Geography & Anthropology

i. This paper approaches a more detailed reading of the Song of Songs 3:6~11 with an emphasis on the metaphysical aspects of this portion of the Song. I have attempted to exegete the iconography and symbolism found in the Song of Song by taking a closer look at the language and meaning behind particular words and phrases to uncover the possibility of a broader meaning within the Song’s imagery.
ii. Looking closely at the symbolism behind fragrances, the inner altar, warriors, the king's carriage, and finally the 'crowning' aspect. I have done so by applying the commentaries of Rashi, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gitagovinda. By applying Exum's commentary to the Song, I have uncovered some additional clues that help me to work through the etymology of words and symbols contained within the imagery of King Solomon's litter. The author's commentary has to a greater degree allowed a more holistic understanding of the specific meaning contained in the events, icons, and wisdom in this text.
iii. In my conclusion, this portion of the Song as in many other parts drives me to believe there is much more than meets the eye, and that the profoundly complex puzzle of the Song still has much to be considered in order to fully understand its inclusion in the biblical canon.

After the first democratic elections of 1994, the resurgence of provincial chieftaincies has made it difficult for the central government to acquire legitimacy. Hence, consociational inclusivity fails to gain strength as the prescribed political system. Chieftaincies block democratic hopes of coalition in the provinces. The ANC government has defeated its original purposes becoming a populist group instead of  a  proponent  of  democratic  institutions.  South  Africa’s  cleavages are too extreme, in that, political consociations become unattainable.

Después de las primeras elecciones democráticas de 1994, el resurgimiento de jefaturas provinciales ha hecho difícil que el go-bierno central pueda adquirir legitimidad. Por lo tanto, la inclusión consociativa no logra adquirir su posición como sistema político es-tablecido. Las Jefaturas bloquean las esperanzas democráticas de coalición en las provincias. El gobierno del ANC ha fracasado en el propósito original al convertirse en un grupo populista en lugar de un defensor de las instituciones democráticas. Los clivajes de Sud-áfrica son demasiado extremos, haciendo inalcanzable el estableci-miento de un régimen político consociativo. Summary: After the first democratic elections of 1994, the resurgence of provincial chieftaincies has made it difficult for the central government to acquire legitimacy. Hence, consociational inclusivity fails to gain strength as the prescribed political system. Chieftaincies block democratic hopes of coalition in the provinces. The ANC government has defeated its original purposes becoming a populist group instead of a proponent of democratic institutions. South Africa's cleavages are too extreme, in that, political consociations become unattainable.

This past summer (2014), the author was able to connect with an indigenous leader through Facebook and plan a visit to his family's hearth. He had previously become very curious of a particular writing system that showed in the background of a photograph in his web-page. It is an alphabet radically apart from the more conventional latinized version of Ngäbere (the language of the Ngäbe). As Sánchez Arias ventured into his fieldwork, he learned that the symbols came from an elder who had deciphered a hieroglyph given to him and several others in 1962 by a messiah named Mama-chi. He was able to study from him, becoming the first non-Ngäbe to learn the alphabet. Sánchez Arias also ask the question: How is autochthony created and how does linguistics play a role in political agency and self determination?

El verano pasado (2014), el autor fue capaz de conectar con un líder indígena a través de Facebook y planificar una visita al hogar de su familia. Le había despertado la curiosidad un sistema de escritura particular que aparecía en el fondo de una fotografía en la página web del líder indígena. Es un alfabeto radicalmente aparte de la versión latinizada más convencional de Ngäbere (la lengua de los Ngäbe). Mientras Sánchez Arias se aventuró en su trabajo de campo, se enteró de que los símbolos provenían de un anciano que había descifra-do un jeroglífico entregado a él y a varios otros en 1962 por una mesías llamada Mama-chi. El autor fue capaz de estudiar de él, convirtiéndose en el primer no-Ngäbe en aprender el alfabeto. Sánchez Arias también se hace la pregunta: ¿Cómo se crea la autoctonía y cómo la lingüística juega un papel en la acción política y la autodeterminación? Palabras clave: Ngäbe, lenguaje, jeroglíficos, religión, pueblo indígena.

Constitutional growth delay in subadults may be caused by chronic illness, malnutrition, and/or undernutrition. Very little is known about the community health of the presumptive forager-farmers of the Late Woodland (~AD 900-1150) period site of Schroeder Mounds (Henderson County, Illinois). In an effort to increase understanding of community health, the subadults (N=15) were examined by age-at-death for evidence of growth stunting as reflected in forelimb shortening. Crural and brachial indices were calculated for those subadults preserving measurable femora and tibiae and/or measurable humeri and radii. These indices were compared by age category to indices calculated from normal bone lengths taken from published clinical data. Stunting was evident for all ages-at-death in the Schroeder Mounds sample. The stunting was contextualized by assessing the presence/absence of potentially causative or synergistically related skeletally visible chronic health stress indicators (i.e., porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, linear enamel hypoplasia, periostosis). The results indicated that all subadults exhibited growth stunting regardless of the presence of the quantified health issues. This may suggest that stunting is potentially a free-standing osteological marker of developmental stress. Within Schroeder Mounds, stunting may ultimately be due to various environmental (e.g., harvest or resource shortfall) and cultural (e.g., weaning, child labor) factors.

Discrete cystic or tumorous intraosseous lesions can arise from a variety of benign and malignant conditions as well as trauma and infection. They are clinically rarely observed in the calcaneus. A fourteen-to-seventeen-year-old subadult recovered from a Late Woodland (∼AD 800-1100) period mortuary context in the Mississippi River Valley of central Illinois presents with a single lytic intraosseous lesion on the posterior right calcaneus that bilaterally perforates the cortex. The lesion, although primarily anterior to the epiphyseal plate, does breach it. There is also a small perforation of the outer cortex of the epiphysis above the insertion of the Achilles’ tendon. The lesion is well-defined with a primarily spongy cancellous interior margin. On the body of the calcaneus, there is periostosis and a slightly expansive endosteal reaction. Comparative radiographic assessments undertaken to differentially diagnose the lesion indicate that it was likely not malignant. Based on the posterior location, the radiographic signature, the bilateral cortical perforation and the breach of the epiphysis, the lesion is best interpreted as a chondroblastoma.

It has often been observed that predictions made by aeolian transport models do not match well with transport data. The poor predictive capabilities of these models remains a fundamental problem. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the recently proposed model's modification in improving transport predictions. This is the mass-weighted frequency distribution proposed by Edwards and Namikas (2015). The evaluation consists of comparisons of predicted transport rates versus observed field and lab tested rates collected from the literature and recalibrating the best fit transport coefficient. The disparity between the predictions from the different models is reduced significantly. After the modification process, the model of Kadib (1965) and Hsu (1971) showed remarkable progress in their statistical parameter (high R 2 value and low RMSE value).

This paper discusses the usefulness of GIS and Remote Sensing (RS) technique in analyzing post-disaster land use change. In doing so, it identifies the land use, as such, livelihood change pattern due to a Sidr, a devastating cyclonic storm-surge in southern part of Bangladesh. The study identifies the land use changes occurred due to the natural disasters using from satellite image interpretations with the help of GIS tools and RS. Firstly, different land covers (Agriculture, forest, ponds, etc.) were identified from the pre and post interpretation of satellite images. To detect the land use changes caused by natural disaster, the images of the study area before and after natural disaster were then used to identify the changes took place due to the natural disaster. The observed land use/ land cover change data are compared including statistical variation. Finally, how storm-surge, thus sea water intrusion leading to water logging and salinity directly and indirectly affects land use change is explained. The findings of the study can be very useful to prepare the action plans for reducing the vulnerability to natural disaster.

This paper attempts to detect soil salinity from satellite image analysis using remote sensing and geographic information system. Salinity intrusion is a common problem for the coastal regions of the world. Traditional salinity detection techniques by field survey and sampling are time-consuming and expensive. Remote sensing and geographic information system offer economic and efficient salinity detection, monitoring, and mapping. To predict soil salinity, an integrated approach of salinity indices and field data was used to develop a multiple regression equation. The correlations between different indices and field data of soil salinity were calculated to find out the highly correlated indices. The best regression model was selected considering the high R 2 value, low P value, and low Akaike’s Information Criterion. About 20 % variation was observed between the field data and predicted EC from the satellite image analysis. The precision of this salinity detection technique depends on the accuracy and uniform distribution of field data.