Relations with the Third World: Views on the North-South Dialogue and Food Security - The European Community

International Relations/Trade,

Defending Pornography: The Case Against Strategic Essentialism

This chapter offers a critical reading of the discourses employed in the context of the distribution of obscene publications through two recent legal developments in England and Wales. Firstly, in the recent case of R v Peacock, in which a defendant was charged under indictment with six counts of distributing obscene material under Section 2(1) of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 (OPA); and secondly, the recent Audio-Visual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) and its apparent targeting of ‘perverse’ sexual practices. However, rather than focusing on the discourses employed in arguing for regulation, I will to concentrate here on those used to defend pornography against the law. I argue that while in previous cases, classical liberalism tended to be the framing device used to defend pornography on ‘freedom of speech’ grounds, these two recent developments demonstrate that defence advocates and activists alike are utilising a strategic essentialism approach, affixing pornographic representation to sexual orientation or identity. While this approach is certainly strategic, this chapter will reflect on some of the drawbacks of this approach

Acid Feminism: Gender, psychonautics and the politics of consciousness

Psychedelic substances have undergone a transformation in the public consciousness over the last 15 years. However, the most influential first-person narratives of psychonauts and ‘scientist-shamans’ navigating the frontiers of consciousness have tended to entirely exclude women’s experiences and voices. Psychedelic feminism, has emerged to signify the role consciousness expansion and experimentation might play in rejuvenating feminism’s collective imagination, and undoing the historical silencing of women’s voices in psychedelic culture and research. Drawing on Mark Fisher’s work on acid communism, the feminist psychedelic humanities, narcofeminism and autobiographical life-writing by women on experimental psychedelic substance use, this article investigates the promise of acid feminism for the wider narcofeminist movement, and its implications for undoing some key precepts endemic in psychedelic culture and research

Mature Age Workers‟ Experiences of Learning in Accredited Courses

Understanding how mature age workers come to engage with training programs has become increasingly important in sustaining their employability across lengthening working lives. This paper reports the responses to an online survey of a sample of mostly white-collar mature-age workers (45+) about their experiences in undertaking accredited work-related training in Australia. It presents and discusses their motivations for undertaking further education and training and their perceptions of its relevance to their work and of the efficacy of the teaching and learning processes. The paper concludes by identifying the implications for educational institutions and training organisations

The Interaction between Root Distribution and Pasture Growth During Water Deficit

Quantification of water-limited pasture growth is of interest in agriculture since it allows prediction of impaired animal production during drought, and is the basis for scheduling irrigation. Experimental work on two dairy pastures 25 km south-west of Palmerston North, New Zealand found 50% of root mass was in the top 2.3 cm of soil. Soil moisture was, similarly, not uniformly distributed down the soil profile and dried most rapidly in the top 20†cm of soil. Leaf appearance rate was more strongly correlated with water status nearer the soil surface (r = 0.52 & 0.63 for 0-5 & 10-15 cm depth, respectively) than at depth (r = 0.13 for 20-70 cm depth). Water-limiting pasture growth models need to account for the distribution of roots and water in the soil to accurately predict growth of pastures subjected to, and recovering from, water deficit

Urban Wind Turbines: A Feasibility Study

There is an existing body of research into noise, vibration and wind regime concerns associated with urban wind turbines demonstrating the detrimental effects of these topics on the energy yield potential and therefore financial worth of an installation. Much of the research has focused on wind regime assessment and optimum roof top placement via CFD modeling offering generalised guidelines showing a potential for wind power to contribute towards lowering London's CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, without benefiting from appropriate planning assessment, a number of early urban turbines failed and have risked irreversibly tarnishing the concept. Hitherto no studies have been specifically conducted on the urban potential of building integrated wind turbines. As integration is bespoke, typically determined by the architecture, it is unknown whether existing guidelines for roof mounted wind turbines could be directly applied. It is probable that each installation would merit its own assessment and analysis procedure. This study aims to investigate the differences between roof mounted and building integrated turbines in terms of assessment, operation and urban potential. In response to these differences it is intended to demonstrate how a successful installation can be achieved. Comparisons between two urban sites, one smaller, roof mounted HAWT and one larger, building integrated HAWT have been made via noise, vibration, CFD and atmospheric data recorded and analysed over two years to build a comprehensive understanding of the inherent urban issues. The prospect of successfully situating an urban turbine is complex in nature and considering the high installation costs and high level of design and engineering required to do so it is imperative that their energy yield provide a satisfactory return on investment and efficient supply of power without adversely impacting upon the surrounding environment or themselves. This study concludes that a multifaceted approach is necessary to achieve an efficient building integrated turbine, comprised of: (i) accurate local noise surveys to establish the local acoustic environment to inform acceptable turbine operating ranges, (ii) specific noise modeling of manufacturer provided data or, where none is available, acoustic testing of the proposed turbine across all applicable wind speed ranges, (iii) comprehensive vibration assessment, not only of the turbine tower/system but also of the turbine housing and any lower residential floors to ensure no natural frequencies will be excited and to prevent any vibration transmission via appropriate mounting, isolation or damping where necessary, (iv) the acquirement of site specific wind data to inform architectural design, turbine selection and placement. If monitoring at hub height is not possible it has been found that it may be acceptable to monitor in close proximity and then extrapolate the results using CFD analysis and wind profile methods, (v) CFD modeling of the surrounding topography, the turbine mount and/or enclosure. These areas are discussed with potential areas of noise and vibration control and turbine optimisation, specific to the case studies, investigated. Further to the aforementioned study an investigation into a new method of assessing noise and vibration levels associated with average anemometry recorded wind speeds has been presented so as to attain average levels per wind speed bin without being skewed by impulsive gusts