The role of accredited zoos in the recovery process for species at risk in Canada

Zoos and aquariums are responding to the worldwide biodiversity crisis through major conservation initiatives like captive breeding for assurance populations and reintroduction programs. These institutions also fundraise, offer education programs, and provide critical research on biodiversity. Through a case study inside three accredited Canadian zoos, this paper illustrates that zoos and their staff members are being incorporated into many official species‐at‐risk recovery efforts on provincial, federal, and international levels. Specifically, the zoos studied are involved in every stage of the recovery process, from providing valuable research and habitat analyses, to captive breeding animals for reintroduction, to writing recovery strategies and creating recovery policy for multiple jurisdictional levels. Zoo staff indicate that zoos are uniquely suited to conservation because zoos have space, expertise, apolitical status, and the ability to connect with the public. Overall, the paper suggests that zoos can significantly contribute to species‐at‐risk protection and recovery in Canada and beyond.     

Medieval Harbours in Norway: on a newly discovered jetty and possible ship‐blockage on Veøy in Romsdal

In the Middle Ages walls and ditches were used for defensive purposes on land; city walls and moats surrounding castles are part and parcel of the public image of the Middle Ages. Less well known are the defence systems constructed under the sea to protect harbours and waterways. In Scandinavia such systems, ship‐blockages, are especially well investigated in Denmark. In Norway medieval harbour‐defence systems and ship‐blockages are less known. This paper presents and discusses medieval harbours and defence systems in Norway, in particular the newly discovered jetty and possible ship‐blockage on Veøy in Romsdal, western Norway.     

Asylum and the Post‐Political: Domopolitics,Depoliticisation and Acts of Citizenship

This paper explores the ways in which practices of asylum governance serve to depoliticise those seeking asylum in the UK. In critiquing claims over the “post‐political” nature of contemporary governance, the paper proposes a focus upon situated practices of depoliticisation which displace those seeking asylum through the production of specific sites of accommodation and specific discourses of risk, security and moralised concern. The paper questions the tendency within “post‐political” thought to strip the potential of modes of informal citizenship through arguing that minor acts of resistance are ineffectual and illusory. In response, the paper explores irregular migrant's “acts of citizenship”, and suggests that such prosaic acts can be powerful forms of political interruption through which new ways of seeing asylum are constructed. The paper concludes by suggesting that an incremental politics orientated around such acts of interruption is essential to challenge the material, affective and discursive closures of asylum domopolitics.     

Twins in prehistory: The case from Olèrdola (Barcelona,Spain; s. IV II BC)

This paper details the discovery of two perinatal individuals interred simultaneously at the archaeological site of Olèrdola, Barcelona, Spain. Information from the excavation and from the subsequent anthropological study of the recovered skeletal and dental remains suggests that these individuals (OL–2000–8245 and OL–2000–8246) are the first documented case of twins in Iberian period. The possibility of a simultaneous perinatal twins burial at Olèrdola raises new questions concerning about the frequency of twins in prehistory and protohistory. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Plus difficile d'être élu dans une petite municipalité? Perceptions de la fonction élective par certains élus municipaux québécois

In Quebec, 75% of the province's elected municipal officials hold office in municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. While we know that the demographic size of a municipality is likely to influence the career path and profile of elected officials and, more generally, the professional nature of elective office, to the best of our knowledge, little has been written about this relationship in Quebec municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. This is surprising given the institutional, political, and financial context can vary greatly depending on the size of the municipality and is thus likely to influence the nature of the day-to-day elective office. Using a methodology based on semi-structured interviews with roughly 30 elected officials, our study highlights two specific characteristics. Some believe the nature of their elective office to be the same as that held by their counterparts in large municipalities, so they feel that they are not equipped with the same tools to meet the needs of their office. Some perceive the conditions under which they exercise their office are different, so they note the scope of their task is heavy, impacting their daily lives. These findings point to the need for further studies on the management of these smaller municipalities.     

Russia's Accession to the World Trade Organization

A prominent specialist on the Russian economy presents a timely assessment of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. The author discusses the reasons that prompted Russia to seek membership and scrutinizes the major obstacles, such as complexities of the accession process and the country's institutional malaise. An analysis of the effects of possible membership on the Russian economy is followed by a focus on Putin's first term (2000-2003) when he supported entry, and the second (2004-2007) when he lost interest. Also presented are two scenarios projecting reinvigorated pursuit of Russian membership, or abandonment of the goal. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F13, F40, O19. 1 table, 46 references.     

Avorio d'ogni ragione: the supply of elephant ivory to northern Europe in the Gothic era

This article accounts for the hitherto unexplained increase in the availability of ivory in mid-thirteenth-century France through an alteration in the medieval trade routes that brought elephant tusks from Africa to northern Europe. A newly-opened passage through the Straits of Gibraltar allowed a small amount of luxury goods to be shipped together with bulk materials necessary to the flourishing textile industries of northern Europe.