The Spatial Distribution of the Internet in the European Union: Does Geographical Proximity Matter?

This paper examines the spatial distribution of the Internet in the European regions. To achieve this aim, our analysis combines a set of non-parametric techniques proposed in the context of the economic growth literature, with various spatial econometric instruments. The results reveal that regional disparities in Internet adoption are greater than territorial inequalities in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. In addition, our findings show that the distribution under consideration is characterized by the presence of positive spatial dependence, which implies that physically adjacent regions register a similar degree of Internet adoption. Finally, the analysis carried out allows us to assess the role played by variables such as GDP per capita, unemployment rate, stock of human capital and population density, in explaining the spatial distribution of the Internet in the European Union.     

The Virtual Placement: An Alternative to the Traditional Work Placement in the Geographical Sciences?

Work placements are a well-established part of the curricula of many geographical sciences, as are opportunities for online learning. Whilst many aspects of the learning experience for undergraduates have been given an online makeover the placement has remained a ‘real’ experience. This paper considers the potential value of an online placement and outlines pedagogical and technical aspects of the e-MapScholar Virtual Placement. Findings from evaluation of the first Virtual Placement case study are presented and issues regarding wider adoption are raised.     

The Leeds and Yorkshire Geographical Society c. 1902–17

The Leeds and Yorkshire Geographical Society was one of ten 'provincial' geographical societies in England and Scotland established between 1884 and 1910, of which five were in the North of England. It was conceived in about 1902, formally founded in 1908, but had ceased to exist after 1917. Virtually nothing has been discovered hitherto of the Leeds society's history, functions and contexts. This essay examines the evidence for its conception, inauguration, programmes of activity, and the broader local/civic, national and global contexts within which it operated. Its brief history sheds light upon: the need for commercial information to promote trade in an imperial context; the development of geographical thought in Britain and Western Europe; finally, popular curiosity about new geographical information and ideas promoted by geographical exploration and discovery. Comparison is made with the activities of other English ‘provincial’ geographical societies, particularly those in the North of England. The new evidence derives from papers in the West Yorkshire Archive Service Leeds, the archives and publications of the Royal Geographical Society, and the programmes of meetings promoted via the Society itself and the Leeds Institute, housed in Leeds Central Library, together with reports and advertisements in local newspapers.     

Metropolis and its Region—New Relations in the Information Economy1

The new development paradigm has led to a new specialization of specific territorial entities and thus has influenced the mutual relations between them. In particular, these changes have influenced the relations between the metropolis and its hinterland. The contemporary metropolis concentrates innovative activities that have led to the development of flows within the network of the world's large cities. As a result, its ties with the regional surroundings that offer mainly “simple” resources have became relatively weaker. This article outlines these new processes on the basis of an empirical study of three Polish metropolises: Warsaw, Poznań and the so-called Tricity (Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot).     

The Body as Method? Reflections on the Place of the Body in Gender History

This article offers a critical examination of the term ‘body’ as an ambiguous and elusive historical concept. The first part of the essay probes the often unspecific yet seductive invocation of the body in many recent historical studies and reflects on the methodological implications of placing bodies at the heart of historical investigation. The second part analyses a particular moment of rupture in twentieth-century German history, when bodies became more powerful markers of the dichotomy between male and female citizens, namely at the end of the First World War, during the November Revolution and amidst the founding of Weimar democracy.     

Placing the Personal in Pedagogy: Engaged Pedagogy in ‘Feminist’ Geographical Teaching

This paper attempts to unravel the complexities of including the personal in geographical teaching. Drawing on email responses from 10 academics and her reflective teaching diary, the author differentiates the ‘personal’ as experiential and ‘personal’ as private in these accounts of teaching practices, revealing the contingent (re)constitution of ‘geographical knowledge’. In recognizing the negotiation of our positionalities, interactions with individuals and class groups, and broader academic settings (i.e. geographical discipline, university contexts and broader educational trends) the unquestioning employment of ‘the personal’ is further problematized. The paper concludes by contending that rather than dismissing the personal in teaching contexts or reverting to (or even maintaining) traditional disempowering pedagogies, a more nuanced and contextualized pedagogical politics is necessary both within, and beyond, geographies.     

The Interaction of Elements in the System “Ocean—Atmosphere—Continents”

A Soviet geophysicist, who has been specializing in physics of the sea, reviews his own recent work on the Atlantic sources of heat that reach the Soviet Union, particularly its European part. One-fourth of the total amount of heat is found to originate in an area of the northeast Atlantic, off Scandinavia, where temperature isanomals are at a maximum. Three-fourths are said to originate in an area of cyclic currents coinciding roughly with the North American Basin of the West Atlantic. The author also uses simple algebraic equations to calculate the parameters of a tropical hurricane, and finds a relationship between the surface-water temperature and the power of the hurricane.     

The winter anomaly in the ionospheric D-region—some numerical calculations

This paper reports on results of numerical calculations for conditions under which the anomalously high absorption of radio waves appears and disappears at middle atmosphere heights, having characteristic time constants of about 24 h. In the calculations we have solved a system of equations which are self-consistent in a one-dimensional approximation and govern the temperature and neutral and ion composition behaviour in the height range 40–150 km. The values of the turbulent transfer coefficient and turbulent energy dissipation rate were calculated for the case of the anomalous absorption commencement, using experimental data pertaining to the vertical structure of the wind and temperature field. The results derived from numerical calculations involving evidence of turbulent processes were used to interpret some characteristic properties of neutral and charged particles, temperature and densities for day-time conditions with anomalously high absorption. The lack of experimental data on winds and temperature throughout the height range under study for the dates with normal absorption forced us to use indirect measurements in making assumptions about the vertical profile of the turbulent transfer coefficient and the values of the turbulent dissipation rate. The results thus obtained agree with measurements of electron density, temperature and hydroxyl emission intensity (the hydrogen content decreases as the conditions change from anomalous to normal). There are, however, discrepancies between calculated and measured atomic oxygen densities.