COST Action G8 : Non-destructive Analysis and Testing of Museum Objects

COST Action G8 (2000-2004) aims at creating a Europe- wide network that would enable co-operation and interaction between two groups of professionals: people directly concerned with the maintenance of our cultural heritage – conservators, curators, art historians, archaeologists – and analytical scientists, including chemists, physicists, geologists, metallurgists, mineralogists and microbiologists. The main objective of the action is to improve preservation and conservation of our cultural heritage by increasing knowledge of museum objects through non-destructive analysis and testing. The scientific activities of COST G8 include organising short-term scientific missions to train scientists of both groups in the other's field as well as to transfer practical experience among the European countries. Regular meetings in the form of workshops are organised in order to exchange the obtained knowledge in a broader group, and six working groups are active, which allows close collaboration in a specific field

The glocalised telenovela as a space for possible identifications for diaspora girls in Northern Belgium: an audience cum content analysis of Sara

Because research on glocalised telenovelas in Western Europe is absent in literature and telenovelas seem highly popular among diaspora girls from Moroccan descents living in Northern Belgium, this paper studies the embedded themes and identification possibilities of telenovelas and explores its thematic interest and meanings for diaspora girls. By means of an audience cum content analysis on the case study Sara, text and audience are combined. Sara is predominantly a ‘Cinderella story’ with a clear ‘love’ and ‘class and social mobility’ discourse where emotional identification is triggered through different parameters. Belgian girls from Moroccan descent mainly watch the Sara for reasons of entertainment and escapism. They negotiate between lived and telenovela-created experiences and consequently formulate aspirations and dreams for future partners, gender roles, careers and (family) life

Cell for simultaneous synchrotron radiation x-ray and electrochemical corrosion measurements on cultural heritage metals and other materials

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Ontogeny of the osteocranium in the African catfish, Clarias gariepinus burchell (1822) (Siluriformes: Clariidae): Ossification sequence as a response to functional demands

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Television, identity and diaspora youth: a visual ethnographic study

Media discourses and popular culture offer a broad range of symbolical sources on which teenagers can rely to give meaning to their everyday life experiences and by consequence play a possible role in the identity constructions of young people (Brown; Arnett; Durham). Since adolescent diaspora television use is characterized by hybridization in terms of program preferences and choice as they watch transnational, global as local television content, the possible role of discursive practices in their identity constructions is complex and lacks in academic research. This article tries to understand how second generation diaspora girls (age 14-16) from Turkish descent in Belgium give meaning and negotiate media representations of gender and ethnicity and whether such representations play a constitutive role in girls' identity constructions. Moreover, in an increasingly multicultural society, where racial and ethno cultural divisions are complicating the social picture, there is a great necessity for research that offers a contextually nuanced exploration of girls’ socialization and its impending outcomes. To this end, we will use extensive visual ethnographical methods. European research recently started to employ 'visual ethnographical methods' (Buckingham & De Block; Niesyto, Buckingham & Fisherkeller) or 'visual creative methods' (Gauntlett & Awan), where participants produce their own media in order to give explanations for the role of media in everyday life and their construction of identities. Especially adolescents’ identities are subject of this stance of research because "If somebody-in nowadays media society-wants to learn something about youth’s ideas, feelings and their ways of experiencing the world, he or she should give them a chance to express themselves also by means of their own self-made media products" (Niesyto 137). The study contains four creative research stages and will last about one month (November 2010). In the first exploratory phase, the girls are asked to make a collage representing their 'ideal television program' by using magazines, drawing material and Polaroid photo cameras. Afterwards, collages are presented and discussed in group. In the subsequent phases, the participants get an introductory course on camera use where basic filmmaking principles are learnt. Respondents are then divided in groups and asked to film a trailer for their ideal television fiction program where they present characters, themes, title, genre, music, etc. Afterwards, the films are edited based on choices made by the girls themselves. In the end, the videos are presented to each other and their families. During all research stages, conversations, negotiations and discussions are audio-taped. This research provides rich, various and in-depth material that is not solely 'verbal' but provides 'non-verbal', 'creative artifacts' as well. Moreover, the process of video production involves negotiation and interaction with others contributing to social identity constructions. Furthermore, participants are given time to reflect on their thoughts and feelings about representations on the television screen before producing a response. Next to methodological relevance, this research empowers young people who risk social and political disempowerment. Also, it enables youngsters to develop technical skills and experiment with different forms of representation which can result in an augmented media literacy (Buckingham)

Extending the CAPM model

This paper extends the well known Capital Asset Pricing Model by Sharpe and Lintner to a multi-period context with possibly price dependent preferences. The model is built from individual forward looking agents adopting a portfolio selection scheme similar to the portfolio selection theory devised by Markowitz. We allow agents to use past and present price information to forecast both the expected return and the variance of asset returns, but with possibly different econometric forecasting techniques. Since the effects of price dependent preferences of agents are complicated, we use Microscopic Simulations to investigate the effects on equilibrium asset prices and on returns over an extended time period in a temporary equilibrium context. We also test whether the assumption of rational expectations makes sensemultiperiod CAPM, heterogeneous agents, price dependent preferences, microscopic simulations

Electrochemical monitoring of the storage or stabilization of archaeological copper based artefacts in sodium sesquicarbonate solutions

Archaeological copper-based artifacts recovered from wet and salty environments are often stored or stabilized in sodium sesquicarbonate solutions. Modification of the natural patina and development of active corrosion can occur during these processes, which implies the need for monitoring storage/stabilization processes. The focus of the study consists of examining how corrosion potential (Ecorr) measurements and voltammetric curves can contribute in providing information on the effectiveness of storage and stabilization treatments. Particular attention is given to side effects such as the transformation of the corrosion layers