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Vegetative States: Potatoes, Affordances, and Survival Ecologies
No full textThe potato has been critical to plant–human assemblages both in South America and in Europe. A study of the capacities, or affordances of this plant within diverse political economies highlights its mutability in some circumstances and vulnerability in others. The contrasts are stark. In South America, peasant agriculture took the potato across a large and diverse ecumene allowing its elaboration into many varieties and sustaining extensive state systems that taxed its production. Spanish colonialism repurposed the plant as the calorific basis for concentrations of coerced labour at silver mines. Back in Europe it was initially the resistance of the potato to state violence that encouraged peasants to turn over their fields to a tuberous plant that “concealed” its food underground. But its calorific productivity per acre again saw it repurposed as peasants were converted to proletarians, allowed to subsist on only the smallest plots while working for landlords on larger estates
Covid-19, Border Closures, and International Law
No full textCovid-19 pays no heed to borders. Globalisation has carried the virus from a market in Wuhan, China, to almost every country in the world. In response to the virus, some governments have closed their borders to refugees and/or have pushed back refugees from their territories, even though they are well-aware of the dire circumstances that have caused these people to flee their homes. This reflection sets out the compatibility of such practices with international refugee and human rights law. It argues that while states may put in place measures to restrict the spread of the virus (such as health screening, testing, and/or quarantine) vis a vis refugees, such measures may not result in refoulement or in denying them an effective opportunity to seek asylum
Assessing potential of sparse-input reanalyses for centennial-scale land surface air temperature homogenisation
No full textObservations from the historical meteorological observing network contain many artefacts of non-climatic origin which must be accounted for prior to using these data in climate applications. State-of-the-art homogenisation approaches use various flavours of pairwise comparison between a target station and candidate neighbour station series. Such approaches require an adequate number of neighbours of sufficient quality and comparability - a condition that is met for most station series since the mid-20th Century. However, pairwise approaches have challenges where suitable neighbouring stations are sparse, as remains the case in vast regions of the globe and is common almost everywhere prior to the early 20th Century. Modern sparse-input centennial reanalysis products continue to improve and offer a potential alternative to pairwise comparison, particularly where and when observations are sparse. They do not directly ingest or use land-based surface temperature observations, so they are a formally independent estimate. This may be particularly helpful in cases where structurally similar changes exist across broad networks, which challenges current techniques in the absence of metadata. They also potentially offer a valuable methodologically distinct method, which would help explore structural uncertainty in homogenisation techniques. The present study compares the potential of spatially-interpolated sparse-input reanalysis products to neighbour-based approaches to perform homogenisation of global monthly land surface air temperature records back to 1850 based upon the statistical properties of station-minus-reanalysis and station-minus-neighbour series. This shows that neighbour-based approaches likely remain preferable in data dense regions and epochs. However, the most recent reanalysis product, NOAA-CIRES-DOE 20CRv3, is potentially preferable in cases where insufficient neighbours are available. This may in particular affect long-term global average estimates where a small number of long-term stations in data sparse regions will make substantial contributions to global estimates and may contain missed data artefacts in present homogenisation approaches
Reduction in Ocean Heat Transport at 26°N since 2008 Cools the Eastern Subpolar Gyre of the North Atlantic Ocean
No full textNorthward ocean heat transport at 268N in the Atlantic Ocean has been measured since 2004. The ocean
heat transport is large—approximately 1.25 PW, and on interannual time scales it exhibits surprisingly large
temporal variability. There has been a long-term reduction in ocean heat transport of 0.17 PW from 1.32 PW
before 2009 to 1.15 PW after 2009 (2009–16) on an annual average basis associated with a 2.5-Sv (1 Sv [
106 m3 s
21
) drop in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). The reduction in the AMOC
has cooled and freshened the upper ocean north of 268N over an area following the offshore edge of the Gulf
Stream/North Atlantic Current from the Bahamas to Iceland. Cooling peaks south of Iceland where surface
temperatures are as much as 28C cooler in 2016 than they were in 2008. Heat uptake by the atmosphere
appears to have been affected particularly along the path of the North Atlantic Current. For the reduction in
ocean heat transport, changes in ocean heat content account for about one-quarter of the long-term reduction
in ocean heat transport while reduced heat uptake by the atmosphere appears to account for the remainder of
the change in ocean heat transport
The Financialization of Rental Housing: Evictions And Rent Regulation
No full textEvictions in the private rental sector have acquired primary importance in the public debate. Unaffordable rents and insecurity in the private rented sector have been appointed as one of the primary reasons for homelessness. Due to high rental prices and a chronic housing shortage, families who are not able to find alternative ac- commodation might fall into homelessness when they are evicted from their homes. This study contributes to the current understanding of the conditions that led to the lack of affordable housing and limited housing options in Ireland. While a range of factors contribute to the housing and homelessness crisis in the country, this paper examines current data and legislation relating to the entry of corporate landlords into the private real estate market. In the face of the unhelpful structural trends of rising poverty and increasing homelessness, this work argues that current levels of homelessness are associated with insecurity in the private rented sector and rising rent unaffordability. This paper finds that the current housing policy framework that focuses on temporary remediation is increasing the commitment to financial actors connected to global corporations and collaborating to the weak regulation of the housing market
Composite Power System Reliability Evaluation Considering Stochastic Parameters Uncertainties
No full textIn electrical power systems, the impact of
interruptions due to failures can be reduced through expansion
planning studies. While high investments result in very expensive
and more reliable decisions, reduced investments can lead to
unreliable systems. Therefore, it is evident that economic and
reliability constraints are conflicting, which makes decision-making difficult in planning and operation stage. The reliability
theory, based on probabilities and stochastic processes, allows
modeling the random behavior of equipment to estimate
performance indices such as Loss of Load Cost. However,
parameters as equipment failure rate and repair time are subject
to random variations due to limited or nonexistent operating
histories, aging and statistical errors. This paper proposes a
technique for considering uncertainties on stochastic equipment
data in power systems expansion planning. Based on the Monte
Carlo Simulation, the proposed technique uses Interval
Arithmetic as a method for calculating uncertainty through the
theory of imprecise probabilities (P-Box). The application in a
test system and a real transmission system allows observing the
behavior of the reliability cost as well as the final cost of
alternatives for expansion of these systems with the consideration
of uncertainties along the expansion horizon
The (non/)response of trade unions to the “gig” challenge
No full textThe advent of platform work has led to deepened debate about the role of trade unions in our contemporary, segmented labour market. One of the crucial questions unions face is how to approach the protection, and organisation, of platform (“gig”) workers. The dilemma about whether to extend employment protection to more of those who work outside of the classical employment relationship can be solved in at least two ways: by changing labour legislation, and/or by extending the scope of collective agreements. This paper analyses two different approaches, from a common law and civil law perspective within the EU, and evaluates their efficacy. The common law perspective is analysed by looking at the case of Ireland, while from the civil law perspective the case of Slovenia is presented. In both countries, trade unions have been struggling to define strategies to approach the issue of the diversification of work relations. On the one hand, unions are wary of eroding the benefits of “employee” status, but on the other, in the context of membership decline, demonstrating relevance to increasing numbers of “non-standard” workers (including “gig workers”) is more important than ever. The paper assesses the union movements’ response in both countries to the “Uberisation” of work
The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power, Third Edition
No full textThe abstract is included in the text
Sustainable Observations of the AMOC: Methodology and Technology
No full textThe Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a key mechanism of heat, freshwater, and carbon redistribution in the climate system. The precept that the AMOC has changed
abruptly in the past, notably during and at the end of the last ice age, and that it is “very likely” to weaken in
the coming century due to anthropogenic climate change is a key motivation for sustained observations of the AMOC. This paper reviews the methodology and technology used to observe the AMOC and assesses these ideas and systems for accuracy, shortcomings, potential improvements, and sustainability. We review hydrographic techniques and look at how these traditional techniques can meet modern requirements.
Transport mooring arrays (TMAs) provide the “gold standard” for sustained AMOC observing, utilizing dynamic height, current meter, and other instrumentation and techniques to produce continuous observations of the AMOC. We consider the principle of these systems and how they can be sustained and
improved into the future. Techniques utilizing indirect measurements, such as satellite altimetry, coupled
with in situ measurements, such as the Argo float array, are also discussed. Existing technologies that perhaps have not been fully exploited for estimating AMOC are reviewed and considered for this purpose. Technology is constantly evolving, and we look to the future of technology and how it can be deployed for sustained and expanded AMOC measurements. Finally, all of these methodologies and technologies are considered with a view to a sustained and sustainable future for AMOC observation
Historicising the Normative Boundaries of Diversity: The Minority Treaties of 1919 in a Longue Durée Perspective
No full textThe article accounts for the specific form a certain legal and, indeed, normative understanding of diversity informed the so-called Minority Treaties of 1919 by historicising the evolution of certain interlocking discourses over the remit of ‘rights’, as well as the identity of their holders. It seeks to account for why certain groups (national minorities) rather than others were singled out for protection and why the rights they were given took the form they did (cultural and linguistic) by positioning them in the context of broader debates within which they were embedded. I thus argue against reading the Minority Treaties from a ‘presentist’ perspective that not only retrojects a certain teleological narrative that tends to read them along the familiar lines of ‘progress’, but bears the danger of naturalising certain categories – such as ‘the nation’, ‘the nation-state’, or ‘nationalism’ – in light of their subsequent prominence, which consequently acquires a certain air of inevitability. To do so, the article first discusses normative conceptions of ‘diversity’ in a longue durée perspective, arguing for the emergence and contestation of hybrid and combined models of managing ‘difference’ during the long 19th century, prompted by the opposing tractions of efforts at homogenisation and hierarchisation. Second, it places the Minority Treaties in their immediate 1919 context, arguing that the form they took was significantly influenced also by contingent and extraneous contemporary factors, such as the expansion of the franchise after World War I or the sustained attempts to contain socialist revolutionary activity. The paper illustrates these developments by making specific reference to the situation of the Jewish minorities in Central and Eastern Europe as a case study