Conservation : concept and reality.

Before any individual, organisation or discipline contemplates its future, it is prudent to know where it currently stands, where it has come from and what the world around it is like. Thus to start a conference on ‘Current Trends and Future Directions in Archaeological Conservation’, it is surely prudent to consider, if briefly, what we understand conservation to be i.e. the concept of conservation, and something of the history of conservation to show how we got here. We also need to understand the reality of the world in which conservation exists, what others expect from conservation and conservators

Playing with words and pictures : intersemiosis in a new genre of news reportage

The newspaper is dead. Long live the newspaper! It goes without saying that now, more than ever, newspapers, in their print form, are fighting for their very survival. It is also widely acknowledged that one of the greatest assets a newspaper has is its bond with its readers, and if newspapers are to stand up to the challenges of the 21st Century they need to nurture this bond or perish. One newspaper that does appear to have found an innovative way to build community among its readers is the Australian broadsheet newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald. At this newspaper, certain news stories are packaged in a way that foregrounds a play on words and pictures. This forms an evaluative stance on the news event being depicted and creates an opportunity for the newspaper to bond with its readers over this wit. The photographs used in these stories are also noted for their quality: their striking clarity and composition creating a certain aesthetic appeal. I have termed this news story genre the image-nuclear news story. Between June 2004 and August 2008, all image-nuclear news stories were actively collected from The Sydney Morning Herald. This produced a total of 1317 stories. A smaller corpus of 1000 stories was logged and analysed in a relational database. Building on social semiotic theories of language and images, this research project investigated the intersemiotic play established through the multiplication of meaning at the interface between words and images in the image-nuclear news story. The analysis also included investigation of the kinds of photographs that are commonly used in image-nuclear news stories both in terms of their news values and compositional/aesthetic qualities. Finally, the project examined the potential effects of this play and use of image for bonding and community building between newspapers and their readers, as well as between readers and the news events. The findings of this research suggest that the inclusion of stories such as image-nuclear news stories in the news story repertoire at The Sydney Morning Herald can be viewed as encouraging a readership that can pride itself in the knowledge that this newspaper caters to their extensive understanding of the world and to their wit. In turn, this means that this newspaper can establish a very powerful readership profile that can be easily packaged and sold to advertisers. This may also be viewed as an attempt by the newspaper to set itself apart from other news providers, maintaining readership loyalties through this special relationship with its readers, and thus prolonging the longevity of the newspaper amid the ever growing and sometimes fierce competition from other media platforms

Rice Bunnies in China\u27s #MeToo: Discussion of a Feminist Movement under Censorship

This paper aims to assess the reception of the currently developing #MeToo movement in China from the perspective of Chinese internet users, feminists, and the state government as well as how censorship affects the way in which these individuals express their opinions on gendered sexual violence in Chinese society. By using a qualitative content analysis to comb through Chinese social media posts, Chinese state- sponsored news articles, and Western news articles, findings suggest that Chinese netizens are engaging with societal concerns over #MeToo and sexual assault, but do not define their grievances as being within a movement presumably to avoid censorship. Chinese feminist activists use public support of #MeToo-related discussions to justify local change in dealing with sexual assault while at the same time being careful to not challenge state authority. Consequently, these findings add to research previously conducted on online activism, social movements, and Chinese feminist ideology

Playing with words and pictures : intersemiosis in a new genre of news reportage

The newspaper is dead. Long live the newspaper! It goes without saying that now, more than ever, newspapers, in their print form, are fighting for their very survival. It is also widely acknowledged that one of the greatest assets a newspaper has is its bond with its readers, and if newspapers are to stand up to the challenges of the 21st Century they need to nurture this bond or perish. One newspaper that does appear to have found an innovative way to build community among its readers is the Australian broadsheet newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald. At this newspaper, certain news stories are packaged in a way that foregrounds a play on words and pictures. This forms an evaluative stance on the news event being depicted and creates an opportunity for the newspaper to bond with its readers over this wit. The photographs used in these stories are also noted for their quality: their striking clarity and composition creating a certain aesthetic appeal. I have termed this news story genre the image-nuclear news story. Between June 2004 and August 2008, all image-nuclear news stories were actively collected from The Sydney Morning Herald. This produced a total of 1317 stories. A smaller corpus of 1000 stories was logged and analysed in a relational database. Building on social semiotic theories of language and images, this research project investigated the intersemiotic play established through the multiplication of meaning at the interface between words and images in the image-nuclear news story. The analysis also included investigation of the kinds of photographs that are commonly used in image-nuclear news stories both in terms of their news values and compositional/aesthetic qualities. Finally, the project examined the potential effects of this play and use of image for bonding and community building between newspapers and their readers, as well as between readers and the news events. The findings of this research suggest that the inclusion of stories such as image-nuclear news stories in the news story repertoire at The Sydney Morning Herald can be viewed as encouraging a readership that can pride itself in the knowledge that this newspaper caters to their extensive understanding of the world and to their wit. In turn, this means that this newspaper can establish a very powerful readership profile that can be easily packaged and sold to advertisers. This may also be viewed as an attempt by the newspaper to set itself apart from other news providers, maintaining readership loyalties through this special relationship with its readers, and thus prolonging the longevity of the newspaper amid the ever growing and sometimes fierce competition from other media platforms

The Apotropaic Symbolled Threshold to Nevern Castle—Castell Nanhyfer

Excavations in the summer of 2011 at Nevern Castle (Castell Nanhyfer) revealed a previously unknown southern entrance to the castle constructed of clay mortared slate in the final quarter of the twelfth century. The threshold was formed of vertically seated slates, imitating the natural bedrock. Thirteen of these slates had designs inscribed into one or both faces. Their location, the absence of such inscribed slates from the rest of the site and the nature of the symbols, which could not normally be seen, suggests that they were apotropaic in nature. This paper presents a record and interpretation of this unusual in situ apotropaic-symbolled threshold deposit

A PILOT STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON THE MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF PRESTRESSED CONCRETE AND THE USE OF THERMOGRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF HEAT-AFFECTED CONCRETE

An understanding of the material property changes in building materials due to exposure to a fire is needed for accurate damage assessment of a structure. Discussion pertaining to material property changes and the bond between concrete and prestressing steel following elevated temperature exposures is presented. Evaluation of the use of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) as a post-fire analysis tool to determine the maximum temperature exposure of concrete is also included. Heated concrete cylinders were tested to determine the compressive strength and modulus of elasticity changes of concrete. Heated steel prestressing strands were tested in tension to determine changes in the ultimate stress and modulus of elasticity. Changes in the bond performance were investigated by conducting pull-out tests on prestressing steel embedded in concrete specimens. Using mortar and cement paste samples, TGA was evaluated as a possible option for determining the temperature exposure of cementitious materials. TGA was also performed on concrete samples extracted from heated cylinders to determine if the temperature profile could be predicted. The results from this project are intended to serve as the basis for the development of useful tools in the forensic investigations of prestressed concrete members after fire exposure. Using TGA to determine the exposure of an element could provide information on the history of a fire, identifying the maximum temperature exposure within an element and a general evaluation of the duration of the heat exposure. Based on this information, changes in the material properties can be predicted, resulting in more reliable investigations of prestressed concrete members exposed to fire