Unsung heroes: Constituency election agents in British general elections

Despite their central role in the electoral process, constituency agents have been largely overlooked by political scientists and this article seeks to rectify the omission. It sketches the origins and development of the role of agent from the late 19th century and suggests that a serious rethink of the role took place in the 1990s. Survey-based evidence about the social characteristics of agents is presented confirming that they are largely middle-aged, middle-class, well-educated men. They are also becoming more experienced, offer realistic assessments of the impact of constituency campaigning and, arguably, many take a long-term view of how their party's support can be maximised

MR447: Seasonal Water Table and Temperature Relationships in Calcareous Till and Residual Soils of Central Maine

Water table depths and soil temperatures were monitored for four growing seasons in six calcareous till pedons developed on gently rolling to level till plains in Corinth and Exeter, Maine. These soils are part of a new catena that supports potato production in southeastern Penobscot County. Three of these coarse-loamy to fine-loamy pedons are moderately well drained Oxyaquic Eutrudepts taxadjuncts in potato fields, and three are somewhat poorly drained Aquic Dystric Eutrudepts in predominantly deciduous forest. Soil morphology, hydrologic data, and a,a dipyridyl applications support the described subgroup classification of each pedon, along with the udic moisture regime. Despite a smooth, glaciated landscape that would suggest the presence of extensive lodgment till, five observation sites lacked a densic contact and one contained residuum (saprolite) in the substratum. Apparent water tables in the SPD very deep soils, as well as oxyaquic hydrology in the deep soils on 0 to 3 percent slopes, suggest the more permeable subglacial melt-out till predominating, rather than lodgment till in all of these pedons. Growing season concepts were compared based on frost-free season at 0 and -2.2° C thresholds, soil temperatures in the plow layer, soil temperature at 50 cms and well-water temperature. The commencement of the growing season in the spring did not differ much across all five concepts. However, in the fall there was a 4- to 8-week lag between the air or shallower soil-temperature growing-season concepts and the deeper soil or well-water-temperature growing-season concepts. Daytime air temperature during the first 2 years of monitoring differed significantly between spring and fall seasons, but not between field and forest sites within each season.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_miscreports/1027/thumbnail.jp

Experiencing gender in UK political science:The results of a practitioner survey

Does gender matter in the way in which we ‘perform’ academia? Drawing on the results of a practitioner survey, we argue that gender does matter, culturally and structurally, and can be institutionalised so that women are disadvantaged. This is not to deny women’s agency or the advances that they have made. Rather, we highlight the inequality of the playing field in which the academic endeavour is conducted. Uniquely, we ask UK political scientists about their perceptions of the impact of gender in their working lives and explore their views on recommendations for change

The dark side of political marketing

Purpose This article discusses exploratory research into the perceptions of British Muslims towards Islamist ideological messaging to contribute to the general debate on ‘radicalisation'. The article discusses the findings of discussion groups in the light of research previously undertaken in the propaganda/psychology fields, from the perspective of Reversal Theory. Methodology/approach Four focus groups were undertaken with a mixture of Bangladeshi and Pakistani British Muslims who were shown a selection of Islamist propaganda media clips, garnered from the internet. The research is intended to provide exploratory indications of how British Muslims receive Islamist communication messages in order to provoke further research in this critical field. Findings We propose that Islamist communications focus on eliciting change in emotional states, specifically inducing the paratelic-excitement mode, by focusing around a meta-narrative of Muslims as a unitary grouping self- defined as victim to Western aggression. Early indicators are that some genres of Islamist propaganda may be more effective than others in generating these emotional change states (e.g. cartoons) and some groupings appear to be more susceptible than others. We conclude that our British Muslim respondents were unsympathetic to the Islamist ideological messaging contained in our sample of propaganda clips. Research limitations/implications The research highlights the difficulties in undertaking research in such a sensitive field. We propose a series of four testable propositions to guide future research looking specifically at whether those subjects who are more likely to be excited by Islamist communication include those with weakly held identities, younger males, those feeling contempt for Western culture, and the use of specific media genre formats. Originality/value of paper The article provides an insight into how British Muslims might respond to Islamist communications, indicating that whilst most are not susceptible to inducement of paratelic-excitement, others are likely to be, dependent on which genre of clip is used, the messages contained therein, and who that clip is targeted at

Utility of tris(4-bromopyridyl) europium complexes as versatile intermediates in the divergent synthesis of emissive chiral probes

The synthetic utility of europium complexes with three coordinated 4-bromopyridyl groups for chromophore elaboration has been assessed in palladium-catalysed Sonogashira coupling reactions, and in copper(I) mediated click reactions of the triazide derivative, generated in situ. The crystal structure of the Eu complex of a p-OMe-phenyl substituted triazole at 100 K is reported in which the pendant triazole sensitising moieties interdigitate in the solid-state lattice. The triazole complex can be separated into Δ and Λ enantiomers by chiral HPLC but is weakly emissive in methanol (ε 5.5 mM−1 cm−1; λexc 320 nm; ϕ 0.2%), contrasting with a set of four alkynyl–aryl derivatives which are one thousand times brighter and absorb strongly with broad absorption maxima in the range 332 to 360 nm. An enantiopure europium complex gives an intense CPL signal in solution that is the strongest yet reported

Causes of mortality and pathological lesions observed post-mortem in red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) in Great Britain

Background: The red squirrel population in Great Britain has declined dramatically in recent decades, principally due to squirrelpox. Concern exists that red squirrels may become extinct nationally and, as there has been limited research in to diseases other than squirrelpox, this study aimed to identify additional causes of mortality. Results: Post-mortem examinations on 163 red squirrels found dead on Isle of Wight (IoW) England, in Scotland and at other locations in Great Britain showed that 41.7% (n = 68) were killed by road traffic and 9.2% (n = 15) by predators, principally domestic cats and dogs. The overall male/female ratio was 1.08/1. Fleas were recorded on 34.9% of IoW squirrels and on 43.8% of Scottish squirrels but sucking lice and ixodid ticks were only seen on Scottish squirrels. Bacterial infections were significant, particularly in association with respiratory disease (n = 16); two squirrels died of Bordetella bronchiseptica bronchopneumonia. Cases of fatal exudative dermatitis (n = 5) associated with a lukM-positive clone of Staphylococcus aureus occurred only on the IoW. Toxoplasmosis (n = 12) was also confined to IoW where it was responsible for almost one tenth (9.5%) of all deaths. Hepatozoonosis was common, especially in IoW squirrels, but was not considered a primary cause of mortality. Hepatic capillariasis affected four IoW squirrels and one from Scotland. Fungal infections included oral candidiasis, adiaspiromycosis and pulmonary phaeohyphomycosis. Neoplastic conditions diagnosed were: pulmonary carcinoma, gastric spindle cell tumour, renal papillary adenoma and trichoepithelioma. Epidermal hyperplasia of unknown aetiology was seen in squirrels showing crusty lesions of the ear pinnae on IoW (n = 3) and Brownsea Island (n = 1), associated in two cases with cutaneous wart-like growths. Miscellaneous diagnoses included chylothorax, electrocution, intussusception, suspected cholecalciferol rodenticide poisoning and foetal death and mummification. No cases of squirrelpox were diagnosed. Conclusions: Red squirrels in Britain suffer premature or unnatural mortality due to a number of conditions in addition to squirrelpox, many of which result, directly or indirectly, from human activities: road traffic trauma, pet predation, toxoplasmosis, trap injuries, rodenticide poisoning and electrocution accounted for 61% of all recorded mortality in this study. Red squirrels are also affected by several diseases of unknown aetiology which merit further research