Should there be a separate Scottish law of treason?

Shortly after the Union, the Treason Act 1708 revoked Scotland’s separate treason law in favour of England’s treason law. Historically, English treason law was imposed on Scots criminal law and was not always sensitive to the differences in Scottish legal institutions and culture. A review of the law of treason is in contemplation, it being under general attention more than at any time since the end of World War II. If there were to be a revival of UK treason law, the creation of a separate Scottish treason law may be a logical development given Scotland’s evolving devolution settlement. The thesis attempts to answer the question whether there should be a new, distinct, Scottish law of treason. If so, how might it be reformed for the modern era, refined for the Scottish context, and fit into the devolved system? An essentially ‘black-letter’ approach has been adopted – considering this issue in a strictly law-centred and legalistic manner – while making appropriate allowance for external factors such as policy and political considerations. Based on my normative evaluation of treason law, this thesis puts forward an argument that though current treason law is problematic, there is still justification for it. My original contribution to knowledge is to demonstrate how it can be rendered relevant for the modern Scottish context. Firstly, I argue that allegiance, traditionally at the heart of treason law, seems archaic and suggest the ways in which it can be modernised and reconstructed. The primary resources for doing so can be found in the Lauterpacht and Williams debate which followed Joyce. Treason’s core duty of allegiance can be re-interpreted in terms of Williams’ duty-based contractual model. Building on that modelling, a negative duty of allegiance (or duty of non-betrayal) emerges. Secondly, while thinking of treason to the UK as a general offence of breaking the bond of allegiance, there is room for a more Scottish inflexion in the way in which the offence might apply. This includes a Scottish political object of allegiance – incorporating Scottish political institutions as a complementary focus for potential allegiance – specifically, the Crown-in-Scotland. Its essential elements – actus reus, jurisdiction, mens rea and operable defences – can be recalibrated for any such revised allegiance model, with suitable Scottish inflexion. With this analysis, only a limited range of betraying acts emerges. Its actus reus can be reframed in terms of a construct grounded in ‘Adherence Treason’, referable to a national security harm principle and insisting that its commission involves providing material assistance to the enemy. The negative duty is underlined by removal of the commission of treason by only omission. Referencing the Draft Scottish Criminal Code, express statutory recognition might be made for the operation of the general common law defences of necessity, coercion and obeying superior orders. Its exceptional character commends provision for new specific statutory defences with contemporary resonance – including a ‘Public Interest Defence’, ‘Government Whistleblowing Defence’ and the Australian ‘Humanitarian Defence’. Formulating a Scottish treason law might provide a suitable template for UK reform. But this is more than a pragmatic justification. Though not materially different in terms of its offence elements, its defence elements should reflect a principled Scottish deviation in the availability of common law defences of necessity, coercion and obeying superior orders

Using ATLAS.ti to facilitate data analysis for a systematic review of leadership competencies in the completion of a doctoral dissertation

The author used ATLAS.ti to conduct a systematic review of the literature on leadership competencies in fields undergoing rapid change to complete his dissertation. Studies were imported to ATLAS.ti for first, second and third stage analysis which led to the creation of final themes and concepts. The use of ATLAS.ti for coding encouraged a cyclical and iterative approach to data analysis that would have been difficult to accomplish through note cards, word processing, or spreadsheet applications. ATLAS.ti assisted with using meta-ethnography as the means of synthesizing both qualitative and quantitative research. ATLAS.ti provided the ability to make chains of multiple codes and linking of quotations to create networks, which was vital to third stage coding. These network diagrams were qualitative visual representations of the data and greatly assisted with third stage coding. Concepts, themes, and patterns emerged from the network diagrams. Also useful at this stage for identifying patterns in the data was mapping of co-occurring codes. ATLAS.ti allows co-occurring codes to be retrieved and visualized through network and mapping tools. Finally, ATLAS.ti was used to create hyperlinked maps of quotations which assisted with the analysis of proposition three of this dissertation

Functions of genre in metal and hardcore music

This thesis addresses various functions of genre in metal/hardcore music as a lens through which to study popular music in the twenty-first century. The thesis proposes that issues of genre are fundamental to understandings of popular music for all participants.Predominant in metal/hardcore discourse, genre serves as an organising principle in historiographies that exert significant influence upon contemporary perceptions of metal and hardcore. I propose generic symbiosis as a new way to conceptualise the relationship between metal and hardcore, addressing issues of consequentiality arising from extant frameworks. Exploring intra- and intergeneric connections, I observe the relationship between small- and largescale phenomena that allows a relatively specific group of performance techniques and compositional devices to connote numerous metal/hardcore genres (and vice versa). Within this interconnected model of genre, subgenres provide a middle ground of generic adaptation by providing a focus on specific small-scale phenomena.Genre may be understood as a general, amorphous concept in flux, while style affords specificity, and their relationship is analogous to that between type and token (where style tokens the genre type). Structured rhizomatically, scenes provide the literal and metaphorical space for such tokening, connecting physical instantiations to abstract notions. The internal rhetorical tensions of mainstream versus underground, and progression versus tradition, are demonstrated to function as a creative apparatus for participants. A manifestation of generic symbiosis, this apparatus provides the mechanism for generic adaptation as participants negotiate these tensions. Through a case study of twenty-first century metalcore, I observe the process of generic codification, outlining how a combination of specific elements of style, emerging from particular scenes, came to demarcate a genre. I show how adaptations within a single genre engender change in numerous other areas of metal/hardcore music culture, underscoring the interconnectivity of genre in popular music

Prediction of the Spectrum of a Digital Delta–Sigma Modulator Followed by a Polynomial Nonlinearity

This paper presents a mathematical analysis of the power spectral density of the output of a nonlinear block driven by a digital delta-sigma modulator. The nonlinearity is a memoryless third-order polynomial with real coefficients. The analysis yields expressions that predict the noise floor caused by the nonlinearity when the input is constant

The 1990 NASA Aerospace Battery Workshop

This document contains the proceedings of the 21st annual NASA Aerospace Battery Workshop, hosted by the Marshall Space Flight Center on December 4-6, 1990. The workshop was attended by scientists and engineers from various agencies of the U.S. Government, aerospace contractors, and battery manufacturers as well as participation in like kind from the European Space Agency member nations. The subjects covered included nickel-cadmium, nickel-hydrogen, silver-zinc, lithium based chemistries, and advanced technologies as they relate to high reliability operations in aerospace applications

The Big Picture: A Holistic Viewpoint of E-book Acquisitions

Description of the session. This presentation details the complete process map of e-book acquisitions at Loyola Marymount University‘s William H. Hannon Library. In this presentation, we extend and update the model used by Beisler & Kurt (2012) for current workflow considerations. In particular, we will highlight an expansion of the paths that an e-book can take, discuss the improvement of discoverability through cataloging services and review, and look at quality control techniques such as access and link checking. Objective of the session. While most literature focuses on certain aspects of e-book workflow, this presentation attempts to portray a holistic viewpoint of e-book acquisitions. By capturing the complexities of the process and visualizing it from the perspective of the big picture, it serves as a guide when writing more detailed procedures, helps us recognize appropriate staffing to perform a task, and it shows how different people interact with one another as part of the process. What attendees can expect to learn. Attendees will engage with a complete workflow procedure for the different paths of e-book acquisitions. By attending this presentation, participants may identify a component of this workflow they could implement at their own institutions to improve user satisfaction with e-books. Through audience participation, we hope to create a wider discussion to learn what others in the room are doing with their own e-book acquisitions workflow

The Big Picture: A Holistic View of E-Book Acquisitions

The merging of two departments into the Acquisitions and Collection Development Department afforded Loyola Marymount University an opportunity to rethink existing workflows, with the acquisition of electronic books (e-books) being identified as a critical task to review. Process mapping was used to show the complexity of different tasks being performed in the department and to provide a visualization mechanism for staff to see how their work fit into a sequence of actions as part of a larger workflow. The authors listed the types of acquisition models used at their library for e-books and constructed process maps for the following six major types: 1. Firm order e-books; 2. Firm order e-book collections; 3. Approval order e-books; 4. Demand-driven e-books; 5. Standing order e-books, and; 6. Subscription e-book database. The authors merged the individual process maps into a single visualization to view the entirety of the acquisition process as a whole and to show how the different e-book acquisition models relate and diverge from one another

Effect of feed allowance at pasture on the lying behaviour of dairy cows

peer-reviewedIn temperate climates where cows are primarily managed at pasture shortages of grass could result in nutritional deficits for the cow and may have a variety of behavioural consequences. Lying behaviour is one of the most researched aspects of dairy cow behaviour, and can provide insights into cow welfare and physiological state. This study investigated the effect of daily herbage allowance (DHA) on the lying behaviour of dairy cow during early lactation. Ninety-six cows were randomly assigned to one of eight treatments in a 2 × 4 factorial design; experimental duration (2 week (2 W) or 6 week (6 W)), and nutritional levels (DHA) (60%, 80%, 100% or 120% of intake capacity). Cows were assigned to treatment at 28 ± 8.4 days in milk, and lying behaviour of cows in the 6 W treatments recorded using modified voltage data loggers on 4 occasions; the week prior to the start of the experiment, during week 3 (MID), and week 6 (LATE), and 7 weeks after the study concluded (POST), when the cows were all returned to a feed allowance of 100% intake capacity. Although there was an effect of treatment on daily lying time (P < 0.01), with the 60% cows spending less time lying than the 120% (P < 0.01), cows in all treatments spent at least 9 h lying per day throughout the experiment. Daily lying time increased as the grazing season progressed (P < 0.001). Feed allowance affected both lying bout duration (P < 0.01) and number (P < 0.05), with cows on the highest feed allowance having the highest values for both. There was an effect of feed allowance on the time that cows first lay down after both morning and afternoon milking (P < 0.001), with a similar pattern for both times; the lower the feed allowance, the longer it took. During the POST period, this pattern was no longer evident in the afternoon, but still present in the morning. None of the treatments imposed resulted in daily lying times lower than those reported in other studies at pasture. However, the significant differences in patterns of lying during the day could be reflective of satiety level; the patterns of lying in cows with a low feed allowance compared to those with an allowance aligned with intake capacity are in agreement with previous research. Herd level recording of lying behaviour, relative to time since milking and/or fresh feed allocation, has potential for use as an animal welfare indicator for cows at pasture