Connections and Complicities: Reflections on Epistemology, Violence, and Humanitarian Aid

This paper explores the relationship between power/knowledge and violence. It attempts to connect epistemological constructions and discursive practices to conflict and humanitarian aid operations by deconstructing the narrative of ‘Development’. The paper also attempts to tease out the way seemingly transparent and humanitarian actions, even within the academy, are complicit in reiterating hegemonic representations that reproduce systems of inequality and injustice. The paper draws on feminist methodologies that are primarily deconstructive in nature in order to highlight these connections and complicities, making clear that the way certain knowledges become centralized, while others are subjugated, reflects the functioning of the global political economy and imperialism. Thus, the paper argues that a transformative humanitarian aid practice must affirm what is ‘excluded’ from the discourse – the ‘incommensurable’. Lastly, the paper examines the potential of the ‘rights-based’ approach to sustain the affirmation of incommensurability. The paper hopes to make clear the importance of critical feminist theory for politics and practices

Rationalizing values: global diffusion, global professionals, and truth commissions

In this dissertation, I explore global diffusion, rationalization, and the role global professionals play within both these processes. The main question I explore in this dissertation is: What role do global professionals play in the global diffusion and rationalization of formal structures? Within global diffusion studies, professions and professionals feature prominently. However, the literature says little about how formal structures become rationalized or, in other words, the process by which organizations, principles, and practices are rationalized. In addition, the specific, concrete ways that global professionals contribute to and partake in this diffusion is left relatively vague. My dissertation fills this gap in the literature. To do this, I focus on the new global professional field of transitional justice and, specifically, the diffusion and rationalization of truth commissions, a main mechanism of transitional justice. I draw on ethnographic and archival data derived from a year of internship within a leading transitional justice organization that works on truth commissions. I discuss the unintentional role that values play in provoking global professionals to rationalize and the consequences this rationalization has had on the diffusion of truth commissions, the values and culture of the organization, and the identity of the professionals. Theoretically, the dissertation contributes to scholarship on global diffusion and global professionals, specifically world polity theory. Empirically, the dissertation illuminates possible pitfalls non-profit organizations may fall into that subvert their foundational values and therefore offers a different approach to understanding organizational 'failures' and their potential fixes. Throughout the dissertation, I hope to highlight the import of values, both in being a driving force behind social action and within organizations, particularly those with humanitarian objectives. I also aim to make clear the precariousness of values and thus the critical need to think seriously about how they can be maintained as organizations grow, mature, and diffuse principles and practices

The SNS Cryogenic Control System: Experiences in Collaboration

The cryogenic system for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is designed by Jefferson Laboratory (JLab) personnel and is based on the existing JLab facility. Our task is to use the JLab control system design [2] as much as practical while remaining consistent with SNS control system standards. Some aspects of the systems are very similar, including equipment to be controlled, the need for PID loops and automatic sequences, and the use of EPICS. There are differences in device naming, system hardware, and software tools. The cryogenic system is the first SNS system to be developed using SNS standards. This paper reports on our experiences in integrating the new and the old.Comment: 3 page

Management of a Large Distributed Control System Development Project

Building an accelerator at six geographically dispersed sites is quite mad, but politically expedient. The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), currently under construction in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, combines a pulsed 1 Gev H- superconducting linac with a compressor ring to deliver 2MW of beam power to a liquid mercury target for neutron production [1]. Accelerator components, target and experimental (neutron-scattering) instruments are being developed collaboratively by Lawrence Berkeley (Ion Source and Front End), Los Alamos (Linac), Thomas Jefferson (Cryosystems), Brookhaven (Compressor Ring), Oak Ridge (Target and Conventional Facilities) and Argonne (Neutron Scattering Instruments) National Laboratories. Similarly, a team distributed among all of the participating laboratories is developing the EPICS-based control system. This paper discusses the management model and strategies being used to address the unusual issues of organization, communication, standardization, integration and hand-off inherent in this widely-distributed project.Comment: 5 pages. Invited Paper delivered to the International Conference on Accelerator and Large Experimental Physics Control Systems (ICALEPCS '01), Nov 27-30, San Jose CA. PSN# TUDI00

Towards Understanding Apparent South Australian GP Resistance to Adopting Health Informatics Systems

This paper reports on a qualitative study of the attitudes of 23 South Australian practitioners in General Practice (GP) towards adopting an unspecified data amalgamating Health Informatics (HI) system. Findings suggest key areas of concern are associated with the potential for diminution of control over change and adoption was primarily influenced by a perceived need to protect the role and value of GPs. If change was seen as involuntary, uncertain or without demonstrable benefit to relevant patient outcomes, the prospect of change tended to manifest as passive or active GP resistance. Findings suggest increased exposure to use of HI systems influences GP perception of both the importance and certainty of potential implementation outcomes. It was concluded that discrete attitudes towards the use of HIS technology could be identified. Determined by contextual GP perceptions of competing managerial, technological and political factors, they are not mutually exclusive and more appropriately seen as a series of developmental and co-existing perspectives

Understanding South Australian GP Attitudes Towards Health Informatics Systems

This paper reports on the attitudes of 20 practitioners in South Australian General Practice towards adopting Health Informatics (HI) systems. HI systems are aimed at improving the overall quality and management of healthcare, but adoption of the technology may require a change in the General Practitioner’s (GP) approach to the way they perform their healthcare delivery role. This qualitative study found HI adoption was primarily influenced by the perceived potential for change in the professional’s value and role. While GPs were generally reluctant to consider technological innovation that was not perceived to demonstrate potential for improvement in patient health outcomes, increased exposure to HI systems positively influenced perceptions of both the importance and the certainty of potential implementation outcomes. It was concluded that GP attitudes could be characterised by four different perspectives of HI systems use in general practice medicine delivery

Process-based common supply chain management practices in manufacturing firms

Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Present study explore common supply chain management practices (SCMPs) and investigate how these practices facilitate the development of supply chain capabilities. The study adopts an exploratory case study approach with the content analysis of the data collected through semi-structured interviews, followed by site visits to 14 Australian manufacturing firms. The findings show six common SCMPs in the case study firms. Findings also demonstrate how these practices promote and further develop inter-organisational and intra-organisational integration, coordination for increased responsiveness and delivering valued services to customers in supply chain. The practices explored can be used as a supply chain framework for the manufacturing industry which can provide an effective tool for developing increased responsiveness in the supply chain through capabilities of integration, coordination and valued services delivery. Moreover, this study for the first time explores how supply chain capabilities emerge from SCMPs and how do both differ

Biological FOG degradation: development of a standardised bioadditive protocol.

FSE, wastewater, Gerber, COD:N, bioaddition, bioremediation, Fat, oil and grease (FOG) rich effluents from commercial food service establishments (FSEs) have been identified as major contributors to sewer blockages. Under UK Legislation, all FSE kitchens should be fitted with an ‘effective mean of grease removal’. Currently, microbial bioadditives, one of the preferred FOG management options, do not have an industry-agreed testing methodology to prove their ‘effectiveness’. The primary goal of this research was to generate the scientific knowledge underpinning a testing protocol for FOG- degrading bioadditives. Environmental conditions prevalent in FSE wastewater streams were identified in a characterisation of effluents from three catering outlets on Cranfield University campus and used as a basis for design of synthetic culture media for testing bacterial degradation. To address interferences caused by high levels of surfactants in FSE wastewater, a novel FOG quantification method, based on the Gerber method used in the milk industry, was developed for the protocol. This method is efficient at recovering emulsified FOG, and also allows emulsified and free fractions to be quantified separately. Microbial utilisation of different wastewater components was evaluated in batch degradation trials using a model bacterium, Bacillus licheniformis NCIMB 9375, and different synthetic wastewater compositions. The source of readily available carbon showed great influence on FOG-degradation response. FOG uptake was also influenced strongly by the carbon to nitrogen ratio in the media composition, with removal rate constants decreasing by over an order of magnitude from 0.0285 to 0.0026 h-1 when initial COD:N increased from 33:1 to 147:1. A cost-benefit analysis of the currently available FOG management solutions suggest that bioadditives, as a standalone solution, are the best option in terms of total cost and space requirements, followed by bioadditives used with grease separators. Combining physical and biological treatments can enhance the individual performance of both technologies and allow energy recovery from physically separated FOG.EngD in Energy and Powe

The Effect of Training Intensity on VO2max in Young Healthy Adults: A Meta-Regression and Meta-Analysis

International Journal of Exercise Science 9(2): 230-247, 2016. Exercise training at a variety of intensities increases maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), the strongest predictor of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. The purpose of the present study was to perform a systematic review, meta-regression and meta-analysis of available literature to determine if a dose-response relationship exists between exercise intensity and training-induced increases in VO2max in young healthy adults. Twenty-eight studies involving human participants (Mean age: 23±1 yr; Mean VO2max: 3.4±0.8 l·min−1) were included in the meta-regression with exercise training intensity, session dose, baseline VO2max, and total training volume used as covariates. These studies were also divided into 3 tertiles based on intensity (tertile 1: ~60-70%; 2: ~80-92.5%; 3: ~100-250%VO2max), for comparison using separate meta-analyses. The fixed and random effects meta-regression models examining training intensity, session dose, baseline VO2max and total training volume was non-significant (Q4=1.36; p=0.85; R2=0.05). There was no significant difference between tertiles in mean change in VO2max (tertile 1:+0.29±0.15 l/min, ES (effect size) =0.77; 2:+0.26±0.10 l/min, ES=0.68; 3:+0.35±0.17 l/min, ES=0.80), despite significant (p\u3c0.05) reductions in session dose and total training volume as training intensity increased. These data suggest that exercise training intensity has no effect on the magnitude of training-induced increases in maximal oxygen uptake in young healthy human participants, but similar adaptations can be achieved in low training doses at higher exercise intensities than higher training doses of lower intensity (endurance training)