Problem Of Delimitation Research Articles

‘The problem of delimitation’: parataxis, bureaucracy, and Ecuador's popular and solidarity economy

What happens when an alternative economy becomes subject to a state bureaucratic apparatus? The question is posed in the context of a state project in Ecuador to institutionalize a so‐called ‘economía popular y solidaria’ (or EPS). This ‘popular and solidarity economy’, part of a project of ‘post‐neoliberal’ state transformation, invites questions about how to delimit its boundaries. This article offers an ethnographically informed account of the expert knowledge forms and bureaucratic techniques of Ecuadorian state actors charged with institutionalizing the EPS. I argue that in descriptions of the EPS, officials deploy an open‐ended aesthetic (which I term ‘parataxis’); in response to everyday bureaucratic demands to identify existing EPS practitioners, however, officials rely on techniques of provisional delimitation. The case promises insight into alternative economic imaginaries and the post‐neoliberal turn in Latin America and it raises questions central to the anthropology of the state about the intersection of expert knowledge and bureaucratic practice.

Таможенные преступления в международном праве: проблема разграничения

Таможенные преступления в международном праве: проблема разграничения

Using a fuzzy inference system to delimit rural and urban municipalities in the Czech republic in 2010

Due to the suburbanisation process, it is becoming more difficult to properly define rural and urban areas in the Czech Republic. This delimitation problem has been intensively studied in Europe, including the Czech Republic, for decades, but only so-called ‘crisp’ rules have been set for the categorisation of urban and rural. This is no longer satisfactory because of substantial population movements. Our research focuses on applying fuzzy set theory to the delimitation of rural and urban areas and on the subsequent advanced cartographic visualisation. We used the principles of fuzzy regulation, or fuzzy inference systems, on socio-economic data to show the transitional character of municipalities. The generated Main map is at scale of 1:500,000, whereas secondary maps are at scale of 1:2,500,000. Map visualisation of municipalities in the Czech Republic provides a very unique combination of geographical information science, cartography and modern geo-computational methods. Information perception via a map is an adequate way to analyse geographic information, and the problem of delimiting rural and urban areas can be suitably visualised using these methods.

An evaluation of taxonomic concepts of the widespread plant genus Aglaia and its allies across Wallace’s Line (tribe Aglaieae, Meliaceae)

Similar to other species-rich taxa in the Indo-Australian Archipelago, taxonomy of the genus Aglaia (mahogany family, Meliaceae) remains problematic. This study aims to evaluate taxonomic concepts within Aglaia based on the largest dataset to-date. We analyzed sequences of 237 accessions of Aglaia and representatives of all other genera of the tribe Aglaieae, including nuclear ribosomal ITS, the trnL–trnF intron and intergenic spacer, the atpF intron and the petD region comprising the petB–petD spacer, the petD-5′ exon and the petD intron (all but the first from the plastid genome). Our analyses were set both in maximum likelihood and Bayesian frameworks, which (1) supported paraphyly of Aglaia and Aphanamixis; (2) demonstrated polyphyly of previously described sections for Aglaia; and (3) suggested delimitation problems with 57% of the morphologically “variable species” and all “complex species”. In general, there were more genetic entities than species described, which shows that the taxonomy of this group is more complex than has sometimes been previously assumed. For some species, morphological variation suggests the existence of more variants, subspecies or species within various taxa. Furthermore, our study detected additional phylogenetic entities that were geographically distinct, occurring on either side of Wallace’s Line but not on both sides. The delineation of these inter-specific taxa needs further investigation by taking into account the morphological variation within and between populations across the entire distribution.

Critically endangered island endemic or peripheral population of a widespread species? Conservation genetics of Kikuchi's gecko and the global challenge of protecting peripheral oceanic island endemic vertebrates

Aim To highlight the significant conservation challenge of evaluating peripheral endemic vertebrates in island archipelago systems and to assess empirically the complexities of approaches to conservation genetic studies across political and biogeographic boundaries. To demonstrate the poignant need for international collaboration and coordination when species delimitation problems with high conservation concern involve island endemics with biogeographically peripheral ranges. Location Southeast Asia, Lanyu Island, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Methods Genetic samples were collected and sequenced for one mitochondrial gene and five nuclear loci for species of the Gekko mindorensis-G. kikuchii species complex in Southeast Asia. We used maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic methods and coalescent-based species delimitation analyses to estimate phylogeographic relationships, construct multilocus haplotype networks and test putative species boundaries. Results Phylogenetic and population genetic analyses suggest that Kikuchi's Gecko may represent a peripheral population of a widespread species distributed from the northern Philippines to Taiwan. However, we identify a discrepancy between inferences of species boundaries resulting from methods based on allele frequencies versus coalescent-based methods that incorporate evolutionary history. Coalescent-based analyses suggest that G. kikuchii may be a distinct evolutionary lineage. Our study underscores the need for coalescent-based methods in conjunction with population genetic approaches for conservation genetic assessments of widespread species. Main conclusions This study joins a few recent works suggesting that Philippine-derived anomalies in the fauna of Lanyu (and possibly greater Taiwan) are worthy of careful reconsideration. Determining whether each is the result of recent human-mediated introduction or (possibly more ancient) natural dispersal should be the goal of future studies on this seldom-conceived biogeographic relationship. Isolated species endemic to islands on the outer periphery of biogeographic and political regions represent particular conservation challenges. This is especially true if a species occurs on an isolated island that is allied biogeographically with one nation, but politically administered by another.

Practical problems of delimitation of real estate under the provisions of the Water Law.

Practical problems of delimitation of real estate under the provisions of the Water Law.

Practical Relevance as an Issue for Contemporary Border Studies

Although border issues are a matter of importance for a large number of people, contemporary Border Studies (dominated by the intertwining of post-modernist, constructivist, and critical approaches) is little preoccupied with finding viable practical solutions, focusing instead on conceptualising the essence of borders and border processes. Meanwhile, previous Border Studies was a practically-oriented discipline focused on helping practitioners delimit borders, and to find an optimal balance between protecting borders against unwanted cross-border flows and fostering desirable cross-border interactions. The article examines the widespread theoretical approaches to studying borders in the light of their practical relevance, and discusses what can be done in order to make Border Studies more capable of generating viable practical solutions. Despite the fact that mainstream Border Studies is currently not much preoccupied with bridging theory with practice, I argue that both contemporary and older approaches have significant practical potential which could be especially helpful in solving delimitation problems, increasing efficiency of cross-border cooperation, better balancing the priorities of strengthening border security and fostering cross-border interaction, cross-border region building, managing cross-border conflicts and mitigating alarmist perceptions of the Other, fighting border-related injustices and human rights violations, etc. In addition, I suggest that drawing new ideas from Management Studies and Communication Studies could be promising ways of making Border Studies more practically relevant.

DNA barcoding and species boundary delimitation of selected species of Chinese Acridoidea (Orthoptera: Caelifera).

We tested the performance of DNA barcoding in Acridoidea and attempted to solve species boundary delimitation problems in selected groups using COI barcodes. Three analysis methods were applied to reconstruct the phylogeny. K2P distances were used to assess the overlap range between intraspecific variation and interspecific divergence. “Best match (BM)”, “best close match (BCM)”, “all species barcodes (ASB)” and “back-propagation neural networks (BP-based method)” were utilized to test the success rate of species identification. Phylogenetic species concept and network analysis were employed to delimitate the species boundary in eight selected species groups. The results demonstrated that the COI barcode region performed better in phylogenetic reconstruction at genus and species levels than at higher-levels, but showed a little improvement in resolving the higher-level relationships when the third base data or both first and third base data were excluded. Most overlaps and incorrect identifications may be due to imperfect taxonomy, indicating the critical role of taxonomic revision in DNA barcoding study. Species boundary delimitation confirmed the presence of oversplitting in six species groups and suggested that each group should be treated as a single species.

The distributional residue in Natural Phonology and its implications for morphologization

Since at least Kruszewski (1881) it has been taken as an important task to sort out the alternations that involve morphology from those that are purely phonological. This dichotomy is largely followed by Natural Phonology (NP, cf. Donegan and Stampe 2009 for example), and by Generative Phonotactics (Singh 1987). Both these approaches insist on a strict delimitation (not a gradient one) between phonological and morphological phenomena. In this paper, I will first re-examine the problem of domain delimitation (Singh 1991) within NP by bringing in a more systematic use of the criterion of semioticity, which is not as often cited (but see Dressler 1980; Zwicky 1982; Ford and Singh 1983) but deserves attention. In order to do this, it will help to look at a case that is universally deemed to be clear: Final Devoicing in German. Because the delimitation of phonology from morphology is essential both for synchrony and diachrony (to classify alternations and to understand their transitions from one module to the other), I will then turn to diachrony for additional support for the criterion of semioticity as well as spell out how it can help us understand the phenomenon of morphologization.

On the Constitutive Force of Regulative Rules

The paper deals with the problem of delimitation of regulative and constitutive rules. I argue that while regulative rules are and remain a genus of their own, they do have a constitutive import, because they (i) define new forms of behaviour (behaviour compliant with them), (ii) take constituted entities as “input”, (iii) redefine old forms of behaviour as such to which a deontic modality applies and (iv) help to carve out new possibilities of behaviour from a continuum of only potentially distinguishable possibilities.

A taxonomic re‐assessment in the Chinese Bupleurum (Apiaceae): Insights from morphology, nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer, and chloroplast (trnH‐psbA, matK) sequences

Abstract As one of the big genera in Apiaceae, Bupleurum L. has received considerable attention from plant taxonomists. Nevertheless, there are still many gaps in our knowledge of this genus, especially of those species endemic to China that have often been excluded from previous studies. In spite of a few recent studies on the phylogeny and classification of the Chinese Bupleurum, the most essential problem of species delimitation still remains unresolved. We re‐evaluate the taxonomy of the Chinese Bupleurum using morphological and molecular evidence. Careful observations of living plants growing the field and herbarium specimens were made to understand the morphological variation and to ensure species identification for the molecular analysis. Phylogenetic analyses were carried out on sequence data of nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nrITS), trnH‐psbA, and matK, using parsimony and Bayesian approaches to evaluate species relationships. Analyses of both nrITS and combined datasets of the three regions revealed the following results: (i) the Chinese Bupleurum species were divided into two major lineages; and (ii) most species were well defined, but some traditional inter‐ and infraspecific relationships were not supported. Our results, along with the results of previous works support that the Chinese Bupleurum species were derived from two different lineages and should be placed in Neves and Watson's subgenus Bupleurum. Our detailed taxonomic re‐assessment of several Chinese species resulted in new taxonomic recombinations with rank changes for three species: Bupleurum tenerum, B. amplexicaule, and B. franchetii; new combination for one variety, B. smithii var. flaviflorum; and the description of one variety and one species, B. stenophyllum var. leiocarpum and B. sikangense.

Comparative study (AFLP and morphology) of three species of Prosopis of the Section Algarobia: P. juliflora, P. pallida, and P. limensis. Evidence for resolution of the “P. pallida–P. juliflora complex”

The problems of delimitation of species of Prosopis originate from the few morphological discontinuities which exist among some of them; some, however, originated as a result of wide distribution of germplasm without proper knowledge of the species, in particular, much material catalogued as P. juliflora, but being of other species, was distributed for reforestation projects worldwide. This work tests the morphological results obtained for P. pallida and P. limensis of the Peruvian–Ecuadorian coast and for P. juliflora of the Caribbean Basin of Colombia and Venezuela utilizing a study of AFLPs and a study of the morphology of plantlets developed in a conventional garden study. The phenogram obtained for the AFLPs demonstrates each of the three species to be a well differentiated cluster and the molecular variance between them is significantly greater than the variance within each species. Study of the plantlets also indicates statistically significant differences for four morphological characters between P. juliflora and the other two species (P. pallida and P. limensis). These results, in addition to the morphological differentiation evident between adult plants of P. pallida and P. limensis and the clear separation of these two species from P. juliflora, corroborate the genetic identity of the three taxa analyzed.

The law and practice in maritime boundary delimitation: lessons for the resolution of dispute between Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana

It is unrewarding, especially in a new and still unconsolidated field like that involving the extension of claims by States to areas which were until yesterday ‘no-man’s sea’, to look to general international law to provide a ready-made set of rules that can be used for solving any delimitation problems that arise. This article addresses issues most salient to a sophisticated understanding of maritime boundary delimitation concepts, principles, rules, regulations, norms, customs and practices. The purpose of this article is not to pass any judgment or prescribe any concrete method of resolving the new dispute between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, but to critically analyse the applicability of existing and emerging legitimate methods of resolving maritime boundary delimitation disputes, pointing out the controversies and ambiguities in applying those methods as a way of guiding the two parties in dispute, as well as subsequent ones. In abstract terms, the distinction between the general principle of equitable solution and the precise methods of delimitation is left unchanged. The author, using classical cases and State practices as evidence, argues that this distinction has become more and more blurred with the passing of time, and that States in dispute are left with the option to adopt any customary method of choice acceptable to the parties themselves. The article discusses several other emerging methods (such as equidistance, proportionality, shifting of the median line) applying to specific geographical circumstances. It is designed to contribute to existing literature and jurisprudence of maritime delimitation disputes.

The Problem of Delimitation of Bangladesh’s Maritime Boundaries with India and Myanmar: Prospects for a Solution

AbstractThe sea areas of Bangladesh are reportedly rich in straddling fish stocks and mineral resources, including hydrocarbons. But a long-standing dispute over maritime boundary delimitation with India and Myanmar remains a major stumbling block in exploration of these resources. The overlapping claims of these three countries over the maritime zones in the Bay of Bengal need to be settled for peaceful exploration of natural resources. While India and Myanmar want to delimit the maritime boundary on the basis of the equidistance principle, Bangladesh demands that delimitation should be based on the equitable method. The special geographical circumstances of the coastal zones of these countries warrant that any delimitation, whether agreed or determined by a third party, must result in an equitable solution. The decisions of the international courts and tribunals, state practice, and the Law of the Sea Convention clearly demonstrate that there has been a shift from the equidistance principle to the equitable principle of delimitation and strongly indicate that the equitable principle is the preferred method of delimitation.

An arborescent lycopsid from the Lower Carboniferous Price Formation, southwestern Virginia, USA and the problem of species delimitation

Abstract A large assemblage of stems, leaves and reproductive structures collected from a single horizon in the Lower Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) Price Formation of southwestern Virginia, USA is recognized as representing the components of a distinctive arborescent lycopsid. While similar forms previously were included in Lepidodendropsis Lutz, an eligulate lycopsid in which leaf scars are not apparent, these specimens document the presence of both well-defined leaf scars and ligules. Among larger specimens, leaf base patterns change along the length of a single stem, each morphology conforming to a different species of Lepidodendropsis . Because of the overlapping variability within specimens, we find that stems of different sizes and leaf base patterns are parts of the same plant. This plant was a tree with a trunk that probably attached to a cormose base previously recognized as Protostigmaria Jennings. The trunk extended 3–4 m before branching dichotomously to produce a crown of several orders of branches, with the distal-most ones still bearing long tapering leaves. Sporangia are borne in fertile zones; the plant is heterosporous. The presence of leaf scars and a ligule (features explicitly lacking in the generic diagnosis of Lepidodendropsis ) as well as other plant organs for this taxon precludes inclusion in Lepidodendropsis ; rather, this plant should be placed in a new genus. A better understanding of this plant, and other specimens attributed to Lepidodendropsis , may aid in elucidating transitions and phylogenetic relationships among Late Devonian–Late Carboniferous arborescent lycopsids.

Indicators for comparative analysis of public project funding: concepts, implementation and evaluation

Despite its relevance for research funding, few comparable data are available in official R&D statistics on the amount and composition of project funding. This paper discusses in detail the methodology developed in the European Network of Excellence on Research and Innovation Policies PRIME for systematically producing indicators on public project funding which allow for comparative analysis between different countries and across periods of time. We introduce the design of the methodology, and discuss delimitation problems and how to develop suitable classifications of project funding instruments, as well as data availability and limitations. We present examples of our quantitative results for six European countries and of the questions they raise for comparative policy analysis.

El interventor y el Caíd. La política colonial española frente a la justicia marroquí durante el protectorado de Marruecos

La politica colonial espanola en el Protectorado de Marruecos (1912-1956) mantuvo una retorica oficial de respeto al Islam y la justicia marroqui, pero en la practica introdujo importantes transformaciones en el sistema de jurisdicciones locales e instauro mecanismos politicos de gestion y control de las mismas. Dicha intervencion constituyo una forma de justicia indirecta, similar a la formula del gobierno indirecto, y en ambos casos conto con numerosas limitaciones materiales o graves problemas de delimitacion de competencias entre las autoridades gubernativas y las autoridades judiciales. En este contexto, el sistema de Intervenciones superviso el funcionamiento y la estructura de la administracion marroqui de justicia, y mantuvo una alerta especial hacia todos aquellos asuntos que la administracion espanola consideraba peligrosos para el mantenimiento del orden colonial.

The Mediterranean and "the New Thalassology"

SEA AND OCEAN HISTORY IS MORE NOVEL than it sounds. It admirably exemplifies a new historiography of large areas. In one sense, the inquiry revisits a traditional historical geography. At the same time, both its scope and its methods are so distinctive as to make it an exciting—and quite unpredictable—area of reflection and research. A decade or so ago, such histories were hardly encouraged. In postmodern historiography, subjects of every kind, but especially identities and power relationships, became inflections of discourse. And because it made its own world, discourse could not be anchored to a particular place, even if, for practical reasons, its historians had to use texts from a particular region and period. Preset frontiers were taboo. 1 The context, whether for an exercise in microhistory, in new historicism, or in postcolonialism, was, ideally, global. Area studies, in many ways the creation of cultural anthropology and long suspect in that discipline, now flourish again. 2 But they are invigorated by what has been learned from the linguistic turn: there is no turning back. Even area studies, in their revived form, are therefore in some sense global, too. They may, for instance, be directly or indirectly influenced by debates on the nature and impact of economic and cultural globalization. The new interest in regional history derives, fundamentally, from the task of finding a different approach to world history—not through formulating generalizations about everything, but through the analysis of the whole by way of its components, and, consequently, of how those components fit together. 3 The regions of the new regional history tend to have one obvious characteristic: they are big—inevitably, since they are implicitly or explicitly elements in a larger and potentially all-embracing historical project. For the same reason, their historians share a sophisticated consciousness of the problems of delimitation. 4

Facing the Fascist Model: Discourse and the Construction of Labour Services in the USA and Sweden in the 1930s and 1940s

As a reaction to the Great Depression of the 1930s, many countries introduced labour services. These institutions organized unemployed persons for unskilled work projects for the common good. Labour services focused on unemployed youth and had an explicit educational dimension. In the 1930s, nazi Germany offered the most important example of a labour service in practice. Therefore, all democratic countries with a labour service faced the problem of delimitation. This article examines the discussions and politics surrounding the labour services in the USA and Sweden against the backdrop of the ‘fascist model’. The transnational comparative study analyses how these two Western democracies reacted to this challenge. It demonstrates that the perceptions of the nazi labour service left a deep imprint on both democratic societies. Moreover, there are many parallels in the way in which the Third Reich impinged on their social policies in the 1930s and 1940s.

Assessing the delimitation negotiations between Norway and the Soviet Union/Russia1

The negotiations between Norway and Russia, formerly the Soviet Union, in the maritime delimitation in the Barents Sea have been going on for more than 30 years. Despite a declared will on both sides to reach an agreement, the prospect of an early settlement seems remote. Formally the delimitation problem concerns the distribution of the important economic resources in the area, i.e. petroleum and fish. In practice, however, the strategic importance of the area and the impact of the international context on the bilateral relationship have played an important role in the negotiations. As a result, the parties clearly have different preferences for a solution. Because there is no practical need for a solution and because the parties do not see the boundary dispute as a strain on their mutual relations, the prospect of an early settlement is dependent on the political will of both sides to bring this long-standing conflict to and end.