Unearthing the English common reader: working class reading habits, England 1850-1914

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.Gerrard, T. (2004) 'Unearthing the English common reader: working class reading habits, England 1850-1914'. PhD thesis. University of Bedfordshire

Hashtagging depression on Instagram: Towards a more inclusive mental health research methodology

Heavily used hashtags on Instagram and other platforms can indicate extensive public engagement with issues, events, or collective experiences. This paper extends existing research methods to paint a fuller picture of how people engage collectively with public issues online. Focusing on Instagram content often deemed 'problematic', we develop and test what we call a 'hashtag practice' approach. This approach targets the hashtag #depressed, but also moves beyond it to: a) incorporate the posts immediately preceding and following a root post, b) more inclusively sample content associated with the hashtag to combat filtering bias, c) consider collocated hashtags, and d) draw on contextual cues in the interplay between posts' visual content, captions and profile management. The method shows the prevalence and significance of aesthetic and memetic practices, and caution in embodiment in mental health posts, revealing more diverse forms of engagement with mental health on Instagram than previous research suggests

Correlations of mesospheric winds with subtle motion of the Arctic polar vortex

This paper investigates the relationship between high latitude upper mesospheric winds and the state of the stratospheric polar vortex in the absence of major sudden stratospheric warmings. A ground based Michelson Interferometer stationed at Resolute Bay (74°43' N, 94°58' W) in the Canadian High Arctic is used to measure mesopause region neutral winds using the hydroxyl (OH) Meinel-band airglow emission (central altitude of ~85 km). These observed winds are compared to analysis winds in the upper stratosphere during November and December of 1995 and 1996; years characterized as cold, stable polar vortex periods. Correlation of mesopause wind speeds with those from the upper stratosphere is found to be significant for the 1996 season when the polar vortex is subtly displaced off its initial location by a strong Aleutian High. These mesopause winds are observed to lead stratospheric winds by approximately two days with increasing (decreasing) mesospheric winds predictive of decreasing (increasing) stratospheric winds. No statistically significant correlations are found for the 1995 season when there is no such displacement of the polar vortex

Measures of Niche Overlap, II

An axiomatic basis for the construction of measures of niche overlap is analysed, and its implications are discussed, with particular reference to the more commonly used measures. A method of establishing that a measure of overlap complies with the axioms is put forward, making possible the construction of families of new measures. Certain extremal measures of overlap are also identifie

Persistent Regulations: A Detailed Assessment of the Trump Administration's Efforts to Repeal Federal Climate Protections

This paper takes a critical look at what the Trump administration has actually accomplished in terms of repealing and modifying greenhouse gas emission standards and otherwise advancing its pro-fossil fuel agenda. As detailed herein, the scope of the efforts taken pursuant to this agenda is extremely broad – there are dozens of different deregulatory actions underway at various agencies, most notably the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But in most cases, the pace of these efforts has been quite slow. This is particularly true for efforts to repeal or revise major regulations like the Clean Power Plan and the motor vehicle greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy standards, as the administration must adhere to notice-and-comment procedures and must also justify any changes to these rules in light of the statutory provisions it is implementing. The administration has been able to quickly rescind and replace internal policy documents that are not subject to the same procedural requirements as formal regulations, but the practical effect of these internal policy changes remains unclear. In many instances, President Trump’s policies are directly at odds with statutory mandates and therefore unlikely to have a significant or enduring effect on agency practices. The many deregulatory processes that have been initiated are also consuming a large amount of federal government resources and creating significant uncertainty for regulated industries – consequences which are direct conflict with the President’s stated goals of reducing regulatory inefficiencies and supporting regulated industries such as the power sector. Ultimately, the Trump administration will face many barriers in actually effectuating its goals of lifting regulatory burdens and achieving “energy dominance” through greater reliance on fossil fuels. Courts have already shot down many of the administration’s initial efforts to undermine existing regulations, and there is a reasonable chance that some of the final rules to repeal or replace those regulations will also be vacated by the courts. Even if the administration is successful in repealing critical climate regulations, the real-world effect of these repeals may be limited by external legal, social, and economic drivers. A future administration could also reverse course and reinstate regulation. Meanwhile, many state and local governments and private actors are moving forward with their own actions to address climate change. This situation is deeply problematic for regulated entities that need policy coherence and predictability. Companies typically prefer uniform federal standards to the complicated and conflicting state and local laws that are emerging in the absence of clear federal regulations

What is a unit of capacity worth?

Consider a finite-capacity telecommunications link to which connection requests arrive in a Poisson process. Each connection carried on the link earns a certain amount of revenue for the link's manager. Now, assume that the manager is offered the opportunity to buy or sell a unit of the link's allocated capacity. Assuming that the manager has a knowledge of the current number of connections on the link, we demonstrate a method of calculating the buying and selling prices.B.A. Chiera and P.G. Taylo

The Politics of Post-Qualitative Inquiry: History and Power

In this article, we offer a critical reading of the increasingly popular “post-qualitative” approach to research. We draw on insights from postcolonial theory to offer some provocations about the methodological and conceptual claims made by post-qualitative inquiry. The article considers how post-qualitative inquiry opens up possibilities for post-humanist social research. But, our critical reading of these “new” approaches argues that such research needs to attend to political and historical relations of social power, both in the worlds it constitutes and in the processes of its knowledge production. Without explicit attention to power and history, the (non)representational logics of post-qualitative inquiry risk operating less as “new” mechanisms for generative and subversive post-humanist research and more as processes of closure and erasure: closed-off from the worlds and people being researched

An Introduction to Climate Change Liability Litigation and a View to the Future

This article discusses the advancement of climate change litigation. It explores two approaches to climate change litigation; the first is to use the federal regulatory apparatus and the second is to use the tort system. The article explores key questions in climate change litigation such as, who is responsible for deciding the appropriate level of harmful emissions? How should courts handle the long tail effects of climate change? What are the proper forums to litigate in? And, what is the role of the federal government in climate change litigation