Hasil untuk "Physical anthropology. Somatology"

Matthew Edward Scarborough, Heinz Furrer, Torsten M. Scheyer et al.

Here we report on the anatomical re-investigation of a Late Pleistocene (Middle Würmian Interstadial, MIS 3, ca. 40–50 ka BP) perinatal woolly mammoth excavated in 1890-91 from Niederweningen, Switzerland, the first perinatal mammoth ever scientifically studied. In order to narrow down its age at death we compare perinatal woolly mammoths and African elephants in terms of their (i) ontogenetic allometry, especially in woolly mammoths from Russia, (ii) bone microstructure, (iii) tooth eruption sequences, and (iv) the timing of cranial suture closure. A distinct layer of postnatal bone deposition in the tibial midshaft and maxilla identified using micro-CT scanning, in particular, provides strong evidence of a post-natal ontogeny despite the lack of obvious wear in the dentition, suggesting an age of no more than a few months. Odontochronologically, the individual probably belongs to Jachmann’s (1988) Dental Stage 1 (3 months - 2 years), and tiny pits in the enamel/dentin tips of lamellar edges are analogous to those seen in juvenile M. primigenius from Russia (“Lyuba”), and are variously hypothesized to be caused by initial wear, spalling, dissolution pitting, incomplete mineralization, or eruption through the gums. Additionally, we describe anisomelia of uncertain aetiology, resulting in the stunting right fore-leg, perhaps contributing to the cause of its death. Finally, we discuss the significance to ecology and extinction of an altricial life-history strategy and the relatively rapid post-natal growth evidenced in woolly mammoths, a taxon with an exceptionally long gestation period.

RYO TANIGUCHI, YUKI FUKUDA, KANTA SUGIURA et al.

Visual systems have been crucial for animals to detect light signals. Binocular stereopsis has affected prey-predator re lationships throughout animal evolution by providing depth perception, among others. However, it has been difficult to reconstruct extinct binocular functions due to a lack of suitable fossil material. Here, we show, based on morphological analysis of well-preserved eyes, that an extinct mantis (Ambermantis wozniaki Grimaldi, 2003) in the Cretaceous New Jersey amber developed an advanced visual system as a predator. We found that A. wozniaki possesses large compound eyes with numerous, ca. 12 000 ommatidia. The interocular distance is narrower than the eyes, and the estimated bin ocular visual field is broader than in the typical extant basal and derived taxa. The large number of ommatidia indicates that the compound eyes of A. wozniaki achieved high spatial resolution to capture objects visually. The broad binocular field supports that A. wozniaki increased the stereoscopic area and developed an advanced prey-recognition system. These findings suggest that the Cretaceous basal mantises were highly adaptive visual predators, implying the ecological domination of mantises as visual specialists for 90 million years.

Paul Barford

The original promise of the internet was that it could have served as a tool whereby the general public could access, a single mouse-click away, unlimited amounts of reliable open access archaeological information supplied by academia or the museum world. This vision is in practice frustrated by the current form of that resource. Since changes that started taking place from 2015, the internet has increasingly been developing primarily as a commercial tool of modern capitalist trade. The casual searcher for information on a large range of archaeological phenomena will therefore primarily be faced with page after page of adverts offering examples of archaeological artefacts for sale and texts about their private collection.

Mariel Ferrari, Verónica Bertero, Marcelo G. Carrera

Gastropods from the Upper Ordovician of the Argentine Precordillera received less attention than other coeval marine invertebrates in this region. The present contribution supplies accurate taxonomic information recovering 10 gastropod genera which are represented by 10 species from the La Pola and Don Braulio formations (Sandbian and Hirnantian units, respectively) at the San Juan Province, Argentina: two species, namely Tetranota argentina sp. nov. and Clathrospira gondwanica sp. nov., are new to science. The gastropod association shows a remarkable diversity, and in contrast to other invertebrate groups reported in the Argentine Precordillera (e.g., trilobites, ostracodes, brachiopods, sponges, and bivalves) which had Gondwanan affinities during the Late Ordovician, the gastropod assemblage from the La Pola and Don Braulio formations had major palaeobiogeographical similarities with their Northern Hemisphere (Laurentia, Avalonia, and Baltica) counterparts. The occurrence of the genus Clathrospira suggests that it could have been the first precursor of the order Pleurotomariida in South America during the Sandbian–Hirnantian, and can help to shed light on the origin of this clade in the southernmost Gondwana continent as early as Palaeozoic times.

Delaney A. Knorr, Molly M. Fox

Ethnic discrimination during pregnancy is linked to maternal psychological distress, adverse birth outcomes and increased offspring morbidity and mortality. An evolutionary perspective reframes offspring health issues as a risk to maternal fitness. We argue that kin may be evolutionarily motivated to buffer psychosocial stressors for the mother during pregnancy. Previously, we found that the relationship of a pregnant woman with her own mother (fetus’ maternal grandmother) had a positive association on maternal prenatal psychology, above and beyond her relationship with her fetus’ father. Here, we ask if grandmothers buffer mothers’ prenatal psychological distress from ethnic discrimination. Using self-report data collected from 216 pregnant Latina women living in Southern California, we found discrimination to be significantly, positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress in linear regression models. Maternal grandmother communication attenuated the association of discrimination and all three psychological distress measures, adjusting for the mother's relationship with the father. Maternal grandmother emotional support similarly significantly moderated the relationship of discrimination with depression and anxiety. We did not observe any significant interactions for paternal grandmother relationships. Geographic proximity was not a significant stress buffer. Results suggest the important role maternal grandmothers play in perinatal mental health, and that these benefits exist uncoupled from geographic proximity.

V. A. Dzuba, V. V. Flambaum

The 229Th nucleus possesses a unique low-frequency transition at 8.4 eV, which is being considered for the development of an extremely accurate nuclear clock. We investigate an electronic bridge process in the Th III ion, where nuclear excitation occurs via electronic transitions, and demonstrate that a proper choice of laser frequencies can lead to 10,000 enhancement of this effect. Electrons also reduce 1.7 times the lifetime of the nuclear excited state. Additionally, the electronic structure of the Th III ion exhibits features that make it particularly useful for probing new physics. Notably, it contains a metastable state connected to the ground state via a weak M2 transition, which can be utilized for quantum information processing, as well as searches for oscillating axion field, violation of local Lorentz invariance, test of the Einstein's equivalence principle, and measurement of nuclear weak quadrupole moment. The electronic states of the ion present a unique case of level crossing involving the 5f, 6d, and 7s single-electron states. This crossing renders the transition frequencies highly sensitive to potential time-variation of the fine-structure constant.

Pramit Rej, Akashdip Karmakar

The primary objective of this paper is to develop a well-behaved class of Heintzmann IIa [{\em H. Heintzmann, Z. Physik 228, 489-493 (1969)}] solution in the context of $f(R,\, T)$ gravity. In the $f(R, T)$ framework, the gravitational action includes both the Ricci scalar ($R$) and the trace of the energy-momentum tensor ($T$). We chose a particular $f(R,\,T)$ model s.t. $f(R,\,T) = R+2 χT$, where $χ$ is known as the coupling parameter. This solution describes a novel isotropic compact fluid sphere with positively finite central pressure and density in this extended theory of gravity. The results obtained analytically are better described by graphical representations of the physical parameters for various values of the coupling parameter $χ$. The solution for a specific compact object, Vela X-1, with radius $\mathfrak{R} = 9.56_{-0.08}^{+0.08}$ km and mass $\mathcal{M} = 1.77 \pm 0.08~\mathcal{M}_{\odot}$ [{\em M. L. Rawls et al. ApJ, 730, 25 (2011)}], is shown here. We analyze the fundamental physical attributes of the star, which reveals the influence of the coupling parameter $χ$ on the values of substance parameters. This helps us to make a fruitful comparison of this modified $f(R,\, T)$ gravity with the standard GR and notice that it holds good for stable compact objects. In this framework, the star under our consideration exhibits a stable structure consistent with the Heintzmann IIa {\em ansatz}. From all of our obtained graphical and numerical results, we can ultimately conclude that our reported model is physically admissible and satisfies all the physical criteria for an acceptable model.

Напольских Владимир Владимирович

В статье рассматриваются представления народов Сибири о мамонте, среди которых выделяется образ мамонта-рогатой рыбы, известный кетам, селькупам, обских уграм и эвенкам. Надежно реконструируется праенисейкое *čer ‘мамонт-рыба’, заимствованное из енисейских языков в языки тюрков юга Сибири и в эвенкийский, и его более глубокая этимология на прасино-кавказском уровне в связи с названиями червя, ящерицы, улитки и др. Кроме того, в мифологии отдаленно родственных енисейцам по языку народов сино-кавказского круга (китайцы, бурушаски и их соседи и др.) присутствует мифологема о превращении животного класса рыбы-ящерицы-змеи в драконоподобное существо. На основании этих данных реконструируется возникновение образа мамонта-рыбы в среде носителей енисейского праязыка после их проникновения в Сибирь на базе более древних сино-кавказских мифологических представлений. В иконографии окуневской культуры обнаруживаются изображения ихтиоморфов, которые структурно, композиционно и в деталях сходны с изображениями мамонта-рыбы у народов Сибири и представляют собой параллели к указанной мифологеме и эволюции образа мамонта-рыбы в духовной культуре носителей праенисейского языка. Кроме того, общая композиция окуневских стел обнаруживает разительное структурное сходство с композицией кетской сакральной иконографии, в том числе с образами ящерицы, надгробными сооружениями и шаманской символикой. Указанные параллели не имеют аналогов в культуре других народов Сибири и должны объясняться в контексте эволюции праенисейской и доенисейской мифологии. Имеются некоторые иконографические параллели в кетской традиции и в искусстве других близких к окуневской культур Сибири (прежде всего самусьской). В связи с этим есть основания предполагать, что в генезисе окуневской культуры принимали участие носители раннего енисейского праязыка. Последний тезис находит подтверждение в данных физической антропологии и генетики. The article examines the ideas of the mammoth in the traditions of the Siberian peoples, with special attention to the image of the mammoth-horned fish known to the Kets, Selkups, Ob-Ugrians, and Evenkis. The word for ‘mammoth fish’ has been reliably reconstructed for the Yenician proto-language (*čer), and the Yeniseian name of this mythological being has been borrowed into the Turkic languages of Southern Siberia and the Evenks. This root has a deeper Proto-Sino-Caucasian etymology with parallels in the meaning ‘worm,’ ‘lizard,’ ‘snail,’ etc. In the mythology of the Sino-Caucasian peoples who are linguistically distantly related to Yeniseian (Chinese, Burish, and their neighbors, etc.), a mythologeme is known about the transformation of an animal from the fish-lizard-snake class into a dragon-like creature. These data are used to reconstruct the appearance of the mammoth-fish image among the speakers of the Proto-Yeniseian language after their advance into Siberia on the basis of older Sino-Caucasian mythological traditions. In the iconography of the Okunev archeological culture, there are images of ichthyomorphs that are structurally, compositionally, and in detail similar to the images of the mammoth fish among the peoples of Siberia, which shows parallels with the above-mentioned mythologems and the development of the image of the mammoth fish in the spiritual culture of the speakers of the Proto-Yeniseian language. In addition, the overall composition of Okunev’s stelae shows striking structural similarities with the composition of the sacred iconography of Ket, including images of lizards, grave signs, and shamanistic symbols. These parallels have no equivalent in the culture of other peoples of Siberia and should be explained in the context of the development of the Proto-Yeniseian language and mythology. Some iconographic parallels exist in the Ket tradition and in the art of other Siberian cultures in the Okunevo region (especially the Samuś culture). In this respect, there is reason to believe that speakers of the early Proto-Yeniseian language were involved in the formation of the Okunevo culture. The data from physical anthropology and genetics confirm the latter thesis.

F. I. Gordeev, A. Tutorski, A. Chirkova

Introduction. The article considers the processes of identity manifestation and construction of the Beja people on the Internet. Materials and methods. The study was carried out as part of an interdisciplinary research of the history, anthropology, geology, and ethnography of the Atbay region in northeastern Sudan, initiated by Lomonosov Moscow State University. The authors emphasize the importance of the online space for the identity manifestation of stateless cultures. The analysis of online sources is preceded by a consideration of the historical conditions and special traits of Beja self-perception. Comments from YouTube video hosting users on videos dedicated to the history and culture of the Beja people are involved as sources for the study. Results and discussion. As a result of their analysis, four main patterns of Beja identity are determined: supra-ethnic cooperation with the “Arab world”; the association of Beja with the "pancushitic" community; and "ethnic identity" limited by the boundaries of the Beja community itself. The authors conclude that the Beja identity on the Internet is constructed in two dimensions: "global" and "local". The "global" level is represented by mainly the African diaspora, the "local" one – by Internet resources that are used by residents of the East African region. The findings made in the online study are compared with the ethnographic materials collected by the authors in Atbay region among the Beja Bishariin, physical anthropology data and historical evidence. Some excerpts from an interview with Mr. Onur, who comes from the Beja Ertega tribe (acted as Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Sudan to the Russian Federation until 2022) are also included in analysis. Conclusion. As a result of comparing all types of data, the authors conclude that the Beja identity exhibits a high degree of lability. It is suggested that the reasons for such lability may be related to the historical conditions of the Beja ethnogenesis on the periphery of ancient civilizations and to the significant heterogeneity of the historical population of the Eastern Desert in all the historical periods under consideration. @ 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license

G. Mcgowan, Gerhard Hoffstaedter, J. Creese

Object-based learning, where students learn by hands-on interactive experiences with skills and objects, provides an active, multi-layered learning experience. Engaging haptic perceptual styles to build meaning and understanding through tactile stimuli, object-based learning can increase student engagement and satisfaction, and improve knowledge retention and higher-level critical thinking. This paper examines three case studies where haptic pedagogical principles were employed to develop learning experiences for key themes, practices and challenges of anthropology. The first, an archaeological laboratory interaction, gave students physical artefacts to touch, manipulate and critically consider, embedded within real-life archaeological case studies. The second, an interactive session using hand-written letters from asylum seekers drawn from an archival collection, connected students with otherwise-inaccessible asylum-seeker voices and multi-sensory modes of critical archival research. The third, a museum curation task, gave students the opportunity to curate and reflect critically on their own museum exhibition of household objects, both meaningful and mundane. All three case studies demonstrate the benefits of utilising the haptic perceptual style in learning design, with engaged and critically reflective understanding being developed. However, there are limitations and considerations inherent in such learning activities, including the ethics of handling objects and the constraints of digital formats for online learning.

Xiyan Xiong, Sara L. Loo, Mark M. Tanaka

Humans harbour diverse microbial communities, and this interaction has fitness consequences for hosts and symbionts. Understanding the mechanisms that preserve host–symbiont association is an important step in studying co-evolution between humans and their mutualist microbial partners. This association is promoted by vertical transmission, which is known to be imperfect. It is unclear whether host–microbial associations can generally be maintained despite ‘leaky’ vertical transmission. Cultural practices of the host are expected to be important in bacterial transmission as they influence the host's interaction with other individuals and with the environment. There is a need to understand whether and how cultural practices affect host–microbial associations. Here, we develop a mathematical model to identify the conditions under which the mutualist can persist in a population where vertical transmission is imperfect. We show with this model that several factors compensate for imperfect vertical transmission, namely, a selective advantage to the host conferred by the mutualist, horizontal transmission of the mutualist through an environmental reservoir and transmission of a cultural practice that promotes microbial transmission. By making the host–microbe association more likely to persist in the face of leaky vertical transmission, these factors strengthen the association which in turn enables host–mutualist co-evolution.

Alexander Savelyev, Choongwon Jeong

María Laura Cordero, Maria Florencia Cesani

La pandemia por COVID-19 constituye un evento de orden macrosocial que agudiza las desigualdades en el territorio. El presente estudio tiene por objetivo avanzar en el conocimiento de la seguridad alimentaria en la provincia de Tucumán durante los primeros meses de la pandemia, mediante la descripción de la magnitud y distribución de la inseguridad alimentaria a nivel departamental y el análisis particular de aquellos hogares en donde residen niños, niñas y adolescentes. Se efectuó un estudio cuantitativo y transverso mediante la administración de un cuestionario digital. Se trabajó con la Escala Latinoamericana y Caribeña para la medición de la Seguridad Alimentaria, que distinguió los hogares con seguridad o inseguridad alimentaria (leve, moderada, severa). Se obtuvo información de 3915 hogares. Se calcularon prevalencias de inseguridad alimentaria a nivel departamental y de acuerdo a la presencia o ausencia de menores de edad en el hogar. Además, se desarrollaron indicadores espaciales y cartografía temática y se analizaron datos censales. Se efectuaron  comparaciones considerando la presencia de menores en el hogar (pruebas de chi cuadrado). Los resultados evidenciaron que, durante los primeros meses de pandemia, la inseguridad alimentaria se manifestó con marcadas diferencias socio-espaciales. Los hogares más afectados fueron aquellos donde residieron niños, niñas y adolescentes. El análisis a escala departamental confirma dicha tendencia y revela áreas críticas de inseguridad alimentaria y percepción de hambre asociadas a condiciones de desigualdad persistente. Los resultados y los desarrollos cartográficos obtenidos aportan evidencia sobre la vulnerabilidad de las poblaciones infantiles en el contexto de pandemia.

S. Sharma, M. Pocrnic, B. N. Richtik et al.

We present the synthesis and physical properties of a new breathing pyrochlore magnet CuAlCr$_4$S$_8$ with the help of synchrotron x-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetization under ambient and applied hydrostatic pressure, heat capacity, and muon spin relaxation/rotation ($μ$SR) measurements. CuAlCr$_4$S$_8$ exhibits positive thermal expansion with concave upward temperature dependence. We observed a sharp antiferromagnetic ordering transition of a purely magnetic nature at 20 K, which shifts by as much as 3.2 K on the application of 600 MPa pressure. The breathing factor (B$_f$ = $J'/J$) in breathing pyrochlores can be an important parameter to tune the magnetic ground states of the pyrochlore lattice. The breathing factor can be modulated through breathing ratio, the ratio of sizes of the two tetrahedra, by using different elements at A and A' sites in the breathing pyrochlore structure. We find that CuAlCr$_4$S$_8$ has a breathing ratio of 1.0663(8), which is comparable to other sulfur breathing pyrochlores.

Maria Ktori

Forensic sciences is the umbrella term used to describe the different disciplines used in resolving forensic medicolegal, criminal, and humanitarian investigations. Physical anthropology played a key role since the inception of the field, and forensic anthropologists are often in charge of the recovery of human remains. The use of archaeological methods, first advocated in the late 1970s, developed into what we call today forensic archaeology; that is, the scientific discipline combining archaeological theories, methods, and field techniques with criminalistics in the context of a forensic investigation. This study follows the birth and development of forensic archaeology in Cyprus, as implemented by foreign experts and Cypriot scientists in the Republic of Cyprus. The author discusses examples from both criminal and humanitarian forensic investigations, their respective contexts, and the stakeholders involved to illustrate the different trajectories in Cypriot forensic archaeology. This shows that in some respects the discipline remains nascent, while in others there is a high level of local expertise that can be developed further. Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Declaration of Competing Interest: The author reports no declarations of interest.

Е.О. Веселовская, Анна Рассказова

The Laboratory of Anthropological Reconstruction (LAR) of the Centerfor Physical Anthropology (CPhA) of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has a truly unique collection of graphic and sculptural portraits made from the skulls of ancient and modern Eskimos from the Old and New Worlds. The article presents the works of G.V. Lebedinskaya, T.S. Surnina, T.S. Baluyeva, as well as some reconstructions made more recently by todays LAR research fellows. These latest works were carried out, taking into account the new data based on the improvement of the method of graphic facial reconstruction from a skull. The processing technique for 3D reconstruction of skull, based on a series of photographs taken from different angles is described. Thanks to this method, it is possible to obtain accurate images of the skull from front and side profile without any perspective distortion. The presented recon-structions were made using both classical and new methods, the last ones, based on the use of computer and the Photoshop Software. An innovative way of rep-resenting lifelike facial features makes it possible to show the real color of the skin, hair and eyes. In the article is as well discussed the place of the Eskimos in the anthropological classification system and the peculiarities of their features in Greenland and Chukotka.

M. L. Tan, G. Lasco

Abstract Understanding people’s concepts of illness and health is key to crafting policies and communications campaigns to address a particular medical concern. This paper gathers cultural knowledge on infectious disease causation, prevention, and treatment the Philippines that are particularly relevant for the COVID-19 pandemic, and analyzes their implications for public health. This paper draws from ethnographic work (e.g. participant observation, interviews, conversations, virtual ethnography) carried out individually by each of the two authors from February to September 2020. The data was analyzed in relation to the anthropological literature on local health knowledge in the Philippines. We find that notions of hawa (contagion) and resistensiya (immunity) inform people’s views of illness causation as well as their preventive practices - including the use of face masks and ‘vitamins’ and other pharmaceuticals, as well as the ways in which they negotiate prescriptions of face mask use and physical distancing. These perceptions and practices go beyond biomedical knowledge and are continuously being shaped by people’s everyday experiences and circulations of knowledge in traditional and social media. Our study reveals that people’s novel practices reflect recurrent, familiar, and long-held concepts - such as the moral undertones of hawa and experimentation inherent in resistensiya. Policies and communications efforts should acknowledge and anticipate how these notions may serve as either barriers or facilitators to participatory care and improved health outcomes.

B. Bridges, Sarah Osterhoudt

Broadly, landscapes can be considered terrains of connectivity. Landscapes encompass wild, cultivated, urban, feral, and fallow spaces, as well as the human and nonhuman entities who inhabit and shape them. Memory refers to the past as it exists in the present, bridging temporally discrete moments through the intentional or unintentional act of remembering. Memory studies, from the view of anthropology, include explorations of individual forms of remembrance, as well as the collective, heterogenous ways of marking, interpreting, and erasing the past. Taken together, landscapes and memory co-constitute one another: landscapes store, depict, and evoke memories while memories recall, revise, and shape landscapes. Knowledge and power are inevitably wrapped up in the relationship, and anthropologists have investigated the manifest ways such forces emerge through human acts of cultivation, commemoration, nostalgia, and forgetting. Because landscapes and memory appear in both physical and immaterial forms, the social constructs, cultural expressions, and human and nonhuman relationships on which they are based generate rich material for anthropological study. While landscape and memory are surely topics independently worthy of study, undertaking the two in tandem elucidates the intertwining threads that bind together space and time; such studies interrogate realms of personal meaning and political power while simultaneously highlighting dynamic processes of adaptation, improvisation, and erasure.

Nicholas Kerry, Khandis R. Blake, Damian R. Murray et al.

Political and social attitudes have been shown to differ by sex in a way that tracks individual self-interest. We propose that these attitudes also change strategically to serve the best interests of either male or female kin. To test this hypothesis, we developed a measure of gendered fitness interests (GFI) – an index which reflects the sex, relatedness and residual reproductive value of close kin. We predicted that people with male-biased GFI (i.e. people with more male kin of a reproductive age) would have more conservative attitudes towards gender-related issues (e.g. gender roles, women's rights, abortion rights). An online study using an American sample (N = 560) found support for this hypothesis. Further analyses revealed that this relationship was driven not only by people's own sex and reproductive value but also by those of their descendant kin. Exploratory analyses also found a positive association between male-biased GFI and a measure of conformity, as well as a smaller association between male-biased GFI and having voted Republican in the last election. Both of these associations were statistically mediated by gender-related conservatism. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that GFI influences sociopolitical attitudes.

Soorya Rethinasamy, Rochisha Agarwal, Kunal Sharma et al.

The performance of a quantum information processing protocol is ultimately judged by distinguishability measures that quantify how distinguishable the actual result of the protocol is from the ideal case. The most prominent distinguishability measures are those based on the fidelity and trace distance, due to their physical interpretations. In this paper, we propose and review several algorithms for estimating distinguishability measures based on trace distance and fidelity. The algorithms can be used for distinguishing quantum states, channels, and strategies (the last also known in the literature as "quantum combs"). The fidelity-based algorithms offer novel physical interpretations of these distinguishability measures in terms of the maximum probability with which a single prover (or competing provers) can convince a verifier to accept the outcome of an associated computation. We simulate many of these algorithms by using a variational approach with parameterized quantum circuits. We find that the simulations converge well in both the noiseless and noisy scenarios, for all examples considered. Furthermore, the noisy simulations exhibit a parameter noise resilience. Finally, we establish a strong relationship between various quantum computational complexity classes and distance estimation problems.