Native American geography shaped historical fire frequency in forests of eighteenth-century Pennsylvania, USA.

Researchers have debated the relative importance of environmental versus Indigenous effects on past fire regimes in eastern North America. Tree-ring fire-scar records (FSRs) provide local-resolution physical evidence of past fire, but few studies have spatially correlated fire frequency from FSRs with environmental and anthropogenic variables. No study has compared FSR locations to Native American settlement features in the eastern United States. We assess whether FSRs in the eastern US are located near regions of past Native American settlement. We also assess relationships between distance to Native American settlement, environmental conditions, and fire frequency in central Pennsylvania (PA), US, using an "ensemble of small models" approach for low sample sizes. Regression models of fire frequency at 21 locations in central PA often selected distance-based proxies of Indigenous land use. Models with mean annual temperature and Native American variables as predictors explained > 70% of the variation in fire frequency. Alongside temperature and wind speed, "distance to nearest trail" and "mean distance to nearest town" were significant and important predictors. In 18th-century central PA, fires were more frequent near Indigenous trails and towns, and further south due to increasing temperature and pyrophilic vegetation. However, for the entire eastern US, FSRs are located far from past settlement, limiting their effectiveness in detecting fire patterns near population centers. Improving understanding of historical fire will require developing FSRs closer to past Native American settlement.

AUZOLÁN / AUZOLÁN

hay palabras que tienen mucha magia. Palabras, como “auzolán”, “las suertes”, “el comunal” y otras similares, que deberíamos guardarlas como un tesoro y actualizarlas constantemente. Más aún cuando se camina hacia sociedades cada vez más individualistas. Es importante tener conciencia de que formamos parte de la comunidad y participar en ella en la medida de lo posible. El proceso de traducción y adaptación de la 4ª edición del Marco de Trabajo para la Práctica de la Terapia Ocupacional, así como la publicación de este monográfico, es un ejemplo de participación por el bien común. (AU)

There are words that have a lot of magic. Words, such as “auzolán”, “las suertes”, “el comunal” and other similar ones, that we should keep as a treasure and constantly update them. Even more so when moving towards increasingly individualistic societies. It is important to be aware that we are part of the community and participate in it as much as possible. The translation and adaptation process of the 4th edition of the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework, as well as the publication of this monograph, is an example of participation for the common good. (AU)

Early Emotion Knowledge and Later Academic Achievement Among Children of Color in Historically Disinvested Neighborhoods.

This study examined longitudinal relations between emotion knowledge (EK) in pre-kindergarten (pre-K; Mage  = 4.8 years) and math and reading achievement 1 and 3 years later in a sample of 1,050 primarily Black children (over half from immigrant families) living in historically disinvested neighborhoods. Participants were part of a follow-up study of a cluster randomized controlled trial. Controlling for pre-academic skills, other social-emotional skills, sociodemographic characteristics, and school intervention status, higher EK at the end of pre-K predicted higher math and reading achievement test scores in kindergarten and second grade. Moderation analyses suggest that relations were attenuated among children from immigrant families. Findings suggest the importance of enriching pre-K programs for children of color with EK-promotive interventions and strategies.

Identifying post-marital residence patterns in prehistory: A phylogenetic comparative analysis of dwelling size.

Post-marital residence patterns are an important aspect of human social organization. However, identifying such patterns in prehistoric societies is challenging since they leave almost no direct traces in archaeological records. Cross-cultural researchers have attempted to identify correlates of post-marital residence through the statistical analysis of ethnographic data. Several studies have demonstrated that, in agricultural societies, large dwellings (over ca. 65 m2) are associated with matrilocality (spouse resides with or near the wife's family), whereas smaller dwellings are associated with patrilocality (spouse resides with or near the husband's family). In the present study, we tested the association between post-marital residence and dwelling size (average house floor area) using phylogenetic comparative methods and a global sample of 86 pre-industrial societies, 22 of which were matrilocal. Our analysis included the presence of agriculture, sedentism, and durability of house construction material as additional explanatory variables. The results confirm a strong association between matrilocality and dwelling size, although very large dwellings (over ca. 200 m2) were found to be associated with all types of post-marital residence. The best model combined dwelling size, post-marital residence pattern, and sedentism, the latter being the single best predictor of house size. The effect of agriculture on dwelling size becomes insignificant once the fixity of settlement is taken into account. Our results indicate that post-marital residence and house size evolve in a correlated fashion, namely that matrilocality is a predictable response to an increase in dwelling size. As such, we suggest that reliable inferences about the social organization of prehistoric societies can be made from archaeological records.

Middle Stone Age foragers resided in high elevations of the glaciated Bale Mountains, Ethiopia.

Studies of early human settlement in alpine environments provide insights into human physiological, genetic, and cultural adaptation potentials. Although Late and even Middle Pleistocene human presence has been recently documented on the Tibetan Plateau, little is known regarding the nature and context of early persistent human settlement in high elevations. Here, we report the earliest evidence of a prehistoric high-altitude residential site. Located in Africa's largest alpine ecosystem, the repeated occupation of Fincha Habera rock shelter is dated to 47 to 31 thousand years ago. The available resources in cold and glaciated environments included the exploitation of an endemic rodent as a key food source, and this played a pivotal role in facilitating the occupation of this site by Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers.

How Communities Attracted Physicians After World War II.

Since the end of World War II, the Council on Medical Service of the American Medical Association (AMA) has conducted a Physicians Placement Service to assist physicians seeking a practice location and communities seeking physicians. As part of this service, the AMA offered pamphlets that included articles and exhibits. This article features select images from one of those pamphlets.

Development of regional variety of the biological standard of living in the Netherlands, 1812-1913.

This study focuses on regional patterns in stature in Dutch society during the 19th and early 20th century (1813-1913). To analyze regional patterns and transitions the HSN Database Giants is used. Results confirm that in the first period (1830-1860) differences in the biological standard of living were substantial. The less market-oriented inland provinces had the highest level. This is in line with the Komlos-hypothesis. The modernization of the Dutch economy in the second half of the 19th century was accompanied by a substantial increase in average height and a reversal of the spatial pattern of living standards as modernization was more important in the market oriented regions. Nevertheless, regional differences remained substantial and there was no pattern of convergence. Conscripts from the market-oriented coastal provinces took over the lead from the inland provinces. I tested for an urban premium during the last period (1890-1913). This was confirmed, although it did not manifest itself in cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, but rather in medium-sized and small cities.

Back to Bed: From Hospital to Home Obstetrics in the City of Chicago.

This article analyzes the role of doctors and activists in Chicago who successfully redefined the practice and politics of childbirth both locally and ultimately nationwide. It begins with the story of Joseph DeLee's Chicago Maternity Center, responsible for supervising over 100,000 home births between 1932 and 1972. Most of the mothers cared for by the Center were nonwhite, poor, and had little or no access to prenatal care, yet their babies had a far higher survival rate than the nationwide average. Thousands of medical students from all over the Midwest experienced their first deliveries not in hospitals, but in these homes. The article then addresses a very different demographic: a rising number of middle-class white families in the suburbs of Chicago who, beginning in the 1950s, opted for out-of-hospital births. Many of them learned about home birth through their involvement in La Leche League, the breastfeeding organization formed in a Chicago suburb in 1956. Seemingly separated by class, race, and locale, the link between these two groups of home birthers was the philosophy and training in place at the Chicago Maternity Center.

Birds of a Feather: Social Bases of Neighborhood Formation in Newark, New Jersey, 1880.

This study examines the bases of residential segregation in a late nineteenth century American city, recognizing the strong tendency toward homophily within neighborhoods. Our primary question is how ethnicity, social class, nativity, and family composition affect where people live. Segregation is usually studied one dimension at a time, but these social differences are interrelated, and thus a multivariate approach is needed to understand their effects. We find that ethnicity is the main basis of local residential sorting, while occupational standing and, to a lesser degree, family life cycle and nativity also are significant. A second concern is the geographic scale of neighborhoods: in this study, the geographic area within which the characteristics of potential neighbors matter in locational outcomes of individuals. Studies of segregation typically use a single spatial scale, often one determined by the availability of administrative data. We take advantage of a unique data set containing the address and geo-referenced location of every resident. We conclude that it is the most local scale that offers the best prediction of people's similarity to their neighbors. Adding information at larger scales minimally improves prediction of the person's location. The 1880 neighborhoods of Newark, New Jersey, were formed as individuals located themselves among similar neighbors on a single street segment.

The temporal fluctuations and characteristics of psychiatric inpatient admissions in Ireland: data from the HRB's National Psychiatric In-Patient Reporting System.

This paper examines trends in psychiatric inpatient admissions from the 1960s to 2014 and uses data from the National Psychiatric Inpatient Reporting System (NPIRS) to review these trends. In the 1960s the Department of Health began an annual system of reporting on the activities in Irish psychiatric units and hospitals on foot of the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry on Mental Illness. The National Psychiatric Inpatient Reporting System (NPIRS) was established shortly thereafter and this paper discusses the data from this database contained in these annual activity reports over the last 50 years.

Body mass index values of conscripts in the Polish lands under Prussian rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) of conscripts from the Polish lands under Prussian rule and its causative factors and changes over time was to characterize. A total of 9965 conscripts aged 20 were examined. Differences in the mean BMI were tested using one-way analysis of variance ANOVA and Tukey's-test (post-hoc test). Factor analysis and multiple regression were employed. The highest BMI values characterized sons of peasants, workers and craftsmen, and the lowest, sons of intelligentsia: the difference for peasants/intelligentsia -0.59kg/m(2) (p=0.0004), and that for workers/intelligentsia and craftsmen/intelligentsia, 0.48 and 0.5kg/m(2) (p=0.0004 and p=0.0057, respectively). The difference in BMI of conscripts from the first and last birth cohorts was 0.61kg/m(2) (p=0.0001). The highest BMI values were noted in conscripts from villages (21.50kg/m(2)), and the lowest, in those from towns (21.15kg/m(2)) and cities (21.19kg/m(2)). The differences for village/town and village/city were statistically significant (p=0.0026 and p=0.0026, respectively). The BMI difference between Poles and Germans was 0.35kg/m(2) (higher value among Poles).

Maya paleodemographics: what do we know?

OBJECTIVES: We present a review of what is known about the population dynamics from Classic and Post-Classic Maya settlements in coastal areas of the Yucatan Peninsula such as Jaina, Chac Mool, El Meco and Xcambó and two other urban centers, Palenque and Copan. METHODS: This contribution discusses the available data on mortality, survival, life expectancy, fertility and migration, obtained by paleodemographic methodology. Data for Xcambó and El Meco were obtained from Tiesler Bloss et al., (2005) and Ortega (2007); information from other sites was obtained from previous work conducted by the authors. RESULTS: This review proposes that the demographic dynamics of the Classical period are typical of densely populated and developing areas with overall average birth rates of six children per woman and a life expectancy at birth of between 20 and 42.2 years, which is equivalent to birth rates above 40 per thousand inhabitants. Post-Classic settlements show evidence of great population mobility with unfavorable changes in living conditions that lead us to think of fertility decrease and low life expectancies at birth. CONCLUSIONS: There are indications of a demographic change between the Late-Terminal Classic and Post-Classic periods. Life expectancies are lower than 30 years, a high infant mortality and low adult survival after 50 years is shown. The Post-Classic period is characterized by population rearrangements and mobility. Results obtained for both Chac Mool series showed deterioration in health and reduced life expectancy and fertility levels from one period to another. El Meco and Xcambó series showed differences with Chac Mool's due to higher growth rates.

A Weighty Issue: Diminished Net Nutrition Among the U.S. Working Class in the Nineteenth Century.

Much has been written about the modern obesity epidemic, and historical BMIs are low compared with their modern counterparts. However, interpreting BMI variation is difficult because BMIs increase when weight increases or when stature decreases, and the two have different implications for human health. An alternative measure for net current nutritional conditions is body weight. After controlling for height, I find that African American and white weights decreased throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Farmers had greater average weights than workers in other occupations. Individuals from the South had taller statures, greater BMIs, and heavier weights than workers in other U.S. regions, indicating that even though the South had higher disease rates in the nineteenth century, it had better net nutritional conditions.

Between Tradition and Modernity: Marriage Dynamics in Kyrgyzstan.

The demographic literature on union formation in post-communist Europe typically documents retreat from marriage and increase in cohabitation. However, sociological and anthropological studies of post-Soviet Central Asia often point to a resurgence of various traditional norms and practices, including those surrounding marriage, that were suppressed under Soviet rule. We engage these two perspectives on union formation by analyzing transition to first marriage in Kyrgyzstan both before and after the collapse of the USSR. We use uniquely detailed marriage histories from a nationally representative survey conducted in the period 2011-2012 to examine the dynamics of traditional marital practices among that country's two main ethnic groups-Kyrgyz and Uzbeks-focusing on trends in arranged marriages and in marriages involving bride kidnapping. The analysis reveals instructive ethnic and period differences but also indicates an overall decline in the risks of both types of traditional marriage practices in the post-Soviet era. In fact, although the decline has characterized all marriage types, it was more substantial for traditional marriages. We interpret these trends as evidence of continuing modernization of nuptiality behavior in the region.