Archaeomagnetic investigation of a metallurgical furnace in Pisa (Italy)

An archaeological excavation has been carried out at Pisa (Italy), unearthing an ancient metallurgical workshop. Since archaeological burnt materials provide important records of direction and intensity of the Earth's magnetic field in the past and they can be used to better improve geomagnetic secular variation curves (SVCs), an archaeomagnetic study has been performed. This small copper-alloy furnace presents a circular concave shape covered with a thin layer of mortar, with some traces of heated clay surrounding the feature that confirms the high temperature reached inside it. Archaeological context dating points to the last firing of the furnace between the last quarter of the 13th century and the first quarter of 14th century AD, when then the metallurgical workshop was transformed in a warehouse. Archaeomagnetic sampling has been performed using the modified Thellier method, by collecting several, large and independently oriented aliquots of heated clay, forming the bottom part of the circular wall of the structure. Laboratory treatments have been conducted at the IGG-CNR ARCHEO_LAB (Pisa, Italy) and at St. Maur Palaeomagnetic laboratory (Paris, France). Analytical measurements of the thermo-remanent magnetization index acquired from the samples have been performed using a large cell induction magnetometer for large samples, and the characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) has been successfully isolated after an alternate field demagnetization cleaning procedure for each sample. The final mean archaeomagnetic direction has been calculated at sampling site (D = 6.9°; I = 52.8°; N = 9; k = 305; α₉₅ = 2.6°) following the Fisher Statistics, and it exhibits a perfect agreement with some coeval already published directions obtained from Mt. Arso lava flows, these latter being an important anchor point in the preliminary Italian secular variation curve. Comparison with the preliminary Italian SVC, the French SVC and the SCHA.DIF.3K archaeomagnetic regional model have permitted to define an archaeomagnetic absolute age confirming the conventional archaeological age, underlining the importance of this result into the Italian archaeomagnetic data set.     

Girl's Education in Zambia: Everyone's Responsibility -- A Policy Framework for Participatory Process

This paper is based on a panel in which the four authors participated at the 10th World Congress of Comparative Education Societies in Cape Town in July 1998. The overall focus of the panel was on how an initiative to promote girl's education in Zambia -- involving governments, NGOs, donor organizations, teachers and girls themselves -- has influenced policy development to the point where the Zambian Ministry of Educaion now has clear directives on girl's education. The authors analyse some of the important factors that contributed to this outcome.     

Using Open-Source Videos to Flip a First-Year College Physics Class

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Flipped classrooms provide students the opportunity to collaboratively solve challenging problems in class with help and scaffolding available from...     

Poverty,Philanthropy and the State: Charities and the Working Classes in London 1918–79. By Katharine Bradley

Abstract

Nineteenth-century perceptions of alcoholism were shaped implicitly by notions of gender, class and morality. From 1879, legislation advocated the institutional management of inebriates as a response to the growing problem of habitual drunkenness. Examining the methods of treating varied classes of female alcoholics in three inebriate institutions between 1876 and 1898, this article highlights how reformatory and punitive treatment models were shaped by class and gender perceptions of the alcoholic. The article questions why the application of reformatory treatment models proved problematic and analyzes the points of tension encountered in the attempts to reform a mixed class of female patients.     

Community cartography in health communication: An asset-based mapping approach in four communities in rural Ecuador

Scholars and practitioners are increasingly turning to maps as tools for promoting health and development communication. These maps are often criticized for privileging the interests of the global North and for authorizing (neo)colonial approaches. The authors offer a case of community mapping incorporating asset-based community development that offers an alternative cartography. Drawing on the maps produced by members of four communities in rural Ecuador, the authors articulate how their maps productively use and challenge assumptions about maps. Following this analysis, the authors offer some implications that community-scale maps have for articulating rhetorical alternatives in health and development communication.     

Reading Anxiety in L1: Reviewing the Concept

Elevated levels of anxiety have been associated with students’ poor academic performance. Research on domain-specific anxiety patterns in reading has demonstrated that reading anxiety is associated with, yet distinctive from, general anxiety. Reading anxiety is an unpleasant emotional reaction experienced by students when reading; it is a specific phobia, situational type. Although reading anxiety has been largely studied in the context of second language acquisition (L2), there is a lack of new research on reading anxiety related to first language learning (L1). In this article we investigate the concept of reading anxiety, as well as the instruments that have been used to evaluate it. Finally, we present the repercussions of reading anxiety upon students’ reading performance and discuss the importance of evaluating reading anxiety as a route to better understandings of reading disabilities.     

Broadening participation not border protection: how universities can support women in computer science

Computer science, like technology in general, is seen as a masculine field and the under-representation of women an intransigent problem. In this paper, we argue that the cultural belief in Australia that computer science is a domain for men results in many girls and women being chased away from that field as part of a border protection campaign by some males – secondary school teachers, boys and men playing games online and young men on campus at university. We draw on American feminist philosopher, Iris Marion Young’s analysis of the ‘five faces’ of oppression to suggest strategies whereby Australian universities could support women in computer science and educate men about respectful behaviour and gender equity.