Transgressing the moral economy: Wheelerism and management of the nationalised coal industry in Scotland

This article illuminates the links between managerial style and political economy in post-1945 Britain, and explores the origins of the 1984–1985 miners' strike, by examining in longer historical context the abrasive attitudes and policies of Albert Wheeler, Scottish Area Director of the National Coal Board (NCB). Wheeler built on an earlier emphasis on production and economic criteria, and his micro-management reflected pre-existing centralising tendencies in the industries. But he was innovative in one crucial aspect, transgressing the moral economy of the Scottish coalfield, which emphasised the value of economic security and changes by joint industrial agreement

Corporate political activity in less developed countries:The Volta River Project in Ghana, 1958-66

The article expands existing categorisations of political and economic governance by including literature on less developed countries (LDCs). In four consecutive negotiations between the US multinational Kaisers and the US and Ghana governments in the early 1960s, it is argued that the company reached levels of influence that are at odds with existing explanations. In order to understand corporate political activities in LDCs, analysis needs to go beyond static factors (political risk) and include dynamic factors such as diplomatic relations and 'arenas of power', and consider the role of the investor's home country relative to the host economy

Assessing external exposome by implementing an Environmental Data Management System using Open Data

Due to the increasing importance of exposome in environmental epidemiology, feasibility and usefulness of an Environmental Data Management System (EDMS) using Open Data was evaluated. The EDMS includes data from 10 European cities (Celje (Slovenia), Łódź (Poland), Manchester (UK), Palermo (Italy), Paris (France), Porto (Portugal), Regensburg (Germany), Reus (Spain), Rijeka (Croatia), Thessaloniki (Greece)) about external non-specific and specific exposome factors at the city or country level (2017-2020). Findings showed that the highest values of life expectancy were in Reus females (86 years) and Palermo males (81 years). UK had the highest obesity rate (28%), Croatia the highest prescribed drug consumption (62%), Greece and Portugal the highest smoking rates (37%, 42%) and daily alcohol consumption (21%), respectively. The most polluted cities were Thessaloniki for PM10 (38 µg/m3), Łódź for PM2.5 (25 µg/m3), Porto for NO2 (62 µg/m3) and Rijeka for O3 (92 µg/m3). Thessaloniki had the highest grey space (98%) and Łódź the highest cumulative amount of pollen (39,041 p/m3). The highest daily noise levels ≥ 55 dB was in Reus (81% to traffic) and Regensburg (21% to railway). In drinking water, arsenic had the highest value in Thessaloniki (6.4 µg/L), boron in Celje (24 mg/L) and lead in Paris (46.7 µg/L). Portugal and Greece showed the highest pesticide residues in food (7%). In conclusion, utilizing open-access databases enables the translation of research findings into actionable strategies for public health interventions.This work was supported by the European Commission and the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, grant agreement IDs: 603946 (“Health and Environment-wide Associations based on Large population Surveys-HEALS”, European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities) and 696300 (“Long-term impact of gestational and early-life dietary habits on infant gut immunity and disease risk-EarlyFOOD”, European Union’s Joint Programming Initiative “A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life” EHDHL-INTIMIC Cofunded Call "Interrelation of the Intestinal Microbiome, Diet and Health"). We thank Prof. M. Chałubiński and Dr. B. Majkowska-Wojciechowska from the Medical University of Lodz, Poland, and Dr. Jordina Belmonte Soler and the site of the Xarxa Aerobiològica de Catalunya in Tarragona (Spain) for the pollen data supply, Prof. Denis A. Sarigiannis for the HEALS project co-coordination. We acknowledge Prof. Michael Kabesh for the support during the HEALS EXHES Survey. We thank each local authority for the data supply, as well

The potential contribution of disruptive low-carbon innovations to 1.5 °C climate mitigation

This paper investigates the potential for consumer-facing innovations to contribute emission reductions for limiting warming to 1.5 °C. First, we show that global integrated assessment models which characterise transformation pathways consistent with 1.5 °C mitigation are limited in their ability to analyse the emergence of novelty in energy end-use. Second, we introduce concepts of disruptive innovation which can be usefully applied to the challenge of 1.5 °C mitigation. Disruptive low-carbon innovations offer novel value propositions to consumers and can transform markets for energy-related goods and services while reducing emissions. Third, we identify 99 potentially disruptive low-carbon innovations relating to mobility, food, buildings and cities, and energy supply and distribution. Examples at the fringes of current markets include car clubs, mobility-as-a-service, prefabricated high-efficiency retrofits, internet of things, and urban farming. Each of these offers an alternative to mainstream consumer practices. Fourth, we assess the potential emission reductions from subsets of these disruptive low-carbon innovations using two methods: a survey eliciting experts’ perceptions and a quantitative scaling-up of evidence from early-adopting niches to matched segments of the UK population. We conclude that disruptive low-carbon innovations which appeal to consumers can help efforts to limit warming to 1.5 °C

Damaged hardmen: organised crime and the half-life of deindustrialisation

Despite frequent associations, deindustrialization features rarely in studies of organized crime, and organized crime is at best a spectral presence in studies of deindustrialization. By developing an original application of Linkon's concept of the “half‐life,” we present an empirical case for the symbiotic relationship between former sites of industry and the emergence of criminal markets. Based on a detailed case‐study in the west of Scotland, an area long associated with both industry and crime, the paper interrogates the environmental, social, and cultural after‐effects of deindustrialization at a community level. Drawing on 55 interviews with residents and service‐providers in Tunbrooke, an urban community where an enduring criminal market grew in the ruins of industry, the paper elaborates the complex landscapes of identity, vulnerability, and harm that are embedded in the symbiosis of crime and deindustrialization. Building on recent scholarship, the paper argues that organized crime in Tunbrooke is best understood as an instance of “residual culture” grafted onto a fragmented, volatile criminal marketplace where the stable props of territorial identity are unsettled. The analysis allows for an extension of both the study of deindustrialization and organized crime, appreciating the “enduring legacies” of closure on young people, communal identity, and social relations in the twenty‐first century

Reinvestigation of the Raman spectra of dihydrogen trapped in rare gas solids. I. H<SUB>2</SUB>, HD, and D<SUB>2</SUB> monomeric species

The vibration-rotation and pure rotational Raman spectra of H2, HD, and D2 trapped in Ar, Kr, and Xe matrices have been recorded at 9 K. The frequencies which have been measured within an accuracy of 0.3 cm-1 are compared to the results of recent calculations. Except for the S0(0) line of HD the agreement between observed and calculated matrix shifts is satisfactory. The anomalous blue shift observed for the S0(0) line of HD is well interpreted within the rotation translation coupling (RTC) framework