Solar wind velocity and daily variation of cosmic rays

Recently parameters applicable to the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) have become much better defined. Superior quality of data bases that are now available, particularly for post-1971 period, make it possible to believe the long-term trends in the data. These data are correlated with the secular changes observed in the diurnal variation parameters obtained from neutron monitor data at Deep River and underground muon telescope data at Embudo (30 MEW) and Socorro (82 MWE). The annual mean amplitudes appear to have large values during the epochs of high speed solar wind streams. Results are discussed

Upper cut-off rigidity for corotation anisotropy during solar activity cycles 20 and 21

At the Eleventh International Conference on Cosmic Rays in 1969, the results of a study of the solar diurnal variations of solar rays observed during the ascending phase of solar activity cycle twenty was discussed. The diurnal variation, observed underground during 1965-68 period, and results from an extraterrestrial anisotropy having a continuously increasing upper cut-off rigidity R sub c were reported. However, the coupling functions applicable to underground telescopes were controversial then. This situation has improved now. Those results wsere re-examined and extended to cover the period 1965-78. The coupling functions given by Murakami et al. for underground muons and those given by Lockwood and Weber for neutron monitors were used showed that a great deal of care should be exercised in the value of R sub c was calculated. Although numerical values of R sub c are a little different, the trend for 1965-68 period remains unchanged. Highest value of R sub c occur in 1970 and the lowest value occurs in 1976

Diurnal anisotropy during solar activity cycle twenty and diffusion-convection model

Underground muon telescope data obtained at Embudo and Neutron monitor data obtained at Deep River are divided into two sets; one covers the ascending phase of the cycle (1965-70) and the other covers the descending phase (1971-76). The amplitude of diurnal anisotropy calculated from the data does not agree with the value predicted by the simplified version of the Diffusion-Convection Model (DCM); the discrepancy is worse for neutron data

Op-Ed: Long Island Sound Degradation

Fishing is a 2 billion dollar industry in the region surrounding the Long Island Sound. It is a pivotal part of the economy, and it is major source of income for people living in this region. However, because of the effects of climate change, this ocean-centric way of life is threatened. The health of the global oceans are rapidly declining, and the Long Island Sound, located in the Northeast, is degrading at one of the fastest rates in the world. Image Citation: Thorpe, Alida. “Jenna Lynn II.” Island Vision Photography, Stonington CT, 2019, www.alidathorpe.com/Portfolio/Nautical/i-F9s2kBjhttps://digitalworks.union.edu/eco228_2019/1003/thumbnail.jp

Law and Legitimacy: Toward a Rawlsian Solution

John Rawls developed the most compelling normative account of liberal constitutional democracy of the 20th century. Today, however, prominent political theorists such as Jeremy Waldron and Ian Shapiro are calling for post-Rawlsian, “power friendly” approaches to democratic theory. Power friendly approaches surrender a significant historical strain of liberal democratic thought, often associated with Rawls—the hope for a politics of shared reason. Such “rationalist expectations” must be abandoned, says Shapiro. Power friendly theorists hold that disagreements over justice, and other issues, are so deep that political philosophers cannot say what justice requires even under ideal conditions. Democratic citizens can only constitute themselves as a democratic body politic through real time political processes. But this means that, for nearly every constitutional and legislative issue, the will of some citizens will govern all. There is no hope for a politics of shared reason; what we have is a struggle between reasons, where one side wins and the other side loses. Power friendly theorists seek to legitimate this unavoidable exercise of force by describing pragmatic, prudential or normative reasons for accepting such democratic outcomes as authoritative. Democratic institutions that produce a stable modus vivendi, in which the spiritual and material needs of citizens are at least minimally satisfied, should be regarded as authoritative on those (or similar) grounds. For instance, Shapiro argues that democracy deserves our allegiance because it is the best available way of “managing power relations among people who disagree about the nature of the common good,” but who must nevertheless live together. Of course, the loser is never happy about losing these struggles, but she has sound reason to accept the outcomes anyway, and she lives to fight another day. Power friendly theorists have a point. But what they do not realize is that Rawls conceded this point around 1980, and then proposed his own power friendly account of democratic law and political authority. Rawls’s account centers on his liberal principle of legitimacy. What is significant about his approach is its faithfulness to the spirit, if not the fact, of the liberal ideal of shared reason. That is, while Rawls is not the shared reason rationalist that many accuse him of being, he does not surrender as much of the liberal project as the power friendly theorists do. Rawls’s view represents a third option, which sits between the rationalist and the power friendly poles. Unfortunately, few have understood his account, because few have read all of his work, or considered his intellectual debts. I construct a Rawlsian power friendly view of law and legitimacy that is philosophically rigorous, faithful to Rawls’s texts, and grounded in a thorough understanding of his intellectual debts, in particular to H. L. A. Hart and Philip Soper. In the end, I argue that the Rawlsian power friendly view is philosophically superior to both the rationalist view (wrongly attributed to Rawls) and the newer power friendly views of Waldron and Shapiro

Neoliberalism, Nature, And Buen Vivir: Diverse And Divergent Pathways To Living Well In Ecuador

Through a case study of buen vivir in Ecuador this paper considers the challenge of building post-capitalist alternatives and reimagining wellbeing as separate from economic growth in the context of globalization. Buen vivir is an adaptation of the Quechuan concept sumak kawsay, meaning to "live well" which rests on preserving (or regaining) a state of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. The "living well" of Andean indigenous societies differs from the "living better" of industrialized civilization insofar as it must not come at the expense of others or the environment. I contend that buen vivir emerges out of a longer history of neoliberal development and colonialism in Latin America and provides a pathway from which to transcend the legacy of these systems. I argue that the incorporation of buen vivir into Ecuador's 2008 constitution and its national development plan is more an attempt at moulding buen vivir to fit with existing state structures than at remaking those structures in a fashion that resonates with the ethos of buen vivir. I claim that many substantive differences exist between the state's reading of buen vivir and indigenous understandings of sumak kawsay and that these are a source of contradictions in the policies and programs seeking to operationalize alternatives to conventional development models in the country. Through considering recent decisions over oil, mineral, and water governance, I suggest that the state pursues an export-driven growth model dependent on the extraction of raw materials that leaves Ecuador's submissive form of insertion in the global market unquestioned. While the insertion of sumak kawsay into Ecuadorian political discourse by no means bridges the Andean and Western cultural worlds nor does it transcend the ontological divide between humans and nature, it frees the state to think outside of dominant economic and political narratives. I conclude that buen vivir's success depends not on its realization of a post?capitalist and post- colonial order, but on its ability to prepare the ground from which such alternatives can take root

The Treaty 8 First Nations and BC Hydro's Site C Dam

The Site C Clean Energy Project is a proposed dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in northeast British Columbia, seven kilometers southwest of the city of Fort St. John. The proposed site―within the Peace River Valley―is home to BC’s Treaty 8 First Nations with an approximate Aboriginal population of 2500-3000 people (T8TA, "Treaty 8 Communities"). The project's proponent, BC Hydro, received environmental approval for Site C from the federal and provincial governments on October 14, 2014 (BCEAO Conditional Environmental Assessment Certificate Granted: Site C Clean Energy Project; CEAA "Government of Canada's Decision on the Environmental Assessment of the Site C Clean Energy Project"); however, the project still requires an investment decision from the Province and regulatory permits and authorization before it can proceed to construction (BC Hydro, "Multi-Stage Evaluation"). The Treaty 8 First Nations are opposing Site C, having filed a lawsuit on grounds that the project would have a devastating impact on their traditional land and thus violate their treaty rights (Keller)...Find full text in .pdf below