Oxford Brookes University Research Articles

Thermal mass in new build UK housing: A comparison of structural systems in a future weather scenario

There are growing concerns that the move to lightweight building construction in housing will lead to higher internal temperatures during the summer, particularly in the warmer future, due to lack of thermal mass. A dynamic thermal simulation study using Tas EDSL undertaken by Oxford Brookes University compared the thermal performance of current light, medium and heavy construction techniques for a typical UK three bedroom house. It found little difference in overheating performance for the three constructions in 1990s and 2050s (projected) weather scenarios. It is concluded that current practice in house building concedes little advantage to ‘traditional’ over modern construction techniques. Thermal mass can reduce overheating, primarily in the daytime, but it must be properly exploited by good design (good night ventilation, correct materials in the correct places). It is suggested that it is possible to optimise lightweight housing to provide similar thermal comfort levels during occupied hours using ventilation and shading.

Marius Turda, Modernism and Eugenics, Modernism and… (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), pp. xv + 189, £16.99, paperback, ISBN: 978-0-230-23085-5.

Marius Turda’s Modernism and Eugenics is a significant addition to an ever-expanding and evolving eugenics historiography. Turda, who is Deputy Director of the Centre for Health, Medicine and Society at Oxford Brookes University, seeks to enrich our understanding of eugenics by exploring its relationship to modernism in various European countries between 1870 and 1940. Modernism and Eugenics is the first volume of the series Modernism and…, edited by Roger Griffin, and an insightful contribution to Turda’s extensive body of work on nationalism, race and eugenics in central and southeastern Europe. Turda significantly enhances and complicates the history of eugenics by advancing several compelling claims that engage with central historiographical themes. First, he argues that eugenics needs to be conceptualised ‘not only as a scientistic narrative of biological, social and cultural renewal, but also as the emblematic expression of programmatic modernism’ (p. 2). Second, Turda suggests that eugenics was not simply a sideline to European cultures or a momentary extremist episode, but rather a central component of European modernity. He elaborates these arguments by carefully analysing the ways in which eugenics and modernist ideologies dovetailed in visions of national regeneration, and how European citizens became both perpetrators and targets of scientific regulation that blurred distinctions between the individual and collective body, and the private and public sphere. Third, he demonstrates the value of studying national eugenics within a comparative, international framework by emphasising the interplay between universal philosophies and local applications of eugenics. His multidisciplinary study, which draws on conceptual intellectual history, works to redress the historiographical neglect of eugenics in southeastern and central Europe. It also contributes to the history of science by challenging the ‘mythology of the autonomy of science’ through an exploration of modernism and eugenics that stresses the interconnectedness of science, politics, and social practices (p. 119). Modernism and Eugenics is comprised of four thematicallyorganised chapters that chart the convergence of eugenics and programmatic modernism, from the development of the scientific ethos of eugenics, to the establishment of the bio-political state. Eugenics emerged in the latenineteenth century as both a critique of, and solution to, the ‘anomie of modernity’ by refiguring the individual and national body within a biological discourse (p. 7). Turda emphasises that although eugenics was taken up by European countries in various ways (in France through puericulture, in Germany as racial hygiene), all eugenic programmes were based on the ‘politicisation of science’, a belief in the importance of heredity to one’s physical state, and the overlapping of medicine, biology and national health (p. 7). Turda chronicles how eugenics became increasingly integral to modernist re-imaginings of the nation, particularly after WWI through what he calls ‘the biologisation of national belonging’ whereby the individual and the nation were conceptualised as biological entities whose regulation would create social cohesion and bring about national palingenesis (pp. 6–7). He sees eugenics and modernist visions culminating in the bio-political states that emerged in the 1930s and 40s in fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, but also in Romania, Hungary and many other European countries. Turda’s comparative analysis, which is based on such sources as national and international conference proceedings and specialised journals, is quite impressive as he illuminates points of convergence and divergence in the eugenics movements of countries as diverse as France, Romania, Britain, Hungary, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Greece. However, since Turda touches briefly on eugenics in many different national contexts without sketching a rich outline of the movement in any one country, some prior knowledge of the history of eugenics is advised in order to fully appreciate the intricacy and sophistication of his arguments. As Turda notes in his introduction, this study is a contribution to a eugenics historiography that is mature enough to embrace a trans-disciplinary, comparative approach that engages with the topic of modernism. Modernism and Eugenics would therefore be best appreciated by historians of eugenics, science and medicine, with a working historical knowledge of European eugenics.

Does the ability to represent movement at a neural level influence movement planning?

Event Abstract Back to Event Does the ability to represent movement at a neural level influence movement planning? Kate Wilmut1, Christian Hyde2, Ian Fuelscher3 and Jacqueline Williams4* 1 Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom 2 Deakin University, Australia 3 Victoria University, Australia 4 Victoria University, Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living and School of Sport and Exercise Science, Australia Motor planning refers to the ability to consider the goal of an upcoming action and select an appropriate movement plan, taking into account necessary internal and external variables. Research suggests this process requires individuals to perform an internal movement simulation (or motor imagery; Johnson, 2000). That is, subconsciously, an individual simulates the movement plan to ensure it achieves the required goal. Increasingly, it has been suggested that motor planning deficits in clinical groups (e.g. hemiplegia) stem from a reduced ability to perform internal movement simulations (e.g. Craje et al., 2010). However, research has so far failed to directly assess the relationship between motor planning and imagery abilities. This was the goal of this study. A sample of 35 healthy young adults participated. Motor planning was assessed using an end-state comfort task requiring participants to grasp and turn an octagon. The movement sequences required participants to plan their grasp ahead of time to ensure end-state comfort. Motor imagery was assessed using the hand rotation task, requiring participants to imagine their hand in various degrees of rotation to allow them to determine the handedness of presented stimuli. Correlations between the two measures were in the range of .3-.4 and linear regression indicated that motor imagery ability was a significant predictor of performance on the planning task, though effects were small. We consider the implications of these findings, which although moderate, provide positive support to current theory using a typically developing sample, and discuss other factors that may further contribute to planning ability. References Crajé, C., M. van Elk, et al. (2010). "Compromised motor planning and motor imagery in right hemiparetic cerebral palsy." Research in Developmental Disabilities 31: 1313-1322. Johnson, S. H. (2000). "Thinking ahead: the case for motor imagery in prospective judgements of prehension." Cognition 74: 33-70. Keywords: Motor planning, Motor Imagery, motor control theory, end-state comfort effect, hand rotation Conference: ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 Nov - 2 Dec, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Motor Citation: Wilmut K, Hyde C, Fuelscher I and Williams J (2012). Does the ability to represent movement at a neural level influence movement planning?. Conference Abstract: ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00162 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 13 Oct 2012; Published Online: 17 Nov 2012. * Correspondence: Dr. Jacqueline Williams, Victoria University, Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living and School of Sport and Exercise Science, Melbourne, Australia, jacqueline.williams@vu.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Kate Wilmut Christian Hyde Ian Fuelscher Jacqueline Williams Google Kate Wilmut Christian Hyde Ian Fuelscher Jacqueline Williams Google Scholar Kate Wilmut Christian Hyde Ian Fuelscher Jacqueline Williams PubMed Kate Wilmut Christian Hyde Ian Fuelscher Jacqueline Williams Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

What have we learned from 40 years’ experience of Disaster Shelter?

The following paper is an expanded version of a lecture given on the same topic in a conference on Disaster Shelter organized by the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) at Oxford Brookes University in September 2010. The paper covers a clutch of related topics: shelter, reconstruction, safety and development. Its main focus is on developing countries, but much can apply to first-world disaster recovery situations.

Notes on Contributors

Notes on Contributors

The UCL Institute of Archaeology and Qatar

Qatar, a relatively small but oiland gasrich state in the centre of the Arabian Gulf (Fig. 1), is increasingly playing a strong and highly visible role in the wider region. Home to Al Jazeera, it allows an outspoken voice to flourish both in Arab and English, free of government influence. Politically, both behind the scenes and very visibly on the world stage, Qatar assumes an increasingly effective role as a broker and mediator in the Arab world. It is famous both for its (successful) ambitions to host major sports events and as a major investor in real estate and industry assets across Europe. Similarly, it has put a lot of thought and resources into the modernisation of its own educational system, from nurseries to higher education reform. Much of this development is driven by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development and its charismatic chairperson, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned. Its flagship project, Education City, is a major investment to bring western higher education institutions to Doha in order to develop a regional top-level education and research culture, as part of its bid to prepare Qatar for the post-carbon economy. The most recent addition to Education City is UCL Qatar, formally established this August (2011) as a new department of UCL focusing on postgraduate teaching and research in Cultural Heritage, Museum Studies, and Archaeology. Academically driven by UCL, it is jointly sponsored by the Qatar Foundation and the Qatar Museum Authority, which oversees one of the region’s most ambitious programmes to establish new museums. UCL Qatar is part of UCL’s International Strategy, building on the experience which UCL has acquired through the creation of its School for Energy and Resources in Australia, as well as its engagement with Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev University in Astana. Michael Worton, UCL’s Vice-Provost (International), sees this ambitious project as ‘a bridge between the Arab world and the West in terms of discussions and debates about cultural heritage, the relationship between the past and present, and the nature of national and individual identities’. For the Institute of Archaeology, UCL Qatar offers a unique opportunity to strengthen its research and teaching links in the Middle East – a region where the Institute has traditionally been very strong and can build on much successful work. Accordingly, there are very close links from the outset between the two departments, with the majority of academic and related appointments being filled by former Institute members. The founding director of UCL Qatar, Thilo Rehren, has been Professor for Archaeological Materials and Technologies at the Institute since 1999, and will maintain a strong presence there through ongoing supervision of doctoral students and joint research projects. Other examples include Dr Rob Carter, Senior Lecturer for Arab Archaeology, who has worked for many years with Prof. Harriet Crawford in the Institute’s Kuwait project before joining Oxford Brookes University, and Dr Voula Golfomitsou, Lecturer for Conservation, a former PhD student of the Institute who has subsequently taught conservation in Malta. Archaeology International No. 13/14, 2009-2011, 28-29 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ai.1308

Editorial Announcement

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Michael (Mickey) Marks (University of Pennsylvania) as a Co-Editor of Traffic. Mickey has been a member of the Editorial Board since 2005, and an Associate Editor since 2009. In addition, we welcome Mark von Zastrow (University of California San Francisco) and Chris Hawes (Oxford Brookes University) as Associate Editors. After 13 years association with Traffic, Frances Brodsky (University of California San Francisco) has stepped down as Reviews Editor. Together with Thomas Kreis, Sandy Schmid and Mark Marsh, Frances founded Traffic. She was a Co-Editor until 2007 and has since been the Reviews Editor. Her enthusiasm and dedication has been unwavering and the journal would not be what it is today without her vision. We thank her for all that she has put into the journal. Fortunately, Frances has agreed to become a member of on the Editorial Board and we will continue to have the benefit of her input to the journal. Mark, Trina and Tom

A sense of speed

Ion sensitive field effect transistors (ISFETs) can be used for fast chemical sensing in applications such as bionic chemical synapse and rapid DNA sequencing, researchers at the UK-based Imperial College London and Oxford Brookes University have shown.In their Letter in this issue, the team demonstrate how they are the first to use practical iontophoresis to create a 1 millisecond flow of hydrogen ions, and detect the local pH change from the rapid stimulation using an ISFET. This new and simple test protocol will allow them to develop the use of ISFETs for much faster chemical sensing applications.

My country: right or left? How the Left Book Club lost the battle, but won the war

61 LOGOS 22/3 © 2011 LOGOS LOGOS Jonathan Roscoe Jonathan Roscoe has over 15 years’ experience of working in the publishing indus- try, at, amongst others, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, and currently Palgrave Macmil- lan. Over this time he has worked in most areas of academic publishing, including monographs, textbooks, and journals and somehow he’s now finding the time to also study for an MA in Book History and Publishing Culture at Oxford Brookes University. Following his first degree in English, Roscoe took time to work not only in pub- lishing, but also in financial services and training, before returning

Chronology of the Grotte du Renne, Arcy-sur-Cure, France

Department of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane Site, Headington Campus, Oxford OX30BP, United KingdomL.S.Basell@soton.ac.ukZilhao et al emphasise the primacy of stratigraphy intheir reply. Our Bayesian modelling incorporates thesame stratigraphic information in the form of ‘priors’,but the approach also allows us crucially to test theagreement between the radiometric data and the se-quence. Bayesian modelling is the only robust way todo this (see the extensive references in our initial re-sponse for the basis of the method). Viewinguncalibrated or calibrated data by eye is not sufficientlygood to produce reliable conclusions. Zilhao et alsuggest that our priors are the problem, despite thefact that they are based on the same stratigraphicsequence that they have argued is not prone to wide-spread mixing (eg, D’Errico et al 1998; 2003). Theythink that substantial modifications are required toour prior modelling, including treating all of theChâtelperronian levels as a single phase within athree phase model: Aurignacian, Châtelperronian andMousterian. This approach does not reflect the ar-chaeological reality at the site, the sequence ofstratigraphic units that they themselves have pub-lished on widely and accept as being intact, and wetherefore reject this suggestion.They ask whether assigning different prior outlierprobabilities to some samples, such as OxA-X-2222-21 (which is an obvious outlier due its extremely youngage) would be a good idea. In fact assigning a higheroutlier probability to this result would have no effectsince the model already shows it be to be 100% likelyto be an outlier, even with a 5% outlier prior. Zilhao etal also state that if we assign outlier priors of 40%instead of 5%, ‘outlier-ness’ disappears. We testedthis and found the exact same numbers of significantoutliers were detected as in our original publicationdata (Higham et al 2010) (we show these data intable 1). We recommend that prior outlier probabili-ties be assigned prior to, rather than after modelling,if we have case-specific information that a determi-nation is likely to be more problematic than normal. Inthe case of the OxA-X-2222-21 determination we didnot, but as stated, the point is entirely moot anyway;the result is 100% likely to be an outlier.Zilhao et al suggest that modern and ancient car-bon could equally easily be taken up in the sampleswe dated, but provide no evidence for it. They repeattheir claim that the samples we dated were, in fact

SLC36A4 (hPAT4) Is a High Affinity Amino Acid Transporter When Expressed in Xenopus laevis Oocytes

The SLC36 family of transporters consists of four genes, two of which, SLC36A1 and SLC36A2, have been demonstrated to code for human proton-coupled amino acid transporters or hPATs. Here we report the characterization of the fourth member of the family, SLC36A4 or hPAT4, which when expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes also encodes a plasma membrane amino acid transporter, but one that is not proton-coupled and has a very high substrate affinity for the amino acids proline and tryptophan. hPAT4 in Xenopus oocytes mediated sodium-independent, electroneutral uptake of [(3)H]proline, with the highest rate of uptake when the uptake medium pH was 7.4 and an affinity of 3.13 μM. Tryptophan was also an excellently transported substrate with a similarly high affinity (1.72 μM). Other amino acids that inhibited [(3)H]proline were isoleucine (K(i) 0.23 mM), glutamine (0.43 mM), methionine (0.44 mM), and alanine (1.48 mM), and with lower affinity, glycine, threonine, and cysteine (K(i) >5 mM for all). Of the amino acids directly tested for transport, only proline, tryptophan, and alanine showed significant uptake, whereas glycine and cysteine did not. Of the non-proteogenic amino acids and drugs tested, only sarcosine produced inhibition (K(i) 1.09 mM), whereas γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), β-alanine, L-Dopa, D-serine, and δ-aminolevulinic acid were without effect on [(3)H]proline uptake. This characterization of hPAT4 as a very high affinity/low capacity non-proton-coupled amino acid transporter raises questions about its physiological role, especially as the transport characteristics of hPAT4 are very similar to the Drosophila orthologue PATH, an amino acid "transceptor" that plays a role in nutrient sensing.

EDITORIAL NOTE

The slightly more diverse fare in this year's Transactions reflects two developments. First, the Society has adopted a new format for its regional visits. Whereas previously the visits to UK Higher Education Institutions were accompanied by a formal paper reading by a speaker nominated by the Society, it has been decided to offer our support to regional symposia, preferably involving more than one institution, from which we will publish a selection of papers. The first of these symposia on the subject of ‘Poverty and Welfare in Ireland, c. 1833–1948’ hosted by the Queen's University Belfast and Oxford Brookes University was held at the Institute of Irish Studies at the Queen's University Belfast on 26–7 June 2009, and three of the papers presented are published here. We have also decided that the Gresham Lectures for the Public Understanding of History founded in memory of Colin Matthew deserve a wider audience, and if appropriate, we propose to publish them in Transactions. Charles Saumerez Smith's lecture on the institutionalisation of art in the nineteenth century therefore appears in print here.

Habitat use by western purple-faced langurs Trachypithecus vetulus nestor (Colobinae) in a fragmented suburban landscape

ESR Endangered Species Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials ESR 12:227-234 (2010) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00307 Contribution to the Theme Section 'Responses of animals to habitat alteration' Habitat use by western purple-faced langurs Trachypithecus vetulus nestor (Colobinae) in a fragmented suburban landscape R. S. Moore, K. A. I. Nekaris*, C. Eschmann Anthropology Centre for Conservation Environment and Development,School of Social Sciences and Law, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK *Corresponding author. Email: anekaris@brookes.ac.uk ABSTRACT: As natural habitats around the globe disappear, humans and non-human primates become increasingly engaged in complex interactions, both peaceful and hostile. Sri Lanka’s endemic western purple-faced langur Trachypithecus vetulus nestor persists in the majority of its range in complete sympatry with humans. Listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN and one of the world’s top 25 most endangered primates, their survival appears dependent on the tolerance of humans with whom they coexist. Our aims were to augment the limited information on T. v. nestor focusing on group composition and behavioural adaptations in relation to its heavily fragmented habitat. Research was carried out in Talangama Wetlands, Sri Lanka in 2007. The 5 groups varied in size from 11 to 19 individuals Monkeys regularly used fences, rooftops, power lines, and agricultural trees. Two groups of 19 and 16 individuals had home ranges of 3.06 and 2.86 ha respectively. They consumed a variety of foods including fruits, showing dietary flexibility; the fruits and leaves of Arctocarpus heterophyllus were the langurs’ most frequently consumed foods. The langurs seem to be adapting to these human-modified environments. Notwithstanding, areas for concern include potentially fatal dangers when crossing between fragments, increasing human–primate conflict and inter-group conflict, and permanent genetic isolation. KEY WORDS: Human–wildlife conflict · Commensalism · Sri Lanka · Ethnoprimatology · Infanticide · Semnopithecus Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Moore RS, Nekaris KAI, Eschmann C (2010) Habitat use by western purple-faced langurs Trachypithecus vetulus nestor (Colobinae) in a fragmented suburban landscape. Endang Species Res 12:227-234. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00307Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESR Vol. 12, No. 3. Online publication date: September 20, 2010 Print ISSN: 1863-5407; Online ISSN: 1613-4796 Copyright © 2010 Inter-Research.

Evaluating the THI: Measuring the effectiveness of the Townscape Heritage Initiatives in the United Kingdom

The Townscape Heritage Initiatives (THI) was launched in 1998 to assist places where heritage buildings predominated but were also experiencing social and economic distress. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) not only set out to help such places but also to determine whether the aid was achieving the Fund's goals. In 1999, the HLF engaged Oxford Brookes University (OBU) to undertake a multi-year evaluation of the success of the THI programme. To date, the THI has provided over £170 million to 175 different locations throughout the United Kingdom. In 2004, an article outlining the methodology being used by the OBU team appeared in the academic literature. Seventeen representative sites had been selected and baseline reports prepared between 1999 and 2001. In 2007, the first series of follow-up studies were completed. This article addresses three questions: was it possible to gather the data that the researchers proposed when the evaluation was planned, was it possible to use that data to evaluate the degree to which the stated HLF goals for the programme were met and, finally, in what way is the research likely to be useful to the funding agency? The article presents findings from the research that relates economic, demographic, townscape and other characteristics of places to their potential to benefit from investment in heritage at the urban scale.

Sarah Daniels: Feminist Enque(e)ry within the Mainstream

Sarah Daniels is a playwright who has been closely identified with feminist theatre throughout her career. In this article, Carina Bartleet examines Daniels's plays from the early work of the 1980s through to her more recent output by exploring lesbian representation. Emphasis is placed on lesbian/queer representations through renegotiation with feminist theatre and gendered spectatorship. The work argues that Daniels's oftcriticized reluctance to stage lesbian desire can be viewed as a continuation of her feminist intervention into the gendered construction of the gaze in mainstream theatre. Carina Bartleet is a Lecturer in Drama at Oxford Brookes University. She read Biological Sciences at Oxford University, taking her PhD in Drama at Exeter on the intertextual dimension of the plays of Sarah Daniels. Her interests are science, gender, and performance in contemporary theatre. She is currently working on a book on theatre and science, and has published articles in Modern Drama and Studies in Theatre and Performance.

Power of birth: uncontrollable urges and the transition to motherhood

As part of a final-year show for the BSc(Hons) Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University, a series of paintings attracted a lot of attention, particularly on the part of the author who is a registered midwife and midwife teacher. The intentions behind the creation of the canvasses were explored in an interview with the artist and were analysed in light of birth practices in the developed world and feminist theories. The main themes identified were: the nature and experience of labour in the developed world with its potential to position labouring women as risks to themselves; the fetus and neonate; and the economics of the health-care organization. In societies where birth is removed from the home, expectations are constructed from representations, few of which depict women as powerful and capable of birthing. The animal–human hybrids of the canvasses highlighted anachronistic discourse of the hierarchy of man, woman, animal, while also reframing the essential act of reproduction as potent and powerful.

Issues Surrounding the Conservation of Vitrolite Glass

As is the case with many innovative materials used in the early part of the twentieth century, Vitrolite rolled opal glass is no longer manufactured. Based on research undertaken for an MSc in Historic Conservation at Oxford Brookes University, this paper examines the history and importance of the glass and the practical issues surrounding its conservation today. Four case studies are used to demonstrate the specific problems, and solutions, found in a range of building projects in Britain. These projects also illustrate some of the issues at the heart of an ongoing debate surrounding the conservation of twentieth-century heritage places.

Editorial, Volume 5(2)

Editorial, Volume 5(2)

Global perspectives in the geography curriculum: reviewing the moral case for geography

‘For geographers across the globe this book provides the arguments for a return to the teaching of geography and why they should reject the politicisation of the subject by education policy makers and politicians. Standish’s careful critique shows the necessity of a depoliticised geography curriculum the irony of which would be that it would ensure that every child could point to Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan on a map.’ Prof. Dennis Hayes – Oxford Brookes University, UK 'A prescient and critical analysis of the changing face of geographyteaching. This book deserves to be widely read and debated. Alex Standish's book puts current trends in geography teaching in historical and critical context. It comprises a forthright and timely defence of geographical education for its own sake.' Dr Jim Butcher, FRSA, Department of Sport Science, Tourism and Leisure, Canterbury Christ Church University. Since the early 1990s, educational policy makers and some subject leaders have been seeking to fundamentally change the teaching of geography in UK and US schools, from a subject which encourages students to explore spatial concepts, ideas and skills, to a more ethics based subject concerned with the promotion of environmentalism, cultural diversity and social justice. In this book the new approach is critically examined, within a historical and ideological context, addressing a number of fundamental questions: Should geography be used as a tool for the delivery of citizenship ideals? How does this affect the intellectual and moral value of geographical education for young people? If the state and teachers are taking more responsibility for the values, attitudes and emotional responses of students, how will they learn to develop these qualities for themselves? If global perspectives shift the focus of education from learning about the outside world to learning about the self, what is its vision of social progress and conception of social change? This book advocates a return to liberal models of education, arguing that the new approach to geography currently being promoted for schools fundamentally undermines the educational value of the subject, and the freedom of young people to shape the world in which they live. A vital resource for teachers and student teachers alike, Global Perspectives in the Geography Curriculum makes a significant contribution to the growing debate about the future direction of the discipline itself.

Evaluation of the Townscape Heritage Initiative: Evidence from the Heritage Lottery Fund

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) was set up in 1994 to distribute a share of National Lottery funds to projects involving the local, regional and national heritage of the UK. The Fund's urban regeneration programme, the Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) was launched four years later. The THI is a conservation-led, area-based programme which aims to contribute to the regeneration of urban areas with heritage and socio-economic need. The rationale for the programme is that investment in historic fabric will benefit the appearance of an area, improve confidence, quality of life and economic performance, so initiating a cycle of new investment. The THI has now channelled more than £170m of HLF funds into over 175 towns and cities and secured at least the same amount of investment through public partnerships and private sources. This paper draws on the latest results of a longitudinal evaluation of the programme carried out by Oxford Brookes University between 1999 and 2008 ('Townscape Heritage Initiative five year review evaluation — final report', available at http://www.hlf.org.uk/HLF/Docs/ ResearchAndConsultation/THI%20five%20year% 20final%20report%201%20Aug.pdf). Oxford Brookes' researchers followed the progress of 17 case studies, beginning with a detailed baseline data-recording exercise. The research is thought to be the most significant evaluation of heritage-led regeneration in print to date, and this paper summarises the key impact findings and presents what appear to be some of the most significant prerequisites for achieving successful outcomes from a THI scheme. A case is also made that, particularly in relation to the most deprived towns and cities, conservation funding needs to be integrated within a wider regeneration strategy to have a high likelihood of success.