Energy of knots and the infinitesimal cross ratio

This is a survey article on two topics. The Energy E of knots can be obtained by generalizing an electrostatic energy of charged knots in order to produce optimal knots. It turns out to be invariant under Moebius transformations. We show that it can be expressed in terms of the infinitesimal cross ratio, which is a conformal invariant of a pair of 1-jets, and give two kinds of interpretations of the real part of the infinitesimal cross ratio.Comment: This is the version published by Geometry & Topology Monographs on 19 March 200

Creating Social and Health Equity: Adopting an Alberta Social Determinants of Health Framework

This discussion paper highlights the well-documented social factors that influence our health. In a time when the Alberta government is looking for the best innovative ideas around health care, we suggest that a social determinants approach would lead to ground breaking health care reform

Let the People Speak … But Make the Politicians Decide

There have been a number of recent calls for referendums, for two reasons. First, some argue that ratification of the reshaped EU constitution can only be done on the back of a referendum. Second, others argue that the 'disconnect' between politicians and voters means that more power should be transferred to voters. This article examines the constitutional position, and also assesses Britain's one national referendum, in 1975, and concludes that there is no advantage to be gained by transferring power away from Westminster

Carry On Cabby, Gender and the Local Industrial Power Nexus

This paper argues that the perceived homogeneity of the mass of 'Carry On' films is, to some extent at least, an illusion (fostered, no doubt deliberately, by the fact that they all have the same actors, scriptwriters, titles, and even jokes). Hence, sweeping generalisations about the films as a group are misguided. The paper argues that one film, Carry On Cabby, is actually premised on a highly reasoned and sensitive analysis of Britain’s post war industrial malaise and the effects of that malaise on the working class, together with a subtler than expected view of the way in which the post-war industrial situation affected relationships between the sexes. The theme of Carry On Cabby, as with so much post war British comedy, is “the battle of the sexes”; but it uses that standard to examine closely the need for change in industrial practice, taking a close look at the way in which change would affect the lives of “ordinary people.” Its conclusions are pretty safe and pretty conservative. But its analysis proves to be more prescient than those of either the governments of the 1970s, which, roughly speaking, attempted to preserve the status quo, or Margaret Thatcher’s radical Conservative government of the 1980s

The Enlightenment: A Beginner's Guide

Blamed for the bloody disasters of the 20th century: Auschwitz, the Gulags, globalisation, Islamic terrorism; heralded as the harbinger of reason, equality, and the end of arbitrary rule, the Enlightenment has been nothing if not divisive. To this day historians disagree over when it was, where it was, and what it was (and sometimes, still is). Kieron O’Hara deftly traverses these conflicts, presenting the history, politics, science, religion, arts, and social life of the Enlightenment not as a simple set of easily enumerated ideas, but an evolving conglomerate that spawned a very diverse set of thinkers, from the radical Rousseau to the conservative Burke

Narcissus to a Man: Lifelogging, Technology and the Normativity of Truth

The growth of the practice of lifelogging, exploiting the capabilities provided by the exponential increase in computer storage, and using technologies such as SenseCam as well as location-based services, Web 2.0, social networking and photo-sharing sites, has led to a growing sense of unease, articulated in books such as Mayer-Schönberger's Delete, that the semi-permanent storage of memories could lead to problematic social consequences. This talk examines the arguments against lifelogging and storage, and argues that they seem less worrying when placed in the context of a wider debate about the nature of mind and memory and their relationship to our environment and the technology we use

Trust in social machines: the challenges

The World Wide Web has ushered in a new generation of applications constructively linking people and computers to create what have been called ‘social machines.’ The ‘components’ of these machines are people and technologies. It has long been recognised that for people to participate in social machines, they have to trust the processes. However, the notions of trust often used tend to be imported from agent-based computing, and may be too formal, objective and selective to describe human trust accurately. This paper applies a theory of human trust to social machines research, and sets out some of the challenges to system designers

Politics and Trust

I’ve been asked to speak briefly today about trust in public and political life, and the extent to which there has been a genuine decline in public trust over the last few years. To cut a long story short, I believe there has been something of a decline, although its properties may be a little different from those that some commentators have detected. I also believe that some of the remedies proposed for the decline are somewhat misconceived. In that context, let me begin by welcoming today’s report, which, as well as being a solid piece of work and a good read, brings together many aspects of the issue which are often neglected in debate