Book review: in defence of politicians (in spite of themselves) by Peter Riddell

How can voters trust politicians that consistently say one thing yet do another? Rory Creedon reviews Peter Riddell’s lastest work, which considers exactly how our levels of respect and trust have changed following the expenses scandal, cash for questions, and other sleazy political behaviour

Aspirations to Empire: American Imperialism, Foreign Policy, and the 1954 Guatemalan Coup d’état

When the sun began to set on the British Empire - the largest the world had ever seen and the dominant world power for over a century – in the aftermath of World War II, the United States designated itself the new arbiter of international relations. Wielding economic imperialism as an Empire-building tool, the U.S., through interference in the internal affairs of countries around the globe, became the world’s dominant superpower. In particular, the United States developed a pattern of interfering in the domestic sphere of Latin American nations to protect the economic interests of American capitalists. Through a historical analysis of U.S. foreign policy regarding Latin America, this paper addresses the events preceding, the occurrence, and aftermath of the 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état. The coup returned the nation to a series of authoritarian dictatorships, sparking civil war and genocide against the Maya peoples, after a decade of democratic elections won through revolution in 1944. While the intervention was allegedly to stop the spread of communism in Latin America, in actuality, it served to protect private U.S. business interests. The case of the Guatemalan coup d’état demonstrates the effective sameness of U.S. national security and economic policy in both practice and oppression. It is but one example of U.S. foreign policymakers demanding intervention in the affairs of other sovereign nations to protect America’s elite. Both historically and in the case of Guatemala, said intervention has come at the expense of both the articulated values of the U.S. and the literal lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of citizens of other nations

Advancing automation and robotics technology for the space station Freedom and for the US economy

In April 1985, as required by Public Law 98-371, the NASA Advanced Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) reported to Congress the results of its studies on advanced automation and robotics technology for use on the Freedom space station. This material was documented in the initial report (NASA Technical Memorandum 87566). A further requirement of the law was that ATAC follow NASA's progress in this area and report to Congress semiannually. This report is the eighth in a series of progress updates and covers the period between October 1, 1988, and March 31, 1989. NASA has accepted the basic recommendations of ATAC for its Space Station Freedom efforts. ATAC and NASA agree that the thrust of Congress is to build an advanced automation and robotics technology base that will support an evolutionary Space Station Freedom program and serve as a highly visible stimulator, affecting the U.S. long-term economy. The progress report identifies the work of NASA and the Freedom study contractors. It also describes research in progress, and it makes assessments of the advancement of automation and robotics technology on the Freedom space station

Weld-bonded titanium structures

Structurally stronger titanium articles are produced by a weld-bonding technique comprising fastening at least two plates of titanium together using spotwelding and curing an adhesive interspersed between the spot-weld nuggets. This weld-bonding may be employed to form lap joints or to stiffen titanium metal plates

Evaluating the Connection between Gender Based Violence and HIV/AIDS

Mathematical models are essential for mapping the future spread of HIV/AIDS and for evaluating the impact of prevention efforts. These models are often relied on by policymakers to make decisions about where to target resources and it is crucial that the model predictions are as accurate as possible. One model that is relied on to predict HIV Incidence is the UNAIDS Modes of Transmission model (MOT.) A major limitation of this model is that it does not incorporate different heterosexual sex risk factors, such as the presence of violence. In this thesis I created a revised MoT model in South Africa, which incorporates a concerning sexual risk factor: the presence of violence. South Africa was chosen because of its high rates of HIV prevalence and gender based violence. The results of the revised MoT model in South Africa indicate that gender based violence is a significant contributor to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. With our current parameter estimates for violence, the model demonstrates that the violence sub groups both relatively account for a greater proportion of new infections than the non-violence groups and on an absolute level, the violence sub groups have a significantly higher HIV incidence rate than the non-violence groups. For example, the violence sub group of individuals engaging in casual heterosexual sex is predicted to account for 7.18% of the total new infections in South Africa, where as the non-violence group is estimated to account for 2.82% of the new infections. In absolute terms, the violence group is expected to have an HIV incidence rate of 2.097% whereas the non-violence group is predicted to have an HIV incidence rate of .498%. In the case that violence was entirely eliminated, the model predicts that overall HIV incidence in South Africa would drop from 1.9% to 1.22%. The designed experiment sensitivity analysis similarly demonstrates that sexual risk behaviors associated with violence are significant drivers of HIV incidence. Based on these results, I suggest that addressing gender based violence be an important goal of the HIV/AIDS response