Durham miners and unionism, 1831 - 1926: a sociological interpretation

This thesis offers an explanation of why the Durham miners, while taking part frequently in bitter industrial clashes with their employers never moved as a body to attack the system of British capitalism as a whole. It is argued that the experience of the pitmen constitutes a particular case of what has been called the ‘dialectics of incorporation' of the working class under a system of bourgeois hegemony. The thesis opens with a consideration of three new beliefs about the Durham miners. It is suggested that these beliefs are in fact myths which in both revealing and concealing the real situation embodied certain important paradoxes. These paradoxes centred on a sort of ambivalence, an important degree of tension within the miners’ organisation, which was a hall-mark of the pitmen’s' industrial and political activity between 1831 - 1926 and which resulted in the definitive oscillations between dissent and consensus which are to be observed both within the miners' fraternities and in the pattern of their involvement in the nexus of labour and capital. The study is necessarily limited in scope and I have chosen to cover fully one particular, rather underused, primary source - the records of the Durham Miners' Association - over a long period of time rather than to range widely over numerous sources but in a narrowly restricted tame span. Either procedure has its disadvantages and neither could claim to achieve a definitive analysis of the Durham miners' involvement in the wider social, economic and political system. For the purposes of advancing the interpretation presented here it seemed right to attempt coverage of a long period of historical development even at the cost of depth of research. It will be appreciated that the conditions covering the presentation of an M.A. dissertation would in any case have made a definitive history impossible

Host Galaxy Contribution to the Colours of `Red' Quasars

We describe an algorithm that measures self-consistently the relative galaxy contribution in a sample of radio-quasars from their optical spectra alone. This is based on a spectral fitting method which uses the size of the characteristic 4000\AA~ feature of elliptical galaxy SEDs. We apply this method to the Parkes Half-Jansky Flat Spectrum sample of Drinkwater et al. (1997) to determine whether emission from the host galaxy can significantly contribute to the very red optical-to-near-infrared colours observed. We find that at around $2\sigma$ confidence, most of the reddening in unresolved (mostly quasar-like) sources is unlikely to be due to contamination by a red stellar component.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for Publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Can using Fagan Inspections improve the quality of specification in 2011? A Case Study

In this paper, we explore why Fagan Inspections have become obsolete in the software industry, given the body of evidence which supports their use to improve the quality of software artefacts and the software development process. Since the late 1970’s, much has been written about how Fagan Inspections improve the quality of both processes and outputs of the software development process. The literature indicates that the Fagan Inspection technique can improve quality of software (or other software development artefacts) by a reduction in defects of 60 – 90%. However, recent literature suggests that inspection techniques in general and Fagan Inspections in particular, are no longer used. A study in 1998 found that respondents used inspections either irregularly or not at all. Teams often review artefacts informally, but believe that they are performing an inspection or formal review. The lack of rigour in the review process results in reduced benefits and more defects in the artefacts. To explore this situation, we conducted a case study with a local enterprise and we report on the early findings. These suggest that the introduction of Fagan Inspections may have a number of benefits before they have even been introduced fully, including recognition of flaws in the current development process, development of technical knowledge relating to the software process domain, and improved team relations and a ‘quality’ culture. In addition, the personnel using Fagan Inspection gain experience in the production of ‘quality’ artefacts

Információ és az információs társadalom fogalma

Az itt közölt tanulmány a szerző „Az információs társadalom elméletei” című, 1997-ben megjelent kötetének 2. fejezete (Theories of the Information Society, London, Routledge). A szerző fő célja itt a következő kérdések felvetése: Amikor az emberek „információs társadalomról” beszélnek, vajon mit értenek ez alatt? Milyen kritériumokat nyújtanak ahhoz, hogy az „információs társadalmat” megkülönböztethessük más típusoktól? Az „információs társadalom” meghatározásai között analitikailag ötféle definíciót lehet megkülönböztetni, amelyek mindegyike kritériumokat tartalmaz annak azonosítására, ami új. Ezek a következő típusokba sorolhatók: technológiai, gazdasági, foglalkoztatási, tér-szemléletű és kulturális meghatározások. A fejezet második részében a szerző magának az „információnak” a különféle értelmezéseit elemzi, hangsúlyozva, hogy sohasem szabad lemondanunk az információ jelentését és rendeltetését firtató kérdésekről

History of the beef cattle industry in Illinois

Thesis (B.S.)--University of Illinois, 1915.Typescript.Includes bibliographical references (leaves [2]-[3] at beginning)

Design of ultraprecision machine tools with application to manufacturing of miniature and micro components

Currently the underlying necessities for predictability, producibility and productivity remain big issues in ultraprecision machining of miniature/microproducts. The demand on rapid and economic fabrication of miniature/microproducts with complex shapes has also made new challenges for ultraprecision machine tool design. In this paper the design for an ultraprecision machine tool is introduced by describing its key machine elements and machine tool design procedures. The focus is on the review and assessment of the state-of-the-art ultraprecision machining tools. It also illustrates the application promise of miniature/microproducts. The trends on machine tool development, tooling, workpiece material and machining processes are pointed out

Coping with cyclic oxygen availability: evolutionary aspects

Both the gradual rise in atmospheric oxygen over the Proterozoic Eon as well as episodic fluctuations in oxygen over several million-year time spans during the Phanerozoic Era, have arguably exerted strong selective forces on cellular and organismic respiratory specialization and evolution. The rise in atmospheric oxygen, some 2 billion years after the origin of life, dramatically altered cell biology and set the stage for the appearance of multicelluar life forms in the Vendian (Ediacaran) Period of the Neoproterozoic Era. Over much of the Paleozoic, the level of oxygen in the atmosphere was near the present atmospheric level (21%). In the Late Paleozoic, however, there were extended times during which the level of atmospheric oxygen was either markedly lower or markedly higher than 21%. That these Paleozoic shifts in atmospheric oxygen affected the biota is suggested by the correlations between: (1) Reduced oxygen and the occurrences of extinctions, a lowered biodiversity and shifts in phyletic succession, and (2) During hyperoxia, the corresponding occurrence of phenomena such as arthropod gigantism, the origin of insect flight, and the evolution of vertebrate terrestriality. Basic similarities in features of adaptation to hyopoxia, manifest in living organisms at levels ranging from genetic and cellular to physiological and behavioral, suggest the common and early origin of a suite of adaptive mechanisms responsive to fluctuations in ambient oxygen. Comparative integrative approaches addressing the molecular bases of phenotypic adjustments to cyclic oxygen fluctuation provide broad insight into the incremental steps leading to the early evolution of homeostatic respiratory mechanisms and to the specialization of organismic respiratory functio

Morphological differences between habitats are associated with physiological and behavioural trade-offs in stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

F.S. and A.J.W.W. were supported by the Australian Research Council, M.M.W. was supported by The University of St Andrews and R.S.J. and J.T. were supported by Coventry UniversityLocal specialization can be advantageous for individuals and may increase the resilience of the species to environmental change. However, there may be trade-offs between morphological responses and physiological performance and behaviour. Our aim was to test whether habitat-specific morphology of stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) interacts with physiological performance and behaviour at different salinities. We rejected the hypothesis that deeper body shape of fish from habitats with high predation pressure led to decreases in locomotor performance. However, there was a trade-off between deeper body shape and muscle quality. Muscle of deeper-bodied fish produced less force than that of shallow-bodied saltmarsh fish. Nonetheless, saltmarsh fish had lower swimming performance, presumably because of lower muscle mass overall coupled with smaller caudal peduncles and larger heads. Saltmarsh fish performed better in saline water (20 ppt) relative to freshwater and relative to fish from freshwater habitats. However, exposure to salinity affected shoaling behaviour of fish from all habitats and shoals moved faster and closer together compared with freshwater. We show that habitat modification can alter phenotypes of native species, but local morphological specialization is associated with trade-offs that may reduce its benefits.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe