SOCIAL NETWORKS AND TERRITORY IN A COMMUTER VILLAGE, BOND HEAD, ONTARIO

SOCIAL NETWORKS AND PLACE
Below the level of formal organizations, but above that of individual behaviour, there exists a weblike mesh of relationships between households. We are all aware, intuitively, of social networks. They are the old-boys networks, cliques, alliances, friendships, acquaintanceship chains, and kinship groups in which we all participate. Many, perhaps most, decisions taken by individuals are mediated through social networks. Networks are, as well, located in geographic space. In this paper I shall look at the concept of social networks and then use the concept to examine a small settlement in the Toronto hinterland.     

FIRE IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON: A SPATIALLY EXPLICIT MODEL FOR POLICY IMPACT ANALYSIS*

ABSTRACT.  This article implements a spatially explicit model to estimate the probability of forest and agricultural fires in the Brazilian Amazon. We innovate by using variables that reflect farm-gate prices of beef and soy, and also provide a conceptual model of field management and deforestation fires to simulate the impact of road-paving, cattle exports, and conservation area designation on the occurrence of fire. Our analysis shows that fire is positively correlated with the price of beef and soy, and that the creation of new conservation units may offset the negative environmental impacts caused by the increasing number of fire events associated with early stages of frontier development.     

Lightning whelk natural history and a new sourcing method

Artifacts made from sinistral (left-handed) whelk shells are commonly found at inland archaeological sites in eastern North America. Past attempts to source the coast of origin of these marine shells based on chemical analyses have provided tentative results. A knowledge of sinistral whelk natural history is essential before attempting shell sourcing studies. The common occurrence of sinistral whelks in the Gulf of Mexico and their uncommon occurrence along both the South Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic bights are documented. Critical biogeographical and morphological information is presented, as well as a new method of sourcing artifacts based on spire-angle measurements. Sinistral whelk artifacts from Spiro, East St. Louis, and Cahokia probably came from the eastern Gulf of Mexico.