Glasgow 2014, the media and Scottish politics – the (post)imperial symbolism of the Commonwealth Games

This article critically examines print media discourses regarding the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The forthcoming analysis considers the political symbolism of the Commonwealth Games with regards to the interlinkages between the British Empire, sport and the global political status of the UK, with specific consideration given to the UK’s declining global power as well as the interconnections between the 2014 Games and the Scottish independence referendum. Hechter’s (1975) ‘internal colonialism’ thesis, which portrays Scotland’s marginalised status within the UK, is drawn upon to critically explore the political symbolism of sport for Scottish nationalism, before discussion focuses upon the extent to which the modern Commonwealth is symptomatic of the UK’s declining status as a global power. Finally, the existence of these narrative tropes in print media coverage of the Commonwealth Games is examined, allowing for critical reflections on the continuing interconnections between the media, sport, nationalism and post-imperial global politics

'Anyone but England'? Exploring Anti-English Sentiment as Part of Scottish National Identity in Sport.

This article explores the reasons behind the expression of anti-English sentiment by Scots in relation to both sporting and wider social contexts, whilst also considering the impact of migration to England on the attitudes expressed by members of the Scottish diaspora. Drawing upon the conceptual framework of ‘narrative identity’ proposed elsewhere, data was generated through semi-structured interviews which focused upon the ‘ontological’ and ‘public’ narratives of Scottish identity as expressed by Scots living in England. The findings demonstrate the influence of a wide range of personal, social, historical and political factors in highlighting the cleavage between Scotland and England within the context of sport and society, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between these two nations in the context of sporting rivalry. This relationship is argued to be heavily influenced by the existence of an ‘underdog mentality’-style grand ‘public narrative’ for Scots in relation to their English neighbours, based on perceived differences in economic and sporting resources between the two countries. This ‘underdog mentality’ therefore acts as a legitimating force for the expression of anti-English sentiment in both a sporting and wider social context as part of some individuals’ ‘ontological narrative’, although the extent of such sentiment was found to vary significantly between individuals and contrasting contexts

Leptonic Production of Baryon Resonances

In these lectures, the author focuses on the electromagnetic transition between non-strange baryon states. This sector received much attention in the early 1970's after the development of the first dynamical quark models. However, experimental progress was slow, partly because of the low rates associated with electromagnetic interactions, and partly because of the lack of guidance by theoretical models that went beyond the simplest quark models. It was also difficult for experiments to achieve the precision needed for a detailed analysis of the entire resonance region in terms of the fundamental photocoupling amplitudes over a large range in momentum transfer

Football Hooliganism and the Modern World

The study of football hooliganism, now recognized as a global phenomenon, has been dominated by the English example & by English theorising. This paper examines & criticises the initial wave of English theories that sought to explain football hooliganism, in part by subjecting these ideas to data drawn from Scotland. The paper discusses recent English theories of football hooliganism & argues that, while these often purport to criticise old theories, they actually commit many of the same errors. The paper ends by suggesting that foot ball hooliganism has been both badly studied & over-studied, & that it has lost all power to tell us much about developments in modern society

Infrared triggered smart contact lens for the treatment of presbyopia

A switchable contact lens prototype was fabricated and tested with integrated off the shelf electronic components to drive a liquid crystal active lens element. This prototype was capable of changing its focal power by an average of +1.9D, but a maximum of +3.2 ± 0.2D was also measured. Switchable focus contact lenses are intended to help restore functional near and intermediate vision accommodation to those suffering from presbyopia, an inevitable age-related eye condition. The custom PMMA contact lens substrates used in this prototype are equivalent to commercially available scleral contact lenses. It was discovered that more careful design considerations are needed when at least one of the substrates is <100µm thick (which is needed for a final device). Without these design considerations, the switchable focal power of the lens is susceptible to change as the liquid crystal insert layer is able to flex. The prototype has an on-board electronics platform which was self-powered with a battery. Illuminating the electronics package with a 600Hz infrared signal switched the device on, which passed an AC voltage to the electrodes of the contact lens, reorientating the director of the liquid crystal with an electric field. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a battery powered and wirelessly triggered smart contact lens for the treatment of presbyopia