Empty Pots Research Articles

Planted species influences soil phosphorus losses in a historically fertilized pasture system: A mesocosm study

AbstractThe gradual accumulation of phosphorus from historical fertilization can contribute to the eutrophication of surface waters by increasing the potential for subsurface leaching losses. Grazing lands areas are a priority for concern, and phytoremediation efforts in grazing lands have prioritized grasses that may be used as forage for cattle. This study investigated the influence of three different forage species—Paspalum notatum, Hemarthria altissima, and Cynodon nlemfuensis—on the loss of phosphorus in leachate from surface soils. The experiment used a nested pot mesocosm design that allowed us to monitor leachate volume and concentration biweekly over the course of 3 months. Pots containing P. notatum plants leached significantly more phosphorus than pots containing C. nlemfuensis or empty pots with no plants growing in them, despite losing an equivalent amount of water. H. altissima lost equivalent amounts of phosphorus in leachate water, but each H. altissima plant removed approximately 33.6 mg of phosphorus, approximately 2.5× that removed by P. notatum (13.4 mg). C. nlemfuensis had lower average leachate phosphorus concentrations at each biweekly sampling than either plant species (C. nlemfuensis‐P. notatum, padj = 0.001; C. nlemfuensis‐H. altissima, padj = 0.02), averaging only 0.110 ppm in leachate relative to 0.175 ppm and 0.200 ppm in pots beneath H. altissima and P. notatum, respectively. This, combined with C. nlemfuensis' slightly higher‐than‐average aboveground P content and overall aboveground biomass expression suggest it is the best possible phytoremediation candidate. As even minor leachate P loads can be critically threatening to neighboring oligotrophic water bodies, if the conservation of downstream environments is the priority, the short‐term threat of increased leachate must be considered. Further research is needed to explore the underlying mechanisms and field‐scale implications of these findings.

A novel type of neighbour perception elicits reproductive plasticity in an annual plant with a mixed mating system.

Plants display various forms of phenotypic plasticity in anticipation of changing conditions, many of which are influenced by information obtained from neighbouring plants. Here, we tested the hypothesis that cleistogamic Lamium amplexicaule plants can adaptively modify production of chasmogamous (CH) and cleistogamous (CL) flowers based on the perception of conspecific neighbours. The production and proportion of CH and CL flowers was examined in individual L. amplexicaule grown at varying densities or treated with root leachates from plants grown at different densities. When growing at high density or treated with root leachates from high-density pots, L. amplexicaule increased production of more expensive, potentially outcrossing CH flowers. In contrast, single plants or plants treated with root leachates from empty pots or single-source plants predominantly developed cheaper, self-pollinated CL flowers. The results demonstrate a novel root-based neighbour-perception modality that enables plants to adaptively adjust production of CH and CL flowers in response to the presence of potential reproductive partners. Further research is needed to explore the broader ecological implications of this novel interplant cueing on reproductive bet-hedging and plasticity in natural settings, as well as to identify the involved cues and their mode of operation.

Objectification and belittling of Sibyl Vane in Oscar Wilde’s Novel The Picture of Dorian Gray

The purpose of the study is to locate elements of feminism in Oscar Wild’s novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’. It is argued that the male characters are the main focus of the story, while the female characters are treated as supporting characters. Through their gaze and words, the male characters objectify and denigrate the female characters. Females are regarded as nothing more than pretty faces for pleasure-seeking. Elements of objectification are highlighted in the novel by employing the theory of objectification. An in-depth examination of the novel through the lens of objectification theory reveals the shocking reality of male characters treating female characters, particularly Sibyl Vane, as objects. It is concluded that men in the novel treat women brutally. They are either regarded as fools or empty pots. They are treated as something that can be bought, sold, and replaced rather than as a human being with autonomy and subjectivity. Furthermore, other studies could be conducted on the same while applying different linguistic approaches such as pragmatics, critical discourse analysis (CDA) etc.

The power of sister crops: intercropping courgette and common bean changes floral morphology and increases diversity of flower visitors

ABSTRACT Acknowledging species interactions is essential for managing diversity in complex agricultural systems. To understand the neighbouring plant effect on flower number and size, we performed a greenhouse experiment with paired pots in three treatments: focal plant (common bean/courgette) with conspecific neighbour, heterospecific neighbour or empty pot. Common beans without neighbours produced more flowers than when accompanied. Common bean with conspecific neighbours produced more flowers than with heterospecific neighbours, with larger standard petals. Courgettes with heterospecific neighbours had flowers with deeper corollas than with conspecific neighbours. To understand effects on visitation and production, we performed a field experiment comparing courgette monoculture, common bean monoculture and three intercroppings, varying the crop ratio. Species composition of floral visitors differed significantly between monoculture and intercropping. The six plots (6/21) with highest diversity were intercropping. Intercropping courgette and common bean can change floral morphology and alter plant–pollinator interactions in the agroecosystem, enhancing pollinator diversity.

Modeling and Validation of Biogas Consumption Prediction in Cook Stove Using a Network Approach

This study seeks to propose a new model of hearth for the consumption of biogas produced by a biodigester of 4 m-3. The cylindrical furnace is used to heat an empty pot for 3 hours. To do this, the system is subdivided into two sub-systems, the first is the flame, which heats the bottom of the pot. The latter is the second hottest point. The developed network is composed of 8 isothermal points, interconnected by thermal resistances, each of which represents a particular type of heat transfer mode. The resolution of the system required 8 differential equations. The modeling allowed us to appreciate the temperatures governing the system. The experimental study proves an agreement with the model temperatures. Studies show that the cook stvoe’s optimal thickness and height are respectively 18 mm and 09 cm. The heat ide the internal air of the kettle is 2200C and the flame temperature is 9000C. The instantaneous efficiency of the cook stove obtained is 65%. In addition, a validation with literature data to confirm this study with maximmum gap of 5%, therefore its adoption will lead to reducing the consumption of biogas and therefore have a positive impact on the woodcut.

Hungry for Revolution: The Politics of Food and the Making of Modern Chile

Hungry for Revolution: The Politics of Food and the Making of Modern Chile

Hungry for Revolution: The Politics of Food and the Making of Modern Chile

Chilean food politics are perhaps best associated with images of the March of the Empty Pots and Pans, led by middle- and upper-class women a year into Salvador Allende's presidential term. Yet, as Joshua Frens-String demonstrates in Hungry for Revolution, the close association between food and politics in modern Chile began long before Allende's “road to socialism.” Hungry for Revolution documents the importance of food politics in the creation of the welfare state, the development of mass politics, and the advent of dictatorship in twentieth-century Chile. This highly readable and engaging narrative is suitable both for experts in Latin American and food history and for students looking to learn more about food politics and modern Chile.Hungry for Revolution examines how changes in political regimes affected state attempts to address social inequality and activism around food sovereignty. Using state documents, newspapers, memoirs, and speeches from political activists, Frens-String identifies food's central role in the making of Chile's welfare state, which was one of the strongest in Latin America until the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. In doing so, he places the origins of food politics in Chile well before the neoliberal deregulation of the 1970s and 1980s. He seeks to address the “question of whom national development efforts have historically been set up to benefit, and at whose expense” (p. 11). With a focus on state actors as well as social activists, which provides a well-rounded account of politics from both above and below, he does an admirable job of answering this question for the Chilean case and suggesting connections to other contexts.The book is divided into three parts, each of which focuses on a different time period. The first, “A Hungry Nation,” covers the twentieth century's first decades. Chapter 1 analyzes how food shaped Chile's place in the world economic system and how awareness of the link between global economic prosperity and economic marginalization at home drove political mobilization around food access. Building on the first, the second chapter explains that working-class politics merged with concerns about food security, leading workers to mobilize specifically as consumers, not just as workers.The second part, “Containing Hunger,” addresses the 1930s through the 1960s. Chapter 3 details the rise of the welfare state as a response to concerns about food sovereignty and working-class activism. Specifically, it explores programs designed to raise Chileans' standard of living and nutritional levels in relation to both national concerns and international trends. These events prompted social reformers to propose agrarian reform to address structural inequities, stimulate agricultural production, and reduce dependence on food imports, which is the subject of chapter 4.The book's pace slows in the final part, “Recipes for Change,” and centers on Allende's presidency (1970–73). Chapter 5, “When Revolution Tasted Like Empanadas and Red Wine,” documents the successes of Popular Unity's first year in office, when household goods and foods were available in large quantities and accessible to Chileans of various social classes. Chapter 6 moves on to grassroots activism and worker control of the food supply. This chapter is the book's most historically significant; it describes the establishment of the juntas de abastecimiento y precios (supply and price control boards), local organizations started by activists that monitored the prices of staple items, distributed foodstuffs to lower-income residents, and helped keep items reasonably priced despite inflation. This chapter's focus on consumer activism and grassroots organizing shows how local communities can affect food supply and distribution in a way that goes beyond supply and demand economics and for-profit consumerism. It highlights a different way of thinking about participatory democracy based on joint consumer-worker control of the food economy. The final chapter traces the way that the anti-Allende Right and the Chicago Boys changed the nature of food politics; they moved the discourse away from social welfare and the idea that nutrition was a fundamental right of citizenship and toward a free-market belief that food should be treated like other consumer goods. This chapter emphasizes conservative women's essential role in this process alongside other economic and political actors.Hungry for Revolution's strength is the connection it makes between the past and the present and its contribution to thinking about food politics beyond twentieth-century Chile. The epilogue concludes with recent Chilean protests against the Pinochet-era constitution, citing a protest sign from 2019 that declared that “neoliberalism was ‘born in Chile’ but would ‘die’ there as well” (p. 201). The connection between Chile's twentieth-century food politics and contemporary challenges to neoliberalism emphasizes history's importance for contextualizing the present. As Frens-String asserts, the question about the state's role in determining fundamental rights and standard of living is as relevant as ever; as people around the world challenge austerity and late-stage capitalism, the Chilean case provides an alternative way of merging economic concerns and social welfare.

Experimental characterization of the thermal performance of the Haines 2 solar cooker

This work presents the most exhaustive experimental characterization of the thermal performance of the Haines 2 solar cooker available to date. Two Haines 2 solar cookers were tested side-by-side in Malaga, Spain, 36.7°N, between May 2021 and December 2021. A novel test procedure using empty pots and a tilted plane with variable inclination gave useful information about the influence of the solar altitude angle on cooker performance, and allowed identification of the best range for each of the two available reflector configurations for this cooker. Some suggestions are given to improve the cooker design for low solar altitude angles. In addition, a large number of water heating tests partly based on the ASAE S580.1 standard protocol were conducted to i) determine the standardised power, ii) examine the influence of the solar altitude angle, and iii) investigate the impact of using partial loads. All these results provide a complete characterization of the performance of this cooker in a wide range of operating conditions of practical interest. It is recommended that future versions of ASAE S580.1 standard consider the influence of both solar altitude angle and partial loads.

Analysis of colony development of Trigona sp. in Kawasan Rumah Pangan Lestari (KRPL) Central Lombok

The Kawasan Rumah Pangan Lestari (KRPL) or Sustainable Food House Area integrated with Trigona sp. bee cultivation can be an alternative livelihood to improve the community's economy. This study aims at analyzing the development of bee colonies in KRPL in terms of the number of pollen pots and honey pots produced. The type of this research is descriptive qualitative. The study was conducted from October to November 2020. The samples used were 14 colonies, categorized as strong colonies, medium colonies and weak colonies. The increase in the number of empty pots, honey pots and pollen pots were observed every three days. Environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and light intensity, and the activity of the Trigona bees were also observed. The results showed that the average temperature at KRPL was 29.80 °C, with an average humidity of 69.62% and a light intensity of 22610 lux. Most of the increase in the highest total number of pots occurred in strong colonies. The number of empty pots, honey pots and pollen pots increased on different days. In the last week of the observation, most of the colonies did not increase in the number of pots. Development of Trigona sp. bee colonies in KRPL is considered slow even though the environmental conditions there are normal. Cultivation of Trigona sp. in KRPL should use strong colonies rather than medium and weak colonies.

Borneo as a half empty pot: Pottery assemblage from Liang Abu, East Kalimantan

This study is the first in-depth archaeological examination of a pottery assemblage found in the Indonesian part of Borneo Island. It aims to balance the regional knowledge of this large island, since the majority of information comes from sites located in the Malaysian northern part. Excavations in the Liang Abu rock shelter (East Kalimantan) led to the discovery and analysis of 1104 potsherds. The discussion on the upper part of the stratigraphy is based on the refitting relations between sherds. We propose some methodological improvements on the refitting analysis, based on the use of graph theory. The main ceramic layer is radiocarbon dated to 1672 ± 21 BP and 1524 ± 22 BP. Results from the petrographic analyses carried out on six sherds are presented and give a reference for future comparative investigations. Vessel morphology and stylistic features are presented, including those of red-slipped, cord-marked and incised pottery sherds. These results are discussed within the context of the settlement history in the Eastern part of Borneo and issues specific to archaeological investigations in tropical regions.

Ecological interactions shape the dynamics of seed predation in Acrocomia aculeata (Arecaceae).

BackgroundThe complex network of direct and indirect relationships determines not only the species abundances but also the community characteristics such as diversity and stability. In this context, seed predation is a direct interaction that affects the reproductive success of the plant. For Acrocomia aculeata, the seed predation by Pachymerus cardo and Speciomerus revoili in post-dispersal may destroy more than 70% of the propagules and is influenced by the herbivory of the fruits during pre-dispersal. Fruits of plants with a higher level of herbivory during pre-dispersal are less attacked by predators in post-dispersal. We proposed a hypothesis that describes this interaction as an indirect defense mediated by fungi in a multitrophic interaction. As explanations, we proposed the predictions: i) injuries caused by herbivores in the fruits of A. aculeata favor fungal colonization and ii) the colonization of A. acuelata fruit by decomposing fungi reduces the selection of the egg-laying site by predator.Methodology/Principal FindingsFor prediction (i), differences in the fungal colonization in fruits with an intact or damaged epicarp were evaluated in fruits exposed in the field. For prediction (ii), we performed fruit observations in the field to determine the number of eggs of P. cardo and/or S. revoili per fruit and the amount of fungal colonization in the fruits. In another experiment, in the laboratory, we use P. cardo females in a triple-choice protocol. Each insect to choose one of the three options: healthy fruits, fruits with fungus, or an empty pot. The proposed hypothesis was corroborated. Fruits with injuries in the epicarp had a higher fungal colonization, and fruits colonized by fungi were less attractive for egg-laying by seed predators.Conclusion/SignificanceThis study emphasizes the importance of exploring the networks of interactions between multitrophic systems to understand the dynamics and maintenance of natural populations.

Singapore’s Venture into the Gulf: Undiscovered Treasure or Empty Pot?

Singapore: a country synonymous with business efficiency, strict laws and a reputation that belies its miniscule size. Its state-enterprise network and attempts at grafting “Singapore-styled” investment enclaves onto foreign locales often receive attention from the international community. These stateengineered projects are premised on the exportability of Singapore’s state credibility, systemic and operational efficiencies as well as the technological competencies of Singapore companies, to locations where these attributes are less distinct. This paper, as part of our series on this topic, revisits the city-state’s determined efforts to encapsulate economic space for Singapore-based firms, enabling them to expand beyond the region. This paper however, focuses specifically on the gambits of Singapore’s government-linked companies (GLCs) in the Gulf region (GCC countries). Our research shows with purely commercial purposes as the priority, political objectives (and the attendant advantages and complications) tend to take a back seat; that, following from this, the ostensible strategic advantages present in Singapore-styled management and methodology remain uncertain; and that socio-political intricacies in new environments often stymie efforts to import competencies and business practices wholesale.

The Legacies of Patrimonial Patriarchalism

In Chile, how citizens and political leaders have understood, incorporated, and contested the relationship between the familial and the political has been central to the development of their society. The author examines the ideological influence that familial beliefs had on the process of delegitimizing the presidency of Salvador Allende and legitimizing the military coup through an analysis of political rhetoric surrounding the mobilization of women in the March of the Empty Pots and Pans. The author argues that the march was a pivotal moment in which generalized beliefs about the state’s responsibility for familial welfare, including protecting men’s and women’s familial roles, were transformed into a powerful critique against Allende and his government. The author shows how the arguments put forward by Allende’s opponents drew on embedded beliefs about the relationship between families and politics to frame the emerging debate about the political legitimacy of President Allende.

Desenvolvimento produtivo de colmeias de abelhas Melipona scutellaris

Evaluation of the productive development of Melipona scutellaris beehives. Stingless beekeeping has drawn the general attention of beekeepers be- cause of the easy management and the quality of products. Nevertheless, little is known about their production and biology. The present study eva- luated the development of Melipona scutellaris hives, considering the pro- duction parameters in a beekeeping environment. The growth parameter of hives is food storage. In the case of M. scutellaris, storage is made inside beeswax pots. Therefore, beeswax pots in the hives were classifi ed and counted as nectar pots, pollen pots, open pots, closed pots and empty pots. Hive dimensions were also taken and evaluated. The results indicated that hives show different amounts of pots that vary as a function of the number of individuals in the hive. It was confi rmed that the availability of food reso- urces determines the utilization of food storage, i.e., if there is resource limitation and foraging is compromised, bees utilize the food that is stored inside the pots

Skin-and-Bone Language

Page 27 July–August 2008 Skin-and-Bone Language John Domini The Farther Shore Matthew Eck Milkweed Editions http://www.milkweed.org 192 pages; cloth, $22.00 The combat soldier, seeking words to frame his experience, doesn’t know where to begin. In Matthew Eck’s debut novel, nearly all of which takes place behind enemy lines, one frazzled infantryman gives voice to despair: “We made a mess of this whole thing…I’m sick with it.”Yet a few pages before that, in the sort of apposition that haunts this strobe-lit The Farther Shore, another trooper turns the experience carefree: “Clip put a hand on my shoulder. ‘…What happens here stays here, right?’‘Sure,’I said. It made this whole thing sound like a vacation.” “This whole thing”: a pit and yet a lark, an inferno that—Eck shows us this as well—every once in a while turns up an angel. Extremes like that, intrinsic to the wary business of gun and helmet, would seem a natural fit for the novel form. Doesn’t William H. Gass, cheerfully smashing icons in his essay “The Nature of Narrative,” demonstrate by vivid example how story depends on oppositional patterns? On force and counterforce, the more Grimm-like and bloody the better? Then why hasn’t our armed-to-the-teeth America come up with any decent war novels since the great work out of the Vietnam years? A good question, but before we get to it, I must point out that Eck’s Farther Shore is more than decent, by a long chalk. Its outline recalls Tim O’Brien’sAWOLsaga, Going After Cacciato (1978), yet this closeness to a supernova doesn’t leave the book singed. In Eck’s version, our Lost Patrol is an unlucky recon squad, first six, then five, then four…. But this author works through a narrator, creating a more intimate affect than Cacciato, whose protagonist , Paul Berlin, we experience at the remove of third person. Also, Farther Shore’s crew doesn’t make its way across mapless and mythic Eur-Asia, but rather first across a shot-up seaport, where some trucks and cars remain functional. Outside town, too, the GI’s know where they could find an American base, across the desert. To be sure, the plywood-battened storefronts of the downtown, along with the arid countryside ruled by warlords, amount to an obvious setting. It’s Mogadishu, during the fumblingAmerican intervention of the early 1990s. Not saying so runs the risk of posturing—of Eck, a veteran who served in Somalia, getting above his raising. In fact, his opening passage hammers on the generic “the city,” driving that coffinnail home. But the insistence that destruction lurks everywhere is tempered, at the outset and throughout, by obscene specificity, a soldier’s pottymouth (“the poor souls, the poor fucks in the city…”), and it lends a chill to the brand name of the squad’s support helicopters (Spectre). The war is history—and so must be the novel. Such shadows of allusion trail Eck’s wanderers . At novel’s opening, his clandestine spotters sit “watching from the rooftop of the tallest building in town,” but soon a mortal sin, rooted in aboriginal fear of the dark, topples them from this high place. Cast out, at times their wandering recalls Cain’s, and of course the title carries a churchgoer’s hopeful echo. To his credit, at novel’s close Eck makes fine, measured use of the expression, the better place towards which we hope our troubles will lead us. Inevitably, this infernal journey also suggests Dante, but this comparison raises the question of style. The Florentine was a verbal magician, plucking perfect turns of phrase from his robes. Eck will have none of that: At one point we hid in what looked to have been a great mansion. We stood among empty pots and planters…where a beautiful garden once thrived. …[W]e stopped near a fountain that was the only decoration I could see in a massive plaza…. Kids mulled about… an astonishing number…. This was a city for desolate and abandoned children. The grunt’s-eye-view allows for stark outlines only...

Right-Wing Women in Chile: Feminine Power and the Struggle against Allende, 1964–1973

Women’s critical role in the 1973 ousting of Salvador Allende has long been recognized, but their actions, motivations for participation, and foreign ties remained obscure. Many believed that only privileged women, manipulated by rightist men, mobilized against Allende’s government, but Margaret Power’s examination of the gendered aspects of rightist political participation and electoral campaigns answers these questions and dispels the myths.In the nineteenth century, women pressed for suffrage in order to protect the church against liberal anticlericalism. Once women attained the right to vote, they were mobilized by rightists attempting to attract a popular base. The 1964 electoral alliance between the rightist Partido Nacional (PN) and the centrist Christian Democrats (PDC) used the “Scare Campaign”—convincing women that a leftist victory would mean destruction of the family—to help defeat Allende. The PN used this strategy again in 1970, but Allende won the three-way race. Power demonstrates that the United States covertly supported the “Scare Campaign” and Chilean rightist women. The United States had already encouraged both Operation Peter Pan, which sent the children of anti-Castro Cubans to the United States, and the women’s mobilization against Brazilian president João Goulart. These campaigns’ tactics and rhetoric about gender and the family heralded those of Chilean activists.PN women were among the first to denounce Allende’s triumph. They joined with women of the PDC and other opposition groups to organize the famous March of the Empty Pots and Pans to protest Fidel Castro’s visit in December 1971. In early 1972 they created Poder Femenino (PF), which demonstrated and petitioned against the government, aided the striking copper miners of El Teniente, and helped meld the anti-Allende forces agitating in favor of a military coup. Observers have assumed that PF members spurred military officers into action by questioning their manhood, but Power suggests that their actions may have been part of an opposition plan to legitimize a golpe that was in the works. In fact, PF had already weakened Chilean democracy by denigrating politics and exalting its “apolitical” role. The military regime it helped bring to power disbanded PF because it had accomplished its mission and represented an autonomy that the generals did not want women to exercise.PF insisted that women could “transcend class” (p. 172) to unite the nation. Indeed, it recruited some lower-class women, partly through the Centros de Madres established in impoverished communities by the Frei administration. Many poor women agreed that Unidad Popular policies kept them from feeding their families and joined the anti-Allende cause. Yet upper-class prerogatives and assumptions infused PF: its affluent members equated the national interest with their class interests, and they relied on their telephones, servants, cars, and access to money and powerful men to push forward their agenda. The gold pots-and-pans pins of elite anti-Allende activists distinguished them from the less-privileged women who wore copper pins. It is telling that wealthy PF members could supply Power with names of their upper- and middle-class colleagues but could not recall the names of working-class ones.PF shared many characteristics with rightist women in other Latin American countries and time periods. Most such groups have presented themselves as apolitical mothers motivated by the desire to protect their families against leftist assault. They defended existing gender roles, although their activities may have subtly challenged them. Leftists have claimed that rightist men manipulate their female allies, ignoring the possibilities of women’s agency and the genuine appeal of right-wing platforms. Some rightist movements have recruited women to help them attract a multiclass following. Rightist women have also cited Catholicism as a motive, yet religion did not influence PF to the same degree as the rosary-carrying Brazilian women who marched against Goulart. Furthermore, PF seemed more combative and tolerant of violence and torture than rightist women in other contexts, except for Somocista and Contra women in Nicaragua. Future research is needed to explain these differences and pinpoint other variations between rightist women’s movements in the region.Scholars will appreciate this study’s rich detail, extensive documentation, and careful examination of diverging interpretations and the pitfalls of memory. The discussion of background issues, portraits of activists, and anecdotes gleaned from interviews make the book accessible to students. Both audiences will appreciate Power’s insights into women’s history and Chilean politics in a crucial period.

Meliponini neotropicais: o gênero Partamona Schwarz, 1939 (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Apinae) - bionomia e biogeografia

This work, dedicated to the study of nesting habits of the species of the Neotropical genus Partamona Schwarz, is a sequence to the taxonomic revision recently published elsewhere. A total of 214 nests and nest aggregations of 18 species [Partamona epiphytophila Pedro & Camargo, 2003; P. testacea (Klug, 1807); P. mourei Camargo, 1980; P. vicina Camargo, 1980; P. auripennis Pedro & Camargo, 2003; P. combinata Pedro & Camargo, 2003; P. chapadicola Pedro & Camargo, 2003; P. nhambiquara Pedro & Camargo, 2003; P. ferreirai Pedro & Camargo, 2003; P. pearsoni (Schwarz, 1938); P. gregaria Pedro & Camargo, 2003; P. batesi Pedro & Camargo, 2003; P. ailyae Camargo, 1980; P. cupira (Smith, 1863); P. mulata Moure in Camargo, 1980; P. seridoensis Pedro & Camargo, 2003; P. criptica Pedro & Camargo, 2003; P. helleri (Friese, 1900)] were studied , including data about habitat, substrate, structural characteristics, construction materials and behavior. The descriptions of the nests are illustrated with 48 drawings. Partial data of the nests of P. bilineata (Say, 1837), P. xanthogastra Pedro & Camargo, 1997, P. orizabaensis (Strand, 1919), P. peckolti (Friese, 1901), P. aequatoriana Camargo, 1980, P. musarum (Cockerell, 1917) and P. rustica Pedro & Camargo, 2003 are also presented. Nests of P. grandipennis (Schwarz, 1951), P. yungarum Pedro & Camargo, 2003, P. subtilis Pedro & Camargo, 2003, P. vitae Pedro & Camargo, 2003, P. nigrior (Cockerell, 1925), P. sooretamae Pedro & Camargo, 2003 and P. littoralis Pedro & Camargo, 2003 are unknown. The species of Partamona build notable nest entrance structures, with special surfaces for incoming / exiting bees; some of them are extremely well-elaborated and ornamented, serving as flight orientation targets. All species endemic to western Ecuador to Mexico with known nesting habits (P. orizabaensis, P. peckolti, P. xanthogastra, P. bilineata, P. aequatoriana and P. musarum) build their nests in several substrates, non-associated with termitaria, such as cavities and crevices in walls, among roots of epiphytes and in bases of palm leaves, in abandoned bird nests, under bridges, and in other protected places, except P. peckolti that occasionally occupies termite nests. In South America, on the eastern side of the Andes, only P. epiphytophila and P. helleri nest among roots of epiphytes and other substrates, non-associated with termitaria. All other species studied (P. batesi, P. gregaria, P. pearsoni, P. ferreirai, P. chapadicola, P. nhambiquara, P. vicina, P. mourei, P. auripennis, P. combinata, P. cupira, P. mulata, P. ailyae, P. seridoensis, P. criptica and P. rustica) nest inside active termite nests, whether epigeous or arboreous. The only species that builds obligate subterranean nests, associated or not with termite or ant nests (Atta spp.) is P. testacea. Nests of Partamona have one vestibular chamber (autapomorphic for the genus) closely adjacent to the entrance, filled with a labyrinth of anastomosing pillars and connectives, made of earth and resins. One principal chamber exists for food and brood, but in some species one or more additional chambers are filled with food storage pots. In nests of P. vicina, there is one atrium or false nest, between the vestibule and the brood chamber, which contains involucral sheaths, cells and empty pots. All structures of the nest are supported by permanent pillars made of earth and resins (another autapomorphy of the genus). The characters concerning nesting habits were coded and combined with morphological and biogeographic data, in order to hypothesize the evolutive scenario of the genus using cladistic methodology. The phylogenetic hypothesis presented is the following: (((((P. bilineata (P. grandipennis, P. xanthogastra)) (P. orizabaensis, P. peckolti)) (P. aequatoriana, P. musarum)) P. epiphytophila, P. yungarum, P. subtilis, P. vitae) (((((P. testacea (P. mourei, P. vicina)) (P. nigrior (P. auripennis, P. combinata))) (P. ferreirai (P. pearsoni (P. gregaria (P. batesi (P. chapadicola, P. nhambiquara)))))) ((((P. ailyae, P. sooretamae) P. cupira, P. mulata) P. seridoensis) P. criptica, P. rustica, P. littoralis)) P. helleri))). One area cladogram is presented. Dates of some vicariance / cladogenesis events are suggested. For bilineata / epiphytophila group, which inhabits the Southwestern Amazonia and the Choco-Mexican biogeographical components, the origin of ancestral species is attributed to the Middle Miocene, when the transgressions of the Maracaibo and Paranense seas isolated the tropical northwestern South America from the eastern continental land mass. The next cladogenic event in the history of the bilineata / epiphytophila group is attributed to the Plio-Pleistocene, when the Ecuadorian Andes reached more than 3000 m, and the ancestral species was fragmented in two populations, one occupying the western Andes (ancestral species of the bilineata subgroup) and other the southwestern Amazon (ancestral species of the epiphytophila subgroup). Other aspects of the history of Partamona are also discussed.

Resonant Cavities in the History of Architectural Acoustics

Resonant Canities in the History of Architectural Acoustics ROBERT G. ARNS AND BRET E. CRAWFORD The way in which a particular technology is practiced is intrinsically linked to the social setting in which it is found. Technologies, along with other phenomena such as social structure, values and beliefs, and language and symbolism, are part of the cultural matrix. Culture, in turn, both reflects and shapes technology. Considerable insight has been gained from the study of technologies in context and from the study of the changing manifestations of various technologies over time and in different cultures. Studies of this sort provide an opportunity to compare the extent to which a technology is shaped by the culture in which it is observed and the extent to which technology is driven by internal factors, such as fundamental laws of physics or biology, the nature of the environmental problem, or the characteristics of the materials employed. Acoustics is the science of sound, including its production, transmis­ sion, and effects. In architectural acoustics, these scientific principles are applied to improve the hearing of sound in a built space. The resonant cavity, a rigid enclosure connected to the external environment by a small hole—an ordinary vase provides a familiar example—has some­ times been used in architectural acoustics. The air in such a cavity can be set into oscillation by certain sounds in the environment, thus affecting what is heard in the vicinity of the cavity. In the resonant cavity as applied to architectural acoustics we have an opportunity to consider a technological artifact in three very different periods and to interpret these manifestations in terms of the settings and of current understand­ ing of the technology. The first record ofthe use ofthe resonant cavity in architectural acoustics is described in De architectura libri decern, the treatise on architecture of Dr. Arns is professor of physics at the University of Vermont; Mr. Crawford is a Ph.D. candidate in physics at Duke University. This work would not have been possible without the persistence of Professor Patricia E. Mardeusz, University of Vermont Libraries, in locating and obtaining critical materials. The authors also wish to thank ProfessorJean M. Davison, Department of Classics; Professor Jun-Ru Wu, Department of Physics; and Professor HenryJ. Steffens, Department of History, all of the University of Vermont, and the Technology and Culture referees for their helpful observations and suggestions.© 1995 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X/95/3601-0005$01.00 104 Resonant Cavities in the History ofArchitectural Acoustics 105 Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman of the Augustan era.1 The fifth of his ten books is devoted to the architecture of public buildings, including the design characteristics of Greek and Roman theaters. He describes the acoustical problems faced by the builders of open-air structures in which a large crowd is gathered for the purpose of seeing and listening to a public performance. He also provides various prescriptions to guide in the design and construction of such theaters. One of these prescriptions calls for the use of resonant cavities, in the form of empty bronze or pottery vases, to improve the acoustics by serving as “sounding vessels,” separate sources of sound resonating with the sound from the stage. The second manifestation of the resonant cavity as a sounding vessel involves the interior acoustics of medieval churches: empty pots, with open mouths facing inward, embedded in the walls of European churches, a practice that continued into the 17th century. Sounding vessels were espoused again in the 19th century in attempts to improve the acoustics of large concert and assembly halls. Finally, in contrast to the applications in these three historic periods, it was realized, beginning about 1930, that carefully designed arrays of resonant cavities could be applied to advantage in interior acoustics, not as sounding vessels but as sound absorbers. This article addresses several questions. First, in each of these three periods, what was the extent and nature of the use of resonant cavities? Second, what did architects and builders think they were achieving? Third, how was the application of resonant cavities related to the social setting in which we observe that application? Fourth, how...

Refusing to Travel La Via Chilena : Working-Class Women in Allende's Chile

Refusing to Travel La Via Chilena·. Working-Class Women in Allende's Chile Camilla Townsend "Take me with you," I said. "I can't, Eva." "Aren't there women in the mountains?" "No this is a man's war, but better times wiU come, and then we can love each other under different circumstances." ... In his eyes, I would never be independent. Huberto had thought that way since he could think at all; it was not likely that the Revolution was going to change him. I realized that our problems were not related in any way to the fortunes of the gueriUas; even if he achieved his dream, there would be no equality for me. . . . His revolution would not change my fate in any fundamental way; under any circumstances, as long as I Uved I would still have to make my own way. Perhaps it was at that moment I realized that mine is a war with no end in view.... Yes, Elvira had been right: you have to be tough, life is a dogfight. From Eva Luna by Isabel AUende, niece of Salvador AUende On Wednesday, December 1, 1971, approximately five thousand women gathered in the late afternoon at the Plaza Baquedano in Santiago, Chile. They proceeded to march through the downtown streets, shouting anti-government slogans and banging empty pots and pans. While many of the women were middle class and even upper class, many others were in fact from working-class neighborhoods. Poor women along with the elite marched to protest the government of the Unidad Popular (UP), led by Salvador Allende, which had among its goals the gradual redistribution of wealth in accordance with socialist justice. In explaining this phenomenon to themselves, the Right claimed that these were women of superior feminine virtue who had seen through the Ues of those who wanted to impose a Marxist dictatorship, and thus wished to defend their beloved country. The Left, on the other hand, pitied such ignorant, tradition -bound women who could be so luUed by deceitful enemies as to ignore their own true class interests. In reaUty, however, neither side was presenting an accurate picture of what had happened on December 1. Nobody had asked the working women why they were there. © 1993 Journal of Women-s History, Vol. 4 No. 3 (Winter) 44 Journal of Women's History Winter The presence of these women was indicative of a larger problem the AUende government had in attempting to gain the support of unorganized working-class women. Members of the government insisted that they had poor women's interests in mind. In addition to striving toward their primary goal of gradual socialization of the economy, officials made some more immediate changes, such as opening neighborhood centers to provide free milk and health care. They also talked about women's potential in new ways, introducing what one historian has called a "creative ambiguity" in dialogues which traditionally had foUowed certain scripts.1 Despite their efforts, however, the UP faüed to attract a majority of the working women they claimed to defend. As has happened in other times and places, the women were often simply dismissed as "tradition bound" or assumed to be controUed by the church, whose priests frequently disapproved of the changes advocated by the left-wing coaUtion of parties. If poor women did choose to agree with the priests, however, few of the spurned leftists made significant attempts to understand why. A possible explanation may be found in viewing the question from the perspective of the working women themselves. Until recently, due to the poUtical situation in Chile, any project involving the testimony of working-class women's experiences under the UP has been untenable. Now, as Chilean women begin to speak more openly, it is possible to sort out the evidence gathered thus far. This article attempts to organize what we presently know about the decisions working-class women made in the years of the Popular Unity government, and suggest some interpretations. The problem can best be understood only after coming to terms with the historical background of both labor activism and left-wing parties in Chile, and exploring the roles played by women in...

Input and output flux of carbon and nitrogen in decomposing leaf litter of Japanese cedar

Abstract In order to analyze the pattern of loss of carbon and nitrogen from decomposing leaf litter of Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don), the carbon and nitrogen influx and outflow were measured over a period of 60 months. The fresh leaf litter was cut into pieces, put into a plastic pot with an outlet in the lowermost part and set on the forest floor. The rainwater passing through the litter layer was collected every time, and the pH and amount of carbon and nitrogen were measured. An empty pot was set beside the plastic pot and the rainwater (throughfall) was also collected. After the rain passed through the litter layer the pH increased by a maximum of 2.9, presumably due to the leaching of cations such as calcium and magnesium. At the very early stage of the decomposition, the leaching of a relatively large amount of carbon and nitrogen followed by periodical in- and output flux was observed. The measurement of ammonium- and nitrate-N showed that at first these inorganic forms accumulated in the litter. On the third year of the decomposition, the leaching pattern of nitrate-N changed from accumulation to release. Thus, it was concluded that the leaf litter of Japanese cedar remained for 2 yr (or two growing seasons) in the F1 or accumulation stage of inorganic nitrogen, and that in the third year it entered the F2 or mineralization stage.