Is postmenopausal life-span a gift of modern health or a product of natural selection?

The author discusses how researchers from various scientific disciplines view the origins of and mechanisms (evolutionary as well as physiological) underlying menopause in humans. She describes presentations from a symposium centered around interdisciplinary perspectives on female reproductive aging. Comparative zoology, primatology, and anthropology have much to contribute to our understanding of human menopause; hence the symposium contained speakers representing these subdisciplines, as well as the more typical disciplines of endocrinology and neurobiology.     

Legitimacy of tolerating limited environmental pollution? The case for natural attenuation

Degradations of environmental quality often pose severe harms or at least adverse effects to individuals and societies. Perceiving any environmental pollution thus appears to be connected with an implicit claim for its prompt and complete removal. For example, the oil-spill from the "Prestige" accident at the western Spanish shoreline is surely still in everyone's mind, where—in a somewhat Sysiphos-effort—a lot of helpers tried to remove the huge masses of oil mud, washed repeatedly ashore. However, alternative rehabilitation conceptions are also conceivable for certain pollution problems, which may be less unhealthy and possibly more efficient. Among them, taking advantage of natural occurring processes, which are grouped in this context as "natural attenuation" (NA), is an emerging and challenging but possibly also a questionable approach. NA as remediation strategy is, therefore, often discussed controversially among experts and actors as well as in the public (Teutsch/Rügner 2000). This is partly due to still open scientific or technical questions but also due to legitimacy problems of natural attenuation on ethical and juridical levels (Steffens et al. 2002; Heinz 2002). Therefore, a balanced view on adequate natural attenuation seems to be necessary. The following analysis will review NA as rehabilitation means from the normative perspective, giving some general statements—and thus orientation—for public policy making as well as for the administrative level.     

Is a photograph worth a thousand films? 1

This article aims at scrutinising the narrative power of a medium which one considers unable to perform narrative tasks: photography. Not only has photography a problem when it wants to tackle issues of time, storytelling and fiction; moreover, the medium is suffering from the negative comparison with one of the media that has replaced it (‘remediated’ in the sense coined by Bolter and Grusin), film – a medium initially called ‘animated photography’. Yet the analysis of an example, a picture by Henri Cartier-Bresson which also exists in movie form, suggests that the power of a fixed image may exceed, under certain circumstances, that of a mobile image. In order to understand this paradox, however, one needs to analyse narrativity not only in terms of media forms, but also in terms of media practices and to stress the role of the reader.     

The Social Studies—a Slogan or a Service

This article discusses the role that teacher educators can play in helping their students develop a fuller understanding of world history. Trends such as globalization have led to calls for increased teaching about the diverse cultures and peoples of the world. However, prospective teachers’ educational backgrounds have in most cases not adequately prepared them to teach world history effectively. The article begins with a discussion of the historical evolution of the course in world history; it then defines different approaches to this field, and concludes by providing suggestions for how teacher educators can help their students bring a true version of world history to their classrooms.     

Developing a Syllabus for a Mixed‐Methods Research Course

In this paper, the author shares with readers his journey towards creating and evaluating a mixed‐methods research course in education using a course design framework to guide the discussion. He discusses important questions such as what goes into a mixed‐methods syllabus, what resources are available to instructors and students, what learning goals we might set for our students and how we might assess whether students achieve these goals in the context of teaching his own course for the first time. There is a need for dialogue among the ‘first generation’ of instructors of mixed‐methods research courses about how we teach these courses – readers are encouraged to continue this dialogue about teaching mixed‐methods research courses by following up on and extending the ideas in this paper.     

Bass in a Brazier

Ingredients:a bass about 600g,50g minced pork,50g dark plums(canned plums are also okay),minced     

Is there a need for a theory of urban ecology?

Although urban ecosystems are governed by the same ecological laws as rural ecosystems, the relative importance of certain ecological patterns and processes differs between the two types of ecosystems. For instance, as compared to rural areas, urban habitats are usually more islandlike, more often represent early successional stages, and more easily invaded by alien species. All these features are results of the intense human influence on urban landscapes. The question then arises whether a distinct theory of urban ecology is needed for understanding ecological patterns and processes in the urban setting. The answer is no, because urban ecosystems can be successfully studied using existing ecological theories, such as the metapopulation theory. However, due to the intense human presence approaches that include the human aspect are useful in studying urban systems. For instance, the human ecosystem model, which emphasizes human impact by identifying social components with connections to ecology, is a useful approach in urban studies. This model, combined with the urban–rural gradient approach, forms an effective tool for studying key ecological features of urban ecosystems. Better understanding of these features would increase our ability to predict changes that land use causes in urban ecosystems, and would help to integrate ecology better into urban planning.     

Give a Wamana Seed

TN the middle of October, 1997, theAnguo Vocational Training Center inHebei Province welcomed a group ofvery special students. The group of 30middle-aged women represented sevenethnicities; 80 percent of them came fromimpoverished Majiang County in thesouthwestern province of Guizhou.     

Eavesdropping with a Mirror

It was a custom in Yidu that on New Year's Eve, people eavesdropped outside other people's homes with a bronze mirror hidden in the bosom after reciting a rhyme to it. People believed that what they had heard would often fortell good or bad luck. A family named Zheng once lived in Yidu. The two sons of this family were both considered intellectuals, But the older son was eager to learn while the younger was lazy and sluggish. Their parents only liked the older son. Because of this, the old couple's attitudes toward their two daughters-in-law were also     

Dialogues in a Family

FIAMILY relations are the ties that bind—providing care and support in times of need. This truth remains in China and throughout the world. One Beijing family adds flowers tO this equation and together as gardeners grow generations strong. In Nongfengli of eastern Beijing live Lü Shijian and his wife Zhao Naiwen, both retired experts from the Ministry of Agriculture. In their eighth-floor     

Lives a Dual Life

AT the "Horizon International Arts Festival" held in 1985 in Berlin, someone asked, "Is there any women's literature in China?" On behalf of the Chinese women writers, Zhang Kangkang replied, "The swimming pool of women's literature is too small for Chinese women writers."     

Once Upon a Time

THIS is not the start of an oldstory but a new eating experience in Beijing.Once Upon aTime Restaurant(also called RoseGarden Cafe ＆ Bar)is located to thenorth of the Beijing Friendship Store(17 Jianguomenwai Dajie,ChaoyangDistrict),and provides a fresh newcuisine and environment to friends whoare interested in mysterions Arabianculture.     

Yunnan,a Taurists'Paradise

IF yon are planning your holiday trip.Yunnan Province Province in southwest China isone of the best options you couldconsider right now.The KunmingInternational Horticultural Exposition(EXPO’99)just opened on May 1 atJindian,a scenic town four kilometersfrom Kunming,the provincial capital.This     

Marriage in a Hutang

To the deafening accompaniment of gongs and drums.followed by huge crowds of pcople,a red sedan chair     

Does urbanization explain differences in interactions between an insect herbivore and its natural enemies and mutualists?

Urbanization can alter the composition of arthropod communities. However, little is known about how urbanization affects ecological interactions. Using experimental colonies of the black bean aphid Aphis fabae Scopoli reared on Vicia faba L, we asked if patterns of predator-prey, host-parasitoid and ant-aphid mutualisms varied along an urbanization gradient across a large town in southern England. We recorded the presence of naturally occurring predators, parasitoid wasps and mutualistic ants together with aphid abundance. We examined how biotic (green areas and plant richness) and abiotic features (impervious surfaces and distance to town center) affected (1) aphid colony size, (2) the likelihood of finding predators, mutualistic ants and aphid mummies (indicating the presence of parasitoids), and (3) how the interplay among these factors affected patterns of parasitoid attack, predator abundance, mutualistic interactions and aphid abundance. Aphid abundance was best explained by the number of mutualistic ants attending the colonies. Aphid predators responded negatively to both the proportion of impervious surfaces and to the number of mutualistic ants farming the colonies, and positively to aphid population size, whereas parasitized aphids were found in colonies with higher numbers of aphids and ants. The number of mutualistic ants attending was positively associated with aphid colony size and negatively with the number of aphid predators. Our findings suggest that for insect-natural enemy interactions, urbanization may affect some groups, while not influencing others, and that local effects (mutualists, host plant presence) will also be key determinants of how urban ecological communities are formed.     

Give a Woman an Inch,She’ll Take a Penis

ABSTRACT

Women speaking out against sexual violence is nothing new, but institutions firing the male perpetrators or those accused signals a potential sea change. This essay was initially published as one of a series of blog posts written about #MeToo. This essay contains that post with the addition of thoughts about how we might integrate revelations in ways that create social change. This includes shifting from a focus on the guilty individual to the corrupt or at least culpable institution. In this light, more complex ideas of subjectivity that can disrupt human exceptionalism are key, as they can challenge White supremacist, heteropatriarchal responses to vulnerability and shame that seem to fuel much of the sexual (and other forms of) masculinized violence and the justifications for it.     

What is a social pattern? Rethinking a central social science term

Theory and Society - The main aim of this article is to start a discussion of social pattern, a term that is commonly used in sociology but not specified or defined. The key question can be phrased...