Dietary Change and Human Population at Indian Creek, Antigua

1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 518-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alick R. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Human Population ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Dietary Change ◽  
Bivalve Mollusks ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Single Model ◽  
Animal Food ◽  
Indian Creek ◽  
Food Consumed

The midden at Indian Creek, Antigua, is very probably a nearly complete record of the animal food consumed by the inhabitants over about 1,100 years of occupation. During that time the resource exploitation pattern changed in a number of major and minor ways. The most obvious change, when crab gave way to bivalve mollusks as an important dietary element, has been examined in some detail and the possible causes for the change discussed. Although the data presented here could be used for a variety of theoretical models it seems likely that no single model is sufficient to explain all the changes. The faunal remains obtained from the excavation have been used to calculate the amount of protein represented and this in turn used to calculate the approximate mean human population over the period of occupation. The figure obtained is between 21-53 depending upon the criteria adopted. The possible sources of error in the calculations are identified and discussed.

Holocene resource exploitation along the Nile: diet and subsistence strategies of Mesolithic and Neolithic societies at Khor Shambat 1, Sudan

Antiquity ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Julie Dunne ◽  
Maciej Jórdeczka ◽  
Marek Chłodnicki ◽  
Karen Hardy ◽  
Lucy Kubiak-Martens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Residue Analysis ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Subsistence Strategies ◽  
Central Sudan ◽  
First Time ◽  
Human Subsistence

The subsistence practices of Holocene communities living in the Nile Valley of Central Sudan are comparatively little known. Recent excavations at Khor Shambat, Sudan, have yielded well-defined Mesolithic and Neolithic stratigraphy. Here, for the first time, archaeozoological, palaeobotanical, phytolith and dental calculus studies are combined with lipid residue analysis of around 100 pottery fragments and comparative analysis of faunal remains and organic residues. This holistic approach provides valuable information on changes in adaptation strategies, from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic herders exploiting domesticates. A unique picture is revealed of the natural environment and human subsistence, demonstrating the potential wider value of combining multiple methods.

scholarly journals THEORETICAL MODELS OF WELL-BEING: SUBJECTIVE, PSYCHOLOGICAL, SENSE OF LIFE, SELF-ESTEEM AND OPTIMISM

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Single Model ◽  
Psychological Measures ◽  
Psychological Sense

This work aimed to carry out a literature review on the theoretical models of well-being. Specifically, subjective well-being and psychological well-being, in addition to constructs that also promote quality of life, namely, the meaning of life, self-esteem and optimism. For this, the research was structured to present the definitions around the concept of well-being. Then, it tried to conceptualize, to know the psychological measures and studies that demonstrate the relation between sense of life, self-esteem and optimism. In this way, this review demonstrated how research conceives the phenomena in question, showing that it is not up to a single model to understand healthy psychological adjustment, but based on its multidimensionality observed in different constructs.

scholarly journals An efficient interpolation technique for jump proposals in reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo calculations

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 150030 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. Farr ◽  
I. Mandel ◽  
D. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Markov Chain ◽  
Markov Chain Monte Carlo ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Reversible Jump ◽  
Single Model ◽  
Parameter Spaces ◽  
Interpolation Technique ◽  
Important Challenge ◽  
Tree Data Structure

Selection among alternative theoretical models given an observed dataset is an important challenge in many areas of physics and astronomy. Reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) is an extremely powerful technique for performing Bayesian model selection, but it suffers from a fundamental difficulty and it requires jumps between model parameter spaces, but cannot efficiently explore both parameter spaces at once. Thus, a naive jump between parameter spaces is unlikely to be accepted in the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm and convergence is correspondingly slow. Here, we demonstrate an interpolation technique that uses samples from single-model MCMCs to propose intermodel jumps from an approximation to the single-model posterior of the target parameter space. The interpolation technique, based on a kD-tree data structure, is adaptive and efficient in modest dimensionality. We show that our technique leads to improved convergence over naive jumps in an RJMCMC, and compare it to other proposals in the literature to improve the convergence of RJMCMCs. We also demonstrate the use of the same interpolation technique as a way to construct efficient ‘global’ proposal distributions for single-model MCMCs without prior knowledge of the structure of the posterior distribution, and discuss improvements that permit the method to be used in higher dimensional spaces efficiently.

scholarly journals Desenvolvimento dos Modelos de Conhecimento Especializado de professores de Biologia, Física e Química

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-53
Author(s):  
Mónica Luís ◽  
◽  
Susel Soares ◽  
Stela Lima ◽  
Marcela Marques ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Teacher ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Single Model ◽  
Specialized Knowledge ◽  
Content Domain

In this article we approach the transposition of theoretical models on the specialized knowledge that teachers have to teach the subjects Biology, Physics and Chemistry that were based on the model of Mathematics Teacher of the Specialized Knowledge, the MTSK. For that, we trace the trajectory of the construction of specialized models and then we bring the theoretical diversifications between the models of Biology, Physics and Chemistry comparing them with each other revealing the aspects that distinguish and / or approximate them and that support the negative for the transposition of a single model of Sciences based on the particularities identified both in the scope of the content domain and in the pedagogical domain.

The faunal remains from Mamluk Khirbat al-Sar (Jordan)

2020 ◽  
pp. 677-694
Author(s):  
Hervé Monchot
Keyword(s):  
Food Products ◽  
The Other ◽  
Food Provisioning ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Animal Food ◽  
Animal Management ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Mamluk Period ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Animal Food Products

Excavations at Khirbat al-Sar in 2019 yielded a small assemblage of animal remains dating mainly to the Mamluk period. An archaeozoological analysis provided insight into the food provisioning of the site’s inhabitants. Caprids (sheep and goat) and cattle made up the bulk of the animal food products. The other species present in small quantities are the dromedary, the horse, the dog, the chicken and the hare. The faunal remains offer an opportunity to collect data on animal management and consumption during this period, of which we know very little in terms of archaeozoology.

scholarly journals Animals from Motya: Depictions and Archaeological Evidence in the Phoenician Town in Sicily

Arts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Francesca Oliveri ◽  
Maria Pamela Toti
Keyword(s):  
Human Population ◽  
Domestic Animals ◽  
Preliminary Review ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Great Attraction ◽  
Animal Presence

This paper focusses on the animal presence in the archaeological records from the Phoenician island town of Motya (Sicily), which grew to prosperity from its settlement in the 8th century until its destruction in 397 bce. Offering a preliminary review of this material, the paper discusses fantastic beasts, animals of the land, sea and air, creatures from Egyptian tradition and the faunal remains. As such, the overview will be more descriptive than analytic. While osteological evidence confirms the presence of domestic animals, such as poultry, pigs and pets, depictions on all sort of artifacts represent sphinxes and griffins, centaurs and sea-monsters, dolphins and every kind of fish, lions, bulls, horses, deer, pigs and dogs, and many kinds of birds from quails to eagles. Egyptian amulets express the great attraction felt towards the mysterious Nile valley. The great variety of animals attested in the iconography, and the various traditions in which they were depicted, are testament to the diversity of the town’s human population as well as their interactions with the wider Mediterranean world.

scholarly journals Exploiting delayed transitions to sustain semiarid ecosystems after catastrophic shifts

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (143) ◽  
pp. 20180083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blai Vidiella ◽  
Josep Sardanyés ◽  
Ricard Solé
Keyword(s):  
Human Population ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Shift Condition ◽  
Critical Rate ◽  
Semiarid Ecosystems ◽  
Intervention Method ◽  
Stochastic Fluctuations ◽  
Catastrophic Shift ◽  
Desert Areas ◽  
Catastrophic Shifts

Semiarid ecosystems (including arid, semiarid and dry-subhumid ecosystems) span more than 40% of extant habitats and contain a similar percentage of the human population. Theoretical models and palaeoclimatic data predict a grim future, with rapid shifts towards a desert state, with accelerated diversity losses and ecological collapses. These shifts are a consequence of the special nonlinearities resulting from ecological facilitation. Here, we investigate a simple model of semiarid ecosystems identifying the so-called ghost, which appears after a catastrophic transition from a vegetated to a desert state once a critical rate of soil degradation is overcome. The ghost involves a slowdown of transients towards the desert state, making the ecosystem seem stable even though vegetation extinction is inevitable. We use this model to show how to exploit the ecological ghosts to avoid collapse. Doing so involves the restoration of small fractions of desert areas with vegetation capable of maintaining a stable community once the catastrophic shift condition has been achieved. This intervention method is successfully tested under the presence of demographic stochastic fluctuations.

Analytical Electron Microscopy of Surface-Modified Ceramics

1985 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 276-279
Author(s):  
P. S. Sklad
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Analytical Electron Microscopy ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Ceramic Materials ◽  
Solute Concentration ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Analytical Electron ◽  
Implantation Techniques ◽  
Lattice Damage ◽  
Surface Modified

Over the past several years, it has become increasingly evident that materials for proposed advanced energy systems will be required to operate at high temperatures and in aggressive environments. These constraints make structural ceramics attractive materials for these systems. However it is well known that the condition of the specimen surface of ceramic materials is often critical in controlling properties such as fracture toughness, oxidation resistance, and wear resistance. Ion implantation techniques offer the potential of overcoming some of the surface related limitations.While the effects of implantation on surface sensitive properties may be measured indpendently, it is important to understand the microstructural evolution leading to these changes. Analytical electron microscopy provides a useful tool for characterizing the microstructures produced in terms of solute concentration profiles, second phase formation, lattice damage, crystallinity of the implanted layer, and annealing behavior. Such analyses allow correlations to be made with theoretical models, property measurements, and results of complimentary techniques.

On the Relationship Between General Auditory Sensitivity and Speech Perception: An Examination of Pitch and Lexical Tone Perception in 4- to 6-Year-Old Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 487-498
Author(s):  
Puisan Wong ◽  
Man Wai Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Auditory Sensitivity ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Perceptual Training ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Tone Discrimination

Purpose Theoretical models and substantial research have proposed that general auditory sensitivity is a developmental foundation for speech perception and language acquisition. Nonetheless, controversies exist about the effectiveness of general auditory training in improving speech and language skills. This research investigated the relationships among general auditory sensitivity, phonemic speech perception, and word-level speech perception via the examination of pitch and lexical tone perception in children. Method Forty-eight typically developing 4- to 6-year-old Cantonese-speaking children were tested on the discrimination of the pitch patterns of lexical tones in synthetic stimuli, discrimination of naturally produced lexical tones, and identification of lexical tone in familiar words. Results The findings revealed that accurate lexical tone discrimination and identification did not necessarily entail the accurate discrimination of nonlinguistic stimuli that followed the pitch levels and pitch shapes of lexical tones. Although pitch discrimination and tone discrimination abilities were strongly correlated, accuracy in pitch discrimination was lower than that in tone discrimination, and nonspeech pitch discrimination ability did not precede linguistic tone discrimination in the developmental trajectory. Conclusions Contradicting the theoretical models, the findings of this study suggest that general auditory sensitivity and speech perception may not be causally or hierarchically related. The finding that accuracy in pitch discrimination is lower than that in tone discrimination suggests that comparable nonlinguistic auditory perceptual ability may not be necessary for accurate speech perception and language learning. The results cast doubt on the use of nonlinguistic auditory perceptual training to improve children's speech, language, and literacy abilities.

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