Opening up semiotic spaces for gender expression: a case study of the construction of gender in Australian award-winning early childhood picture books

This article examines the visual and verbal expressions of gender in Australian award-winning early childhood picture books. It brings together social semiotic analysis and the narratological concepts of narration and focalization to examine the extent to which one community of practice (authors, illustrators, publishers and awards council) reproduces symbolic manifestations of gender, or offers readers space to engage with alternatives. The authors’ findings suggest that, while the literary works produced by this community of practice mostly serve to reinforce hegemonic cultural attitudes of what constitutes desirable femininity and masculinity in Australia, there is ample opportunity for change

I see you. Do you see me? Investigating the representation of diversity in prize winning Australian early childhood picture books

This paper investigates the visual and verbal representation of diversity in Australian early childhood picture books, focusing on those that have been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Early Childhood Book of the Year award (2001–2020). Educators at all levels draw on award lists to help create their reading lists and build their library collections. For early childhood to kindergarten educators, these selections are principally picture books. Picture books are significant for the cultural messages and values they convey about society, and for helping children learn about their world. How diverse that world is impacts on a child’s sense of belonging and inclusion. Using content analysis, this study demonstrates the extent to which the story worlds in the CBCA award winning early childhood picture books may be considered a source of diversity for young Australian readers

Why the fruit picker smiles in an anti-corruption story: Analyzing evaluative clash and news value construction in online news discourse in China

In China's journalism, positive photographs are preferred in reporting on negative news stories and such divergent couplings of text and image are crucial in newsworthiness mediation in helping readers understand social values in China. Drawing on Discursive News Value Analysis and appraisal, this article investigates the construal of Negativity and Positivity through evaluative resources across visual-verbal semiotic modes in China's English-language news discourse. Sourced from China Daily and People's Daily online websites, 34 news reports featuring evaluative clash are studied by combining corpus semantic tagging method and manual analysis from both the text-as-corpus and text-as-text approaches. The findings show that Negativity is largely and strategically construed through negative lexis and evaluative language towards news participants like China, the US and Australia in international disputes, while visual Positivity plays an important role in orienting readers to the Socialist Core Value of “Harmony” against the negative news stories through their interplay in the heading-image nucleus. Underlying journalistic positions are revealed through close analysis of news value co-construction in three news stories about national issues, in which visual devices are employed to enhance, contradict or complement the linguistic expressions around social value building

A pragmatic cognitive model for the interpretation of verbal–visual communication in television news programmes

The combination of the verbal and the visual track in television news discourse poses a considerable analytical challenge. In the viewers’ minds the co-habitation of these two semiotic channels triggers a complex network of inferential processes, based on expectations of coherence and relevance, with which they make sense of the representation of the world offered in the news. Through the analysis of a number of news items, this article considers the cognitive processes which viewers may activate when extracting meaning from the multimedial messages contained in television news. The analysis of news items from two British television networks offered by the authors traces the possible meanings that, it is assumed, become available to a potential, ‘idealised’ or ‘implied’ viewer, who accesses the information with some social and cultural knowledge of contemporary Britain. Building on existing studies, the article proposes a model for the classification of verbal–visual relations

The Clacton Spear: the last one hundred years

In 1911 an eminent amateur prehistorian pulled the broken end of a pointed wooden shaft from Palaeolithic-age sediments at a seaside town in Essex. This artefact, still the earliest worked wood to be discovered in the world, became known as the Clacton Spear. Over the past 100 years it has variously been interpreted as a projectile weapon, a stave, a digging stick, a snow probe, a lance, a game stake and a prod to ward off rival scavengers. These perspectives have followed academic fashions, as the popular views of early hominins have altered. Since discovery the Clacton spear has also been replicated twice, has undergone physical transformations due to preservation treatments, and has featured in two public exhibitions. Within this article the changing context of the spear, its parallels, and all previous conservation treatments and their impacts are assessed.© 2015 Royal Archaeological Institute. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Archaeological Journal on 3rd March 2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi.org/10.1080/00665983.2015.1008839.The attached document is the author(’s’) final accepted/submitted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it

De Plenderleith a Al Gore: o ideário vigente na conservação de bens culturais móveis no século XXI

O texto discute idéias predominantes, hoje, nas práticas de conservação de bens culturais móveis no Ocidente. São apontadas, também, algumas tendências de pensamento em diferentes contextos de trabalho, identificando-se eventuais mudanças e semelhanças entre as idéias anteriormente vigentes e aquelas que muito provavelmente sejam, já, um legado para este novo século.This article discusses the prevailing concepts referring to the conservation of cultural heritage collections. Some trends such as some lines of thought are also indicated, identifying occasional changes and similarities among the ideas previously in force and those that, probably, are already a legacy for this new century

Impact of primary kidney disease on the effects of empagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease: secondary analyses of the EMPA-KIDNEY trial

Background: The EMPA KIDNEY trial showed that empagliflozin reduced the risk of the primary composite outcome of kidney disease progression or cardiovascular death in patients with chronic kidney disease mainly through slowing progression. We aimed to assess how effects of empagliflozin might differ by primary kidney disease across its broad population. Methods: EMPA-KIDNEY, a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial, was conducted at 241 centres in eight countries (Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the UK, and the USA). Patients were eligible if their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 20 to less than 45 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or 45 to less than 90 mL/min per 1·73 m2 with a urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) of 200 mg/g or higher at screening. They were randomly assigned (1:1) to 10 mg oral empagliflozin once daily or matching placebo. Effects on kidney disease progression (defined as a sustained ≥40% eGFR decline from randomisation, end-stage kidney disease, a sustained eGFR below 10 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or death from kidney failure) were assessed using prespecified Cox models, and eGFR slope analyses used shared parameter models. Subgroup comparisons were performed by including relevant interaction terms in models. EMPA-KIDNEY is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03594110. Findings: Between May 15, 2019, and April 16, 2021, 6609 participants were randomly assigned and followed up for a median of 2·0 years (IQR 1·5–2·4). Prespecified subgroupings by primary kidney disease included 2057 (31·1%) participants with diabetic kidney disease, 1669 (25·3%) with glomerular disease, 1445 (21·9%) with hypertensive or renovascular disease, and 1438 (21·8%) with other or unknown causes. Kidney disease progression occurred in 384 (11·6%) of 3304 patients in the empagliflozin group and 504 (15·2%) of 3305 patients in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·71 [95% CI 0·62–0·81]), with no evidence that the relative effect size varied significantly by primary kidney disease (pheterogeneity=0·62). The between-group difference in chronic eGFR slopes (ie, from 2 months to final follow-up) was 1·37 mL/min per 1·73 m2 per year (95% CI 1·16–1·59), representing a 50% (42–58) reduction in the rate of chronic eGFR decline. This relative effect of empagliflozin on chronic eGFR slope was similar in analyses by different primary kidney diseases, including in explorations by type of glomerular disease and diabetes (p values for heterogeneity all >0·1). Interpretation: In a broad range of patients with chronic kidney disease at risk of progression, including a wide range of non-diabetic causes of chronic kidney disease, empagliflozin reduced risk of kidney disease progression. Relative effect sizes were broadly similar irrespective of the cause of primary kidney disease, suggesting that SGLT2 inhibitors should be part of a standard of care to minimise risk of kidney failure in chronic kidney disease. Funding: Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, and UK Medical Research Council

Development of a Simplified Dynamic Testing Device for Turfed Sports Surfaces

The response of natural turf surfaces to loading changes with the force and loading rate applied. Quantification of surface behaviour to athlete loading is complicated by the lack of devices that replicate forces, stresses and loading rates of athletes that can be specifically used on natural turf. To address this issue, a vertical dynamic impact testing device, the DST, was developed. The DST consists of a compressed air driven ram which vertically impacts a studded test foot onto the surface using data from biomechanical studies. The vertical dynamic stress of athlete foot strike during running is replicated, using peak force and mean boot contact area data. The ram pressure is adjustable to allow variation of the stress applied upon impact, potentially replicating a range of athlete-surface interactions. Initial laboratory testing indicated that the device was sensitive to changes in soil condition due to variations in impact data. Total penetration time and distance, and surface energy absorption were all significantly greater in prepared ‘soft' soil treatments (p<0.05). Loading rate in the first 50 ms after impact was significantly greater in the ‘hardest' soil treatment (p<0.05). Future research work will determine in-situ behaviour of actual playing surfaces, compare device loading rates to those of athletes, and assess surfaces to a range of stre

Rebirth or resistance? Reimagining Photojournalistic Routines in the Australian news media

The fact that the staff position of the photojournalist has been all but eradicated is widely acknowledged in the journalism literature (Anderson 2013; Allan 2015; Thomson 2016), and Australia is no exception. Photographic departments at Fairfax and News Corp have been decimated, again (Battersby 2017; Meade 2017). The ABC has for a long time been relying on reporters, editors, producers, and presenters to supply news imagery, especially on regional happenings. Some news organisations blame layoffs on the ubiquity of free imagery online (Lang 2011, referring to CNN’s decision to lay off 50 photojournalists, technicians and librarians), and a key question emerging from this trend is whether citizens and organisations outside of journalism, through their engagement with the digital economy, are re-shaping and re-defining photojournalistic practice.To address this question, I explore the sourcing of news imagery by the major news providers in Australia: Fairfax, News Corp, and the ABC, including the relative newcomer to the Australian market, Guardian Australia. I combine large-scale quantitative surveys of the sourcing of news images in the Australian news media with qualitative ethnographic interviews with industry professionals in order to yield multiple perspectives on the massive cultural shifts being experienced by the journalism industry today and to assess their ability to adapt positively to change. Three case studies, investigating the sourcing and use of news photography in the reporting of special events – the federal election of 2016, Australia Day 2017 – and of a spot news event – the major storms of September 2016 in South Australia – are complemented by a study of routine everyday reporting throughout 2017. By examining both special news events and the more mundane reporting of everyday events/happenings, this study provides the most comprehensive study of photojournalism in Australia today. My conclusions show that rather than relying on the freely available online imagery produced by citizen witnesses, the Australian news media continue to source images from professional photographic sources: among them former employees now working as freelancers. Thus, we see a reconfiguration of work routines in the Australian photojournalistic community, routines that are much diminished in terms of stability, security, and remuneration