EU EASTERN ENLARGEMENT AND THE CONFIGURATION OF GERMAN-POLISH INTER-FIRM LINKAGES

This paper examines the spatial configuration of German-Polish inter-firm linkages based on foreign direct investment. The analysis highlights that most of the German-Polish inter-firm linkages are based in West German economic centres, so that East Germany and particularly the Eastern border regions are facing the threat of falling behind those economic regions which take advantage of the chances offered by EU Eastern enlargement. However, within East Germany the region of Berlin-Brandenburg proves to be the strongest centre of advanced economic linkages to Poland. In comparison to the West German metropolitan regions, Berlin-Brandenburg firms with direct investment in Poland are characterised by a qualitatively advanced profile of activity branches, in which the technology-centred and R&D-intensive industrial branches as well as the highly qualified producer services have a dominant share. The region thus has a potential to become a centre of competence in German-Polish economic relations. Copyright (c) 2007 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG.

Selected elements in surface waters of Antarctica and their relations with the natural environment

The aim of the study was to specify the concentration of selected chemical elements in surface waters of King George Island, off the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The research encompassed six streams, a lake and an artificial water reservoir located on the western coast of Admiralty Bay. Measured hydrochemical parameters included pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS), and total and dissolved forms elements such as Al, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Mn, Fe, As and Se. The values of pH, conductivity and TDS had the following ranges: 6.09–8.21, 6.0–875 µS cm−1 and 7.0–975 mg/L, respectively, and were typical for surface waters of Antarctica. Wide disparities were discovered regarding concentrations of the investigated elements, ranging from <0.01 µg/L for Cd to 510 µg/L for Fe, and differing from one water body to another. The investigated elements are discussed with reference to environmental conditions and anthropogenic factors. Concentrations of total and dissolved forms of elements are considered in connection with the composition of soil in their surroundings and with atmospheric deposition, mostly such as that took place locally. The increased levels of Pb and Zn concentrations in the immediate proximity of a research station suggested anthropogenic contamination

'SCREENSCAPES': PLACING TV SERIES IN THEIR CONTEXTS OF PRODUCTION, MEANING AND CONSUMPTION

The main argument of this paper is that television participates in a complex, cultural process through which environmental meanings and values are produced and consumed. Using the theoretical model of the 'circuit of culture' the ways in which a city's imagery is embedded in the processes of representation, production, and consumption are explored. First, two types of the TV crime genre are examined in order to outline how the differences between them cause and require contrasting geographical imaginations of contemporary Cologne. Second, the contexts of production are looked at in order to explain how the city's representation is inextricably linked to the politics of determining film locations. Finally, the ways in which fans perceive the city through television are explored. In conclusion, it becomes clear that space and genre are highly interdependent elements in crime series, and that environmental meanings are constructed and contested in multiple everyday contexts of media use and appropriation. Copyright (c) 2007 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG.