This study aims to identify the political alignment and political activity of the 11 Presidents of Britain’s most important scientific organisation, the Royal Society of London…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the political alignment and political activity of the 11 Presidents of Britain’s most important scientific organisation, the Royal Society of London, in its early years 1662–1703, to determine whether or not the institution was politically aligned.
Design/methodology/approach
There is almost no information addressing the political alignment of the Royal Society or its Presidents available in the institution’s archives, or in the writings of historians specialising in its administration. Even reliable biographical sources, such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography provide very limited information. However, as 10 Presidents were elected Member of Parliament (MP), The History of Parliament: British Political, Social and Local History provides a wealth of accurate, in-depth data, revealing the alignment of both.
Findings
All Presidents held senior government offices, the first was a Royalist aristocrat; of the remaining 10, 8 were Royalist or Tory MPs, 2 of whom were falsely imprisoned by the House of Commons, 2 were Whig MPs, while 4 were elevated to the Lords. The institution was Royalist aligned 1662–1680, Tory aligned 1680–1695 and Whig aligned 1695–1703, which reflects changes in Parliament and State.
Originality/value
This study establishes that the early Royal Society was not an apolitical institution and that the political alignment of Presidents and institution continued in later eras. Furthermore, it demonstrates how the election or appointment of an organisation’s most senior officer can be used to signal its political alignment with government and other organisations to serve various ends.
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The purpose of this paper is to review the ongoing failure of contemporary government, and indeed its agencies, to provide basic, let alone adequate, factual information about…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the ongoing failure of contemporary government, and indeed its agencies, to provide basic, let alone adequate, factual information about most chemical legal highs, despite permitting their unregulated sale, and having the resources to do so.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a working definition of legal highs, briefly describes how the market works, investigates government information services such as Talk to FRANK, analyse government policy towards legal highs, and finally posit cost effective interim solutions to fill the information gap for “Generation Meph”, the teenagers and students who are the main consumers of legal highs.
Findings
Despite permitting synthetic research chemicals to be sold as any other consumer product, the government consistently fails to provide meaningful information about them and instead emulates the tabloids by adopting a policy of covert quasi‐criminalisation through non‐approval. This raises questions not simply about government competence, but also the suitability of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, and indeed the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, 40 years on. It is preferable that “Generation Meph” have access to some form of evidence‐based information about what they consume rather than to none.
Originality/value
The paper suggests a survey system to provide consumers with information about legal highs, which would counterbalance the scaremongering among the tabloid press.
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This paper sets out the events that led to the development of the hypothesis that brains are sexed and that this, at least in part, underlies the sex differentiation that is…
Abstract
This paper sets out the events that led to the development of the hypothesis that brains are sexed and that this, at least in part, underlies the sex differentiation that is observed across the range of occupations. It is also suggested that an individual's brainsex is a powerful organising influence on his or her pattern of abilities, emotional life, motives, and interests. It therefore follows that choice of occupation is an indicator of an individual's essential psychological character. The roll played by chance factors in the evolution of the ideas presented here is highlighted.
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Patrick Lo, Robert Sutherland, Wei-En Hsu and Russ Girsberger
WHEN considering the dynamics of a combination of a tug and a glider one is apt to neglect the interference effects between the two aircraft, especially when the towing cable has…
Abstract
WHEN considering the dynamics of a combination of a tug and a glider one is apt to neglect the interference effects between the two aircraft, especially when the towing cable has a length of several hundred feet. That the disturbances caused by the tug have an appreciable influence on the forces acting on the glider was demonstrated by the results of flight tests recently carried out by the Nationaal Luchtvaartlaboratorium (National Aeronautical Research Institute), Amsterdam, Holland.
The purpose of this study is to examine the use of formality indicators in chat reference interchanges within the context of politeness theory, with its corollaries of face‐threat…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the use of formality indicators in chat reference interchanges within the context of politeness theory, with its corollaries of face‐threat and social relationship development.
Design/methodology/approach
This discourse analysis identifies the syntactic and content indicators and patterns of formality levels in a purposive sample of 402 chat transcripts (covering 6,572 minutes) from one academic year at a large, US, public university.
Findings
Syntactic formality markers include regular use of contractions, slang, sentence fragments, and non‐standard punctuation as well as limited use of acronyms and abbreviations with rare use of emoticons. Content‐based markers included apologies, self‐disclosure, and expressions of extreme need. Use patterns are related to the level of responsibility assumed by the librarian as well as the interview stages.
Research limitations/implications
A limited data source and potential coder bias are the two limitations of this study. The research implications point to the need for chat reference librarians to assume greater control of formality nuances in order to encourage a more effective search for the user.
Practical implications
The fundamentals of politeness theory, particularly in terms of formality indicators, should be incorporated into staff training and behavioral standards for reference librarians. While future research is needed to determine the most effective means of employing this theoretical construct, this study implies that a self‐reflective, culturally sensitive use of the nuances of formality can enhance the user's experience.
Originality/value
This study is the first to systematically examine formality indicators in the context of politeness theory. The use of two coders, a full academic year's worth of data, and a substantial sample provide great depth.
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THE responsibility for materials handling methods, as for all other production methods, should be made the clear responsibility of the head of Work Study. The reasoning behind…
Abstract
THE responsibility for materials handling methods, as for all other production methods, should be made the clear responsibility of the head of Work Study. The reasoning behind that firm conclusion is very logical. Industry in general depends for its success upon the application of some process such as machining or finishing of raw materials. Every such operation adds to its value and builds up a firm's turnover. It is therefore obvious that the more time there is devoted to conversion the less will be wasted on profitless storage or unproductive transport from one part of the works to another.