Hybrid knowledge: the transnational co-production of the gas centrifuge for uranium enrichment in the 1960s

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN KRIGE
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Uranium Enrichment ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Gas Centrifuge ◽  
Hybrid Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Circulation ◽  
National Power ◽  
The 1960S

AbstractThe ‘how’ and the ‘why’ of knowledge circulation is explored in a study of the encounter between American and British nuclear scientists and engineers who together developed a gas centrifuge to enrich uranium in the 1960s. A fine-grained analysis of the transnational encounter reveals that the ‘how’ engages a wide variety of sometimes mundane modes of exchange in a series of face-to-face interactions over several years. The ‘why’ is driven by the reciprocal wish to improve the performance of the centrifuge, though this motive is embedded in the asymmetric field of the ‘special relationship’ in nuclear matters between the United Kingdom and the United States. The result of the encounter is co-produced, hybrid knowledge in which the national provenance of the contributions from each side of the Atlantic is at once diluted and a contested site for the affirmation of national power.

scholarly journals The Nonproliferation Emperor Has No Clothes: The Gas Centrifuge, Supply-Side Controls, and the Future of Nuclear Proliferation

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 39-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Scott Kemp
Keyword(s):  
Security Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Assistance ◽  
Uranium Enrichment ◽  
Technical Ability ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Gas Centrifuge ◽  
Indigenous Production ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S

Technology has been long understood to play a central role in limiting the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Evolving nuclear technology, increased access to information, and systematic improvements in design and manufacturing tools, however, should in time ease the proliferation challenge. Eventually, even developing countries could possess a sufficient technical ability. There is evidence that this transition has already occurred. The basic uranium-enrichment gas centrifuge, developed in the 1960s, has technical characteristics that are within reach of nearly all states, without foreign assistance or access to export-controllable materials. The history of centrifuge development in twenty countries supports this perspective, as do previously secret studies carried out by the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom. Complicating matters, centrifuges also have properties that make the detection of a clandestine program enormously difficult. If conditions for the clandestine and indigenous production of weapons have emerged, then nonproliferation institutions focused on technology will be inadequate. Although it would represent a near-foundational shift in nuclear security policy, the changed technology landscape may now necessitate a return to institutions focused instead on motivations.

scholarly journals Two Grand Old Ladies Face to Face: The United Kingdom and the United States of America Constitutions Compared

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Patrono ◽  
Justin O Frosini
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Parliamentary Sovereignty

This article discusses the Constitution of the United Kingdom and then draws some comparisons between it and the Constitution of the United States of America. It touches on issues such as how the United Kingdom's commitment to parliamentary sovereignty has been affected by the country's relationship with the European Union.

Abortion and Reproductive Rights

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Maslow Cohen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Abortion Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The 1960S

This article discusses critical debate about individual control over the beginnings of life that has sprawled across the fields of academic law, philosophy, politics, religion, the life sciences, and the self-christened field of bioethics from the 1960s up to the present. The subject has formed in and around a cascade of popular pressures; biomedical advances; legislative, judicial, and public policy initiatives; media attention; and the boiling politics in which, at least in the United States, the whole series of enterprises has been bathed. The present undertaking will train on the law. It covers contraception in the United States, abortion law and policy in the United States, and contraception and abortion in Europe and the United Kingdom.

Us Extraterritorial Jurisdiction: The Helms-burton and D'Amato Acts

1997 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 378-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaughan Lowe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
Competition Laws ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction ◽  
National Governments

The history of clashes over extraterritorial jurisdiction between the United States of America and other States in the Americas, Europe and elsewhere is a long one. That history is commonly traced back to the antitrust claims arising from the Alcoa case in 1945, in which the “effects” doctrine was advanced in the peculiar and objectionable form in which it is applied, not simply to acts which constitute elements of a single offence but which occur in different jurisdictions but, rather, to the economic repercussions of acts in one State which are felt in another. The conflict persisted into the 1950s, with the clashes over US regulation of the international shipping and paper industries. In the 1960s and 1970s there were further clashes in relation to the extraterritorial application of US competition laws, notably in disputes over shipping regulation and the notorious Uranium Antitrust litigation, in which US laws were applied to penalise the extraterritorial conduct of non-US companies, conducted with the approval of their national governments, at a time when those companies were barred by US law from trading in the United States. It was that litigation which was in large measure responsible for the adoption in the United Kingdom of the Protection of Trading Interests Act 1980, which significantly extended the powers which the British government had asserted in the 1952 Shipping Contracts and Commercial Documents Act to defend British interests against US extraterritorial claims.

Berlin and the Quadripartite Agreement of 1971

1973 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günther Doeker ◽  
Klaus Melsheimer ◽  
Dieter Schröder
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Divided Germany

The present legal status of Berlin after the conclusion on September 3, 1971 of the Quadripartite Agreement between France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States can only be understood in terms of its own historical development and the context of the international politics of the 1960s. Although any legal and political analysis of divided Germany and Berlin must take into account a period of history dating back to the 1940s, it is assumed here that the essential facts are sufficiently well known to serve as a background for the following analysis.

scholarly journals Virtual delivery: a panacea for the financial and ethical challenges associated with physiology laboratory classes?

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 744-748
Author(s):  
Voula Gaganis ◽  
Elizabeth Beckett ◽  
Julia Choate ◽  
Nancy Aguilar-Roca ◽  
Sarah Etherington ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
The United States ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Animal Tissues ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Wet Lab ◽  
Physiology Laboratory ◽  
Intended Learning Outcomes

There has been a gradual shift in the delivery of physiology laboratory classes over the last 30 years. For many, wet-lab demonstrations using animal tissues have been reduced or replaced with student-led investigations where students are both subjects and researchers. Despite these changes, expectations remain that physiology courses should include a practical component to encourage deeper and higher-order learning. Wet-lab tissue experiments and student-based group research formats can be expensive to run, associated with various ethical constraints, and, as discovered in these times of COVID-19, difficult to operate while adhering to physical distancing. We address the proposition that online and/or remote delivery of laboratory classes using digital technologies may provide a solution to both financial and ethical constraints of on-campus laboratory classes. Our discussions, as an international group of 10 physiologists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, revealed that although some of the financial and ethical constraints of using animal tissues and student-led investigations were addressed by the introduction of online alternatives, the construction and maintenance of online delivery modes could also be expensive and ethical issues, not previously considered, included digital equity and student data security. There was also a collective perception that if face-to-face laboratory classes were changed to an entirely virtual mode there was a risk that some intended learning outcomes would not be met. It was concluded that the “ideal” approach is likely a hybrid model whereby student attendance in face-to-face, on-campus classes is supported with interactive digital content either developed in house or obtained through third-party providers.

Perceptions of nicotine in current and former users of tobacco and tobacco harm reduction products from seven countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-206
Author(s):  
Sarah Rajkumar ◽  
Nada Adibah ◽  
Michael Jonathan Paskow ◽  
Brian Eric Erkkila
Keyword(s):  
Harm Reduction ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Tobacco Harm Reduction ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Other Substances ◽  
The Media ◽  
Conflicting Messages

Purpose Nicotine is widely known as a tobacco constituent and for its use as a tobacco cessation aid. The development of new devices for nicotine delivery in recent years has led to uncertainty among consumers regarding the health risks of nicotine relative to tobacco. The purpose of this study was to discover if current and former consumers of tobacco and tobacco harm reduction (THR) products could distinguish between “nicotine” and “cigarettes” and examined the preceding media dialogue to determine if conflicting messages by the media influence public perceptions. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative survey was administered online in Norway (NO), Japan (JP), the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US), while face-to-face computer-aided interviews were conducted with randomly selected samples in India (IN), Greece (GR) and South Africa (SA). Participants were between 18 and 69 years of age and either current users of tobacco and THR products or previous users who quit within the past five years. Questions assessed beliefs about harmfulness of nicotine. Nicotine and other products and substances were also independently rated for harmfulness on a scale of 1–10 and subsequently compared. In addition, the authors examined the media dialogue of top media outlets in four countries to assess the potential influence on people’s beliefs. Findings A total of 54,267 participants (NO: 1,700, JP: 2,227, UK: 2,250, USA: 2,309, IN: 41,633, GR: 1,801, SA: 2,359) were sampled with the percentage of women participants ranging from 14.8% (IN) to 53.8% (UK). Between 68.3% (men, IN) and 88.7% (men, USA) of current consumers believed nicotine is harmful. Current consumers who agreed with the statement that nicotine is the primary cause of tobacco-related cancer ranged from 43.7% (men, UK) to 78.0% (men, SA). In six countries nicotine was rated nearly as harmful as cigarettes and alcohol, while other substances such as sugar, salt or caffeine, were usually rated as less harmful. Research limitations/implications A large proportion of consumers across all surveyed countries view nicotine and cigarettes similarly. Clearer communication on the harmful properties of both by the media is needed to help consumers make informed decisions about products across the continuum of risk. Messaging to consumers, especially via the media, propagates misinformation about the relative harms of tobacco and nicotine through reporting that is often incomplete and biased toward more negative aspects. Originality/value This study specifically assessed public perceptions of nicotine as opposed to products containing nicotine, which is the focus of previous studies. Apart from showing that consumers often incorrectly perceive nicotine and cigarettes as similar in terms of harmfulness, the authors highlight the need for more accurate and complete reporting by the media to clarify widespread misunderstandings and mitigate public uncertainty.

scholarly journals The slow death of a dogma? The prohibition of legislative history in the 20th century

2020 ◽  
pp. 147377952096795
Author(s):  
John J Magyar
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Statutory Interpretation ◽  
Legislative History ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
State Of Affairs

It is commonly believed that the rule prohibiting reliance on legislative history as an aid to statutory interpretation was firmly in place in the United Kingdom, and indeed throughout the English-speaking common law jurisdictions of the world, long before the turn of the 20th century; and that the rule was set aside in the case of Pepper v Hart in 1992. However, an examination of the relevant cases and the canonical textbooks by Maxwell and Craies reveal that the rule was subject to a significant amount of disagreement at the turn of the 20th century, particularly with respect to the admissibility of commissioners’ reports to uncover the mischief of a statutory provision. This disagreement would not be completely resolved until the 1960s. With respect to other types of legislative history, there were prominent exceptional cases over the course of the 20th century; and there was a gradual acceptance of more types of legislative history as aids to statutory interpretation during the decades leading up to Pepper v Hart. Thus, the simple narrative description that the rule was firmly in place until it was set aside in 1992 must give way to a more complex narrative of disagreement and gradual decline. Meanwhile, as the rule lost traction in the United Kingdom over the course of the 20th century, a growing accumulation of justifications for the rule has been assembled, and an ongoing debate has been taking place about the efficacy of reliance on legislative history. Based upon the different trajectories followed in other English-speaking common law jurisdictions, and particularly the United States, the decline of the rule was not inevitable. It follows that the current state of affairs is likely to change over time.

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