Neighbours,strangers, and the asymmetric war of attrition

The literature showing that territorial residents generally respond more intensely to an intrusion by a stranger than by a known neighbour is reviewed. The functional basis of this discrimination has not been seriously considered in this extensive literature, and it is shown here how the asymmetric war of attrition can explain why neighbours settle with relatively little aggression. In the asymmetric war-of-attrition model the degree of escalation observed in a territorial contest depends on the familiarity of the contestants with each other. Predictions of this model about neighbour-stranger contests are supported by data in the literature.     

Post-civil war adaptation and need in Managua, Nicaragua

Within seven years after the end of the Nicaraguan civil war in 1990, forced migrants, whose lives had been most disrupted by the conflict, were self-settled in a squatter community in the capital city of Managua and lived in extreme poverty with minimal health, education, security and social service supports. Compared with voluntary migrant neighbours, whose lives had been less affected by the conflict, forced migrants exhibited equal clinically significant symptoms of physical and mental health and psychosocial maladaptation. These findings run counter to generally held theory and assumptions about the negative long-lasting effects of the trauma and stress of war, forced migration and resettlement. Explanations are offered to explain the discrepancies between theory and the study findings as well as the dominance of poverty and socioeconomic status. Implications are also drawn for increasing social support and other durable forms of assistance that emerge from the study as important to meeting the needs of equally poor and unhealthy forced and voluntary migrants in proliferating squatter communities throughout the Third World.     

Stilbenoids from the lianas of Gnetum pendulum

Two stilbenoids, gnetupendin A and B, were isolated from the lianas of Gnetum pendulum C. Y. Cheng, together with four known compounds, resveratrol, isorhapontigenin, shegansu B and beta-daucosterol. Their structures were determined on the basis of analysis of spectral evidence, especially 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques.     

Pollen,women, war and other things: reflections on the history of palynology

The development of palynology since its recognised launch in 1916 by Lennart von Post is examined in terms of its historiography, the biographies of pollen analysts and the role of those who have influenced the discipline. Emphasis is placed upon research beginnings in Scandinavia (especially Sweden), Great Britain and Ireland. Within an analytical narrative which includes archival and published sources, special consideration is given to a ‘proclamation’ on methodology which appeared in 1909, on a supposed geology/botany dichotomy stemming from von Post’s background, on the forgotten early practitioners in Britain and Ireland and their connections, on the role of women up to the end of the Second World War and on issues related to wartime hostilities. Present day palynology can trace a continuity from von Post and palynologists are part of an extended disciplinary genealogy. Ignorance of these can be seen as a loss of heritage and to represent an intellectual impoverishment.