NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) Hermeticity Task. NEPP Program Task 13-294: MSFC/GSFC Joint Hermeticity Instrument Correlation Study of TO-5, TO-18, and UB Style Packages

No abstract availabl

‘Writes a fair hand and appears to be well qualified’ : the recruitment of Bank of England clerks, 1800-1815

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedThe financial strains of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars had a significant impact on the Bank of England. In its position as banker to the state and manager of the state’s debt, it experienced a significant increase in workload and thus was forced rapidly to expand its workforce. From a complement of around 300 in the mid-1780s, the number of clerks employed had increased to over 900 in 1815. Using a unique set of records preserved in the Bank’s archives, this article investigates the backgrounds and skills of the men recruited during the expansion of the early nineteenth century. It finds a significant gap between the skills required by the Bank and the skills possessed by its potential workforce.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

After Loss, a Certain Train

Pages 54-5

Fault Box Modeling of Dip Slip Faults: A Framework for Fault Box Design and Future Studies

The behavior of soils during surface fault rupture is a serious concern in the planning and design of infrastructure that may be located within or near a fault zone. Challenges associated with developing mitigation measures for surface fault rupture include the uncertainty of fault rupture and the variability of fault behavior. Current analytical procedures define surface fault rupture according to the type of fault movement (strike slip, normal or reverse), the amount of displacement on the fault, and the mechanics of the material overlying the fault. The purpose of this thesis is to reconfirm analytical solutions and gain a better understanding of the mechanics of dip slip surface fault rupture. Specifically, this study focuses on analyzing the influence of soil density/stiffness and fault angle on rupture propagation and distributed surface displacements. While direct experimental results are not obtained, a constructed fault box and planned trials inform a framework for predicting the outcomes of these trials using existing literature. These prior studies provide a basis for forecasting the surface deformation patterns and propagation behavior that the planned trials would have revealed, offering valuable insights into fault rupture mechanics. The fault box, a 2-meter-long by 0.5-meter-wide fault box filled with 0.45 meters of Monterey #2/16 sand, was designed to examine the factors that influence the rupture propagation of alluvial soils overlying dip slip faults. The faulting apparatus consists of a scissor jack mechanism that replicates basal displacement by moving one half of the box relative to the stationary half at interchangeable fault angles. Planned trials involved using Monterey #2/16 sand prepared configurations of dense, loose, and layered loose-over-dense material to represent different geological conditions. In these planned experiments, ruptures would be driven until a clear shear band developed in the overlying sand and reached the surface. By synthesizing findings from prior studies, this research predicts that dense sands create concentrated shear bands with larger surface displacements and distinct surface ruptures, while loose sands result in more diffuse deformations over broader shear bands with less defined surface expressions. Additionally, shallow fault angles result in broader deformation zones, as the lower angle directs stress over a wider area. In layered soil configurations, density contrasts further influence deformation patterns, with transitions between layers influencing the extent and localization of surface displacements. These findings demonstrate that fault orientation and soil density control the nature of surface fault rupture

NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) Hermeticity Task Overview, NEPP Program Task 13-294: Hermeticity Correlation Study

No abstract availabl

Change and continuity in UK public house retailing

This paper outlines and reviews four major changes that have occurred in the UK public house retailing (PHR) sector since 1989, that is the 1989 'Beer Orders', the changing socio-economic context, public house estate investment, and financialisation. While these changes have been taking place, it is argued that a degree of continuity (discussed in terms of people, the regional brewer/retailers, and control and business development) is to be found underpinning this period of turbulence in the sector, which is typically not foregrounded to the same extent. The paper illustrates the change and continuity argument with primary data gathered by the author through a longitudinal study of the industry, and concludes with a discussion linking UK PHR change and continuity

The financialization of mass wealth, banking crises and politics over the long run

The co-evolution of democratic politics and mass, financialized wealth has destabilized highly integrated financial systems and the socio-political underpinnings of neoliberal policy norms at domestic and global levels. Over the long run, it has increased the political pressure on governments to undertake bailouts during major banking crises and, by raising voters’ attentiveness to wealth losses and distributional inequities, has sharply raised the bar for government performance. The result has been more costly bailouts, greater political instability and the sustained politicization of wealth cleavages in crisis aftermaths. We underline the crucial importance and modernity of this phenomenon by showing how the high concentration of wealth in pre-1914 Britain and America among elites was associated with limited crisis interventions and surprisingly tranquil political aftermaths. By contrast, the 2007–2009 crises in both countries epitomise the political dilemmas facing elected governments in a new world of mass financialized wealth and the impact on political polarization and democratic politics. We show that these dilemmas were embryonic in the interwar period and highlight how the evolutionary forces shaping policy and political outcomes reveal the importance of time, context and the effects of long cycles in the world economy and global politics