Peace education, militarism and neo-liberalism: conceptual reflections with empirical findings from the UK

This article explores ‘peace days’ in English schools as a form of peace education. From a historical overview of academic discussions on peace education in the US and Great Britain since the First World War, we identify three key factors important for peace education: the political context, the place in which peace days occur and pedagogical imperatives of providing a certain narrative of the sources of violence in politics. Although contemporary militarism and neoliberalism reduce the terrains for peace studies in English schools, peace days allow teachers to carve out spaces for peace education. Peace days in Benfield School, Newcastle and Comberton Village College, Cambridgeshire, are considered as case studies. We conclude with reflections on the opportunities and limitations of this approach to peace education, and on how peace educators and activists could enlarge its reach

Einstieg in die rechnerintegrierte Produktion: alternative Entwicklungspfade der Industriearbeit im Maschinenbau

Seit einigen Jahren ist im Maschinenbau - eine der Schlüsselindustrien der Bundesrepublik Deutschland - eine zunehmende Verbreitung rechnerintegrierter Produktionssysteme zu beobachten, vielfach diskutiert unter dem Kürzel CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing). Die personellen Wirkungen dieser Innovationsprozesse sind umstritten. Wurden ihnen über längere Zeit relativ pauschal dequalifizierende Effekte zugeschrieben, so geht man neuerdings häufig ebenso pauschal von qualifikationserhöhenden Wirkungen aus. Vor diesem Hintergrund zielt die Studie darauf, technische, oraganisatorische und personalwirtschaftliche Entwicklungstendenzen herauszuarbeiten sowie unterschiedliche Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten des Arbeitssystems aufzuzeigen. Die zentrale These besagt, daß alternative Entwicklungspfade existieren. Deren Fluchtpunkte reichen von neo-tayloristisch dequalifizierten bis zu qualifikationsorientiert-innovativen Formen von Produktionsarbeit. Welche der Entwicklungslinien sich durchsetzen werden, ist derzeit offen. Die Analysen zeigen, daß eine ganze Reihe widersprüchlicher technischer, ökonomischer, sozialer und politischer Bedingungen und Faktoren sich im betrieblichen Implementationsprozeß verdichten und bei der Ausgestaltung von CIM-Systemen eine wichtige Rolle spielen

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI