Creating futures for the past in southern Iraq: challenges and opportunities

Iraqi archaeologists and Assyriologists are desperate for communication and collaboration and intellectual challenge. Almost every colleague I meet in Iraq is keen to set up research partnerships and training programmes. Yet they are working in a vacuum, mostly isolated and unheard in their own country and beyond. There is little public discourse on local history and archaeology, and little Iraqi government understanding of the value of these matters in civic and cultural life. In this paper I explore how this situation come to be; why it is a matter of concern; and what, if anything, we as western academic historians, should try to do to about it. In the latter sections of the paper in particular, I do not try to be comprehensive but draw upon my own experiences and observations, in relation to the UK context in which I work. My aim is not simply to describe but to stimulate discussion, response and action

Notes on East African cowries

Volume: XX

Rural young people's opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship in globalised southern Africa: The limitations of targeting policies

This paper is based on a study with rural young people in Malawi and Lesotho, focusing on their possibilities for accessing (self)employment in the face of the various constraints imposed by their poor rural situations. Participatory group exercises, combined with individual interviews in two rural villages, provided personal stories about jobs and businesses that the young people were engaged in, as well as previous experiences and future plans. Constraints, as well as enabling factors, working at both individual and structural levels were analysed. Policies intended to address the needs of young people tend to seek to target the most vulnerable, often on the basis of individual-and household-level characteristics (e.g. women, orphans and AIDS-affected households). We argue that this: (1) neglects the structural factors operating at national and global levels; and (2) fails to recognise that factors interact to produce vulnerability, rather than this being rooted in separate characteristics. We demonstrate that an intersectional approach, drawn from feminist studies, is a useful theoretical lens, which, in combination with a livelihoods perspective, helps illuminate the needs of rural young people. In situations characterised by high levels of poverty and multiple vulnerabilities, we argue that it can be costly and ineffective to try to decide 'who is most vulnerable'; rather, resources can be more effectively spent in trying to improve conditions that will benefit all rural young people

Observations of cold dust in nearby elliptical galaxies

Spectral energy distribution (SED) analyses that include new millimeter to far-infrared (FIR) observations obtained with continuum instruments on the Nobeyama and James Clerk Maxwell Telescopes and the Infrared Space Observatory are presented for seven nearby (<45 Mpc) FIR-bright elliptical galaxies. These are analyzed together with archival FIR and shortwave radio data obtained from the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED). The radio to infrared SEDs are best-fitted by power law plus graybody models of dust residing in the central galactic regions within a 2.4 kpc diameter and with temperatures between ~21 and 28 K, emissivity index simeq2, and masses from ~1.6 to 19 × 105 M☉. The emissivity index is consistent with dust constituting amorphous silicate and carbonaceous grains previously modeled for stellar-heated dust observed in the Galaxy and other nearby extragalactic sources. Using updated dust absorption coefficients for this type of dust, dust masses are estimated that are similar to those determined from earlier FIR data alone, even though the latter results implied hotter dust temperatures. Fluxes and masses that are consistent with the new FIR and submillimeter data are estimated for dust cooler than 20 K within the central galactic regions. Tighter physical constraints for such cold, diffuse dust (if it exists) with low surface brightness will need sensitive FIR to submillimeter observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope, SCUBA2, or ALMA

Multi-waveband observations of colliding galaxies

Colliding galaxies represent a major challenge to both theorists and observers because of the large variety of phenomena which are expected to come into play during the interaction. Strong gravitational fluctuations may drive non-linear waves and instabilities throughout the stars and gas leading to enhanced star formation, nuclear activity and ultimately a mixing of the morphological components of the original galaxies. One relatively uncomplicated class of colliding galaxy where stellar waves play an important role in star formation are ring galaxies. Ring galaxies are probably formed when a companion galaxy passes through the center of a disk system driving circular waves through the disk (Lynds and Toomre 1976, Toomre 1978, Struck-Marcell 1990). Off-center collisions can generate non-circular waves and can be loosely described as banana-shaped although they may exhibit more complex forms as the waves expand into the disk. The propagation of such stellar and gaseous waves through the disk leads to enhanced star formation (e.g., Appleton and Struck-Marcell 1987a; Jeske 1986) and provides a unique probe of the response of the interstellar medium (ISM) to a propagating wave (see Appleton and Struck-Marcell 1987b). Here, the authors report results for 3 systems; the irregular ring Arp 143 (=VV 117); Wakamatsu's Seyfert ring (A0959-755; see Wakamatsu and Nishida 1987) and the brighter member of the pair of ring galaxies comprising of AM 1358-221. The most complete multi-wavelength data is for Arp 143. Optical charge coupled device (CCD) observations made with the 60 inch Palomar telescope at BV and r band, near-IR images at J (1.25 microns), H (1.65 microns) and k (2.2 microns) bands from the infrared camera (IRCAM) InSb array camera on the 3.8m United Kingdon Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) telescope and very large array (VLA) observations at 20cm in both the neutral hydrogen line and radio continuum are described. The observations of Wakamatsu's ring and AM 1358 were made only in the near-IR, and a comparison is made with available optical plate material

Incoherent pion photoproduction on the deuteron with polarization observables I: Formal expressions

Formal expressions are developed for the general five-fold differential cross section of incoherent $\pi$-photoproduction on the deuteron including beam and target polarization. The polarization observables of the cross section are described by various beam, target and beam-target asymmetries for polarized photons and/or polarized deuterons. They are given as bilinear hermitean forms in the reaction matrix elements divided by the unpolarized cross section. In addition, the corresponding observables for the semi-exclusive reaction $\vec d(\vec \gamma,\pi)NN$ are also given.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

The spatial construction of young people's livelihoods in rural southern Africa

Young people in southern Africa, in common with young people around the world, are social agents, constructing their own lives, albeit within significant structural constraints. Unlike young people in some regions, for most the need to generate a livelihood is a key consideration. Livelihood construction is a profoundly spatial activity, yet while there have been a number of studies of the spatial construction of young people's livelihoods in African cities, the spatiality of rural livelihoods has received less attention. Rural environments pose particular challenges for livelihood construction, and require particular spatial strategies. Four are discussed here: accessing education and training; migration for work; developing extensive social networks; and producing for markets. There are, however, aspects of the spatial structuring of rural southern African societies that seriously constrain the pursuit of productive livelihoods by young people. Two are considered: migration (for reasons unconnected with young people's livelihoods) and marriage practices

Composition dependence of ion transport coefficients in gas mixtures

A simple momentum-transfer theory for the composition dependence of ion mobilities and diffusion coefficients in gas mixtures at arbitrary field strengths is corrected, extended, and compared with a similar theory based on momentum and energy transfer, and with results based on direct solution of the Boltzmann equation by Kihara's method. Final equations are recommended for predicting composition dependences, given only results on ion mobilities and diffusion coefficients in the pure component gases

Psychic Distance and Country Image in Exporter–Importer Relationships

Conflicting evidence on the issue of psychic distance (PD) in international business relationships suggests the existence of misunderstood boundary conditions to its effect. This article argues that country image (CI) is a contingent factor to the effect of PD. Expectancy–value theory provides the theoretical foundations for this argument. Based on structural equation modeling, analyses for a sample of 358 exporter–importer relationships in the global wine industry provide empirical support. Product-related CI mitigates the negative impact of PD on the relational exchange orientation (REO) between firms. Specifically, a high level of PD dampens REO when product-related CI is poor, whereas a strong product-related CI helps firms facing such PD conditions to build REO irrespective. People-related CI has an indirect effect on REO through product-related CI. Our study contributes to explaining the paradox of distance and offers a fresh perspective on how to handle the issue of PD when relevant