Carbon stable isotope analysis of cereal remains as a way to reconstruct water availability: preliminary results

Reconstructing past water availability, both as rainfall and irrigation, is important to answer questions about the way society reacts to climate and its changes and the role of irrigation in the development of social complexity. Carbon stable isotope analysis of archaeobotanical remains is a potentially valuable method for reconstructing water availability. To further define the relationship between water availability and plant carbon isotope composition and to set up baseline values for the Southern Levant, grains of experimentally grown barley and sorghum were studied. The cereal crops were grown at three stations under five different irrigation regimes in Jordan. Results indicate that a positive but weak relationship exists between irrigation regime and total water input of barley grains, but no relationship was found for sorghum. The relationship for barley is site-specific and inter-annual variation was present at Deir ‘Alla, but not at Ramtha and Khirbet as-Samra

Frailty in end-stage hip or knee osteoarthritis: validation of the Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI) questionnaire

Molecular Epidemiolog

Bureauonderzoek t.b.v. MER voor de opwaardering Wilhelminakanaal (tussen sluis 2 en 3) te Tilburg

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Highly oriented self-assembled monolayers as templates for epitaxial calcite growth

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Family and fertility: kin influence on the progression to a second birth in the British Household Panel Study.

Particular features of human female life history, such as short birth intervals and the early cessation of female reproduction (menopause), are argued to be evidence that humans are 'cooperative breeders', with a reproductive strategy adapted to conditions where mothers receive substantial assistance in childraising. Evolutionary anthropologists have so far largely focussed on measuring the influence of kin on reproduction in natural fertility populations. Here we look at the effect in a present-day low-fertility population, by analysing whether kin affect parity progression in the British Household Panel Study. Two explanatory variables related to kin influence significantly increase the odds of a female having a second birth: i) having relatives who provide childcare and ii) having a larger number of frequently contacted and emotionally close relatives. Both effects were measured subject to numerous socio-economic controls and appear to be independent of one another. We therefore conclude that kin may influence the progression to a second birth. This influence is possibly due to two proximate mechanisms: kin priming through communication and kin assistance with childcare

The intergenerational transmission of reproductive behaviour: comparative perspectives

The six papers included in this special issue of The History of the Family have been selected from the proceedings of an International Seminar on The Intergenerational Transmission of Reproductive Behavior: Comparative Perspectives in June 2011 organized by the Scientific Research Community Historical Demography in Leuven, Belgium. These papers help to fill gaps in our understanding of the nature of intergenerational continuities in reproductive processes and to assess the generalisability of earlier studies by analysing fertility (actual and preferred, and quantum and tempo) and infant mortality. A major focus of the papers is on the key period for investigating this topic, the ‘demographic transition’ – the transformation from a relatively static and moderately high fertility and mortality regime to a more modern low fertility and mortality regime occurring mainly in the nineteenth century