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Copyright of Turkic Studies Journal is the property of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Background The genomes of present-day non-Africans are composed of 1–3% of Neandertal-derived DNA as a consequence of admixture events between Neandertals and anatomically modern humans about 50–60 thousand years ago. Neandertal-introgressed single nucleotide polymorphisms (aSNPs) have been associated with modern human disease-related traits, which are risk factors for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and inflammation. In this study, we aimed at investigating the role of aSNPs in PDAC in three Eurasian populations. Results The high-coverage Vindija Neandertal genome was used to select aSNPs in non-African populations from 1000 Genomes project phase 3 data. Then, the association between aSNPs and PDAC risk was tested independently in Europeans and East Asians, using existing GWAS data on more than 200 000 individuals. We did not find any significant associations between aSNPs and PDAC in samples of European descent, whereas, in East Asians, we observed that the Chr10p12.1-rs117585753-T allele (MAF = 10%) increased the risk to develop PDAC (OR = 1.35, 95%CI 1.19–1.54, P = 3.59 × 10–6), with a P-value close to a threshold that takes into account multiple testing. Conclusions Our results show only a minimal contribution of Neandertal SNPs to PDAC risk.

This work examines Han Suyin's representation of her Eurasian identity in relation to her maternal inheritance, focusing on her autobiography The Crippled Tree, the first volume in the series China: Autobiography, History. Drawing on Paul John Eakin's concept of relationality in life writing, we consider that Han's Eurasian identity was formed through her interactions and negotiations with significant others such as her mother. We argue that Han reveals her maternal inheritance in three ways: reconstructing her mother's subjectivity, recalling her mother's story, and speaking for her mother: actions that contribute to Han's self-representation as Eurasian. By intertwining her story with that of her mother, Han shows that her self-identity is relational, and presents the boundaries of the autobiographical 'I' as shifting and flexible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a Gaussian variational approximation of the posterior density in high-dimensional state space models. The number of parameters in the covariance matrix of the variational approximation grows as the square of the number of model parameters, so it is necessary to find simple yet effective parametrisations of the covariance structure when the number of model parameters is large. We approximate the joint posterior density of the state vectors by a dynamic factor model, having Markovian time dependence and a factor covariance structure for the states. This gives a reduced description of the dependence structure for the states, as well as a temporal conditional independence structure similar to that in the true posterior. We illustrate the methodology on two examples. The first is a spatio-temporal model for the spread of the Eurasian collared-dove across North America. Our approach compares favorably to a recently proposed ensemble Kalman filter method for approximate inference in high-dimensional hierarchical spatio-temporal models. Our second example is a Wishart-based multivariate stochastic volatility model for financial returns, which is outside the class of models the ensemble Kalman filter method can handle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The genomes of present-day non-Africans are composed of 1–3% of Neandertal-derived DNA as a consequence of admixture events between Neandertals and anatomically modern humans about 50–60 thousand years ago. Neandertal-introgressed single nucleotide polymorphisms (aSNPs) have been associated with modern human disease-related traits, which are risk factors for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and inflammation. In this study, we aimed at investigating the role of aSNPs in PDAC in three Eurasian populations. Results: The high-coverage Vindija Neandertal genome was used to select aSNPs in non-African populations from 1000 Genomes project phase 3 data. Then, the association between aSNPs and PDAC risk was tested independently in Europeans and East Asians, using existing GWAS data on more than 200 000 individuals. We did not find any significant associations between aSNPs and PDAC in samples of European descent, whereas, in East Asians, we observed that the Chr10p12.1-rs117585753-T allele (MAF = 10%) increased the risk to develop PDAC (OR = 1.35, 95%CI 1.19–1.54, P = 3.59 × 10–6), with a P-value close to a threshold that takes into account multiple testing. Conclusions: Our results show only a minimal contribution of Neandertal SNPs to PDAC risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Contemporary archeological theory emphasizes the economic and social complexity of Eurasian steppe populations. As a result, old notions of "nomadic" cultures as homogenously mobile and economically simple are now displaced by more nuanced interpretations. Large part of the literature on diet and mobility among Eurasian pastoralists is focused on the Bronze and Iron Ages. The underrepresentation of more recent contexts hampers a full discussion of possible chronological trajectories. In this study we explore diet and mobility at Tunnug1 (Republic of Tuva, 2nd–4th century CE), and test their correlation with social differentiation. Materials and Methods: We compare demographic patterns (by age‐at‐death and sex) of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S) among 65 humans and 12 animals from Tunnug1 using nonparametric tests and Bayesian modeling. We then compare isotopic data with data on perimortal skeletal lesions of anthropic origin and funerary variables. Results: Our analyses show that: (1) diet at Tunnug1 was largely based on C4 plants (likely millet) and animal proteins; (2) few individuals were nonlocals, although their geographic origin remains unclarified; (3) no differences in diet separates individuals based on sex and funerary treatment. In contrast, individuals with perimortal lesions show carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios consistent with a diet incorporating a lower consumption of millet and animal proteins. Discussion: Our results confirm the previously described socioeconomic variability of steppe populations, providing at the same time new data about the economic importance of millet in Southern Siberia during the early centuries CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of archaeological excavations have yielded a large number of bronze mirrors from late prehistoric sites in Xinjiang. Scholarly attention has been invested in fitting these specular discs into a singular origin story of the Chinese mirror. Repositioning them within the context of the eastern Eurasian steppe, this article instead takes Xingjiang mirrors as artifacts indexing both diverse local developments and transregional patterns of circulation. A typological framework is proposed based on shape and structure: knob mirror with a flat rim, knob mirror with a flanged rim, grip mirror with a long handle, tanged mirror with a short protrusion, and knobless and handleless mirror. The presence or absence of zoomorphic décor enables even finer distinctions. ArcGIS mapping is employed to investigate the geo-cultural distributions of the different mirror types across Xinjiang. As a result, this article argues that the circulation of bronze mirrors in late prehistoric Xinjiang entailed four aspects of creative processes of cultural exchange, including diversity, fluidity, connectivity, and adaptability. Diversity is manifest in the richness and variety of Xinjiang mirror types. Fluidity challenges the knob-versus-grip dichotomy long held in academia. Connectivity captures frequent and multiple exchanges across all parts of the steppe that generated pan-regional styles and facilitated transfer of mirror casting techniques and designs. Adaptability foregrounds the agency of local invention and adaptation. The combined local-global perspective brings into focus the intricacies of mirror circulation centered in Xinjiang, a pivotal geographic and cultural hub of East-West exchange long before the Han empire’s opening of the Silk Road in the second century B.C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cenozoic tectonic evolution in the Tethyan region has greatly changed the landforms and environment of Eurasia, driving the evolution of animals and greatly affecting the diversity patterns of Eurasian animals. By combining the latest Tethyan paleogeographic models and some recently published Eurasian zoological studies, we systematically summarize how tectonic evolution in the Tethyan region has influenced the evolution and diversity patterns of Eurasian animals. The convergence of continental plates, closure of Tethys Sea, and Tethyan sea-level changes have directly affected the composition and spatial distribution of Eurasian animal diversity. The topographic and environmental changes caused by Tethyan tectonics have determined regional animal diversity in Eurasia by influencing animal origin, dispersal, preservation, diversification, and extinction. The ecological transformations resulted in the emergence of new habitats and niches, which promoted animal adaptive evolution, specialization, speciation, and expansion. We highlight that the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Tethyan region has been responsible for much of the alteration in Eurasian animal distribution and has been an essential force in shaping organic evolution. Furthermore, we generalize a general pattern that Tethyan geological events are linked with Eurasian animal evolution and diversity dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The roots of US policy toward China are laid in the geopolitical thinking mode of its strategic culture. This mode of thinking first originated in Britain and later evolved into geopolitics. Bearing such thoughts, the United States sees China as a country at the southeastern rim of the Eurasian continent, and the rise of China is a threat to its dominance as a maritime state in the Eurasian continent. No matter the rotation of governing parties in the United States, containing the development of China is not merely an expedient for electoral politics but an inevitable choice for maritime states to contain continental states and an objectively necessary national security strategy aimed at retaining the global hegemony of the United States. As China further develops, such intention will become more and more apparent. In order to achieve the goal of slowing down China's development pace and maintaining US's political dominance over Eurasia, it seems that the United States has to build a maritime alliance system. The alliance between Japan and the United States will be further strengthened since Japan is a strategic pivot of this system. However, Japan's perception of interests and strategic thinking are not fully aligned with those of the United States, and as a result, Japan will choose strategies with a certain degree of autonomy, thus eventually limiting the implementation of US's geopolitical strategies. From the viewpoints of power transfer, geopolitics and ideology for the confrontation between maritime and continental states, this paper focuses on the limitations of the geopolitical thinking behind US's policy-making toward China and the relatively autonomous strategy of Japan to analyze the status quo and underlying trends of China–US–Japan relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tracks and explores the generational changes in the dynamics of racial identity and identification of Eurasians in Singapore, as reflected in family life. Eurasians are a historic mixed-descent community originating in the mixing of European and Asian cultures in the region since the 16th century. By analysing the embodied enactment and negotiation of mixed identities intergenerationally in the spheres of marriage and language choices, the paper reveals how families express and construct what it means to be Eurasian in the Singaporean context. This study draws on 30 interviews with self-identified Eurasians over two generations, including six paired intra-family interviews, illustrating intergenerational identity shifts. While the boundedness of racial identification appeared to be the norm for earlier generations, a tempering of race as a boundary marker and an openness to changing familial rhythms have served to encourage a lowering of race consciousness among younger Eurasians in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper author examines the perception of Central Asia by contemporary Russian thinkers and scientists: "neo-Slavophiles", "Eurasians" and "Westernizers". Author established the existence of significant differences between three groups of experts in the assessment of Russia's foreign policy in relation to Central Asian states. This conclusion applies equally to the attitude of selected Russian scientists concerning China, as well as to Russia's prospects in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies show that the indigenous people of the southern Cape of South Africa were dramatically impacted by the arrival of European colonists starting ~400 years ago and their descendants are today mixed with Europeans and Asians. To gain insight on the occupants of the Vaalkrans Shelter located at the southernmost tip of Africa, we investigated the genetic make‐up of an individual who lived there about 200 years ago. We further contextualize the genetic ancestry of this individual among prehistoric and current groups. From a hair sample excavated at the shelter, which was indirectly dated to about 200 years old, we sequenced the genome (1.01 times coverage) of a Later Stone Age individual. We analyzed the Vaalkrans genome together with genetic data from 10 ancient (pre‐colonial) individuals from southern Africa spanning the last 2000 years. We show that the individual from Vaalkrans was a man who traced ~80% of his ancestry to local southern San hunter–gatherers and ~20% to a mixed East African‐Eurasian source. This genetic make‐up is similar to modern‐day Khoekhoe individuals from the Northern Cape Province (South Africa) and Namibia, but in the southern Cape, the Vaalkrans man's descendants have likely been assimilated into mixed‐ancestry "Coloured" groups. The Vaalkrans man's genome reveals that Khoekhoe pastoralist groups/individuals lived in the southern Cape as late as 200 years ago, without mixing with non‐African colonists or Bantu‐speaking farmers. Our findings are also consistent with the model of a Holocene pastoralist migration, originating in Eastern Africa, shaping the genomic landscape of historic and current southern African populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the structuring of Singapore's race classification system, and how Eurasians fit into and work around the Chinese–Malay–Indian–Other (CMIO) framework in everyday life. Racial and ethnic identities and classifications play a prominent role in Singapore, a lingering legacy of colonial population management, and a quotidian part of life for Singaporeans of all backgrounds. Race in Singapore is not an abstract category for analysis, but a highly visible and externally categorised aspect of identity, with significant practical outcomes. The paper examines how Eurasians navigate racial identities over time, and what happens when the system overlooks complex identities. Drawing out how understandings of race, ethnicity and belonging inflect what it means to be Eurasian, this paper utilises a series of 30 life story interviews which illuminate how Eurasian has become a simultaneously mixed and singular form of ethnic identity. Issues of classification and mis-classification come to the fore, as well as the perception of a hierarchy of races which belong to the nation. The idea of an overarching national identity as 'just Singaporean' is also explored, looking at how individuals see the future of the CMIO system, and ways in which the country can move beyond race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the issues of the system organization of the economy and management in the Eurasian space. The methodological principles of the modern understanding of the problems of geo-economics of the world Eurasian economic and civilizational development are analyzed. Tools and technologies of geo-economic analysis of modeling and forecasting are considered: geo-economic civilizational space, geo-economic weapons, geo-economic wars, geo-economic atlas. From the socio-cultural point of view, the phenomenon of nonsystemic development of the Western Balkan states (excluding Croatia and Slovenia) is considered. Geo-economic wars at the end of the 20th century and their consequences within and along the perimeter of the Eurasian space have created "countries-systems", the development of which makes it possible to speak of the phenomenon of the use of geoeconomic weapons, the striking elements of which contribute to the formation of a philosophy of self-reliance, diversification of the economic model of the state, and the creation of a positive image. Countries - systems to form real instruments of investment attractiveness of the state, the formation of extremely effective development institutions. Determination of the main strategic goal - advanced economic development is an important tool, the derivatives of which are the patriotism of national business and representatives of state and municipal authorities in solving the problems of state development. Concerning the countries of the Balkan region, the term "non-systematicity" can be used to designate a phenomenon in which a given territory, on the one hand, is an element of a single European system and is perceived as an integral whole, but also in many ways break the connection with it. The future of the Eurasian economic space, the effectiveness of the nationallyoriented model of development of states and peoples united by the capacious name "Modern Eurasia" depend on the results of the predicted geo-economic war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses risks facing students studying abroad, particularly those of race in Slavic, East European and Eurasian countries. She tackles the threats of physical violence being experienced by these students, the differences in harassment patterns in different countries, and a report from the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis on race-based violence in Russia since 2010.

In this article, through a spatial reading of Roberts' Scenes and Characteristics I illustrate how the stringent regulations of the East Indian Company disempowering the Eurasians are manifested through the spatial strictures, and how notions of cultural purity and hierarchy are realized through the politics of space in colonial India. Spatial concepts of lived space, third space, and hybridity-- drawn from the theories of Homi Bhabha, Edward Soja and Henry Lefebvre--are useful in mapping the spatial politics in nineteenth-century India, especially in relation to the Government-house in Calcutta, the seat of the highest authority in colonial India, and the marginalized orphanages/schools run by the East India Company primarily for the benefit of Eurasian children. Discrimination through spatially segregation was practiced by the British East India Company in order to preserve the racial purity of the European upper class at the helm of the Indian colony. My paper illustrates how the fortunes of the male and female "half-castes" of empire were variously charted, and how spatial homogeneity was subverted through the subtext of marital relations. The "third space" that some of the fortunately-marked interracial men and women occupy constantly pulled at the seams of apparently inviolable concepts of homogeneity and purity to expose and challenge the cultural dominion of the British Empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulkhana anticline is located in Tuzhurmatu area, about 50 km SE of Kirkuk city. The study area forms a part of the Zagros Folded Zone which is situated in the unstable shelf of Iraq within the physiographic zone called Foothill Zone (in the middle of Hemrin- Makhul subzone). The north eastern limb of the anticline reaches to 50ᵒ and the dip of the south western limb reaches to 70ᵒ. The core of the structure comprises the rocks of Fat’ha Formation surrounded by rocks of Injana and Mukdadiya Formations, whereas Bai-Hasan Formation forms the slopes of the low hills surrounding the anticline. These Formations range in age from Middle Miocene to Pliocene. More than 761 readings of joint planes were collected from 20 stations within 5 traverses in the study area. The study of joint sets and system was within Injana and Mukhdadiya formations, along traverses with 3-5 stations for each travers track. The results showed the presence of two sets of tension joints (bc, ac) and five sets of shear joints, through defining the maximum stress axis (σ1) and acute angle dividers for these conjugate joints. It was determined that two directions of Paleostress are present in the area, which are NE-SW and NW-SE. The direction of the first major stress (NE-SW) is orthogonal with, or normal to, the fold axis in the study area, which can be considered as a horizontal component which resulted from oblique collision of Arabian and Eurasian Plates. This old compressive stress is the reason behind the formation of the tension joint (ac) and shear joints, where the sets (ac) and system are perpendicular-semi perpendicular to the bedding plane, as they were formed at an early stage of folding. Also, the ) joint was formed in five tectonic stages with different time intervals. Joints formed in different tectonic stages, in the study area, are attributed to oblique collision of Arabian and Eurasian plates and counter clockwise rotation of Arabian plate relative to Eruasian plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to contribute to ongoing debates about the causes and consequences of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It argues via a neoclassical realist analysis that BRI can be seen as the product of the convergence of Aussenpolitik (foreign policy) and Innenpolitik (domestic politics) factors in China's grand strategy, specifically enduring desires to balance against American primacy and to secure China's frontier regions such as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The article concludes that the intersection of these objectives with the geopolitical logic of BRI (i.e. combating American primacy in the maritime domain of the Indo-Pacific through China-led Eurasian integration) provides an explanation for the timing and intensity of Beijing's imposition of a pervasive 'security state' in Xinjiang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eurasian writer, Simone Lazaroo, has lived most of her life in Australia. Her fiction seeks to reconnect with a cultural heritage to re-establish a sense of home and belonging, a move that is both a return – in that Lazaroo situates her narratives in the Asian contexts of her birth in Singapore and her paternal connection with Malaysia – and an origin because it "begins" by "coming back" (Derrida 1994: 10). In Spectres of Marx, Derrida writes that just "as Marx had his ghosts, we [too] have ours, but memories no longer recognise such borders; by definition, they pass through walls, these revenants, day and night, they trick consciousness and skip generations" (1994: 36). I explore this site of penetrable boundaries, between the "ghost" that haunts in the West – accountable in philosophical and psychoanalytical terms – and the seemingly unaccountable "hantu" in the Singaporean context. Instead, I work with Derrida's idea of the "absent presence" or the "visible invisible" to raise questions about the female body, both spectral and Eurasian. I also explore spectrality in the motif of the photograph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on my own and some of my family's search for home and belonging, exploring links between these experiences and the development of characters in my novels and short stories, mostly as migrants seeking meaning and identity at the intersection of cultures. I draw on my own cultural background of migration from Singapore to Australia with my Anglo-Australian mother and with my Eurasian father, whose lineage includes family from Malacca and Singapore descended from 16th century Portuguese seafarers' partnerships with Malay women. I will occasionally refer to aspects of the "Kristang" culture, the name for Eurasians descended from those partner-ships; and to my father and his siblings' and parents' lives in Singapore during British colonial occupation and since. I refer to family photographs and anecdotes, historical documents and excerpts from my creative writing to draw parallels between the "real" and the "re-imagined" contexts, including the influence of the British Empire and the White Australia Policy as they affect two generations of a family's capacity to feel "at home". I use Marianne Hirsch's concept of "postmemory" to help explicate how familial anecdotes and photographs inform some of my writing. Brief extracts from my published and current work-inprogress suggest further issues about home and belonging arising from migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the difficulties experienced in bringing Christianity to the peoples of eastern Europe in the early Middle Ages and beyond. In focus are the problems and processes of converting the Eurasian nomads who appeared in the steppes of eastern Europe. The research reveals that the success of missionary activity from various Christian denominations (often associated with trade activities) depended upon the receptiveness of the leaders of nomadic communities. A number of examples from various communities are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Études Inuit Studies is the property of Centre interuniversitaire d'etudes et de recherches autochtones (CIERA) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The presence of genomic signatures of Eurasian origin in contemporary Ethiopians has been reported by several authors and estimated to have arrived in the area from 3000 years ago. Several studies reported plausible source populations for such a signature, using haplotype based methods on modern data or single-site methods on modern or ancient data. These studies did not reach a consensus and suggested an Anatolian or Sardinia-like proxy, broadly Levantine or Neolithic Levantine as possible sources. We demonstrate, however, that the deeply divergent, autochthonous African component which accounts for ~50% of most contemporary Ethiopian genomes, affects the overall allele frequency spectrum to an extent that makes it hard to control for it and, at once, to discern between subtly different, yet important, Eurasian sources (such as Anatolian or Levant Neolithic ones). Here we re-assess pattern of allele sharing between the Eurasian component of Ethiopians (here called "NAF" for Non African) and ancient and modern proxies. Our results unveil a genomic legacy that may connect the Eurasian genetic component of contemporary Ethiopians with Sea People and with population movements that affected the Mediterranean area and the Levant after the fall of the Minoan civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contends that the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) is European Union's (EU) most visionary trans-regional connectivity project. It theorizes the EU-TRACECA relationship to show that the TRACECA represents different regional integration concepts, and that the EU scripted it invariably for the mutual benefits of its partner states. Conceptually optimistic, the article, nonetheless, discovers certain inextricable complications in the TRACECA's real working for varying economic profiles of and mutual conflicts among its member countries. Simultaneously, however, it argues that TRACECA can be a trailblazer for the 2018 'New EU-Asia Connectivity Strategy' as it has already the requisite infrastructure for the purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A racial classification regime, partly derived from colonial race categories that solidified during the British Empire, remains a key governance strategy in postcolonial Singapore, sorting citizens into the categories of Chinese, Malay, Indian or Other (CMIO). This racial grid continues to be a simplification of the actual complexity of lived identities and experiences, particularly for people of mixed descent. In this context, we explore the contemporary meanings and resonances of racial identity and national belonging as negotiated among members of a historic mixed-descent community - the Eurasians - in the context of a nation-state built on an institutionally fixed racial template. As a community, Eurasians are commonly attributed to the presence and mixing of especially Dutch, Portuguese and British - but also other Europeans - with an equally variegated palette of Asian cultures, since the 16th century. Based on 30 biographical interviews with self- identified Eurasians of two generations, this paper examines how individual and collective narratives of 'old' hybrid identities are changing in relation to the emergence of potentially new hierarchies of racial belonging with the arrival of new migration and the rise of international marriage in globalizing times. Given the lived reality of an expanding range of 'race' identities of different permutations and combinations, the politics of choice is played out between countervailing forces which draw racialized boundaries around the community more tightly on the one hand, and liberalize claims to racial and national belonging on the basis of self-identification on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing influence of China, the future of its non-interference policy is being increasingly debated both in China and abroad. This contribution investigates the question of intervention with Chinese characteristics by focusing on the 'geo' in the geo-economics of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is spatially reterritorialising the social geography of (Afro-)Eurasia. This reconfiguration challenges intervention research. By analysing the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as an illustration, this article argues that the geo-economic social geography of BRI is supplanting the current geopolitical social geography (dominated by the USA). Through geo-economic interventions, Chinese infrastructure projects create new geo-economic connectivity through corridors in various territories, which have been rendered simply geo-politicised (Pakistan or Iran) or insignificant (Africa) in the global economy. The article concludes by discussing some implications of geo-economic interventions for intervention research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the intraseasonal wind variations over East Asia during boreal winter. It is shown that the wind variations less than 30 days are the main component of total intraseasonal signal. The intraseasonal variations in this time period are associated with two distinctive wave trains over Eurasia starting from the North Atlantic Ocean. One wave train propagates along the polar front jet eastward over Europe and Siberia and then southeastward after passing the Lake Baikal. The other wave train propagates along the subtropical jet southeastward through the Mediterranean region and the Arabian Peninsula to north India and then eastward to southern China. The East Asian wind and temperature anomalies are determined by the combination of the two wave trains. An anomalous cyclone forms over East Asia with large extent and intensity when the two wave trains work coherently, resulting in strong lower‐level northerly wind anomalies with a large meridional extent. More cold air is transported southward from high latitudes by anomalous northerly winds, causing widespread and large temperature decrease in East Asia. When only a single wave train exists, lower‐level wind and temperature anomalies are reduced. When there is a destructive interference of the two wave trains, the lower‐level wind and temperature anomalies are weak in East Asia. Observational analyses and barotropic model experiments indicate that the formation of the two wave trains may be related to the combination of disturbances at different locations over the North Atlantic Ocean. Key Points: Intraseasonal East Asian winter monsoon variability is impacted by high‐latitude and subtropical Eurasian wave trainsThe East Asian surface temperature anomalies are larger when the two wave trains work coherentlyThe generation of the two wave trains is associated with the location and combination of wave sources over the North Atlantic Ocean [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the current study was to investigate the cross-cultural validity of major hypotheses of Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems in Turkish culture. A total of 1613 university students agreed to participate in the study. The findings strongly supported the major hypotheses of the Circumplex Model indicating as the balanced levels of cohesion and flexibility increase, family communication and family satisfaction increase as well. On the other hand, remarkable culture-specific findings emerged in the current study. Enmeshed dimension, defining the unbalanced level of family cohesion, emerged as a facilitating dimension relatively contributing to family functioning in collectivistic Turkish culture. Additionally, it would be more appropriate to conceptualize family communication as a reflective mechanism in family functioning, instead of considering it a means of change or regulation for Turkish family system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western-Russian relations are inarguably at their worst of the post-Cold War era. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) remains a key international forum for multilateral engagement. Part of the OSCE's uniqueness is its formation around three dimensions of security, which constitute its comprehensive security. The Economic and Environmental (EED) is the most overlooked yet, as this paper demonstrates, also possesses substantial capacity for easing some tensions. Through, first, an analysis of the place of EED in the OSCE, and thus between the West and Russia, the article establishes potentialities for cooperation. Second, it identifies lack of support, most notably among Western governments, rather than post-Soviet, and the place of EED activities in post-Soviet states. Third, the article pinpoints unexpected but very real forms of cooperation in the EED in the protracted post-Soviet conflicts of Transnistria-Moldova and Abkhazia-Georgia, which can establish trust between parties with the potential to expand confidence-building further. The article concludes by calling for further use of the EED, in a time when it remains underestimated but of unexpected - and essential - value for confidence-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western-Russian relations are inarguably at their worst of the post-Cold War era. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) remains a key international forum for multilateral engagement. Part of the OSCE's uniqueness is its formation around three dimensions of security, which constitute its comprehensive security. The Economic and Environmental (EED) is the most overlooked yet, as this paper demonstrates, also possesses substantial capacity for easing some tensions. Through, first, an analysis of the place of EED in the OSCE, and thus between the West and Russia, the article establishes potentialities for cooperation. Second, it identifies lack of support, most notably among Western governments, rather than post-Soviet, and the place of EED activities in post-Soviet states. Third, the article pinpoints unexpected but very real forms of cooperation in the EED in the protracted post-Soviet conflicts of Transnistria-Moldova and Abkhazia-Georgia, which can establish trust between parties with the potential to expand confidence-building further. The article concludes by calling for further use of the EED, in a time when it remains underestimated but of unexpected - and essential - value for confidence-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Vardar-Tethyan mega-suture between the Eurasian and Adria (Gondwana) margins comprises remnants of oceanic lithosphere of Neotethys and distal parts of the adjacent continental margins including unconformable Late Cretaceous sedimentary cover and Cenozoic igneous rocks of post-obduction age. This study provides kinematic constraints for displacements and rotations affecting the Serbian part of the West Vardar and Jadar-Kopaonik units after the closure of the Neotethyan (= Sava) Ocean. The targets of the paleomagnetic research were Late Cretaceous sediments representing an overstep sequence and a wide variety of Oligocene-Earliest Miocene igneous rocks. The studied 48 sampling points were distributed within two segments of a narrow and 160 km long strip of the Western Vardar zone, namely the wider Rudnik Mts. area to the north and the Kopaonik Mts. area to the south. The results of standard laboratory processing and statistical evaluation suggest that both studied segments of the Western Vardar zone were affected by 30°-46° clockwise vertical-axis rotation which must have taken place after 20 Ma. It is proposed that clockwise vertical-axis rotation documented in the present study on one hand, and the previously documented counterclockwise vertical-axis rotation of Adria, on the other hand are related to large scale extension in the southern Pannonian basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the arrangements that authorities put in place for populations of mixed ancestry from two former colonies in Asia--the Dutch East Indies and British India--and compares them with those of French Indochina during decolonization. These people of mixed ancestry, or "Eurasians," as they were commonly called at the time, were a heterogeneous group. Some could pass themselves off as Europeans, while others were seen as indigenous people. The arrangements were negotiated during round table conferences, at which decolonization in all three colonies was prepared. Which agreements were made, what consequences did they have, and how and why did these differ across the three colonial contexts? To answer these questions, I use material from governmental archives from all three former colonial contexts. The article shows that information on the paternal ancestry of Eurasians was decisive in the allocation of European citizenship and admission to the colonizing country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A circle dance, a fundamental element of many traditional cultures, exists in many parts of the world. Scholars have been fascinated by historical and contemporary, mythical and cultural, ritual and semantic aspects of circle dances. The article discusses the Yakut circle dance, osuokhai, influenced by ancient practices and religious ideas of Eurasian nomads. The article reflects on the historical transformations and on the semantics of the osuokhai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late modern era, emigration and concomitant citizenship renunciations in countries that do not allow dual citizenship can be the result of lifestyle preferences or better work opportunities. Although emigration is an integral dimension of cosmopolitanism in an era when national borders are porous, Singapore discourages the emigration of its citizens but prefers its new migrants to maintain cosmopolitan links. This is perhaps anomalous to its cosmopolitan vision. Eurasians of mixed European and Asian ancestry are a small minority ethnic group who have emigrated out of Singapore in large numbers. This work examines how their cosmopolitan politics of belonging have been at odds with the state's authoritarian tropes of citizenship as 'push' factors responsible for this minority ethnic group's dwindling population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]