Repurposing Globalization: Discourse and Political Strategy in New Labour Britain. ACES Working Papers, 2012

As elsewhere in Europe and around the world, the discourse of globalization in the United Kingdom—the particular representation of the world as undergoing an epochal shift away from the traditional autonomy of the nation-state—has powerfully reshaped political debate. And this has had important distributional effects on the balance of power in the political party system, most notably in the return to power of the Labour Party as “New Labour” under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. But while it is known that articulations of globalization are embedded in the political system, a systematic analysis linking such discourse with party competition is lacking. In this paper, I propose that many features of the globalist language invoked by New Labour can be explained in terms of concrete strategic aims. Working with concepts of “heresthetics” and “bricolage” drawn from a synthesis of literatures, I illustrate this approach through several representative texts. These findings are then used to make predictions about the kind of globalization discourse to expect in the communications of two nationalist parties in the UK—“least likely” cases for globalism—which can be explored further as part of a larger research program

Perceptions of the Pure Pallet Program

In coordination with USCENTCOM, USTRANSCOM, and the DLA, AMC implements the pure pallet program to improve warfighter support. The cornerstone of the pure pallet program rests upon the consolidation of materiel early in the supply-chain by constructing end-user specific pallets. This research utilized a web-based survey to measure the perceptions of the air transportation specialists and logistics readiness officers who are implementing the program on behalf of the Air Force. The results indicate that the pure pallet program is achieving its intended results; however, there is a perception problem. Recommendations center on educating personnel on the importance of suboptimization avoidance and making the warfighter the most important customer. This research also serves as a formal source of information from which to form conclusions and make judgments on how well Air Force personnel are implementing the pure pallet program

Geo-neutrinos and Earth Models

We present the current status of geo-neutrino measurements and their implications for radiogenic heating in the mantle. Earth models predict different levels of radiogenic heating and, therefore, different geo-neutrino fluxes from the mantle. Seismic tomography reveals features in the deep mantle possibly correlated with radiogenic heating and causing spatial variations in the mantle geo-neutrino flux at the Earth surface. An ocean-based observatory offers the greatest sensitivity to the mantle flux and potential for resolving Earth models and mantle features. Refinements to estimates of the geo-neutrino flux from continental crust reduce uncertainty in measurements of the mantle flux, especially measurements from land-based observatories. These refinements enable the resolution of Earth models using the combined measurements from multiple continental observatories.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures; Contributed paper TAUP 201

Children's computation of complex linguistic forms: a study of frequency and imageability effects.

This study investigates the storage vs. composition of inflected forms in typically-developing children. Children aged 8-12 were tested on the production of regular and irregular past-tense forms. Storage (vs. composition) was examined by probing for past-tense frequency effects and imageability effects--both of which are diagnostic tests for storage--while controlling for a number of confounding factors. We also examined sex as a factor. Irregular inflected forms, which must depend on stored representations, always showed evidence of storage (frequency and/or imageability effects), not only across all children, but also separately in both sexes. In contrast, for regular forms, which could be either stored or composed, only girls showed evidence of storage. This pattern is similar to that found in previously-acquired adult data from the same task, with the notable exception that development affects which factors influence the storage of regulars in females: imageability plays a larger role in girls, and frequency in women. Overall, the results suggest that irregular inflected forms are always stored (in children and adults, and in both sexes), whereas regulars can be either composed or stored, with their storage a function of various item- and subject-level factors

An ecophysiological study of the Meiofauna of the Swartkops Estuary: 3. Partition of benthic oxygen consumption and the relative importance of the Meiofauna

Benthic oxygen demand was measured by dark and light bottle technique at two beaches in the Swartkops estuary, near Port Elizabeth. Respiration of nematodes was measured by polarographic micro-rcspirometer technique. Secondary production was 82 g C/m2/y in sandy areas and 863 g C/m2/y in muddy areas rich in the prawn Callianassa kraussi. Meiofauna production was 1,72 g C/m2/y in sand and 0,24 g C/m2/y in mud. The meiofauna] contribution to secondary production was 2,1% and 0,03% for these two areas respectively. The largest proportion of secondary production was due to micro-organisms: 92% in sand and 73,5% in mud. Macrofauna accounted for 5,75% and 24,4%. It is concluded that meiofauna in these exposed sand and mud flat areas is not quantitatively important, but the qualitative importance may be considerable