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In 1923, at the request of the government of India, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in Britain authorised a specialist research stream. Its purpose was to investigate problems in architectural acoustics specifically related to the new Assembly Chamber then under construction in Imperial Delhi. The design, by Sir Herbert Baker, was unusual for its era in that it was refined with recourse to measured data and calculations with a basis in modern physics. The acoustician, or ‘consulting architect’, was Hope Bagenal, and his appointment by Baker in 1922 marked the first international commission of a British acoustic consultant. This article examines the acoustic design of the Assembly Chamber in Delhi and identifies the inputs of the various individuals, both architects and scientists, involved. Drawing on the archives of Baker and Bagenal, the records of the DSIR and the Guastavino Company, as well as contemporaneous newspaper coverage, it also demonstrates the longer-term implications of the design and construction process at Delhi, including its role in stimulating subsequent government-funded research in architectural acoustics in Britain.

[EN] This paper presents biographical data from the European ScienceFoundation-project Quali-TYDES, a collaborative research studyunderway since 2010 at universities from Ireland, Austria, Spainand the Czech Republic. The project analysed accounts of the expe-riences of persons with disabilities, most aged between 20 and30. It is a generation educated in a time of radical policy shiftsin the educational sector in all involved countries. This paper willsolely focus on the narratives of interviewees who had accessto tertiary education. Using a life course model developed byPriestley and Shah, the paper will discuss which institutional path-ways facilitated the access to higher education, which transitionsand turning points could be identified in the individual biogra-phies, and which resources and capital were activated to whateffect. The data show that economic, social and cultural capital,including family resources, advocacy and social networks, are nec-essary to access inclusive pathways. In the long run public service provisions, notably personal assistance, can facilitate greatereducational attainment and increase the opportunities for self-determination., [FR] Cet article présente les données biographiques issues du projet Quali-TYDES de la Fondation européenne de la science, recherche collaborative qui a été menée depuis 2010 dans des universités des pays suivants : Irlande, Autriche, Espagne et République tchèque. Le projet analyse les témoignages de personnes handicapées. La plupart des sujets sont de la tranche d’âge 20–30 ans. Il s’agit d’une génération qui a été scolarisée dans une période de changements radicaux des politiques éducatives de tous les pays impliqués. L’article met seulement l’accent sur les témoignages des personnes interrogées qui ont eu accès à l’enseignement supérieur. Sur la base d’un modèle de parcours de vie développé par Priestley et Shah, l’article s’interroge sur les voies institutionnelles qui ont facilité l’accès à l’enseignement supérieur, sur les transitions et les tournants constatés dans les biographies individuelles, sur les ressources et les financements qui ont été mis en place, et ceci à quelles fins. Les données révèlent que les ressources économiques, sociales et culturelles, y compris les ressources familiales, les mouvements de défense des personnes et les réseaux sociaux, sont indispensables pour l’accès à des parcours inclusifs. À long terme, l’offre de services publics, notamment l’accompagnement personnalisé, peut faciliter l’accès à des niveaux scolaires supérieurs et augmenter les chances d’autodétermination., This paper emerged from the project Quali-TYDES of the European Science Foundation (ESF), Euro-cores – ECRP V, Project number 09-ECRP-032. It was financed by Austrian Science Fund (FWF) underGrant I343, Irish Research Council (IRC, formerly IRCHSS) under Grant IRCHSS 09-ECRP-032, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under Grant EUI-2010-04213 and Czech Science Foundationunder Grant P407/11/2009.

The present study deploys acoustic theory and digital analysis to investigate the dynamics of the inter-relationship of architecture and music. It assesses the impact of the built environment on music composition and performance. Drawing upon the science that underpins both architecture and music, it is also informed by the qualitative and artistic attributes of both. Reference to a specific case study, St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, describes the design and implementation of a methodology designed to allow for context and era-specific assessment. The research design is interdisciplinary, bridging theory and practice. The methodology is firmly based on the use of digital technologies, which allow for efficient, accurate and replicable procedure. Data capture, analysis and mapping of the architectural site was supplemented by reference to primary archived material. Digital preservation of primary material was an integral part of the project; the resulting record created a more complete digital repository of the cathedral, combining the information which can be read in the structure itself with documents relating to its history. This article makes use of Victor Hugo's concept of the ‘Book of Stone’ to comment on the information gleaned from paper records and digital analysis of the architecture and acoustics of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

This paper introduces and details an innovative mode of fieldcourse assessment in which students take on the role of tour guides to offer their lecturer and peers a themed, theoretically informed journey through the urban landscape of Havana, Cuba. Informed by notions of student-centred learning and mobile methods, the tour offers an enjoyable, challenging, rigorous yet flexible form of assessment that can be effectively transferred to a wide range of contexts. Feedback suggests that students are very positive about the tours in relation to other potential modes of assessment both in terms of what they learn and as an experience. Ongoing efforts to develop the tours since they were first used in 2003 are described.

This article reports on selected results of a comprehensive survey of children's reading in England, carried out online in 2005 by the National Centre for Research in Children's Literature at Roehampton University. With 4182 responses from children living in England aged from 4 to 16 years, the survey is a follow-up to a similar study completed in 1996. The article concentrates on those issues included in the survey which are of particular interest to children's librarians, specifically questions relating to borrowing books, choosing books, reading recommendations, book reviews, school libraries and classroom book corners.

This article reports on selected results of a wide-ranging online survey of children's reading, carried out in 2005 by the National Centre for Research in Children's Literature. With 4182 responses from children from Key Stages 1 to 4 (aged from 4 to 16 years), the survey is a follow-up to a similar study completed in 1996. This article concentrates on the participants’ responses to questions about fiction reading; key conclusions in this area include the fact that the majority at least ‘sometimes’ read storybooks/fiction and that the continuing significance of the Harry Potter series is reinforced by the survey. This can be seen in the fact that Potter was the favourite storybook/fictional character for all three Key Stage groups, and the series was quoted as being the favourite story/fictional book by all three age groups. In addition, the participants’ preferences for main characters in their fiction showed that their likes were in many cases reflected by their dislikes. That is, where boys generally d...

[EN] There has been much debate around the role of parents in supporting their disabled children in mainstream schools. Several authors have pointed to parents’ advocacy and their engagement with professionals. Parents often perceived mainstream settings as fostering better social and academic learning for their offspring. However, while parents’ perspectives on ‘inclusive education’ have been subject to considerable research, relatively little is known about perceptions of parental support in mainstream schooling from the viewpoint of the disabled persons involved. Recently, a few studies have pointed to the benefits of biographical approaches for analysing this topic of concern. This paper aims to contribute to this emergent strand of research, and investigates the interplay of students, their parents and mainstream schools in relation to disability over time. In so doing, we draw on the life stories of three disabled young persons. In reading the stories, we refer to life course concepts and capital theory. Our analyses show that, across cases, despite different national education systems, participants’ perceived learning environments in mainstream schools as frequently characterised by the disabling practices of professionals. Parental support is highlighted in the narratives as highly influential for academic achievement and in facilitating progress through mainstream school settings in face of attitudinal barriers. Parents’ interventions and their social and cultural capital played a significant role in shaping participants’ subjectivities and responses to hostile learning environments. Strategies developed in these settings appeared to be ‘learned’ and even internalised by our participants, and can be identified as key also in tackling challenges in post-school life. While the importance of parental support to the educational trajectories of their offspring is well described, we point to the specificity of parental support as a reaction to disabling learning environments, facilitating the development of resilient strategies in disabled students., This work was supported by the European Science Foundation under Grant 09-ECRP-032; Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under Grant I343; Irish Research Council (IRC, formerly IRCHSS) under Grant IRCHSS 09-ECRP-032; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under Grant EUI-2010-04213 and Czech Science Foundation under Grant P407/11/2009.

This paper seeks to compare the evolution of inclusive education policy in the four countries of an EU-funded research project (QualiTYDES) operating under the shared policy environment of the UN, EU and European Commission. A shared policy cannot of course be assumed to result in common legislative or provisional outcomes at national level. The different sociocultural, political, historical and economic contexts in each country shape its journey towards ‘compliance’ with an international convention (both pre- and post-ratification), and neither the route nor the destination can be assumed to be shared, given the scope for different interpretations of the same texts. This paper places the implementation trajectories of four European countries side by side as they attempt to move towards ‘inclusive’ education systems. Following a brief overview of the international education policy environment relating to the education of people with disabilities, we describe the national education policy responses in Ireland, Austria, Spain and Czech Republic in recent decades, including both legislation pertaining to special educational need and implementation of policies in practice. The comparison highlights the different manifestations of inclusive education current in each country, and also explores the challenges which have arisen as individual countries attempt to align international policy with provision in existing education systems, each with their own legacy interests, pressures and priorities. Examples of ‘gaps’ in this alignment are where learners with disabilities/SEN are likely to be failed, and represent the critical points at which barriers to fully inclusive education arise and negatively impact opportunity over the life course., The QualiTYDES research project was supported by the European Science Foundation [grant number 09-ECRP-032]; Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [grant number I343]; Irish Research Council (IRC, formerly IRCHSS) [grant number IRCHSS 09-ECRP-032]; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) [grant number EUI-2010-04,213]; and Czech Science Foundation [grant number P407/11/2009].

HIV appeared in Ireland following an opiate epidemic in the early 1980s. Initially, however, the gay community mounted the only response to the spread of the virus while the implementation of early actions by the government was hampered by the constructions of the disease within Irish society. This paper considers the influence of the religious hierarchy in both the development of AIDS policy and in the shaping of public perceptions of the disease and those affected. A qualitative methodology is used to examine the role of such cultural constraints in an evaluation of the social context within which the prevention of HIV infection occurs. Three key issues pertinent to the policy context in Ireland are explored in depth. These are the role of the Catholic Church, the influences on health education programmes, particularly information giving, and the development of services and other interventions. These findings are discussed within the social and political contexts in which health policy is formulated.

The study aims to define configurations of factors from local, regional and national levels that, within a context of decentralized health systems, enable or hinder change towards a health care model of promotion and disease prevention as advocated in current Latin American public health discourse. The project made in-depth case studies of prevention and promotion activities in eight local health systems in rural and urban Brazil and Chile allowing three levels of comparison: national, regional and local. The data are based on interviews, secondary sources, policy documentation and observations. The results are summarized as pathways through configurations of factors leading to what are termed active and basic degrees of activity related to disease prevention and health promotion at the local level. The results raise considerations for policy-makers at each of the three levels of health systems regarding vertical and horizontal system structures, relationships to local government, management options and human resource incentives. The findings from this study can serve as a guide or menu of issues to consider in the implementation of new models of health care provision, not only in Brazil and Chile, but also elsewhere in Latin America and more widely in the world.

Ever since the isolation of HIV (Barre-Sinoussi et al., 1983; Gallo et al., 1984), debates about the appropriate methods to curtail the transmission of the virus have been fiercely contested (Smyth and Thomas, 1996a). In the continued absence of an effective vaccine (Cease and Berzofsky, 1988), these preventative actions have either entailed implementing medical interventions linked to the serological test or social measures, like community orientated education, intended to modify high-risk behaviours. Medical opinion, for example, has often justified contacting and testing the partners of those who are known to be HIV+ on the grounds that it is unethical to deny them the opportunity to take precautions to prevent further passage of the virus (May et al., 1989; Knox et al., 1993). In contrast, those most at risk to infection have been quick to counter that such public interventions are an extreme invasion of privacy (Krieger and Appleman, 1994) and, instead, argue for the adoption of socially constructed measures made sensitive to their specific needs (Kirp and Bayer, 1992).