Geographically touring the eastern bloc: British geography, travel cultures and the Cold War

This paper considers the role of travel in the generation of geographical knowledge of the eastern bloc by British geographers. Based on oral history and surveys of published work, the paper examines the roles of three kinds of travel experience: individual private travels, tours via state tourist agencies, and tours by academic delegations. Examples are drawn from across the eastern bloc, including the USSR, Poland, Romania, East Germany and Albania. The relationship between travel and publication is addressed, notably within textbooks, and in the Geographical Magazine. The study argues for the extension of accounts of cultures of geographical travel, and seeks to supplement the existing historiography of Cold War geography

Ancient Migratory Events in the Middle East: New Clues from the Y-Chromosome Variation of Modern Iranians

Knowledge of high resolution Y-chromosome haplogroup diversification within Iran provides important geographic context regarding the spread and compartmentalization of male lineages in the Middle East and southwestern Asia. At present, the Iranian population is characterized by an extraordinary mix of different ethnic groups speaking a variety of Indo-Iranian, Semitic and Turkic languages. Despite these features, only few studies have investigated the multiethnic components of the Iranian gene pool. In this survey 938 Iranian male DNAs belonging to 15 ethnic groups from 14 Iranian provinces were analyzed for 84 Y-chromosome biallelic markers and 10 STRs. The results show an autochthonous but non-homogeneous ancient background mainly composed by J2a sub-clades with different external contributions. The phylogeography of the main haplogroups allowed identifying post-glacial and Neolithic expansions toward western Eurasia but also recent movements towards the Iranian region from western Eurasia (R1b-L23), Central Asia (Q-M25), Asia Minor (J2a-M92) and southern Mesopotamia (J1-Page08). In spite of the presence of important geographic barriers (Zagros and Alborz mountain ranges, and the Dasht-e Kavir and Dash-e Lut deserts) which may have limited gene flow, AMOVA analysis revealed that language, in addition to geography, has played an important role in shaping the nowadays Iranian gene pool. Overall, this study provides a portrait of the Y-chromosomal variation in Iran, useful for depicting a more comprehensive history of the peoples of this area as well as for reconstructing ancient migration routes. In addition, our results evidence the important role of the Iranian plateau as source and recipient of gene flow between culturally and genetically distinct population

New insights into the Tyrolean Iceman's origin and phenotype as inferred by whole-genome sequencing

The Tyrolean Iceman, a 5,300-year-old Copper age individual, was discovered in 1991 on the Tisenjoch Pass in the Italian part of the Otztal Alps. Here we report the complete genome sequence of the Iceman and show 100% concordance between the previously reported mitochondrial genome sequence and the consensus sequence generated from our genomic data. We present indications for recent common ancestry between the Iceman and present-day inhabitants of the Tyrrhenian Sea, that the Iceman probably had brown eyes, belonged to blood group O and was lactose intolerant. His genetic predisposition shows an increased risk for coronary heart disease and may have contributed to the development of previously reported vascular calcifications. Sequences corresponding to similar to 60% of the genome of Borrelia burgdorferi are indicative of the earliest human case of infection with the pathogen for Lyme borreliosis

Re-evaluating the Quoit Brooch Style: Economic and Cultural Transformations in the 5th Century ad, with an Updated Catalogue of Known Quoit Brooch Style Artefacts

Quoit Brooch Style material, produced from the early 5th century onwards, has previously been considered mostly from a stylistic point of view, leaving much scope for further investigation. In addition, the known corpus of material has been much expanded through newly excavated and metal-detected finds. In this article, I bring together the known extant material for the first time, and document important evidence relating to contextual dating, gender associations, manufacture (including new compositional analysis of c 75 objects), repair, and reuse. The article questions previous interpretations of Quoit Brooch Style material relating to Germanic mercenaries and/or post-Romano-British political entities. It interprets the earliest material as part of wider trends elsewhere, in Britain and in Continental northwestern Europe, for the production of material imitating late Roman symbols of power. It presents new evidence for connectivity with Continental Europe via the western Channel route in the 5th century. A detailed investigation of individual artefacts shows that many Quoit Brooch Style objects were reused, sometimes being subjected to extensive repair and modification. This provides new insights into the 5th century metal economy, for instance, acute problems in the availability of new metal objects in southeastern Britain in the middle years of the 5th century. Compositional analysis contributes further to our understanding of metal supply in the 5th century and relationships with the post-Roman West. Insights are provided into wider cultural transformations in the 5th century and the gradual loss of value that occurred for Roman-style objects

Assessing organisational development in primary medical care using a group based assessment: the Maturity Matrix(TM)

Objective: To design and develop an instrument to assess the degree of organisational development achieved in primary medical care organisations. Design: An iterative development, feasibility and validation study of an organisational assessment instrument. Setting: Primary medical care organisations. Participants: Primary care teams and external facilitators. Main outcome measures: Responses to an evaluation questionnaire, qualitative process feedback, hypothesis testing, and quantitative psychometric analysis (face and construct validity) of the results of a Maturity Matrix(TM) assessment in 55 primary medical care organisations. Results: Evaluations by 390 participants revealed high face validity with respect to its usefulness as a review and planning tool at the practice level. Feedback from facilitators suggests that it helped practices to prioritise their organisational development. With respect to construct validity, there was some support for the hypothesis that training and non-training status affected the degree and pattern of organisational development. The size of the organisation did not have a significant impact on the degree of organisational development. Conclusion: This practice based facilitated group evaluation method was found to be both useful and enjoyable by the participating organisations. Psychometric validation revealed high face validity. Further developments are in place to ensure acceptability for summative work (benchmarking) and formative feedback processes (quality improvement)