British Women Chemists and the First World War

The First World War is sometimes called the 'Chemist's War' as its prosecution demanded ever increasing quantities of explosives, poison gases, optical glass, synthetic dyes, and pharmaceuticals (1). As the war progressed and severe shortages of chemicals occurred, more and more women were pressed into chemical-related work. Very little has been published about the skilled women chemists who were assigned to war duties (2). They were obviously much fewer in number than the hundreds of thousands of unskilled women who worked in the explosive factories (3), though they certainly did exist. Fortunately, the Women's Work Collection of the Imperial War Museum (IWM) has a significant amount of documentary evidence on the wartime women scientists. This useful material was compiled in 1919 by Agnes Ethel Conway of the Women's Work Sub-Committee of the IWM. Conway circulated a questionnaire to universities and industries informing them that the Committee was compiling a historical record of war work performed by women for the National Archives. In particular, Conway adds: "they [the Sub-Committee] are anxious that women's share in scientific research and in routine work should not be overlooked ..." (4). A sufficient number of replies were received to provide a sense of the breadth of employment of scientifically trained women during the War

Thanatopolitics and Fugitive Mourning in Pandemic Death

COVID-19 has reminded us that death is not only inevitable but also, for those who are constructed as death bound, imminent and immanent. In this paper, I contend that this season of mass death has led to an intensified thanatopolitics where the state has sought to take over full control of corpses and the death world. This has major implications for how we order and relate to the African death world. Mourning and funeral rites are important sites of sociality for the processing of loss, ritual cleansing and renewal. The COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic rise in deaths associated with it mean that mourning, rites, sociality and potential renewal are fundamentally disrupted. This disruption occurs because rituals and customs associated with how Africans honour and bury the dead have to change as a result of health protocols and government regulations that are promulgated against contagion. However, through media reports on those killed by COVID-19, I demonstrate that thanatopolitics remains fragile in the face of the erotics of mourning and fugitive mourning that families and communities engage in. This paper is an effort to engage with the subject of pandemic death and the meaning of what we lose when ritual and relation are threatened. It presents the erotics of mourning and fugitive mourning as forms of resistance that the black underclasses are always insurgently engaged in

Mapping the black queer geography of Johannesburg’s lesbian women through narrative

To be black, working class, living in a township and lesbian is to be a discordant body. This is a markedly different experience than being a socio-economically privileged resident of Johannesburg. This paper sets out to map marginalised sexualities onto existing social fissures emerging out of South Africa’s divided history of apartheid. It argues that while the repeal of the Sexual Offences Act, 1957 (Act No. 23 of 1957, previously the Immorality Act, 1927) and the promulgation of the Civil Union Bill (2006) has had a liberating effect on the lesbian community of Johannesburg; the occupation of physical space is deeply informed by the intersecting confluence of race, class, age, sexuality, and place. Based on the stories of black lesbian women, the paper analyses the occupation of the city’s social spaces to map the differential access to lesbian rights and exposure to prejudice and violence. Findings suggest that their agential movement through space and performances of resistance lends a nuance to the dominant script of victimhood. Their narratives of becoming are shaped by the spaces that they inhabit in both liberating and disempowering ways

Effect of a major ice storm on understory light conditions in an old-growth Acer-Fagus forest: Pattern of recovery over seven years

We evaluated the effects of a major ice storm on understory light conditions (%PPFD, photosynthetic photon flux density) in an old-growth Acer-Fagus forest in Quebec, based on pre- and post-disturbance light measurements taken until the seventh growing season after the event (which occurred in January 1998). Before the ice storm, most microsites received between 2 and 4%PPFD. Following the ice storm, the stand-level mean %PPFD increased four- to five-fold, ranging from 13.8 to 20.5%PPFD, from 0.3 to 4 m aboveground. Despite its magnitude, the post-ice storm increase in light transmission was short-lived. By 1999 (2-year+), the mean light levels had decreased by half, and recovery to pre-storm conditions occurred within 3-7 years, depending on height. The decrease in light transmission during the post-disturbance years followed an inverse J-shape trend, indicating more dynamic changes early after disturbance. By 2004 (7-year+), light levels at ≤2 m had become slightly but significantly lower than before the ice storm, with most microsites receiving <2%PPFD. The ice storm led to a synchronized increase of the light levels at almost all understory locations, which might allow a high proportion of the advanced regeneration to experience a release. However, due to the rapid recovery of the light conditions to levels similar or lower than before the ice storm, this disturbance should be more advantageous to shade-tolerant species

Water stress vulnerability of four Banksia species in contrasting Ecohydrological habitats on the Gnangara Mound, Western Australia

The distribution of obligate and facultative phreatophytic vegetation reflects the gradient of ecohydrological habitats in a landscape. Preliminary investigations of Banksia vulnerability to xylem embolism have reported that obligate phreatophytes are more susceptible to water stress than facultative phreatophytes (Froend & Drake 2006). A quantitative measure of plant susceptibility to water stress is vital when establishing environmental water requirements. This study investigated interspecific differences in vulnerability to water stress for two facultative phreatophytes (B. attenuata and B. menziesii) and two obligate pln·eatophytes (B. ilicifolia and B. littoralis) at the same position along an ecohydrological gradient on the Gnangara Groundwater Mound, Westem Australia. In addition, intraspecific differences to water stress between populations that occupy contrasting ecohydrological habitats were also determined. Plant susceptibility to water stress was established using vulnerability curves, which demonstrate the xylem potentials at which vessels become embolised. Stem-specific and leaf-specific hydraulic conductivity, as well as Huber values (ratio of stem to leaf area), were also determined to support these findings. It was found that ecohydrological habitats are a primary detennining factor of plant hydraulic architecture, particularly vulnerability to xylem embolism. At the same ecohydrological habitat, where water is readily accessible there were no interspecific differences in vulnerability to water stress. In contrast, the facultative phreatophytes, B. attenuata and B. menziesii, appeared to be plastic in vulnerability to embolism in response to developing in a more xeric environment. Both facultative phreatophyte species were found to be more resistant to xylem embolism at the more xeric dune crest site in contrast to the bottom slope site. B. ilicifolia did not differ in vulnerability to embolism, supporting its classification as an obligate phreatophyte. This study highlights the importance of understanding site hydrological attributes when determining environmental water allocation for obligate and facultative phreatophytes

The response of Banksia roots to change in water table level in a Mediterranean-type environment

For phreatophytic plants to persist in a given habitat they need to maintain a functional connection to the water table, and the capacity for roots to respond to changes in the water table is a key aspect of this. If root growth is limited by season, plants may not be able to grow roots to adjust to changes in the water table at a particular time of the year. The redistribution of roots, particularly the capacity for roots to follow the water table down in summer and autumn months, is vital for phreatophytic plants to maintain a functional connection with the water table. Root activity by phreatophytic Banksia in south-west Western Australia was assessed using root in-growth bags, with above-ground plant phenological processes observed simultaneously. The root in-growth bag technique that was used showed that Banksia roots are able to grow, provided soil conditions are conducive and there are no endogenous limitations to root growth at different times of the year, such as a dormancy period. The ability to grow at any time in response to soil conditions might be an essential prerequisite for phreatophytes if they are to survive fluctuating water table conditions in seasonally water-limited environments

Clutch

The research encompasses an analysis of Paradigms of practice, material as content, historical precedents, social and political conditions relative to the project themes and corresponding theoretical discourse. It reflects issues of domesticity and familial relationships, memory, narrative and the use of specific materials and methods sympathetic to these concerns. Aspects of the practices of Eva Hesse and Marcel Duchamp have been considered to contextualise and differentiate the creative work. The research also attempts to define and position the artworks through relative critical evaluation of contemporary art practices