Horace and Statius at Tibur: an Interpretation of Silvae 1.3

published or submitted for publicatio

The reactivity of aluminosilicate glasses in cements - effects of Ca content on dissolution characteristics and surface precipitation

Non peer reviewedPostprin

Telecommunications infrastructures and policies as factors in regional competitive advantage and disadvantage

There has been a revolution in telecommunications technologies in recent years. New technologies with myriad applications have helped transform markets, industrial structures and the organisation of firms throughout the economy. These changes have had important spatial effects which are the subject of this paper. The processes of adoption and diffusion of telecommunications technologies are discussed. The argument that the spread of such technologies means that"distance no longer matters" is scrutinised. There is a theme in the literature that this decentralising tendency has particular implications for peripheral regions, that new communications technologies could have a significant impact in reducing the traditional economic disadvantages of such regions. However, there is a contrary argument that there remain strong centralising tendencies. Indeed, new communications technologies may be associated with an increasing polarisation of economic activity. These theoretical arguments are revisited in the context of a case study of the Scottish Highlands and Islands. This is a particularly interesting region because, although it is a peripheral, rural area, it has a highly developed telecommunications infrastructure. This case study deploys the results of a recent study of the use by firms in the Highlands and Islands of communications technologies. The paper finds little significant evidence that telecommunications initiatives in the Scottish Highlands and Islands have significantly altered the competitive position of the region. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the implications for national and local policy makers in encouraging the take up and effective use of new communications technologies.

Diffusion theory and multi-disciplinary working in children’s services

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how innovation in children’s services is adopted and developed by staff within new multi-disciplinary children’s safeguarding teams. It draws on diffusion of innovations (DOI) theory to help us better understand the mechanisms by which the successful implementation of multi-disciplinary working can be best achieved. Design/methodology/approach It is based on interviews with 61 frontline safeguarding staff, including social workers, substance misuse workers, mental health workers and domestic abuse workers. Thematic analysis identified the enablers and barriers to implementation. Findings DOI defines five innovation attributes as essential for rapid diffusion: relative advantage over current practice; compatibility with existing values and practices; complexity or simplicity of implementation; trialability or piloting of new ideas; and observability or seeing results swiftly. Staff identified multi-disciplinary team working and group supervision as advantageous, in line with social work values and improved their service to children and families. Motivational interviewing and new ways of case recordings were less readily accepted because of the complexity of practicing confidently and concerns about the risks of moving away from exhaustive case recording which workers felt provided professional accountability. Practical implications DOI is a useful reflective tool for senior managers to plan and review change programmes, and to identify any emerging barriers to successful implementation. Originality/value The paper provides insights into what children’s services staff value about multi-disciplinary working and why some aspects of innovation are adopted more readily than others, depending on the perception of diffusion attributes.

The National Gallery of Canada’s Theme Rooms: Exploring the Educational Exhibition

In addition to their functions of collecting, preserving, studying, and exhibiting, museums have an educational role. In 1983, A Building Programme for the New National Gallery of Canada proposed the development of designated didactic areas within the new building as places of learning to complement the visitor’s experience of viewing art. This article discusses the concept of a didactic space and traces the development of four such areas in the Gallery’s Canadian collec- tion. Examining constraints and objectives, it details the planning process, the approaches selected, and the content of the four different spaces. Each of the areas, called Theme Rooms, stands physically and conceptually distinct from the others. An evaluation plan designed to inform the improvement and design of future Rooms is described, leading back to the fundamental question of how best to enhance the visitor’s chosen aesthetic experience. En plus de collectionner, de conserver, d’étudier et d’exposer des oeuvres, les musées ont un rôle éducatif. En 1983, il a été proposé dans un document intitulé A Building Programme for the New National Gallery of Canada que des aires à vocation didactique soient prévues dans le nouveau bâtiment afin de servir de complément aux salles d’exposition. L’auteure de cet article discute du concept d’aire didactique et décrit comment ont été aménagées quatre aires de ce genre au Musée des beaux-arts du Canada. Analysant les contraintes et les objectifs, elle explique le processus de planification, les approches retenues et le contenu des quatre aires. Désignées sous le nom de ‘‘salles thématiques,’’ elles sont toutes, du double point de vue de l’aménagement et de la conception, distinctes les unes des autres. Présentant en outre un plan d’évaluation élaboré en vue d’améliorer la conception des prochaines salles thématiques du Musée, l’auteure nous ramène à la question fondamentale des moyens à prendre pour bonifier l’expérience esthétique choisie par le visiteur.

Environmentalism, mega-events and the global south

Environmentalism has become one of the key issues in the bidding, building and legacy processes of sporting events. Thousands of sports fans converging to witness competitive sports, lasting anything from ninety minutes, five days, up to six weeks has an inevitable environmental impact. From 120,000 people attending the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, or 100,018 cricket fans heading for the Boxing Day test in Melbourne, Australia, to a summer or winter Olympic and Paralympics Games generates environmental problems. The average carbon footprint increases with the production, consumption, construction and transportation of goods, people and consumables. In the global north technology and governance can help overcome these problems–but what about the global south? Environmentalism can intensify existing economic and social problems found between the local and the global, and the global north and global south. Hosting a mega-event demands that the global south implements global north environmental policies in order to qualify as host. As power shifts from the West to the 'rest' of the world it brings new problems. The next three FIFA World Cup Tournaments (Brazil, 2014, Russia 2018 and Qatar, 2022) and the most recent (South Africa, 2010) have been awarded to 'less established' countries. The IOC’s 2016 Summer Games will be held in Brazil. As the global north increasingly awards the hosting of mega-events to 'developing' nations, it creates new challenges for such countries to implement global policy defined by the rich and impacting on the poor. This paper will examine the eco-challenges facing the global south's ambition to host mega-events whilst countering the environmental impacts of major sporting events. It will examine the difficulties in striking a balance between mega-events and environmental governance, as defined by sporting bodies of the global north

Blurring the journalistic boundaries between pedagogy and a mediatised society

Journalism is no longer the preserve of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Every facet of academia, education and universities are impacted by the mediatisation of society. Scientists, both natural and social, are ever more including analysis of grant applications, student thesis, pedagogical practices, and the curriculum. At the same time, technical innovations have generated new threads to pedagogical practice and research outputs. Post graduate students are including journalistic discourse in their research proposals. The media is the message, and we are the media. For example, The Conversation.com.au is a multi-disciplinary concept involving politics, scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, business, environmentalists and a plethora of academic fields, linked through a common discourse of journalism. Such websites are filtering down into pedagogical practices as journalism and the curriculum are increasing bound together in academic analysis. Increasingly, academics are infused with messages to tweet their research, tell friends on Facebook and examine media impacts from non-traditional fields. Through original empirical research and textual analysis of media text, this paper explores the mediatisation of academia; and asks if there is a clear boundary between journalism and academics? Or do academics have to keep the journalist in mind when presenting their research; and how much has the shift in traditional journalistic practices altered our pedagogical practises

Great Barrier Reef: Australia's climate politics and the media

The Great Barrier Reef is a global icon and its future health is a metaphor for Australia’s environmental politics. A weakened climate change policy, unprecedented back-to-back-bleaching (2016/2017), port development to feed expanding terrestrial mines, plastics and poor water quality are all adding to the declining health of the world’s largest eco-system.Despite the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act (1975), that formally seals shared stewardship between the Queensland and Federal governments, there remains clashes between state and federal politics that are as old as the Act itself. Whilst political ambition and advocacy drove the first campaign to Save the Barrier Reef (1967-1975). The federal governments’ thwarting of Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen plans to mine the Barrier Reef, set up a contentious relationship between the state and federal government that remains today.Today, conflict between the Queensland coal lobby and the ‘environmentalists’ continues to drive much of Australia’s climate policy. In the last ten years, the Liberal dismantling of four federal climate change programs, new Queensland legislation and a joint attempt to temper UNESCO worries, are yet to show solutions. UNESCO made the Great Barrier Reef one of its World Heritage properties (1981) and Australiaguardians of the world’s largest eco-system. Another bleaching event could do irreparable damage, and UNESCO has concerns over whether enough is being done. Australia has an environmental plan –the Reef 2050, but is it enough?This paper explores two fundamental environmental politics questions, 1.Why did the Great Barrier Reef become a trope for Australia’s environmental politics? 2.What political influences do lobbyists and the media exert on national policy