Voices in the Park(Browne, 1998) was one of nine picture books I used in a study that explored the nature of Grade 1 children’s literary understanding by examining their verbal responses during storybook read-aloud sessions, and their subsequent written, visual arts, and dramatic responses. This article discusses the Grade 1 students’ responses to and understandings of the metafictive devices in Anthony Browne’s picture book. Although researchers and theorists have written about metafiction, a paucity of research has explored elementary students’ literary understandings of and responses to books with metafictive devices. As well as defining metafiction and identifying various metafictive devices described in the literature, this article contextualizes Browne’s work and the children’s responses in a discussion of metafictive textual practices in postmodern and Radical Change literature.

Young Children Interpret the Metafictive in Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park

Provision of natural green space within the broader umbrella of green infrastructure is now a matter of increasing importance to policy makers and decision takers in the land-use planning system. This paper examines the evolution of this new policy area. Reference is made to research studies dealing with attitudes to such spaces and consideration is given to the ‘quality of life’ agenda when addressing both growth and regeneration strategies. A methodology for the future development and appraisal of such policy is advanced.

Natural Green Space and Planning Policy: Devising a Model for its Delivery in Regional Spatial Strategies

This article provides a comparative study of commercial cave tourism in Australia and China, focussing on the
methods of site interpretation and presentation used by selected show caves. The key point of contrast between
the commercial speleotourist experiences offered in Australia and China is in the relative priority given to site
conservation and framing the cave as a spectacle for the enjoyment of visitors. The discussion draws on the
authors’ field research, visiting show caves as tourists to consider the significance of developments in ecotourism
and geotourism for show cave management in Australia and China.

The speleotourist experience: approaches to show cave operations in Australia and China

Alcohol outlet density and alcohol-related harms are an internationally reported phenomenon. There are multiple methods described in the literature to measure alcohol outlet density, but with very little commentary on the geographical underpinnings of the methods. In this paper, we present a framework to help practitioners and researchers choose the most appropriate spatial method of measuring alcohol outlet density. The framework includes components on theoretical geography, statistical implications and practical considerations, with an emphasis on population-level exposure. We describe the CHALICE alcohol outlet density measurement method that was developed to investigate the relationships between alcohol outlet density and population harm. The CHALICE method is compared to four other methods found in the published literature. We demonstrate the impact of methodological choices (e.g. network vs. Euclidean distances) on resulting alcohol outlet density scores. We conclude that wherever possible the best practice approach to modelling alcohol outlet density should be used to facilitate flexibility in subsequent statistical analysis and improve the transparency of the results.

/pdf/a-best-practice-framework-to-measure-spatial-variation-in-4k2rqroj97.pdf

A best practice framework to measure spatial variation in alcohol availability

ENGLISH) 2 ABSTRACT (AFRIKAANS) 3AFRIKAANS) 3

Public open space planning and development in previously neglected townships

Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 150601 (2008) A random walk is a mathematical formalization of a path that consists of a succession of random steps. Among other things, it describes the trajectory taken by a molecule in a liquid or gas, or the path of an animal foraging for food. Vicious walks, however, are more constrained (and not as bad as they sound): different walkers’ paths are random but cannot cross. Grégory Schehr and co-workers have now established a physical connection between vicious walkers and random matrix theory. Using path-integral techniques, Schehr et al. have calculated the exact distribution of the maximal height of vicious walker paths (that is, a measure of the transverse fluctuations of the paths) with and without a wall, or boundary, nearby. Physically, the picture is akin to that of dislocations that arise at the transition between two states with latticebased magnetic or crystallographic structures. The results not only show an explicit connection to random matrix theory but also improve on previous numerical studies.

J P Colquhoun

Papers

A walk in the park.