The ‘Us’ in Trust: Who Trusts Northern Ireland’s Political Institutions and Actors?

This article examines levels of interest and trust among the public in relation to Northern Ireland's newly established political institutions and actors, through an analysis of the results of the 2007 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILT). It is important to reveal the specific groups of people with the highest levels of political disenchantment, particularly in the context of the longer-term stability of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive, since the willingness of the electorate to have faith and trust in the workability of these political institutions and in the various political actors in whose custody they lie is considered vital.

Campaigns Against Incineration in Ireland - North and South: Framing Networking and Political Opportunities

An analysis of community-based campaigns opposing waste incineration and advocating 'zero waste' policies in Ireland, North and South.

Political Discourse and Conflict Resolution:Debating peace in Northern Ireland

This book offers new insights into the close relationship between political discourses and conflict resolution through critical analysis of the role of discursive change in a peace process.

Just as a peace process has many dimensions and stakeholders, so the discourses considered here come from a wide range of sources and actors. The book contains in-depth analyses of official discourses used to present the peace process, the discourses of political party leaders engaging (or otherwise) with it, the discourses of community-level activists responding to it, and the discourses of the media and the academy commenting on it. These discourses reflect varying levels of support for the peace process – from obstruction to promotion – and the role of language in moving across this spectrum according to issue and occasion. Common to all these analyses is the conviction that the language used by political protagonists and cultural stakeholders has a profound effect on progression towards peace.

Bringing together leading experts on Northern Ireland’s peace process from a range of academic disciplines, including political science, sociology, linguistics, history, geography, law, and peace studies, this book offers new insights into the discursive dynamics of violent political conflict and its resolution.

Validating Injection Stretch-Blow Molding Simulation Through Free Blow Trials

A 2D isothermal finite element simulation of the injection stretch-blow molding (ISBM) process for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers has been developed through the commercial finite element package ABAQUS/standard. In this work, the blowing air to inflate the PET preform was modeled through two different approaches: a direct pressure input (as measured in the blowing machine) and a constant mass flow rate input (based on a pressure-volume-time relationship). The results from these two approaches were validated against free blow and free stretch-blow experiments, which were instrumented and monitored through high-speed video. Results show that simulation using a constant mass flow rate approach gave a better prediction of volume vs. time curve and preform shape evolution when compared with the direct pressure approach and hence is more appropriate in modeling the preblowing stage in the injection stretch-blow molding process

James Anderson's Political Economy--His Influence on Smith and Malthus

James Anderson's powerful critique of Adam Smith's position on the corn export bounty was published in 1777. It focuse d on Smith's proposition that the bounty could not lead to increased corn production because it could not increase corn's real price. Smit h's response to the critique is traced in later editions of Wealth of Nations. While Anderson's critique of Smith influenced Thomas Malthu s's writings from 1803 onwards, his theory of differential rent did n ot influence Malthus at this stage. An examination of the evolution o f Malthus's ideas on rent between 1803 and 1815, however, indicates t hat Malthus knew and used Anderson's work on rent.