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Paradoxes in Action: Lived Perspectives of Irregular, Nigerian Sex Workers in Spain
No full textDespite highly vocal concerns regarding modern slavery, there remains a need for fine-grain research about irregular migratory phenomena, particularly the voices of those trafficked for sex work. This ethnographic study sought to address this lacuna by investigating the lived experiences of 19 Nigerian Edo women working as streetwalkers and madams in Spain. We discuss the women’s perspectives on irregular migration and resettlement, which span wide-ranging psychosocial, sexual, cultural, and spiritual phenomena. Eight seeming paradoxes run through the women’s accounts, including how some distinguish migrant sex work from sex trafficking, and perceive it as taking social transformation into their own hands. Here, we focus on the women’s insights drawn from contextualized, lived experiences, and their strong desire to ensure future generations of Edo women do not follow in their footsteps. We argue that it is vital to consider marginalized migratory populations as ‘the experts’ if we are to understand the local issues and root causes of trafficking, and help inform realistic, reliable, and achievable response strategies.</p
An Exploratory Study on the Use of Robot Dogs in Shepherding
No full textShepherding is a skill which can take sheepdogs anywhere from three months to three years to learn, and can cost shepherds tens of thousands of pounds. This study explores the potential of robot sheepdogs, which could be as low as £1600. Using expert observations from farm managers the study assesses the efficacy of BostonDynamics Spot at shepherding. Observations from the three field trials showed potential for the robot in maintaining the flock whilst in motion, dynamically adjusting the flock's flight distance with indirect eye contact, and eliciting pressure in collaboration with a sheepdog, to move the sheep into their pens.</p
A Voice Too Much: Performance, Authenticity and Nostalgia in Biographical Television Drama
No full textIn 1978, Jean-Louis Comolli proposed the problem of ‘a body too much’: that viewers of historical fiction have to contend conceptually with not only the body of the actor and the character, but also of the real individual being portrayed. This insight has been much applied in discussions of performance in biographical dramatisation (Cantrell and Luckhurst, 2010; Fife Donaldson, 2014; Kennedy-Karpat 2020). But what of the performer’s voice? In what ways might one of the signature signifiers of identity be incorporated into the performance of real lives? We explore the significance of the singing voice in constructions of authenticity in three biographical television dramas Shirley (BBC Two, 2011), and miniseries Cilla (ITV, 2014). We focus on the promotion and reception of each drama, with specific reference to how the vocal performances of Ruth Negga and Sheridan Smith are understood as successful embodied mimicry or uncanny failure in their incarnations of Shirley Bassey and Cilla Black. We will examine these performances in relation to a developing truism in the study of pop music biopics (Marshall and Kongsgaard, 2012): the greater authenticity of a vocal performance by the actor – however unlike the voice of their subject – over a lip-synced rendition. Through close analysis of paratextual material such as interviews and reviews, we will demonstrate the centrality of vocal impersonation in their promotion and reception. Finally, we will explore the role of nostalgia in constructing discourses of authenticity by examining the ‘nostalgic frames’ (Holdsworth, 2011) these dramas appear within. Their complimentary scheduling alongside archive programming emphasises the cultural position of Bassey and Black as mediated and mediating voices, whose relationship with the public is typically defined or redefined through their association with cinema and television.</p
MAP Indonesia: Beyond Tradition learning model
No full textThe Beyond Tradition’s Lenong revitalisation programme has been implemented and tested in the period between August 2022 and March 2024. The trials carried out then resulted in the “Beyond Tradition: Revitalising Lenong as a Teaching Model for Betawi Arts” model, which illustrates the five stages leading up to the performance of Lenong on stage.This model was developed jointly between artists from various institutions, namely the Center for Family Resilience and Development (PKPK), Faculty of Psychology, Unika Atma Jaya, Padepokan Ciliwung Condet (PCC), Mr. Jose Rizal Manua (theatre), Sanggar Purnama (rhyme), Studio Ruang Condet (Lenong), Gitarda Studio (Gambang Kromong), Jelantika Nusantara (Betawi dance), Sanggar Si Khodrat (playing beats), Deprok Pencak Silat College (playing hits) and Super 8MM Foundation (photos, videos and films). As well as asking for input from government agencies (East Jakarta Administrative City Education and Culture Service and East Jakarta Administrative City Culture Service), and several educational units.https://doi.org/10.24385/lincoln.28409390</p
MAP Rwanda: Gira Ingoma book and policy brief "The Culture We Want, for the Woman We Want"
No full textIn a world where the voices of women and girls are too often silenced or overlooked, The Culture We Want, for the Woman We Want stands as a bold declaration of hope, resilience, and transformation. Produced by the Gira Ingoma – One Drum per Girl project, this powerful book captures the dreams and aspirations of hundreds of girls whose voices are shaping a new narrative for equality in the creative and cultural industries.Through the rhythm of drums, the strength of dance, and the passion of poetry, this collection embodies the spirit of the warrior and the joy of artistic expression. In it, we find not just a record of a year’s work, but a vision for the future—one where gender equality is not just a dream but a reality, woven into the fabric of culture itself.In addition to stunning photographs, excerpts from interviews, and speeches that echo with hope, The Culture We Want, for the Woman We Want offers a policy brief that calls for transformative measures to address the deep-rooted gender inequalities in the arts and culture sectors.https://doi.org/10.24385/lincoln.28408382</p
SmartHypnos: An Android application for low-cost sleep self-monitoring and personalized recommendation generation
No full textIn this paper we present SmartHypnos, an Android application that supports low-end devices. It enables users to report their sleep quality, monitor their physical activity and exercise intensity and gain personalized recommendations aimed at increasing sleep quality. The application functionalities are implemented through sleep quality evaluation questions, passive step counter, efficient data storage and Personal data are stored locally protecting user privacy. All these are integrated into a single interface that requires a single device, is of low learning difficulty and easy to use. SmartHypnos was evaluated during a pilot study that involved 48 adults (ages 18-50) that used the application for seven days and subsequently submitted their data, possible through the interface directly, and evaluated the application through an appropriate questionnaire. SmartHypnos has the potential to become a sleep monitoring and intervention tool readily available to the general public, including vulnerable populations of low socio-economic status. </p
The Technical Examination of Nineteenth-Century Artists' Pigments from John Opie’s Paintbox
No full text St Agnes Museum, Cornwall, currently holds in its collections a paint box with a metal plaque reading ‘John Opie 1806’, containing pigments and other artists materials. John Opie produced hundreds of oil paintings until his untimely death in 1807, and was a well known and successful painter of portraits and historical scenes. However his work has been little studied, in comparison to his contemporaries such as Joshua Reynolds. This paper discusses the identification of the pigments in the paint box using infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR), optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF). Seven pigments have been identified as ultramarine, lead white, fustic and carmine lakes, carbon black (likely ivory), hematite, and burnt sienna, consistent with the bottle labels where present. The identification has been further confirmed using historical literature, which has shown that the pigments are likely to be contemporary with the stated date of 1806. This information adds to the body of knowledge around the artist specifically, and artists pigments generally available at the time. </p
Autonomy and Connection: How Ward Panels Support Neighbourhood Policing
No full textNeighbourhood or community policing is receiving renewed attention internationally as a means of responding to a perceived legitimacy crisis in police forces globally. However, with budgets still tight in the post-Covid environment, understanding which activities are most effective and efficient in supporting confidence and legitimacy is vital. This article looks at the workings of London’s community-driven ward panel system, chaired by volunteers but administered by the Metropolitan Police. It reports on a study that asked how ward panels contributed to neighbour- hood policing; one of very few to explore ward panels as a community policing structure. A series of observations and interviews were carried out as part of a case study of a single London borough. The study found that ward panels contributed in a number of ways, facilitating partnership working, building connections with hard-to-reach communities, and enhancing police accessibility. Significantly, several panels had begun to develop autonomy in identifying and resolving local problems. This article discusses the potential for semi-autonomous community bodies such as ward panels to contribute to the work of community or neighbourhood policing, thereby relieving demand on forces, and weighs up the risks entailed.</p
Energy localisation and dynamics of a mean-field model with non-linear dispersion
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In this paper, we examine the dynamical and statistical properties of a mean-field Hamiltonian with on-site potentials, where particles interact via non-linear global forces. The absence of linear dispersion triggers a variety of interesting dynamical features associated with very strong energy localisation, weak chaos and slow thermalisation processes. Particle excitations lead to energy packets that are mostly preserved over time. We study the route to thermalisation through the computation of the probability density distributions of the momenta of the system and their slow convergence into a Gaussian distribution in the context of non-extensive statistical mechanics and Tsallis entropy, a process that is further prolonged as the number of particles increases. In addition, we observe that the maximum Lyapunov exponent decays as a power-law with respect to the system size, indicating “integrable-like” behaviour in the thermodynamic limit. Finally, we give an analytic upper estimate for the growth of the maximum Lyapunov exponent in terms of the energy.</p
Carving spaces of hospitality: Place attachment among migrant and non-migrant residents in a rural town undergoing rapid demographic change
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This article explores the complex and evolving nature of place attachment in the rural Lincolnshire town of Boston, a new immigration destination. Drawing on 28 semi-structured interviews with residents, it examines the ways in which migrant and non-migrant communities make Boston their home, how they react to change and disruption, navigate (in)hospitable encounters and narrate their belonging in the town post the EU referendum, which saw residents overwhelmingly voting against EU membership. The findings show that in the face of place alteration and turbulence, both migrant and non-migrant residents demonstrate a nuanced and differentiated form of commitment to place and, despite intractable systemic challenges, actively work to bring communities together and reframe negative place narratives. Community leadership emerges as integral to the collective effort of creating spaces of hospitality. For migrant and non-migrant communities, place attachment is a dynamic and fluid process, shaped and constantly reshaped by socio-economic and political factors, media discourses and experiences of hospitality/hostility. It is an embodied and emotional process that involves individual and collective discursive efforts to reframe dominant narratives, material and social ways of connecting as well as pragmatic ways of distancing.</p