Comics of the New Europe: Reflections and Intersections, edited by Martha Kuhlman & José Alaniz

This book is undeniably a welcome study. Welcome because there are too few studies on European comics in general and even less about marginal[ized] ones, in English. Except for a couple of them (e.g., Bunjevac), the majority of the authors named in this study will be unknown to most scholars outside these “New” (i.e., mostly Slavic) European countries. But it is interesting to discover new talents and new issues, or new ways of bringing up older issues (e.g., trauma, censorship...). Like the ..

Clint Jones, Apocalyptic Ecology in the Graphic Novel: Life and the Environment after Societal Collapse

This could be a depressing reading because of its topic and the conclusions it reaches, but it is also a well-written, enlightening and useful book about the popular representations of apocalyptic ecology in some graphic novels and more generally, in popular culture. The study focuses more on the content than on the specificity of the “comics.” For comics aca-fans, this perspective could disappoint, but it is nonetheless necessary in order to understand that comics in themselves are not the g..

Lund, Martin. Re-Constructing the Man of Steel, Superman 1938–1941, Jewish American History, and the Invention of the Jewish–Comics Connection

The basic purpose of this book is to de-construct the connection between Jewishness and comics. Since the late 1990s, many academic and newspaper articles, academic books, and even novels, have argued that Jewish culture had an essential and strong influence in the business and art of comics from the 1930s onward. Martin Lund, a postdoctoral student at Linnaeus University (Sweden), does not deny that there is a connection but also questions past evidence that has been too often circumstantial..

Creative accounting in Eastern Europe : the case of the Polish port companies

During 1991, a large number of small companies was created to run the operational activity of the Polish seaports, which was until then monopolised by state-owned enterprises. The major part of the shares is held by the employees. Leasing-techniques are used to solve the problem of financing the infrastructure. Although the profit-margins are relatively modest, the return on total assets is rather important because the infrastructure does not appear on the assets-side of the privatised companies. As a consequence of what we call leasing-leverage, the return on equity reaches almost astronomic heights. In the conclusion we indicate the potential dangers of this situation; the financial construction does not solve the ownership-problem of the assets, can lead to only very short-term based decisions and does not guarantee continuity when the assets have to be replaced.peer-reviewe

Growth and Mortality of Barnacle Chthalamus fissus in the Context of Climate Change

This research examines the impact of temperature increase due to anthropogenic climate change on California barnacle species, Chthalamus fissus. Given the prominence of the species in southern California, impacts to the species could translate to environmental impacts to intertidal ecosystems. We tested the hypothesis that different temperatures will have an effect on mortality and growth. To evaluate the effect of temperature on Chthalamus fissus, we cultivated barnacles in the lab for 8 weeks at average temperatures of 14°C, 22 °C and 28°C. Daily mortality and weekly growth of the barnacles was tracked. Results show increased mortality with elevated temperature. Results showed that at 8 weeks, barnacles kept at 22°C had a significantly larger basal diameter than those kept at 14°C. Our results also suggest that barnacles may have a short-term tolerance to extreme temperatures, as mortality in the 28°C treatment was comparable to the other treatments for the first 3 weeks, but those barnacles had all died by the end of week 6. It appears that barnacles are at increased risk of mortality as sea surface temperatures increase due to global warming

Assessing climate change impacts on flooding risks in the Belgian coastal zone

Within the scope of the Belgian project CLIMAR an attempt is made to develop an evaluation framework for adaptation scenario’s as a response to the climate change induced impacts in the North Sea area. Primary effects are direct consequences of climate change such as sea level rise, erosion, changes in temperature and precipitation and increased storminess. Secondary impacts are direct and indirect results of the primary effects on different sectors. A first phase of the project consists of identifying and scoping the secondary impacts on ecological and social-economic activities. In this paper results will be presented regarding the secondary impacts of flooding only.Climate change induced primary effects such as sea level rise and increased storminess lead to higher risks of flooding of low-lying coastal areas. One of the most significant social secondary effects is the number of people at risk due to flooding. An important economical effect of climate change is the amount of damage costs. Besides direct damages there will also be indirect economic results such as temporary suspension of production and loss of jobs. Other ecological effects of increased flooding risks are the loss of beach and dune area, as well as associated specific habitats such as wetlands. Indirectly this leads to loss of biodiversity.The magnitude of the most significant secondary effects is quantified by carrying out risk calculations. For each of the sets of the changing physical parameters a related storm scenario is statistically determined. In a first approach, the flooding risks during an extreme storm under present climate conditions and sea level rise are estimated. By means of a set of numerical models the areas susceptible to flooding in the Belgian coastal plain are identified. The resulting flooding risk maps are then used to estimate the scope of the secondary impacts