Elizabeth M. Brumfiel (1945–2012)

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94467/1/j.1548-1433.2012.01487.x.pd

Solar disks and solar cycles : spindle whorls and the dawn of solar art in postclassic Mexico

Sun disks are a common motif in spindle whorl decorations at Xaltocan, Mexico. These and other forms of symbolism on domestic artifacts suggest that women participated in the solar cosmologies of Postclassic Central Mexico. These symbols and their cosmologies precede and anticipate the principles of Aztec state religion. Thus, the spindle whorls with solar symbolism suggest that rulers appropriated the symbolism of household units in their efforts to establish the legitimacy of their states. The "Little Tradition" in Mesoamerica was the source of the "Great Tradition", and not the other way around.Los discos solares son un motivo habitual en las decoraciones de fusayolas en Xaltocan, México. Estas y otras formas de simbolismo de artefactos domésticos sugieren que las mujeres participaban en las cosmologías solares del México central postclásico. Estos símbolos y sus cosmologías preceden y anticipan los principios de la religión del estado azteca. En consecuencia, estas fusayolas sugieren que los gobernantes se apropiaron del simbolismo de las unidades domésticas en su intento de establecer la legitimidad de sus estados. Esta "pequeña tradición" de Mesoamérica fue la fuente originaria de la "gran tradición" y no al contrario.Els discs solars són habituals com a decoració de les fusaïoles a Xaltocan, Mèxic. Aquestes i d'altres formes de simbolisme d'artefactes domèstics suggereixen que les dones participave en les cosmologies solars de Mèxic central postclàssic. Aquests símbols i les seves cosmologies precedeixen i anticipen els principis de la religió de l'estat asteca. Per tant, aquestes fusaïoles suggereixen que els governs s'apropiaren del simbolisme de les unitats domèstiques en un intent d'establir la legitimitat dels seus estats. Aquesta "petita tradició" mesoamericana fou la font originària de la "gran tradició" i no al contrari

Macroscopic Fuana of a Small Brook

The brief paper here presented is but the first of a series of studies which the writer proposes to work out concerning the ecological relations of the animal life of Johnson County. Johnson County has been chosen as the field for observations for several reasons, among which are its availability from Iowa City and the University buildings as a center, its wealth of diversified habitats, and the most excellent work already done by Professor Bohumil Shimek in the field of plant ecology, upon which all studies of animal ecology depend, as all animals ultimately depend upon plants for food

The Influence of Floods upon Animals

The attention of the writer was first called directly to this problem by certain observations made along the White Water River, in southeastern Indiana, at the time of the great flood which swept that section of the country in the spring of 1913 —- generally known as the Dayton Flood. The writer was attempting to make collections of insects in the bottom lands of this small tributary of the Ohio river between the downpours of rain on Monday, March 24, 1913, at the time when that particular stream overflowed its banks. The observation that certain forms of animal life were destroyed outright, and others were forced to flee before the rising water, while still others were carried along on floating driftwood and other debris by which they might be introduced into new regions led to analysis of the influence of such floods upon animal life

On the divisibility of characteristic classes of non-oriented surface bundles

In this note we introduce a construction which assigns to an arbitrary manifold bundle its fiberwise orientation covering. This is used to show that the zeta classes of unoriented surface bundles are not divisible in the stable range.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in Topology and its Applications. v2: changes in expositio

A cochain level proof of Adem relations in the mod 2 Steenrod algebra

In 1947, N.E. Steenrod defined the Steenrod Squares, which are mod 2 cohomology operations, using explicit cochain formulae for cup-i products of cocycles. He later recast the construction in more general homological terms, using group homology and acyclic model methods, rather than explicit cochain formulae, to define mod p operations for all primes p. Steenrod's student J. Adem applied the homological point of view to prove fundamental relations, known as the Adem relations, in the algebra of cohomology operations generated by the Steenrod operations. In this paper we give a proof of the mod 2 Adem relations at the cochain level. Specifically, given a mod 2 cocycle, we produce explicit cochain formulae whose coboundaries are the Adem relations among compositions of Steenrod Squares applied to the cocycle, using Steenrod's original cochain definition of the Square operations