Travelling languages? Land, languaging and translation

What does translation become if we uncouple language from culture and link language to perception and experience of the land? What would happen to translation if the culture concept was not the starting point for theorizing? In order to answer this question I examine the contributions of Eagleton, Keesing, Cronin and, most particularly, of the anthropologist Tim Ingold and his important work The Perception of the Environment. From this I then proceed to examine pertinent extracts of the works of two Celtic authors; Brian Friel's Translations and Margaret Elphinstone's A Sparrow's Flight in order to develop a relationally grounded view of translation. This view privileges both the land and the work of languaging as key aspects of translation, inhabiting positions in the world, rather than constructing and mediating views of the world. I therefore come to see translation as a mode of perception, a sensory even empathic mode, a languaging response to phenomena, its primary relationship, not with culture and genealogy but as positionality – in and with the land and to develop towards a geopoetics of the taskscape of the translator

Ludic literacies at the intersections of cultures: an interview with James Paul Gee

Professor James Gee addresses issues of linguistics, literacies and cultures. Gee emphasises the importance of Discourses, and argues that the future of literacy studies lies in the interrogation of new media and the globalisation of culture

Criminal victimisation, crime control and political action

This thesis outlines the emergence of victimology as a major subdiscipline within criminology. Its growth is traced to intellectual debates and problematics in the history of criminology, and the interactions with wider political and social currents. Chapter I provides an overview of literature in victimology, its scope and areas of theory and research. Chapter II examines the context of the 'discovery of criminal victimisation' by the President's Crime Commission, 1967, and, the linking of state intervention in crime and poverty in the reformism of the Johns on Administration. Victimology' s growth is linked to the 'data revolution' in criminal justice and. the state fundine of victimisation surveys through the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. Chapter III analyses the alliance between sooial science and social democracy, and Chapter IV deals with the alliance of criminologists and social reformism in relation to the political history of crime statistics. The latter's problems are assessed in relation to the 'dark figure' of crime, and the roles of police and victims. The chapter also evaluates the claims that victimisation surveys are a superior method of counting crime. Chapter V examines the orientation towards victims. in social democratic, right-wing and radical criminologies. Chapter VI traces the intellectual and political backgrounds of the Merseyside and Islington Crime Surveys, including the debates within the Labour Party on policing and crime, and the alliance between radical v. reformists and left-realist criminologists. Chapter VII describes the design of a draft questionnaire for the Islington Crime Survey and offers a critical comparison of the questionnaires for the final Islington and Merseyside questionnaires and those used in other surveys. Chapter VIII summarizes the themes and findings of this thesis and comments upon the theoretical methodological and policy issues for the development of a radical victimology

The public health importance of scabies in community domiciliary care settings: an exploratory cross-sectional survey of health protection teams in England

Scabies is a contagious skin infection commonly occurring in institutions such as care homes. However, a large proportion of vulnerable people in England receive domiciliary care in the community and their experience of scabies has not been described. We undertook a pragmatic cross-sectional survey of Health Protection Teams (HPTs) in England to determine the burden of scabies related to domiciliary care. Fifteen cases or outbreaks were notified to HPTs between January 2013 and December 2017. Although a relatively uncommon event for individual HPTs, they were complex to manage and required the co-ordination of multiple stakeholders. Diagnosis was often delayed and required several clinical consultations. A lack of guidance led to difficulties establishing stakeholder roles and responsibilities and sources of funding for treatment. The stigmatisation of scabies sometimes affected the quality of care provided to patients, such as use of excessive personal protective equipment. Our study demonstrates that scabies is an issue of public health importance for domiciliary care service providers and users, and research is required to better understand the impacts of the disease and to develop evidence-based guidance. More generally, there is a need for simpler treatment regimens and methods of diagnosing scabies

Removing Orbital Debris with Lasers

Orbital debris in low Earth orbit (LEO) are now sufficiently dense that the use of LEO space is threatened by runaway collisional cascading. A problem predicted more than thirty years ago, the threat from debris larger than about 1 cm demands serious attention. A promising proposed solution uses a high power pulsed laser system on the Earth to make plasma jets on the objects, slowing them slightly, and causing them to re-enter and burn up in the atmosphere. In this paper, we reassess this approach in light of recent advances in low-cost, light-weight modular design for large mirrors, calculations of laser-induced orbit changes and in design of repetitive, multi-kilojoule lasers, that build on inertial fusion research. These advances now suggest that laser orbital debris removal (LODR) is the most cost-effective way to mitigate the debris problem. No other solutions have been proposed that address the whole problem of large and small debris. A LODR system will have multiple uses beyond debris removal. International cooperation will be essential for building and operating such a system.Comment: 37 pages, 15 figures, in preparation for submission to Advances in Space Researc