A Family of Calabi-Yau Varieties and Potential Automorphy

Mathematic

On Icosahedral Artin Representations

If ρ: Gal(Qac/Q) → GL2(C) is a continuous odd irreducible representation with nonsolvable image, then under certain local hypotheses we prove that is the representation associated to a weight 1 modular form and hence that the L-function of has an analytic continuation to the entire complex plane.Mathematic

Who is doing courses in Archaeology at South African Universities? And what are they studying?

Some time ago, as part of a broader project surveying the state of the discipline in South Africa, I began collecting information on the profile of students enrolling in courses in archaeology at South African universities. I also looked at archaeology syllabi at the major teaching institutions, with an eye to the kinds of headings and topics in terms of which archaeology was being taught. As a side project I looked at the number and nature of projects in archaeology receiving funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF), the major local funder of archaeological activity. In this paper I present the results of this survey for the period 1987-2005

Archaeology and post-colonialism in South Africa : the theory, practice and politics of archaeology after apartheid

Includes bibliographical referencesI take my lead from a paper by Bruce Trigger (1984) in which he divides the disciplinary field into three modes or forms of archaeology: a colonialist archaeology, a nationalist archaeology and an imperialist archaeology. He goes on to suggest (1990) that South African archaeology is the most colonialist archaeology of all. Trigger was writing at a point before the current political transformation in South Africa had emerged over the horizon of visibility. Writing somewhat later, and from the point of view of a Third World archaeologist, I ask: What would a post-colonial archaeology look like? In particular, what would it look like from the point of view of South Africa in the late 1990s

Alcohol Screening and Brief Interventions for Offenders in the Probation Setting (SIPS Trial): a Pragmatic Multicentre Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Aim - To evaluate the effectiveness of different brief intervention strategies at reducing hazardous or harmful drinking in the probation setting. Offender managers were randomized to three interventions, each of which built on the previous one: feedback on screening outcome and a client information leaflet control group, 5 min of structured brief advice and 20 min of brief lifestyle counselling. Methods - A pragmatic multicentre factorial cluster randomized controlled trial. The primary outcome was self-reported hazardous or harmful drinking status measured by Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) at 6 months (negative status was a score of <8). Secondary outcomes were AUDIT status at 12 months, experience of alcohol-related problems, health utility, service utilization, readiness to change and reduction in conviction rates. Results - Follow-up rates were 68% at 6 months and 60% at 12 months. At both time points, there was no significant advantage of more intensive interventions compared with the control group in terms of AUDIT status. Those in the brief advice and brief lifestyle counselling intervention groups were statistically significantly less likely to reoffend (36 and 38%, respectively) than those in the client information leaflet group (50%) in the year following intervention. Conclusion - Brief advice or brief lifestyle counselling provided no additional benefit in reducing hazardous or harmful drinking compared with feedback on screening outcome and a client information leaflet. The impact of more intensive brief intervention on reoffending warrants further research

Tracing fetal and childhood exposure to lead using isotope analysis of deciduous teeth

We report progress in using the isotopic composition and concentration of Pb in the dentine and enamel of deciduous teeth to provide a high resolution time frame of exposure to Pb during fetal development and early childhood. Isotope measurements (total Pb and 208Pb/206Pb, 207Pb/206Pb ratios) were acquired by laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry at contiguous 100 micron intervals across thin sections of the teeth; from the outer enamel surface to the pulp cavity. Teeth samples (n=10) were selected from two cohorts of children, aged 5–8 years, living in NE England. By integrating the isotope data with histological analysis of the teeth, using the daily incremental lines in dentine, we were able to assign true estimated ages to each ablation point (first 2–3 years for molars, first 1–2 years for incisors+pre-natal growth). Significant differences were observed in the isotope composition and concentration of Pb between children, reflecting differences in the timing and sources of exposure during early childhood. Those born in 2000, after the withdrawal of leaded petrol in 1999, have the lowest dentine Pb levels (0.4 µgPb/g) with 208Pb/206Pb (mean ±2σ: 2.145–2.117) 208Pb/206Pb (mean ±2σ: 0.898–0.882) ratios that can be modelled as a binary mix between industrial aerosols and leaded petrol emissions. Short duration, high intensity exposure events (1–2 months) were readily identified, together with evidence that dentine provides a good proxy for childhood changes in the isotope composition of blood Pb. Our pilot study confirms that laser ablation Pb isotope analysis of deciduous teeth, when carried out in conjunction with histological analysis, permits a reconstruction of the timing, duration and source of exposure to Pb during early childhood. With further development, this approach has the potential to study larger cohorts and appraise environments where the levels of exposure to Pb are much higher

What's up with WAC? Archaeology and 'engagement' in a globalized world

The year 2011 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the World Archaeological Congress (WAC). WAC marked a bold intervention in the politics of knowledge in archaeology in the context of the mid-1980s. But how has it fared in contemporary worlds of practice? In this paper, two senior WAC members take a close and critical look at the changing fortunes, meanings, and contexts of the organization. At its centre, is an account of the controversial meeting between the WAC Executive and Rio Tinto Limited, the mining multinational, in Melbourne in 2007. Other parts of the paper engage with notions of the Indigenous, and discuss the assumptions informing the WAC programme Archaeologists Without Borders. Framed as a challenge, the paper invites response and commentary, as a way of opening debate which allows us to envisage alternative futures for the discipline, beyond the banal prospect of 'Archaeology Inc.'.Fil: Shepherd, Nick. University of Cape Town; SudáfricaFil: Haber, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca; Argentin

Counter-practices of global life: A response to Claire Smith

We had hoped for a substantive response around the argument presented in ‘What’s up with WAC?’, instead Claire Smith has responded with a list of what she styles as ‘errors of fact and errors of representation’. Nevertheless, we thank her for the attention with which she has read our paper, and we look forward to the ‘more discursive response’ which she indicates will be forthcoming. A careful reading of Smith’s response yields fi ve points at which she correctly identifi es errors of fact in our paper. So, for the sake of the record, and in the interests of getting this over with, here goes: • It is correct that most of the books distributed through the Global Libraries Programme are new rather than second-hand; • It is correct that Colombia’s bid for WAC-6 competed against Ireland rather than Jamaica, after Jamaica’s bid had been rejected; • It is correct that the room of the WAC/ Rio Tinto meeting in Melbourne was not — literally — ‘full of lawyers’. Rather, the tone of the proceedings was legalistic, and signifi cant Rio Tinto input came from ‘community agreements’ and ‘community relations’ specialists with legal training; • The sentence ‘WAC would become an archaeological/scientifi c organization whose salaried offi ce holders were paid by Rio Tinto’, should read ‘WAC would become an archaeological/scientifi c organization whose salaried secretariat was paid by Rio Tinto’; • The countries proposed for the WAC/ Rio Tinto try-out were not Cameroon and Argentina as stated, but Gabon and Argentina.Fil: Shepherd, Nick. University of Cape Town; SudáfricaFil: Haber, Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Escuela de Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Catamarca. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Catamarca; Argentin