A Triumph of Voluntarism? Industrial Relations and Strikes in Northern Ireland During World War Two

Flanders (1974) considered the Second World War to be the great social triumph and vindication of voluntarism in British industrial relations. This paper considers the experience of one region, Northern Ireland, functioning in a unique social and political context and considers the experience of its wartime industrial relations system. The political framework, trade union growth and representation, collective bargaining, strike activity including the major munitions strike of 1944 which may have provoked Defence Regulations Order 1AA, labour management and Joint Production Committees are all examined. The paper gives qualified support to Flanders’ conclusion.

Engineering passive bioreactive barriers: risk-managing the legacy of industrial soil and groundwater pollution

Permeable reactive barriers are a technology that is one decade old, with most full-scale applications based on abiotic mechanisms. Though there is extensive literature on engineered bioreactors, natural biodegradation potential, and in situ remediation, it is only recently that engineered passive bioreactive barrier technology is being considered at the commercial scale to manage contaminated soil and groundwater risks. Recent full-scale studies are providing the scientific confidence in our understanding of coupled microbial (and genetic), hydrogeologic, and geochemical processes in this approach and have highlighted the need to further integrate engineering and science tools.

Fate and transport of volatile organic compounds in glacial till and groundwater at an industrial site in Northern Ireland

Volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination of subsurface geological material and groundwater was discovered on the Nortel Monkstown industrial site, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The objectives of this study were to (1) investigate the characteristics of the geological material and its influences on contaminated groundwater flow across the site using borehole logs and hydrological evaluations, and (2) identify the contaminants and examine their distribution in the subsurface geological material and groundwater using chemical analysis. This report focuses on the eastern car park (ECP) which was a former storage area associated with trichloroethene (TCE) degreasing operations. This is where the greatest amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particularly TCE, were detected. The study site is on a complex deposit of clayey glacial till with discontinuous coarser grained lenses, mainly silts, sands and gravel, which occur at 0.45–7.82 m below ground level (bgl). The lenses overall form an elongated formation that acts as a small unconfined shallow aquifer. There is a continuous low permeable stiff clayey till layer beneath the lenses that performs as an aquitard to the groundwater. Highest concentrations of VOCs, mainly TCE, in the geological material and groundwater are in these coarser lenses at ~4.5–7 m bgl. Highest TCE measurements at 390,000 µg L-1 for groundwater and at 39,000 µg kg-1 at 5.7 m for geological material were in borehole GA19 in the coarse lens zone. It is assumed that TCE gained entrance to the subsurface near this borehole where the clayey till was thin to absent above coarse lenses which provided little retardation to the vertical migration of this dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) into the groundwater. However, TCE is present in low concentrations in the geological material overlying the coarse lens zone. Additionally, VOCs appear to be associated with poorly drained layers and in peat

Space and phase resolved plasma parameters in an industrial dual-frequency capacitively coupled radio-frequency discharge

The dynamics of high energetic electrons (>= 11.7 eV) in a modified industrial confined dual-frequency capacitively coupled RF discharge (Exelan, Lam Research Inc.), operated at 1.937 MHz and 27.118 MHz, is investigated by means of phase resolved optical emission spectroscopy. Operating in a He-O-2. plasma with small rare gas admixtures the emission is measured, with one-dimensional spatial resolution along the discharge axis. Both the low and high frequency RF cycle are resolved. The diagnostic is based on time dependent measurements of the population densities of specifically chosen excited rare gas states. A time dependent model, based on rate equations, describes the dynamics of the population densities of these levels. Based on this model and the comparison of the excitation of various rare gas states, with different excitation thresholds, time and space resolved electron temperature, propagation velocity and qualitative electron density as well as electron energy distribution functions are determined. This information leads to a better understanding of the dual-frequency sheath dynamics and shows, that separate control of ion energy and electron density is limited.

Inscribir el declive en el tiempo. Detroit: Auge y crisis de la ciudad industrial

A comienzos del siglo XX, Detroit era una ciudad dinámica en pleno desarrollo. Pronto se convirtió en la cuarta ciudad de Estados Unidos, la capital de la naciente industria automovilística. El crecimiento se prolongó hasta finales de los años 50, cuando, a pesar del auge económico de Estados Unidos y de su área metropolitana, Detroit comenzó a mostrar los primeros signos de estancamiento. La crisis se ha prolongado hasta hoy, cuando Detroit constituye el paradigma de la ciudad industrial en declive. Estas dos imágenes contrapuestas, el auge y la crisis, no parecen explicar por sí mismas las causas de la intensidad y persistencia del declive de Detroit. Analizar las interacciones entre crecimiento económico, políticas públicas locales y desarrollo urbano a lo largo del tiempo permitirá subrayar las continuidades y comprender en qué medida el declive de Detroit ancla sus raíces en el modelo planteado durante la etapa de auge.

Neural modelling, control and optimisation of an industrial grinding process

This paper describes the development of neural model-based control strategies for the optimisation of an industrial aluminium substrate disk grinding process. The grindstone removal rate varies considerably over a stone life and is a highly nonlinear function of process variables. Using historical grindstone performance data, a NARX-based neural network model is developed. This model is then used to implement a direct inverse controller and an internal model controller based on the process settings and previous removal rates. Preliminary plant investigations show that thickness defects can be reduced by 50% or more, compared to other schemes employed. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.