From foot-slogging to call centres and direct mail: A framework for analysing the development of district-level campaigning

Drawing upon ideas formulated with national-level campaigning in mind and also analyses of district or local-level campaigning, a conceptual framework to assist in analysing the development of district-level campaigning is presented. The proposed framework is further amplified, explained and tested using quantitative and qualitative data collected at British General Elections between 1992 and 2005. Various aspects of district (constituency) campaigning in Britain are examined and the extent of change over four General Elections analysed. In broad terms, the data show a good fit with the framework, which offers a useful way of thinking about developments in campaigning both within and across countries

Fractal Droplets in Two Dimensional Spin Glasses

The two-dimensional Edwards-Anderson model with Gaussian bond distribution is investigated at T=0 with a numerical method. Droplet excitations are directly observed. It turns out that the averaged volume of droplets is proportional to l^D with D = 1.80(2) where l is the spanning length of droplets, revealing their fractal nature. The exponent characterizing the l dependence of the droplet excitation energy is estimated to be -0.42(4), clearly different from the stiffness exponent for domain wall excitations.Comment: 4 pages 4 figure

Members are not the only fruit: Volunteer activity in British political parties at the 2010 general election

This is the accepted version of the following article: Fisher, J., Fieldhouse, E. and Cutts, D. (2014), Members Are Not the Only Fruit: Volunteer Activity in British Political Parties at the 2010 General Election. The British Journal of Politics & International Relations, 16: 75–95, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-856X.12011/abstract.Existing research on volunteer activity in political parties has tended to focus on party membership, both in terms of numbers and activities undertaken. Recent developments in British political parties suggest however, an increasing role for party supporters—supporters of parties who are not formal members. Using data collected through surveys of election agents at the 2010 general election, this article examines the extent of supporter activity in constituency (district-level) campaigns, the extent to which active local parties stimulate supporter activity, the correlates of supporter and member activity, and whether supporter activity makes a positive and independent contribution to parties’ constituency campaigns. The article provides an important opportunity to question whether the evolution of party organisations suggests that formal members may be less important than has been previously assumed in the conduct of election campaigns and the extent to which supporter activity complements that of members.Economic and Social Research Counci

Evaluation of the effect of crack closure on fatigue crack growth of simulated short cracks

A test program was performed to determine the influence of crack closure on fatigue crack growth (FCG) rates of short cracks. By use of the standard compact tension specimen, test procedures were devised to evaluate closure loads in the wake of the crack behind its tip. The first procedure determined the magnitude of crack closure as a function of the fatigued crack wave by incrementally removing the contacting wake surfaces and measuring closure load at each increment. The second procedure used a low-high loading sequence to simulate short crack behavior. Based on the results, it was concluded that crack closure is not the major reason for the more rapid growth of short cracks as compared to long crack growth

Influence of fatigue crack wake length and state of stress on crack closure

The location of crack closure with respect to crack wake and specimen thickness under different loading conditions was determined. The rate of increase of K sub CL in the crack wake was found to be significantly higher for plasticity induced closure in comparison to roughness induced closure. Roughness induced closure was uniform throughout the thickness of the specimen while plasticity induced closure levels were 50 percent higher in the near surface region than in the midthickness. The influence of state of stress on low-high load interaction effects was also examined. Load interaction effects differed depending upon the state of stress and were explained in terms of delta K sub eff

Flight investigation of insect contamination and its alleviation

An investigation of leading edge contamination by insects was conducted with a JetStar airplane instrumented to detect transition on the outboard leading edge flap and equipped with a system to spray the leading edge in flight. The results of airline type flights with the JetStar indicated that insects can contaminate the leading edge during takeoff and climbout. The results also showed that the insects collected on the leading edges at 180 knots did not erode at cruise conditions for a laminar flow control airplane and caused premature transition of the laminar boundary layer. None of the superslick and hydrophobic surfaces tested showed any significant advantages in alleviating the insect contamination problem. While there may be other solutions to the insect contamination problem, the results of these tests with a spray system showed that a continouous water spray while encountering the insects is effective in preventing insect contamination of the leading edges