Gothic Opera in Britain and France: Genre, Nationalism, and Trans-Cultural Angst

Rescue operas developed along two somewhat different lines: “tyrant” operas and “humanitarian” operas within the general category of “opera semiseria,” or “opéra comique.” The first type corresponds to the conservative British “loyalty gothic,” with its focus on the trials and tribulations of the aristocracy, while the second type draws upon the Sentimental “virtue in distress” or “woman in jeopardy” genre, with its focus on middle class characters or women as the captured or besieged. The first category emphasized political injustice or abstract questions of law and embodied the threat of tyranny in an evil man who imprisons unjustly a noble character. Etienne Méhul’s Euphrosine and H.-M. Berton’s Les rigueurs du cloître (both 1790) are typical examples of the genre. “Humanitarian” operas, on the other hand, do not depict a tyrant, but instead portray an individual—usually a woman or a worthy bourgeois—who sacrifices everything in order to correct an injustice or to obtain some person’s freedom. Dalayrac’s Raoul, Sire de Créqui (1789) or Bouilly’s and Cherubini’s Les deux journées (1800) are examples, along with Sedaine’s pre-1789 works. But why, we might ask, were gothic dramas quickly transformed into gothic operas or what are known now as “rescue operas”? This essay examines the social and political ideologies that are explicit in the major gothic operatic adaptations of the most popular gothic novels of Britain, while at the same time examining British opera’s very close connections with French models as well as French adaptations of British cultural works

Patients, Professionals and the Internet: Renegotiating the Healthcare Encounter

The aim of this research was to examine how patient use of internet information impinges on the utilisation of healthcare services. The research had the following objectives: + to quantify the extent, and patterns, of patients use of the internet as a health information resource and identify the factors leading to variations in behaviour. + to identify the search strategies employed by patients in accessing internet health information internet and the evaluative approaches used in assessing information quality. + to analyse the content and dynamics of virtual health communities and how participation in such communities is integrated into engagement with health services. + to document the evolving nature of patient-professional interaction arising from patient access to health information and the subsequent format of the healthcare encounter. + to assess the effect of changing patient access to information and changes in the healthcare encounter on patterns of patient decision making and health behaviours

A survey on problems encountered in current concrete construction and the potential benefits of self-healing cementitious materials.

The annual costs for repair, maintenance and replacement of civil engineering infrastructure attracts significant expenditure in the UK. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a significant number of existing and new concrete structures suffer from repair and maintenance problems, but a lack of objective construction industry supported data concerning these problems makes it difficult to establish, with any certainty, the actual problems encountered in current concrete construction in the UK. To address this lack of data, a market research exercise was commissioned by the Materials for Life (M4L) EPSRC funded research project. The market research has shown that damage in the form of cracking in concrete structures was experienced by more clients, design team members and civil engineering contractors than any other problem. Structures requiring articulation and subject to dynamic loads such as bridges were noted as being the most vulnerable to damage, with this damage mostly occurring in the joints and half joints, bearings and the deck of such structures. The main consequential effects of damage in concrete structures were the need for the contractor to return for repairs as well as the need for regular monitoring. The current approaches taken to enhance a structure’s longevity mainly involve the use of additional cementitious material to improve the barrier between the environment and the steel reinforcement. However, an alternative could be to use the self-healing cementitious materials that have been proposed by the M4L research team. Until now there has been insufficient evidence regarding how these materials may be deployed in the construction industry, and the applications to which they may be best suited in terms of added-value. The market research results show that highways and infrastructure generally and water retaining structures would benefit most from self-healing cementitious materials, with reduced maintenance costs over a structure’s lifetime justifying a premium in the capital material cost. Reduced whole-life costs and fewer repair and maintenance interventions will have a significant influence on the economic, environmental and social impact of repair and maintenance events, which will be of benefit to the UK as a whole

Review of the occupational health and safety of Britain’s ethnic minorities

This report sets out an evidence-based review on work-related health and safety issues relating to black and minority ethnic groups. Data included available statistical materials and a systematic review of published research and practice-based reports. UK South Asians are generally under-represented within the most hazardous occupational groups. They have lower accident rates overall, while Black Caribbean workers rates are similar to the general population; Bangladeshi and Chinese workers report lowest workplace injury rates UK South Asian people exhibit higher levels of limiting long-term illness (LLI) and self reported poor health than the general population while Black Africans and Chinese report lower levels. Ethnic minority workers with LLI are more likely than whites to withdraw from the workforce, or to experience lower wage rates. Some of these findings conflict with evidence of differentials from USA, Europe and Australasia, but there is a dearth of effective primary research or reliable monitoring data from UK sources. There remains a need to improve monitoring and data collection relating to black and ethnic minority populations and migrant workers. Suggestions are made relating to workshops on occupational health promotion programmes for ethnic minorities, and ethnic minority health and safety 'Beacon' sites

NASAs Land, Atmosphere near Real-Time Capability for EOS ( LANCE) @10 Years: A Look Back at Its Origins in MODIS Terra

This poster looks back on how the first near real-time (NRT) images from MODIS Terra provided the impetus for the creation of the Land, Atmosphere Near Real-Time Capability for EOS (LANCE) a near real-time (NRT) capability that currently serves low latency products for monitoring air quality, floods, duststorms, snow cover and agriculture, as well as for public education and outreach to users in over 160 countries

NASA Provides the Capability to Deliver Near Real-Time JPSS Data to Users in Order to Monitor Time-Sensitive Applications Such as Wildfires, Floods, Volcanic Eruptions, Tropical Cyclones and Extreme Weather Events

NASA's Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (Earth Observing System) (LANCE https://earthdata.nasa.gov/lance) serves near real time (NRT) data to monitor time sensitive applications such as monitoring wildfires, floods, volcanic eruptions, tropical cyclones and extreme weather events. It currently serves data and imagery from the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) S NPP (Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership) instruments and is in the process of integrating continuity data products from VIIRS and OMPS onboard the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), via the JPSS data Hub, to continue to meet the needs of agencies, scientists and members of the general public. NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) sponsored the EOSDIS development of LANCE in 2009 to provide a central point of access to high quality NRT data products and imagery for applications users. LANCE makes data available to the public within 3 hours of satellite observation and imagery within 4-5 hours of satellite observation. Full resolution browse imagery from LANCE are provided through the Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) which also fuels NASA's Worldview tool so that users can interactively browse near real time data. This data supports time critical applications and allows users to view current natural hazards and events and animate the imagery over time