Imagine there’s no heaven : imaginaries of local government austerity

This article critically analyses the management of public sector austerity. Focusing on the case of UK local government chief executives, we develop the concept of austerity imaginaries. We provide four examples of these based on extensive interviewing. Offered as a theoretical concept, austerity imaginaries involve shared understandings of the role and potential for local government during times of acute fiscal pressure. We contribute empirical knowledge about the local dynamics of austerity and contribute to critical scholarship in this field. We argue that a simple thesis of ruination and destruction can obscure the creative work involved at the front line and we advocate the value of engaging both critically and empathetically with the everyday meanings in action of public managers working in circumstances far from their choosing. At the same time, the imaginaries reveal the insidious ways in which neoliberal assumptions about the public sector appear to delimit the scope for action.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Space proof complexity for random 3-CNFs

We investigate the space complexity of refuting 3-CNFs in Resolution and algebraic systems. We prove that every Polynomial Calculus with Resolution refutation of a random 3-CNF φ in n variables requires, with high probability, distinct monomials to be kept simultaneously in memory. The same construction also proves that every Resolution refutation of φ requires, with high probability, clauses each of width to be kept at the same time in memory. This gives a lower bound for the total space needed in Resolution to refute φ. These results are best possible (up to a constant factor) and answer questions about space complexity of 3-CNFs

An Integrated Pest Management Tool for Evaluating Schools

Having the ability to assess pest problems in schools is essential for a successful integrated pest management (IPM) program. However, such expertise can be costly and is not available to all school districts across the United States. The web-based IPM Calculator was developed to address this problem. By answering questions about the condition of a building and the behaviors of individuals who use it, any pest management professional or building manager can use the IPM Calculator to assess pest risk at a school campus and obtain IPM-based solutions to reduce that pest risk. This new tool is available online at http://ipmcalculator.com

Lincoln #11-Pastel

The artwork features a pastel sketch of Abraham Lincoln looking upward. He is pictured from the shoulders up and dressed in a suit and tie. The background is a solid green hue.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/fvw-artifacts/3993/thumbnail.jp

Studying Work in the Post Reform Era

This paper emerged from the first stage of what is to be a three-stage multi-disciplinary research project examining work in the 'post-reform era '. The key foci of that research project are the organisation of work, the determination of wages, and the well-being of workers at the workplace level. It will examine how the nature of work varies across workplaces of different sizes and in different competitive environments. The present paper draws on the first stage of the research to share some of the problems experienced while attempting to study workplaces in New Zealand today. It draws on research in 19 Auckland workplaces and reveals serious definitional, theoretical, and methodological problems that are likely to constrain any such research in the present environment. In our case, the problems raised, and the solutions offered, have led to a fundamental rethink of the larger project's research objectives, strategies, and ways to operationalise concepts into empirical measures

Subjectifying Library Users to the Macroscope Using Automatic Classification Matching

No abstract available