‘Don't be so serious’: ethical play,Islam, and the transcendent

Modes of play and playfulness are central to ethics, yet have not been as rigorously considered by anthropologists as have more earnest forms of ethical life. In this article, I argue that attention to play reframes recent anthropological debates about ethical transcendence and immanence. I do so through a consideration of the Islamic discourse of ‘calculation’ (ḥisāb), an idiom by which Muslims articulate their hoped-for state in the hereafter through the imagery of a divine accounting of good and bad deeds. Drawing on ethnography from the Indonesian province of Aceh, I show how ḥisāb cultivates forms of epistemological play through which Muslims explore the inscrutability of transcendence. Such play reveals the socially and theologically emergent qualities of transcendent truths and values, suggesting hidden affinities between transcendent stances and more immanent forms of ethical life.     

Cremation practices coexisting at the S’Illot des Porros Necropolis during the Second Iron Age in the Balearic Islands (Spain)

The necropolis of S’Illot des Porros, one of the most important prehistoric funerary sites of the Balearic Islands (Spain), was in use from the VIth and Vth century BCE until the Ist century CE. Located in a funerary area which contains two cementeries and one sanctuary, this site is constituted by three funerary chambers named A, B and C, respectively. Investigations on all the human burnt bone remains of the chambers, carried out mainly by the X-ray diffraction and supplemented in some cases by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy pointed to the simultaneous use of inhumation and cremation funerary rites, probably due to existing social differences.In particular, it was argued that the chambers were differentiated, i.e., B was dedicated to inhumations and A to cremations, the cremations found in chamber B very likely being a result of a cleaning-purification of the burial area. Moreover, chamber C, which is the most ancient (IVth century BCE) and with the largest number of inhumed remains, contains the smallest number of remains that were exposed to fire and just in one case it seems possible to attribute a genuine high-temperature cremation.     

Twin death and mourning worldwide: a review of the literature.

Cultural beliefs about the nature of multiples appear in the mourning practices of many civilizations. Ethnographic literature suggests common themes that echo modern concepts. Many societies viewed twins as fragile, likely to die without preferential or meticulously equal treatment. A shared soul between twins is a common tenet, and the death of one is often felt to herald the other's prompt demise. The close relationship between multiples influences funerary rites. Honor, fear and mysticism are often evident in rituals. Twin infanticide was widely practiced, yet mourning customs were still observed. Many peoples recognize the special status of multiples and their families after one, two or more die.     

The vegetation of the Farasān Islands,Red Sea,Saudi Arabia

Abstract. Classification of the vegetation of the Farasān Islands using TWINSPAN technique resulted in the recognition of seven community types associated with seven different habitat types: silty runnels, palm orchards, rocky plains, rocky plateau crevices, coastal sand dunes, sand plains, and mangroves. These communities were dominated or co-dominated by 13 perennial species; 87 associate species were recorded in the study area with chamaephytes dominating the life-form spectrum. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) indicated that organic carbon, soil moisture, silt, electrical conductivity and calcium carbonate were the major edaphic gradients controlling the distribution of the plant communities on the Farasān Islands. Higher species richness was recorded in the plant communities inhabiting the palm orchards, the crevices of the rocky plateau, silty runnels, rocky plains and rocky plateau, while those of the mangrove and sand formations (dunes and plains) showed a lower species richness. Soil texture and organic matter are the main factors promoting species diversity in the more diversified habitats, while high salinity and calcium carbonate are the main factors associated with lower species diversity in the less diversified habitats of the study area.     

The ‘physical prophet’ and the powers of the imagination. Part I: a case-study on prophecy,vapours and the imagination (1685–1710)

I argue that the imagination was a crucial concept for the understanding of marvellous phenomena, divination and magic in general. Exploring a debate on prophecy at the turn of the seventeenth century, I show that four explanatory categories (God, demons, nature and fraud) were consistently evoked and I elucidate the role of the imagination in each of them. I introduce the term ‘floating concept’ to conceptualise the different ways in which the imagination and the related ‘animal spirits’ were understood in diverse discourses. My argument is underpinned with a general discussion of the imagination, after which I focus on a (now little known) unorthodox tradition which attributed special powers to this internal faculty. Many physicians had explained psychosomatic phenomena by referring to the influence of the imagination on the human body; but some philosophers held that the imagination could also exert power over external objects. During the renaissance these theories acquired negative associations and became linked with illicit magic. Furthermore, I show that the relation between both animal spirits and imagination, and the power of the latter over external bodies, points to the importance of a ‘history of vapours’; and this suggests an adjustment to Keith Hutchison’s argument on occult qualities in mechanical philosophy. The accompanying paper (Vermeir, 2005) gives more evidence of these claims and elaborates on the relation between the natural and the moral.     

Manikin‐Ship: Value‐added relatedness in Vietnamese museums, 1996–2005

Objects are telling of identity and difference, through possession, exchange, and display, but this dynamic must be historicised and socially situated. In this article, I focus on the signification of ethnicity in Vietnamese museums, particularly on an apparent distinction between historically ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ matter. The earliest displays responded to the previous hegemony of French colonial significations. Subsequent national exhibits consistently enable Vietnam through assemblies of objects and images, but suggest—when examined over time—fundamentally different configurations of the nation, ethnicity, gender, and historicity. Object assemblies, where a centrepiece signifies the surrounding objects, indicate repeated prospecting for new social assemblages, most recently situating Vietnam in post‐Cold War networks through the Southeast Asian kinship implied in the nation’s ethnic diversity.     

春兰ב寒香梅’试管开花诱导及其生理基础

以春兰×寒香梅杂交种(Cymbidium goeringii×Cymbidium ‘Han Xiang Mei’)为材料,MS+琼脂4 g·L-1+蔗糖20 g·L-1+椰汁100 mL·L-1为基础培养基,通过单因素试验,探讨细胞分裂素(TDZ/6-BA)和无机盐浓度(P、K)对其试管花诱导的影响,测定花芽诱导的蛋白质、可溶性总糖含量与超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)活性及激素水平(IAA、ABA)。结果表明,添加0.2 mg·L-1 TDZ和2 mg·L-1 6-BA的花芽诱导率最高,分别为14.33%和14.00%;无机盐浓度3P/3K和3P/5K的培养基花芽诱导率较高,分别达16.67%和11.33%;花芽诱导最佳培养基为MS(3P, 3K)+TDZ 0.2 mg·L-1+椰汁100 mL·L-1+琼脂 4 g·L-1+蔗糖20 g·L-1,花芽诱导率可达34%左右。生理生化指标检测显示,可溶性蛋白、可溶性总糖含量及SOD活性与花芽诱导率呈正相关;稳定的内源激素IAA和ABA含量对花芽诱导有一定的积极作用,含量过高对花芽诱导有抑制作用。     

`Blue Lagoons and Coconut Palms‘: The Creation of a Tropical Idyll in Australia

The Great Barrier Reef is regarded as an ‘Australian icon’. It is an internationally recognised World Heritage site managed for its ‘natural’ values. However, it is a location where visitors rarely enjoy Australian landscapes. This paper contrasts the sensuous engagement of past visitors with contemporary tourist experiences. Analysis of historic and contemporary visual and written materials suggests that tourist landscapes of the Reef have been transformed significantly during the 20th century. In particular, experiences of Reef islands characterised by Australian bush have been displaced by those of a generic Pacific location. The coconut palm, as a symbol of earthly paradise, has played an important role in realising both an imagined landscape and the physical transformation of tourist locations. Whereas the tourism industry is often regarded as responsible for the promulgation of such generic images, this study suggests that they are the product of a shared imagination to which both the tourism industry and tourists subscribe.     

氮素对日光温室独本菊品种‘神马’干物质分配影响的模拟

 为定量研究氮素对日光温室独本菊(Dendranthema morifolium)干物质分配的影响, 该研究以独本菊品种‘神马’为试验材料, 于2005年10月～2006年7月在北京日光温室内进行了不同定植期和不同氮素水平的栽培试验, 以生理辐热积为发育尺度, 定量分析了氮素对独本菊品种‘神马’干物质分配指数动态的影响, 建立了氮素对日光温室独本菊品种‘神马’干物质分配影响的模拟模型, 并用与建立模型相独立的数据对模型进行了检验。结果表明, 独本菊品种‘神马’叶片累积氮含量最大值出现在现蕾期, 现蕾期叶片累积氮含量适宜值为1.62 g•m^–2。模型对日光温室独本菊品种‘神马’各器官干重预测结果较好, 茎、叶和花干重的预测值与实测值之间基于1:1线的决定系数分别为0.94、0.97和0.94, 相对预测误差分别为10.3%、5.76%和4.02%。该研究建立的模型可以根据温室内的气温、太阳辐射、日长和现蕾期叶片累积氮含量预测日光温室独本菊品种‘神马’各个器官干重随生育时期的动态变化, 从而为日光温室独本菊品种‘神马’生产中氮素的优化管理提供决策支持。     

Postcoloniality,National Identity,Globalisation and the Simulacra of the Real

The focus of this paper is a famous boys' boarding school in the North Indian city of Dehra Dun. The Doon School was founded in 1935 and was soon hailed by a wide cross section of post-colonial Indian intelligentsia as the site for the production of the ‘modern’ Indian citizen. The discussion below suggests that contemporary social analysis needs to focus on specific sites of the production of the discourses of the nation and citizenship rather than simply announce their dissolution as an ‘inevitable’ by-product of ‘globalisation’; this seems to be the stand taken by certain strands of theorisation in the so-called globalisation debate and in particular versions of cultural studies. I argue that rather than having simply dissolved, the ‘national’ emotion, at least in the Indian context, may have been transformed into the production of ‘post-coloniality’ as a differentiating category to distinguish the ‘progressive’ populations of the nation-state from its ‘backward’ counterparts. I employ Baudrillard's concept of the ‘real’ in order to argue for situated analyses of the contemporary global condition where analyses of the relationship between nation-states and of the asymmetries within them continue to be important political tasks.     

Creating a Living Goddess: Status,Sacrality and Urban Contests of Desire in Vārānas?

This paper is based on research amongst a community of marginalised Hindu women in the holy city of Vārānas? in North India. It focuses on a case study in which an abandoned baby girl, who was found on the banks of the Ganges by one of these women, subsequently could be created as a living goddess. It describes and analyses the manner in which such a religious belief was generated and sustained in this community but, more importantly, how the complex social and psychological processes through which the generation of such a belief enabled many of these marginalised women to sustain a self‐understanding—assailed by powerful rival status groups—of being imbued with power (?akti) like their goddess. Further, women were described to me, by men and by women, as being in themselves specific kinds of ?aktis. During the course of my field research, it became apparent that the ?akti of Hindu females of all ages is understood, at various levels of consciousness, to be an immense and accessible reservoir of power. Hence, this paper explores how ?akti offers others opportunities, by annexing it, to fulfill various kinds of desires.     

Bringing microbial diversity into focus: high‐resolution analysis of iron mats from the Lō‘ihi Seamount

Thirty kilometers south of the island of Hawai‘i lies the Lō‘ihi Seamount, an active submarine volcano that hosts a network of low‐temperature hydrothermal vents enriched in ferrous iron that supports extensive microbial mats. These mats, which can be a half a meter deep, are composed of ferric iron bound to organic polymers – the metabolic byproduct of iron‐oxidizing Zetaproteobacteria. Though the role of Zetaproteobacteria in mat formation is well established, we have a limited understanding of how differences in diversity are related to mat morphology. We used Minimum Entropy Decomposition and ZetaOtu classification to demonstrate cryptic diversity between closely related Zetaproteobacteria while showing habitat and geographic specificity. Veiled mats, common structures at Lō‘ihi, exhibit distinct community composition and contain diversity not detected in other mat types, including specific Zetaproteobacteria and an unclassified Gammaproteobacteria. Our analyses also indicate that diversity can change dramatically across small spatial transects from points of active venting, yet we found comparatively few differences between major sampling sites. This study provides a better picture of the microbiome responsible for iron mat production at Lō‘ihi and has broad implications for our understanding of these globally distributed communities.     

The ethnobotany of deergrass,Muhlenbergia rigens (Poaceae): Its uses and fire management by California Indian tribes

Deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens, Poaceae), a once abundant and widespread native perennial bunchgrass in California, was utilized extensively by at least twenty tribes for its flower stalks, incorporated into many types of coiled baskets. The craft of coiled basketry required the annual harvesting of thousands of culms by each village and the frequent setting of small-scale fires in many plant community types to eliminate detritus, recycle nutrients, increase culm production and prohibit shrub or tree encroachment. Detailed examination of Native American past fire management practices will provide insights into the cultural processes that shaped various ecosystem states, and unravel the ecological principles embedded in ancient land management systems. There are at least 300 contemporary Native American weavers and the successful revival of basketry in California is inextricably tied to access to and availability of plant resources on public lands.     

Peculiarities of reproductive biology and larval development of the red king crab <Emphasis Type="Italic">Paralithodes camtschaticus</Emphasis> in Peter the Great Bay,Sea of Japan

Based on materials from trawling (2002–2005) and plankton (2004–2006) surveys, some problems of the reproduction biology of the red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815) population from Peter the Great Bay are considered. It was shown that the width of the carapace varied from 105 to 190 mm in female red king crabs with eggs; 50% of the females reached maturity with a carapace width of 112.8 mm. The average individual absolute fecundity of females was 200000 (114000–296000) eggs. A direct linear correlation between fecundity and female carapace width was recorded. The zoeas I–IV of the red king crab occurred in the plankton from the middle of April up to the end of the second decade of May at water temperatures from 2.8 up to 9.3°C. The periods of larval occurrence in plankton in various years correlated with the water temperature, with a temperature decrease, the duration of the pelagic period increased. No direct correlation was revealed between the phytoplankton bloom and larval release. The density of red king crab larvae in Peter the Great Bay did not exceed 0.02–13.3 spec./m³. The maximum concentration of zoeas was recorded in the central part of Ussuriysky Bay.     

Local vs. Trans-regional Perspectives on Southeast Asian ‘Indianness’

This article is an attempt to define the concept ‘(Southeast Asian) Indianness’ through a comparative approach based on a local vs. trans-regional perspective. I shall analyse the complex relationships that develop between a translocal, urban and literate Indo-Aryan Great Tradition and a local, rural and oral Little Tradition. First, I shall tackle the question of whether literacy has any socio-religious relevance and endeavour to identify its relationship to orality. I will subsequently analyse the (re-) Indianisation process as a socio-political construct and will finally propose some re-readings of ‘Aryapheresis’ (i.e. ‘Indian [ārya] Transplant’ [phérein]), which I believe has been applied wrongly in some cases, to some Southeast Asian Indian-based socio-cultural realities.     

Population estimates of the Endangered Hawaiʻi ʻĀkepa (Loxops coccineus) in different habitats on windward Mauna Loa

Endangered Hawai‘i ?ākepas (Loxops coccineus) are endemic to Hawai‘i island, where they occur in five spatially distinct populations. Data concerning the status and population trends of these unique Hawaiian honeycreepers are crucial for assessing the effectiveness of recovery and management actions. In 2016, we used point‐transect distance sampling to estimate the abundance of Hawai‘i ?ākepas in portions of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park (HAVO) and the Ka?ū Forest Reserve (KFR) on Mauna Loa volcano. We then compiled the survey data from four other populations to provide a global population estimate. In our HAVO and KFR study area, we mapped habitat classes to determine the population densities in each habitat. Densities were highest (1.03 birds/ha) in open‐canopy montane ?ōhi?a (Metrosideros polymorpha) woodland. In contrast, densities of the largest ?ākepa population on Mauna Kea volcano were highest in closed‐canopy ?ōhi?a and koa (Acacia koa) forest where the species is dependent on nest cavities in tall (> 15 m), large (> 50‐cm diameter at breast height) trees. We surveyed potential nesting habitat in HAVO and KFR and found only one cavity in the short‐stature montane ?ōhi?a woodland and five cavities in the tall‐stature forest. Differences in densities between the Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa populations suggest that Hawai‘i ?ākepas may exhibit different foraging and nesting behaviors in the two habitats. The estimated overall population density in the HAVO and KFR study area was 0.52 birds/ha, which equates to 3663 (95% CI 1725–6961) birds in their 11,377‐ha population range. We calculated a global population of 16,428 (95% CI 10,065–25,198) birds, which is similar to an estimate of 13,892 (95% CI 10,315–17,469) birds made in 1986. Our results suggest that populations are stable to increasing in the two largest populations, but the three other populations are smaller (range = 77–1443 birds) and trends for those populations are unknown.     

Contagion and Alterity: Kowoj Maya Appropriations of European Objects

ABSTRACT  From initial contact with the Europeans until their conquest (C.E. 1525–1697), the Itza and their political rivals, the Kowoj, dominated Petén, Guatemala. Colonial artifacts at Zacpetén record the initial appropriations of European objects by the Kowoj. All such objects rested in ceremonial contexts, indicating that the Kowoj considered them positive sources of sacred power. The Kowoj were in contact with the Spaniards and knew they were the source of the valued materials; hence, the materials also signified otherness. Social elites frequently retained objects obtained from long distances, even those of oppressive colonial groups, as positive contagion. I argue that the Kowoj incorporated colonial objects into their rites to harness the power of alterity.     

The Evil Eye (għajn) in Malta: Grappling with Skinner’s pigeons and rehabilitating lame ducks1

In this paper, I construct a plea for superstition and examine the ways in which contemporary scholars use the term to denote irrational belief. ‘Superstition’ has, throughout history, been used as a derogatory term denoting inferior and dangerous beliefs. Examining the process whereby people continue to believe that which they deem irrational, I adopt a reflexive and phenomenological approach. Focussing on the evil eye (g?ajn) in Malta and the Mediterranean, I redefine ‘superstition’ as the product of an intrasubjective antinomy between orthodoxy and its subversion.     

NUTRITIONAL, PHYSICAL AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF VARIOUS CHOCOLATE-FLAVORED PEANUT–SOY BEVERAGE FORMULATIONS

Mixture design and pilot‐plant scale processing protocol were developed to obtain the best chocolate‐flavored peanut–soy beverage formulation. Twenty‐eight formulations were evaluated for nutritional (lysine content), physical (viscosity [η], visual stability index [VSI]) and nine sensory (consumer liking) attributes. Lysine contents (mg/g protein) (44.1–57.1) were close to the reference (51.0) and in the desirable range observed for other peanut‐based beverages. Higher viscosity indicated lower consumer liking, but lower viscosity resulted in lower VSI. Formulation ?8 having 43.9% peanut, 36.3% soy protein isolate (SPI) and 19.8% chocolate syrup had the highest consumer liking and the best balance of physical properties (η = 41.5 mPa·s; VSI = 0.99). As compared to commercial chocolate milk (6 = slightly like to 7 = moderately like), it was rated higher for appearance (7.0), color (6.8) and sweetness (6.4). Two SPI formulations (?6 and ?7) and a soy flour formulation (?14) were rated highest for aroma (6.2), color (7.0) and flavor (6.0), respectively.