Geographic Connections Research Articles

Strategijska geografija. Odnos geografskoga prostora i nacionalne snage (moći)

The purpose of this paper is to determine the subject of study of strategic geography as a geographic subdiscipline and to define its theoretical concept within the context of the interdisciplinary field of geography. The emphasis is placed on defining the significance of geographical space in the function of the synergy of national power as well as on formulating national interests and their strategic operationalization in the process of achieving national goals in an international environment. The paper presents a theoretical and methodological concept of studying geographical space which implies an interdisciplinary approach and comprehensiveness of the study of an interactively and functionally interconnected living environment. The aim of the study of strategic geography is scientific knowledge and an evaluation of the role of geographic factors in the modification of spatial and functional dynamics. Its singling out as a separate scientific subdiscipline is the result of an internal subject of study based on the analysis and singling out of dominant geographic characteristics relevant from the point of view of the analysis and synthetic judgement of the geographical sources of potential national power. Geographical space, i.e. geographic factors, processes, connections and relations as potential sources of comparative advantages in the process of defining national interests, and in the formulation and implementation of national strategies, represent strategic geography's subject of study. The most important study procedure of strategic geography is directed at geographic and resource advantages of national space and human potential in the international context.

Cloning colonialism: Residential development, transnational aspiration, and the complexities of postcolonial India

Within this article, we discuss/unpack a speculative international property development born out of a license agreement between the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and real estate investment company, Anglo Indian. The proposed building of twelve cloned, MCC branded, cricket communities in India–targeted to the consumption-based lifestyles of India’s new middle class–is addressed within the context relational to the political, economic, and cultural rationalities of postcolonial India, shifting power dynamics within the international cricket formation, and the associated re-colonisation of cricket-related spaces/bodies. Anglo Indian’s proposed communities are understood as part of a complex assemblage of national and global forces and relations (including, but certainly not restricted to): transnational gentrification; urban (re)development; and, revised understandings of historical and geographic connections between places, governance, and the politics of be(long)ing in branded spaces. This analysis explicates how Anglo Indian’s idealized community development offers a literal and figurative space for embodied performance of “glocal competence” for consumption-based identity projects of the new Indian middle-class (Brosius, 2010, p. 13) through the somewhat ironic mobilization of colonial spatial logics and cultural aesthetics.

Incorporating breeding abundance into spatial assignments on continuous surfaces.

Determining the geographic connections between breeding and nonbreeding populations, termed migratory connectivity, is critical to advancing our understanding of the ecology and conservation of migratory species. Assignment models based on stable isotopes historically have been an important tool for studying migratory connectivity of small‐bodied species, but the low resolution of these assignments has generated interest into combining isotopes with other sources in information. Abundance is one of the most appealing data sources to include in isotope‐based assignments, but there are currently no statistical methods or guidelines for optimizing the contribution of stable isotopes and abundance for inferring migratory connectivity. Using known‐origin stable‐hydrogen isotope samples of six Neotropical migratory bird species, we rigorously assessed the performance of assignment models that differentially weight the contribution of the isotope and abundance data. For two species with adequate sample sizes, we used Pareto optimality to determine the set of models that simultaneously minimized both assignment error rate and assignment area. We then assessed the ability of the top models from these two species to improve assignments of the remaining four species compared to assignments based on isotopes alone. We show that the increased precision of models that include abundance is often offset by a large increase in assignment error. However, models that optimally weigh the abundance data relative to the isotope data can result in higher precision and, in some cases, lower error than models based on isotopes alone. The top models, however, depended on the distribution of relative breeding abundance, with patchier distributions requiring stronger downweighting of abundance, and we present general guidelines for future studies. These results confirm that breeding abundance can be an important source of information for studies investigating broad‐scale movements of migratory birds and potentially other taxa.

Modelling Local Food Policy and Greenhouse Gas Emission Due to Transportation

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)1.IntroductionLocal food advocates assert many attributes of food that span sociological, health, safety, quality, economic and environmental considerations (Feenstra, 1997; Weatherell et al., 2003; Zepeda and Leviten-Reid, 2004; Roininen et al., 2006; Feagan, 2007; Darby et al., 2008; Kemp et al., 2010; Martinez et al., 2010). As the academic community increasingly tests these ideas, this article explores the assertion that food systems generate greenhouse gas savings compared to conventional food systems that make up mainstream food value chains. More specifically, this study looks at the current methods for modeling and accounting for greenhouse gasses generated in the transportation of food throughout the value chain when comparing food systems (LFS) to conventional food systems (CFS) and proposes a framework that is readily accessible to regional economists.A food system, as defined here, entails the entire chain from production to consumption. A LFS is one that is further defined by geographic proximity. Though no clear consensus exists on what constitutes food (Hand and Martinez, 2010; Martinez et al., 2010), the concept of local entails the notion of closer geographic connections between producers and sellers. For those advocating environmental attributes of foods, the shortened travel distance is a key basis of positive environmental outcomes of food (Pirog et al., 2001). For the proponents of LFS, the overtness of shorter travel distance is sufficient in proclaiming that food generates less transit-related greenhouse gas (GHG) than conventional foods (Edwards-Jones et al., 2008; Weber and Matthews, 2008; Coley et al., 2009). In light of increasing public scrutiny of anthropogenic contributions to climate change, policies pursuing reduced CO2 emissions, such as food promotion, will likely become more common. As such, tools for gauging environmental outcomes of policy direction are needed. For regional or sub-national policy considerations, few tools exist for guiding policy.In this study and in related studies (Martinez et al., 2010; Low et al., 2015), differences in food miles delineate LFS and CFS. Hence, the method of estimation and inclusiveness of food miles is of paramount importance in estimating the GHG generation. While some food system studies have gone beyond transportation as the sole source of GHG to encompass processing and storage (Van Hauwermeiren et al., 2007), or even production (Meisterling et al., 2009), others have limited consideration to transportation miles (Pirog et al., 2001; Wallgren, 2006; Weber and Matthews, 2008). This study follows the treatment of food miles in calculations of GHG emissions across LFS and CFS and highlights the role of accounting for food miles.There is no single source for estimating the distances food travels from producer to consumer that also takes into account stops along the way for processing, warehousing and distribution. Limited resources for measuring comparative food miles has resulted in widely varying estimates that can range between one- and two-thousand miles, depending on methods used in estimation and food commodities measured (Hendrickson, 1996; Pirog et al., 2001; Weber and Matthews, 2008). The modes and relative energy efficiency of transportation modes is also an important consideration (Meisterling et al., 2009), as efficiencies can be gained from long-haul trucks or trains that may offset long travel distance GHG generation from less-efficient delivery modes. That is, studies that assume that LFS miles generate the same carbon emissions per mile as CFS miles may overstate the GHG savings of LFS if those miles are less fuel-efficient than CFS miles. For example, the Transportation Research Board (2010) estimates that the typical fuel consumption of a Class 2 truck (pickup, or mid-sized utility truck) is nearly six times higher per ton-mile than a Class 8 combination truck. …

Avian migration and the distribution of malaria parasites in New World passerine birds

AbstractAimMigrating birds transport their parasites, often over long distances, but little is known about the transfer of these parasites to resident hosts in either the wintering or breeding ranges of the migratory host populations. We investigated the haemosporidian parasite faunas of migratory and resident birds to determine connections among distant parasite faunas, plausibly brought about by migratory host populations.LocationSamples were obtained, primarily during or shortly after the local breeding season, throughout the Americas, from the United States through the Caribbean Basin and into northern South America.MethodsInfections were identified by PCR and sequencing of parasite DNA in avian blood samples. The analyses were based on c. 4700 infections representing 79 parasite lineages of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus spp. Geographical connections of lineages between regions in the Americas were compared to those in the Euro‐African migration system, where migration distances are longer for many host species and the migrant and resident avifaunas in the wintering areas are phylogenetically more divergent.ResultsHaemosporidian lineages exhibited considerable variation in distribution in the Americas, and patterns of distribution differ markedly between the Americas and the Euro‐African migration system. In particular, few lineages were recovered from resident species in both temperate and tropical latitudes, particularly in the Euro‐African system, in which a large proportion of lineages were restricted to migrants. Parasite lineages in the Euro‐African system exhibited considerable phylogenetic conservatism in their distributions, that is, a tendency of related lineages to exhibit similar geographical distributions. In contrast, clades of parasites in the Americas displayed more geographical diversity, with four of 12 clades exhibiting all four of the distribution types representing the combinations of resident and migrant host species in both temperate and tropical latitudes.Main conclusionsLong‐distance migrants connect communities of avian haemosporidian parasites in breeding and wintering areas with disparate avifaunas and different vector communities. The degree of parasite lineage sharing between migrants and residents in breeding and wintering areas appears to reflect, to a large degree, the taxonomic similarity of migrants to the resident species in both areas.

Population demographic history of a temperate shrub, Rhododendron weyrichii (Ericaceae), on continental islands of Japan and South Korea.

Continental islands provide opportunities for testing the effects of isolation and migration on genetic variation in plant populations. In characteristic of continental islands is that the geographic connections between these islands, which are currently distinguished by seaways, have experienced fluctuations caused by sea‐level changes due to climate oscillations during the Quaternary. Plant populations on the islands have migrated between these islands via the exposed seafloors or been isolated. Here, we examined the demographic history of a temperate shrub, Rhododendron weyrichii, which is distributed in the southwestern parts of the Japanese archipelago and on an island of South Korea, using statistical phylogeographic approaches based on the DNA sequences of two chloroplast and eight nuclear loci in samples analyzed from 18 populations on eight continental islands, and palaeodistribution modeling. Time estimates for four island populations indicate that the durations of vicariance history are different between these populations, and these events have continued since the last glacial or may have predated the last glacial. The constancy or expansion of population sizes on the Japanese islands, and in contrast a bottleneck in population size on the Korean island Jeju, suggests that these islands may have provided different conditions for sustaining populations. The result of palaeodistribution modeling indicates that the longitudinal range of the species as a whole has not changed greatly since the last glacial maximum. These results indicate that exposed seafloors during the glacial period formed both effective and ineffective migration corridors. These findings may shed light on the effects of seafloor exposure on the migration of plants distributed across continental islands.

ГЕОГРАФІЧНА СТРУКТУРА УРБАНОФЛОР СТЕПОВОЇ ЗОНИ УКРАЇНИ

<p>This paper considers the problem of geographic links between the urban flora of steppe zone of Ukraine on the example of the industrial agglomeration Donetsk-Makeyevka, in comparison with urban flora of Kherson and Kirovograd. We presented the detailed description of special features of the composition of geographic elements of the agglomeration flora. It strongly reflects the characteristic features of steppe urban flora, because its territory is affected by the anthropogenic influence at large extend. The spectrum of geographic ranges of species from the agglomeration Donetsk-Makeyevka urban flora numbers 6 types, 12 classes and 130 groups of ranges. The urban flora is both represented by species with wide and local ranges, endemics, that point to its significant heterogeneity. However, compared to the flora of Kherson and Kirovograd, the role of holarctic type of ranges in the agglomeration flora (375 species compared to 400 and 522 species, respectively) is reduced in favor of the polyregional type, reflecting active adventization processes. The holarctic class itself is represented by 150 species (16.7%). It far exceeds the number of species of this class in the regional flora (9.2%), since nearly a half of their number in the observed flora is adventive species. Second place by the number of species in the holarctic class belongs to the European and North American group (13; 1.5%). Apart from this, seven more groups of the class, comprising 1-3 species each, are connected with North America. The polyregional type is represented to a large extent by the species of ruderal habitats. The total number of species of this type is 199. The palaearctic class includes the greatest number of ranges of species from the agglomeration urban flora (31); it consists of 175 species (19.5%), that is less than such index for regional flora (27.3%). The European and Old Mediterranean transition type comprises 97 species (10.8%), that is less than in other urban flora of steppe zone (128; 13.3% in Kherson and 171; 18.0% in Kirovograd). The Nomadic type numbers 132 species (14.7%). One more species – Verbascum marschallianum Ivanina et Tzvelev – is related to the Nomadic and European transition type. The Nomadic and Old Mediterranean transition type includes 93 species (10.4%). This all suggests heterogeneity of urban flora of steppe zone of Ukraine due to their wide geographic connections. On the one hand, they have features of regional flora, which was formed under the great influence of Old Mediterranean flora and has a significant number of narrow-range and endemic species. On the other hand, under the impact of urbanization one can observe the reduction of the role of ranges of the Nomadic type and the enhanced role of the polyregional type due to the significant number of adventive species.</p><p> </p>

Permian (Leonardian) brachiopods from Paso Hondo Formation, Chiapas, southern Mexico. Paleobiogeographical implications

One of the most important marine sequences of calcareous rocks from the Paleozoic of Mexico outcrops in southern Chiapas. It is composed by different units from Early Permian, being the Paso Hondo Formation the youngest with a Leonardian age. Different groups of marine invertebrates as corals, bivalves, gastropods, bryozoans, brachiopods and crinoids have been previously reported of this unit. Five brachiopod species of the orders Productida, Athyridida, Spiriferida and Spiriferinida from the Barrio Allende section of this unit are herein described. The new species Dyoros (Lissosia) maya and Hustedia shumardi are proposed. Sedimentology and paleoecology of the Paso Hondo Formation, suggest a well-lighted shallow lagoon environment with continuous terrigenous input. The subgenus Dyoros (Lissosia), the genus Paucispinifera and the species Hustedia shumardi, Spiriferella propria and Spiriferellina tricosa are typical taxa from Permian localities of Texas, New Mexico and Coahuila. Their presence in the studied area suggests that during Early Permian there was a geographic connection between the different localities of the biotic Grandian Province (southern USA, northern Mexico and Venezuela) and southeastern Chiapas.

ASEAN’s Defense Diplomacy and China’s Military Diplomacy

ASEAN’s Defense Diplomacy and China’s Military Diplomacy Penghong Cai (bio) Unlike other major powers outside Southeast Asia, China directly borders the region and lays claim to being at least partially included as a Southeast Asian state. This geographic connection is an important dimension of the geopolitical and security environment for China. In the nineteenth century or even earlier, the Western intrusion into China followed Southeast Asian land and maritime routes, and in the early 1940s Japan first occupied the Indochinese Peninsula and then southwest China. The region surrounding southernmost China, referred to as the south gate of China, has significant implications for the country’s security. Therefore, China logically harbors doubts about a newly developed mechanism related to defense cooperation at its doorstep. Labeled as a tool of defense diplomacy, the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) is diplomatically and tactically supported by China, but philosophically and practically the grouping’s vision of defense diplomacy remains divergent from the concept and policy of Chinese military diplomacy. This essay first examines the achievements of the ADMM-Plus and its benefits for China. It then analyzes the concept of defense diplomacy in Chinese military culture and concludes by considering obstacles to the future of the ADMM-Plus from a Chinese perspective. The ADMM-Plus’s Achievements and Benefits for China The ADMM-Plus was established in 2010 as a collective platform to ensure ASEAN centrality and realize the ADMM vision of being outward-looking, open, and inclusive. It consists of eighteen member states, including the ten ASEAN members plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. All the outside states have consented to ASEAN’s central role in regional affairs. When the ADMM-Plus began, some observers expected it to be “one of the more substantial pieces of Asia’s multilateral security architecture.”1 [End Page 89] These expectations require the ADMM-Plus to set up rules and carry out substantial activities. The last six years have seen some achievements. The ADMM-Plus has contributed norms for building regional security architecture and proposed new concepts like “dynamic equilibrium.” At the same time, it has upheld the ASEAN values of respecting national sovereignty, exercising self-restraint in defense diplomacy, finding peaceful solutions to disputes, maintaining ASEAN centrality, and promoting cooperative security (from Europe to ASEAN). In practice, the ADMM-Plus has set up working groups in nontraditional security areas such as counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), military medicine, and peacekeeping and has gradually begun working in traditional security fields like maritime security—for example, by setting up a hotline for preventing incidents at sea. The most significant accomplishment of the ADMM-Plus is the joint military exercises it has held since its establishment. The most recent exercise was held in Brunei and Singapore in early May 2016 and comprised 3,500 personnel, 18 naval vessels, 25 aircraft, and 40 special forces teams from all eighteen member countries. Another significant result is that the ADMM-Plus has given the United States and China opportunities to work together despite tensions in the South China Sea. China supports and benefits from the ADMM-Plus process. It regards ASEAN countries as important neighbors and tries to improve its relationships with them through the ADMM-Plus. China dispatches its defense ministers to take part in the ministerial meetings, while only dispatching deputy ministerial officers to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue conferences. China can take advantage of the ADMM-Plus to deliver and circulate defense policies, associate with old and new counterparts and participants, learn different points of view, and establish necessary contacts. The forum also supplies China with specific information on the development of new security mechanisms and how they may affect China’s military diplomacy. Defense Diplomacy in the View of China’s Military Diplomacy Defense diplomacy is a traditional security concept used for the realpolitik purposes of strengthening Western allies against common enemies.2 The concept’s intellectual roots are in the use of defense alliances [End Page 90] as a tool to defend the Western democracies from Cold War enemies like China, but the emphasis now is on peacetime military cooperation and assistance. China...

Geographic Connections: Language, Power Relations, and Relevance

AbstractThe interrogation of language is crucial in all sub‐fields of geography and in related disciplines. This paper interrogates the terms nature, environment, sustainability, and resilience, given their importance in connecting geography with other academic pursuits and with people and organisations that make our discipline relevant. The paper explores how geography may be seen as ‘relevant’ while maintaining a constructively critical approach. It does so through the example of Sydney's metropolitan strategy/plan that was released in December 2014. The concept of resilience as defined and used in this new metropolitan plan fails to address transboundary issues such as climate change, raising concerns about sustainability. As such it serves the needs of political interests aligned with a growth agenda. This is one example highlighting that a challenge for many geographers is to maintain critical thinking while being relevant. It is an important challenge that geographers should relish.

Tuber Symptoms Associated with Recombinant Strains of Potato virus Y in Specialty Potatoes Under Western Washington Growing Conditions

This study documented the presence of PVYo, PVYNTN, and PVYN-Wi strains in western Washington in 2012 and 2013, representing the first detections of PVYNTN and PVYN-Wi in this potato growing region. Chieftain and Yukon Gold plantings showed an unexplained shift to a higher proportion of PVYN-Wi in 2013 compared to 2012. In 2012, 56.4 % of positive plants pooled across cultivars were affected by PVYN-Wi while 39 % were affected by PVYO. In 2013, PVYN-Wi was the highest represented strain at 79.3 %. Testing of non-symptomatic plants from pre-selected survey sites showed PVYN-Wi comprised 69.5 % in 2012 and 100 % in 2013 of the total strains identified. PVY also impacted the quality of tubers. In both a field and a greenhouse trial, there was a clear association between PVY plant infections and suberized canoe-shaped cracks in progeny tubers. Non-symptomatic (healthy) plants had significantly fewer cracked, and/or discolored and/or malformed tubers compared to suspect and symptomatic plants. Plants negative for PVY at grow-out did not produce cracked tubers while plants positive for PVY produced 22–32 % cracked tubers. Results from subsequent on-farm tuber surveys suggested the same trend, although the relationship was not as clear cut, but observations were derived from sampling in 2013 when sample sizes were limited. Because of the close geographic and economic connection between seed and ware potato production in western Washington and the results derived from these studies, we suggest a systematic and regional approach to PVY management that includes adjustments to current seed certification practices; new research and educational programs that improve knowledge of PVY biology, transmission, and effects on tuber quality; and new field management strategies to reduce vector and virus spread.

6 Material Culture and Diasporic Experiences: A Case of Medieval Hanse Merchants in the Baltic

ABSTRACTThe Hanseatic League, a late medieval merchant association with roots in northern German towns, is credited with the establishment of extensive economic and geographic connections and considerable impact on the development of urban culture around the Baltic and the North Sea. Its merchants, regularly crossing the Seas and settling in foreign ports, created a network of diasporic communities often maintaining close physical and emotional connections with their home towns. This chapter focuses on the late medieval German diaspora in Kalmar (Sweden) and Tallinn (Estonia) and examines cultural and material practices of these communities. It theorizes about the role and meaning of everyday material culture for Hanseatic merchants and their families, and investigates how material objects figured in the experience of relocation. It discusses the centrality of everyday things in rebuilding the migrants’ lives after relocation, constructing a sense of diaspora community and maintaining connections with families they left behind.

Long-distance dispersal capability of Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor between India and Africa: genetic inferences for future conservation plans

We examine genetic differentiation of Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor, a colonial and vagrant waterbird confined to four populations in the Old World, in order to provide a first insight into geographic connections between the two major breeding populations. Sixty-nine flamingos, sampled from Lake Bogoria (Kenya) and Rann of Kachchh (Gujarat, India), were analysed by sequencing mitochondrial markers (cytb and ND2) and genotyping six nuclear loci. We globally found low levels of polymorphism, revealing congruent patterns of starburst radiation around the most frequent haplotypes. We estimated that average demographic expansion of the African and Indian populations was around 141 000 years ago. Analyses of nuclear DNA highlighted lack of population genetic structure and asymmetric gene flow, precluding genetic isolation between the breeding sites. Here, we showed that limited numbers of individuals (2-3 migrants per generation) may move between Kenya and Gujarat (and vice versa) providing genetic evidence that supports the observations of occasional birds along Indian Ocean and Arabian peninsula coastline countries and that the Lesser Flamingo population in the Rift Valley acts as a ‘centre of connec­tivity' between the remote populations. The Lesser Flamingo is considered Near Threatened, so this knowledge may be important for future management of conservation strategy plans.

Transportation and Regional Economic Development: Analysis of Spatial Spillovers in China Provincial Regions

The role of spillover effect of transportation endowment on regional economic development is analyzed in this paper. We adopt the reduced form from the Solow growth model to estimate spillover effect from transportation. The panel database in use incorporates provincial gross regional product (GRP), labor and capital supply, and transportation investment information from 1985 to 2012 in China. The results confirm positive and significant spillover effect in Chinese provinces. In this paper, non-homogeneous spillover effects are captured in the empirical regression by the use of spatial weighing methods based on provincial economics and similarity as well as geographic connection. Highly positive spillovers are observed between economically similar provinces. However, for those under-developed provinces, high network connectivity often results in low or negative spillovers. The mobility and migration of production factors are believed to be the sources of the negative spillovers, while the industrial reallocation and market expansion contribute to the positive spillovers.

“Breme Beowulf” and “Inclite Pelagi”: Colonizing the Comitatus

“Breme Beowulf” and “Inclite Pelagi”: Colonizing the Comitatus Holly M. Wendt (bio) The Middle Ages witnessed the expansion of Latin Christianity, in terms of both religious conversion and physical territory, in a variety of theatres, from crusading interests in the Middle East to the establishment of bishoprics in the northernmost reaches of Scandinavia. One frontier of expansion of particular interest is Saxony, the land containing not only the monastery of Gandersheim, founded in 852, but also the lands that, centuries earlier, gave rise to the Germanic warrior code by which much of pre-Christian Europe was governed as well as Old English literary traditions as we know them. Those literary traditions, beyond alliteration, litotes, and kennings, include foregrounding the language of the comitatus. The basic tenets of the comitatus, as described by John M. Hill in The Anglo-Saxon Warrior Ethic, are reciprocal loyalty between retainer and warlord, as especially enacted by the exchange of gifts for services and services for gifts; revenge obligation regarding injury or death, on behalf of kinsmen as well as for one’s lord; and fame-assuring battle courage, especially if a successful outcome—battlefield victory—seems impossible. (1) The language of the comitatus ripples through texts both overtly Christian, such as “The Dream of the Rood,” and texts primarily—perhaps murkily—pagan, such as Beowulf, our fullest, richest exemplar of the genre. Beowulf’s treatment of secular morality and warrior ethos, coupled with its historical dating and geographical connections, offers a unique lens through which to consider medieval Christian expansion, which stood to benefit from that particular overlap of potentially incongruous elements. Though the dating of Beowulf has proven almost epically difficult,1 many scholars acknowledge the tenth century as its latest possible date of composition, as is elucidated in Donald G. Scragg’s “The Nature of Old English Verse” and Colin Chase’s collection, The Dating of Beowulf. Kevin Kiernan’s persuasive technologically informed study, Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript, dates the manuscript itself to the early eleventh century, possibly to the reign of Canute the Great (4). Regardless of the finer temporal particulars of the poem’s composition and recording, the date-range for Beowulf coincides with the evolution of a Latin Christian proto-national identity in England as evidenced in the kingdom-creating projects of Alfred, ninth-century King of Wessex, and Canute. These cohesions, and [End Page 39] similar efforts through the rest of western Europe, solidify further through the conversion and orthodoxy efforts that culminate in the Crusades. Within the same temporal context of Beowulf, too, in the late tenth century, canoness Hrotsvit of Gandersheim penned a verse account of the martyrdom of Saint Pelagius. The Pelagius is, in many ways, a text significantly different from Beowulf: the poem recounts the martyrdom of a young Christian in Muslim-controlled Córdoba, and the account is written by a canoness, in the Latin of the church, in the confines of a monastery. However, there are meaningful comparisons as well, and these connections are the heart of my thesis: Beowulf and Pelagius present their heroes as both moral champions in the warrior tradition and as martyrs while using the language of enmity as a way to foreground a Christian center in the medieval expansion of Latin Christianity. The Christian center finds itself changed in the wake of Germanic conversion, appropriating and colonizing the values of the pagan comitatus for its own goals and drawing strength from deliberately embracing—and subverting—the disadvantaged position. I look to Julia Kristeva’s Strangers to Ourselves and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak?” for a portion of the vocabulary necessary to this analysis. To begin, positioning Beowulf beside a hagiographic text may appear odd in light of the diverse opinions regarding Beowulf’s Christian elements. Investigating each instance of Christian influence in Beowulf is not my project here, though, because many scholars have thoroughly undertaken that task before to a variety of conclusions.2 While some scholars continue to maintain that the Christian passages in Beowulf were added to the “original” poem at some stage in its recording, C. Tidmarsh Major accounts for the poem as an organically syncretic work acknowledging the gradual...

Cryptic variation in the Moroccan high altitude lizard Atlantolacerta andreanskyi (Squamata: Lacertidae)

Atlantolacerta andreanskyi is a mountain specialist lacertid lizard, restricted to areas above 2400 m of the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, with apparently no geographic connection between different populations. In a recent molecular study, populations from A. andreanskyi collected across its distribution area were analysed, showing unprecedented levels of genetic differentiation for mitochondrial markers, which were also partially differentiated for nuclear markers. Here we aim to investigate, for the first time, the phenotypic variability of this species, using univariate and multivariate analyses on linear measurements, pholidotic and coloration characters in six populations of A. andreanskyi previously analysed genetically and covering most of its distribution range. The results show that despite the high genetic divergence previously detected, morphological variation among populations was low. Thus, although some genetic lineages could be partially discriminated morphologically at a multivariate level, single diagnostic traits could not be identified, and thus, they can be considered as cryptic lineages. Although the extreme genetic diversity observed supports the existence of six independent entities, more prospecting and analysis of additional populations will be needed to confirm the evolutionary independence of the lineages before their formal description.

The Development of Facebook's Competitive Advantage for Brand Awareness

The paper aims to examine the development of competitive advantage in Facebook for brand awareness. The paper describes a dynamic model of the simulation system associated with the stock of online communication and customer engagement, the increase of users and the geographic connection that social media provide.

Serpukhovian (Early Carboniferous) Rugosa (Anthozoa) from the Lublin Basin, eastern Poland

Sixteen rugose coral species, two known previously, nine new, three left in open nomenclature, and two identified as affinis , are described from the early Serpukhovian strata of the Lublin area, eastern Poland. Rugose corals of that age here are described for the first time from Poland. New genera include Birkenmajerites , Chelmia and Occulogermen . New species include: Axisvacuus tenerus , Birkenmajerites primus , Chelmia radiata , Nervophyllum lukoviensis , Occulogermen luciae , Rotiphyllum plumeum , ? Sochkineophyllum symmetricum , Zaphrentites rotiphylloides and, Zaphrufimia anceps . A brief analysis of the taphonomy, possible relationships and geographical connections of the corals described here to rugose coral faunas from adjacent areas also is included.

Clinical research: a globalized network.

Clinical research has become increasingly globalized, but the extent of globalization has not been assessed. To describe the globalization of clinical research, we used all (n = 13,208) multinational trials registered at ClinicalTrials.gov to analyzed geographic connections among individual countries. Our findings indicate that 95% (n = 185) of all countries worldwide have participated in multinational clinical research. Growth in the globalization of clinical research peaked in 2009, suggesting that the global infrastructure that supports clinical research might have reached its maximum capacity. Growth in the globalization of clinical research is attributable to increased involvement of non-traditional markets, particularly in South America and Asia. Nevertheless, Europe is the most highly interconnected geographic region (60.64% of global connections), and collectively, Europe, North America, and Asia comprise more than 85% of all global connections. Therefore, while the expansion of clinical trials into non-traditional markets has increased over the last 20 years and connects countries across the globe, traditional markets still dominate multinational clinical research, which appears to have reached a maximum global capacity.

The Regional Journal in Sociology: Recent Trends and Observations

We investigate the historical trajectories of several sociological journals published by regional associations, focusing our attention on one of the first regional journals published by the Pacific Sociological Association, Sociological Perspectives. We begin with a discussion of the journal’s origins and look at its professional and geographical development over time. Through a comparative-historical analysis of author affiliations of articles published in regional journals, we find geographic ties are important in shaping the early content of regional journals. However, as time passes, regional ties are stretched to include work from a broadening spectrum of regions and nations. So, while regional sociological journals do appear to maintain their original geographical connections, they also tend to expand their relative geographical influence over time.