Auf gute Nachbarschaft!

Companies' community involvement turns out to be spatially relevant and–in many cases–to be focused on the near surroundings of the place of business. Some companies strategically align their involvement in order to systematically address local challenges. The essay at hand addresses the subject of corporate social responsibility from a local development perspective. Using the example of two family-owned enterprises based in Duisburg, Haniel and Grillo, it illustrates how socially committed companies can get involved with their local community by acting as good neighbours. Furthermore, it argues that socially committed companies can function as producers of space concerning matters of urban and local development. The specific local settings as well as the economic conditions of the local community serve as an explanatory background of the companies' involvement. The cases presented in this paper prove the firms' specific knowledge of local development needs and possibilities. This makes them qualified partners for local government actors and civil society actors. Thus, in the future, it is worth addressing corporate local responsibility from a governance point of view both in theory and in practice.     

The power of precision air strikes and social media feeds in the 2012 Israel–Hamas conflict: ‘targeting transparency’

This article analyses the evolving uses of social media during wartime through the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Spokesperson Facebook and Twitter accounts. The conflict between Israel and Hamas-affiliated groups in November 2012 has generated interesting data about social media use by a sovereign power in wartime and the resultant networked discourse. Facebook data is examined for effective patterns of dissemination through both content analysis and discourse analysis. Twitter data is explored through connected concept analysis to map the construction of meaning in social media texts shared by the IDF. The systematic examination of this social media data allows the authors’ analysis to comment on the evolving modes, methods and expectations for state public diplomacy, propaganda and transparency during wartime.     

On the life and work of Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918)

This study describes the life and work of early-twentieth-century German scientist Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918). His medical training at universities in Munich, Würzburg, Berlin, and Freiburg and his further education are illustrated. His early Leipzig career and cooperation with brain researchers Oskar and Cécile Vogt in Berlin are portrayed, as are his contributions to a localization theory of the cerebral cortex—namely, Brodmann’s cytoarchitectonic approach—and the invention of a cortex area nomenclature, further developed until the beginning of World War I. His Tübingen professorship and being nominated to manage a major department of Emil Kraepelin’s Munich research unit represent further aspects of this study, a promising career ahead, harshly interrupted by an early and unexpected death.     

Localized mobility clusters: impacts of labour market externalities on firm performance

This article analyses the impact of labour market-induced externalitieson firm performance by using a unique database that connectsattributes of individuals to workplaces for the entire Swedisheconomy. Based on the analysis of 256,985 workplaces, our resultsshow that firms belonging to networks of local job mobility(i.e. ‘localized mobility clusters’) significantlyoutperform other similar firms within the local labour market.The results also indicate that concentrations of similar andrelated firms do not explain any considerable part of the variationsin firm competitiveness. Labour market externalities derivedvia local job mobility produce significantly more powerful effectsfor the involved firms as compared to the degree of co-location,diversity and scale.     

Ammonite dating of latest Cretaceous mosasaurid reptiles (Squamata,Mosasauroidea) from Jordan—preliminary observations

Jagt, J.W.M., Jagt-Yazykova, E.A., Kaddumi, H.F. & Lindgren, J., April 2017. Ammonite dating of latest Cretaceous mosasaurid reptiles (Squamata, Mosasauroidea) from Jordan—preliminary observations. Alcheringa 42, 587-596. ISSN 0311-5518

Newly collected ammonoid material from the uppermost Cretaceous portion of the Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation exposed some 30 km southeast of the Qasr Al’Harrana area (east-central Jordan) includes medium-sized baculitids (Baculites ovatus auctorum, non Say), the sphenodiscid Libycoceras acutodorsatus (Noetling) and the pachydiscids Menuites fresvillensis (Seunes) and Pachydiscus (Pachydiscus) dossantosi (Maury). Of the two last named taxa, the former is a good marker species for the upper Maastrichtian, with records from Europe, central Chile, South India, Baluchistan (Pakistan), Australia, Madagascar and South Africa. The latter is known from the United Arab Emirates/Oman border area, from strata of (late) early to early late Maastrichtian age, as well as from more poorly constrained Maastrichtian levels in Brazil and Nigeria. A comparison with ammonoid assemblages from the Maastrichtian type area (southeast Netherlands/northeast Belgium) suggests correlation of the Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation with the middle/upper Maastricht Formation (Emael and Nekum members, ca 66.5–66.1 Ma) and the upper part of the coeval Kunrade Formation. However, associated ‘tegulated’ inoceramids of the Tenuipteria argentea group from the Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation favour equivalence with a higher level of the Maastrichtian type area, i.e., the Meerssen Member. From the upper Maastricht Formation and the equivalent upper part of the Kunrade Formation, the following mosasaur genera are currently known: Mosasaurus, Prognathodon, Plioplatecarpus and Carinodens. Interestingly, coeval strata of the Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation in east-central Jordan have yielded remains of a largely comparable suite comprising Prognathodon, Mosasaurus, Carinodens and an unnamed, highly derived plioplatecarpine.

John W.M. Jagt* [john.jagt@maastricht.nl], Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, de Bosquetplein 6–7, 6211 kJ Maastricht, the Netherlands; Elena A. Jagt-Yazykova [eyazykova@uni.opole.pl], Opole University, Department of Biosystematics, Oleska 22, 45-052 Opole, Poland; Hani F. Kaddumi [blossom_trail@yahoo.com], Eternal River Museum of Natural History, Maroof Al’Rusafi Street, PO Box 11395, Amman 11123, Jordan; Johan Lindgren [johan.lindgren@geol.lu.se], Lund University, Department of Geology, Sölvegatan 12, 223 62 Lund, Sweden.     

Quedlinburg—10 Years on the World Heritage List: East–West Transformations of a Small Historic Town in Central Germany

While the conservation efforts and constraints in the medieval town of Quedlinburg are typical of the conditions in the smaller historic towns in the former German Democratic Republic, they also resemble those of small heritage towns in other countries. Shifts and changes are assessed for a time frame of about 25 years, before and after the pivotal event of German reunification of 1990. Located in a previously prosperous but now depressed region with more than 20% unemployment, Quedlinburg has suffered from the breakdown of the former agricultural and other industries in the region after 1990 and subsequent out‐migration. Some valuable historic buildings were lost before 1990, owing to neglect and lack of funding. Since then, improved funding, combined with public–private partnership, has helped the town to make very considerable conservation progress. The town’s World Heritage status since 1994 has been utilised as a significant supporting factor in tourism promotion, which has become an important part of the ongoing conservation processes.