Political and industrial crisis: the experience of the Tyne and Wear pitmen, 1831-1832

/The coalfield of North East England was at the forefront of the industrial revolution in the early nineteenth century, in terms of both technological expertise and managerial experience in business practice. Labour relations were a source of intermittent conflict, and the conjunction of industrial unrest at the collieries, a major cholera epidemic, and the parliamentary reform campaign of 1831-1832, brought an unusual crisis. Prompted by economic deterioration, a new Tyne and Wear pitmen’s union, known after its chairman as 'Hepburn's Union', conducted a successful coal strike in the summer of 1831. But as the pitmen consolidated their victory, the House of Lords' rejection in October 1831 of a second parliamentary Reform Bill caused a major outcry, and locally raised the profile of the 'Northern Political Union', a Newcastle-based pressure group embracing all shades of pro-reform opinion. Many local pitmen gave demonstrable support to the NPU, not least at its May 1832 reform meeting in Newcastle. Meanwhile however, the previously complacent coal owners had consciously set out to destroy the pitmen's union, and after establishing an indemnity fund, provoked the pitmen into strike action in April 1832. The resultant dispute was marked by evictions, the recruitment of outside labour, and by violence and even murder: but with state support from the army, navy, and magistrates, and financial and moral support from local bankers and newspapers, by mid-September 1832 the pitmen's resistance was broken. Along with their leaders' interest in attempts to form general industrial unions, the pitmen's support for parliamentary reform during 1831-1832 suggests the political and industrial aspects of their behaviour were not mutually exclusive, but overlapping and complementary. And though ultimately defeated, Hepburn's Union was most significant in that it became a model for subsequent pitmen's unions

Social enterprise, Sustainable development and the FairShares model

This paper explores how the fields of social enterprise and sustainable development can be aligned by applying the FairShares Model to co-operative development. The adoption of public policies on sustainable development goals (SDGs) challenges our current conceptions of wealth. Using materials published by the FairShares Association and International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), we advance a theoretical framework based on six forms of wealth creation (natural, human, intellectual, social, manufactured and financial). We deploy this to explore inter-relationships between social enterprise and sustainable development then use a case study to show how applying the FairShares Model enfranchises stakeholders, alters the distribution of wealth and power, and helps to realise SDGs. Recognising and rewarding each form of wealth makes the connections and dependencies between them more visible. The FairShares Model offers a coherent development philosophy that acts as a bridge between the fields of social enterprise and sustainable development

Evaluation of Giga-bit Ethernet Instrumentation for SalSA Electronics Readout (GEISER)

An instrumentation prototype for acquiring high-speed transient data from an array of high bandwidth antennas is presented. Multi-kilometer cable runs complicate acquisition of such large bandwidth radio signals from an extensive antenna array. Solutions using analog fiber optic links are being explored, though are very expensive. We propose an inexpensive solution that allows for individual operation of each antenna element, operating at potentially high local self-trigger rates. Digitized data packets are transmitted to the surface via commercially available Giga-bit Ethernet hardware. Events are then reconstructed on a computer farm by sorting the received packets using standard networking gear, eliminating the need for custom, very high-speed trigger hardware. Such a system is completely scalable and leverages the hugh capital investment made by the telecommunications industry. Test results from a demonstration prototype are presented.Comment: 8 pages, to be submitted to NIM

Modeling the ionospheric response to the 28 October 2003 solar flare due to coupling with the thermosphere

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94973/1/rds5664.pd

Social Enterprise, Sustainable Development and the FairShares Model

This paper explores how the fields of social enterprise and sustainable development can be aligned by applying the FairShares Model to co-operative development. The adoption of public policies on sustainable development goals (SDGs) challenges our current conceptions of wealth. Using materials published by the FairShares Association and International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), we advance a theoretical framework based on six forms of wealth creation (natural, human, intellectual, social, manufactured and financial). We deploy this to explore inter-relationships between social enterprise and sustainable development then use a FairShares case study to show how applying the FairShares Model enfranchises stakeholders, alters the distribution of wealth and power, and helps to realise SDGs. Recognising and rewarding each form of wealth makes the connections between them more visible. The FairShares Model offers a coherent philosophy for co operative development that acts as a bridge between the fields of social enterprise and sustainable development