How the Telegraph and the Telephone Formed a Worldwide Wired Electromagnetic Environment

The principle of electromagnetic induction was independently discovered by Michael Faraday (England) and Joseph Henry (USA) in 1831–32. The momentous discovery gave birth to numerous inventions that made civilization “modern,” beginning with the telegraph. First the telegraph and then the telephone required the installation of millions of miles of electric wire to cross continents and oceans in order to function as a global telecommunications system. These wires created a wholly new, anthropogenic electromagnetic environment, whose frequencies were orders of magnitude greater than those occurring naturally. Its effects on human beings, particularly inside cities, and the biosphere generally were unknown. Even now, more than a century later, the medical and environmental effects of this worldwide wired infrastructure are at best but partially understood. The telecommunications revolutions of the mid- and late 19th century were eagerly anticipated and implemented swiftly on an unprecedented scale, creating the technological basis for worldwide instantaneous communication. This paper describes the key discoveries that created the scientific and technical breakthroughs that allowed the first telecommunications revolutions to take place.

Memoirs of Kerim Bey Ratay: Unknown Turkmen History Source from the Late 19th Century to the First Third of the 20th Century

Статья посвящена малоизвестной биографии Керим бея Ратая, представителя туркменского народа, и его трактовки истории борьбы туркмен за самоопределение в первой трети ХХ века. Публикуемая записка представляет собой источник, который отражает разные проблемы, связанные с туркменской историей, содержит его размышления о ситуации в Средней Азии, об историческом процессе в Северной Евразии, сведения, которые, которые потребуют дополнительного изучения. Из приведенных им рассуждений следует, что туркмены испытывали неприятие навязываемого им большевиками пути общественного развития, борясь за самостоятельность. На его взгляд, борьба туркмен в условиях советской власти вовсе не прекратилась, а закончится только тогда, когда ими будет завоевана независимость, когда ими будет воссоздано собственное государство, что и произошло с распадом СССР. This article presents a biography of Kerim Bey Ratay, a Turkmen, and his interpretation of the Turkmen struggle for self-determination in the first third of the 20th century. The source published here reflects various problems of Turkmen history, contains Kerim's thoughts on the situation in Central Asia, and gives insight on the historical processes in Northern Eurasia, providing information that requires further research. His take on the situation indicates that the Turkmen people did not like the social development choices being forced on them by the Bolsheviks and were fighting for independence. In his opinion, the Turkmen struggle never ceased after the establishment of Soviet rule and that it would only end when the Turkmen gained independence and reestablished their own state – that is exactly what happened with the dissolution of the USSR.

Review of Dactylosternum Wollaston, 1854 from China and Japan (Coleoptera, Hydrophilidae, Sphaeridiinae)

The species of the genus Dactylosternum Wollaston, 1854 occurring in China and Japan are reviewed. Ten species are recognized to occur in China, two of which were also recorded from Japan. Four new species are described from China: Dactylosternum nanlingensis Mai et Jia, sp. nov. (Guangdong, Jiangxi) from fungal hyphae on fallen wood, D. songxiaobini Mai et Jia, sp. nov. (Guangxi) from fallen wood with termites, D. pseudolatum Mai et Jia, sp. nov. (Guangdong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Yunnan) and D. frater Mai et Jia, sp. nov. (Yunnan) from banana trees. Dactylosternum latum (Sharp, 1873) and D. salvazai Orchymont, 1925 are reported for the first time from China, and species recorded previously (D. abdominale (Fabricius, 1792), D. corbetti Balfour-Browne, 1942, D. hydrophiloides (MacLeay, 1825) and D. pui Jia, 2002) are redescribed or diagnosed. Dactylosternum abdominale (Fabricius, 1792) is confirmed to occur in Japan. Dactylosternum latum is only known from Japan based on type specimens believed to be collected in Nagasaki by G. Lewis in late 19th century; since the species was never re-collected in Japan later, its distribution in Japan seems doubtful. Dactylosternum vitalisi Orchymont, 1925 is synonymized with D. latum (Sharp, 1873), the variability of the latter species is discussed. We moreover found that the type series of D. vitalisi contains two species, with some paratypes actually belonging to D. pseudolatum Mai et Jia, sp. nov. All species of Dactylosternum living in China and Japan are diagnosed and illustrated and a key allowing their identification is provided. We infer that the compact antennal club and paralleled body form are characters related to the life inside of plant tissues, while loose antennal club and rounded body form is present in free living Dactylosternum species. The combination of characters for distinguishing Dactylosternum from other genera of Coelostomatini is also provided.

Impact of freshwater runoff from the southwest Greenland Ice Sheet on fjord productivity since the late 19th century

Climate warming and the resulting acceleration of freshwater discharge from the Greenland Ice Sheet are impacting Arctic marine coastal ecosystems, with implications for their biological productivity. To accurately project the future of coastal ecosystems, and place recent trends into perspective, paleo-records are essential. Here, we present late 19th century to present runoff estimates for a large sub-Arctic fjord system (Nuup Kangerlua, southwest Greenland) influenced by both marine- and land-terminating glaciers. We followed a multiproxy approach to reconstruct spatial and temporal trends in primary production from four sediment cores, including diatom fluxes and assemblage composition changes, biogeochemical and sedimentological proxies (total organic carbon, nitrogen, C / N-ratio, biogenic silica, δ13C, δ15N, grain size distribution). We show that an abrupt increase in freshwater runoff in the mid-1990’s is reflected by a 3-fold increase in biogenic silica fluxes in the glacier-proximal area of the fjord. In addition to increased productivity, freshwater runoff modulates the diatom assemblages and drives the dynamics and magnitude of the diatom spring bloom. Our records indicate that marine productivity is higher today than it has been at any point since the late 19th century and suggest that increased mass loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet is likely to continue promoting high productivity levels at sites proximal to marine-terminating glaciers. We highlight the importance of paleo-records in offering a unique temporal perspective on ice-ocean-ecosystem responses to climate forcing beyond existing remote sensing or monitoring time-series.

“If you didn’t take a selfie, did you even vote?”: Embodied mass communication and citizenship models in “I voted” selfies

After participating in US elections, voters have begun to share “I voted” selfies, or networked self-portraits that display their political participation. “I voted” selfies exist at the intersection of competing ideals of citizenship, including dutiful citizenship, which centers civic duty and voting, and self-actualizing citizenship, which focuses on individualized and expressive forms of political participation. I argue that these images can be understood through historically resonant communication practices, namely, as a mediated manifestation of 19th-century political congregations that I term embodied mass communication. To trace how voters perform embodied visions of citizenship through shared practices of digital self-representation, I conducted a content analysis of “I voted” selfies posted to Twitter on US Election Day 2016. In these selfies, voters present their bodies as civic evidence, frame individual representations to signify visual collectives, and creatively contextualize their political participation. Their selfies suggest how representational rituals can reflect and reconstitute citizenship models.