Basic List Research Articles

The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) Vector Magnetic Field Pipeline: Overview and Performance

The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) began near-continuous full-disk solar measurements on 1 May 2010 from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). An automated processing pipeline keeps pace with observations to produce observable quantities, including the photospheric vector magnetic field, from sequences of filtergrams. The basic vector-field frame list cadence is 135 seconds, but to reduce noise the filtergrams are combined to derive data products every 720 seconds. The primary 720 s observables were released in mid-2010, including Stokes polarization parameters measured at six wavelengths, as well as intensity, Doppler velocity, and the line-of-sight magnetic field. More advanced products, including the full vector magnetic field, are now available. Automatically identified HMI Active Region Patches (HARPs) track the location and shape of magnetic regions throughout their lifetime.The vector field is computed using the Very Fast Inversion of the Stokes Vector (VFISV) code optimized for the HMI pipeline; the remaining 180∘ azimuth ambiguity is resolved with the Minimum Energy (ME0) code. The Milne–Eddington inversion is performed on all full-disk HMI observations. The disambiguation, until recently run only on HARP regions, is now implemented for the full disk. Vector and scalar quantities in the patches are used to derive active region indices potentially useful for forecasting; the data maps and indices are collected in the SHARP data series, hmi.sharp_720s. Definitive SHARP processing is completed only after the region rotates off the visible disk; quick-look products are produced in near real time. Patches are provided in both CCD and heliographic coordinates.HMI provides continuous coverage of the vector field, but has modest spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution. Coupled with limitations of the analysis and interpretation techniques, effects of the orbital velocity, and instrument performance, the resulting measurements have a certain dynamic range and sensitivity and are subject to systematic errors and uncertainties that are characterized in this report.

Проблеми організації розслідування крадіжок автотранспортних засобів

We consider the problem of investigating thefts of vehicles. The essence of the concept of the investigation. Shows for the implementation of investigating thefts of vehicles. Characterized managerial problems, problems of cooperation and implementation information maintenance during the investigation of thefts of vehicles. Recently, forensic begin to appear systemic research problems of investigation. Perspective in his work raised V. Zelenskiy, R. Usmanov, Y. Ham, V. Shepitko and other researchers, but also to present a series of unsolved problems of investigation: the content, subjects, forms and more. Problems of investigation of theft of vehicles has recently been the subject of research in the work of M. Svirin, S. Skibin, A. Sretentseva and other scientists. The purpose of this article is to analyze the nature of the concept of investigating thefts of vehicles, its main directions and forms. Structure of the paper is due to the logic of presentation material. It contains an introduction, presentation of the basic material, conclusions and list of references. Organization investigating thefts of vehicles provides a range of measures at various levels, mostly organizational and informational guidance that are in the arsenal of managerial influence investigator and designed to achieve the objective investigation of the crime.

Shedding more light on language classification using basic vocabularies and phylogenetic methods

Encouraged by ongoing discussion of the classification of the Uralic languages, we investigate the family quantitatively using Bayesian phylogenetics and basic vocabulary from seventeen languages. To estimate the heterogeneity within this family and the robustness of its subgroupings, we analyse ten divergent sets of basic vocabulary, including basic vocabulary lists from the literature, lists that exclude borrowing-susceptible meanings, lists with varying degrees of borrowing-susceptible meanings and a list combining all of the examined items. The results show that the Uralic phylogeny has a fairly robust shape from the perspective of basic vocabulary, and is not dramatically altered by borrowing-susceptible meanings. The results differ to some extent from the ‘standard paradigm’ classification of these languages, such as the lack of firm evidence for Finno-Permian.

A study on basic elementary English vocabulary list through corpus analysis of textbooks based on 2008 Revised National Curriculum.

A study on basic elementary English vocabulary list through corpus analysis of textbooks based on 2008 Revised National Curriculum.

Quality in practice: preventing and managing neonatal sepsis in Nicaragua

Incorrect and excessive diagnosis of newborn infections in Nicaragua caused overcrowding in the neonatal intensive care units and unnecessary hospitalization. A baseline study in nine hospitals found that none correctly utilized disinfectants, sterilization or hand hygiene and that diagnosis of neonatal sepsis was based primarily on clinical manifestations. In 2007, the Ministry of Health (MINSA), with Unites States Agency for the International Development technical assistance, began developing guidelines and implementing quality improvement in infection prevention and control to reduce neonatal infections. In a second intervention phase, the MINSA introduced an algorithm for correct identification of maternal risk factors and standardized laboratory tests for neonatal sepsis. Interventions included developing national guidelines on correct use of disinfectants and hand hygiene; training medical staff on the guidelines; revising the basic medical supply list to support appropriate antisepsis; defining a package of diagnostic tests for neonatal sepsis and systematically measuring compliance with the new procedures. The 18 hospitals achieved appropriate use of disinfectants in a 12-month period. In seven hospitals that introduced improvements in diagnosis and management of neonatal sepsis, application of the standardized laboratory package in suspected sepsis cases increased from 0% in April 2009 to 93% in July 2011, and the median incidence of neonatal sepsis was reduced by 67%. The organizational changes implemented for the diagnosis and verification of neonatal sepsis led to a reduction in the newborn sepsis admissions and expenditures for antibiotics, allowing resources to be redirected to treating other critically ill newborns.

Short, frequent words are more likely to appear genetically related by chance

An important question in historical linguistics is whether deep genetic relationships exist across language families. Although specific families can be reconstructed back to around 6,000 y ago, Pagel et al. (1) claim that seven Eurasian families arose from a common ancestor 15,000 y ago. Pagel et al. develop a phylogenetic model, starting with a subset of the Swadesh basic word list for seven language families in the Languages of the World Etymological Database, which lists reconstructed proto-words and cognates. Because these reconstructions are potentially unreliable, Pagel et al. treat each reconstructed cognate pair as a binary random variable. They find a robust correlation between the size of the cognate class and the word replacement rate (i.e., how fast the word is likely to be replaced in the vocabulary), which is closely related to frequency. As predicted, words with a slower replacement rate show deeper relationships across language families, which they take as evidence that there are deep relationships among the seven families.

Turning good research into good publications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a basic list of items that many standard empirical papers need and to highlight some common and fixable problems, as well as some corresponding suggestions and solutions such that authors can turn good research into good papers that have an improved chance of publication.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a conceptual study on publishing, though it draws heavily on two of the authors' experience as editors of major management journals and their past work on paper organization and research design. A number of helpful resources for authors have also been provided from the academic literature – both journals and books – so that this paper can be a helpful resource to authors in organizing and preparing their work to submit to an appropriate journal.FindingsThis paper's findings are listed as follows. First, prospective authors will gain a much clearer understanding of whether a journal is an appropriate outlet for their work by reading the journal's aims and scope. Second, a good Introduction is a crucial element of a paper and must contain key basic information such as the research question (or thesis statement), a mini‐literature review that situates the paper in past work, a quick summary of results, and the paper's contributions. Third, in the Literature Review or Theory section, it is important to review the development of the more relevant literature in the chosen topic, the key empirical or case findings, and why the focal paper seeks to enter the field at this time. Fourth, in the Method section, authors should try to provide as much helpful descriptive data as space permits. Fifth, in the Results section, authors should present the results for each hypotheses one by one, but limit the discussion in that section to the results and some brief explanation. Additionally, the Discussion section should have four parts including the contributions, limitations of the research, future research, and any other unusual findings. Finally, many papers suffer from formatting problems or do not fit the aims and scope of the target journal. Authors should be careful to check on these issues before submission.Originality/valueThis paper is complementary to works on methods and research design in that it helps authors with the important step of organizing their papers to turn good research into good manuscripts with a better chance of publication.

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Ecocriticism and Eighteenth‐Century English Studies

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Ecocriticism and Eighteenth‐Century English Studies

Optical detection and ranging characteristics of objects of different dimensions

A basic list of physical quantities that characterize from common standpoints the properties of objects of different dimensions, such as point, line, plane, and volume, under the conditions of active optical detection and ranging, is evaluated. A comparison between different approaches to the quantitative description of the properties of targets of optical detection and ranging is carried out, using as an example null-dimensional (point) and three-dimensional objects.

Searching the Veterinary Literature: A Comparison of the Coverage of Veterinary Journals by Nine Bibliographic Databases

A thorough search of the literature to find the best evidence is central to the practice of evidence-based veterinary medicine. This requires knowing which databases to search to maximize journal coverage. The aim of the present study was to compare the coverage of active veterinary journals by nine bibliographic databases to inform future systematic reviews and other evidence-based searches. Coverage was assessed using lists of included journals produced by the database providers. For 121 active veterinary journals in the "Basic List of Veterinary Medical Serials, Third Edition," the percentage coverage was the highest for Scopus (98.3%) and CAB Abstracts (97.5%). For an extensive list of 1,139 journals with significant veterinary content compiled from a variety of sources, coverage was much greater in CAB Abstracts (90.2%) than in any other database, the next highest coverage being in Scopus (58.3%). The maximum coverage of the extensive journal list that could be obtained in a search without including CAB Abstracts was 69.8%. It was concluded that to maximize journal coverage and avoid missing potentially relevant evidence, CAB Abstracts should be included in any veterinary literature search.

Is There a Human Right to the Internet?

This paper argues that there is not a human right to the Internet. It presents five commonly made arguments for a human right to the Internet, and it shows how they all fail. This paper approaches the discussion from a position that holds human rights as instrumentally necessary things for membership in a political community and goes on to argue that although Internet access is instrumentally valuable for membership, it should not be seen as a human right in and of itself because it is not necessary for membership. Instead, its denial should be seen as a potentially urgent threat to a more basic list of human rights, namely the human right to assembly, where there may exist negative duties not to cause urgent threats at a human rights level.

Which health technologies should be funded? A prioritization framework based explicitly on value for money.

BackgroundDeciding which health technologies to fund involves confronting some of the most difficult choices in medicine. As for other countries, the Israeli health system is faced each year with having to make these difficult decisions. The Public National Advisory Committee, known as ‘the Basket Committee’, selects new technologies for the basic list of health care that all Israelis are entitled to access, known as the ‘health basket’. We introduce a framework for health technology prioritization based explicitly on value for money that enables the main variables considered by decision-makers to be explicitly included. Although the framework’s exposition is in terms of the Basket Committee selecting new technologies for Israel’s health basket, we believe that the framework would also work well for other countries.MethodsOur proposed prioritization framework involves comparing four main variables for each technology: 1. Incremental benefits, including ‘equity benefits’, to Israel’s population; 2. Incremental total cost to Israel’s health system; 3. Quality of evidence; and 4. Any additional ‘X-factors’ not elsewhere included, such as strategic or legal factors, etc. Applying methodology from multi-criteria decision analysis, the multiple dimensions comprising the first variable are aggregated via a points system.ResultsThe four variables are combined for each technology and compared across the technologies in the ‘Value for Money (VfM) Chart’. The VfM Chart can be used to identify technologies that are good value for money, and, given a budget constraint, to select technologies that should be funded. This is demonstrated using 18 illustrative technologies.ConclusionsThe VfM Chart is an intuitively appealing decision-support tool for helping decision-makers to focus on the inherent tradeoffs involved in health technology prioritization. Such deliberations can be performed in a systematic and transparent fashion that can also be easily communicated to stakeholders, including the general public. Possible future research includes pilot-testing the VfM Chart using real-world data. Ideally, this would involve working with the Basket Committee. Likewise, the framework could be tested and applied by health technology prioritization agencies in other countries.

European child and adolescent psychiatry—endorse the importance of prospective longitudinal study designs

This current issue of European child and adolescent psychiatry (ECAP) presents a substantial number of relevant publications. More specifically, two studies on psychopathology present results from Korea [11, 18], one from Finland [19] and one from the Netherlands [20]. Over the years the methodological standards of studies published in ECAP have vastly improved, e.g., in sample size or by implementing a longitudinal design. The value of the latter as well as other methodological improvements has been highlighted by Sir Michael Rutter [16] in ECAP in his review ‘‘Child and adolescent psychiatry: past scientific achievements and challenges for the future’’. The present longitudinal study by Shin et al. [18] is a prime example of these aforementioned advancements. They conducted a baseline examination of parental ratings of 3,808 children aged 6.85 years using the Korean version of the child behavior checklist (K-CBCL). To identify the predictors of juvenile delinquent tendencies, they administered the Korean youth self-report (K-YSR) at the 6to 8-year follow-up for at least 1,821 adolescents aged 13.75 years. This current issue also presents findings by Lee et al. [11] who investigated a large sample, i.e. a total of 4,899 Korean students aged 13–18 years by implementing several self-report forms of questionnaires to identify possible relationships between the Type D personality construct and other mental health measures. Type D personality is characterized by both normal and stable personality traits, negative affectivity (NA, the tendency to experience negative emotions), and social inhibition (SI, the tendency to inhibit expression of emotions). The authors concluded that the administered validated Korean version of the Type D Personality-14 scale (DS14) can be useful in a community mental health program designed for adolescents. Taking into consideration that validity and reliability of the DS14 have been verified in both European and Korean populations, this raises the question as to why the authors, as many others previously, did not conduct a cross-cultural study in an attempt to gain further insights regarding the Type D construct. This shortfall could be seen as a reflection of the small amount of available studies on crosscultural comparisons of psychopathology constructs. Nevertheless, exceptions can be found, also in this issue of ECAP. Veen et al. [21] compared mental health issues between incarcerated adolescents of Dutch and Moroccan origin. Their findings indicate that native Dutch adolescent offenders show higher levels of mental health problems than incarcerated adolescents with an ethnic minority (Moroccan) background. Meanwhile there exists an excellent basic list of steps to be taken to achieve valid assessment across cultures [15]. In a previous editorial, Hoekstra [8] highlighted the need for a long-term perspective in child and adolescent psychiatry. The current issue, but also previous issues of recent years, has presented a large increase in longitudinal studies [1, 2, 5–7, 9, 22]. In addition to the welcome international orientation, ECAP also serves as a platform for innovative topics and findings which at times may seem somewhat ‘‘off the mainstream of research’’. In their present work, de Bruin et al. [3] report that the existence of finger print discordance, as a possible marker of prenatal instability, was associated with the occurrence of formal thought disorder in girls. Similarly, unique topics have been the decreased serum cholesterol levels in child and adolescent psychiatric V. Roessner (&) Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Dresden Medical School, Fetscherstrasse 74, D-01307 Dresden, Germany e-mail: Veit.Roessner@uniklinikum-dresden.de

A Guide to Mongolian Stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera)

Since the early 1900s, efforts have been made to catalogue the stoneflies of Mongolia. Taxonomic work from 1960 to1980 greatly expanded basic lists of stoneflies in Mongolia, but no comprehensive survey or synthesis of this dispersedliterature has been completed. In conjunction with a modern survey of the aquatic insects of Mongolia, we collectedPlecoptera on a series of expeditions to the Selenge (north) and Altai (west) regions of Mongolia. A total of 48 speciesdistributed in 24 genera and 8 families were documented, including 3 of the 5 Mongolian endemics, 2 new species re-cords for Mongolia, and 1 species new to science. The majority of the fauna is representative of the East Palearcticregion. The 800+ specimen records were used to validate historical species lists, document species ranges with georef-erenced localities, and create identification tools to be used by Mongolian and international researchers with a broadrange of taxonomic expertise. These identification tools include a generic-level key to nymphs, species diagnoses, aswell as known species range and predicted species range maps created using Ecological Niche Modeling. These toolsare primarily intended for use by Mongolian scientists, sampling teams, and community water quality monitoringgroups, as well as general use by researchers interested in biogeography, ecology, and water quality applications ofMongolian Plecoptera. With this work, we hope to equip Mongolians with the scientific resources to protect their valuable and vulnerable water resources.

中学校英語教科書のジャンル・テキストタイプ分析 A Genre/Text-Type Analysis of Junior High School English Textbooks

2012年から実施される中学校学習指導要領（文部科学省, 2008）によれば、まとまりのある英語に焦点をあてて指導することが明記されている。まとまりのある英語とは、「一つのテーマに沿って話されたものや内容に一貫性のあるものなどを示している。例えば、スピーチや機内アナウンス、天気予報などが挙げられる。」(p. 12) と説明されている。そこで、平成18年度版中学校英語教科書にどのようなまとまりのある英語が扱われているのかを調べた。分析の結果、比較的多様なジャンル・テキストタイプが用いられていることがわかった。また、社会的行為や目的が明確でない基本的なジャンル・テキストタイプも見られた。頻度の高いジャンル・テキストタイプは、会話、スピーチ、自己紹介、放送、散文、電子メール、手紙、ウェブサイトであった。6社の教科書すべてで扱われているジャンル・テキストタイプは少なかった。これらの分析結果に基づき、教育的示唆を行った。 The purpose of this study is to obtain information about EFL teaching materials used in Japanese junior high schools by analyzing textbooks in terms of genre/text types, one aspect of discourse organization. This study was motivated by the growing recognition of the importance of teaching discourse organization. For example, the new Course of Study (Monbukagakusho, i.e., the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2008) is now emphasizing discourse organization. Furthermore, Grabe and Stoller (2002) suggested that it is necessary to teach discourse organization because of inherent differences in L1 and L2 reading processes and reading situations. They also pointed out that features of discourse organization and social expectations in a particular genre may differ among cultures and thus argued that raising L2 learners’ awareness about discourse organization is important. Moreover, in light of these points, it is clear that an analysis of textbooks used as the main materials for EFL education in junior high schools will be beneficial for junior high school EFL teachers. As far as we know, no previous studies have analyzed such textbooks in terms of genre/text types. In this study, we posited two research questions as follows: (a) What types of genre/text types are utilized in junior high school EFL textbooks? and (b) How often does each genre/text type appear? We analyzed 18 government-authorized EFL textbooks (six titles, each consisting of three books for three grades). To analyze the textbooks, we proceeded as follows: We made a basic list of genre/text types based on previous studies. We each coded two textbooks independently. We made a list of genre/text types through actual coding of those textbooks. We each coded one book using that list of genre/text types. Our agreement reached 97.6%. One or the other of us coded all the other books. We discussed the codes and made final decisions about coding. The results show that a variety of genre/text types was used in the textbooks, including both more basic genre/text types that have less clear communicative purposes or do not show clear social behaviors, and also genre/text types that can easily and definitely be regarded as a genre. Among the genre/text types, certain types such as conversations, speeches, self-introductions, and broadcasting were frequently used for the oral modes of communication whereas stories, emails, letters, and websites were the more frequent types for the written modes of communication. The range of genre/text types was not very different among the textbooks, but the specific types covered were. On the basis of the findings, we discuss the pedagogical implications. First, taking into consideration that both more basic genre/text types as well as genre/text types with clearer communicative functions were identified, teachers can arrange the texts from basic to more complex genre/text types throughout the 3 years of EFL instruction in junior high school. Second, because the specific genre/text types covered were different among textbooks, teachers need to know which genre/text types appear in the textbooks they use. If necessary, then, teachers can create additional materials to supplement the textbooks when teaching a certain genre/text type. Lastly, teachers must be careful about the terms for describing genre/text types because those used in the textbooks themselves are very often ambiguous.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Specific Interview Methods and Qualitative Data Analysis Strategies in Identifying Team Performance Requirements

Interviews are a widely accepted method for determining team performance requirements in complex work environments. Using examples from two studies in acute patient care settings, this paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of specific interview methods and qualitative data analysis strategies in identifying performance requirements and in establishing categories for observational research or skills assessment. Interview study 1 was carried out in cardiac anesthesia deductively applying a conceptual framework of cooperation and coordination in analyzing the data. In study 2 interviews were analyzed applying an inductive data analysis approach to establish a basic list of non-technical skills that are important to scrub practitioner performance. Both studies provide valuable insights with regards to performance requirements of the various team members and specific teamwork behaviors. Implications for the interpretation of results and the design of interview studies in the research area are discussed.

On The Implementation Of Data Structures Through Theory Of Lists

The concept of a set can be defined through its characteristic function and that of a bag is defined through the count function. Following this approach, Tripathy, Ghosh and Jena introduced the concept of position function to define lists. The new definition has much rigor than the earlier one used in computer science in general and functional programming ([2]) in particular. Several of the concepts in the form of operations, operators and properties have been established in a sequence of papers by Tripathy and his coauthors ([4, 7, 8]. Also, the concepts of fuzzy lists ([5]) and that of intuitionistic fuzzy lists ([6]) have been defined and studied by them. Recently an application to develop list theoretic relational databases and operations on them has been put forth by Tripathy and Gantayat ([9]). In the present article we provide another application of this approach in defining data structures like Stack, Queue and Array and establishing operations on them. One of the major advantages of this approach is the ease in extending all the concepts for basic lists to the context of fuzzy lists [5] and intuitionistic fuzzy lists [6]. In this paper, we illustrate how this can be done. The notions of fuzzy lists and intuitionistic fuzzy lists are new and least attended concepts and the works in this paper opens a new application area to develop fuzzy and intuitionistic fuzzy data structures.

Profile of Visual Functioning as a Bridge between Education and Medicine in the Assessment of Impaired Vision

Purpose: To report on the development of the Profile of Visual Functioning as a framework for information exchange between schools and medical specialists involved in the education or care of children with impaired vision due to brain damage.Methods: The role of vision loss in a child’s functioning can be in part assessed by medical services, but in order to meet the needs of early intervention and education, numerous activities and tasks need to be observed during therapies, early intervention activities, and at local and special schools.Result: Information on vision loss can be gathered effectively and shared between medicine and education using well-structured lists of the most important functions, the Profile of Visual Functioning. We describe a common type of list of vision-related functions and activities.Discussion: Cooperation between education and medicine requires development of a common language and agreements on how the large amount of information is collected. A basic list of measurements and observations covers functions of most children and thus gives a firm structure to the information exchange.Conclusions: Lists of functions to be examined and activities to be observed, if used by all stakeholders, may improve the quality of assessments for early intervention and special education. At the same time, schools and hospitals need to jointly arrange further education so that the names of activities start to make sense to doctors and the medical terms to teachers.

What do community paediatricians do? The answer in 30 codes

<h3>Aims</h3> To determine the most commonly used ICD 10 diagnostic codes in community paediatric caseloads in 4 areas (A B C D) in order to develop the BACCH (British Association of Community Child Health) informatics group list of top 30 ICD 10 codes, POPS-CC-30 v.1; this preliminary list was created after discussion by the BACCH informatics email group, which includes about 35 doctors. <h3>Methods</h3> Historically, most outpatient based paediatric services have been not been able to assign diagnostic codes to their caseload. The British Association of Community Child Health informatics group has developed a basic list of 30 diagnostic codes common to ICD10, Read as well as SNOWMED CT systems that aims to cover most of the usual caseload in community paediatrics. Output data was obtained from two different systems in 3 areas and used to select the top 30 codes for the BACCH list. Codes were grouped into five pathways: learning, behaviour, neurosensory, general and safeguarding. The list was also circulated to the informatics group for comments and final selection. <h3>Results</h3> The full list of 30 codes grouped into five pathways with usage ranking in each of three areas will be presented. 90% of the diagnostic codes currently used in the four areas are included. Minor variations are to be expected across services depending on how much palliative/mental health work is done. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Use of this basic list will enable comparative analysis of case mix by individual doctors for their appraisals, by clinical directors for service development and quality issues and by commissioners for developing PBR currencies and tariffs aligned to pathways. Such a list is simple enough to be used in paper form straightaway and does not require immediate IMT investment. Devising this list has already generated much interest and debate, e.g. on the use of developmental delay as a diagnostic category. BACCH plans to develop a fuller list of 50 codes, in line with the recent AoRMC (Academy of Royal Medical Colleges) recommendations.

Cultural phylogenetics of the Tupi language family in lowland South America.

BackgroundRecent advances in automated assessment of basic vocabulary lists allow the construction of linguistic phylogenies useful for tracing dynamics of human population expansions, reconstructing ancestral cultures, and modeling transition rates of cultural traits over time.MethodsHere we investigate the Tupi expansion, a widely-dispersed language family in lowland South America, with a distance-based phylogeny based on 40-word vocabulary lists from 48 languages. We coded 11 cultural traits across the diverse Tupi family including traditional warfare patterns, post-marital residence, corporate structure, community size, paternity beliefs, sibling terminology, presence of canoes, tattooing, shamanism, men's houses, and lip plugs.Results/DiscussionThe linguistic phylogeny supports a Tupi homeland in west-central Brazil with subsequent major expansions across much of lowland South America. Consistently, ancestral reconstructions of cultural traits over the linguistic phylogeny suggest that social complexity has tended to decline through time, most notably in the independent emergence of several nomadic hunter-gatherer societies. Estimated rates of cultural change across the Tupi expansion are on the order of only a few changes per 10,000 years, in accord with previous cultural phylogenetic results in other language families around the world, and indicate a conservative nature to much of human culture.