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.     

Reviews

The Irish Ringfort Matthew Stout, 1997 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 160, ISBN 1.8518.1200.X, £19.95 (hb)

A Shorter Illustrated History of Ulster Jonathan Bardon, 1996 Belfast, Blackstaff Press pp. 336, ISBN 0.8564.0586.8, £14.99 (pb)

Belfast Merchant Families in the Seventeenth Century Jean Agnew, 1996 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 256, ISBN 1.8518.2251.8, £25.00 (hb)

The Civil Wars in Britain and Ireland, 1638–1651 Martyn Bennett, 1997 Oxford, Blackwell pp.472, ISBN 0.6311.9154.2, £55.00 (hb); ISBN 0.6311.91550, £15.99 (pb)

Parties, Patriots and Undertakers: Parliamentary Politics in early Hanoverian Ireland Patrick Mcnally, 1997 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp.240, ISBN 1.8518.2255.0, £30.00 (hb)

Edmund Burke: His Life and Legacy Ian Crowe (ed.), 1997 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 228, ISBN 1.8518.2306.9, £35.00 (hb)

The Irish Charter Schools, 1730–1830 Kenneth Milne, 1997 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 450, ISBN 1.8518.2232.1, £35.00 (hb)

The Tree of Liberty: Radicalism, Catholicism and the Construction of Irish Identity 1760–1830 Kevin Whelan, 1996 Cork, Cork University Press pp. 240, ISBN 1.8591.8060.4, £14.95 (pb)

The Royal Irish Constabulary: A Short History and Genealogical Guide Jim Herlihy, 1997 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp.256, ISBN 1.8518.2337.9, £39.50 (hb); ISBN 1.8518.2337.9, £14.95 (pb)

Unionist Politics and the Politics of Unionism since the Anglo‐Irish Agreement Fergal Cochrane, 1997 Cork, Cork University Press pp.440, ISBN 1.8591.8138.4, £45 (hb); ISBN 1.8591.2, £17.95 (pb)

Bonfires on the Hillside: An Eyewitness Account of Political Upheaval in Northern Ireland James Kelly, 1995 Belfast, Fountain Publishing pp. 229, ISBN 0.9525.5650.2, £2.95 (pb)

The New York Irish Ronald H. Bayor & Timothy J. Meagher (eds), 1996 Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press pp.744, ISBN 0.8018.5199.8, £37.00 (hb); ISBN 0.8018.5764.3, £21.50 (pb)

The Irish Experience in New York City: A Select Bibliography Ann M. Shea & Marion R. Casey, 1995 New York, New York Irish History Roundtable pp. 130, ISBN 0.8156.8121.6, US$ 29.95 (hb)

Dracula: A Norton Critical Edition Nina Auerbach & David J. Skal (eds), 1997 New York, W.W. Norton pp. 492, ISBN 0.3939.7012.4, £6.95 (pb)

The Un‐Dead: The Legend of Bram Stoker and Dracula Peter Haining & Peter Tremayne, 1997 London, Constable pp. 199, ISBN 0.0947.5430.6, £16.95 (hb)

The Mammoth Book of Dracula Stephen Jones (ed.), 1997 London, Robinson Publishing pp. 512, ISBN 1.8548.7520.5, £6.99 (pb)

James Joyce: Ulysses Vincent Sherry, 1997 Cambridge, Cambridge University Press pp. 141, ISBN 0.5214.2075.X, £19.95 (hb); ISBN 0.5214.2136.5, £7.95 (pb)

The Word According to James Joyce: Reconstructing Representation Cordell D. K. Yee, 1997 Lewisburg, Pa. Bucknell University Press/ London, Associated University Press pp. 176, ISBN 8387.5330.2, £30.00 (hb)

Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett James Knowlson, 1996 London, Bloomsbury pp. 872, ISBN 0.7475.2719.9, £25 (hb)

Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist Anthony Cronin, 1996 London, HarperCollins pp.645, ISBN 0.2461.3769.X, £25.00 (hb); ISNB 0.5860.9076.2, £8.99 (pb)

Beckett: The Irish Dimension Mary Junker, 1995 Dublin, Wolfhound pp. 190, ISBN 0.8632.7384.X, £27.50 (hb)

Thomas Kinsella Donatella Abbate Badin, 1996 New York, Twayne pp. 226, ISBN 0.8057.7047.X

Bearing Witness: Essays on Anglo‐Irish Literature Augustine Martin (anthony Roche ed.), 1996 Dublin, University College Dublin Press pp. 259+xx, ISBN 1 9006.21 0 1.0, £25.95 (hb); ISBN 1.9006.2102.9, £15.95 (pb)

Twentieth‐Century Irish Drama: Mirror up to Nation Christopher Murray, 1997 Manchester, Manchester University Press pp.288, ISBN 0.7190.4156.2, £35.00 (hb); ISBN 0.7190.4157.0, £12.99 (pb)

The Irish Play on the New York Stage, 1874–1966 John D. Harrington, 1997 Lexington, Ky., University Press of Kentucky pp. 179, ISBN 0.8131.2033.0, US$ 27.95 (hb)

The Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (Vol. 2, No. 2, 1996) Osilla Bertha (ed.), 1996 Debrecen, Kossuth Lajas University Press pp. 182, ISSN 1218.7364, US$ 15.00

Die Musik Irlands im 20. Jahrhundert (Irish Music in the 20th Century) Axel Klein, 1996 Hildesheim, George Olms Verlag pp. 526, ISBN 3.4871.0196.3, with Music Examples, Bibliography, and Discography DM 98 (hb)

Here's Looking at You, Kid! Ireland goes to the pictures STEPHANIE MCBRIDE and RODDY FLYNN (eds), 1996 Dublin,Wolfhoundpp. 138, ISBN 0.8632.7556.7, £9.99 (pb)

Wilde Director, Brian Gilbert Screenplay by Julian Mitchell Samuelson/Polygram, 1997     

'Claudia Jones and the West Indian Gazette': Reflections on the Emergence of Post-colonial Britain

In this article the specifically domestic and cultural propertiesof British decolonization are explored. It is suggested thatthe very category of ‘post-colonial Britain’ invitesus to think in these terms. Conventionally, the question ofthe domestic consequences of decolonization is thought in termsof the native white population of Britain. This article turnsattention to the role of the black migrants resident in themetropolis during the years of decolonization: most especially,to the role of West Indians. By a reading of the West IndianGazette it is proposed that the West Indian migrant played anactive role in the organization of a specifically anti-colonialculture—providing the means by which white Britons, too,could come to terms with the end of Empire.     

Plant processing strategies and their affect upon starch grain survival when rendering Peltandra virginica (L.) Kunth,Araceae edible

There is a long history of human interaction with plants of the Aroideae subfamily (Araceae). Despite these plants' chemical defenses against animal and vegetal predation, humans have targeted their starchy corms, tubers and rhizomes for dietary purposes. In the Eastern Woodlands of North America, early Europeans described the Native population as utilizing the highly acridic Peltandra virginica (arrow arum) for subsistence needs. In order to render this resource edible, however, the acridic principle first needs to be eliminated. Our study investigates the affect these processing activities have on the integrity of arrow arum starch grains. Findings from this study demonstrate that environmental variables specific to individual processing procedures may be more influential on starch grain survival than simply the temperatures reached during cooking.     

A kind of consensus on the roads? Drink driving policy in Britain 1945-1970

The history of drink driving and legislative responses to it remain virtual terra incognita. This contribution traces developments in Britain between 1945 and the aftermath of the Road Safety Act in 1967. The first section focuses on the formation of an extra-parliamentary pressure group in the 1950s. This is complemented by an interpretation of the impact of the government-backed Drew Report (1959), and the ways in which Drew's research was rhetorically and creatively deployed by Graham Page, leading spokesman for the Pedestrians' Association and Ernest Marples, the Conservative Minister of Transport. The final section interrogates key debates leading up to the introduction of the breathalyser. The article concludes that belated introduction of road safety legislation in Britain in the 1960s revealed a high degree of cross-party consensus. Only senior officials at the Home Office, and to a lesser extent, at the Ministry of Transport, repeatedly threatened to delay reform.     

Remote crisis management: Australia's 2006 rescue of citizens trapped in Lebanon

On 12 July 2006, Hezbollah's kidnapping of two young Israeli soldiers was the catalyst for a sudden escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon was host to more citizens and permanent residents from Australia than any other country in the world. This article examines the monumental challenge faced by the Australian authorities in rescuing and repatriating its citizens who were caught up in the conflict. It does so through the conceptual lens of ‘remote crisis management’ i.e. episodes where one country's traditional crisis management challenges of rapid threats, uncertainty and the need for swift decision making are compounded by ‘political remoteness’. In other words, it lacks both political sovereignty and local infrastructure capacity for crisis resolution in a faraway county. The article focuses particularly on the remote crisis management challenges of making sense of the crisis, communication with a range of interests, and the logistical challenges of arranging and installing rescue and evacuation procedures. It also addresses the significance of Australia's prior evacuation experiences, as well as the capacity it had built in local and international networks. The article draws on a range of primary and secondary sources, including interviews with public servants and community representatives.     

Please Destabilize Ethnography Now: Against Anthropological Showbiz-as-Usual

Gregg, Susan Ailing. Foragers and Farmers: Population Interaction and Agricultural Expansion in Prehistoric Europe. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988. xx + 275 pp. including index and bibliography. $24.95 cloth, $9.95 paper.

Hastorf, Christine A., and Virginia S. Popper. Current Paleoethnobotany: Analytical Methods and Cultural Interpretations of Archaeological Plant Remains. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. xii + 236 pp. including chapter references and index. $24.95 cloth, $9.95 paper.

Pearsall, Deborah M. Paleoethnobotany: a Handbook of Procedures. San Diego: Academic Press, 1989. xii + 470 pp. including chapter references and index. $59.95.     

Evaluating effects of chemical weathering and surface contamination on the in situ provenance analysis of building stones in the Cuzco region of Peru with portable XRF

As the only type of instrument capable of determining artifact geochemistry in a wide variety of settings, portable X-Ray Fluorescence (PXRF) may be frequently utilized as probably the best option for collecting data when removal of objects in part or in whole is unfeasible. However, using PXRF in circumstances where sample selection and preparation diverge from standards developed for lab-based instrumentation requires assessing the impact of new and potentially limiting factors to establish the validity of the method in these new contexts. Here we examine the effects of surface contamination and chemical weathering on the ability to assess provenance of igneous building stones used in the Cuzco region of Peru. Surface contamination was assessed through comparing low-impact cleaning methods on diorite and andesite blocks, and weathering was examined by comparing weathered vs. fresh surfaces of samples from two andesite quarries. In general, the lightest elements were most impacted by contamination and weathering while measurements of many of the heavier elements commonly used in provenance studies were relatively unaffected. Concentrations of Pb and Zn were problematic in the urban context of Cuzco because of pollution. Ability to determine provenance of building stones within those limitations (i.e., the validity of this application of PXRF) was demonstrated in a preliminary study by comparing measurements from uncleaned, exposed building stones in the region to fresh quarry samples.