Striking with social media: the contested (online) terrain of workplace conflict

In this paper we review the workplace battleground and explore the potential of social media for mobilizing social movements in labour conflicts and beyond. By conducting a case study with empirical accounts obtained from the 2010/2011 British Airways cabin crew dispute in the UK, along with secondary sources, we discern social media in the workplace as a contested field. Inquiring into the unfolding dynamic of social media and workplace conflict, we investigate the mobilizing prospects of theoretical concepts like ‘distributed discourse’ and ‘accelerated pluralism’ through the analytical prism of our interviews (Bimber, 1998; Greene et al, 2003). Our analysis of these empirical accounts will tease out certain empowering potentials in the use of social media to shape discourse and mobilize movement. However, we also note that these same communicative actions may challenge internal union authority, generate counter-mobilizing efforts and constitute an integral part in exposing both our private and working lives to the processes of marketization and commodification

A reappraisal of the rank-and-file versus bureaucracy debate

This paper celebrates some of the considerable strengths of Hyman’s 1970s/early 1980s analysis of unions in general and bureaucracy specifically, and reapplies it to more recent developments within British unions, while at the same time providing a critique of Hyman’s refutation of the ‘rank-and-file’ versus ‘union bureaucracy’ conception of intra-union relations. It argues that the wider set of implications Hyman drew from the accentuated pressures towards the bureaucratisation of workplace unionism that he identified ‘bent the stick’ too far in the opposite direction. In attempting to defend and refine the classical revolutionary Marxist analytical framework, the paper maintains that the conflict of interest that exists between full-time officials and rank-and-file members is a meaningful generalisation of a real contradiction within trade unionism, notwithstanding the variations and complexities involved. It examines the nature and social dynamics of full-time union officialdom, shop stewards and workplace unionism, and the relationship between the two. In the process, the limits and potential of both Hyman’s ‘earlier’ and ‘later’ writings are highlighted and some broader generalisations are drawn with relevance to current dilemmas for trade unionism

Public Address as the Basic Communication Course

Public speaking has been at the heart of our discipline from its conceptual foundations in the ancient world to the founding of the National Council of Academic Teachers of Public Speaking in 1914. According to a longitudinal series of studies surveying the basic course in communication, the vast majority of such courses are either wholly or partially devoted to public speaking skill acquisition (Morreale, Worley, & Hugenberg, 2010). Though the field has fractured into an interdisciplinary mélange over the last century, public speaking has held onto its primacy, at least as the visible face of most departments. In fact, its status may have increased over the past three decades in response to shifts in the mission and public understanding of institutes of higher learning (as part of communication across the curriculum (CXC) initiatives, partnerships with business and medical programs, and other vocational concerns). Unfortunately, this increased visibility and reach has come at the expense of losing focus on the historical impetus for learning such skills. A perfectly rational focus on economic uplift followed the broadening of university education to a more diverse student body, but this was accompanied by an unnecessary cultural shift away from the humanities and the public responsibilities of educated citizens. The skills of citizenship are the most important skills we can teach our students in a time of increasing economic disparity and political disengagement. To this end, I will suggest in this essay that reorienting the basic course toward a public address perspective should be an important part of our conversation over its content and character

Video-Game-Like Engine for Depicting Spacecraft Trajectories

GoView is a video-game-like software engine, written in the C and C++ computing languages, that enables real-time, three-dimensional (3D)-appearing visual representation of spacecraft and trajectories (1) from any perspective; (2) at any spatial scale from spacecraft to Solar-system dimensions; (3) in user-selectable time scales; (4) in the past, present, and/or future; (5) with varying speeds; and (6) forward or backward in time. GoView constructs an interactive 3D world by use of spacecraft-mission data from pre-existing engineering software tools. GoView can also be used to produce distributable application programs for depicting NASA orbital missions on personal computers running the Windows XP, Mac OsX, and Linux operating systems. GoView enables seamless rendering of Cartesian coordinate spaces with programmable graphics hardware, whereas prior programs for depicting spacecraft trajectories variously require non-Cartesian coordinates and/or are not compatible with programmable hardware. GoView incorporates an algorithm for nonlinear interpolation between arbitrary reference frames, whereas the prior programs are restricted to special classes of inertial and non-inertial reference frames. Finally, whereas the prior programs present complex user interfaces requiring hours of training, the GoView interface provides guidance, enabling use without any training

The transformation of work and industrial relations in the post-Soviet bloc: 25 years on from 1989

The uprisings of 1989 in the Soviet sphere were momentous in their political impact. Examination of this prolonged transformation is timely. We progress from case study analysis of the workplace – important in the early stages of transformation – to reflective overviews which consider the accumulated experience of a quarter of a century of post communism. Our overview studies highlight, for example, aspects of gender difference within the frame of ‘winners and losers’. The commonalities of ‘state capture’ are revealed across the states and geographical differences emerge in post-communist ‘recovery’ which highlight processes of uneven and combined development. Finally we identify relationships between state, labour and capital which stand outside the economic prescribed orthodoxy and the expected convergence of East with West. Instead of convergence to liberal economic values and practices we find crony capitalism associated with clientelism and mafia crime forming the backdrop to institutional failure

Platinized tin oxide catalysts for CO2 lasers: Effects of pretreatment

Platinized tin oxide surfaces used for low-temperature CO oxidation in CO2 lasers have been characterized before and after reduction in CO at 125 and 250 C using ion scattering spectroscopy (ISS) and X ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS indicates that the Pt is present initially as PtO2. Reduction at 125 C converts the PtO2 to Pt(OH)2 while reduction at 250 C converts the PtO2 to metallic Pt. ISS shows that the Pt in the outermost atomic layer of the catalyst is mostly covered by substrate species during the 250 C reduction. Both the ISS and XPS results are consistent with Pt/Sn alloy formation. The surface dehydration and migration of substrate species over surface Pt and Sn appear to explain why a CO pretreatment at 250 C produces inferior CO oxidation activities compared to a 125 C pretreatment

Ambient-temperature co-oxidation catalysts

Oxidation catalysts which operate at ambient temperature were developed for the recombination of carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen (O2) dissociation products which are formed during carbon dioxide (CO2) laser operation. Recombination of these products to regenerate CO2 allows continuous operation of CO2 lasers in a closed cycle mode. Development of these catalyst materials provides enabling technology for the operation of such lasers from space platforms or in ground based facilities without constant gas consumption required for continuous open cycle operation. Such catalysts also have other applications in various areas outside the laser community for removal of CO from other closed environments such as indoor air and as an ambient temperature catalytic converter for control of auto emissions

Catalyst for carbon monoxide oxidation

A catalyst is disclosed for the combination of CO and O2 to form CO2, which includes a platinum group metal (e.g., platinum); a reducable metal oxide having multiple valence states (e.g., SnO2); and a compound which can bind water to its structure (e.g., silica gel). This catalyst is ideally suited for application to high-powered pulsed, CO2 lasers operating in a sealed or closed-cycle condition

Alternative catalysts for low-temperature CO-oxidation

MnO sub x, Ag/MnO sub x, Cu/MnO sub x, Pt/MnO sub x, Ru/MnO sub x, Au/CeO sub x, and Au/Fe2O3 were synthesized and tested for CO oxidation activity in low concentrations of stoichiometric CO and O2 at 30 to 75 C. Catalytic activity was measured for periods as long as 18000 minutes. At 75 deg Au/MnO sub x is most active sustaining nearly 100 percent CO conversion for 10000 minutes. It also retains high activity at 50 and 30 C with negligible decay in activity. A direct comparison between an unpretreated 10 percent Au/MnO sub x catalyst and an optimized 19.5 percent Pt/SnO sub 2 (pretreated) catalyst shows that the Au/MnO sub x catalyst exhibits much higher catalytic activity and far superior decay characteristics. Other catalysts including Au/CeO sub x and Au/Fe2O3 also perform well. The Cu/MnO sub x exhibits a high initial activity which decays rapidly. After the decay period the activity remains very stable making Cu/MnO sub x a potential candidate for long-term applications such as CO2 lasers in space