Reconstructing Herbivore Diets: A Multivariate Statistical Approach To Interpreting Compound-Specific Isotope Values

Stable nitrogen (N) isotope analysis of bulk tissues is a technique for reconstructing the diets of organisms. However, bulk nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values can be influenced by a variety of metabolic and environmental factors that can confound accurate dietary reconstruction. Compound-specific isotope analyses of amino acids (CSIA-AA) have demonstrated the power of the approach in understanding how the δ15N values of bulk collagen are assembled from the constituent AAs. Furthermore, by connecting these AA δ15N values within a robust biochemical framework interpretation of diet and environment are greatly enhanced. Several new proxies have emerged, built around selected AAs; however, the interconnectedness of AA biosynthetic pathways means that patterning of δ15N values across a wider suite of collagen AAs will occur under different environmental or dietary influences. This work seeks to test this idea by situating CSIA-AA within a robust statistical framework using principal component analysis (PCA) and Bayesian statistics to increase the interpretability of a wider range of AA δ15N values in terms of reconstructing herbivore diet. The model was tested using wild and domestic herbivores from the Neolithic settlements of Çatalhöyük (Turkey), Makriyalos (Greece), and Vaihingen (Germany) as case studies. It was found that at Makriyalos there was a sharp separation between domesticated and wild herbivores, which was present to a lesser extent at Çatalhöyük and not observed at Vaihingen. The case studies presented in this work demonstrate that multivariate statistical treatment of CSIA-AA data can deliver new insights into herbivore diet, exceeding those achievable with the Bayesian model.

Climate and mountains shaped human ancestral genetic lineages

Extensive sequencing of modern and ancient human genomes has revealed that contemporary populations can be explained as the result of recent mixing of a few distinct ancestral genetic lineages1. But the small number of aDNA samples that predate the Last Glacial Maximum means that the origins of these lineages are not well understood. Here, we circumvent the limited sampling by modelling explicitly the effect of climatic changes and terrain on population demography and migrations through time and space, and show that these factors are sufficient to explain the divergence among ancestral lineages. Our reconstructions show that the sharp separation between African and Eurasian lineages is a consequence of only a few limited periods of connectivity through the arid Arabian peninsula, which acted as the gate out of the Arican continent. The subsequent spread across Eurasia was then mostly shaped by mountain ranges, and to a lesser extent deserts, leading to the split of European and Asians, and the further diversification of these two groups. A high tolerance to cold climates allowed the persistence at high latitudes even during the Last Glacial Maximum, maintaining a pocket in Beringia that led to the later, rapid colonisation of the Americas. The advent of food production was associated with an increase in movement2, but mountains and climate have been shown to still play a major role even in this latter period3,4, affecting the mixing of the ancestral lineages that we have shown to be shaped by those two factors in the first place.

The thermal response of small and shallow lakes to climate change: new insights from 3D hindcast modelling

Small, shallow lakes represent the majority of inland freshwater bodies. However, the effects of climate change on such ecosystems have rarely been quantitatively addressed. We propose a methodology to evaluate the thermal response of small, shallow lakes to long-term changes in the meteorological conditions through model simulations. To do so, a 3D thermal-hydrodynamic model is forced with meteorological data and used to hindcast the evolution of an urban lake in the Paris region between 1960 and 2017. Its thermal response is assessed through a series of indices describing its thermal regime in terms of water temperature, thermal stratification, and potential cyanobacteria production. These indices and the meteorological forcing are first analysed over time to test the presence of long-term monotonic trends. 3D simulations are then exploited to highlight the presence of spatial heterogeneity. The analyses show that climate change has strongly impacted the thermal regime of the study site. Its response is highly correlated with three meteorological variables: air temperature, solar radiation, and wind speed. Mean annual water temperature shows a considerable warming trend of 0.6 ∘C per decade, accompanied by longer stratification and by an increase in thermal energy favourable to cyanobacteria proliferation. The strengthening of thermal conditions favourable for cyanobacteria is particularly strong during spring and summer, while stratification increases especially during spring and autumn. The 3D analysis allows us to detect a sharp separation between deeper and shallower portions of the basin in terms of stratification dynamics and potential cyanobacteria production. This induces highly dynamic patterns in space and time within the study site that are particularly favourable to cyanobacteria growth and bloom initiation.

Paul Ricoeur on Evil

Paul Ricoeur represents an important source in Western culture who refuses to adopt a sharp separation between humanity and the rest of nature, while recognizing the importance of human distinctiveness. This chapter will engage Ricoeur’s works, beginning with Freedom and Nature, where he emphasizes the preconditions for human sin and the distinctions between scientific explanations and philosophical understanding. Another work, Fallible Man, distinguishes between the finite and infinite and describes the preconditions for human sin. Here, Ricoeur takes steps to fill in the gap between what he terms the pathétique of misery and the transcendental. He resists the idea that the source of evil arises directly from animal passions, but presents a more complex argument related to the force of what he terms ‘the fault’. In The Symbolism of Evil, Ricoeur further describes his recognition that the Fall of humanity admits a voluntary quality to specifically human sin; therefore, guilt is distinct from suffering. Ricoeur’s interpretation of the significance and problematic nature of Augustine’s account of the Fall is instructive in this respect. How far is the explicit human propensity for sin also dependent on prior language and symbolic thought? Ricoeur’s thought also frames the discussion that follows as a dialectical relationship between the natural propensity for evil and its voluntary, symbolic/semiotic character.

WHAT IS “STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS”?

Strategic Communications, (contracted to “StratCom”) as a separate field/profession, is still in the process of formation and, consequently, is not fully studied yet, especially in Georgia. Moreover, even the individuals working in this field find it difficult to properly understand the importance and functions of “StratCom” and, in general, to distinguish it from communication and information disciplines such as “public relations”. Despite the importance and urgency of the issue (especially in today’s information-laden environment), this topic has not been studied in depth. The present paper directly and clearly confirms that the current definitions of “Strategic Communications” and the authors’ reasoning do not form the basis for creating an independent theoretical framework for the profession, which in turn, would end any professional misunderstandings and also no longer mislead individuals or educational institutions. Some experts in this field have been trying for years to create a theoretical framework for “Strategic Communications”, which, as a rule, should be a sharp separation of “StratCom” from other related disciplines and set a different scope, goals or objectives for this new discipline. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned attempts fail to lead us to the desired result. The use of “Strategic Communications” as an information discipline in professional, educational institutions or government agencies is done by “individual” interpretation of certain persons and/or groups. A good and clear example of this issue is the statement made by the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Czech Republic, Jan Havranek, noting that strategic communication is often confused with “public relations” or even political technologies. Compared to the complicated situation in the “West”, the case is even worse on its periphery, for example in Georgia, where the import of knowledge and experience on the “StratCom” started from the “West”. The purpose of this paper is to provide the public with a critical understanding of the existing definitions of “strategic communications” and, secondly, to share with them a discussion of the relevance regarding our vision of strategic communications. The paper uses all the basic literature that would more or less enable us to discuss the existing terms, show us the essence of the problem and help us to achieve the purpose of the publication: to explain the “Strategic Communications”, to establish/understand the relevance of the vision.

Effective balance equations for electrostrictive composites

This work concerns the study of the effective balance equations governing linear elastic electrostrictive composites, where mechanical strains can be observed due to the application of a given electric field in the so-called small strain and moderate electric field regime. The formulation is developed in the framework of the active elastic composites. The latter are defined as composite materials constitutively described by an additive decomposition of the stress tensor into a purely linear elastic contribution and another component, which is assumed to be given and quadratic in the applied electric field when further specialised to electrostrictive composites. We derive the new mathematical model by describing the effective mechanical behaviour of the whole material by means of the asymptotic (periodic) homogenisation technique. We assume that there exists a sharp separation between the micro-scale, where the distance among different sub-phases (i.e. inclusions and/or fibres and/or strata) is resolved, and the macro-scale, which is related to the average size of the whole system at hand. This way, we formally decompose spatial variations by assuming that every physical field and material property are depending on both the macro-scale and the micro-scale. The effective governing equations encode the role of the micro-structure, and the effective contributions to the global stress tensor are to be computed by solving appropriate linear-elastic-type cell problems on the periodic cell. We also provide analytic formulae for the electrostrictive tensor when the applied electric field is either microscopically uniform or given by a suitable multiplicative decomposition between purely microscopically and macroscopically varying components. The obtained results are consistently compared with previous works in the field, and can pave the way towards improvement of smart active materials currently utilised for engineering (possibly bio-inspired) purposes.

What is innovation? New lessons from biology

During the 19thcentury, evolutionary models of innovation followed a famous thesis of continuity, according to which methods and explanatory patterns of biology should have an important say in the social sciences. In the 20th century, this thesis was considered unacceptable as part of the sharp separation of biology from the social sciences. Recent advances in the biological sciences suggest a way in which a version of the thesis of continuity can be reinstated, to suggest new ways of explaining innovation in the social sciences. Key kinds of innovation can be explained in terms of the evolution of robust complex systems, interpreted as processes of path creation.

Fiestas religiosas y ceremonias cívicas en la educación de la ciudad de México y Veracruz, 1821-1872

<p>El artículo analiza los discursos y las prácticas surgidas de la relación entre fiestas religiosas, festividades y ceremonias cívicas y educación, en gran parte del siglo XIX. El enfoque de análisis se apoya en los supuestos de la escolarización, el espacio público, la teatralidad y el ritual. Este marco de referencia permite demostrar que el cambio de sentido, vivido especialmente a partir de la Independencia, en fiestas y ceremonias fue útil para la educación; permitió conformar un espacio educativo republicano acorde con la escolarización, mientras que los propósitos patrióticos y políticos contribuyeron a desmontar paulatinamente, sobre todo en el discurso y en el ritual público, la separación tajante que había prevalecido entre escuelas de primeras letras y los niveles subsiguientes.</p><p>This article analyzes the discourses and practices emerged from relationship between religious festivities, festivities and civic ceremonies and education, in early nineteenth century. The analysis approach is based on postulations of schooling, public space, theatricality and ritual. This framework allows to demonstrate that change of direction, lived especially after Independence, in festivities and ceremonies was useful for education; this allowed the formation a republican educational space in accordance with schooling, while the patriotic and political purposes contributed to dismantle gradually, in the discourse and public ritual, the sharp separation that had prevailed between schools of first letters and subsequent levels.</p>

Method and Dialogue in History and Originalism

There is a sharp separation between the scholarly literature of originalists and professional historians. Originalists cite one another, but regularly ignore recent work by historians. Historians are generally happy to return the favor. Engagement between the two communities is too often limited to methodological disputes and amicus briefs. As a result, historical inquiry offers less to constitutional law than it might, and constitutional lawyers offer less to history than they could. Some of this separation is due to unavoidable methodological tension, but those tensions have not always frustrated productive dialogue. Originalism, in fact, emerged as an important theory of constitutional interpretation because of developments in professional historiography. Post-Revisionist approaches to the historiography of Reconstruction inspired and legitimated the book that set originalism on its current trajectory: Raoul Berger's Government by Judiciary. The revolution in the historiography of the founding embodied in Gordon Wood's Creation of the American Republic offered originalists other opportunities. It was not methodological disagreements but technological, institutional, and disciplinary developments since the 1980s that separated history and originalism. Those trends have mostly accelerated in the twenty-first century, but the role historians played in creating originalism suggests opportunities for productive dialogue still exist and should be pursued.