Green Infrastructure Planning: Cross-National Analysis between the North East of England (UK) and Catalonia (Spain)

As green infrastructure (GI) plans are being developed and implemented in a number of regions throughout the UK and interest in the theory and methods is emerging in various other countries there is opportunity to explore the potentials for GI planning throughout Europe. Using the experience of the UK, and particularly that of stakeholders and organizations in the North East of England, we analyse the functions and benefits that a GI network can provide and, through cross-national comparison, we critically theorize the potentials for GI planning in Catalonia. While recognizing that there are key differences between these regions, particularly in relation to climate, societal characteristics, institutional organizations and frameworks for landscape planning, we discuss the transferability of the characteristics which appear to be provided from GI planning in the UK. We conclude that, overall, the implementation of GI planning would be relatively easy to achieve and mostly beneficial under a Mediterranean environment. Our conclusions are tempered by a recognition that the provision of functions and benefits are subject to the influence of the particular organizational characteristics and the cultural background of each region, and in particular the different impacts that climate change is likely to have.     

Assessing mussel shell diagenesis in the modern vadose zone at Lyon's Bluff (22OK520), Northeast Mississippi

This study considers the chemical alteration of archaeological freshwater shell above the water table at the Lyon's Bluff site (22OK520), a single-mound and village complex located in east-central Mississippi, and the changes in trace element concentrations between unfired and fired shell. Thin-section petrography, X-ray diffraction, cathodoluminescence, and scanning electron microscopy analyses were conducted on archaeological shell from four natural layers from Unit 20N20W, over a depth of 80 cm and spanning 450 years. ICP–MS analysis also was conducted on a modern freshwater shell subjected to kiln firing. Microscopy results indicate a pristine aragonite crystal structure in the archaeological samples. ICP–MS data show that certain trace elements within the modern shell maintain their concentration after firing at 500 °C. The broader implications are: 1) that diagenetic alteration does not hinder chemical sourcing of shell at Lyon's Bluff, and 2) that certain trace elements are more reliable than others, namely Sr²⁺, Al²⁺, Ba²⁺, and Mn²⁺, when conducting trace element provenance studies on fired-shell temper.     

Have Taught a Foreign Language in Elementary Grades

The cultural democratization of post-Franco Spain meant the removal of the division between high and low culture. Such democratization of Spanish culture meant a new concept of culture in which, as stated by the postmodern motto, “everything goes,” and that in television translated as the proliferation of reality shows and trash TV and in literature as non-intellectual publications aimed at entertaining readers. Belén Esteban's work Ambiciones y reflexiones (2013) is a good example. I make use of this work to prove that what has traditionally been considered as “low culture” is not necessarily a culture inferior to “high culture” in Spain today. Thus I underline the necessity of replacing the term “low culture” or counterculture for “postculture.” The methodology I utilize is made up mostly of the critical theories of Helen Graham and Jo Labanyi regarding the dichotomy between high and low culture, Cristina Moreiras-Menor's postulate about the need for accepting show culture and consumer culture in Spain due to the split with the dictatorial past this culture signifies, and Mario Vargas Llosa’s rejection of present-day mass culture, a rejection that the aforementioned theorists challenge. Additionally, I support my study with José Álvarez-Junco's premises regarding the difficulty of defining national identity, a crucial topic in Ambiciones y reflexiones and which is related to the high/low culture dichotomy. Luis Moreno-Caballud’s criticism about democracy and its meaning in our neoliberal cultural market complements the critical methodology of this analysis.     

The vague nouvelle and the Nouvelle Vague: The Critical Construction of le jeune cinéma français

One of the commonplaces in critical writing on the 1990s movement known as le jeune cinéma français is the idea that it constituted a new ‘New Wave’. At the same time, the critical reception of the 1990s and 1960s ‘new waves’ could not be more different, with le jeune cinéma français being seen invariably as aesthetically inferior to its 1960s ‘antecedent’. This article examines the two key discursive mechanisms used to link le jeune cinéma français to the Nouvelle Vague, those of political commitment and ‘auteur’ cinema. It is argued that the mechanisms used to construct le jeune cinéma français as a distinct cinematic category become increasingly divorced from the kinds of films actually being made and that it is this discursive disjuncture which is, in part, responsible for its negative critical reception.     

ON THE IMPACT OF LABOR MARKET MATCHING ON REGIONAL DISPARITIES*

ABSTRACT We propose a model where imperfect matching between firms and workers on local labor markets leads to incentives for spatial agglomeration. We show that the occurrence of spatial agglomeration depends on initial size differences in terms of both number of workers and firms. Allowing for dynamics of workers' and firms' location choices, we show that the spatial outcome depends crucially on different dimensions of agents' mobility. The effect of a higher level of human capital on regional disparities depends on whether it makes workers more mobile or more specialized on the labor market.