Micro-scale biopitting by endolithic lichen and their role in meso-scale solution basin development on limestone

Data are reported demonstrating the potential role of microscale morphologies, induced by endolithic lichen communities, specifically Verrucaria baldensis, in the initiation and development of mesoscale solution basin formation on limestone in the Burren, Co. Clare. A biophysical model is proposed outlining the different microscale stages leading to solution basin initiation with a progression from initial lichen colonisation and growth, associated biopitting followed by biopit coalescence to form biotroughs, their subsequent enlargement and eventual incipient solution basin formation. This model provides one explanation for solution basin development as this end state may also be achieved through simple solutional means without biological input. The complexity of interactions at the rock / lichen interface are identified with emphasis on the spatial and temporal variability of these underlining the point that, as with macro-topographies at the landscape scale, rock surface micro-topographies also reflect historical weathering legacies.

Centres, Peripheries and Party Systems: nested secession processes in Great Britain and Ireland

The seminal work of Lipset and Rokkan, which explores how party systems evolved organically from nineteenth-century roots, has generally been applied in states which have enjoyed a long-standing territorial identity. Their model's emphasis on stability and predictability can, however, be reconciled with circumstances where the very identity of the state itself is an issue. This article explores the capacity of the model to explain party divisions in three nested contexts: the pre-1922 United Kingdom, which encountered problems with its Celtic peripheries, and especially with Ireland; independent Ireland, where a unique party system developed, largely in response to a broader historical and geographical context; and Northern Ireland, where party politics fossilised in the 1880s, and began to unfreeze only in the 1970s. The article argues that the Lipset–Rokkan model casts valuable light on these processes, which in turn contribute to the theoretical richness of the model.

Waterpower: Politics and the Geography of Water Provision

Access to potable water is frequently said to be the defining world crisis of the twenty-first century. The argument is usually framed in terms of either direct environmental constraints or various totalistic views of how the political determines outcomes. There is little or no scope for the agency of practical politics. Both physical and human geographers tend to be dismissive of the possibilities of democratic politics ever resolving crises such as those of the geography of water provision, in part because of views of scientific expertise that devalue popular participation in decisions about technical matters such as water quality and distribution. Such dismissal also has much to do with a more generalized denigration of politics. Politics (the art of political deliberation, negotiation, and compromise) needs defending against its critics and many of its practitioners. Showing how politics is at work around the world in managing water problems and identifying the challenges that water problems pose for politics provides a retort to those who can only envisage inevitable destruction or a totalistic political panacea as the outcomes of the crisis of the century.

From Negation to Agreement: Revisiting the Problem of Sources for Socio-Historical Linguistics

In this article we review recent work on the history of French negation in relation to three key issues in socio-historical linguistics: identifying appropriate sources, interpreting scant or anomalous data, and interpreting generational differences in historical data. We then turn to a new case study, that of verbal agreement with la plupart, to see whether this can shed fresh light on these issues. We argue that organising data according to the author’s date of birth is methodologically sounder than according to date of publication. We explore the extent to which different genres and text types reflect changing patterns of usage and suggest that additional, different case-studies are required in order to make more secure generalisations about the reliability of different sources.

By any other name? The women and Geography study group

If one grants that meanings are constructed through exclusions, one must acknowledge and take responsibility for the exclusions involved in one's own project. (Wallach Scott 1988, 7)

Names can be important, as an identity marker and public persona, especially if they shape our own and others' expectations – ask any woman named Hope or Patience. In this short piece we consider what the Women and Geography Study Group of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) represents to both those inside and outside the group in the 21st century and make a case for change to a more inclusionary title.

Making geography mobile: using location aware technology to improve student performance in physical geography

With the increased availability of new technologies, geography educators are revisiting their pedagogical approaches to teaching and calling for opportunities to share local and international practices which will enhance the learning experience and improve students’ performance. This paper reports on the use of handheld mobile devices, fitted with GPS, by secondary (high) school pupils in geography. Two location-aware activities were completed over one academic year (one per semester) and pre-test and post-test scores for both topics revealed a statistically significant increase in pupils’ performance as measured by the standard national assessments. A learner centred educational approach was adopted with the first mobile learning activity being created by the teacher as an exemplar of effective mobile learning design. Pupils built on their experiences of using mobile learning when they were required to created their own location aware learning task for peer use. An analysis of the qualitative data from the pupils’ journals, group diaries and focus group interviews revealed the five pillars of learner centred education are addressed when using location aware technologies and the use of handheld mobile devices offered greater flexibility and autonomy to the pupils thus altering the level of power and control away from the teacher. Due to the relatively small number of participants in the study, the results are more informative than generalisable however in light of the growing interest in geo-spatial technologies in geography education, this paper offers encouragement and insight into the use of location aware technology in a compulsory school context

Lismore Historical Society visitor centre - Lismore Argyll

2005-6 Input into content and design of the Lismore Historical Society Museum displays