Exposing Silence as Cultural Censorship: A Brazilian Case

In this article I assert that in focusing on salient discourses, contested cultural domains, and public forms of conflict and power, cultural and linguistic anthropologists, and other social scientists, have overlooked the significance of communal forms of silence in shaping the social and political landscape. I argue that such customary silences constitute "cultural censorship," which, unlike state-sponsored censorship, is practiced in the absence of explicit coercion or enforcement. Although practiced by different and opposed groups, cultural censorship tends to be constituted through, and circumscribed by. the political interests of dominant groups. In this article, which is based on ethnographic research in Rio de Janeiro. I analyze a case of cultural censorship by examining the customary silence surrounding the subject of racism in Brazil. By emphasizing the phenomenology of cultural censorship among poor Brazilians of African descent. 1 argue that silence must not be conflated with, and does not preclude the existence of. non-hegemonic consciousness, [silence, cultural censorship, consciousness, Brazil, racism]     

Consequences of population topology for studying gene flow using link‐based landscape genetic methods

Many landscape genetic studies aim to determine the effect of landscape on gene flow between populations. These studies frequently employ link‐based methods that relate pairwise measures of historical gene flow to measures of the landscape and the geographical distance between populations. However, apart from landscape and distance, there is a third important factor that can influence historical gene flow, that is, population topology (i.e., the arrangement of populations throughout a landscape). As the population topology is determined in part by the landscape configuration, I argue that it should play a more prominent role in landscape genetics. Making use of existing literature and theoretical examples, I discuss how population topology can influence results in landscape genetic studies and how it can be taken into account to improve the accuracy of these results. In support of my arguments, I have performed a literature review of landscape genetic studies published during the first half of 2015 as well as several computer simulations of gene flow between populations. First, I argue why one should carefully consider which population pairs should be included in link‐based analyses. Second, I discuss several ways in which the population topology can be incorporated in response and explanatory variables. Third, I outline why it is important to sample populations in such a way that a good representation of the population topology is obtained. Fourth, I discuss how statistical testing for link‐based approaches could be influenced by the population topology. I conclude the article with six recommendations geared toward better incorporating population topology in link‐based landscape genetic studies.     

The determination of the best interests in relation to childhood immunisation

There are many different ethical arguments that might be advanced for and against childhood vaccinations. In this paper I explore one particular argument that focuses on the idea that such vaccinations are justifiable because they are held to be in the best interests of a particular child. Two issues arise from this idea. The first issue is how best interests are to be determined in this case. The second issue is what follows from this to justify potential interventions within the family in relation to such vaccinations. I argue that best interests must be characterised objectively in such situations and that this means that, in at least some cases, parental decision-making about vaccinating their children may be overridden.     

Value theory and the best interests standard

The idea of a patient's best interests raises issues in prudential value theory–the study of what makes up an individual's ultimate (nonmoral) good or well-being. While this connection may strike a philosopher as obvious, the literature on the best interests standard reveals almost no engagement of recent work in value theory. There seems to be a growing sentiment among bioethicists that their work is independent of philosophical theorizing. Is this sentiment wrong in the present case? Does value theory make a significant difference in interpreting best interests? In pursuing this question, I begin with a quick sketch of broad kinds of value theories, identifying representatives that are plausible enough to count as contenders. I then explore what each account suggests in (1) neonatal treatment decisions, and (2) decisions for patients in persistent vegetative states. I conclude that while these accounts converge somewhat in their interpretations of best interests, they also have importantly different implications.     

深圳市景观格局演变及其驱动因素分析

在遥感与GIS技术支持下,以深圳市域1978年MSS影像与1986、1990、1995和1999年4期TM影像为主要数据源。研究了深圳市域景观的空间格局特征及其动态变化。探讨了不同尺度下景观格局演变的驱动因素与变化机制．结果表明,深圳市近20年景观特征发生了深刻变化,耕地面积比例由31．06％下降至2．67％,城建用地则由0．33％上升至22．52％．景观多样性指数1978～1995年上升近25％,1999年稍有下降;蔓延度指数先降后升,整体破碎度由0．0042上升到0．0073;景观修改分维数1990年以前有所下降,20世纪90年代则呈现递增趋势．景观格局指数的变化,反映了人为活动对区域景观特征的深刻影响．人为活动已成为深圳市景观格局演变的主要驱动因素．其中,斑块形状复杂化主要是受个体经济单元的经济利益驱动,景观空间构型的变化取决于产业布局与地域分工的影响,景观整体多样性的演变受到社会经济发展水平的强烈影响,而自然生态条件则是景观整体结构变化的重要约柬因子。     

The determination of 'best interests' in relation to childhood vaccinations

There are many different ethical arguments that might be advanced for and against childhood vaccinations. In this paper I will explore one particular argument that focuses on the idea that childhood vaccinations are justifiable because they are held to be in the best interests of a particular child. Two issues arise from this idea. The first issue is how best interests are to be determined in the case of childhood vaccinations. The second issue is what follows from this to justify potential interventions within the family in relation to such vaccinations. I argue that best interests must be characterised objectively in such situations and that this means that, in at least some cases, parental decision-making about vaccinating their children may be overridden.     

Architecture as animate landscape: circular shrines in the ancient Maya lowlands

In this study, I develop a theory of landscape archaeology that incorporates the concept of “animism” as a cognitive approach. Current trends in anthropology are placing greater emphasis on indigenous perspectives, and in recent decades animism has seen a resurgence in anthropological theory. As a means of relating in (not to) one's world, animism is a mode of thought that has direct bearing on landscape archaeology. Yet, Americanist archaeologists have been slow to incorporate this concept as a component of landscape theory. I consider animism and Nurit Bird-David's (1999) theory of “relatedness” and how such perspectives might be expressed archaeologically in Mesoamerica. I examine the distribution of marine shells and cave formations that appear incorporated as architectural elements on ancient Maya circular shrine architecture. More than just “symbols” of sacred geography, I suggest these materials represent living entities that animate shrines through their ongoing relationships with human and other-than-human agents in the world.     

Simulating Mediterranean landscape pattern and vegetation dynamics under different fire regimes

In the Mediterranean Basin, landscape patterns are strongly human-modified. In recent decades, because of industrialisation and rural exodus, many fields have been abandoned, generating changes in the landscape pattern. In this framework, I aim to study the effect of landscape pattern on landscape dynamic processes in the Mediterranean Basin using simulation models and considering that fire may interact with landscape pattern. First I generate a gradient of five artificial random landscapes. In each landscape I include four species types growing in the Mediterranean Basin, each type with different plant traits (Quercus, Pinus, Erica and Cistus types). In each landscape scenario, each species covers 30% of the landscape but with a different spatial distribution, from the coarsest-grained (L1) to the finest-grained (L5). Then, the dynamics of each of these five landscapes were simulated for 100 years using the FATELAND simulation model. Simulations were run with six fire regime scenarios in each landscape scenario (no fire, mean fire interval of 80, 40, 20, 10 and 5 years). Landscape attributes were computed for the initial and the final landscapes. As expected, the results suggest that, as expected, some species increase and others decrease depending on the fire regime. However, the results also show that different landscape structures produce different dynamics and thus that there is a clear interaction between landscape pattern and fire regime. For instance, coarse-grained spatial patterns generate slower dynamics than fine-grained patterns, and fire-sensitive species are maintained longer under coarse-grained patterns (i.e., fragmentation accelerates extinction of fire-sensitive species).A draft version of this paper was presented at the Special Symposium “Global Change and Landscape Fires” held during the IALE World Congress, in Darwin, Australia, 13–17 July 2003.     

The population genetics of adaptation on correlated fitness landscapes: the block model

Several recent theoretical studies of the genetics of adaptation have focused on the mutational landscape model, which considers evolution on rugged fitness landscapes (i.e., ones having many local optima). Adaptation in this model is characterized by several simple results. Here I ask whether these results also hold on correlated fitness landscapes, which are smoother than those considered in the mutational landscape model. In particular, I study the genetics of adaptation in the block model, a tunably rugged model of fitness landscapes. Considering the scenario in which adaptation begins from a high fitness wild-type DNA sequence, I use extreme value theory and computer simulations to study both single adaptive steps and entire adaptive walks. I show that all previous results characterizing single steps in adaptation in the mutational landscape model hold at least approximately on correlated landscapes in the block model; many entire-walk results, however, do not.     

Experimental sketch of landscapes in protein sequence space

A landscape in protein sequence space shows the relationship between the primary structure and the level of a property of each protein. We developed methods for observing local landscapes experimentally using catalase I from Bacillus stearothermophilus with respect to its catalatic activity, peroxidatic activity, and thermostability. The enzyme gene was randomly mutated and a mutant library composed of 2648 transformants was obtained. Based on the activity and productivity of these transformants, 82 were selected as a sample group for measuring the altitude of catalase I. The altitude of the wild-type enzyme is close to the highest level in the mutant population for the thermostability landscape, but is at the average level for the peroxidatic activity. As for the catalatic activity, its altitude lies in between the two positions. A positive correlation was found between the altitudes of the catalatic and the peroxidatic activities, indicating that the locations of the hills and valleys in the landscapes of the two activities roughly correspond with each other. In contrast, the thermostability landscape appeared quite differently. The smoothness of the landscape was examined via the number of mutations in the structural genes of the mutant enzymes of different properties. The correlation between the number of mutations and the level of each property showed that the thermostability landscape is smooth, but not the two activity landscapes. Thus, the results show that even from a rough sketch of the landscapes based on the experimental data, the characteristic features of catalase I can be elucidated. The sketch of a landscape, therefore, provides a new view in understanding enzymes.     

农田景观格局对害虫天敌生态控害功能的调控作用

如何提升农田景观的生态服务功能是当前景观生态学和害虫防治学的前沿研究热点.基于区域农田景观格局可显著调节植物-植食性昆虫-天敌之间相互关系的理论基础,本文系统概括总结了农田景观格局及其变化对农田重要天敌多样性与生态控害功能的影响.从不同天敌类群的角度,分析了农田景观格局对捕食性天敌、寄生性天敌、有益微生物及其生态控害功能的调控作用.同时,对优化农田景观作物布局、采取合理的植被生境管理策略进行了展望.本文可为应用植被生境管理提升农田景观中天敌的生态系统服务功能提供参考,进一步促进区域生态农业响应"化学农药减量施用"的战略目标提供理论支撑.     

Relationships between landscape patterns and species richness of trees,shrubs and vines in a tropical forest

The present study aims to identify and characterize the relationships among landscape structure and plant diversity in a tropical landscape forest in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Total species richness as well as that of trees, shrubs and vines species were identified from 141 sampling quadrats (16,543 individuals sampled). Based on vegetation classes obtained from multi-spectral satellite image classification, I constructed plant diversity maps of the landscape under study using stratified kriging. I calculated the mean number of species in individual patches as the average values of kriging estimates inside of each patch. I then explored the relationships between landscape pattern metrics and the species richness of trees, shrubs and vines, as well as all groups combined using regression analysis. I employed Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) to select a set of candidate models. Based on akaike weights, I calculated model-averaged parameters. Results show that plant diversity of the patches depends on both the quality of the surrounding habitats and the proximity of surrounding patches (i.e., patch isolation).     

Metapopulations in multifractal landscapes: on the role of spatial aggregation

The use of fractals in ecology is currently pervasive over many areas. However, very few studies have linked fractal properties of landscapes to generating ecological mechanisms and dynamics. In this study I show that lacunarity (a measure of the landscape texture) is a well suited ecologically scaled landscape index that can be explicitly incorporated in metapopulation models such as the classical Levins equation. I show that the average lacunarity of an aggregated landscape is linearly correlated to the habitat that a species with local spatial processed information may perceive. Lacunarity is a computationally feasible index to measure, and is related to the metapopulation capacity of landscapes. A general approach to multifractal landscapes has been conceived, and some analytical results for self-similar landscapes are outlined, including the specific effect of landscape heterogeneity, decoupled from that of contagion by dispersal. Spatially explicit simulations show agreement with the semi-implicit method presented.     

基于视觉特性的川西亚高山秋季景观林色彩量化及景观美学质量评价

景观美学质量评价是森林资源管理体系中的重要环节,色彩是秋季景观林的重要组成部分,色彩的定量分析及科学地进行景观美学质量评价对秋季景观林的经营管理具有重要意义。本研究通过美景度评判法评估川西亚高山秋季景观林整体的美学质量,根据人眼视觉特性从色彩组成和色彩空间格局两方面定量分析色彩特征对秋季景观林观赏价值的影响。结果表明: 根据美景度值将川西亚高山秋季景观林景观美学质量从高到低划分为5个等级(Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ、Ⅴ),71.5%的景观属于Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ等级,说明川西亚高山秋季景观林具有较高的观赏价值;按美景度值大小排序,阔叶混交林的景观美学质量大于针阔混交林和纯林;在色彩要素综合指标评价体系中,按指标权重大小排序,色彩斑块异质性因子>秋季主色调因子>色彩饱和度与明度因子>色彩多样性与均匀度因子;通过聚类分析将川西亚高山秋季景观分为3类,其中,观赏价值较高的秋季景观林具有斑块破碎化和异质性程度大、秋季彩色占比大、绿色占比小、高明度和高饱和度、高色彩多样性指数和高均匀度指数的色彩特征;群落中植物或彩叶植物越丰富,多样性和均匀度指数越高,美景度值越大。在秋季景观林的打造中,应注重色彩的多样性和破碎化处理,通过种植和培育叶色多样且色泽鲜亮的树种来提高秋季景观林的美学质量。     

Negotiating Community and Landscape in the Peruvian Andes: A Transconquest View

This article explores how constructs of "community" and "landscape" mediate power relations between households and colonial states. I analyze archaeological and documentary data in a common spatial framework to reconstruct the local-scale negotiation of community and land-use organization during successive colonial occupations by the Inka and Spanish states in the Colca Valley of southern highland Peru. Using GIS-based analytical tools, I present a detailed reconstruction of the land-tenure patterns of Andean corporate descent groups ( ayllus ) registered in colonial visitas from the heartland of the Collagua Province. I then compare these land-tenure patterns to archaeological settlement patterns from the Inka occupation (C.E. 1450–C.E. 1532) and subsequent early Colonial Period occupation up to the forced resettlement of the local populace into compact, European-style reducción villages in the 1570s. This analysis reveals how both Inka and Spanish colonialist projects for reordering and rationalizing local community and land-use organization were met by local understandings and interests that emerged from patterns of land tenure, residence, and the features of the built environment.     

New Interest in Wild Forest Products in Europe as an Expression of Biocultural Dynamics

In Europe, interest in wild forest products is increasing. Such products may be interpreted in a biological sense as deriving from autonomously growing forest species or in a biocultural sense as reflecting dynamics in human living with biodiversity through re-wilding of earlier domesticated species. In this article I elaborate the idea that the new interests reflect biocultural dynamics. First, I identify these dynamics as involving both domestication and re-wilding and characterize these processes as involving biological, environmental, and cultural dimensions. Next, I present a comparative review of two approaches to re-wilding forest production in the Netherlands: meat production from new types of natural grazing systems, and food production from plants re-introduced to the wild. The first approach is based on the stimulation of naturally occurring ecological processes and the second on the stimulation of new forms of experiencing bio-cultural heritage. The examples demonstrate that the new interests in wild forest products involve both a return to earlier stages of domestication in an ecological sense and a new phase of acculturation to evolving socio-cultural conditions.     

Thermoregulation, Flight, and the Evolution of Wing Pattern in Pierid Butterflies: The Topography of Adaptive Landscapes

SYNOPSIS. This paper describes a case study of adaptation, constraint,and evolutionary innovation in pierid butterflies. I developa framework for discussing these issues that focuses on thequestions: What is the form of the adaptive landscape relatingfitness to phenotypic characters? How do such landscapes differfor evolutionarily related groups? I examine the evolution ofwing pigment patterns and thermoregulatory behavior for butterfliesin two subfamilies in the family Pieridae, with three principalresults. First, I show that thermoregulation can be an importantcomponent of fitness in pierids, and that wing color and thermoregulatorybehavior are important phenotypic characters determining thermoregulatoryperformance and the adaptive landscape. Second, I show how limitson possible variation in wing color and behavior constrain evolutionwithin one subfamily of pierids, and how these constraints areset by the physical and biochemical mechanisms of adaptation.Third, I show how evolutionary innovation may have resultedfrom the addition of a new, behavioral dimension to the landscape,and how this addition has altered the functional interrelationsamong various elements of the wing color pattern. I suggestthat comparative analyses of the form and determinants of theadaptive landscape may be useful in identifying evolutionaryinnovations, and complement theoretical analyses of evolutionarydynamics on such fitness surfaces.     

城市景观空间自相关与自相似的尺度特征研究

在RS与GIS技术支持下,以上海市外环以内城市中心区为区域背景,研究城市景观格局空间自相关与分形结构在不同粒度下的变化特征,揭示其对粒度的响应特征和敏感程度。结果表明,城市景观格局的空间自相关性和自相似性依赖于粒度的选择,MoranⅠ与各种景观类型的分维数均存在尺度效应;城市景观格局空间自相关性与自相似性在一定尺度范围内具有尺度依赖性,但二者对尺度的依赖程度不同。空间自相关性具有较高的尺度依赖性;而不同景观类型的自相似性随尺度的变化没有统一规律;城市景观格局的空间自相关性和自相似性对尺度变化的敏感点不同。居住景观的MoranⅠ对尺度变化的敏感点为50m,其他景观类型无明显的敏感点;分维数对尺度的敏感点因景观类型不同而异。     

Visualizing fitness landscapes

Fitness landscapes are a classical concept for thinking about the relationship between genotype and fitness. However, because the space of genotypes is typically high-dimensional, the structure of fitness landscapes can be difficult to understand and the heuristic approach of thinking about fitness landscapes as low-dimensional, continuous surfaces may be misleading. Here, I present a rigorous method for creating low-dimensional representations of fitness landscapes. The basic idea is to plot the genotypes in a manner that reflects the ease or difficulty of evolving from one genotype to another. Such a layout can be constructed using the eigenvectors of the transition matrix describing the evolution of a population on the fitness landscape when mutation is weak. In addition, the eigendecomposition of this transition matrix provides a new, high-level view of evolution on a fitness landscape. I demonstrate these techniques by visualizing the fitness landscape for selection for the amino acid serine and by visualizing a neutral network derived from the RNA secondary structure genotype-phenotype map.     

Natural selection. II. Developmental variability and evolutionary rate

In classical evolutionary theory, genetic variation provides the source of heritable phenotypic variation on which natural selection acts. Against this classical view, several theories have emphasized that developmental variability and learning enhance nonheritable phenotypic variation, which in turn can accelerate evolutionary response. In this paper, I show how developmental variability alters evolutionary dynamics by smoothing the landscape that relates genotype to fitness. In a fitness landscape with multiple peaks and valleys, developmental variability can smooth the landscape to provide a directly increasing path of fitness to the highest peak. Developmental variability also allows initial survival of a genotype in response to novel or extreme environmental challenge, providing an opportunity for subsequent adaptation. This initial survival advantage arises from the way in which developmental variability smooths and broadens the fitness landscape. Ultimately, the synergism between developmental processes and genetic variation sets evolutionary rate.