An act of transgression: performing arts as a subject choice within a coastal area of deprivation

This paper examines the perceptions and aspirations of secondary school pupils interested in a career in the performing arts. The pupils in this case study were participating in drama-based courses and this research offers findings relevant for those working in schools, FE and HE, as well as the creative arts industries. This research is located within a coastal area of deprivation, Waveside, situated within England, UK. We have used fictional names for the towns, school and participants in this research, to offer anonymity. England’s coastal areas are often linked to deprivation. Within this context, a focus group of GCSE, A level and BTEC Drama pupils from Seagreen Secondary Academy, a secondary school in Waveside, provides the data that informs this research, with additional contextual narrative from the pupils’ teacher. The findings show that to study a performing arts subject is perceived by some pupils as an act of transgression. These pupils resisted neoliberal curriculum priorities resulting in tensions between school, parents and friends. Those acting as gate-keepers to professional actor training and other career opportunities within the arts, may need to review practices for recruitment and development support within marginalised communities

Making social relations and identities through consumption: A Botswana case study

This research utilises the concepts in Miller’s anthropology of consumption (1987; 1988; 1994; 1995a; 1998a; 1998b) to enable an analysis of social relations, including gender, through looking at what and how people consume. Goods not only express individual identity and status, but are used as a means of objectifying personal and social systems of value, which, in the lives of people living in a central ward in the village of Mochudi, Botswana, signify the importance of social relationships. An analysis of social change since the 1920s and 1930s when Isaac Schapera (1940, 1971) spent a period of fieldwork in the same location and wrote extensively on married life here, is undertaken through familial and life-course events. Informants took photographs of objects, the significance of which is explored through one-to-one enquiry. Generational and gendered differences in consumption choices point to the stage in life reached and lifestyle. An older woman is found to gain pleasure from the purchase of plastic chairs, ensuring she has enough for family or communal events, where all who turn up may expect to partake of a feast; it is through these chairs that social relations are objectified and her wish to be identified as a ‘good’ woman is fulfilled. Similar projections can be made with older men and desire for livestock – the ultimate signifier of masculinity and role of ‘provider’ - which are considered ‘useful’ as a means to sustain the social importance and inclusivity of communal gatherings. Young, single men and women are found to conform more to the stereotypical view of consumption as the development of individual identity (Miller 1998b:35). Yet here, within courtship relationships, material things are utilised as a means of expressing and assessing love. This may have become out-of-kilter, with young men under pressure to compete with gifts for the affections of women who ultimately can decide to walk away. Marriage is constructed around consumption. Time slips the distinction between courtship and engagement, co-habitation and marriage, or even leads to indefinite delay. Marital relations replace courtship gifts with ‘material acts of caring’ (Miller 1998b) such as provisioning on behalf of husbands, and washing of clothes by wives. The family home in the village draws people back for kinship events, such as weddings and funerals, which act to connect people together. White weddings, driven by the fantasy of the bride, are big consumptive events, and yet may be read as being less about conspicuous consumption than an objectification of love which carefully interweaves kinship, tradition and modernity. Through the crisis of AIDS, funerals have altered to reflect a sensitivity which places importance on sober and modest approaches, yet also combines this with a need to ensure the many people who attend are well fed. Large social gatherings reflect the Tswana value system in which consumption acts to reinforce social structure, gender identities and family and tribal belonging, and yet, over time, also acts to bring about change

Sequence variation in the haemagglutinin-neuraminidase gene of human parainfluenza virus type 3 isolates in the UK

The sequence variation in a 934 base-pair region of the gene encoding the haemagglutinin-neuraminidase of five human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV3) isolates was determined together with that of a prototype UK strain. All of the clinical isolates were from the Manchester area of the UK and were obtained in 1990. 1991 and 1993. The gene segment was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction using HPIVB-specific oligonucleotide primers. The nucleotide homology of the strains was high, around 99% and specific differences in the UK sequences when compared with that of the US prototype strain were identified. In addition, a number of isolate-specific differences were seen. No correlation was detected between the observed nucleotide mutations and the year of isolation, which supports the hypothesis that HPIV3 shows cocirculation of a heterogeneous population of viruses rather than varying with time in a linear fashion. However, the data suggested that geographically-defined genetic lineages of HPIV3 may exist

Mineral Occurrence Database suggestions for revision and update 2005

The Mineral Occurrence Database contains over 12000 entries from all parts of Great Britain. It includes mineral occurrences associated with old mines and trials, unexploited more recent discoveries and panned stream sediment concentrates (mainly gold grains). It was developed in Oracle, using an Access interface with the user, in the mid 1990s. The database structure has been unaltered for many years. It now requires a thorough re-examination of all the entries to check their validity as well as a re-examination of the relationships between tables as some of the links have become corrupted and new data entry is either difficult or impossible. The database has an important role in the future with the increasing interest in mine waste and environmental contamination, as well as to assist any commercial mineral exploration companies if necessary. However, this can only be realised if the database is current, accurate and comprehensive in both coverage and content. The database has many problems and these are detailed in this report together with possible solutions. In addition, a number of suggestions are made for the update of the database, with estimates for the time required

A new algorithm to diagnose atrial ectopic origin from multi lead ECG systems - insights from 3D virtual human atria and torso

Rapid atrial arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation (AF) predispose to ventricular arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death and stroke. Identifying the origin of atrial ectopic activity from the electrocardiogram (ECG) can help to diagnose the early onset of AF in a cost-effective manner. The complex and rapid atrial electrical activity during AF makes it difficult to obtain detailed information on atrial activation using the standard 12-lead ECG alone. Compared to conventional 12-lead ECG, more detailed ECG lead configurations may provide further information about spatio-temporal dynamics of the body surface potential (BSP) during atrial excitation. We apply a recently developed 3D human atrial model to simulate electrical activity during normal sinus rhythm and ectopic pacing. The atrial model is placed into a newly developed torso model which considers the presence of the lungs, liver and spinal cord. A boundary element method is used to compute the BSP resulting from atrial excitation. Elements of the torso mesh corresponding to the locations of the placement of the electrodes in the standard 12-lead and a more detailed 64-lead ECG configuration were selected. The ectopic focal activity was simulated at various origins across all the different regions of the atria. Simulated BSP maps during normal atrial excitation (i.e. sinoatrial node excitation) were compared to those observed experimentally (obtained from the 64-lead ECG system), showing a strong agreement between the evolution in time of the simulated and experimental data in the P-wave morphology of the ECG and dipole evolution. An algorithm to obtain the location of the stimulus from a 64-lead ECG system was developed. The algorithm presented had a success rate of 93%, meaning that it correctly identified the origin of atrial focus in 75/80 simulations, and involved a general approach relevant to any multi-lead ECG system. This represents a significant improvement over previously developed algorithms