A review of the taxonomy and systematics of the echinoid genus Monostychia Laube, 1869

Sadler, T., Kroh, A. &; Gallagher, S.J., March 2016. A review of the taxonomy and systematics of the echinoid genus Monostychia Laube, 1869 Laube, G.C., 1869. Über einige fossile Echiniden von den Murray Cliffs in Süd-Australien. Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Wien, mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Classe. Abtheilung I 59, 183–198. [Google Scholar]. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

A review of Monostychia, a stratigraphically important clypeasteroid echinoid genus in southern Australian Oligocene/Miocene strata, reveals uncertainty in relation to morphological features used in taxonomy. The result is that the exact systematic position of the genus remains unresolved at subfamily level. Monostychia and its type species, M. australis, are redescribed. Monostychia australis is restricted to the lower to middle Miocene Glenforslan Formation of the Murray Basin. Three other species currently within Monostychia, M. etheridgei, M. loveni and M. elongata, are discussed. Although it is concluded that M. etheridgei belongs in the genus and is a distinct species, the taxonomic position of M. loveni is questioned, and the validity of M. elongata as a separate species from M. australis remains uncertain. This work lays the foundation for further revisions of Monostychia with an expectation that such work will provide the basis for character determination that may be useful across other echinoid taxa.

Tony Sadler [t.sadler@uq.edu.au] and Stephen J. Gallagher [sjgall@unimelb.edu.au], School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia; Andreas Kroh [andreas.kroh@nhm-wien.ac.at], Natural History Museum Vienna, Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Burging 7, 1010, Vienna, Austria.     

Under the Danish Cross: flagging Danishness in the years around World War II

This article explores the significance of the Danish flag in the formation of national identities during World War II and the immediate post-war period. During this dark and tumultuous period of Danish history, the flag was claimed by different groups with very different agendas, which in turn engendered differing conceptions of Denmark and Danishness. Three different themes are investigated in the article. The first regards the flag as a symbol of national continuity and endurance. From this angle, the flag functioned as a living, corporeal piece of history, which signalled that old Denmark would prevail, in spite of the crisis at hand. The second theme investigates the coupling of the flag with democracy during the 1943 elections. This event was hailed by the government as a major national celebration, with nationwide flagging for the democratic values of Denmark. At the same time, the elections were criticized as ‘un-national’, both by home-grown Nazis and the resistance movement. The third section dwells on the notion of martyrdom for the flag. This form of Danishness was not connected to peace-loving democracy, but woven into a martial discourse of sacrifice, honour and masculine heroism. Public worship of martyrdom was particularly intense in the early post-war era, when the flag was used to link ordinary Danes to the fallen heroes of the resistance movement. Thus, it was not the democratic spirit of 1943 that was celebrated after Liberation, but the martyrdom of fallen male resistance fighters, whose blood was evoked as the foundation of the re-born nation. The national memory of post-war Denmark, thereby, was based on the notion of a united people, who had stood firm and even been willing to die for the honour of their ancient flag.     

Archaeological prospection of a high altitude Neolithic site in the Arctic mountain tundra region of northern Sweden

During the summer of 2008 archaeological excavations and geophysical prospection surveys were carried out in the mountain tundra region of north-eastern Sweden. The investigations focused on locating settlement remains connected with a Middle Neolithic tool production site discovered by archaeologists in 2001.     

Early Cambodian gold and silver from Prohear: composition,trace elements and gilding

Rescue excavations in Prohear, southeast Cambodia, recently saved the last untouched graves of one of the richest prehistoric sites in Southeast Asia. Many Iron Age burials dating from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD contained gold and silver ornaments so far unknown from archaeological contexts together with indications for the presence of an immigrated elite. A first selection of 59 objects were analysed by LA-ICP-MS to obtain detailed information about the composition, as well as minor and trace elements. The majority of the ornaments consist of electrum and auriferous silver with low copper concentrations, and two main groups indicating different alluvial gold sources can be distinguished by different concentrations of Pt, Ir, Bi and different Pd/Pt ratios, one group being related to rich burials with non-local features. The SEM and EDX analyses of four objects revealed two different gilding techniques observed for the first time in Southeast Asian artefacts: foil-fusion gilding, related to special Ag–Au–(Cu)–Sn alloys containing up to 4% tin, and depletion gilding.     

Humans,climate or introduced rats – which is to blame for the woodland destruction on prehistoric Rapa Nui (Easter Island)?

When the first Polynesian settlers arrived on Rapa Nui, about 70% of the island was covered with dense woodland in which Jubaea palms dominated. Our investigations of extended soil profiles provide evidence that more than 16 million palm trees grew on the island. Nearly all palms were removed by the 16th century. Teeth marks on nutshells of the Jubaea palms from the 13th or 14th centuries attest to the activity of Pacific rats (Rattus exulans) on Rapa Nui, which were probably imported there by the first Polynesians settlers. Did the rats perhaps prevent the germination of palm seeds and thus the regeneration of the dense palm woodland of Rapa Nui?     

Networks and Innovation: The Role of Social Assets in Explaining Firms' Innovative Capacity

The claim of a positive association between a firm's social assets and its innovative capacity is a widely debated topic in the literature. Although controversial, such an argument has informed recent innovation policy across Germany, increasingly directed to the cluster formation. In the light of the growing attention and financial efforts that cluster-based innovation policies are receiving, it is worth answering two main questions. First, are firms with a relatively high level of social capital likely to be more innovative? Secondly, do companies pursuing innovation in partnership innovate more? This paper empirically answers these questions by exploring a cross-sectoral sample of 248 firms based in the Jena region. On the one hand, the extent to which a firm is integrated in its community life does not contribute to an explanation of its innovative performance. On the other hand, directed cooperation with the specific goal of innovating shows a positive impact on innovative performance. However, the correlation between the extent of the network of co-innovators and firms' innovative capacity presents an inverted U-shaped relation: there is a threshold in the number of co-innovators justified by the costs of innovating by interacting. A policy lesson can be drawn from these findings: cluster-based policies are to be treated with caution as firms face costs of networking and not merely benefits.