Preschool Children's Awareness of and Attitudes Toward Difference: A Study of 3- and 4-Year-Old Children in Northern Ireland

This paper presents the findings of a large-scale survey (n = 1,049) of the ethnic awareness and attitudes of 3-4 year old children in Northern Ireland. In drawing upon and applying Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, the paper demonstrates how even at this age, the children are already beginning to embody and internalize the cultural habits and dispositions of their respective ethnic groups. This was found in relation to the children’s: friendships choices; preferences for particular national flags; and dispositions towards specific sports associated with their respective communities. Informed by the work of Bourdieu, the paper concludes by arguing for the need for greater use of quantitative methods employing multivariate and multilevel statistical analyses and for these to be based on a more open and meaningful engagement with the findings of indepth qualitative and ethnographic research in this area.

Young, Old, and Weathered Carbon—Part 2: Using Radiocarbon and Stable Isotopes to Identify Terrestrial Carbon Support of the Food Web in an Alkaline, Humic Lake

Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotope analysis (SIA) has been used to identify the terrestrial subsidy of freshwater food webs. However, SIA fails to differentiate between the contributions of old and recently fixed terrestrial C and consequently cannot fully determine the source, age, and biochemical quality of terrestrial carbon. Natural abundance radiocarbon (∆14C) was used to examine the age and origin of carbon in Lower Lough Erne, Northern Ireland. 14C and stable isotope values were obtained from invertebrate, algae, and fish samples, and the results indicate that terrestrial organic C is evident at all trophic levels. High winter δ15N values in calanoid zooplankton (δ15N = 24‰) relative to phytoplankton and particulate organic matter (δ15N = 6‰ and 12‰, respectively) may reflect several microbial trophic levels between terrestrial C and calanoid invertebrates. Winter and summer calanoid ∆14C values show a seasonal switch between autochthonous and terrestrial carbon sources. Fish ∆14C values indicate terrestrial support at the highest trophic levels in littoral and pelagic food webs. 14C therefore is useful in attributing the source of carbon in freshwater in addition to tracing the pathway of terrestrial carbon through the food web.

Musicologist-driven writer identification in early music manuscripts

Recent renewed interest in computational writer identification has resulted in an increased number of publications. In relation to historical musicology its application has so far been limited. One of the obstacles seems to be that the clarity of the images from the scans available for computational analysis is often not sufficient. In this paper, the use of the Hinge feature is proposed to avoid segmentation and staff-line removal for effective feature extraction from low quality scans. The use of an auto encoder in Hinge feature space is suggested as an alternative to staff-line removal by image processing, and their performance is compared. The result of the experiment shows an accuracy of 87 % for the dataset containing 84 writers’ samples, and superiority of our segmentation and staff-line removal free approach. Practical analysis on Bach’s autograph manuscript of the Well-Tempered Clavier II (Additional MS. 35021 in the British Library, London) is also presented and the extensive applicability of our approach is demonstrated.

Holocene climate and environmental change in north-eastern Kamchatka (Russian Far East), inferred from a multi-proxy study of lake sediments

A sediment record from a small lake in the north-eastern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula has been investigated in a multi-proxy study to gain knowledge of Holocene climatic and environmental change. Pollen, diatoms, chironomids and selected geochemical parameters were analysed and the sediment record was dated with radiocarbon. The study shows Holocene changes in the terrestrial vegetation as well as responses of the lake ecosystem to catchment maturity and multiple stressors, such as climate change and volcanic eruptions. Climate change is the major driving force resulting in the recorded environmental changes in the lake, although recurrent tephra deposition events also contributed. The sediment record has an age at the base of about 10,000 cal yrs BP, and during the first 400 years the climate was cold and the lake exhibited extensive ice-cover during winter and relatively low primary production. Soils in the catchment were poor with shrub alder and birches dominating the vegetation surrounding the lake. At about 9600–8900 cal yrs BP the climate was cold and moist, and strong seasonal wind stress resulted in reduced ice-cover and increased primary production. After ca. 8900 cal yrs BP the forest density increased around the lake, runoff decreased in a generally drier climate resulting in decreased primary production in the lake until ca. 7000 cal yrs BP. This generally dry climate was interrupted by a brief climatic perturbation, possibly attributed to the 8.2 ka event, indicating increasingly windy conditions with thick snow cover, reduced ice-cover and slightly elevated primary production in the lake. The diatom record shows maximum thermal stratification at ca. 6300–5800 cal yrs BP and indicates together with the geochemical proxies a dry and slightly warmer climate resulting in a high productive lake. The most remarkably change in the catchment vegetation occurred at ca. 4200 cal yrs BP in the form of a conspicuous increase in Siberian dwarf pine (Pinus pumila), indicating a shift to a cooler climate with a thicker and more long-lasting snow cover. This vegetational change was accompanied by marked shifts in the diatom and chironomid stratigraphies, which are also indicative of colder climate and more extensive ice-cover.

Manuscripts

The aim of this chapter is three-fold: first, to explain systematically the multiple disciplines that have to be employed in the study of manuscripts; second, to review the evolution and development of methodologies used by the scholars who have shaped the present form of scholarship, and to chart outstanding problems that have yet to be resolved; and third, to offer some ideas of what future research might entail and in what way scholarship might unfold. Since numerous and disparate methodologies are employed in the study of Bach manuscripts, the discussions that follow will take nothing for granted, but will describe and define each one as it relates to understanding and reproducing, with as much accuracy as possible, Bach’s intentions in the manuscripts that contain his music.

Status and security: how Russian media is spinning airstrikes in Syria

Even before the Russian air force launched its first strikes over Syria, there was already a Russian presence on the battleground. These were not the spetsnaz, Kremlin’s special forces, but war correspondents from the leading Russian media outlets. This was as clear a sign as any that the Russia’s priority has shifted from Ukraine, where these reporters spent most of the past 18 months, to Syria.

There is, however, no unanimity on Russia’s latest escalation in Syria. As Russian state TV stations report successes of Russia’s high-precision weapons projecting an image of a high-tech Russian military equal to the US, doubts persist about the latest adventure in the Middle East.