Tracing environmental and cultural changes throughout the Gran Dolina TD10 Middle Pleistocene sequence (Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)

The well-known eponym El Sidrón has a very special history. It started with the development of a karstic system between two types of rock (sandstone and Neogene conglomerates) as a result of the flow of a small stream. It continued with the use of the cave as a refuge and a hiding place during the Spanish Civil War and the aftermath and with the presence of some endemic species of bats and cave insects

Linking past cultural developments to palaeoenvironmental changes in Estonia

Connections between environmental and cultural changes are analysed in Estonia during the past c. 4,500 years. Records of cereal-type pollen as (agri)cultural indices are compared with high-resolution palaeohydrological and annual mean temperature reconstructions from a selection of Estonian bogs and lakes (and Lake Igelsjon in Sweden). A broad-scale comparison shows increases in the percentage of cereal-type pollen during a decreasing trend in annual mean temperatures over the past c. 4,300 years, suggesting a certain independence of agrarian activities from environmental conditions at the regional level. The first cereal-type pollen in the region is found from a period with a warm and dry climate. A slow increase in pollen of cultivated land is seen around the beginning of the late Bronze Age, a slight increase at the end of the Roman Iron Age and a significant increase at the beginning of the Middle Ages. In a few cases increases in agricultural pollen percentages occur in the periods of warming. Stagnation and regression occurs in the periods of cooling, but regression at individual sites may also be related to warmer climate episodes. The cooling at c. 400-300 cal b.p., during the 'Little Ice Age' coincides with declines in cereal-type and herb pollen curves. These may not, however, be directly related to the climate change, because they coincide with war activities in the region.

Individual crisis episodes and cultural transition: finding the macrocosm in the microcosm

According to dialogical self theory (Hermans, 2001), individual identities reflect cultural and subcultural values, and appropriate voices and discourses from the social environment. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) systemic theory of human development similarly postulates that individual and social development occur in a symbiotic and interdependent fashion. It would therefore be predicted that individual changes in identity reflect macrocosmic changes in cultural values and social structures. The current study investigated narratives of crisis transitions within adults aged 25-40, by way of interviews with 22 participants. An intensive qualitative analysis showed that the narratives of crisis could indeed be viewed as individual manifestations of contemporary cultural changes. National statistics and academic research have documented in the UK substantial cultural shifts over the last twenty years including the lessening popularity of marriage, the rise of freelance and portfolio careers and the growth of accepted alternative gender roles. In individual crises, changes made over the course of the episode were invariably in the same direction as these social changes; towards flexible work patterns, non-marital relationships and redefined gender identities. Before the crisis, participants described their identity as bound into an established discourse of conventionality, a traditional sense of masculinity or feminitity and a singular career role, while after the crisis alternative and fluid identities are explored, and identity is less defined by role and institution. These findings show that changes in the social macrocosm can be found in the individual microcosm, and therefore support dialogical self theory.

“Energización para un mejor vivir” : modelo de gestión cultural

El modelo de gestión cultural "Energización para un mejor vivir", busca introducir en los programas de energización rural, acciones que permitan orientar los procesos de transformación y adaptación a los cambios culturales generados por la instalación de la energía, a través de la integración de los conceptos de cultura, educación y desarrollo como factores para mejorar la calidad de vida de las comunidades beneficiadas.

Defining cultural sustainability in multicultural built environments

The Australian built environment is an arena where multicultural identity and difference are tangibly negotiated. What occurs on a daily basis in its cities is a complex series of negotiations between multiple communities, all of whom adapt their own cultures, as well as adopting elements from their surrounding environment. This paper investigates these issues by comparing the physical development within a contemporary Australian city with the social and cultural changes that have taken place in it. It asks the question. Whose culture should be sustained in this context, and on what basis? To what extent should the urban environment be reflecting of the changes, as much as the origins, of a relatively young settler society (notwithstanding the fact that its original inhabitants have a history that predates this settlement by thousands of years). More broadly, what constitutes cultural sustainability in a multicultural society, and how is, might, or should this be reflected in its built environment?

Changes and inequality in Latin American families

Includes bibliography

A cerâmica do povo Paiter Suruí de Rondônia: continuidade e mudança cultural, 1970-2010

Pós-graduação em Artes - IA

A indústria cultural e a estética da crueldade em Rubem Fonseca: uma análise dos contos o Cobrador, Pierrô da Caverna e Onze de maio

Na literatura, a chamada fase do pós-modernismo mostra os processos de desumanização e de coisificação dos indivíduos. Estes se tornaram o foco de debates graças ao desenvolvimento intensivo da sociedade de massa, diretamente vinculada às influências dos meios de comunicação e ao desenvolvimento da indústria cultural. Rubem Fonseca é um dos grandes nomes da literatura desta época e compôs muitos textos que manifestam as angústias do homem imerso no contexto do consumismo exacerbado, mola propulsora do capitalismo tardio. O cobrador, coletânea de contos publicada em 1979, possui narrativas que permitem o diálogo entre as teorias sociológicas que exaltam os conceitos dos meios de comunicação de massa, sociedade do consumo e indústria cultural, objetivo primordial desta pesquisa. A pretensão do presente estudo é compreender as expressões desse período nos contos "O Cobrador", "Pirrô da Caverna" e "Onze de Maio" desta obra, focalizando as interferências que a sociedade de massa e a indústria cultural operaram para que as criações literárias passassem a apresentar novas características. O método empregado consiste na análise dos contos, dando especial foco aos conceitos de indústria cultural, sociedade de massa e sociedade de consumo. Para análise dos contos, foi de fundamental importância o aparato teórico de Antônio Cândido, Lucien Goldmann, e Luiz Costa Lima, como teóricos que defendem a relação entre áreas como sociologia e literatura, além dos postulados de estudiosos como Theodor Adorno, David Lyon, Steven Connor, Jean-François Lyotard, Frederic Jameson, Jean Baudrillard, Marshall Berman, entre outro sociólogos que provem debates sobre as mudanças culturais que o contexto pós-moderno suscita.Concomitantemente, a pesquisa está direcionada para o campo das teorias da Comunicação de caráterneo-marxista e suas relações com a literatura, evidenciando o tema da ascensão da sociedade de massa e a interferência dos meios de comunicação de massa para configuração das artes e de outras manifestações humanas. É possível estabelecer um diálogo entre os contos e as teorias que explicam os processos de massificação da sociedade, reconhecendo a preponderância das leis do consumo nos procedimentos dos indivíduos submetidos a essa condição, seja na violência de alguns, seja superficialidade de outros, fundamentados na chamada estética da crueldade para as obras fictícias.

Mudança social e cultural no Brasil nos últimos 50 anos: cenário e perspectivas para a melhoria do ensino público

Thinking about improving public education in Brazil means thinking not just what we wish to develop competencies and skills in individuals, but understands clearly identify the type of citizens who are training and what kind of society we want for the future. So if there are social and cultural changes they should have their comtraponto within the classroom considering education steeped in culture and therefore in the forms of modern communication. The challenge for school education is to show the students inside the classroom, as will be outside.

Cultural impact of wireless networks:emerging experiences in the healthcare sector

Culture defines collective behavior and interactions among people in groups. In organizations, it shapes group identity, work pattern, communication schemes, and interpersonal relations. Any change in organizational culture will lead to changes in these elements of organizational factors, and vice versa. From a managerial standpoint, how to cultivate an organizational culture that would enhance these aforementioned elements in organizational workplace should thus be taken into serious consideration. Based on cases studies in two hospitals, this paper investigates how organizational culture is shaped by a particular type of information and communication technology, wireless networks, a topic that is generally overlooked by the mainstream research community, and in turn implicates how such cultural changes in organizations renovate their competitiveness in the marketplace. Lessons learned from these cases provide valuable insights to emerging IT management and culture studies in general and in wireless network management in the healthcare sector in particular.

Daddies, assistants and foolsbdifferentiation of male representations in present-day advertising.

This paper explores the way men are represented in present-day advertising. Most gender related studies have concentrated in studying women in advertising and claim that men are still represented as the dominant gender and in more active, independent and functional roles than women. This paper asks whether this still holds for advertising in the beginning of 21st century. Many cultural changes may have broken the earlier stereotypes, for example changes in the family life, attitudes toward various sexual identities, concepts of masculinity and femininity, and changes in cultural style.

Practical Transformations and Transformational Practices : Globalization, Postmodernism, and Early Childhood Education : Advances in Early Education and Day Care

Both traditional and progressive curricula are inadequate for the task of responding to the economic, political, social, and cultural changes that have occurred as a result of globalization. This book documents some of the ongoing work occurring in early childhood settings that is aimed at improving, and ultimately transforming, early childhood practice in these changed and changing times. The authors do not simply critique developmental approaches or the increasing standardization of the field. Instead, they describe how they are playing around with postmodern ideas in practice and developing unique approaches to the diverse educational circumstances that confront early childhood educators. Whether it is preparing teachers, using materials, or developing policies, each chapter provides readers with possibilities for enacting pedagogies that are responsive to the contemporary circumstances shaping the lives of young children.

Europe and the Media: Building a new kind of Europe; is mass media the key?

The book is a joint effort of eight academics and journalists, Europe specialists from six countries (Australia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States). They give sometimes divergent views on the future of the so-called “European Project”, for building a common European economy and society, but agree that cultural changes, especially changes experienced through mass media, are rapidly taking place. One of the central interests of the book is the operation of the large media centre located at the European Commission in Brussels – the world’s largest gallery of permanently accredited correspondents. Jacket notes: The Lisbon Treaty of December 2009 is the latest success of the European Union’s drive to restructure and expand; yet questions persist about how democratic this new Europe might be. Will Brussels’ promotion of the “European idea” produce a common European culture and society? The authors consider it might, as a culture of everyday shared experience, though old ways are cherished, citizens forever thinking twice about committing to an uncertain future. The book focuses on mass media , as a prime agent of change, sometimes used deliberately to promote a “European project”; sometimes acting more naturally as a medium for new agendas. It looks at proposed media models for Europe, ranging from not very successful pan-European television, to the potentials of media systems based on national markets, and new media based on digital formats. It also studies the Brussels media service, the centre operated by the European Commission, which is the world’s largest concentration of journalists; and ways that dominant national media may come to serve the interests of communities now extending across frontiers. Europe and the Media notes change especially as encountered by new EU member countries of central and eastern Europe.