Defining,explaining and managing high-tech growth: The case of Oxfordshire

The formerly sleepy, rural county of Oxfordshire is now one of Europe's leading centres of enterprise, innovation and knowledge. It is a hotspot for high-tech manufacturing and service employment. But what is behind this phenomenon, and to what extent has it been managed? This paper sets out the facts, and explores the underlying factors. It starts with a number of definitional questions and approaches used in the research. It concludes with an examination of the role of planning in the process—and the extent to which is has helped or hindered the rise of “Enterprising Oxford”.     

How Do Unionists Vote? Estimating the Causal Impact of Union Membership on Voting Behaviour from 1966 to 2004

This paper explores the voting patterns of trade union members in Australian elections conducted between 1966 and 2004 and finds that, on average, 63% of trade union members vote for the Australian Labor Party. Despite the fact that union membership declined from around half of the workforce in the early 1980s to a quarter of the workforce in the early 2000s, unionists have not become more pro-Labor. Analysing unionists' voting behaviour by gender, it is found that male unionists were more pro-Labor than female unionists in the 1960s, but that the reverse is true today. Recognising that union membership may be endogenous with respect to political ideology, this study instruments for union membership and concludes that the observed association between union membership and voting reflects a causal relationship.     

Down Little Lon: An Introduction to the Casselden Place Archaeological Excavations, Melbourne

In 2002 Melbourne’s Casselden Place excavation provided a window into the urban past opened by an innovative relationship between the development industry, heritage consultancy and La Trobe University. The project demonstrated that with the support of consent authorities and the co-operation of the development industry, collaborations between the academic world and heritage consultants could be highly successful. The Casselden Place Project made a significant contribution to the ‘slum debate’ in Australia and delivered an enhanced understanding of the cultural, social and scientific significance of an inner-city block, and shed new light on a notorious chapter in the city’s history.     

“All Gone Now”: The Material,Discursive and Political Erasure of Bank and Building Society Branches in Britain

Abstract: This paper examines an apparent anomaly that lies at the heart of processes of financial exclusion within Britain. Given that the branch networks of banks and building societies have shrunk in size by about one‐third since 1989, a period during which the Government has launched a wide‐ranging set of policies to tackle financial exclusion, why is it that the issue of branch closure has been neutralised as a political issue? After providing evidence to show the extent of branch closure in Britain and illustrating the ways in which geographical research in particular has drawn attention to the nature of this problem, we look at the way the issue of physical access to financial services has been discursively and politically marginalised. We undertake a detailed history of public policy in the area, and the ways in which research funded by industry bodies and Government departments has been used and framed to build a pro‐market, neoliberal policy programme that constructs branch closures as natural and inevitable.     

长江中游地区楚墓中出土的青铜箭镞的锈蚀现象及锈蚀机理研究

青铜箭镞是古代制造量最大、一次性使用的兵器,与要求甚高的青铜剑和青铜礼乐器等相比,在选材和表面处理等方面有很大的不同,其锈蚀过程最能反映材料在经过数千年后所产生变化。长江中下游地区环境潮湿,埋藏条件复杂,本研究利用扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、能谱仪（EDS）、X-射线衍射仪（XRD）、显微硬度等分析测试技术,从材料科学的角度对长江中游地区战国晚期古墓中出土的青铜箭镞的锈蚀现象和锈蚀机理进行了全面的研究和分析,以期为古代青铜器的保护提供更准确的信息和资料。结果表明,青铜箭镞的组织结构可分为完全矿化层、过渡层和心部原始材料等三个特征层,不同特征层具有不同的显微组织、化学成分、致密性,以及显微硬度等;并沿横截面观察和分析了锈蚀层中的微裂纹的性质和产生原因,即,平行于表面的裂纹是由矿化层氧化物膨胀引起的剥离开裂,其进一步发展将形成“粉状锈”,而垂直于表面呈放射状的裂纹是当圆柱形箭镞杆膨胀时,矿化层的塑性差,抗变形能力低而产生的开裂;锈蚀机理研究认为青铜器的锈蚀过程是环境中杂质元素通过过渡层沿界面能较高的α固溶体和（α＋δ）共析体晶界或孔隙等缺陷逐步向内部扩散的结果。     

Burma's ‘saffron revolution’ and the limits of international influence

The demonstrations in September 2007 were the most significant civil protests seen in Burma since the ill-fated pro-democracy uprising of 1988. The military government's brutal response to the latest unrest prompted an unprecedented level of diplomatic activity and a rare consensus on the need for political change. Since then, however, efforts to resolve the crisis have withered away, underlining the international community's inability over the past 20 years to make a significant impact on the situation in Burma. Neither the principled approach of some countries and organisations, nor the more pragmatic attitude adopted by others, has persuaded the regime to abandon any of its core positions. Indeed, by demonstrating the international community's continuing disagreement over Burma, and the limited policy options available, the lack of concerted action since the protests has probably encouraged the regime's obduracy and increased its confidence that it can survive external pressures. An appreciation of the generals’ threat perceptions may help the international community to understand the regime's intransigence, but it is still difficult to see what policies can be effective against a government that puts its own survival before accepted norms of behaviour and the welfare of its people. Real and lasting change will have to come from within Burma itself, but the events of 2007 suggest that this is a distant prospect.     

Looking over the Archaeologists’ Shoulders: Web-based Public Outreach in the Deep Wrecks Project

This article presents a case study of how the PAST Foundation partnered with other agencies and organizations to develop a successful public outreach website focusing on the Gulf of Mexico “Deep Wrecks” project in the late summer of 2004.