The politicisation of Australian nurses: Victoria 1984–1986

This paper examines the nursing disputes in Victoria between 1984 and 1986 against the background of moves by nurses to acquire professional status. It investigates the reasons for the disputes and argues that the politicisation of nurses in Victoria is in part a result of their historical relationship to the dominant profession in the health systems and of their previous reluctance to use industrial action in support of improved working conditions. Our research is discussed in relation to findings in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The conclusion is drawn that political action by nurses is indicative of a particular trend in white‐collar unionism and that it is inextricably linked to the process of professionalisation.     

Stitching modernity: the textile work of Fortunato Depero

Fortunato Depero (1892–1960) was a Futurist artist who worked in a variety of artistic mediums, from painting and graphic design to furniture and textiles. His work in textiles, created and produced in close collaboration with his wife, Rosetta Amadori, can be considered the most important development in his artistic career, as it comprised a large portion of his creative production. Yet this work has been largely overlooked. Many reasons explain this oversight, including categorizing inconsistencies – for example, his textiles have been described as embroidery, needlework, tapestry, patchwork, and cloth mosaic – and the persistent relegation of textiles to the realm of crafts and domestic arts rather than art, which has meant that his work in textiles has not been a priority for scholars and conservators of Futurism. This paper places Depero's textiles within the context of early-twentieth-century modernist artistic activities, and demonstrates the centrality of his textile work to his artistic oeuvre.     

Continental Patterns in Stone Tools: A Technological and Biplot-Based Comparison of Early Late Pleistocene Assemblages from Northern and Southern Africa

The technology of the end products i.e. blades and points in Late Pleistocene stone artefact assemblages from Klasies River, South Africa, and the Nile Valley, Egypt, are compared. The comparison includes univariate and multivariate analysis of metrical attributes enhanced by graphical biplot displays. The end products in these assemblages are either dominantly points or blades and this is related to the core reduction strategy adopted. The MSA 11 from Klasies River and the Nubian Complex industry from the Nile Valley are point industries made in the Levallois tradition, while the MSA 1 from Klasies River and the Taramsan from the Nile Valley may be non-Levallois or adapted Levallois blade industries. Dating of the assemblages shows the changes between dominant core reduction strategies are sequential and time restricted in both South and North Africa. It is concluded that variability of the same kind occurs in Middle Stone Age and Middle Palaeolithic assemblages south and north of the Sahara in the early Late Pleistocene.Dans cet article, les technologies des produits recherchés, des lames et des pointes, pour certains ensembles lithiques de Klasies River, Afrique du Sud et la Vallée du Nil, Egypte, sont comparées. Cette comparaison implique des analyses univariées et multivariées de variables métriques biplot. Les produits recherchés sont bien des pointes que des lames, selon les stratégies dexploitation adoptées. Le MSA II de Klasies River et le Complexe nubien de la Vallée du Nil sont des industries à pointes issues de la tradition Levallois. Par contre, le MSA I de Klasies River et le Taramsien de la Vallée du Nil évoquent une technologie de production non-Levallois ou Levallois modifiée. Les éléments de datation disponibles indiquent que les changements dans la prépondérance des stratégies dexploitation senchaînent dans une séquence chronologique bien identifiable, aussibien dans lAfrique du Sud que lAfrique du Nord. On arrive à la conclusion quune variabilité du même caractère est attestée dans les ensembles du Middle Stone Age et du Paléolithique moyen au sud et au nord du Sahara, pendant le Pléistocène supérieur ancien.     

The significance of pockmarks to understanding fluid flow processes and geohazards

Underwater gas and liquid escape from the seafloor has long been treated as a mere curiosity. It was only after the advent of the side‐scan sonar and the subsequent discovery of pockmarks that the scale of fluid escape and the moon‐like terrain on parts of the ocean floor became generally known. Today, pockmarks ranging in size from the ‘unit pockmark’ (1–10 m wide, < 0.6 m deep) to the normal pockmark (10–700 m wide, up to 45 m deep) are known to occur in most seas, oceans, lakes and in many diverse geological settings. In addition to indicating areas of the seabed that are ‘hydraulically active’, pockmarks are known to occur on continental slopes with gas hydrates and in association with slides and slumps. However, possibly their potentially greatest significance is as an indicator of deep fluid pressure build‐up prior to earthquakes. Whereas only a few locations containing active (bubbling) pockmarks are known, those that become active a few days prior to major earthquakes may be important precursors that have been overlooked. Pockmark fields and individual pockmarks need to be instrumented with temperature and pressure sensors, and monitoring should continue over years. The scale of such research calls for a multinational project in several pockmark fields in various geological settings.     

Military Identities in Late Roman Britain

Changes in the material culture of the late Roman army in Britain mean that it is often difficult to identify archaeologically. Some of these changes have in the past been taken as symptoms of decline, without attempt at further explanation. This paper aims to explore these changes and their deeper significance, within a theoretical framework which stresses the importance of the use of material culture in the expression of identities. Building from a detailed case study of fourth century occupation at Caerleon, it will be suggested that categorising material as ‘civilian’ or ‘military’ obscures complex patterns of both uniformity and variation between different kinds of site. These have implications not only for our understanding of the army in fourth and fifth century Britain, but also for society in general at this time, as it is within this wider context that the army should be seen.