Testing the human factor: Radiocarbon dating the first peoples of the South Pacific

Archaeologists have long debated the origins and mode of dispersal of the immediate predecessors of all Polynesians and many populations in Island Melanesia. Such debates are inextricably linked to a chronological framework provided, in part, by radiocarbon dates. Human remains have the greatest potential for providing answers to many questions pertinent to these debates. Unfortunately, bone is one of the most complicated materials to date reliably because of bone degradation, sample pretreatment and diet. This is of particular concern in the Pacific where humidity contributes to the rapid decay of bone protein, and a combination of marine, reef, C₄, C₃ and freshwater foods complicate the interpretation of ¹⁴C determinations. Independent advances in bone pretreatment, isotope multivariate modelling and radiocarbon calibration techniques provide us, for the first time, with the tools to obtain reliable calibrated ages for Pacific burials. Here we present research that combines these techniques, enabling us to re-evaluate the age of burials from key archaeological sites in the Pacific

The Effects of External Jugular Compression Applied during Head Impact Exposure on Longitudinal Changes in Brain Neuroanatomical and Neurophysiological Biomarkers: A Preliminary Investigation

Objectives: Utilize a prospective in vivo clinical trial to evaluate the potential for mild neck compression applied during head impact exposure to reduce anatomical and physiological biomarkers of brain injury. Methods: This project utilized a prospective randomized controlled trial to evaluate effects of mild jugular vein (neck) compression (collar) relative to controls (no collar) during a competitive hockey season (males; 16.3 ± 1.2 years). The collar was designed to mildly compress the jugular vein bilaterally with the goal to increase intracranial blood volume to reduce risk of brain slosh injury during head impact exposure. Helmet sensors were used to collect daily impact data in excess of 20 g (games and practices) and the primary outcome measures, which included changes in white matter (WM) microstructure, were assessed by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Specifically, four DTI measures: fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity, and radial diffusivity (RD) were used in the study. These metrics were analyzed using the tract-based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) approach – a voxel-based analysis. In addition, electroencephalography-derived event-related potentials were used to assess changes in brain network activation (BNA) between study groups. Results: For athletes not wearing the collar, DTI measures corresponding to a disruption of WM microstructure, including MD and RD, increased significantly from pre-season to mid-season (p 0.05). In addition to these anatomical findings, electrophysiological network analysis of the degree of congruence in the network electrophysiological activation pattern demonstrated concomitant changes in brain network dynamics in the non-collar group only (p < 0.05). Similar to the DTI findings, the increased change in BNA score in the non-collar relative to the collar group was statistically significant (p < 0.01). Changes in DTI outcomes were also directly correlated with altered brain network dynamics (r = 0.76; p < 0.05) as measured by BNA. Conclusion: Group differences in the longitudinal changes in both neuroanatomical and electrophysiological measures, as well as the correlation between the measures, provide initial evidence indicating that mild jugular vein compression may have reduced alterations in the WM response to head impacts during a competitive hockey season. The data indicate sport-related alterations in WM microstructure were ameliorated by application of jugular compression during head impact exposure. These results may lead to a novel line of research inquiry to evaluate the effects of protecting the brain from sports-related head impacts via optimized intracranial fluid dynamics

The UK national breast cancer screening programme for survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma detects breast cancer at an early stage

BACKGROUND: Supradiaphragmatic radiotherapy (SRT) to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) at a young age increases the risk of breast cancer (BC). A national notification risk assessment and screening programme (NRASP) for women who were treated with SRT before the age of 36 years was instituted in the United Kingdom in 2003. In this study, we report the implementation and screening results from the largest English Cancer Network. METHODS: A total of 417 eligible women were identified through cancer registry/hospital databases and from follow-up (FU) clinics. Screening results were collated retrospectively, and registry searches were used to capture BC cases. RESULTS: Of the 417 women invited for clinical review, 243 (58%) attended. Of these 417 women, 23 (5.5%) have been diagnosed with BC, a standardised incidence ratio of 2.9 compared with the age-matched general population. Of five invasive BCs diagnosed within the NRASP, none involved axillary lymph nodes compared with 7 of 13 (54%) diagnosed outside the programme (P<0.10). The mean latency for BC cases was 19.5±8.35 years and the mean FU duration for those unaffected by BC was 14.6±9.11 years (P<0.01), suggesting that those unaffected by BC remain at high risk. Recall and negative biopsy rates were acceptable (10.5 and 0.8%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The NRASP appears to detect BC at an early stage with acceptable biopsy rates, although numbers are small. Determination of NRASP results on a national basis is required for the accurate evaluation of screening efficacy in women previously treated with SRT

Corporate social responsibility as a source of employee satisfaction

Corporate social responsibility has received an increasing amount of attention from practitioners and scholars alike in recent years. However, very little is known about whether or how corporate social responsibility affects employees. Because employees are primary stakeholders who directly contribute to the success of the company, understanding employee reactions to corporate social responsibility may help answer lingering questions about the potential effects of corporate social responsibility on firms as well as illuminate some of the processes responsible for them. To begin our chapter, we provide a brief history of scholarship on corporate social responsibility and highlight some of the major challenges researchers in this area currently face. We then discuss why corporate social responsibility may represent a special opportunity to influence employees ’ general impression of their company. Next, we identify four distinct paths through which corporate social responsibility may affect employees’ relationship with their company that correspond to four universal psychological needs: security, self-esteem, belongingness, and a meaningful existence

The concept of similarity in prehistoric studies : a test case using New Zealand stone flake assemblages

The concept of similarity has occupied a key position in the interpretation of archaeological evidence since Thomson's Three Age System was formulated (Thomsen, 1836). Indeed, the writing of prehistory demands the use of this concept in relating evidence from stratigraphically distant horizons. Taylor, however, not only argued that too much emphasis could be placed on this comparative approach, but also claimed that it could be detrimental to the full recovery of archaeological information (W.W. Taylor, 1948). A similar dissatisfaction in Britain prompted Clark (1964, 1966, 1967) to adopt a 'conjunctive approach' (W.W. Taylor, 1948:7) exemplified in their work as economic prehistorians. This reappraisal however, has increased rather than diminished the need for procedured designed to relate assemblages in cultural terms. While the development of methods of analysis which assess the similarity between comparable items of different assemblages proceeds, it is stressed that sound theoretical principles, whereby the results of such analyses may be interpreted in the most plausible manner, must be adopted. Indeed it is urged that the common assumption that the degree of cultural similarity is directly proportional to the formal similarity, is by no means universally valid. Considerable advances have recently been made in developing techniques to identify formal relationships by establishing the degree of 'proximity' between different assemblages of information. The ancillary problem of interpreting results in cultural terms has received relatively less attention. This dissertation considers the application of methods of 'proximity' analysis to specific New Zealand assemblages, together with a discussion of the problems encountered in interpretation. The general implications of this research for prehistoric studies will also be considered. [Introduction

Prehistoric communities in Palliser Bay, New Zealand

A programme of archaeological research was undertaken in the Wairarapa region on the northern shores of Cook Strait, New Zealand. Some 27 excavations conducted during a 3 year period were designed primarily to examine prehistoric economy and settlement pattern in the region. In addition, studies were made of early historical records of Māori life, Māori traditional history, and aspects of the modern and prehistoric enviroment. In the analysis of excavated material, particular attention was given to physical anthropology, subsistence economy, and the trading patterns revealed by the importation of a number of rock types from elsewhere in New Zealand. It was found that human occupation in Palliser Bay was most intense from about 1150AD to 1400AD, and that significant depopulation may have occurred by 1650AD. At least 6 kinship linked communities were resident in this early period, probably originating from further north. Over several centuries thay strengthened their social ties with other communities in Cook Strait, progressively losing contact with northern areas. A conjunctive picture is reconstructed of a typical community of 30 to 40 people, and aspects of their physical condition, economy, technology, settlement pattern, external social relationships and ideology described. Their economy was initially a balance between hunter-gatherer pursuits and kumara-based horticulture, but in the course of time their forest clearing activities set into motion a series of episodes of erosion which culminated in the development of broad shingle river beds and active fans. High riverine sediment loads led to the loss of much of the local marine fauna at river mouths. A general climatic deterioration about 1450AD and then from 1600 onwards accelerated this process to render the enviroment largely unsuitable to Polynesian habitation. It is argued that coupled to these changes are settlement pattern modifications and an increase in human disease and malnutrition

Prehistoric communities in Palliser Bay, New Zealand

A programme of archaeological research was undertaken in the Wairarapa region on the northern shores of Cook Strait, New Zealand. Some 27 excavations conducted during a 3 year period were designed primarily to examine prehistoric economy and settlement pattern in the region. In addition, studies were made of early historical records of Māori life, Māori traditional history, and aspects of the modern and prehistoric enviroment. In the analysis of excavated material, particular attention was given to physical anthropology, subsistence economy, and the trading patterns revealed by the importation of a number of rock types from elsewhere in New Zealand. It was found that human occupation in Palliser Bay was most intense from about 1150AD to 1400AD, and that significant depopulation may have occurred by 1650AD. At least 6 kinship linked communities were resident in this early period, probably originating from further north. Over several centuries thay strengthened their social ties with other communities in Cook Strait, progressively losing contact with northern areas. A conjunctive picture is reconstructed of a typical community of 30 to 40 people, and aspects of their physical condition, economy, technology, settlement pattern, external social relationships and ideology described. Their economy was initially a balance between hunter-gatherer pursuits and kumara-based horticulture, but in the course of time their forest clearing activities set into motion a series of episodes of erosion which culminated in the development of broad shingle river beds and active fans. High riverine sediment loads led to the loss of much of the local marine fauna at river mouths. A general climatic deterioration about 1450AD and then from 1600 onwards accelerated this process to render the enviroment largely unsuitable to Polynesian habitation. It is argued that coupled to these changes are settlement pattern modifications and an increase in human disease and malnutrition

The concept of similarity in prehistoric studies : a test case using New Zealand stone flake assemblages

The concept of similarity has occupied a key position in the interpretation of archaeological evidence since Thomson's Three Age System was formulated (Thomsen, 1836). Indeed, the writing of prehistory demands the use of this concept in relating evidence from stratigraphically distant horizons. Taylor, however, not only argued that too much emphasis could be placed on this comparative approach, but also claimed that it could be detrimental to the full recovery of archaeological information (W.W. Taylor, 1948). A similar dissatisfaction in Britain prompted Clark (1964, 1966, 1967) to adopt a 'conjunctive approach' (W.W. Taylor, 1948:7) exemplified in their work as economic prehistorians. This reappraisal however, has increased rather than diminished the need for procedured designed to relate assemblages in cultural terms. While the development of methods of analysis which assess the similarity between comparable items of different assemblages proceeds, it is stressed that sound theoretical principles, whereby the results of such analyses may be interpreted in the most plausible manner, must be adopted. Indeed it is urged that the common assumption that the degree of cultural similarity is directly proportional to the formal similarity, is by no means universally valid. Considerable advances have recently been made in developing techniques to identify formal relationships by establishing the degree of 'proximity' between different assemblages of information. The ancillary problem of interpreting results in cultural terms has received relatively less attention. This dissertation considers the application of methods of 'proximity' analysis to specific New Zealand assemblages, together with a discussion of the problems encountered in interpretation. The general implications of this research for prehistoric studies will also be considered. [Introduction

The Fishermen of Anapua Rock Shelter, Ua Pou, Marquesas Islands

Analysis of fish bone from Anapua indicates that the fishermen who used this rock shelter over a long period were unusual among Pacific island fishermen. Their catch initially contained a high proportion of tuna. Although tuna appear to have declined in importance through time at the site, they remained a significant component of the catch even in the most recent levels. In contrast, the grouper types of fish followed the opposite trend over the same period. Keywords: Oceania, Polynesia, Marquesas Islands, Ua Pou, prehistory, archaeology, archaeozoology, morphometric osteology, fauna, fishing