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Measurement was vital to nineteenth-century engineering. Focusing on the work of the Stevenson engineering firm in Scotland, this paper explores the processes by which engineers made their measurements credible and explains how measurement, as both a product and a practice, informed engineering decisions and supported claims to engineering authority. By examining attempts made to quantify, measure and map dynamic river spaces, the paper analyses the relationship between engineering experience and judgement and the generation of data that engineers considered to be 'tolerably correct'. While measurement created an abstract and simplified version of the river that accommodated prediction, this abstraction had to be connected to and made meaningful in real river space despite acknowledged limitations to measuring practice. In response, engineers drew on experience gained through the measuring process to support claims to authoritative knowledge. This combination of quantification and experience was then used to support interventions in debates over the proper use and management of rivers. This paper argues that measurement in nineteenth-century engineering served a dual function, producing both data and expertise, which were both significant in underpinning engineering authority and facilitating engineers' intervention in decision making for river management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the complex relationship between natural forces and human attempts to control them in the nineteenth century with reference to a failed harbour development project undertaken in Wick in Caithness, Scotland between 1863 and 1877 by the British Fishery Society and the engineering firm D. & T. Stevenson. The paper highlights how modernist ideas that engineering could and should control nature for human ends were challenged and reshaped by geographically and historically specific discourses, including public duty and responsibility; adversarial nature and the danger of the sea; notions of failure, its meanings and its role in engineering; and the contested epistemological, reputational and experiential nature of expertise. Rather than see an historical geography of marine engineering as about successfully directing nature for human ends – shaping a new geography through technical progress – the paper calls for attention to the implications of failure. This emphasis complicates geographical narratives of progress, technological dominance and human control of the sea. • Explores representations of the failure of Wick breakwater between 1868 and 1877. • Argues that engineers explained failure though the metaphor of conflict with nature. • Shows the importance of personal reputation in gaining support for engineering works. • Examines how local residents challenged claims to engineering expertise. • Argues for the importance of a geographical approach to the analysis of historical engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity and other chronic conditions linked with low levels of physical activity (PA) are associated with deprivation. One reason for this could be that it is more difficult for low-income groups to access recreational PA facilities such as swimming pools and sports centres than high-income groups. In this paper, we explore the distribution of access to PA facilities by car and bus across mainland Scotland by income deprivation at datazone level. GIS car and bus networks were created to determine the number of PA facilities accessible within travel times of 10, 20 and 30 minutes. Multilevel negative binomial regression models were then used to investigate the distribution of the number of accessible facilities, adjusting for datazone population size and local authority. Access to PA facilities by car was significantly (p<0.01) higher for the most affluent quintile of area-based income deprivation than for most other quintiles in small towns and all other quintiles in rural areas. Accessibility by bus was significantly lower for the most affluent quintile than for other quintiles in urban areas and small towns, but not in rural areas. Overall, we found that the most disadvantaged groups were those without access to a car and living in the most affluent areas or in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most science-based courses include practical experimental activity in the laboratory. Many academics and authoritative bodies would claim that a significant level of such activity is essential to the formation of technologists. This paper reviews the literature on laboratory practice. It also reports on an internal survey of staff and student perceptions of the practical work and its value in their courses in the School of Engineering at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. It discusses the degree to which practices both within and outwith the School appear to match the declared aims of participants. It concludes by suggesting some strategies, which may lead to laboratory work becoming more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at the 15th annual North Britain Student Forum on February 20, 2008 in Edinburgh, Scotland is presented. The event was participated by 92 postgraduate students from geophysics, petroleum engineering, reservoir engineering and other related fields. Guests speakers and lecturers have presented engineering and geoscientific topics.