Systems thinking, interdisciplinarity and farmer participation: essential ingredients in working for more sustainable organic farming systems

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. This paper discusses the principles and values behind some of the innovative agricultural research methods which have evolved over the past 30 years in many countries and suggests that the lessons from this experience could have significant benefits in the development of organic research in the UK. The author argues that the key elements which need to be incorporated into a new approach to research on organic systems are:- systemic thinking (the need for a more holistic understanding of the context of farming and rural livelihoods), interdisciplinarity, (contributions from both social and natural science in the research process) and farmer-participation (the active participation and partnership of farmers and other key stakeholders in the process of design, planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating research). By incorporating these principles, both into the vision of what research can become within in the organic movement, and into the methodologies that are used in new research partnerships, it is suggested that we could learn our way towards more sustainable, organically-based rural livelihoods in the future

High-low frequency slaving and regularity issues in the 3D Navier-Stokes equations

The old idea that an infinite dimensional dynamical system may have its high modes or frequencies slaved to low modes or frequencies is re-visited in the context of the $3D$ Navier-Stokes equations. A set of dimensionless frequencies $\{\tilde{\Omega}_{m}(t)\}$ are used which are based on $L^{2m}$-norms of the vorticity. To avoid using derivatives a closure is assumed that suggests that the $\tilde{\Omega}_{m}$ ($m>1$) are slaved to $\tilde{\Omega}_{1}$ (the global enstrophy) in the form $\tilde{\Omega}_{m} = \tilde{\Omega}_{1}\mathcal{F}_{m}(\tilde{\Omega}_{1})$. This is shaped by the constraint of two H\"older inequalities and a time average from which emerges a form for $\mathcal{F}_{m}$ which has been observed in previous numerical Navier-Stokes and MHD simulations. When written as a phase plane in a scaled form, this relation is parametrized by a set of functions $1 \leq \lambda_{m}(\tau) \leq 4$, where curves of constant $\lambda_{m}$ form the boundaries between tongue-shaped regions. In regions where $2.5 \leq \lambda_{m} \leq 4$ and $1 \leq \lambda_{m} \leq 2$ the Navier-Stokes equations are shown to be regular\,: numerical simulations appear to lie in the latter region. Only in the central region $2 < \lambda_{m} < 2.5$ has no proof of regularity been found.Comment: 10 pages; 2 figure

Dynamics of scaled norms of vorticity for the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes and Euler equations

A series of numerical experiments is suggested for the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes and Euler equations on a periodic domain based on a set of $L^{2m}$-norms of vorticity $\Omega_{m}$ for $m\geq 1$. These are scaled to form the dimensionless sequence $D_{m}= (\varpi_{0}^{-1}\Omega_{m})^{\alpha_{m}}$ where $\varpi_{0}$ is a constant frequency and $\alpha_{m} = 2m/(4m-3)$. A numerically testable Navier-Stokes regularity criterion comes from comparing the relative magnitudes of $D_{m}$ and $D_{m+1}$ while another is furnished by imposing a critical lower bound on $\int_{0}^{t}D_{m}\,d\tau$. The behaviour of the $D_{m}$ is also important in the Euler case in suggesting a method by which possible singular behaviour might also be tested.Comment: To appear in the Procedia IUTAM volume of papers Topological Fluid Dynamic

‘Till death do us part : judging the men who kill their intimate partners

This paper examines the construction of masculinity in judge&rsquo;s sentencing remarks across seventeen cases&nbsp;of male perpetrated intimate femicide sentenced between March 2005 and May 2007 in the Victorian Supreme Court. Using a narrative analysis of sentencing transcripts it investigates how ideal understandings&nbsp;of hegemonic masculinity are used in judicial decision making to condemn or sympathise with male offenders of intimate femicide. The findings illustrate the profound influence that traditional understandings of masculinity and fatherhood still have on current sentencing practises despite the current&nbsp;climate of homicide law reform both within Australia and overseas. Whilst this paper did not directly assess the impact of recent homicide law reforms, specifically provocation, it is explicitly concerned with the continued influence of gender norms and bias at the sentencing stage of the legal process. As such, it provides a preliminary illustration of the key role that judges play in advocating or rejecting change within the criminal justice system, and more broadly legitimising attitudes about male violence against women throughout society. In condoning the use of extreme violence, in any context, judges send a message to society that such behaviour is either generally or specifically acceptable and accommodated within a legal framework

Lingual articulation in children with developmental speech disorders

This thesis presents thirteen research papers published between 1987-97, and a summary and discussion of their contribution to the field of developmental speech disorders. The publications collectively constitute a body of work with two overarching themes. The first is methodological: all the publications report articulatory data relating to tongue movements recorded using the instrumental technique of electropalatography (EPG). The second is the clinical orientation of the research: the EPG data are interpreted throughout for the purpose of informing the theory and practice of speech pathology. The majority of the publications are original, experimental studies of lingual articulation in children with developmental speech disorders. At the same time the publications cover a broad range of theoretical and clinical issues relating to lingual articulation including: articulation in normal speakers, the clinical applications of EPG, data analysis procedures, articulation in second language learners, and the effect of oral surgery on articulation. The contribution of the publications to the field of developmental speech disorders of unknown origin, also known as phonological impairment or functional articulation disorder, is summarised and discussed. In total, EPG data from fourteen children are reported. The collective results from the publications do not support the cognitive/linguistic explanation of developmental speech disorders. Instead, the EPG findings are marshalled to build the case that specific deficits in speech motor control can account for many of the diverse speech error characteristics identified by perceptual analysis in previous studies. Some of the children studied had speech motor deficits that were relatively discrete, involving, for example, an apparently isolated difficulty with tongue tiplblade groove formation for sibilant targets. Articulatory difficulties of the 'discrete' or specific type are consistent with traditional views of functional lingual articulation in developmental speech disorders articulation disorder. EPG studies of tongue control in normal adults provided insights into a different type of speech motor control deficit observed in the speech of many of the children studied. Unlike the children with discrete articulatory difficulties, others produced abnormal EPG patterns for a wide range of lingual targets. These abnormal gestures were characterised by broad, undifferentiated tongue-palate contact, accompanied by variable approach and release phases. These 'widespread', undifferentiated gestures are interpreted as constituting a previously undescribed form of speech motor deficit, resulting from a difficulty in controlling the tongue tip/blade system independently of the tongue body. Undifferentiated gestures were found to result in variable percepts depending on the target and the timing of the particular gesture, and may manifest as perceptually acceptable productions, phonological substitutions or phonetic distortions. It is suggested that discrete and widespread speech motor deficits reflect different stages along a developmental or severity continuum, rather than distinct subgroups with different underlying deficits. The children studied all manifested speech motor control deficits of varying degrees along this continuum. It is argued that it is the unique anatomical properties of the tongue, combined with the high level of spatial and temporal accuracy required for tongue tiplblade and tongue body co-ordination, that put lingual control specifically at risk in young children. The EPG findings question the validity of assumptions made about the presence/absence of speech motor control deficits, when such assumptions are based entirely on non-instrumental assessment procedures. A novel account of the sequence of acquisition of alveolar stop articulation in children with normal speech development is proposed, based on the EPG data from the children with developmental speech disorders. It is suggested that broad, undifferentiated gestures may occur in young normal children, and that adult-like lingual control develops gradually through the processes of differentiation and integration. Finally, the EPG fmdings are discussed in relation to two recent theoretical frameworks, that of psycho linguistic models and a dynamic systems approach to speech acquisition

Grain-boundary migration in KCl bicrystals

Boundary migration in melt-grown bicrystals of KCl containing pure twist boundaries was investigated. The experiments involve the use of bicrystal specimens in the shape of right-triangular prisms with the boundary parallel to one side

Legitimising lethal male violence : why defensive homicide needs to be abolished

This articles examine the unintended operation defensive homicide in Victoria since its introduction in November 2005. In doing so, its makes an argument for the abolition of this alternative offence to murder.&nbsp