The troublesome life of peaceful atoms in Denmark

The Danish Atomic Energy Commission (AEK) was created in 1955 with the remit to promote ‘the peaceful exploitation of atomic energy for the benefit of society.’ Between 1956 and 1963 the AEK, which had been preceded by a number of early private nuclear initiatives, established an ambitious atomic energy research facility at Risø, some 40 kilometers west of Copenhagen. For most of this period the AEK was chaired by the celebrated physicist Niels Bohr. In spite of strong support from relevant actors in Danish society and Risø’s management, Denmark never built commercial nuclear power stations. Today Risø has undergone a complete metamorphosis from atomic energy research facility to a national laboratory, doing research and development on a broad range of alternative energy sources. Using concepts and approaches like national innovation systems and technological nationalism, the present paper will explore why and how this remarkable development took place.     

A review of archaeological research on sami prehistory

Abstract

The English botanist and gardener John Tradescant the Elder's diary from a voyage to northern Russia in 1618 has lately attracted attention as a potential source on early Russian sea mammal hunting on the Svalbard archipelago. This article examines the usefulness of Tradescant's diary in this respect, but comes to a negative conclusion.     

GEOGRAPHICAL MOBILITY OF DANISH DUAL‐EARNER COUPLES—THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHANGE OF JOB AND CHANGE OF RESIDENCE*

ABSTRACT We analyze the relationship between geographical residence and job mobility for Danish dual‐earner couples. We estimate the probability of moving residence and changing job, taking the interdependence between the events into account. The results point to the importance of addressing the interrelationship between residence and jobs. Furthermore, the change of residence matter more than change of job and women respond relatively more to changes in their husbands’ job region. The findings imply that mobility promoting initiatives must focus on families rather than individuals and recognize that for most families the choice of residence location dominates the choice of job location.     

The taphonomy of fallow deer (Dama dama) skeletons from Denmark and its bearing on the pre-Weichselian occupation of northern Europe by humans

The ecological tolerances of Neandertals, their ability to subsist in the dense forests of full interglacials, and their capacity to colonize northern latitudes are the subject of ongoing debate. The site of Hollerup (northern Denmark) lies at the northern extreme of the Neandertal range. Dated by various techniques to the Eemian interglacial (MIS 5e), this site has yielded the remains of several purportedly butchered fallow deer (Dama dama). Taphonomic reanalysis of the remains from Hollerup and a handful of other Eemian-aged fallow deer skeletons cast doubt on the interpretation that they were humanly modified. We place this revised conclusion into the wider context of human settlement of southern Scandinavia during the Eemian. Other claims of Neandertal presence in the region rest on candidate Middle Paleolithic artifacts, all of which derive from surface contexts. With the fallow deer material removed as a secure indicator of Neandertal settlement of Denmark during the last interglacial, this lithic material must be viewed with renewed skepticism. While ecological and/or topographic factors may have played an important role in preventing Neandertals from penetrating into peninsular Scandinavia, we caution that geological, taphonomic, research-historical, and demographic factors may have significantly distorted our picture of their occupation in this region.     

Cool,funky and creative? The creative class and preferences for leisure and culture

It is a core element in Richard Florida’s popular theory on growth to be able to attract the creative class to a geographical area. But Florida is not very specific on which kind of amenities are important for attracting and keeping the creative class. The purpose of this paper is to analyse which kind of cultural activities the creative class is actually using. Which kind of cultural activities does the creative class use more intensively than other groups in society? This paper presents new empirical results on preferences for leisure and culture. Richard Florida’s theory can be, and has been, criticised – especially on the issue of causality. The analyses presented in this paper show that being part of the creative class has an independent and significant role in explaining preferences for leisure and culture.     

Post conflict identities: Affiliations and practices of Somali asylum seeker children

Following the 2005 terrorist attacks on London it emerged that two of the terrorists charged with the failed 21st July bombings had arrived in the UK as child asylum seekers from East Africa. In the ensuing debate the bombers were represented as children that turned to hate. In this discussion paper we draw on empirical work conducted in Sheffield, UK to explore the identities, affiliations and practices of Somali asylum seeker children, aged 11–18.1 ¹This ongoing research is being funded by the ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme (Award No: RES-148-025-0028) View all notes Specifically, we argue that the actions of the two bombers need to be framed within a broader understanding of the complex processes of social identification that take place as young people negotiate what it means to be a child in the context of different ‘age’, gender and racialised expectations and against a backdrop of discrimination and social exclusion in different relational geographical spaces. We begin by outlining the context of UK immigration policy, before reflecting on dominant constructions of both childhood and asylum seekers. We then discuss how these may shape young refugee and asylum seekers' own narratives of the self and the role that their mobility and specific sites of identity formation may play in this process. In doing so, we contribute to children's geographies by addressing a group – refugee and asylum seekers – that has been neglected within the sub-discipline.     

Confronting institutional boundaries to public participation: a case of the Danish energy sector

Although public participation has become an integrated part of planning practice, experience and documents literature still document difficulties in implementing participatory planning processes that provide arenas where citizens can truly influence planning. Based on a combination of institutional theory and action research methodology, this paper focuses on the institutional boundaries to introducing participatory practices by exploring openings and closures to the adoption of participatory planning processes by the Danish energy transmission system operator (TSO). Public participation in the Danish energy sector is characterized by complex institutional arrangements. The study shows how institutional boundaries are perceived by planners and how openings and closures can be identified and developed in an action research approach. The study reveals that citizen involvement has the potential to influence existing power structures but is highly challenged by an instrumentialised and sector-divided planning.     

The Use of Small‐Angle X‐Ray Diffraction Studies for the Analysis of Structural Features in Archaeological Samples

X‐ray diffraction or scattering analysis provides a powerful non‐destructive technique capable of providing important information about the state of archaeological samples in the nanometer length scale. Small‐angle diffraction facilities are usually found at synchrotron sources, although the potential of a laboratory source is also described. Specific examples of analysis using X‐ray diffraction of historic parchment, archaeological bone, a Central Mexico style pictograph and microdiffraction of calcified tissues are used to show the scope and versatility of the technique. Diffraction data is capable of giving fundamental structural information as well as quantifying the remodelling of structures influenced by environmental factors.