The Social Constructionist Challenge to Primacy Identity and the Emancipation of Oppressed Groups: Human Primacy Identity Politics and the Human/'Animal' Dualism

In a recent issue of this journal Mike Homfray asserted that social constructionism challenges emancipatory politics based in essential conceptualisations of identity. Thus for Homfray the concept of identity as associated with the pre-deconstructed subject is central for the emancipatory goal of oppressed groups like the lesbian and gay movements. In this paper I offer a distinction between radical identity politics that seeks to liberate oppressed groups, and what I have called primacy identity politics in which primacy identity is used to preserve the subjugation of those who are oppressed. In so doing I put forward a challenge to Homfray\'s somewhat wholesale rejection of the capacity for a critique of identity to work for emancipatory politics by focussing on primacy identity politics rather than on radical identity politics. In making an argument for the deconstruction of identities for emancipatory purposes I refer to my work on the human oppression of nonhuman animals. In this work I turn my attention away from those who are oppressed to the oppressors because this transfer of attention shows how useful the deconstruction of identity could be for the emancipation of oppressed groups. My examination of discourses used by the pro nonhuman animal experimentation lobby group Pro-Test shows how primacy identity politics can effectively be challenged by a social constructionist critique of essential identities and thus, contra Homfrey, I conclude that the deconstruction of identities can strengthen emancipatory causes.Human, Identity Politics, Nonhuman, Oppressed, Performative, Primacy, Radical, Social Construction

Analytical Estimation of the Beam-Beam Interaction Limited Dynamic Apertures and Lifetimes in e^+e^- Circular Colliders

Physically speaking, the delta function like beam-beam nonlinear forces at interaction points (IPs) act as a sum of delta function nonlinear multipoles. By applying the general theory established in ref. 1, in this paper we investigate analytically the beam-beam interaction limited dynamic apertures and the corresponding beam lifetimes for both the round and the flat beams. Relations between the beam-beam limited beam lifetimes and the beam-beam tune shifts are established, which show clearly why experimentally one has always a maximum beam-beam tune shift, \xi_{y, max}, around 0.045 for e-^+e$^- circular colliders, and why one can use round beams to double this value approximately. Comparisons with some machine parameters are given. Finally, we discuss the mechanism of the luminosity reduction due to a definite collision crossing angle.Comment: 25 page

An insufferable business : ethics, nonhuman animals and biomedical experiments

Each year millions of nonhuman animals suffer in biomedical research for human health benefits. Clinical ethics demand that nonhuman animals are used in the development of pharmaceuticals and vaccines. Nonhuman animals are also used for fundamental biomedical research. Biomedical research that uses nonhuman animals is big business. This paper explores how such research generates profits and gains for those associated with the industry. Research establishments, scientists and other professionals who work in laboratories, companies that supply nonhuman animal subjects and equipment for the research, and corporations that sell the resulting products are among those that benefit financially. Clinical ethical partiality to human health benefits enables these beneficiaries to claim that such research is unquestionably ethical because it conforms to required clinical ethical codes. The paper argues that even this anthropocentric form of ethics is compromised by the pervasiveness of profit-making industry. Because nonhuman animal-based biomedical research is considered to have a more ethical purpose than other forms of experiments that use nonhuman animal subjects the focus on biomedical ethics, that screens out the profits made, enables the paper to conclude with a challenge to the assumption about the ethical legitimacy of the use of nonhuman animal experiments across the board

Feedback Between Accelerator Physicists and Magnet Builders

Our task is not to record history but to change it. (K. Marx (paraphrased)) How should Accelerator Physicists set magnet error specifications? In a crude social model, they place tolerance limits on undesirable nonlinearities and errors (higher order harmonics, component alignments, etc.). The Magnet Division then goes away for a suitably lengthy period of time, and comes back with a working magnet prototype that is reproduced in industry. A better solution is to set no specifications. Accelerator Physicists begin by evaluating expected values of harmonics, generated by the Magnet Division, before and during prototype construction. Damaging harmonics are traded off against innocuous harmonics as the prototype design evolves, lagging one generation behind the evolution of expected harmonics. Finally, the real harmonics are quickly evaluated during early industrial production, allowing a final round of performance trade-offs, using contingency scenarios prepared earlier. This solution assumes a close relationship and rapid feedback between the Accelerator Physicists and the magnet builders. What follows is one perspective of the way that rapid feedback was used to `change history` (improve linear and dynamic aperture) at RHIC, to great benefit

General limmological survey of lake Cunningham, a brackish lake in the island of new providence, Bahamas

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