Alps), and Storglaciären (67°N, 1370 m, northern Sweden). The daily energy fluxes were computed during melt seasons and correlated with each other and with air temperature on and outside the glacier. The relative contribution of each flux to the correlations between temperature and melt energy was assessed. At Zongo, net short‐wave radiation controls the variability of the energy balance and is poorly correlated to temperature. On tropical glaciers, temperature remains low and varies little, melt energy is poorly correlated to temperature, and degree‐day models are not appropriate to simulate daily melting. At the yearly scale, the temperature is better correlated to the mass balance because it integrates the ablation and the accumulation processes over a long time period. At Sorlin, the turbulent sensible heat flux is greater because of higher temperatures, but melt variability is still controlled by short‐wave radiation. Temperature correlates well with melt energy mainly through short‐wave radiation, probably because of diurnal advection of warm air from the valley. At Storglaciären, high correlations between temperature and melt energy result from substantial variability of the sensible and latent heat fluxes (which both supply energy to the glacier), and their good correlations with temperature. In the three climates, long‐wave irradiance is the main source of energy, but its variability is small and poorly correlated to the temperature mainly because cloud emissions dominate its variability.
Diffusion ellipsoids of anisotropic porous rocks calculated by X‐ray computed tomography‐based random walk simulations
Authors: Nakashima Yoshito , Kamiya Susumu , Nakano Tsukasa
Published: December 2008

Water molecules and contaminants migrate in water‐saturated porous strata by diffusion in systems with small Péclet numbers. Natural porous rocks possess the anisotropy for diffusive transport along the percolated pore space. An X‐ray computed tomography (CT) based approach is presented to quickly characterize anisotropic diffusion in porous rocks. High‐resolution three‐dimensional (3‐D) pore images were obtained for a pumice and three sandstones by microfocus X‐ray CT and synchrotron microtomography systems. The cluster‐labeling process was applied to each image set to extract the 3‐D image of a single percolated pore cluster through which diffusing species can migrate a long distance. The nonsorbing lattice random walk simulation was performed on the percolated pore cluster to obtain the mean square displacement. The self‐diffusion coefficient along each direction in the 3‐D space was calculated by taking the time derivative of the mean square displacement projected on the corresponding direction. A diffusion ellipsoid (i.e., polar representation of the direction‐dependent normalized self‐diffusivity) with three orthogonal principal axes was obtained for each rock sample. The 3‐D two‐point autocorrelation was also calculated for the percolated pore cluster of each rock sample to estimate the pore diameter anisotropy. The autocorrelation ellipsoids obtained by the ellipsoid fitting to the high correlation zone were prolate or oblate in shape, presumably depending on the eruption‐induced deformation of magma and regional stress during sandstone diagenesis. The pore network anisotropy was estimated by calculating the diffusion ellipsoid for uniaxially elongated or compressed rock images. The degree and direction of the geological deformation of the samples estimated by the pore diameter anisotropy analysis agreed well with those estimated by the pore network anisotropy analysis. We found that the direction of the geological deformation coincided with the direction of the major (or minor) principal axis of the prolate (or oblate) diffusion ellipsoid for each sample. Thus, it can be concluded that the deformation‐induced pore structure anisotropy is responsible for the anisotropy of the diffusive transport properties.
Endogenous human brain dynamics recover slowly following cognitive effort
Authors: Suckling John , Barnes Anna , Bullmore Ed
Published: December 2008

In functional magnetic resonance imaging, the brain's response to experimental cognitive tasks is usually assumed to be independent of endogenous oscillations. To test this assumption, we measured fractal scaling of fMRI time-series before and after a working memory task. Prolonged and task difficulty-related changes in post-task 'resting' data suggest that brain dynamics recover slowly from cognitive effort, contrary to the reflexive model that background oscillations are independent of task performance.
Gas-phase infrared multiple photon dissociation spectroscopy of isolated SF6− and SF5− anions
Authors: Steill Jeffrey D. , Oomens Jos , Eyler John R. , Compton Robert N.
Published: December 2008

Resonantly enhanced multiple photon dissociation of gas-phase SF6− and SF5− is studied using tunable infrared light from the FELIX free electron laser. The photodissociation spectrum of the sulfur hexafluoride anion, producing SF5−, is recorded over the spectral range of 250–1650 cm−1. The infrared multiple photon dissociation cross section exhibits a strong, broad resonance enhancement at 675 cm−1 in agreement with the calculated value of ν3, one of the two IR-active fundamental vibrational modes predicted for the Oh-symmetry ion. Much weaker absorption features are observed in the spectral region of 300–450 cm−1 as well as at 580 cm−1 that are not easily assigned to the other IR-active fundamental of SF6− since these resonances are observed at a much higher energy than the calculated values for the IR-active ν4 mode. The potential role of binary combination bands is considered. Photodissociation from the sulfur pentafluoride anion produced only F−, but photodetachment was also observed through SF6 associative electron capture. The IR multiple photon dissociation spectrum of SF5− shows multiple resonances within the region of 400–900 cm−1 and agreement with calculations is clear, including the observation of three fundamental frequencies: ν1 at 780 cm−1, ν7 at 595 cm−1, and ν8 at 450 cm−1. Comparisons of the measured frequencies with ab initio and density functional theory calculations confirm an SF5− anion of C4v symmetry. Similar comparisons for SF6− are not inconsistent with an anion of Oh symmetry.
Contribution of the Gouy phase to two-pathway coherent control of the photoionization and photodissociation of vinyl chloride
Authors: Barge Vishal J. , Hu Zhan , Gordon Robert J.
Published: December 2008

The electric field of a light wave accumulates a π phase shift as it passes through a focus. We show here how this effect, known as the Gouy phase, may be used to control the branching ratio of a unimolecular reaction when the products are formed with different numbers of photons. We demonstrate this control method for the ionization and dissociation of vinyl chloride, using absorption of 177 and 532nm photons to induce a pair of interfering paths. Excellent agreement between the observed and calculated phase shift as a function of the axial coordinate of the laser focus indicates that fragmentation occurs via a ladder switching mechanism. The axial dependence of the modulation depth is evidence of loss of coherence at higher internal temperatures of the molecule.