Covert repertoires: ecotage in the UK

Ecological sabotage (ecotage) has been a feature of the more radical parts of the environmental movement in the Western world for several decades. While it may be perceived as being the preserve of underground cells of 'eco-terrorists', in the UK those who carry out small-scale acts of sabotage are also often engaged in relatively conventional political activity; view sabotage as a complement to other action, not as an end in itself; and are committed to avoiding physical harm to people. Drawing on ethnographic data from research with British activists, this article seeks to define ecotage and to explain its place in the repertoires of the environmental direct action movement in the UK. It is argued that the self-limiting form of ecotage in the UK has its roots in cross-movement debates that have developed over several decades and that national traditions remain important in understanding the development of social movement repertoires

Taking the C out of CVMFS

The Cern Virtual Machine File System is most well known as a distribution mechanism for the WLCG VOs@@ experiment software; as a result, almost all the existing expertise is in installing clients mount the central Cern repositories. We report the results of an initial experiment in using the cvmfs server packages to provide Glasgow-based repository aimed at software provisioning for small UK-local VOs. In general, although the documentation is sparse, server configuration is reasonably easy, with some experimentation. We discuss the advantages of local CVMFS repositories for sites, with some examples from our test VOs, vo.optics.ac.uk and neiss.org.uk

Explaining the fuel protests

We describe and analyse the fuel protests in the UK in September and November 2000. We draw on theories of social movements to explain the success of the first of these protests and the failure of the second. We show how the loose, network forms of organisation contributed to the success in September, and the attempts to impose more formal organisations helped to cause the failure in November. We also show how the success of the protests depended on the articulation of the aims of the protestors with dominant social forces in British politics, in particular the oil companies, the police, and the mass media

Mild acetabular dysplasia and risk of osteoarthritis of the hip : a case-control study

Objective To determine whether mild variation in acetabular depth (AD) and shape is a risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip. Methods The unaffected contralateral hip of patients with unilateral hip OA was compared with hips of asymptomatic controls without hip OA, derived from the Nottingham Genetics Osteoarthritis and Lifestyle case–control study. Standardised anteroposterior x-rays of the pelvis were used to measure centre edge (CE) angle and AD. Cut-off points for narrow CE angle and shallow AD were calculated from the control group (mean −1.96×SD). The relative risk of hip OA associated with each feature was estimated using OR and 95% CI and adjusted risks were calculated by logistic regression. Results In controls, both the CE angle and the AD were lower in the left hip than in the right hip. The CE angle related to age in both hips, and AD of the right hip was lower in men than in women. The contralateral unaffected hip in patients with unilateral hip OA had a decreased CE angle and AD compared with controls, irrespective of side. The lowest tertile of the CE angle in contralateral hips was associated with an eightfold risk of OA (aOR 8.06, 95% CI 4.87 to 13.35) and the lowest tertile of AD was associated with a 2.5-fold risk of OA (aOR 2.53, 95% CI 1.28 to 5.00). Significant increases in the risk of OA were also found as the CE angle and AD decreased

Population inversion of driven two-level systems in a structureless bath

We derive a master equation for a driven double-dot damped by an unstructured phonon bath, and calculate the spectral density. We find that bath mediated photon absorption is important at relatively strong driving, and may even dominate the dynamics, inducing population inversion of the double dot system. This phenomenon is consistent with recent experimental observations.Comment: 4 Pages, Added Reference [30] to Dykman, 1979, available at http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/dykman/pub/Sov.J.LowTemp.Phys_5.pd

Quantum Heating of a nonlinear resonator probed by a superconducting qubit

We measure the quantum fluctuations of a pumped nonlinear resonator, using a superconducting artificial atom as an in-situ probe. The qubit excitation spectrum gives access to the frequency and temperature of the intracavity field fluctuations. These are found to be in agreement with theoretical predictions; in particular we experimentally observe the phenomenon of quantum heating

Measurable quantum geometric phase from a rotating single spin

We demonstrate that the internal magnetic states of a single nitrogen-vacancy defect, within a rotating diamond crystal, acquire geometric phases. The geometric phase shift is manifest as a relative phase between components of a superposition of magnetic substates. We demonstrate that under reasonable experimental conditions a phase shift of up to four radians could be measured. Such a measurement of the accumulation of a geometric phase, due to macroscopic rotation, would be the first for a single atom-scale quantum system.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter