Brexit and Everything After

Britain\u27s place in the world and the future of the European Projec

Benthic Foraminifera from the NECOP Study Area Impacted by the Mississippi River Plume and Seasonal Hypoxia

Benthic foraminifera influenced by the Mississippi River plume and seasonal hypoxia were assessed from Louisiana inner-continental shelf sediment samples. Surface foraminifera assemblages were representative of in-situ populations as established by staining techniques. Community diversity and richness/evenness analyses indicate three regimes: high stress (sediment dominated), intermediate stress (hypoxia dominated), and low stress (low sediment accumulation/high oxygen). Epistominella vitrea and Buliminella morgani are useful tracers of rapid sediment accumulation rate and hypoxia. A bottom-water productivity signal west of the Mississippi River plume is indicated by benthic and planktic foraminifera abundance peaks. Surface benthic foraminifera trends are utilized to interpret changes in historical community structure from hypoxic-area sediments deposited since the turn of the century. The hypoxia-tolerant species Buliminella morgani increases markedly upcore, while hypoxia intolerant species decrease or disappear. Diversity and dominance trends temporally correspond to a dramatic increase in U.S. fertilizer application. The results of this study have application to paleoenvironmental research spanning longer geologic timescales. The documented relationships between population structure and stressors in river-dominated marine systems may provide a useful analog for recognition of these conditions in the fossil record

Comprehensive Analysis Reveals Dynamic and Evolutionary Plasticity of Rab GTPases and Membrane Traffic in Tetrahymena thermophila

Cellular sophistication is not exclusive to multicellular organisms, and unicellular eukaryotes can resemble differentiated animal cells in their complex network of membrane-bound structures. These comparisons can be illuminated by genome-wide surveys of key gene families. We report a systematic analysis of Rabs in a complex unicellular Ciliate, including gene prediction and phylogenetic clustering, expression profiling based on public data, and Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) tagging. Rabs are monomeric GTPases that regulate membrane traffic. Because Rabs act as compartment-specific determinants, the number of Rabs in an organism reflects intracellular complexity. The Tetrahymena Rab family is similar in size to that in humans and includes both expansions in conserved Rab clades as well as many divergent Rabs. Importantly, more than 90% of Rabs are expressed concurrently in growing cells, while only a small subset appears specialized for other conditions. By localizing most Rabs in living cells, we could assign the majority to specific compartments. These results validated most phylogenetic assignments, but also indicated that some sequence-conserved Rabs were co-opted for novel functions. Our survey uncovered a rare example of a nuclear Rab and substantiated the existence of a previously unrecognized core Rab clade in eukaryotes. Strikingly, several functionally conserved pathways or structures were found to be associated entirely with divergent Rabs. These pathways may have permitted rapid evolution of the associated Rabs or may have arisen independently in diverse lineages and then converged. Thus, characterizing entire gene families can provide insight into the evolutionary flexibility of fundamental cellular pathways

"Religion and Attitudes toward the European Union: The New Member States; A Research Note"

This research note represents a first attempt at exploring the impact of religion on attitudes toward integration in post-communist Europe. Using Central and Eastern Euro-Barometer 2: Current Affairs and the Media, September-October 1991 we develop a multivariate regression model of support for the European Union in Central and Eastern Europe, paying particular attention to the role of religious tradition and church attendance to the formation of attitudes. Alternative theories also tested include: ideology, cognitive mobilization, European identity, economic optimism, urban living and sex. The results show that since religious variables only emerge in multivariate analysis, religion, mainly Catholicism, matters, but not in as direct a way as it does in the West. Cognitive mobilization demonstrates the most powerful impact on attitudes toward integration. The model is also run for each country in the study demonstrating differences between Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant countries

"Norway and the European Community: On the Outside Moving In?"

After nearly two decades of silence, Norway has reopened debate over joining the EC. In 1972 the electorate rejected membership in a referendum after a divisive campaign. The wounds opened by the campaign were so deep that Norwegian elites refused to discuss publicly the possibilities for membership in the EC for over fifteen years. Three events in the late 1980s have forced Norway to reopen the debate. The passage of the Single European Act encouraged a revitalization of the EC that EFTA countries could not ignore. The EC and EFTA began negotiations to establish a European Economic Area. The second event was the fall in oil prices in 1986 that reminded Norway of its economic vulnerability. Finally, the ending of the Cold War made it possible for Sweden to apply for membership. The Swedish application has added urgency to the debate in Norway. The current debate is almost identical to the one in 1972. The supporters of membership come mainly from the urban business community. They are led by the Conservative party, a large portion of the Labor party, and the Progress party. The supporters are not well organized and the political parties do not work together. The opposition is made up of farmers, leftist intellectuals, and unions loyal to the Labor party. A large grassroots organization, Nei til EF, leads the opposition. Public opinion in Norway is split three ways between EC supporters, opponents, and the undecided. The conflict in Norway is really between two competing visions of the country. Opponents see Norway as a shining example of how an industrialized democracy should be governed. Norway would lose its distinctiveness if it joined the EC. Supporters of membership believe Norway is too small to remain isolated. It must defend its vital interests by being part of the European unification process. The outcome of this debate is still in doubt

"Domestic Responses to Integration: A Research Agenda"

This paper represents an early exploration of a relatively unexplored topic: domestic responses to integration. Specifically, this essay explores several questions concerning the response of domestic interest groups and political parties to intentional attempts to integrate the economies and political systems in Western European countries. The exploration here is part of a larger project comparing domestic responses to integration in Europe and North America. The paper finds that in Western Europe (EC plus EFTA) support for integration centers in the "power elite," an alliance of political (most mainstream parties) and business leaders. Opposition to integration comes from the "red-green-brown alliance," a coalition of socialists, farmers, environmentalists, and right-wing nationalists. Several questions remain concerning the formation of alliances and their interaction with governmental institutions, the public, and each other. Explaining the composition and behavior of these alliances is also a challenge. Supranational theories of integration do not explain the persistence of popular resistance to integration. Intergovernmental theories focus attention on domestic politics, but must be supplemented by political theories of group formation and state-society relations

Confessional Cultures and European Identity: Religion, Ideology, and Economics

Proponents of greater European political unity through the development of the European Union (EU) have long sought to foster a “European” identity among citizens as a way of advancing their cause. And there is now a substantial body of scholarship devoted to understanding the social, economic, and demographic factors contributing to the development of such an identity. Recently, there has been a growing interest in cultural influences, but the possible impact of religion has been largely ignored. Using Eurobarometer 65.2 (2006), we show that religious groups differ systematically in their propensity to take “European” identity markers. Using multivariate analysis, we demonstrate that Catholics are most likely to be cognitive “Europeans”, while Protestants and other Christians are less likely to take such perspectives. Religiosity tends to reinforce the dominant propensity of each tradition. These religious differences persist even under statistical controls for other demonstrated influences, although their effects are strongest in the old Western European “core” of the EU. The long-term decline of Catholic religiosity thus has important implications for the future of “European” identities: their growth will depend increasingly on less “diffuse” and more variable influences, such as successful economic management by EU and national governments

"Does religion matter? Christianity and public attitudes toward the European Union"

Does religion matter politically in Europe? Mac Iver (1989) raises the possibility that religious tradition (i.e., Catholic vs. Protestant) may affect attitudes toward the EC, but her data set did not have the denominational variable needed to test this hypothesis. Mac Iver's study leads us to believe that religion may be important to individual attitudes toward integration, adding power to analyses focusing on ideology, political mobilization, and demographic factors. How important is religion in this mix? Can a systematic explanation for attitudes be developed? This study addresses these questions. We begin with a discussion of how we might expect religion to affect attitudes toward integration. Next, we turn to a multivariate examination of religious factors and other variables that have been credited with influencing attitudes toward integration. Then we test these same hypotheses in individual member states. Finally, we close with some observations on the role of religion in shaping European opinion and suggest some lines for further research