Assessing the impacts of climate change on river flows in England using the UKCP09 climate change projections

This paper presents an assessment of the effects of climate change on river flow regimes in representative English catchments, using the UKCP09 climate projections. These comprise a set of 10,000 coherent climate scenarios, used here (i) to evaluate the distribution of potential changes in hydrological behaviour and (ii) to construct relationships between indicators of climate change and hydrological change. The study uses six catchments, and focuses on change in average flow, high flow (Q5) and low flow (Q95). There is a large range in hydrological change in each catchment between the plausible UKCP09 climate projections, with differences between catchments largely due to differences in catchment geology and baseline water balance. The range in change between the UKCP09 projections is in most catchments smaller than the range between changes with scenarios based on the CMIP3 ensemble of climate models, and earlier UK scenarios produce changes that tend towards the lower (drier) end of the UKCP09 range. The difference between emissions scenarios is small compared to the range across the 10,000 scenarios. Changes in high flows are largely driven by changes in winter precipitation, whilst changes in low flows are determined by changes in summer precipitation and temperature.

The climate change–infectious disease nexus: is it time for climate change syndemics?

Conceptualizing climate as a distinct variable limits our understanding of the synergies and interactions between climate change and the range of abiotic and biotic factors, which influence animal health. Frameworks such as eco-epidemiology and the epi-systems approach, while more holistic, view climate and climate change as one of many discreet drivers of disease. Here, I argue for a new paradigmatic framework: climate-change syndemics. Climate-change syndemics begins from the assumption that climate change is one of many potential influences on infectious disease processes, but crucially is unlikely to act independently or in isolation; and as such, it is the inter-relationship between factors that take primacy in explorations of infectious disease and climate change. Equally importantly, as climate change will impact a wide range of diseases, the frame of analysis is at the collective rather than individual level (for both human and animal infectious disease) across populations.

Exploding explicatures

‘Pragmaticist’ positions posit a three-way division within utterance content between: (i) the standing meaning of the sentence, (ii) a somewhat pragmatically enhanced meaning which captures what the speaker explicitly conveys (following Sperber and Wilson 1986, I label this the ‘explicature’), and (iii) further indirectly conveyed propositions which the speaker merely implies. Here I re-examine the notion of an explicature, asking how it is defined and what work explicatures are supposed to do. I argue that explicatures get defined in three different ways and that these distinct definitions can and do pull apart. Thus the notion of an explicature turns out to be ill-defined.

Recover it from the facts as we know them

In Andrea Sangiovanni’s words, practice-dependent theorists hold that “[t]he content, scope, and justification of a conception of [a given value] depends on the structure and form of the practices that the conception is intended to govern”. They have tended to present this as methodologically innovative, but here I point to the similarities between the methodological commitments of contemporary practice-dependent theorists and others, particularly P. F. Strawson in his Freedom and Resentment and Bernard Williams in general. I suggest that by looking at what Strawson and Williams did, we can add to the reasons for adopting one form or another of practice-dependence. The internal complexity of the practices we hope our principles will govern may require it. However, this defence of practice-dependence also puts pressure on self-identified practice-dependence theorists, suggesting that they need to do more work to justify the interpretations of the practices their theories rely on.

Photovoltaic Process Development and innovative Techniques

Photovoltaic processing is one of the processes that have significance in semiconductor process line. It is complicated due to the no. of elements involved that directly or indirectly affect the processing and final yield. So mathematically or empirically we can’t say assertively about the results specially related with diffusion, antireflective coating and impurity poisoning. Here I have experimented and collected data on the mono-crystal silicon wafers with varying properties and outputs. Then by using neural network with available experimental data output required can be estimated which is further tested by the test data for authenticity. One can say that it’s a kind of process simulation with varying input of raw wafers to get desired yield of photovoltaic mono-crystal cells.

Seeking compositionality in holistic proto-language without substructure – do counterexamples overwhelm the fractionation process?

In holistic theories of protolanguage, a vital step is the fractionation process where holistic utterances are broken down into segments, and segments associated with semantic components. One problem for this process may be the occurrence of counterexamples to any segment-meaning connection. The actual abundance of such counterexamples is a contentious issue \cite{smith06,taller07}. Here I present calculations of the prevalence of counterexamples in model languages.  It is found that counterexamples are indeed abundant, much more numerous than positive examples for any plausible holistic language.

Abstract art : pain and discomfort

Abstract art is often the most baffling to a viewer who may search in vain for a figurative reference or recognisable element. Abstraction may refer to "art that stylises, simplifies, or deliberately distorts something that exists in the real world" (Heller, 2002: 14). Further along the spectrum, however, is abstract art that is non-representational or non-objective and is based on the isolation or interplay between shapes, colours and forms.

The aim of this article is to illustrate how non-objective art can cause discomfort and pain. Here I am using the term ‘non-objective’ to refer to art that does not have recognisable and identifiable imagery. I will make a link between Munch’s The Scream or The Cry and non-objective painting, and argue for a similarity of intent between these works, the works of Kandinsky and of artists loosely described as ‘Op artists’.

Building capacity: strategic professional development for early childhood practitioners

An innovative framework for early childhood students and professionals using an interactive program titled SAM: A Self-Assessment Manual.

This provides a strategic and guided approach to enable practitioners to respond critically to activities and questions such as: 'Where have I come from?', 'Where am I now?' and 'Where do I want to go next?' The book and an accompanying CD-ROM allow readers to practically apply the framework to everyday practice, individually or as part of a group.

Addresses an identified need within the early childhood profession for targeted career development and professional support.

Comments from those who have used the program include: 'After reflection and discussion SAM has allowed me to set myself new goals for my future career, both in the workplace now and further down the track' and 'SAM has me thinking about current practice, how this relates to different theories and where my philosophy fits in'.

Sharing music and culture through singing in Australia

This article discusses the notion of sharing music and culture as an effective platform to celebrate diversity in Melbourne, Australia. My research project ‘Celebrating Music Making and Finding Meaning’ investigates and illustrates a context of diversity, one that promotes respect in a multicultural society sharing music and culture of a minority group. In 2007, I interviewed members of the South African choir in Melbourne; here I report on some data regarding why members sing in the choir, what are their understandings of a so-called South African identity and what they would like to share with the wider Australian community. I present some theoretical perspectives focusing on the notion of cultural and musical identity within a multicultural society. Such findings may have similar implications for other multicultural educational settings exploring the possibilities of valuing cultural diversity and making music across ages through a choir where difference can be shared and celebrated.

Mating system variation in the hermaphroditic brooding coral, Seriatopora hystrix

Self-compatible, hermaphroditic marine invertebrates have the potential to self-fertilize in the absence of mates or under sperm-limited conditions, and outcross when sperm is available from a variety of males. Hence, many hermaphroditic marine invertebrates may have evolved mixed-mating systems that involve facultative self-fertilization. Such mixed-mating strategies are well documented for plants but have rarely been investigated in animals. Here, I use allozyme markers to make estimates of selfing from population surveys of reef slope and reef flat sites, and contrast this with direct estimates of selfing from progeny-array analysis, for the brooding coral Seriatopora hystrix. Consistent heterozygote deficits previously reported for S. hystrix suggests that inbreeding (including the extreme of selfing) may be common in this species. I detected significant levels of inbreeding within populations (FIS=0.48) and small but significant differentiation among all sites (FST=0.04). I detected no significant differentiation among habitats (FHT=0.009) though among site differentiation did occur within the reef slope habitat (FSH=0.06), but not within the reef flat habitat (FSH=0.015). My direct estimates of outcrossing for six colonies and their progeny from a single reef flat site revealed an intermediate value (tm (±s.d.)=0.53±0.20). Inbreeding coefficients calculated from progeny arrays (Fe=0.31) were similar to indirect estimates based on adult genotype frequencies for that site (FIS=0.38). This study confirms that the mating system of this brooding coral is potentially variable, with both outcrossing and selfing.

Jaisa Desh, Waisa Vesh? Explorations on the representations of Adivasis in popular Hindi cinema

This article seeks to discuss specific examples of Adivasi representation in Indian cinema, particularly popular Hindi cinema (as opposed to ‘art’ or ‘parallel’ cinema), and the ways in which it has distilled and codified the representations of ‘other’ groups for a mass audience. Mainstream Hindi cinema, even in its postcolonial phase, has not provided images of Adivasis that reflect their reality. This ‘constructed reality’ of the cinema in which Adivasis exist remains the widespread (mis)understanding of their cultures. It is this cinematic marginalization and cultural stereotyping that will be explored further. This article is a preliminary exploration and will look at particular examples of representation in Hindi films, including <i>Naagini> [Female Cobra] (Nandlal Jaswantlal, 1954), <i>Madhumatii> (Bimal Roy, 1958), <i>Yeh Gulistan Hamarai> [This Flower Garden of Ours] (Atma Ram, 1972), <i>Lal Salaami> [Red Salute] (Gaganvihari Boratte, 2002) and <i>Chak De!i> [Come On! India] (Shimit Amin, 2007). The aim is for this exploration to provide a foundation for further research into Adivasi representation and the wider discourses of power, politics and inequality in Indian society.

Raunch culture goes to school? : young women, normative femininities and elite education

Public concern about popular culture’s sexualisation of women and girls is regularly voiced in the Australian media. Young women grow up against a backdrop of ‘raunch culture’ (Levy, 2005), which for some scholars represents a ‘new’ femininity (Gill, 2007), in which ‘hyper-sexual’ forms of (hetero)sexual expression are now expected of young women and girls, despite ostensibly being about choice and personal empowerment. In this article, I explore the constructions of girlhood and femininity amongst young women attending an elite, single-sex, private school in Melbourne, Australia. Elite schooling for girls is often associated with highly classed notions of (hetero)sexual modesty and propriety, epitomised in the reality television program Ladette to Lady. Here I consider how hyper-sexualities are configured within students’ constructions of themselves and others, and I explore their relationship to classed expectations of identity for privileged girls. I examine the role that classed norms of identity play in mediating these girls’ negotiations of hyper-sexualities.

New girl heroes : the rise of popular feminist commentators in an era of sexualisation

The level of public interest in what has variously been called ‘raunch culture’, ‘pornification’ or more broadly ‘sexualisation’ of culture, has created new opportunities for enterprising women. In recent years, a number of immensely popular books have emerged raising concerns about girls and sexualisation by female authors across Western nations such as the USA, Australia and the UK. Here, I explore the media work of two prominent Australian media commentators on girls and sexualisation, Melinda Tankard Reist and Dannielle Miller. I explore how, in their educative work designed to empower girls and free them from the stifling, damaging aspects of sexualised popular culture, these commentators may be citing and performing other normative dimensions of contemporary young femininity that go unremarked upon and are thus reinscribed as normal and expected.

That tender discipline: spacing, structured nothingness & kumbhaka

In the discussion that follows here, I will attempt what I have decided to call an onto-poetic reading of the yogic practice of kumbhaka. I choose the double-barrelled nomination 'onto-poetic' since I would like to use my experience of kumbhaka both to think of certain current ontological paradigms and implications, and also to allow myself the flexibility and discipline that I associate with the poetic register. I will draw on three particular thinkers, namely Alain Badiou, Jacques Derrida and Luce Irigaray. Badiou makes very explicit metaontological claims that, I believe, have something to contribute to a reading of kumbhaka. Derrida, for his part, has written extensively about phonologocentrism and its inherent links with speech and breath in the history of phallocentric metaphysics. Irigaray, finally, demonstrates a way to think unity, breath and praxis so as to bring these conceptual strands together in a kind of elegant, but urgent, agency.
What can the very practice of kumbhaka help me to think? And how can such thinking impact on what happens when I practice pranayama that involves kumbhaka? Kumbhaka can be situated as a practice within the broader discipline of Yogic pranayama. Yoga, as it often encountered in this historical moment in the so-called West, can appear to emphasize physical posture (which are certainly as aspect of its breadth). Yoga, however, as a technology of existential and ontological inquiry, has often, throughout its long and meandering history, made use of the manipulation of, and abstinence from, breath. I will begin by cursorily outlining the place of pranayama itself within the yogic canon of practice. Then, I will go on to explain specifically the technology of kumbhaka, before embarking on my onto-poetic discussion.iv>iv>

Accessibility and autonomy preconditions to ‘our’ inclusion: a grounded theory study of the experiences of secondary students with vision impairment

In this paper, I report core findings of a small-scale qualitative study that I conducted with a group of young people with vision impairment who attended an inclusive secondary school in the Australian state of Queensland. My objective was to capture their voiced experiences of their schooling through face-to-face interviews and to develop a substantive theory that was grounded in the collected data. Relevant to the study was my status as an insider researcher, which impacted both data collection and analysis. Here, I develop the methodological process that I followed and present core findings of the study. These findings shed light on the practices within schools that are designed to promote inclusion yet perpetuate exclusion for students with impaired vision.