Martín Almagro Basch, a synthesis of his scientific career (1934-1984)

Martín Almagro Basch (1911-1984) ha sido el investigador más influyente en la Prehistoria española en el tercer cuarto del siglo XX. Fue catedrático de Prehistoria en la Universidad de Barcelona (1939-54) y Complutense de Madrid (1955-81), Director del Museo Arqueológico de Barcelona (1939-66) y del Museo Arqueológico Nacional (1968-81) o fundador del Instituto Español de Prehistoria del CSIC (1958-81). En su trayectoria profesional, a partir de un primer proyecto en el que colaboró con Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla en 1938, trató durante su carrera profesional de modernizar los estudios de Prehistoria en España, con la creación de buenas revistas (Ampurias 1939, Trabajos de Prehistoria 1969), buenas bibliotecas (MAN 1968), mejora en la metodología de excavación arqueológica (estratigrafías 1947, método Wheeler 1961), elaboración de manuales universitarios sobre Prehistoria de Europa (1941) y del Mundo (1960), consolidación de la asignatura obligatoria de la Prehistoria en los estudios de Historia (1955), reapertura de la Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma para poder enviar becarios a formarse en el extranjero (1953), misiones arqueológicas en Italia (1956), Egipto-Sudán (1960) y Jordania (1971) o la renovación museológica de la colección permanente del Museo Arqueológico Nacional (1981).Martín Almagro Basch (1911-1984) ha sido el investigador más influyente en la Prehistoria española en el tercer cuarto del siglo XX. Fue catedrático de Prehistoria en la Universidad de Barcelona (1939-54) y Complutense de Madrid (1955-81), Director del Museo Arqueológico de Barcelona (1939-66) y del Museo Arqueológico Nacional (1968-81) o fundador del Instituto Español de Prehistoria del CSIC (1958-81). En su trayectoria profesional, a partir de un primer proyecto en el que colaboró con Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla en 1938, trató durante su carrera profesional de modernizar los estudios de Prehistoria en España, con la creación de buenas revistas (Ampurias 1939, Trabajos de Prehistoria 1969), buenas bibliotecas (MAN 1968), mejora en la metodología de excavación arqueológica (estratigrafías 1947, método Wheeler 1961), elaboración de manuales universitarios sobre Prehistoria de Europa (1941) y del Mundo (1960), consolidación de la asignatura obligatoria de la Prehistoria en los estudios de Historia (1955), reapertura de la Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma para poder enviar becarios a formarse en el extranjero (1953), misiones arqueológicas en Italia (1956), Egipto-Sudán (1960) y Jordania (1971) o la renovación museológica de la colección permanente del Museo Arqueológico Nacional (1981)Martín Almagro Basch (1911-1984) has been the most influential researcher in the Spanish Prehistory in the third quarter of the 20th Century. He was Professor of Prehistory in the University of Barcelona (1939-54) and Complutense of Madrid (1955-81), Director of the Archaeological Museum of Barcelona (1939-66) and the National Archaeological Museum (1968-81) or founder of the Spanish Prehistory Institute of the CSIC (1958-81). In his professional path, from a first project that traced with Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla in 1938, tried during his professional career to modernizing the Prehistory studies in Spain, with the creation of good journals (Ampurias 1939, Trabajos de Prehistoria 1969), good libraries (MAN 1968), improvement in the archaeological field methodology (archaeological stratigraphy 1947, method Wheeler 1961), university handbooks on Prehistory of Europe (1941) and the World (1960), consolidation of the subject of the Prehistory as obligatory matter in History studies (1955), reopening of the Spanish School of History and Archaeology at Rome for to send fellow to be formed abroad (1953), archaeological missions in Italy (1956), Egypt-Sudan (1960) and Jordan (1971) or the museology renovation of the permanent collection of the National Archaeological Museum (1981

Growth Cycles in XXth Century European Industrial Productivity: Unbiased Variance Estimation in a Time-varying Parameter Model

This note applies the median unbiased estimation of coefficient variance, proposed by Stock and Watson (1998), to the extraction of the time-varying trend growth rate of industrial productivity in fifteen European countries, over most of the XXth Century, by means of an unobservable components univariate decomposition. In addition to the description of the procedure, this illustration is particularly useful in explaining why the method is especially appropriate for comparison of trends growth rates extracted from time series with diverse degrees of variability.unobservable components model; industrial productivity; growth cycles; Europe.

On an unhappy marriage, Henry James and atoms : Vladimir Nabokov reading (on) Anton Chekhov

Nabokov’s lecture on Anton Chekhov stands out for its numerous citations from Korney Chukovsky’s 1947 article ‘Friend Chekhov.’ At the same time, however, the lecture contains many more references to other critics, as well – some of them explicit, though not necessarily clear, others more concealed. In an attempt to trace the sources Nabokov used when drafting his Chekhov lecture, the article offers a concrete view of Nabokov’s critical laboratory. Additionally, the article sheds light on his relation to other critics and critical movements, more specifically with respect to the competing ‘tendencies’ at work in the canonization of Chekhov’s oeuvre during the interwar period: Russian émigré, Soviet, and Anglo-American

Regina grahamii

Number of pages=40Geological SciencesIntegrative Biolog

Inference related to common breaks in a multivariate system with joined segmented trends with applications to global and hemispheric temperatures

What transpires from recent research is that temperatures and radiative forcing seem to be characterized by a linear trend with two changes in the rate of growth. The first occurs in the early 60s and indicates a very large increase in the rate of growth of both temperature and radiative forcing series. This was termed as the “onset of sustained global warming”. The second is related to the more recent so-called hiatus period, which suggests that temperatures and total radiative forcing have increased less rapidly since the mid-90s compared to the larger rate of increase from 1960 to 1990. There are two issues that remain unresolved. The first is whether the breaks in the slope of the trend functions of temperatures and radiative forcing are common. This is important because common breaks coupled with the basic science of climate change would strongly suggest a causal effect from anthropogenic factors to temperatures. The second issue relates to establishing formally via a proper testing procedure that takes into account the noise in the series, whether there was indeed a ‘hiatus period’ for temperatures since the mid 90s. This is important because such a test would counter the widely held view that the hiatus is the product of natural internal variability. Our paper provides tests related to both issues. The results show that the breaks in temperatures and radiative forcing are common and that the hiatus is characterized by a significant decrease in their rate of growth. The statistical results are of independent interest and applicable more generally.Accepted manuscrip

GDP and life expectancy in Italy and Spain over the long run: A time-series approach

Background: A growing body of literature focuses on the relationship between life expectancy and GDP per capita. However, available studies to date are overwhelmingly based on either cross-country or cross-sectional data. We address the issue from a novel, more historically grounded approach, i.e., comparing long-run consistent time series. Objective: To investigate what, if any, is the causal link between life expectancy and GDP. Methods: We provide consistent and updated long-term yearly time series of GDP and life expectancy for Italy and Spain and compare them with those available for France. Results: Both Italy and Spain converged towards the European core (France) earlier in life expectancy than in GDP. We find it necessary to split the series into two sub-periods, and we find that, in general, both improvements in life expectancy cause GDP growth and economic growth causes improvements in life expectancy. For the countries and the periods considered there are, however, exceptions in both cases. Conclusions: Our findings confirm the hypothesis of a non-monotonic relationship between life expectancy and income, but they also emphasize the importance of empirical qualifications, imposed by the historical experience of each national case

Nerodia rhombifera

Number of Pages: 4Integrative BiologyGeological Science

舒巷城的小說研究

香港作家舒巷城（1923-1999）被文學史家稱為香港的「鄉土作家」。「鄉土文學」 在中國內地及台灣有不同的定義及發展，香港特殊的地理環境、政治因素，令香港 文學的發展吸收、融合多方面的思潮、技巧，形成跟中國內地、台灣的文學同中有 異、異中有同的特色。本文主要把舒巷城放在時代背景中，分析香港「鄉土文學」 和其他兩地作品特色之異同，同時對舒巷城的作品按時序作一整理，嘗試整理出作 家在特定寫作環境下，作品所呈現的特色及作者文學觀的轉變

Exact solutions for the populations of the n-level ion

We present a matrix solution to the full equations of statistical equilibrium that give the energy level populations of collisionally-excited ions in photoionised gaseous nebulae. The rationale for such a calculation is to maintain a parity between improvements in the quantum-mechanically evaluated values for collision strengths and transition probabilities from the Iron and Opacity Projects on the one hand, and 3D photoionisation codes such as MOCASSIN and astrophysical software for producing nebular diagnostics such as the Nebular package for IRAF, on the other. We have taken advantage of the fact that mathematics programs such as MATLAB and Mathematica have proven to be very adept at symbolic manipulation providing a route to exact solutions for the n-level ion. In particular, we have avoided the substitution of estimated values. We provide the matrix solution for the 5-level ion as an example and show how the equations faithfully reduce to the exact solution for the 3-level ion. Through the forbidden line ratio R23, we compare the exact solution with a) that obtained from the observed emission of the spherical planetary nebula Abell 39, b) 3D Monte-Carlo photoionisation modelling of the same nebula, c) the approximate 5-level program TEMDEN and d) the exact 3-level ion. The general solution presented here means that programs for the calculation of level populations can obtain solutions for ions with a user-specified number of excited levels. The use of a separate and updatable database of atomic and ionic constants such as that provided by NIST, means that software of more general application can now be made available; particularly for the study of high excitation objects such as active galactic nebulae (AGNs) and supernovae (SNs) where higher excited levels become significant.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure and 1 table. Submitted to MNRA