The Organization of Dissonance in Adena-Hopewell Societies of Eastern North America

Social complexity increased dramatically during the Middle Woodland period (ca. 200 BC-AD 500) in Eastern North America. Adena-Hopewell societies during this period built massive burial mounds, constructed complex geometric earthen enclosures, and maintained extensive trade networks in exotic craft goods. These material signatures suggest that coalition and consensus were sustained through social bonds since clear evidence for top-down leadership does not exist in Adena-Hopewell archaeology. Here, a framework grounded in new understandings of heterarchy is used to explore how coalitions were formed, organised, maintained, and/or shifted as a means to coordinate labour and ritual among Middle Woodland Period groups. Through re- analysis of the Wright Mound in Kentucky, and its burial contents, new insights into heterarchical organisation are used to achieve a wider, diachronic understanding of how humans in the past reached, realised, and rearranged forms of consensus and coalition

The Organization of Dissonance in Adena-Hopewell Societies of Eastern North America

Social complexity increased dramatically during the Middle Woodland period (ca. 200 BC-AD 500) in Eastern North America. Adena-Hopewell societies during this period built massive burial mounds, constructed complex geometric earthen enclosures, and maintained extensive trade networks in exotic craft goods. These material signatures suggest that coalition and consensus were sustained through social bonds since clear evidence for top-down leadership does not exist in Adena-Hopewell archaeology. Here, a framework grounded in new understandings of heterarchy is used to explore how coalitions were formed, organised, maintained, and/or shifted as a means to coordinate labour and ritual among Middle Woodland Period groups. Through re- analysis of the Wright Mound in Kentucky, and its burial contents, new insights into heterarchical organisation are used to achieve a wider, diachronic understanding of how humans in the past reached, realised, and rearranged forms of consensus and coalition

Green habits begin at home

TEACHING our children to care for the environment will make a difference in the immediate neighbourhood or township they live in

Transcranial magnetic stimulation to the occipital place area biases gaze during scene viewing

We can understand viewed scenes and extract task-relevant information within a few hundred milliseconds. This process is generally supported by three cortical regions that show selectivity for scene images: parahippocampal place area (PPA), medial place area (MPA) and occipital place area (OPA). Prior studies have focused on the visual information each region is responsive to, usually within the context of recognition or navigation. Here, we move beyond these tasks to investigate gaze allocation during scene viewing. Eye movements rely on a scene’s visual representation to direct saccades, and thus foveal vision. In particular, we focus on the contribution of OPA, which is i) located in occipito-parietal cortex, likely feeding information into parts of the dorsal pathway critical for eye movements, and ii) contains strong retinotopic representations of the contralateral visual field. Participants viewed scene images for 1034 ms while their eye movements were recorded. On half of the trials, a 500 ms train of five transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) pulses was applied to the participant’s cortex, starting at scene onset. TMS was applied to the right hemisphere over either OPA or the occipital face area (OFA), which also exhibits a contralateral visual field bias but shows selectivity for face stimuli. Participants generally made an overall left-to-right, top-to-bottom pattern of eye movements across all conditions. When TMS was applied to OPA, there was an increased saccade latency for eye movements toward the contralateral relative to the ipsilateral visual field after the final TMS pulse (400ms). Additionally, TMS to the OPA biased fixation positions away from the contralateral side of the scene compared to the control condition, while the OFA group showed no such effect. There was no effect on horizontal saccade amplitudes. These combined results suggest that OPA might serve to represent local scene information that can then be utilized by visuomotor control networks to guide gaze allocation in natural scenes

Draft Genome Sequence of Rhodococcus sp. Strain ATCC 49988, a Quinoline-Degrading Bacterium.

We report here the 4.9-Mb genome sequence of a quinoline-degrading bacterium, Rhodococcus sp. strain ATCC 49988. The draft genome data will enable the identification of genes and future genetic modification to enhance traits relevant to heteroaromatic compound degradation

Book Reviews

Nims: The Law of Unfair Business Competition; Moore: A Treatise on Facts or the Weight and Value of Evidence; Reeder: Rate Regulation, as Affected by the Distribution of Governmental Powers in the Constitutions; Reeves: A Treatise on the Law of Real Property; Lorenzen: Cases on the Conflict of Law

Statement on Spectroscopic Imaging in Art Conservation: A New Tool for Materials Investigations

http://leoalmanac.org/journal/Vol_10/lea_v10_n09.tx

Beyond Never-Never Land: Integrating LiDAR and Geophysical Surveys at the Johnston Site, Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park, Tennessee, USA

Archaeologists often use near-surface geophysics or LiDAR-derived topographic imagery in their research. However, rarely are the two integrated in a way that offers a robust understanding of the complex historical palimpsests embedded within a social landscape. In this paper we present an integrated aerial and terrestrial remote sensing program at the Johnston Site, part of the larger Pinson Mounds landscape in the American MidSouth. Our work at Johnston was focused on better understanding the history of human landscape use and change so that we can begin to compare the Johnston Site with other large Middle Woodland (200 BC-AD 500) ceremonial centers in the region. Our research allowed us to examine the accuracy of an early map of the Johnston Site made in the early 20th century. However, our integrated remote sensing approach allows us to go well beyond testing the usefulness of the map; it helps identify different uses of the site through time and across space. Our research emphasizes the importance of an integrated remote sensing methodology when examining complex social landscapes of the past and present

Beyond Never-Never Land: Integrating LiDAR and Geophysical Surveys at the Johnston Site, Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park, Tennessee, USA

Archaeologists often use near-surface geophysics or LiDAR-derived topographic imagery in their research. However, rarely are the two integrated in a way that offers a robust understanding of the complex historical palimpsests embedded within a social landscape. In this paper we present an integrated aerial and terrestrial remote sensing program at the Johnston Site, part of the larger Pinson Mounds landscape in the American MidSouth. Our work at Johnston was focused on better understanding the history of human landscape use and change so that we can begin to compare the Johnston Site with other large Middle Woodland (200 BC-AD 500) ceremonial centers in the region. Our research allowed us to examine the accuracy of an early map of the Johnston Site made in the early 20th century. However, our integrated remote sensing approach allows us to go well beyond testing the usefulness of the map; it helps identify different uses of the site through time and across space. Our research emphasizes the importance of an integrated remote sensing methodology when examining complex social landscapes of the past and present

Helicobacter pylori and cancer among adults in Uganda

Data from Africa on infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) are sparse. Therefore, as part of an epidemiological study of cancer in Uganda, we investigated the prevalence and determinants of antibodies against H. pylori among 854 people with different cancer types and benign tumours. Patients were recruited from hospitals in Kampala, Uganda, interviewed about various demographic and lifestyle factors and tested for antibodies against H. pylori. In all patients combined, excluding those with stomach cancer (which has been associated with H. pylori infection), the prevalence of antibodies was 87% (723/833) overall, but declined with increasing age (p = 0.02) and was lower among people who were HIV seropositive compared to seronegative (p <0.001). Otherwise, there were few consistent epidemiological associations. Among those with stomach cancer, 18/21 (86%) had anti-H. pylori antibodies (odds ratio 0.8, 95% confidence intervals 0.2–2.9, p = 0.7; estimated using all other patients as controls, with adjustment for age, sex and HIV serostatus). No other cancer site or type was significantly associated with anti-H. pylori antibodies. The prevalence of H. pylori reported here is broadly in accord with results from other developing countries, although the determinants of infection and its' role in the aetiology of gastric cancer in Uganda remain unclear