On-site data cast doubts on the hypothesis of shifting cultivation in the late Neolithic (c. 4300-2400 cal. BC): Landscape management as an alternative paradigm

This article brings together in a comprehensive way, and for the first time, on- and off-site palaeoenvironmental data from the area of the Central European lake dwellings (a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site since 2011). The types of data considered are as follows: high-resolution off-site pollen cores, including micro-charcoal counts, and on-site data, including botanical macro- and micro-remains, hand-collected animal bones, remains of microfauna, and data on woodland management (dendrotypology). The period considered is the late Neolithic (c. 4300–2400 cal. BC). For this period, especially for its earlier phases, discussions of land-use patterns are contradictory. Based on off-site data, slash-and-burn – as known from tropical regions – is thought to be the only possible way to cultivate the land. On-site data however show a completely different picture: all indications point to the permanent cultivation of cereals (Triticum spp., Hordeum vulgare), pea (Pisum sativum), flax (Linum usitatissimum) and opium-poppy (Papaver somniferum). Cycles of landscape use are traceable, including coppicing and moving around the landscape with animal herds. Archaeobiological studies further indicate also that hunting and gathering were an important component and that the landscape was manipulated accordingly. Late Neolithic land-use systems also included the use of fire as a tool for opening up the landscape. Here we argue that bringing together all the types of palaeoenvironmental proxies in an integrative way allows us to draw a more comprehensive and reliable picture of the land-use systems in the late Neolithic than had been reconstructed previously largely on the basis of off-site data

The Laws of Foreign Buildings: Flat Roofs and Minarets

This article looks at how building codes and zoning laws mediate the relationship between foreign building types and their uses. The article is based on insights from actor-network theory and analyzes buildings as quasi-technologies. It draws on two case studies in Switzerland. The first looks at the introduction of flat roofs along with modern architecture in the 1920s that led to the introduction of building codes in Ascona. The second is contemporary: it looks at the disputes about the right of Muslims to add minarets to prayer spaces that eventually led to an initiative to ban minarets altogether. In each of the cases I show how the building code mediates the travelling element and the associated lifestyle of the implicated groups and leads to a new definition of what those building types are. The law emerges as an important mediator of building types because it constantly shifts building types as being defined as material or social

Information needs of older women faced with a choice of primary endocrine therapy or surgery for early-stage breast cancer: a literature review

Primary endocrine therapy (PET) as an alternative to surgery is widely used in the UK for the treatment of older women with operable breast cancer. For women over 70 it has equivalent overall survival to surgery, although local control rates may be inferior. There are trade-offs to be made in deciding between surgery and PET. There has been little research to investigate the information needs of older women or the involvement in decision making they wish to have when faced with this breast-cancer treatment decision. This review examines the information needs of older women (>65 years) regarding the use of surgery or PET for treating operable primary breast cancer, and identifies their preferred format and media for the presentation of this information. The preference for involvement in treatment decision-making among this group will also be considered. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media