Interrupting the social amplification of risk process: a case study in collective emissions reduction

One of the main approaches we have for studying the progressive divergence of understandings around a risk issue is that of social risk amplification. This article describes a case study of a particular environmental contaminant, a chemical flame retardant that could be interpreted as having produced a risk amplifying process. It describes in particular how a group of industrial organizations acted collectively to reduce emissions of this contaminant, in an apparent attempt to avert regulation and boycotts—that is, to intercept the social amplification process and avoid its secondary effects. The aim of the study was to investigate the constitutive qualities of this collective action: the qualities that defined it and made it effective in the eyes of those involved. These include institutionalisation and independence, the ability to confer individual as well as collective benefit, the capacity to attract (rather than avoid) criticism, and the ‘branding’ that helps communicate what otherwise appear to be a set of unconnected, local actions. Although the risk amplification framework has been criticised for implying that there is some externally given risk level that is subsequently amplified, it does appear to capture the mentality of actors involved in issues of this kind. They talk and act as though they believe they are participants in a risk amplification process

Considerations in the design of large space structures

Several analytical studies of topics relevant to the design of large space structures are presented. Topics covered are: the types and quantitative evaluation of the disturbances to which large Earth-oriented microwave reflectors would be subjected and the resulting attitude errors of such spacecraft; the influence of errors in the structural geometry of the performance of radiofrequency antennas; the effect of creasing on the flatness of tensioned reflector membrane surface; and an analysis of the statistics of damage to truss-type structures due to meteoroids

THE MINOAN SANTORINI ERUPTION AND TSUNAMI DEPOSITS IN PALAIKASTRO (CRETE):DATING BY GEOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGY, C-14, AND EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY

Deposits from the Minoan Santorini (Thera) eruption in the eastern Mediterranean region Constitute the most important regional stratigraphic marker in the chronological perplexity of the 2nd Millennium BCE. Extensive tsunami deposits were discovered in Crete at the Minoan archaeological site of Palaikastro, containing reworked volcanic Santorini ash. Hence, airborne deposition of volcanic ash, probably during the 1st (Plinian) eruption phase. preceded the tsunami, which was apparently generated during the 3rd or 4th phase of the eruption, based oil evidence from Thera. Average radiocarbon dates (uncalibrated) of animal bones in the Palaikastro tsunami deposits along the coast (3350 +/- 25 BP) and at the inland archaeological site (3352 +/- 23 BP) are astoundingly similar to the average C-14 date for the Minoan Santorini eruption at Akrotiri on Thera (3350 +/- 10 BP). The wiggle-matched C-14 date of the eruption ill calendar years is 1627-1600 cal BCE. Late Minoan IA pottery is the youngest element in the Palaikastro tsunami deposits, fitting with the LM IA archaeological date for the Santorini eruption, conventionally linked at similar to 1500 BCE with Dynasty XVIII of the historical Egyptian chronology. The reasons for the discrepancy of 100-150 yr between C-14 dating and Egyptian chronology for part of the 2nd millennium BCE are unknown. C-14 dates from Tell el-Dab(c)a in the eastern Nile Delta show that the C-14 age of the Santorini eruption matches With C-14 results from 18th Dynasty strata C3 and C2. thereby confirming grosso modo the conventional archaeo-historical correlations between the Aegean and Egypt. We propose that a dual dating System is used in parallel: (1) archaeological material-cultural correlations linked to Egyptian chronology: (2) C-14 dating. Mixing of dates front the 2 systems may lead to erroneous archaeological and historical correlations. A "calibration curve" Should be established between Egyptian chronology and C-14 dating for the 2nd millennium BCE, which may also assist to resolve the cause of the discrepancy

The properties of highly luminous IRAS galaxies

From a complete sample of 154 galaxies identified with IRAS sources in a 304 sq deg area centered on the South Galactic Pole, a subsample of 58 galaxies with L sub IR/L sub B > 3 was chosen. Low resolution spectra were obtained for 30% of the subsample and redshifts and relative emission line intensities were derived. As a class these galaxies are very luminous with = 2.9 x 10 to the 11th power L sub 0 and (L sub IR) max = 1.3 x 10 to the 12th power L sub 0. CCD images and JHK photometry were obtained for many of the subsample. The galaxies are for the most part newly identified and are optically faint, with a majority showing evidence of a recent interaction. Radio continuum observations of all galaxies of the subsample were recently obtained at 20 cm VLA with about 75% being detected in a typical integration time of about 10 minutes

THE MINOAN SANTORINI ERUPTION AND TSUNAMI DEPOSITS IN PALAIKASTRO (CRETE):DATING BY GEOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGY, C-14, AND EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY

Deposits from the Minoan Santorini (Thera) eruption in the eastern Mediterranean region Constitute the most important regional stratigraphic marker in the chronological perplexity of the 2nd Millennium BCE. Extensive tsunami deposits were discovered in Crete at the Minoan archaeological site of Palaikastro, containing reworked volcanic Santorini ash. Hence, airborne deposition of volcanic ash, probably during the 1st (Plinian) eruption phase. preceded the tsunami, which was apparently generated during the 3rd or 4th phase of the eruption, based oil evidence from Thera. Average radiocarbon dates (uncalibrated) of animal bones in the Palaikastro tsunami deposits along the coast (3350 +/- 25 BP) and at the inland archaeological site (3352 +/- 23 BP) are astoundingly similar to the average C-14 date for the Minoan Santorini eruption at Akrotiri on Thera (3350 +/- 10 BP). The wiggle-matched C-14 date of the eruption ill calendar years is 1627-1600 cal BCE. Late Minoan IA pottery is the youngest element in the Palaikastro tsunami deposits, fitting with the LM IA archaeological date for the Santorini eruption, conventionally linked at similar to 1500 BCE with Dynasty XVIII of the historical Egyptian chronology. The reasons for the discrepancy of 100-150 yr between C-14 dating and Egyptian chronology for part of the 2nd millennium BCE are unknown. C-14 dates from Tell el-Dab(c)a in the eastern Nile Delta show that the C-14 age of the Santorini eruption matches With C-14 results from 18th Dynasty strata C3 and C2. thereby confirming grosso modo the conventional archaeo-historical correlations between the Aegean and Egypt. We propose that a dual dating System is used in parallel: (1) archaeological material-cultural correlations linked to Egyptian chronology: (2) C-14 dating. Mixing of dates front the 2 systems may lead to erroneous archaeological and historical correlations. A "calibration curve" Should be established between Egyptian chronology and C-14 dating for the 2nd millennium BCE, which may also assist to resolve the cause of the discrepancy.</p

Noncentrosymmetric Packings Influenced by Electronic Properties of Products of Click Reactions

Though 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole rings have been utilized as electronic bridges in the solution phase, the use of a triazole ring to serve as an electronic bridge of small molecules in the crystalline state has been underdeveloped. Here two compounds with a central 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole ring are synthesized to investigate the electronic bridging between terminal stilbazole and pyridine groups in the crystalline phase. The electronic properties of the molecules are characterized through solution phase UV–vis spectroscopy, single crystal X-ray diffractions, and density-of-state and gas-phase DFT calculations. We show that the electronic bridging behavior of a 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole ring derived from a click reaction is maintained in the solid state by rare head-to-head (hh) packing in noncentrosymmetric crystal environments