Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences

As Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) penetration increases in poorly networked areas with suitable VRE resources, transmission constraints will increasingly force VRE curtailment. Under most European market access and pricing arrangements, location and operation decisions are based on average curtailment rates. As the marginal contribution of the last MW of VRE is 3+ times average curtailment, there is a risk of inefficient location and operation. This article compares different pricing and access regimes (including nodal pricing) to compare their impact on the incentives for VRE merchant or market driven entry.

ABSTRACT Museums are increasingly considering civic responsibilities towards the communities of which they are a part. In this study, a group of families with children aged between two and four years visited a university art museum for multiple facilitated sessions within a participatory research project. Drawing on previous work on caring museum practices, this article explores the potential of museums to support young families through key affordances: time, connection, and exploration. We demonstrate how, by offering opportunities to slow down, build relationships, and take risks, the museum can become a nurturing space of care and connectedness. We contrast this care-centred approach with the pressure exerted on both the museum and early years sectors of target-setting approaches with easily measurable outcomes demanding a singular focus on rapid linear progress. The analysis presented here resists this model, offering instead an approach rooted in gentle attention and openness.

Abstract The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the outcomes of the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Arts and Humanities Research Council funded (AHRC) Creative Economy Engagement Fellowships, a practice-driven research, development programme and knowledge transfer activity. The guiding principles and methods behind these Fellowships were to make use of low cost, replicable 3D scanning of the Museum's collection, whilst working with an educational technology startup and a 3D printing artisan workshop to determine how their technologies could be exploited whilst focusing on user-centred design. This chapter demonstrates how Early Career Researchers (ECRs) can gain valuable career progression and creative industries experience whilst combining digital technologies, audience engagement and research and implement them in a short time frame.KeywordsCreative industries3D printingMuseologyEgyptologyArchaeology

Abstract In this work, we report the results of the in situ application of micro‐Raman spectroscopy to the analysis of two historic painted objects: a 15th‐century illuminated manuscript and a late 16th‐century portrait miniature. Both objects were unexpectedly found to contain calomel (Hg2Cl2), intentionally used as a white pigment. Calomel was a widespread and popular medicine until it fell out of use at the end of the 19th century due to its toxicity, and a material called ‘mercury white’ is referred to in 16th‐century technical literature on painting. However, although calomel has been recognised in the past as a degradation product of cinnabar in both wall and easel paintings, its deliberate use as a pigment on cultural heritage objects has only been documented recently in white areas painted on 17th‐century South American objects. The present study describes the first ever verified use of calomel as a white pigment on European works of art, both of which predate its documented use in South America.

The Silurian myodocope ostracods from Britain comprise six families, 12 genera and 22 species, plus three species in open nomenclature. New material includes representatives of the families Bolbozoidae, Entomozoidae, Cypridinidae and Seminovidae n. fam.; newly described genera and species are Seminova gen. nov., Oculparva moncola gen. et sp. nov., Piscarista sagenata gen. et sp. nov., Nudator inflatus gen. et sp. nov., Nudator angiportatus gen. et sp. nov., Nudator artumatus gen. et sp. nov. and Bolbozoe psittaca sp. nov. Fine biostratigraphic control allows the development of a myodocopid biozonation for the Wenlock and Ludlow series. Seven myodocopid biozones are established, from the early Homerian (Wenlock) to the late Ludfordian (Ludlow) stages. This biozonation allows inter-continental correlation of Silurian successions in Europe, Arctic Russia and Central Asia.Les ostracodes Myodocopes du Silurien britanniqueRÉSUMÉLa faune d’ostracodes myodocopes du Silurien de Grande-Bretagne, comprend six familles, 12 genres et 22 espèces, plus trois espèces en nomenclature ouverte. Le nouveau matériel comprend des représentants des familles Bolbozoidae, Entomozoidae, Cypridinidae et Seminovidae n. fam.; et sont décrit les nouveaux genres et espèces: Seminova gen. nov., Oculparva moncola gen. et sp. nov., Piscarista sagenata gen. et sp. nov., Nudator inflatus gen. et sp. nov., Nudator angiportatus gen. et sp. nov., Nudator artumatus gen. et sp. nov. et Bolbozoe psittaca sp. nov. Le fin contrôle biostratigraphique permet le développement d'une biozonation des ostracodes myodocopes pour le Wenlock et le Ludlow. Sept biozones à myodocopes peuvent être identifiés, du début de l’Homérien à la fin du Ludfordien. Cette biozonation permet une corrélation inter-continentale entre les successions siluriennes d’Europe, de Russie arctique et d’Asie centrale.Ostracoden der Ordnung Myodocopa aus dem Silur GroßbritanniensZUSAMMENFASSUNGDie silurischen myodocopen Ostrakoden aus Großbritannien umfassen sechs Familien, 12 Gattungen und 22 Arten, sowie drei Arten in offener Nomenklatur. Zu dem neuen Material gehören Vertreter der Familien Bolbozoidae, Entomozoidae, Cypridinidae und Seminovidae n. fam.; die folgende Gettungen und Arten werden beschrieben: Seminova gen. nov., Oculparva moncola gen. et sp. nov., Piscarista sagenata gen. et sp. nov., Nudator inflatus gen. et sp. nov., Nudator angiportatus gen. et sp. nov., Nudator artumatus gen. et sp. nov. und Bolbozoe psittaca sp. nov. Feinste biostratigraphische Auflösung ermöglicht die Entwicklung einer Biozonierung der myodocopen Ostrakoden für das Wenlock und das Ludlow. Sieben Biozonen können vom frühen Homerium (Wenlock) bis zum späten Ludfordium (Ludlow) bestimmt werden. Diese Biozonierung ermöglicht eine interkontinentale Korrelation silurischer Abfolgen innerhalb Europas, im arktischen Russland und in Zentralasien.Великобританские силурийские миoдокопидные oстркодыРЕЗЮМЕСилурийская фауна миодокопидных остракод Великобританий состоит из 22 видов, которые относятся к 12 родам, шести семействам, к ним добавляются 3 вида открытой номенклатуры. Новы материал относится к семействам Bolbozoidae, Entomozoidae, Cypridinidae, а также к Seminovidae n. fam. и Seminova gen. nov., Oculparva moncola gen. et sp. nov., Piscarista sagenata gen. et sp. nov., Nudator inflatus gen. et sp. nov., Nudator angiportatus gen. et sp. nov., Nudator artumatus gen. et sp. nov. и Bolbozoe psittaca sp. nov. Хороший биостратиграфический контроль способствовал разработку миодокоповой биозонаций для венлоксого и лудловского отделов силура. Семь биозонов устновлено для временного интервала от хомера (венлок) до позднего лудфорда (лудлов). Зональная шкала миодокопид пригодна для корреляций силурийских отложений в пределах Европы, арктической части России и Центральной Азии.

ABSTRACTThis paper draws upon the experience of several years of running a multi-application crowdsourcing platform, as well as a longitudinal evaluation of participant profiles, motivations and behaviour, to argue that heritage crowdsourcing cannot straightforwardly be considered a democratising form of cultural participation. While we agree that crowdsourcing helps expand public engagement with state-funded activities at Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums, we also note that, the involved public cohort is not radically different in socio-demographic make-up to the one that physically visits such institutions, being for example financially better-off with high levels of formal education. In shedding light on issues of participation and cultural citizenship, through a both theoretically and empirically rich discussion, this paper casts light on the current impact of heritage crowdsourcing, in terms of both its strengths and weaknesses. The study will also be useful for cultural heritage policy and practice, museum management and curatorship to potentially guide the choices and strategies of funders and organisations alike.

ABSTRACTIn May 2017, a group of museum researchers and practitioners met to discuss the writing of Elee Kirk (1977–2016), whose pioneering doctoral study of young children visiting a natural history museum connects with our own work and practice in a number of different ways. Kirk [2015. “Budding Photographers: Young Children’s Digital Photography in a Museum.” In Museums and Visitor Photography: Redefining the Visitor Experience, edited by T. Stylianou-Lambert. MuseumsEtc] advocates for research that views children’s everyday museum visiting ‘beyond their potential for learning’ (p. 238). This paper offers edited transcripts of the discussion sparked by reading Kirk [2015. “Budding Photographers: Young Children’s Digital Photography in a Museum.” In Museums and Visitor Photography: Redefining the Visitor Experience, edited by T. Stylianou-Lambert. MuseumsEtc], documenting the conversation under a number of themes that emerged during the discussion, and reflecting on how each are picked up in more detail by the papers in this Special Issue.

Identification of the techniques employed by artists, e.g. mixing and layering of paints, if used together with information about their colour palette and style, can help to attribute works of art with more confidence. In this study, we show how the pigment composition in binary paint mixtures can be quantified using optical-reflectance spectroscopy, by analysis of the peak features corresponding to colour-transition edges in the first-derivative spectra. This technique is found to be more robust than a number of other spectral-analysis methods, which can suffer due to shifts in the transition edges in mixed paints compared to those observed in spectra of pure ones. Our method also provides a means of distinguishing paint mixtures from layering in some cases. The spectroscopy also shows the presence of multiple electronic transitions, accessible within a narrow energy range, to be a common feature of many coloured pigments, which electronic-structure calculations attribute to shallow band edges. We also demonstrate the successful application of the reflectance-analysis technique to painted areas on a selection of medieval illuminated manuscripts.

The use of ultraviolet and visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry as a preliminary technique in the investigation of illuminated manuscripts is discussed. Because ancient manuscripts are amongst the most fragile and precious artworks, characterisation of the materials used in their decoration should be performed using non-invasive analytical methods. Ultraviolet and visible reflectance spectrophotometry with optical fibres (FORS) allows non-invasive identification of several colourants used by ancient illuminators, causing no damage or mechanical stress to the artworks subjected to analysis. Identification is usually based on the comparison of analytical data with a spectral database built from painted areas on parchment, created by preparing paints according to ancient recipes as described in medieval technical treatises. Such database and the spectral features of the colourants analysed are discussed, along with the benefits of extending the spectral range of analysis into the shortwave infrared (to 2500 nm). FORS can be best appreciated as a rapid preliminary tool that offers an overview on the main colourants employed and guides the selection of painted areas of manuscripts on which more selective techniques, such as X-ray fluorescence or Raman spectroscopy, can be employed for a more complete and accurate identification.