Cross Border Trade Union Collaboration in the Context of Competition and Arbitraging Labour in an Enlarged Europe

An enlarged Europe after the May 2004 and January 2007 accessions has provided more extensive territories over which firms and states can arbitrage labour costs and workers can seek employment. The main aim of the paper is firstly to present a political economy which sees migration and international production as part of wider processes of restructuring in general, and arbitraging labour costs in particular. Second, the paper explores the notion of organised labour as an important contester of process and outcomes of migration in relation to the example of Polish migrant workers in the UK. It is argued that three structural conditions underpin migration; uneven development within (and outside Europe); an intensification of competition and the drive towards flexibility. Further, capital is not footloose and migration has been used by countries such as Ireland and the UK to supply labour for a range of jobs in food processing, transport and other public services. States continually draw and redraw boundaries in line with the demands of domestic capital and labour markets, which creates hierarchies of migrant labour in terms of legal status and access to regulated work. It is argued that the ability of trade unions to intervene in labour markets to prevent social dumping and promote inclusion depends on; how far they adopt a policy of inclusion (rather than exclusion); the strength of trade unions in the receiver and sender countries; and the extent to which rhetorical exhortations for solidarity can be turned into concrete policies at different levels of trade union organisation and as well as across national boundaries

Retrofitted Natural Supersymmetry from a U(1)

We propose that a single, spontaneously broken, U(1) gauge symmetry may be responsible for suppressing both the first two generation Yukawa couplings, and also, in a correlated manner, parameters in the dynamical supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking sector by the mechanism of retrofitting. In the dynamical SUSY breaking sector, these small parameters are typically required in order to introduce R-symmetry breaking in a controlled manner and obtain phenomenologically viable meta-stable vacua. The heavy U(1) multiplet mediates a dominant contribution to the first two generation MSSM sfermion soft masses, while gauge mediation provides a parametrically suppressed soft term contribution to the stop and most other states, so realising a natural SUSY spectrum in a fashion consistent with SUSY unification. In explicit models the spectra obtained can be such that current LHC limits are evaded, and predictions of flavour changing processes are consistent with observation. We examine both implementations with low scale mediation, and string-motivated examples where the U(1) is anomalous before the inclusion of a generalised Green-Schwarz mechanism.Comment: V2: References adde

Axion Mediation

We explore the possibility that supersymmetry breaking is mediated to the Standard Model sector through the interactions of a generalized axion multiplet that gains a F-term expectation value. Using an effective field theory framework we enumerate the most general possible set of axion couplings and compute the Standard Model sector soft-supersymmetry-breaking terms. Unusual, non-minimal spectra, such as those of both natural and split supersymmetry are easily implemented. We discuss example models and low-energy spectra, as well as implications of the particularly minimal case of mediation via the QCD axion multiplet. We argue that if the Peccei-Quinn solution to the strong-CP problem is realized in string theory then such axion-mediation is generic, while in a field theory model it is a natural possibility in both DFSZ- and KSVZ-like regimes. Axion mediation can parametrically dominate gravity-mediation and is also cosmologically beneficial as the constraints arising from axino and gravitino overproduction are reduced. Finally, in the string context, axion mediation provides a motivated mechanism where the UV completion naturally ameliorates the supersymmetric flavor problem.Comment: 32 pages, 3 figures, references added, minor change

Statements of intent: the politicisation of Australia's strategic edge in the era of defence self-reliance

The notion of using technology to offset demographic and economic limitations on Australia�s military emerged in the early 1970s alongside the concept of defence selfreliance. It began as a means to bolster Australia�s credibility as a regional security partner as US and British presence in Southeast Asia waned. By the twenty-first century it became a recurring policy concept and featured in public statements and diplomatic signals at the highest levels of government. Although the need for an �edge� in military capability was articulated consistently in policy and political statements, the meaning of the concept changed over time. This evolution provides insight into key strategic policy decisions and offer lessons for scholars, policymakers and analysts alike, but is yet to be examined directly. This study traces transformations of the strategic edge concept from its emergence in the 1970s through to the twenty-first century. It conducts a comparative analysis of publicly-released policy documents and archival records of speeches made by Prime Ministers and Ministers for Defence in order to identify the ways in which the concept evolved and how transformations were represented in political statements. The paper finds that primary drivers of change related to political needs rather than internally-consistent policy impetus. Politicians have utilised the strategic edge concept in defence debates to reflect and often legitimate political goals relating to: changing policy contexts, particularly the scope of Australia's strategic ambitions; other strategic concepts, such as ideas about force posturing and the way technology should be used to enhance military capability; and different communication needs, often the need to signal specific audiences in order to facilitate other policy objectives. This politicisation of the edge highlights the need for further scrutiny of ideas which inform the interpretation of policy challenges and solutions

Ecology of Tridacna in Palau

Species composition, distribution, standing crop biomass, spawning, and growth rate of Tridacnidae clams were studied in Palau, Western Caroline Islands. The population was composed of six species: Tridama gigas, T. derasa, T. squamosa, T. maxima, T. crocea, and Hippopus hippopus. In random transects, T. crocea was the most frequent and abundant, while T. derasa and T. gigas made up the largest proportion of the standing crop biomass. Spawning was induced artificially in T. squamosa by addition of macerated gonad from one individual to an aquarium containing other individuals, but larval development was not observed. The growth rate of tagged Tridacnidae was slow and further study will be required before an estimate of biomass production can be derived

Ending Ambivalence: Australian Perspectives on Stability in Asia

A growing body of literature analysing Asia-Pacific security in the twenty first century regards the ascendancy of regional powers a threat to the stability of the current regional security environment. However, a shift toward multipolarity in the region need not necessarily be viewed as a threat. The view that a relative decline of US primacy threatens regional stability is based on an assumption that maintaining stability is the same as maintaining the status quo. This assumption mistakes the process of US security assurance for the objective of stability in the region. Alternatively, Asian ascendancy may be viewed as an opportunity to create a regional security community. A concept of regional stability that emphasises adaptation to Asia�s new political and security realities will be used frame regional engagement as an opportunity rather than a threat. This paper will then substantiate the importance of a regional stability concept by examining the elements of Asian emergence that are construed as threats to regional stability and discussing how rising regional powers might be engaged as partners instead of potential rivals. Perceptions of threat and partnership within the Asia-Pacific may have a significant bearing on regional engagement, cooperation and stability in the future

Big Bang Synthesis of Nuclear Dark Matter

We investigate the physics of dark matter models featuring composite bound states carrying a large conserved dark "nucleon" number. The properties of sufficiently large dark nuclei may obey simple scaling laws, and we find that this scaling can determine the number distribution of nuclei resulting from Big Bang Dark Nucleosynthesis. For plausible models of asymmetric dark matter, dark nuclei of large nucleon number, e.g. > 10^8, may be synthesised, with the number distribution taking one of two characteristic forms. If small-nucleon-number fusions are sufficiently fast, the distribution of dark nuclei takes on a logarithmically-peaked, universal form, independent of many details of the initial conditions and small-number interactions. In the case of a substantial bottleneck to nucleosynthesis for small dark nuclei, we find the surprising result that even larger nuclei, with size >> 10^8, are often finally synthesised, again with a simple number distribution. We briefly discuss the constraints arising from the novel dark sector energetics, and the extended set of (often parametrically light) dark sector states that can occur in complete models of nuclear dark matter. The physics of the coherent enhancement of direct detection signals, the nature of the accompanying dark-sector form factors, and the possible modifications to astrophysical processes are discussed in detail in a companion paper.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, v3; minor additional comments - matches published versio

A Study of the Effects of an Excessive Ratio of Lime to Magnesia Upon Plant Growth

[From the Introduction, Abbreviated] For centuries the beneficial effects derived from the agricultural use of lime have been known, its use being common among the chinese long before the Christian era. Pliny, writing more than two thousand years ago, described the use of chalk by Roman farmers. In some parts of England and Western Europe lime has long been regarded as next to manure as a fertilizer. Although the use of lime in this country was recorded and recommended by Johnston, more than a hundred years ago, only during the more recent years has the subject of liming been investigated by scientific experiments and its relation to different phases of crop production carefully studied. The beneficial effects of lime treatments were at first attributed to the value of the element calcium as a plant food, and were not regarded as a means of amelioration of unfavorable soil conditions

A Cooling, Heating, And Power For Buildings (Chp-B) Instructional Module

An emerging category of energy systems, consisting of power generation equipment coupled with thermally-activated components, has evolved as Cooling, Heating, and Power (CHP). The application of CHP systems to buildings has developed into a new paradigm ? Cooling, Heating, and Power for Buildings (CHP-B). This instructional module has been developed to introduce undergraduate engineering students to CHP-B. In the typical ME curriculum, a number of courses could contain topics related to CHP. Thermodynamics, heat transfer, thermal systems design, heat and power, alternate energy systems, and HVAC courses are appropriate for CHP topics. However, the types of material needed for this mix of courses vary. In thermodynamics, basic problems involving a CHP flavor are needed, but in an alternate energy systems course much more CHP detail and content would be required. This series of lectures on CHP-B contains both a stand-alone CHP treatment and a compilation of problems/exercises

Assembling States: Community Formation And The Emergence Of The Inca Empire

This dissertation investigates the processes through which the Inca state emerged in the south-central Andes, ca. 1400 CE in Cusco, Peru, an area that was to become the political center of the largest indigenous empire in the Western hemisphere. Many approaches to this topic over the past several decades have framed state formation in a social evolutionary framework, a perspective that has come under increasing critique in recent years. I argue that theoretical attempts to overcome these problems have been ultimately confounded, and in order to resolve these contradictions, an ontological shift is needed. I adopt a relational perspective towards approaching the emergence of the Inca state – in particular, that of assemblage theory. Treating states and other complex social entities as assemblages means understanding them as open-ended and historically individuated phenomena, emerging from centuries or millennia of sociopolitical, cultural, and material engagements with the human and non-human world, and constituted over the longue durée. This means that understanding the emergence of the Inca state, and the historically contingent form it took, requires investigating the transformations of local and regional communities in the Cusco heartland. The multiscalar nature of this type of investigation also demands an examination of processes occurring at particular local communities through time. To resolve this, I directed excavations at the archaeological site of Minaspata, located in the Lucre Basin in the southeastern part of the Cusco region, followed by analyses of the material remains recovered from the site. These include fine-grained investigations of the ceramic patterns, the faunal and macrobotanical remains, and the procurement of obsidian through long-distance exchange. By comparing these patterns to those of the larger Cusco region, an understanding of how the Cusco regional community cohered and broke apart at various points in time can be gained. This regional community eventually gave rise to the Inca state, providing the raw material for Inca projects of sovereignty and subject-making. Although the period before Inca emergence was marked by processes focused on the localization of community, the sociocultural and material frameworks established through complex histories of interaction over millennia enabled the Cusco region to reproduce itself as a self-recognizing, coherent social entity, a critical necessity for the emergence of Inca sovereignty