			Home About us Contact

Old Site (old + site)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Earth and Environmental Science	50%

Selected Abstracts

Colonial and post-colonial aspects of Australian identity1

THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2007
Bruce Tranter
Abstract Since the 1988 Bicentennial and the 2001 centenary of federation celebrations colonial images have flourished in Australia, highlighting the roles of convicts and free settlers during early colonization. Old sites, such as Port Arthur have been re-invigorated, and in 2004 Tasmanians celebrated the bicentenary of ,white' settlement. However, social scientists have given little attention to the role of colonial and post-colonial figures and myths as aspects of Australian national identity. We seek to address this issue by examining how convicts, free settlers, bushrangers and ANZACs are associated with contemporary identity in Australia.2 We examine evidence from the 2003 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes and find that historical figures such as the ANZACs and post-World War II immigrants comprise important aspects of national identity. A substantial majority of Australians judged ANZACs to be important, countering recent claims of the ,demise of the digger'. Sporting heroes are also at the core of Australian identity. Colonial figures appear to be far less important, although views on national identity vary according to social location. In particular, left-wing, university educated, younger, postmaterialist Australians view convicts and bushrangers as relatively important, indicating the salience of the larrikin in Australian identity. [source]

The contribution of limb bone fracture patterns to reconstructing early hominid behaviour at Swartkrans cave (South Africa): archaeological application of a new analytical method

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 4 2005
T. R. Pickering
Abstract Recently, Alcántara García et al. (in press) presented a new method and criteria for distinguishing between fractures imparted by hominid hammerstone percussion and carnivores chewing on ,green' limb bones of ungulates. The method uses a combination of fracture plane and fracture angle data that are useful for elucidating the relative role of hominids in the accumulation of prehistoric archaeofaunas, especially when employed in concert with other classes of taphonomic data. We briefly summarise the method and apply it to the ungulate limb bone subassemblage from Swartkrans Member 3, a c. 1.0 million year old site from South Africa that preserves Early Stone Age lithic artefacts, hominid fossils, and an abundant mammalian fauna with cutmarked, hammerstone-percussed and burned bone specimens. Results of the fracture pattern analysis corroborate indications from other lines of taphonomic data that there was minimal carnivore,hominid interdependence in the formation of the fauna, and that carnivores were probably responsible for the majority of the bone collection in Member 3. However, we also document a significant hominid influence on assemblage formation, a finding that expands and refines our understanding of large animal carcass foraging by hominids in southern Africa during the early Pleistocene. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Evaluation of a technical revegetation action performed on foredunes at Devesa de la Albufera, Valencia, Spain

LAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2010
F. J. Escaray
Abstract We have evaluated the level of restoration achieved by a technical revegetation action carried out on reconstructed foredunes at the Devesa de la Albufera and compared this level with that achieved by spontaneous succession. Foredunes 1, 3, 6 and 20,y old since revegetated (1, 3, 6 and 20,y, respectively) were considered as spatially separated stages representing a successional trend in the development of the restored plant community. Lower and similar levels of diversity (richness and H´ and Pielou´s indexes) and coverage, respectively, were found on dunes corresponding to the oldest stage of technical revegetation compared with that of the reference site. Diversity and coverage parameters increased during the first 6,y of the technical succession and decreased after 20,y of revegetation. Moreover, that increase was quite obvious as early as 3,y after the onset of revegetation. Results also showed that the Devesa de la Albufera has its own capacity for revegetation. According to the Jaccard and Sørensen indexes, these dunes were more similar to the reference than those from the 20,y old site. Beyond the current functionality of the revegetated sites, it is concluded that the natural and aesthetic values may be restored at the Valencian Devesa de la Albufera. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Pseudomonas aeruginosa in children with cystic fibrosis diagnosed through newborn screening: Assessment of clinic exposures and microbial genotypes,

PEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY, Issue 7 2010
Don Hayes Jr MD
Abstract Background Chronic pulmonary infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is responsible for significant morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis (CF). Because of the limited studies evaluating early exposure and the progression of genetic variability of PA, our goal was to assess PA in young children with CF followed in two clinic types. Methods A total of 39 infants with CF diagnosed through newborn screening were randomly assigned to either a segregated (PA-free) or mixed (PA-positive) clinic at two different CF centers, one of which replaced an older, mixed clinic where nosocomial acquisition was suspected. Oropharyngeal (OP) swab cultures were examined with subsequent genotyping to characterize the strains of PA isolated. Results We found that 13/21 segregated clinic patients and 14/18 mixed clinic patients showed positive PA, with median acquisition ages of 3.3 and 2.2 years, respectively (P,=,0.57). The median time to PA acquisition, however, was significantly longer in the new clinic with proper hygiene precautions compared to an old site (5.0 years vs. 1.7 years, P,<,0.001). The majority of subjects isolated a single genotype of PA or AP-PCR types during the study period with eight subjects clearing the isolate after only one positive culture. The development of chronic colonization yielded the predominance of a single major genotype or AP-PCR type. Conclusions Segregation of infants and young children with CF in PA-negative or PA-positive clinics did not alter the time to first PA isolation in this randomized assessment of facilities with hygienic precautions. During the early infection period where PA is first isolated in young children with CF, patients cleared different PA strains until a predominant strain established permanent colonization. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2010; 45:708,716. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]