Higher homotopy operations and cohomology

We explain how higher homotopy operations, defined topologically, may be identified under mild assumptions with (the last of) the Dwyer-Kan-Smith cohomological obstructions to rectifying homotopy-commutative diagrams.Comment: 28 page

Disability and political activism in industrialising Britain, c. 1830–1850

This article examines disabled people’s political activism in Britain before the emergence of the modern disability rights movement (DRM). Focusing on the campaign for shorter factory working hours in the 1830s and 1840s, it highlights the centrality of so-called ‘factory cripples’ to the reformist cause, both figuratively and as witnesses to the consequences of industrial labour. Drawing on a wide range of sources – from accounts of campaign speeches and gatherings to official reports and the writings and testimonies of impaired workers – the article shows how the factory movement opened spaces for working-class ‘maimed’ and ‘deformed’ people to talk about their experiences in their own words. Self-proclaimed ‘factory cripples’ engaged in the fight for shorter hours in complex and reciprocal ways, with some using it to advance a socio-cultural understanding of ‘disability’. Recognising this reminds us that disabled people engaged in significant forms of political activism long before the twentieth century and suggests that the analysis developed by the DRM was not as pioneering as some studies imply.Peer reviewe

Orbital magnetoelectric coupling in band insulators

Magnetoelectric responses are a fundamental characteristic of materials that break time-reversal and inversion symmetries (notably multiferroics) and, remarkably, of "topological insulators" in which those symmetries are unbroken. Previous work has shown how to compute spin and lattice contributions to the magnetoelectric tensor. Here we solve the problem of orbital contributions by computing the frozen-lattice electronic polarization induced by a magnetic field. One part of this response (the "Chern-Simons term") can appear even in time-reversal-symmetric materials and has been previously shown to be quantized in topological insulators. In general materials there are additional orbital contributions to all parts of the magnetoelectric tensor; these vanish in topological insulators by symmetry and also vanish in several simplified models without time-reversal and inversion those magnetoelectric couplings were studied before. We give two derivations of the response formula, one based on a uniform magnetic field and one based on extrapolation of a long-wavelength magnetic field, and discuss some of the consequences of this formula.Comment: 13 page

Retirement Guarantees in Voluntary Defined Contribution Plans

Defined contribution plans are providing an increasing share of retirement income in a number of countries around the world. With this type of plan, concern has been raised as to the amount of risk that workers bear. One response has been to incorporate rate of return guarantees in the plan design. This article surveys the types of guarantees that have been provided in voluntary defined contribution plans around the world. The prevalence and types of guarantees differ considerably between voluntary and mandatory defined contribution plans. Voluntary plans that provide a rate of return guarantee often guarantee a fixed rate of return, while that is rarely done in mandatory plans. A fixed guarantee set at a level where it is effective provides more protection against downward rate of return fluctuations than a relative guarantee, where the guarantee level fluctuates with an index. Some voluntary defined contribution plans provide a guarantee using an associated defined benefit plan. That approach provides a possible model for countries with a social security system where a mandatory defined contribution plan is combined with a mandatory defined benefit plan

International and Interstate Approaches to Taxing Business Income

In the United States, many states have sought the objective of uni- formity by enacting the Uniform Division of Income for Tax Purposes Act (UDITPA). In addition, many of those same states have entered into the Multistate Tax Compact (MTC). The salutary objective of both the UDITPA and the MTC is to provide uniform rules for the allocation and apportionment of income, in order to facilitate both compliance and enforcement, as well as to reduce the likelihood of double taxation. The promised uniformity, however, has been at the same time both illusive and elusive. Experience with the UDITPA and the MTC in the United States has demonstrated that a multilateral treaty would not achieve uni- formity amongst the numerous sovereign countries of the world, primarily because there is no paramount supervisory body in the international arena. At the same time, uniformity could be achieved within the United States by pre-emptive federal legislation uniformly interpreted and ap- plied to all of the states. The uniform application of an apportionment formula to distribute the tax base of a multijurisdictional unitary enter- prise would avoid many of the problems of the separate entity approach, producing a fair, equitable determination of the tax base for state income taxes. Part II of this article will examine the treatment of business income of multinational enterprises under tax treaties, and Part III discusses the determination of the tax base of such enterprises. Part IV examines the evolution of the law pertaining to state imposed taxes on, or measured by, the net business income of multistate unitary enterprises, the issues of jurisdiction and the determination of the tax base. Part V addresses vari- ous attempts to achieve uniformity in state taxation. Part VI suggests that in the international setting, the goal of uniformity is unlikely to be achieved by a multilateral treaty, but that within the United States, pre- emptive federal legislation should be enacted

International and Interstate Approaches to Taxing Business Income

In the United States, many states have sought the objective of uni- formity by enacting the Uniform Division of Income for Tax Purposes Act (UDITPA). In addition, many of those same states have entered into the Multistate Tax Compact (MTC). The salutary objective of both the UDITPA and the MTC is to provide uniform rules for the allocation and apportionment of income, in order to facilitate both compliance and enforcement, as well as to reduce the likelihood of double taxation. The promised uniformity, however, has been at the same time both illusive and elusive. Experience with the UDITPA and the MTC in the United States has demonstrated that a multilateral treaty would not achieve uni- formity amongst the numerous sovereign countries of the world, primarily because there is no paramount supervisory body in the international arena. At the same time, uniformity could be achieved within the United States by pre-emptive federal legislation uniformly interpreted and ap- plied to all of the states. The uniform application of an apportionment formula to distribute the tax base of a multijurisdictional unitary enter- prise would avoid many of the problems of the separate entity approach, producing a fair, equitable determination of the tax base for state income taxes. Part II of this article will examine the treatment of business income of multinational enterprises under tax treaties, and Part III discusses the determination of the tax base of such enterprises. Part IV examines the evolution of the law pertaining to state imposed taxes on, or measured by, the net business income of multistate unitary enterprises, the issues of jurisdiction and the determination of the tax base. Part V addresses vari- ous attempts to achieve uniformity in state taxation. Part VI suggests that in the international setting, the goal of uniformity is unlikely to be achieved by a multilateral treaty, but that within the United States, pre- emptive federal legislation should be enacted

Disability, gender and old age in the Industrial Revolution:Cultural historical and osteoarchaeological perspectives

While there has been much work on definitions of old age and the experiences of older people in the past, there have been comparatively few studies that explore the physical processes of ageing and the relationship between old age and disability in the working classes of Britain during the Industrial Revolution. Through the combination of osteological, textual and cultural evidence, this chapter reveals how experiences of ageing, and related impairments, were influenced by gender and social status in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The bodily consequences of impairment imparted by industrialised society, and the processes of ageing, are examined in three individual skeletal biographies from Hazel Grove, Stockport and St Hilda’s, South Shields. While impaired bodies have often been viewed as marginal or ‘othered’, official reports, medical sources and social and political commentary suggests that physical difference was an expected and ‘normal’ experience of the working classes. Large proportions of the working population were at risk of impairment by occupational injury, disease and poor living conditions, and this was frequently conceptualised as premature ageing. As such the onset of old age was determined by occupation and, against the backdrop of a sharpening division of labour and economic opportunity, by gender. In this context, the history of old age and the history of disability are inextricably linked. Continued dialogues between osteological and historical researchers can enrich our understanding of marginalised populations, and our own perceptions of who was considered ‘old’ in past societies

How school and university supervising staff perceive the pre-service teacher education practicum: A comparative study

This paper reports on research conducted in two Australian universities to evaluate factors that are perceived to significantly impact on the professional experiences of pre-service teachers during practicum. Contextualised within teacher education programs in an urban university in Tasmania and a regional university in Queensland, the particular focus of this paper is the beliefs and experiences of school and university supervising staff members regarding the efficacy of the practicum in enabling students to integrate into practice the knowledge and skills they have acquired in their university coursework. Findings generated from the comparative analysis of both mixed methods studies revealed some differences but predominantly a number of similarities between the perceptions of the two samples of school practitioners and university staff members towards practicum. Three key findings are presented and discussed in this paper