Combining pollen and charcoal: evaluating Holocene vegetation composition and dynamics

Pollen analysis reveals vegetation change on a local and regional level over (ideally) continuous time spans but with complications when it comes to the reconstruction of spatially precise species occurrence and composition. Wood charcoal analysis provides site-related information on species occurrence and woodland composition, especially when sediments containing pollen are lacking, but is normally discontinuously available and has the danger of human bias due to potential selection of certain species for e.g. fire making, house construction or charcoal making. Combining the two methods – assuming that suitable palaeoarchives are neighbouring – might compensate for their disadvantages and strengthen the interpretations on vegetation composition and dynamics on a local, extra-local and regional scale. Three examples are given where pollen analysis from “classical” archives – mires and lake sediments – was carried out, and where additionally species identification of wood charcoals was done on samples extracted from close-by archives. The first example (Kugelstattmoos, Bavarian Forest, Germany) combines a Holocene pollen diagram derived from a small mire with late medieval/early modern times charcoal spectra from charcoal production sites which are situated on the margin of the mire. Results show the local occurrence of the main woodland species Fagus sylvatica and Abies alba, and raises new questions on the montane species composition of the formerly natural forests in the Bavarian Forest. The second example (Bargstedter Moor, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany) combines Holocene pollen diagrams from a peat bog with late medieval/early modern times charcoal spectra from charcoal production sites in a woodland close to the bog. It shows the role of Quercus, Fagus, Alnus and Carpinus in medieval and early modern times woodlands and its use by man. The third example (Kleiner Tornowsee, Brandenburg, Germany) combines pollen data from sediments of a small lake with charcoal data derived from Holocene colluvisols and soils. The examples show that anthracological and palynological data complement one another to create a more detailed picture of woodland history and landscape change than one method alone would provide.     

The Uncommon Man: Esquire and the Problem of the North American Male Consumer, 1957–63

This article examines  Esquire  magazine's editorial refashioning after the Second World War to analyse the production of the gendered consuming subject. At issue is the question of how the American male consumer is discursively legitimised and incorporated into the marketplace. While myriad studies exist that demonstrate the centrality of women to consumer culture, little has been written on how men come to identify themselves as consuming subjects. This article approaches the question by examining  Esquire 's cultivation of the 'Uncommon Man' as an idealised masculine consumer subject. Through this formula,  Esquire  opened a discursive space which legitimised the male consumer as a thoroughly modern and masculine figure.     

A world geography of global media cities

This is an empirical study that analyses the geography of 33 global media firms through their locations in 284 cities across the world. The analyses are set within the world cities literature and a methodology is used that searches out city networks from data on firms to define ‘global media cities’. Resulting definitions of network connectivities allow comparisons to be made with more familiar world city network results on global service centres. The relative importance of media industries in European cities is highlighted. The main analysis uses a principal components model to discover global media fields centred upon specific articulator cities, notably New York, Los Angeles, Munich, Berlin, London and Paris. It is concluded that there is a geographical logic to the growth of large media companies.     

The Regional Impact of EU Eastern Enlargement: A View from Germany

Based on a relational concept of regional analysis this contribution emphasizes that European Union (EU) Eastern enlargement will primarily lead to a restructuring or intensification of interregional economic relations. However, it rejects the widespread view that at first the border regions at the present EU Eastern boundary would be affected by Eastern enlargement. This view relies on the problematic assumption that the regions' transnational relations are subject to a logic of geographical nearness. The most important nodes of transnational economic relations in an enlarged EU are not the border regions, but certain regional development centres in the interior of the European economic space. Thus the regional impact of EU Eastern enlargement should be differentiated with regard to different types of regions: Particular advantages come towards the structurally strong regions in the interior of the present EU as well as the accession countries, whereas the structurally weak regions at the present EU Eastern boundary can gain advantages from Eastern enlargement only to the extent that they manage to overcome their endogenous blockades concerning cross-border economic cooperation and a positive attitude of the regions' population towards European integration.     

Kommunale Wirtschaftsförderung im Umbruch

Städte und Regionen unterliegen einem andauernden und verschärften Wettbewerb um Unternehmen, Arbeitskräfte und Infrastruktureinrichtungen. Der anhaltende technologische und gesellschaftliche Strukturwandel—verbunden mit einer Neubewertung von Standortfaktoren—sowie die fortschreitende Globalisierung bleiben für die Standorte nicht ohne Folgen. Diese Entwicklungen bedeuten für die Wirtschaftsförderung vor Ort sowohl Risiken als auch Chancen. Chancen insbesondere, wenn sich die Sichtweise der Unternehmen konsequent zu eigen gemacht wird. Ausdruck dafür sind Aktivitäten, die sich hinter Schlagworten wie Clustermarketing, private-public-partnership, Benchmarking, Standort- und Netzwerkmanagement, Aufbau von Kompetenzzentren und regionale Kooperationen verbergen. Risiken sind zu vermuten, wenn Lotsenfunktionen wesentlich das Handeln von Wirtschaftsförderung bestimmen. Werden Wirtschaftsräume als Orte der Initiierung, Anwendung und Verbreitung von Innovationen betrachtet, werden die Herausforderungen einer aktiven Wirtschaftsförderung transparent.     

Has it become warmer in Alberta? Mapping temperature changes for the period 1950–2010 across Alberta,Canada

When a Canada‐wide daily climate time series, covering the period 1950–2010, became available, an opportunity arose to analyze the time series for trends of a variety of temperature indices. The 6,833 climate grid cells covering Alberta, each with an area of 10 km by 10 km, allowed the detailed mapping of 30 temperature indices across the province. From each time series, an annual series was computed, which then enabled trend analyses using the non‐parametric Mann‐Kendall and Sen Slope tests. New maps could be created at an unprecedented spatial resolution, and an associated website was developed to access all trends and changes between 1950 and 2010 for all grid cells at albertaclimaterecords.com . The confidence levels of some temperature trends exceed 99%, while others are below 80%. In Alberta's south, annual average temperatures have increased by 1°C to 2°C since the 1950s, but in Alberta's north the increase is 2°C to 4°C. The growing season has lengthened by between one and five weeks since the 1950s, while the number of frost days has declined. The most significant trends observed were increases in mean annual and winter temperatures, and declines in the number of days below ?20°C and heating degree days.