Brexit and the ‘Imperial Factor’:A longue durée Approach to British Exceptionalism

To what extent can we detect echoes of the triumphantBritannia (Thomas Arne composed Rule Britannia in 1740) incontemporary Brexit debates? What were the subliminalrefractions of the refrain ‘Britons never will be slaves’ incomplaints about the frequently evoked ‘Brussels shackles’?Through a longue durée approach to two major elements ofmodern British history – Britannia and the celebration ofcolonial expansion as a ‘bringer of progress’, this article chartsthe persistence of political and cultural visions including theEmpire simultaneously as an expression, a tool and a channelof British exceptionalism. Positing that the Empire wasintegral to the emergence of British identity and itsconsolidation, it also underlines, through references to JohnRobert Seeley’s highly influential work, the key role played byEngland in this process. Based upon the hypothesis that pastreflections on Britain’s global role – including thosechampioned by Cecil John Rhodes – have left an imprint onthe Brexit conversation in the run-up to, and aftermath of, thevote, this article introduces the concept of ‘imperial factor’ asa way of taking into account the long-term impact that thedevelopment and possession of the world’s largest empirehas left on British ways of seeing the world, and, crucially, ofseeing Britain’s place in the world. Beyond the case-study ofexceptionalism offered here, further research, especially of aquantitative nature, is suggested to refine our understandingof the precise extent to which the ‘imperial factor’ played arole in the Brexit vote of 2016. Conceived as an instrument totake into account the potential imperial dimension of a multi-faceted phenomenon such as Britain’s departure from theEU, the ‘imperial factor’ is, more broadly, a useful tool togauge – in the UK but also among other formerly imperialnations – the potential and variable long-term influence thatthe possession of an empire left on national visions, psyche and practices

Design and characterisation of food grade powders and inks for microstructure control using 3D printing

Additive Manufacturing techniques have been previously applied to food materials with direct consumption in mind, as opposed to creating structural ingredients as shown in this study. First, semi-crystalline cellulose was mechanically treated by ball milling to render an amorphous powder, which has been characterised. Requirements for the subsequent recrystallization of this powder with a view to structuring have been determined through the control of moisture and thermal energy. Food inks based on xanthan gum have been formulated to enable successful jetting with a FujiFilm Dimatix ink jet printer. The polymer inks were subsequently jetted onto the amorphous cellulose powder to observe powder-binder interactions. Material combinations and parameters were optimised to produce cohesive geometric structures. The results of this study are promising when looking towards using these materials in a binder jetting additive manufacturing technique using designer particles and inks to create structures for use in food products

A decision-making framework to reduce the risk of collisions between ships and whales

Ship strikes are one of the main human-induced threats to whale survival. A variety of measures have been used or proposed to reduce collisions and subsequent mortality of whales. These include operational measures, such as mandatory speed reduction, or technical ones, such as detection tools. There is, however, a lack of a systematic approach to assessing the various measures that can mitigate the risk of ship collisions with whales. In this paper, a holistic approach is proposed to evaluate mitigation measures based on a risk assessment framework that has been adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), namely the Formal Safety Assessment (FSA). Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) is “a rational and systematic process for assessing the risk related to maritime safety and the protection of the marine environment and for evaluating the costs and benefits of IMO's options for reducing these risks”. The paper conceptualizes the use of a systematic risk assessment methodology, namely the FSA, to assess measures to reduce the risk of collisions between ships and whales

SI-ATRP grafting of polymers from polydopamine-modified cellulose nanocrystals

This work reports on the possibility of using polydopamine (PDA) as a tool to immobilize bromoisobutyryl moieties at the surface of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and initiate Surface Intitiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (SI-ATRP) reactions from these sites. Two different strategies based on i) the stepwise modification of the CNCs with dopamine (DA) and α-bromoisobutyryl bromide (BiBB) (Protocol 1) and ii) the one-step treatment of the CNCs with a mixture of DA and BiBB-modified DA (Protocol 2), were compared. Only the CNC particles treated according to Protocol 1 guaranteed efficient anchoring of the SI-ATRP initiating sites in our experimental conditions (with limited impact on the CNCs crystalline structure), the coated layer being leached out by certain solvents in the case of Protocol 2. The brominated particles displaying the best performances were subsequently tested as potential ATRP macroinitiators, using methyl methacrylate (MMA) and styrene (St) as model monomers. Polymer-grafted particles were successfully obtained, with a grafting density twice as high for Sty as for MMA, demonstrating the validity of this strategy

Reducing whale-ship collisions by better estimating damages to ships

Collisions between ships and whales raise environmental, safety, and economic concerns. The management of whale-ship collisions, however, lacks a holistic approach, unlike the management of other types of wildlife-vehicle collisions, which have been more standardized for several years now. In particular, safety and economic factors are routinely omitted in the assessment of proposed mitigation solutions to ship strikes, possibly leading to under-compliance and a lack of acceptance from the stakeholders. In this study, we estimate the probability of ship damage due to a whale-ship collision. While the probability of damage is low, the costs could be important, suggesting that property damages are significant enough to be taken into consideration when assessing solutions. Lessons learned from other types of wildlife-vehicle collisions suggest that the whale-ship collision should be managed as wildlife-aircraft collisions. For several years, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) manages collisions between aircrafts and wildlife at the international level. We advocate that its United Nations counterpart, namely the International Maritime Organization (IMO), get more involved in the whale-ship collision management. Further research is needed to more precisely quantify the costs incurred to ships from damages caused by whale-ship collisions

Maritime Transportation: Let\u27s Slow Down a Bit

Maritime transportation is a major contributor to the world economy, but has significant social and environmental impacts. Each impact calls for different technical or operational solutions. Amongst these solutions, we found that speed reduction measures appear to mitigate several issues: (1) collision with wildlife; (2) collision with non-living objects; (3) underwater noise; (4) invasive species; and (5) gas emission. We do not pretend that speed reduction is the best solution for each individual issue mentioned in this paper, but we argue that it could be a key solution to significantly reduce these threats all together. Further interdisciplinary research is required to balance private economic costs of speed reduction measures with environmental and social benefits emerging from all mitigated issues