"Social Progress After the Age of Progressivism: The End of Trade Unionism in the West"

This essay is about trade unions, an institution that arose to play an important part in relation to the social progress characterizing much of the present century and that served as an important reference point for several varieties of normative progressivism. The past two decades of social progress in the most prosperous established nations appear to be rendering the institution obsolete. The objective of the paper is to reject all progressivist interpretations of this trend -- neither condemning the development as a regressive obstacle to progress nor welcoming it as a normal part of the developmental process. The aim is to inquire anew into the historical project of trade unions and the interplay between this project and the processes of social progress, past and prospective. The analytical thesis is that the institution has been multi-dimensional, serving in one of its dimensions as an important political response to social progress. The normative problem is whether the unions' political contribution to a socially conscious political democratization can be revived or transferred, when the unions' constitutive adaptations to past stages of social progress appear to be failing so badly in the present. After a brief overview designed to show that analytical awareness of social progress has historically been linked to critical politically-minded theoretical currents as well as to progressivist theories and that it has been the ideology-process that has tended to smudge this distinction, we briefly outline three alternative progressivist approaches to unionism. Next comes a review of the contemporary state of the problem and a proposal for an analytical approach that avoids the holistic errors of progressivist analyses and lets the political issues be properly posed. In this approach, unions are situated in the context of labor regimes, an historical concept that highlights the dual character of unions, between social progress and political constitution. The contemporary decline of unions is then analyzed in relation to both levels of analysis. The political dimension poses questions of strategy for unions, and the study closes with a critical assessment of strategic alternatives generated by the progressivist alternatives. The conclusion is skeptical and political rather than programmatic, but that illustrates the social-theoretical point of the exercise. The demise of progressivism does not automatically condemn either its contributions to social theoretical analyses of social progress or its political projects.

Azimuth Quadrupole Systematics in Au-Au Collisions

We have measured $p_t$-dependent two-particle number correlations on azimuth and pseudorapidity for eleven centralities of $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 62$ and 200~GeV Au-Au collisions at STAR. 2D fits to these angular correlations isolate the azimuth quadrupole amplitude, denoted $2 v_2^2 \{ 2D \} ( p_t )$, from localized same-side correlations. Event-plane $v_2 ( p_t )$ measurements within the STAR TPC acceptance can be expressed as a sum of the azimuth quadrupole and the quadrupole component of the same-side peak. $v_2 \{ 2D \} ( p_t )$ can be transformed to reveal quadrupole $p_t$ spectra which are approximately described by a fixed transverse boost and universal L\'evy form nearly independent of centrality. A parametrization of $v_2 \{ 2D \} ( p_t )$ can be factored into centrality and $p_t$-dependent pieces with a simple $p_t$ dependence above 0.75 GeV/c. Results from STAR are compared to published data and model predictions.Comment: Conference proceedings for Hot Quarks 201

The Origin of Shinarump Wonderstone, Hildale, Washington County

Southern Utah’s “wonderstone” is Shinarump sandstone, variably cemented and stained with iron oxide, forming intricate patterns reminiscent of landscapes. It is cut and sold as absorbent drink coasters and decorative objects, and is seen in rock shops across the country. The wonderstone pattern comprises thick bands of iron oxide mineralization that fills pore space (referred to as iron oxide cement or IOC) and more delicate bands of iron oxide mineralization that coats sand grains but does not fill pore space (referred to as iron oxide stain or IOS) (figure 1). The wonderstone pattern is of interest to geologists because it formed after the Shinarump sandstone was deposited from iron that was transported in aqueous solution. The iron that now resides in the cement and stain occurs as oxidized iron (iron-III) minerals (e.g., goethite and hematite). Significant amounts of iron-III can be transported in aqueous solution only under very unusual conditions. On the other hand, if an electron is added to iron-III, the resultant reduced iron (iron-II) can be transported readily in aqueous solutions. But iron-II forms a different group of minerals, typically pyrite (FeS2) and siderite (FeCO3) that do not have the characteristic red color of the wonderstone cement and stain. How was the iron that now resides in the wonderstone transported to its current location? What was the chemical mechanism for removing the iron from natural waters and fixing it as iron-III minerals? The typical explanation for the wonderstone pattern is that the bands of iron oxide cement and stain are Liesegang bands. Liesegang bands were discovered originally by chemists and are a form of chemical self-organization that produces bands of insoluble material from the mixing of two solutions. The conventional interpretation is that when pyrite is exposed to oxygen-rich groundwater the pyrite will dissolve, producing a strongly acidic, iron-rich solution. Iron-III will migrate in solution toward the source of oxygen. This aqueous iron-III will then precipitate as the solution is neutralized to form the Liesegang bands of iron oxide cement. This conventional interpretation was developed before geologists recognized the importance of microbes to processes that occur at low temperature. Our interpretation is that iron was introduced to the rock as iron- II shortly after sediment deposition and formed the mineral siderite. As the Colorado Plateau experienced uplift more oxygen-rich groundwaters invaded the Shinarump Sandstone. Iron-oxidizing bacteria thrive by transferring an electron from iron-II to oxygen to make iron-III. Energy is released during this transfer that the bacteria use to survive (in the same way that humans transfer electrons from the carbon in food to oxygen and survive using the energy released in those reactions). The IOC was produced through dissolution of siderite followed by oxidation of aqueous iron-II by microbes at a succession of oxidation-reduction interfaces. The IOC bands mark the position of interfaces where iron-oxidizing bacteria converted aqueous iron II to iron-III with a consequent precipitation of iron III oxide. We consider the iron oxide staining, on the other hand, to be Liesegang produced by the inter-diffusion of iron II and oxygen after the bands of cement were produced. See Kettler and others (2015) for a more complete description of the processes. The outcrops and blocks of wonderstone in this quarry provide a good summary of the evidence that falsifies the pyrite oxidation hypothesis in favor of our hypothesis