Scandinavian place-names in Northern Britain as evidence for language contact and interaction

My thesis consists of an examination of various types of place-name formations, as evidence of the linguistic contact and interaction which occurred between incoming Scandinavian speakers and the native population of northern Britain, in light of current theories of language contact. The first chapter analyses the nature of the relationship between Scandinavian and Celtic speakers in areas of primary settlement in Scotland, and considers how this relationship is likely to have affected the language and, more specifically, the toponymy in regions of secondary settlement such as the North-West of England, the South-West of Scotland and the Isle of Man. The subsequent chapters examine four different types of place-name formation which are found chiefly in these secondary Scandinavian settlements: inversion-compound names, ǽrgi names, kirk- compound names and bý names. Each chapter looks at the nature and distribution of one of these groups, and investigates how language contact phenomena including bilingualism, lexical borrowing and substratum transfer may have influenced the form and development of such name-types. I have concluded that differing types of linguistic contact, occurring both in primary and secondary settlement areas, may account for the differing usage and distribution of the four categories of place-names. The inception of the inversion-compounds has been re-evaluated and it is argued that rather then having been coined by Scandinavians who were influenced by Celtic work-order, these names were instead created by Gaelic-speakers who had shifted to the Scandinavian language. It is also argued that the more widespread distribution of names in ǽrgi in comparison with the inversion names is not due to the two groups of names by coined by different groups of immigrants, nor because of the secondary dissemination of the element ǽrgi amongst non-Scandinavian speakers, as had previously been suggested. Rather, the disparity in distribution is likely to reflect the fact that the ǽrgi names result from the straightforward lexical transfer of a Gaelic element into the Scandinavian language, whereas the inversion names were created by a specific bilingual substrate element amongst the Scandinavian settlers. In the case of inversion-compounds with the initial kirk- it is argued that rather than representing partial translations of English cirice- or Gaelic cill- names, the names were coined as kirk- compounds within a Gaelic-Scandinavian context. The predominantly Scottish distribution of this toponymic group reflects secondary dissemination of the name-type amongst monolingual Gaelic-speakers in the South-West. In the case of names in bý, it is argued that this group do not represent a purely Danish wave of settlement throughout the Irish seaboard, as has previously been suggested. Rather, linguistic contact between Danes and Norwegians, and later English-speakers, led to the more widespread utilisation of this element

Liberal ideology and its relationship to leisure theory and policy: The case of Australia

This occasional paper was prepared as a research project of the Department of Leisure Studies, Phillip Institute of Technology, Victoria, Australia. The authors gratefully acknowledge Lincoln University (New Zealand) and Phillip Institute of Technology (Australia) in providing support for the preparation and production of this paper.In Australia there has been little scholarly attention given to political ideology in relation to leisure. A major reason is the dominant influence of liberal concepts and ideas. An understanding of liberalism is essential for developing an understanding of the ways in which leisure within Australia has been conceptualized by theorists and applied in practice. Particular attention is given to the interpretation under liberal ideology of the growth and development of commercial leisure, and the role of the state, and the limitations that this approach has in leisure provision and opportunities. The paper urges that attention be given to re-constructing an adequate ideology of leisure which recognises the problems associated with liberalism as the dominant political ideology in driving leisure policy, and develops a more complete and realistic understanding of the complex flows of costs and benefits of leisure to different groups in society

ExNOTic: Should We Be Keeping Exotic Pets?

There has been a recent trend towards keeping non-traditional companion animals, also known as exotic pets. These pets include parrots, reptiles, amphibians and rabbits, as well as small species of rodent such as degus and guinea pigs. Many of these exotic pet species are not domesticated, and often have special requirements in captivity, which many owners do not have the facilities or knowledge to provide. Keeping animals in settings to which they are poorly adapted is a threat to their welfare. Additionally, owner satisfaction with the animal may be poor due to a misalignment of expectations, which further impacts on welfare, as it may lead to repeated rehoming or neglect. We investigate a range of commonly kept exotic species in terms of their suitability as companion animals from the point of view of animal welfare and owner satisfaction, and make recommendations on the suitability of various species as pets

‘It has become everybody’s business and nobody’s business’: Policy actor perspectives on the implementation of TB infection prevention and control (IPC) policies in South African public sector primary care health facilities

Karina Kielmann - ORCID: 0000-0001-5519-1658 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5519-1658South Africa is increasingly offering screening, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB), and especially drug-resistant TB, at the primary care level. Nosocomial transmission of TB within primary health facilities is a growing concern in South Africa, and globally. We explore here how TB infection prevention and control (IPC) policies, historically focused on hospitals, are being implemented within primary care facilities. We spoke to 15 policy actors using in-depth interviews about barriers to effective TB-IPC and opportunities for improving implementation. We identified four drivers of poor policy implementation: fragmentation of institutional responsibility and accountability for TB-IPC; struggles by TB-IPC advocates to frame TB-IPC as an urgent and addressable policy problem; barriers to policy innovation from both a lack of evidence as well as a policy environment dependent on ‘new’ evidence to justify new policy; and the impact of professional medical cultures on the accurate recognition of and response to TB risks. Participants also identified examples of TB-IPC innovation and described conditions necessary for these successes. TB-IPC is a long-standing, complex health systems challenge. As important as downstream practices like mask-wearing and ventilation are, sustained, effective TB-IPC ultimately requires that we better address the upstream barriers to TB-IPC policy formulation and implementation.The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (IK) is gratefully acknowledged. The project is partly funded by the Antimicrobial Resistance Cross Council Initiative supported by the seven research councils in partnership with other funders including support from the GCRF. Grant reference: ES/P008011/1https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2020.183993216pubpub1

Visualization of the Digital Divide Among K-12 Students: Open Data, Quantitative Measures, and Policy Implications

Our work utilized a multi-disciplinary approach to assess the digital divide among K-12 students through socio-technical and economic analysis. Results show that access to high-speed internet (broadband) and use continued to be a challenge for children and schools located in disadvantaged communities. Three visualizations were developed to display the digital disparity at the county level across our country and to support decision-making in resource allocation to improve broadband access and utilization

Co-Designing a Programme Level Approach to Information and Digital Literacy: Initial Reflections from Our Participatory Action Research Project

Information and digital literacy (IDL) is a core graduate attribute at the University of Sheffield and is defined as follows: “Information and digital literacy (IDL) enables engaged learning. It blends information literacies with digital capabilities transcending technological skills and tools to identify with learning, living and working in a fluid digital world. IDL enables learners to discover and absorb information in a critically engaged manner, innovate in active pursuits of creative scholarship, demonstrate integrity by acknowledging the work of others and make a contribution for others to share” [University of Sheffield Library, 2019]. This paper will present initial reflections from an innovative participatory action research project established at the University, to bring a team of student associates together with a team of faculty liaison librarians to co-build and co-embed a programme level approach (PLA) to IDL. PLA takes a holistic rather than modular approach to learning and teaching, allowing students to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes that will make them confident and assured graduates. The University has set an ambitious five-year strategic vision to ensure every course has a programme level approach by the year 2021 [University of Sheffield, 2016]. US based librarians Susan Gardner Archambault & Jennifer Masunaga [2015] maintain that libraries can contribute to such ambitious programme level approaches by taking the initiative and by working with academic and administrative staff to map information (and digital) literacy into the curriculum. Our work aims to build on this by also including the student voice in our mapping work, taking a participatory action research approach [Heron & Reason, 2008] to engage, include and embrace the student experience. The success and impact of this work will be assessed through staff and student reflections and we will draw on these to present success to date, at the IATUL 2019 annual conference