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Many areas of the Arctic are simultaneously affected by rapid climate change and rapid industrial development. These areas are likely to increase in number and size as sea ice melts and abundant Arctic natural resources become more accessible. Documenting the changes that have already occurred is essential to inform management approaches to minimize the impacts of future activities. Here, we determine the cumulative geoecological effects of 62 years (1949-2011) of infrastructure- and climate-related changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, the oldest and most extensive industrial complex in the Arctic, and an area with extensive ice-rich permafrost that is extraordinarily sensitive to climate change. We demonstrate that thermokarst has recently affected broad areas of the entire region, and that a sudden increase in the area affected began shortly after 1990 corresponding to a rapid rise in regional summer air temperatures and related permafrost temperatures. We also present a conceptual model that describes how infrastructure-related factors, including road dust and roadside flooding are contributing to more extensive thermokarst in areas adjacent to roads and gravel pads. We mapped the historical infrastructure changes for the Alaska North Slope oilfields for 10 dates from the initial oil discovery in 1968-2011. By 2010, over 34% of the intensively mapped area was affected by oil development. In addition, between 1990 and 2001, coincident with strong atmospheric warming during the 1990s, 19% of the remaining natural landscapes (excluding areas covered by infrastructure, lakes and river floodplains) exhibited expansion of thermokarst features resulting in more abundant small ponds, greater microrelief, more active lakeshore erosion and increased landscape and habitat heterogeneity. This transition to a new geoecological regime will have impacts to wildlife habitat, local residents and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linkages between diminishing Arctic sea ice and changes in Arctic terrestrial ecosystems have not been previously demonstrated. Here, the authors use a newly available Arctic Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) dataset (a measure of vegetation photosynthetic capacity) to document coherent temporal relationships between near-coastal sea ice, summer tundra land surface temperatures, and vegetation productivity. The authors find that, during the period of satellite observations (1982-2008), sea ice within 50 km of the coast during the period of early summer ice breakup declined an average of 25% for the Arctic as a whole, with much larger changes in the East Siberian Sea to Chukchi Sea sectors (>44% decline). The changes in sea ice conditions are most directly relevant and have the strongest effect on the villages and ecosystems immediately adjacent to the coast, but the terrestrial effects of sea ice changes also extend far inland. Low-elevation (<300 m) tundra summer land temperatures, as indicated by the summer warmth index (SWI; sum of the monthly-mean temperatures above freezing, expressed as °C month−1), have increased an average of 5°C month−1 (24% increase) for the Arctic as a whole; the largest changes (+10° to 12°C month−1) have been over land along the Chukchi and Bering Seas. The land warming has been more pronounced in North America (+30%) than in Eurasia (16%). When expressed as percentage change, land areas in the High Arctic in the vicinity of the Greenland Sea, Baffin Bay, and Davis Strait have experienced the largest changes (>70%). The NDVI has increased across most of the Arctic, with some exceptions over land regions along the Bering and west Chukchi Seas. The greatest change in absolute maximum NDVI occurred over tundra in northern Alaska on the Beaufort Sea coast [+0.08 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) NDVI units]. When expressed as percentage change, large NDVI changes (10%-15%) occurred over land in the North America High Arctic and along the Beaufort Sea. Ground observations along an 1800-km climate transect in North America support the strong correlations between satellite NDVI observations and summer land temperatures. Other new observations from near the Lewis Glacier, Baffin Island, Canada, document rapid vegetation changes along the margins of large retreating glaciers and may be partly responsible for the large NDVI changes observed in northern Canada and Greenland. The ongoing changes to plant productivity will affect many aspects of Arctic systems, including changes to active-layer depths, permafrost, biodiversity, wildlife, and human use of these regions. Ecosystems that are presently adjacent to year-round (perennial) sea ice are likely to experience the greatest changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the use of entryism by Trotskyists in New Brunswick, Canada, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The relationship between Trotskyism and the Canadian New Left, the involvement of Trotsyists with the Canadian Struggle for a Democratic Society (CSDS) activist organization in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and the creation of the Socialist organization the New Brunswick Socialists (NBS) are discussed. The influence of the Trotskyists in the New Brunswick Waffle organization, the emergence of the NB Waffle into local politics, and their relationship with the New Brunswick labour movement is also explored.

Climate warming is expected to differentially affect CO2 exchange of the diverse ecosystems in the Arctic. Quantifying responses of CO2 exchange to warming in these ecosystems will require coordinated experimentation using standard temperature manipulations and measurements. Here, we used the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) standard warming treatment to determine CO2 flux responses to growing-season warming for ecosystems spanning natural temperature and moisture ranges across the Arctic biome. We used the four North American Arctic ITEX sites (Toolik Lake, Atqasuk, and Barrow [USA] and Alexandra Fiord [Canada]) that span 10° of latitude. At each site, we investigated the CO2 responses to warming in both dry and wet or moist ecosystems. Net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE), ecosystem respiration (ER), and gross ecosystem photosynthesis (GEP) were assessed using chamber techniques conducted over 24-h periods sampled regularly throughout the summers of two years at all sites. At Toolik Lake, warming increased net CO2 losses in both moist and dry ecosystems. In contrast, at Atqasuk and Barrow, warming increased net CO2 uptake in wet ecosystems but increased losses from dry ecosystems. At Alexandra Fiord, warming improved net carbon uptake in the moist ecosystem in both years, but in the wet and dry ecosystems uptake increased in one year and decreased the other. Warming generally increased ER, with the largest increases in dry ecosystems. In wet ecosystems, high soil moisture limited increases in respiration relative to increases in photosynthesis. Warming generally increased GEP, with the notable exception of the Toolik Lake moist ecosystem, where warming unexpectedly decreased GEP > 25%. Overall, the respiration response determined the effect of warming on ecosystem CO2 balance. Our results provide the first multiple-site comparison of arctic tundra CO2 flux responses to standard warming treatments across a large climate gradient. These results indicate that (1) dry tundra may be initially the most responsive ecosystems to climate warming by virtue of strong increases in ER, (2) moist and wet tundra responses are dampened by higher water tables and soil water contents, and (3) both GEP and ER are responsive to climate warming, but the magnitudes and directions are ecosystem-dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate models predict continued rapid warming for most of the Arctic throughout the next century. To further understand the response of arctic tundra to climate warming, four sites in northern Alaska were warmed for five to seven consecutive growing seasons using open-top chambers. Sites were located in dry heath and wet meadow communities near Barrow (71°18′N, 156°40′W) and Atqasuk (70°29′N, 157°25′W). Change in plant community composition was measured using a point frame method. During the period of observation, species richness declined in control plots by up to 2.7 species plot−1. Responses to warming varied by site but similar trends included increased canopy height (−0.1 to 2.3 cm) and relative cover of standing dead plant matter (1.5–6.0%) and graminoids (1.8–5.8%) and decreased species diversity (0.1–1.7 species plot−1) and relative cover of lichens (0.2–9.1%) and bryophytes (1.4–4.6%) (parentheses enclose the range of average values for the sites). The response to warming was separated into an initial short-term response assessed after two growing seasons of warming and a secondary longer-term response assessed after an additional three to five growing seasons of warming. The initial responses to warming were similar in the four sites, while the secondary responses varied by site. The response to warming was greater at Barrow than Atqasuk because of a greater initial response at Barrow. However, the long-term response to warming was projected to be greater at Atqasuk because of a greater secondary response at Atqasuk. These findings show that predictions of vegetation change due to climate warming based on manipulative experiments will differ depending on both the duration and plant community on which the study focuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SummarySmall open-top chambers (OTC) are used widely in ecosystem warming experiments. The efficacy of the open-top chamber as an analogue of climatic warming is examined. Twenty-four small OTCs were used to passively warm canopy temperatures in wet meadow tundra at Barrow, Alaska, during two consecutive summers with contrasting surface air-temperatures. Fortuitously, the seasonal average temperature regime within chambers in the colder year (1995) was similar to the controls of the warmer year (1996); this allowed a comparison of natural vs. chamber warming. All measured plant responses behaved similarly to both year and treatment 68% of the time. A comparison of the populations of the warmer summer's control with the cooler summer's OTC found no statistical difference in 80% of the response variables measured. A meta-analysis also found no significant difference between the responses of the two populations. These results give empirical biotic validation for the use of the OTC as an analogue of regional climate warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an obituary for Richard K. Haugen, Arctic researcher and consultant.

Political lobbying in the marketplace in Australia has risen sharply in the last decade, with increased instances of shareholder activism and other forms of investment-based political participation, or 'political investorism'. This article provides the first analysis of political investorism in the Australian context, utilising processtracing and interviews to examine six case studies on issues including modern slavery, climate change, and human rights. We consider the insider and outsider dynamics of political investorism, and the factors that shape the manifestation of this tactic in Australia. We argue that political investorism in Australia is shaped primarily by structural factors including corporate governance rules and the power of superannuation (pension) funds. We demonstrate that some forms of political investorism defy neat categorisation as insider or outsider strategies, identifying a new category of 'unnatural insider' to describe the acquisition of insider status for the explicit purpose of pursuing political goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As the development of neuropathic symptoms contributes to pain severity and chronification after surgery, their early prediction is important to allow targeted treatment.Objectives: We longitudinally investigated trajectories of signs and symptoms in patients undergoing thoracotomy and assessed whether and at which time they were related to the development of neuropathic pain symptoms 6 months after surgery.Methods: Presurgical and 6 monthly postsurgical assessments included questionnaires for mental and physical well-being (e.g., depression/anxiety, pain catastrophizing, sleep quality, neuropathic pain symptoms), and quantitative sensory testing (QST).Results: QST trajectories indicated nerve impairment of the surgery site with predominant loss of function. Signs of recovery towards the end of the assessment period were observed for some tests. Unsupervised cluster analysis with NPSI scores 6 months after surgery as clustering variable identified one group with no/low levels of neuropathic symptoms and one with moderate levels. The two groups differed w.r.t. several signs and symptoms already at early time points. Notably, neuropathic pain anywhere in the body differed already preoperatively and sleep impairment differentiated the two groups at all time points. Regression analysis revealed three factors that seemed particularly suited to predicted 6 months NPSI scores, namely preoperative neuropathic pain symptoms, with contributions from sleep impairment 1 month after surgery and the presence of dynamic mechanical allodynia 3 months after surgery.Conclusions: Clinical routine should focus on the individual's physiological state, including pre-existing neuropathic pain and sleep quality to identify patients early who might be at risk to develop chronic post-surgical neuropathic pain.Significance: Development of neuropathies contributes to pain severity and pain chronification after surgery. Here we demonstrate trajectories of quantitative sensory tests (assessed at monthly intervals for 6 months after surgery) that reveal accurate time courses of gain/loss of nerve function following thoracotomy. Independent of the degree of neuropathic signs after surgery, the main predictors for post-surgical neuropathic pain are self-reported neuropathic pain before surgery and sleep quality shortly after surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the impact that the dynamics of cooperation and competition of collective action had over the political trajectory of the wave of student protests in the UK between 2009 and 2011. Using an exploratory qualitative case study design, the research describes the political trajectory of the student conflict, analysing the relationships of alliance and competition between the main social movement organisations during the conflict. The study suggests that the presence of multiple factionalisms and a predominant competitive relationship between the leading organisations produced a fragmented social movement, which reduced the political impacts of the wave and extension of the protests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article centers on the comparative study of two ''little stories,'' an expressive category valorized in recent decades by scholars across the disciplines. As a methodology, comparison has been lauded for its potential to help researchers avoid appropriating expressive culture and pressing it into the service of grand metanarratives or naturalized dichotomies. By bringing together two literally emplaced narratives—one from Adams County, Ohio, and the other from Kelibia, Tunisia—we hope to begin a conversation about what such a comparative methodology might look like and how it might achieve these ends. Examining the poetics and performance of these tales, we explore how both narrators resist conceptual abstractions such as nation and modernity; in the process, we evaluate folkloristic approaches to petits récits and compare them with those extant in studies of literature and the human sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bibliography is presented of articles related to Canada such as "After Ryswick: The Five Nations Iroquois in French Diplomacy, 1699-1701" by Dale Miquelon, "The Malpeque Bay Acadians, 1728-1758" by Georges Arsenault, and "A Crofter's Tale" by Steve A. Anderson.

A bibliography on the subject of Canadian history is presented which includes the books "The Power of Place, the Problem of Time: Aboriginal Identity and Historical Consciousness in the Cauldron of Colonialism," by Keith Thor Carlson, and "No Need of a Chief for This Band: Maritime Mi'kmaq and Federal Election Legislation, 1899-1951," by Martha Walls, as well as the article "'The Workings of My Own Mind': The Private Correspondence of the Governor General of Canada, 1839-1866," by Ged Martin, which appeared in the 2009 issue of "British Journal of Canadian Studies" vol. 22, no. 1.

In his Catalogus of British writers, John Bale's account of the tenth-century scholar, Frithegod, includes incipits for two hymns, of which the first, on Mary Magdalen ('Dum pietas multimoda'), was long thought lost. In fact it is not lost, but has simply become uncoupled from its author's name, and is transmitted anonymously in three manuscripts of French origin, and in some Spanish liturgical books, whence it was first printed in 1897. Frithegod's authorship is suggested by Patrick Young's seventeenth-century catalogue of Salisbury Cathedral manuscripts. Young noticed two 'carmina Frethogodi' at the end of what is now Dublin, Trinity College 174 (a late eleventh- or early twelfth-century Salisbury legendary), giving the incipit of the first as 'Dum pietas multimoda'. After Young had catalogued TCD 174, the page with the hymns must have become detached, and cannot now be traced. Frithegod may have composed the hymn while still at Canterbury, and then perhaps took a copy back to his native Auvergne, given that it ended up in an English manuscript but also circulated in France. Although the circumstances of composition are beyond recovery, I suggest that the hymn was originally intended not for the cult of Mary Magdalen (it was used thus in France), but rather to accompany the penitential rituals of Maundy Thursday. The article includes a text and translation of the hymn. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]