More Than a \u27Mere Painted Scene\u27: The Role of Theatricality and the Carnivalesque in \u27The Mayor of Casterbridge\u27

This essay examines the role of Thomas Hardy\u27s scenes of community theatre, drawing examples from Far from the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, and The Mayor of Casterbridge. Only in such scenes from The Mayor of Casterbridge does Hardy employ Mikhail Bakhtin\u27s carnivalesque, reversing the roles of the spectator and the creator of spectacle, the supporting cast and the lead actor, in order to magnify the fall of protagonist Michael Henchard

Putting the voluntary sector in its place : geographical perspectives on voluntary activity and social welfare in Glasgow.

The growing political and social significance of the voluntary sector in contemporary welfare reform is reflected in a wide body of research that has emerged in the political and social policy literature since the mid-1980s. While this work adds considerably to our understanding of the changing role of the voluntary welfare sector, these accounts are largely aspatial. Yet, geographical perspectives offer important insights into the development of the voluntary sector at both micro-and macro-levels. The purpose of this paper is thus twofold: first we wish to draw attention to what it is that geographers do that may be of interest to those working in the field of social policy; and second, we illustrate why such perspectives are important. Drawing on recently completed work in Glasgow, we demonstrate how geographical approaches can contribute to a greater understanding of the uneven development of the voluntary sector across space and how voluntary organisations become embedded in particular places. By unravelling some of the complex webs of inter-relationships that operate across the geographical and political spaces that extend from national to local we reveal some unique insights into those factors that act to facilitate or constrain the development of voluntary activity across the city with implications for access, service delivery and policy development. Hence, we maintain, that geographical approaches to voluntarism are important for social policy as such approaches argue that where events occur matter to both their form and outcome

Fearless: Christine Serwan and Sam Holmes

This week, we’re recognising the fearless work that Christine Serwan ’13 and Sam Holmes ’13 will be doing over the next two years during with the Peace Corps. [excerpt

A new framework for the design and evaluation of a learning institution’s student engagement activities

In this article we explore the potential for attempts to encourage student engagement to be conceptualised as behaviour change activity, and specifically whether a new framework to guide such activity has potential value for the Higher Education (HE) sector. The Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) (Michie, Susan, Maartje M van Stralen, and Robert West. 2011. “The Behaviour Change Wheel: A New Method for Characterising and Designing Behaviour Change Interventions.” Implementation Science : IS 6 (1): 42. doi:10.1186/1748-5908-6-42) is a framework for the systematic design and development of behaviour change interventions. It has yet to be applied to the domain of student engagement. This article explores its potential, by assessing whether the BCW comprehensively aligns with the state of student engagement as currently presented in the HE literature. This work achieves two things. It firstly allows a prima facie assessment of whether student engagement activity can be readily aligned with the BCW framework. It also highlights omissions and prevalence of activity types in the HE sector, compared with other sectors where behaviour change practice is being successfully applied

Thematic Analysis of Mainstream Rap Music - Considerations for Culturally Responsive Sexual Consent Education in High School

Background: Much of the research literature on sexual consent and sexual consent education has been focused on college students, providing a significant gap in our understanding of high school students, especially ethnic minority youth, who are at greatest risk for unwanted sexual contact and sexual activity. Furthermore, recent research suggests that music with sexually suggestive and misogynistic themes influence sexual communication and consenting behaviors. An analysis of rap music produced after the year 2000 is necessary to identify themes that may influence sexual communication among youth. Methods: A thematic analysis was conducted to examine the lyrics of mainstream rap music songs. Songs from the Billboard Hot Rap Singles Year-End Charts for the years 2001 through 2011 served as the data corpus for thematic analysis. Results: Each year, an average of 18 songs in the top 25 rap music hits included some level of sexual content. Overall, approximately 74% of the 244 songs made references to sex, sexual expectations and/or relationships. Three major themes emerged from the analysis: (1) It’s Really About Sex or Nothing At All, (2) Substances as the Precursor/Enhancer, and (3) Performance, Parts & Brand. Conclusion: The major themes found here highlight the prevalence of norms that perpetuate non-consensual sex and non-verbal sexual communication in a dominant musical genre. Each theme presented in this study represents rules and expectations related to sexual interactions that could influence an adolescent’s view of sexual communication and consent. Findings here should be further examined to identify how adolescents may perceive them and resonate with their meanings

Debiasing through Law

In many settings, human beings are boundedly rational. A distinctive and insufficiently explored legal response to bounded rationality is to attempt to "debias through law," by steering people in more rational directions. In many important domains, existing legal analyses emphasize the alternative approach of insulating outcomes from the effects of boundedly rational behavior, often through blocking private choices. In fact, however, a large number of actual and imaginable legal strategies are efforts to engage in the very different approach of debiasing through law by reducing or even eliminating people's boundedly rational behavior. In important contexts, these efforts to debias through law can avoid the costs and inefficiencies associated with regulatory approaches that take bounded rationality as a given and respond by attempting to insulate outcomes from its effects. This paper offers a general account of how debiasing through law does or could work to address legal questions across a range of areas, from consumer safety law to corporate law to property law. Discussion is also devoted to the risks of government manipulation and overshooting that are sometimes raised when debiasing through law is employed.

Recent Pythia 8 developments: Hard diffraction, Colour reconnection and γγ\gamma\gamma collisions

An overview of recent developments in \pythia~8 is given. First the new hard diffraction model, which is implemented as a part of the multiparton interactions (MPI) framework, is discussed. Then the new colour reconnection model, which includes beyond leading colour effects that can become important when MPI are present, is briefly reviewed. As a last topic an introduction is given to our implementation of photon-photon collisions. In particular photon PDFs, required modifications for the initial state radiation algorithm and beam remnant handling with photon beams is discussed.Comment: Contribution to proceedings of 7th International Workshop on Multiple Partonic Interactions at the LHC, 23 - 27 November 2015, Miramare, Trieste, Ital

Assessing student perceptions of the Pharm.D. degree at a private tertiary medical university in India

Background: Pharmacy education in India has expanded to include the Doctorate of Pharmacy degree (Pharm.D.). With clinical practice in early development, job opportunities in India are limited. Graduates often consider pharmacy opportunities abroad. Aims: This study compares Indian students’ career aspirations related to the Pharm.D. degree before and after beginning their programmes. Methods: A 5-point Likert scale paper survey with open ended questions was distributed to all Pharm.D. students (Year 1- 6) at a medical university in India. Results: With a response rate of 83% (144/173), over half of the students’ primary goal was to pursue careers abroad post-graduation (54.2% before, 51.4% after). Data from the last three graduating classes indicated that 28.3% travelled abroad for future studies while 62.3% secured positions in India. Conclusions: Opportunities abroad remain challenging for Indian trained Pharm.D.s’; graduates may consider the expanding clinical opportunities in India

Marine Debris Survey Manual

Over the last several years, concern has increased about the amount of man-made materials lost or discarded at sea and the potential impacts to the environment. The scope of the problem depends on the amounts and types of debris. One problem in making a regional comparison of debris is the lack of a standard methodology. The objective of this manual is to discuss designs and methodologies for assessment studies of marine debris. This manual has been written for managers, researchers, and others who are just entering this area of study and who seek guidance in designing marine debris surveys. Active researchers will be able to use this manual along with applicable references herein as a source for design improvement. To this end, the authors have synthesized their work and reviewed survey techniques that have been used in the past for assessing marine debris, such as sighting surveys, beach surveys, and trawl surveys, and have considered new methods (e.g., aerial photography). All techniques have been put into a general survey planning framework to assist in developing different marine debris surveys. (PDF file contains 100 pages.