The digital divide: Patterns, policy and scenarios for connecting the ‘final few’ in rural communities across Great Britain

The Internet can bestow significant benefits upon those who use it. The prima facie case for an urban-rural digital divide is widely acknowledged, but detailed accounts of the spatial patterns of digital communications infrastructure are rarely reported. In this paper we present original analysis of data published by the UK telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, and identify and reflect on the entrenched nature of the urban-rural digital divide in Great Britain. Drawing upon illustrative case vignettes we demonstrate the implications of digital exclusion for personal and business lives in rural, and in particular remote rural, areas. The ability of the current UK policy context to effectively address the urban-rural digital divide is reviewed and scenarios for improving digital connectivity amongst the ‘final few’, including community-led broadband, satellite broadband and mobile broadband, are considered. A call is made for digital future proofing in telecommunications policy, without which the already faster urban areas will get ‘faster, fastest’ leaving rural areas behind and an increasingly entrenched urban-rural divide

The resource boom's underbelly: Criminological impacts of mining development

Australia is currently in the midst of a major resources boom. Resultant growing demands for labour in regional and remote areas have accelerated the recruitment of non resident workers, mostly contractors, who work extended block rosters of 12-hour shifts and are accommodated in work camps, often adjacent to established mining towns. Serious social impacts of these practices, including violence and crime, have generally escaped industry, government and academic scrutiny. This paper highlights some of these impacts on affected regional communities and workers and argues that post-industrial mining regimes serve to mask and privatize these harms and risks, shifting them on to workers, families and communities

Multiple corrosion protection systems for reinforced concrete bridge components /

"Performing organization report no.: SM report no. 101"--Technical report documentation p."Publication no. FHWA-HRT-11-060.""November 2011."Cover title.includes bibliographical references (p. 231-237).ch. 1. Introduction -- ch. 2. Experimental work -- ch. 3. Test results -- ch. 4. Evaluation -- ch. 5. Conclusions -- appendix A. Disbondment of conventional epoxy-coated and MC bars in rapid macrocell test -- appendix B. Corrosion loss required to crack concrete containing conventional, epoxy-coated, and galvanized reinforcement -- Acknowledgements -- References.Final report;Performed by University of Kansas Center for Research, sponsored by Federal Highway Administration, Office of Infrastructure Research and DevelopmentMode of access: Internet

The Uneven Impact of Neoliberalism on Housing Opportunities

Neoliberalism has dominated policy discourse and policy formulation for at least two decades and has been particularly influential in reshaping housing systems and housing opportunities. The timing, pace and impact of these policy developments have, however, varied between and within societies. This article explores the experiences of Japan and the UK as a way of illustrating that while there has been a shared discourse of neoliberalism, there have been important contextual differences in relation to the economic cycle, welfare systems and political complexion. These have affected the progress and development of neoliberal policy reforms in housing and in other related spheres and the extent of global financial integration. In both countries, a key social change is the striking reduction in levels of home ownership among younger age groups. The article explores the common and different causes and consequences of these trends and points to the significance of these emerging generational fissions for the neoliberal project. Copyright (c) 2009 The Authors. Journal Compilation (c) 2009 Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Territorial Planning as a Creative Tool for the Upgrading of Cultural Tourism

In the contemporary period of an abundance and diversity of offers in cultural tourism globally, the need for new values, such as creativity, has become unavoidable. As well as creativity being the essence of every cultural practice, it is also becoming a tool with which to link and modernize cultural treasures for tourist consumption today. Its inclusion is also useful in territorial plans, whose strategic role is a driving force for local economies. Creativity can support particularly those sectors that have rich foundations but that suffer from general underdevelopment. Cultural tourism in the town of Golubac and its surroundings in eastern Serbia is a prime example. Although Golubac is situated on the Danube and has one of the best preserved old fortresses in the region, it has not been identified as an important site of cultural tourism. The aim of this chapter is to describe recent efforts to facilitate this branch of tourism through the application of creative tools in local planning documents by means of a multi-criteria analysis of crucial territorial plans for Golubac. In establishing these criteria, the theoretical knowledge that links creativity, cultural tourism and territorial planning will be studied. Implementation of this interlinked knowledge in the analysis will provide the backbone to a proposal for improvements in territorial planning which can profoundly facilitate creativity in cultural tourism globally