'Whither the Service Class Re-investigating the middle layers of employment in the 21st Century

The purpose of this working paper is to contribute towards the continuing debate on the nature of class structure in the West, recognising that occupation has constituted the central device in the construction of theoretical approaches in this area. The paper is critical of the notion that there can be a simple congruence between occupation and class, but is nevertheless committed to the view that the workplace remains a key site wherein class antagonisms are played out. Using primary data the paper explores workplace relations between research scientists and their employing organisation, a major pharmaceutical firm. It considers theoretical approaches to locating these middle layers and in particular the suggestion that they form a new service class. The paper concludes that there are weaknesses in the notion of a service class both theoretically and in practice and argues that Marxist theories of class, and labour process theories concerned with management control, have significant explanatory power when applied to the interview data presented here. Rather than witnessing the growth of a service class and the death of the working class, the paper argues, we are seeing it transformed and re-generated

Digital Cinema : Opportunities and Challenges

This paper considers how the film industry might effect the transition from film to digital product. Using public sources to predict the eventual technological solutions which will prevail is problematic as no independent academic analysis appears to have been carried out. Technology companies are clearly wedded to their own solutions, pointing out flaws in competing technologies while downplaying the shortcomings of their own. Industry wide bodies that have been set up to promote d-cinema or establish standards, understandably tend to avoid taking sides and promote all solutions equally[i]. Rather than contributing further to the debate about the qualities of competing technologies or the creative merits or demerits of digital product, this paper will focus on the search for new business models in an industry wedded for over one hundred years to an analogue process. In the sections which follow it will consider- the strategies of the companies at the forefront of the technology; the financial implications associated with change; and how different territories might adapt in order to accommodate this transition. [i] Anna Wilde Mathews, Digital cinema's time is nearing. Detailed specifications are supposed to be ready early next year. The Wall Street Journal, May 25 2003

Results of Skylab experiment T00-2, manual navigation sightings

An analysis of navigation data collected using a hand-held space sextant on the second and third manned Skylab missions was presented. From performance data and astronaut comments it was determined that: (1) the space sextant, the sighting station, and the sighting techniques require modification; (2) the sighting window must be of good optical quality; (3) astronaut performance was stable over long mission time; and (4) sightings made with a hand-held sextant were accurate and precise enough for reliable interplanetary manual navigation

Framing bias : the effect of figure presentation on seismic interpretation

The authors thank all the participants in the survey, and those who helped to distribute it. We thank Prof. Christopher Jackson and co-authors for allowing the use of their published images in this experiment. Juan Alcalde is funded by NERC grant NE/M007251/1, on interpretational uncertainty.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The background for Skylab experiment T-002, manual navigation sightings

The background of the NASA-DOD manual navigation experiment (T002) on Skylab A is reviewed with emphasis on NASA's development of an error model for sextant measurements in midcourse navigation and on USAF's development of a low earth orbit manual navigation scheme. Instruments briefly described are a space sextant and space stadimeter, both of which are used by USAF in orbit navigation, the sextant by NASA in midcourse sightings. The rationale, data requirements, and data reduction procedures are discussed in terms of the goals of the agencies

Modeling of octave-spanning Kerr frequency combs using a generalized mean-field Lugiato-Lefever model

A generalized Lugiato-Lefever equation is numerically solved with a Newton-Raphson method to model Kerr frequency combs. We obtain excellent agreement with past experiments, even for an octave-spanning comb. Simulations are much faster than with any other technique despite including more modes than ever before. Our study reveals that Kerr combs are associated with temporal cavity solitons and dispersive waves, and opens up new avenues for the understanding of Kerr comb formation.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Optics Letters on 31 October 2012, accepted with minor/optional revisions. This version is the revised manuscrip