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As science makes progress, proposing new discoveries every day, it is more and more interesting for the astronomical world to perform sub-millimeter observations from very suitable terrestrial sites, due to the purity of the air as well as to other environmental factors. A site with these characteristics has been identified in the area of the DOME C in the South Pole. The problems, both technical and logistic, that the installation of a radio antenna in the South Pole requires, are easily understandable. Proceeding at the same rate as the progress of science, also the technological and industrial capacities improve, so that the problems that the realization of a sub-millimiter Observatory in the South Pole implies, can be overcome. This is a summary of a Preliminary Feasibility Study of the AST (Antarctic Sub-millimeter Telescope) Radioantenna that is intended to be installed at Dome C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to describe the isonymic structure of Paraguay, the distribution of 4,843,868 surnames of 2,882,163 persons was studied in the 18 departments and 237 districts of the nation. The correlations between isonymic and geographic distances for departments were r = 0.713 ± 0.052 for Euclidean distance, 0.597 ± 0.074 for Nei's and 0.582 ± 0.076 for Lasker's, and for districts r = 0.320 ± 0.007, 0.235 ± 0.009 and 0.422 ± 0.008, respectively. Average α was 151 for the entire country, 140.6 ± 6.5 for departments and 108.2 ± 2.7 for districts. The geographical distribution of districts'α is compatible with the settlement of subsequent groups of migrants moving from South towards the Centre and North of Paraguay. The geographical analysis of the first three components of Lasker's isonymy distance matrix is in agreement with such a process. The prevalence of Spanish-Amerindian ethnic groups and the relative absence of indigenous surnames (absence due mainly to the forced surname change of 1848) is in agreement with the diffusion of Spanish speaking males over a low-density area populated by indigenous groups. The present distribution of Y-markers and mt-markers in the available studies in most Latin American populations is compatible with this process., (© 2011 The Authors Annals of Human Genetics © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/University College London.)

In Bolivia, the Hispanic dual surname system is used. To describe the isonymic structure of Bolivia, the surname distribution of 12,139,448 persons registered in the 2006 census data was studied in 9 districts and 112 provinces of the nation, for a total of 23,244,064 surnames. The number of different surnames found was 174,922. Matrices of isonymic distances between the administrative units (districts and provinces) were constructed and tested for correlation with geographic distance. In the 112 provinces, isonymic distances were correlated with geographic distance (r = 0.545 ± 0.011 for Euclidean, 0.501 ± 0.012 for Nei's, and 0.556 ± 0.010 for Lasker's distance). The multiple regression of the surname effective number (α), equivalent to the allele effective number in a genetic system, was nonsignificant on latitude and longitude; however, it was highly significant and negative on altitude (r = -0.72). Because the Andes extend from north to south in west-central Bolivia, random inbreeding was lowest in the eastern districts, and highest in mountainous western Bolivia. Average α for the provinces was 122 ± 2; for the districts, it was 216 ± 29, and for the whole of Bolivia it was 213. The geographical distribution of α in the provinces is compatible with the settlement of subsequent groups of migrants moving from east and north toward the center and south of Bolivia. The relative frequency of indigenous surnames is correlated positively with altitude. This suggests that the country was populated by recent low-density demic diffusion over a low-density indigenous population. This may have been a common phenomenon in the immigration to tropical South America., (2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)