Informal Terms Research Articles

Panchayati Raj Institutions: Participatory Democracy or Participants’ Democracy? Case Study of Balekoppa Gram Panchayat in Shimoga District of Karnataka

The concept of Panchayati Raj has undergone several changes ever since its inception five decades back. These changes have come through various means, amendment to the constitution, corresponding changes to the various State Panchayati Raj Acts and through both positive (progressive) and negative (regressive) activities at the grassroots level by the participants themselves.The present study attempts to capture the political dynamics involved in the running of a Gram Panchayat. The first part of the paper focuses on the alliances and counter alliances made by the elected members to get elected to the posts of the Chairperson and the deputy chairperson, contrary to the general research conclusions that caste plays a predominant role in the Panchayati Raj institutions, especially in the village panchayats. This issue gains importance in the state of Karnataka where the top posts in PRIs are held on quota reservation system, (allotment of reservation to SCs/STs and women by rotation to different panchayat constituencies and various executive posts) something similar to the American system of Gerry(Jerry) mandering. The former is politico-social in nature while the latter is politico-geographical. The second part of the paper shows how after having made an alliance, the leadership, in informal terms, the ruling alliance, functions, responding to the demands of the alliance on the one hand and keeping at bay the opposition on the other. This paper is a qualitative analysis and shows how weak leaderships based on opportunistic alliances function and who gains from such a political phenomena. Further more, it shows how the bargaining power of the electorate from ‘the other side’(non-ruling alliance) is reduced to mere requests, and how the ruling alliance gets the developmental work done through their own people and for their own people. Panchayati Raj Institutions, which were supposed to be ‘participatory’ in nature is reduced to mere participation of the ruling alliance and how the people from ‘the other side’ (both elected members and the common villagers) respond to the dynamics. The paper concludes by showing how such political dynamics at the grassroots level weaken the real and original objective of taking governance to the people branding it ‘participatory democracy’ and how the weak leadership plays into the hands of the permanent executive. According to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, government of India, there are about 231815 Gram Panchayats with a total number of 2186452 elected representatives. Each gram Panchayat is distinctively different from each other. The present paper attempts to analyse not the comprehensive developmental and political activities of the Gram Panchayat and compare it with other successful panchayats, but to observe how political dynamics within the leadership effects political and developmental activities in the villages and how the grassroots stakeholders respond to such dynamics.Though the 73rd amendment to the Indian Constitution visualized democratizing deliberative bodies at the grassroots level, the p resent study suggests that this ‘democracy’ is actually hijacked by some local leaders through various political/social and cultural means merely to neutralize the influence of the mandatory provisions of reservations in order to suit their political interests and to retain their control over the local polity and resources, without effecting the provisions of reservation.

Stratigraphy of the Anthropocene

The Anthropocene, an informal term used to signal the impact of collective human activity on biological, physical and chemical processes on the Earth system, is assessed using stratigraphic criteria. It is complex in time, space and process, and may be considered in terms of the scale, relative timing, duration and novelty of its various phenomena. The lithostratigraphic signal includes both direct components, such as urban constructions and man-made deposits, and indirect ones, such as sediment flux changes. Already widespread, these are producing a significant 'event layer', locally with considerable long-term preservation potential. Chemostratigraphic signals include new organic compounds, but are likely to be dominated by the effects of CO(2) release, particularly via acidification in the marine realm, and man-made radionuclides. The sequence stratigraphic signal is negligible to date, but may become geologically significant over centennial/millennial time scales. The rapidly growing biostratigraphic signal includes geologically novel aspects (the scale of globally transferred species) and geologically will have permanent effects.

Who reads the project file? Exploring the power effects of knowledge tools in construction project management

Various critical authors have questioned the salience, efficacy and power effects of formal project management bodies of knowledge (PMBoKs). As a result project management knowledge tools are increasingly being conceptualized along more flexible, adaptable, reflexive, democratic and informal terms. A central driver for this shift is that PM knowledge will be more relevant and useful for practitioners if it can be reflexively tailored to fit local project scenarios, emergent problems and different communities of practice, rather than projects being structured to fit generic ‘best practice’ ideals. Hence new knowledge tools increasingly would appear critical to alleviate various detrimental power effects associated with bureaucratic knowledge practices within project‐based industries, not least construction. This assumption is examined through a study of a formal and codified project management knowledge tool—a project file—within a small team of project practitioners in a large civil engineering consultancy. Various concepts of power related to actor‐network theory (ANT) are mobilized to understand how non‐human artefacts can enact power and knowledge in nuanced ways within organizations. This theoretically informed study will aid both researchers and practitioners interested in the consequences of developing prescriptive or reflexive project management knowledge within construction contexts and beyond.

Usability: A Critical Analysis and a Taxonomy

A major obstacle to the implantation of User-Centered Design in the real world is the fact that no precise definition of the concept of usability exists that is widely accepted and applied in practice. Generally speaking, the literature tends to define usability in overly brief and ambiguous terms and to describe its application in informal terms. This is one of the main reasons why ad hoc techniques predominate in usability study methodologies. The aims of this article are to investigate the concept of usability and to describe it by means of a detailed taxonomy that is organized hierarchically and that contains exhaustive descriptions of usability attributes. This taxonomy can be used to support different stages in the development of usable systems.

Health, hygiene and biosecurity: Tribal knowledge claims in the UK poultry industry

Since 1997 the world has been facing the threat of a human influenza pandemic that may be caused by an avian virus and the poultry industry around the globe has been grappling with the highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza H5N1, or in more informal terms bird flu. The UK poultry industry has lived with and through this threat and its consequences since 2005. This study investigates knowledge claims about health, hygiene and biosecurity as tools to ward off the threat from this virus. It takes a semi-ethnographic and discourse analytic approach to analyse a small corpus of semi-structured interviews carried out in the wake of one of the most publicised outbreaks of H5N1 in Suffolk in 2007. It reveals that claims about what best to do to protect flocks against the risk of disease are divided along lines imposed on the one hand by the structure of the industry and on the other by more ‘tribal’ lines drawn by knowledge and belief systems about purity and dirt, health and hygiene.

Cilento's Centenary

The 1959 celebration of the Centenary of self-government in Queensland presented organisers with an opportunity to showcase the state at large, together with its character and potential. Public works – a supremely tangible stamp of governmental achievement – were foremost in two new facilities for approved culture and recreation: the new library on William Street and the Brisbane City Council's Centenary Pool on Gregory Terrace. Abiding links with Britain were evoked by the royal visit of Princess Alexandra, a service in Westminster Abbey and the ‘Centenary voyage’ of a British immigrant ship. Other aspects of the program celebrated Queenslanders simply being Queenslanders. Day-to-day events from local carnivals and festivals to sporting competitions were embraced by the Centennial organisers. The resulting celebrations revealed a state in transition, its abiding affection for royalty and the ties of Empire happily coexisting with a new relish for American leisure culture. They reveal more than that when we consider the execution of Centenary activities in more detail, and particularly those that sought to present an account of how and why the state had come to be as it was. The 1959 celebrations provided a moment when, in the full light of public interest and attention, a ‘sense of the past’ was mobilised in both formal and informal terms in an attempt to account definitively for the Queensland historical experience.

Neoproterozoic timescales and stratigraphy

Abstract The Infracambrian is a term for mostly Neoproterozoic successions in North Africa and areas to the east. Its base lies within the middle Neoproterozoic period, or Cryogenian, includes the youngest Neoproterozoic period, or Ediacaran, and continues into the early Cambrian to the level at which trilobites first appear. The Cryogenian lacks any biostratigraphic zonation; and no global biostratigraphic schemes exist for the Ediacaran. The formal classification of the Neoproterozoic is currently under review. The Cryogenian–Ediacaran (CE) interval includes at least three prominent diamictite horizons that are clearly linked to penecontemporaneous glaciations. The oldest is ‘Sturtian’, next oldest is ‘Marinoan’ (probably the most extensive), both names are Australian in origin but are used internationally. The Gaskiers glaciation is the youngest and probably the least extensive. There are important unresolved problems of the precise number, age, extent and nomenclature of the Neoproterozic glaciations in Australia. Several palaeomagnetic poles in the age range 600–550 Ma place glacial deposits of that age range in Australia in tropical latitudes. These data, together with older poles from Laurentia, gave rise to the notion of the Snowball Earth, in which the Earth froze over completely, but the profound refrigeration required appears to have had very little effect on biological evolution. Biostratigraphic zonation with the precision attainable throughout the Phanerozoic does not appear possible for the CE interval. Thus, most correlations are based on about 40 U–Pb and Re–Os dates. These confirm the existence of at least three glacial sequences (sequence is used here as an informal term), but it is possible that the Sturtian and Marinoan were essentially one glacial unit. Deglaciation was accompanied by the unique ‘cap carbonates’. The glacial sequences all show a characteristic δ 13 C pattern, but present knowledge is inadequate to use these patterns for detailed global correlation. The most reliable chemostratigraphic correlations are likely to be based on strontium isotope variations. Black shale horizons commonly follow deglaciation. A few basins produce Neoproterozoic hydrocarbons; others are potential producers. As a whole, the Neoproterozoic represents both a scientific and an exploration frontier.

Non-existential indefinites and semantic incorporation of PP complements

No abstract.

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF MEANING: IDEAS FOR A PHILOSOPHICAL GRAMMAR

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF MEANING: IDEAS FOR A PHILOSOPHICAL GRAMMAR. Michele Prandi. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2004. Pp. xviii + 520. $162.00 cloth.This volume is an attempt to develop a philosophical grammar, one that separates out and unifies the contributions to meaning from syntax, the lexicon, and conceptual structure, and one within which figures of speech such as metonymy and metaphor—conflictual complex meanings—can be explored and analyzed. These are forms of expression that the author views as neglected by philosophers and linguistics (although the work of Lakoff and other cognitive linguists would be one exception). The grammar itself is given in completely descriptive, informal terms.

Itô versus Stratonovich calculus in random population growth

The context is the general stochastic differential equation (SDE) model d N/d t = N( g( N) + σε( t)) for population growth in a randomly fluctuating environment. Here, N = N( t) is the population size at time t, g( N) is the ‘average’ per capita growth rate (we work with a general almost arbitrary function g), and σε( t) is the effect of environmental fluctuations ( σ > 0, ε( t) standard white noise). There are two main stochastic calculus used to interpret the SDE, Itô calculus and Stratonovich calculus. They yield different solutions and even qualitatively different predictions (on extinction, for example). So, there is a controversy on which calculus one should use. We will resolve the controversy and show that the real issue is merely semantic. It is due to the informal interpretation of g( x) as being an (unspecified) ‘average’ per capita growth rate (when population size is x). The implicit assumption usually made in the literature is that the ‘average’ growth rate is the same for both calculi, when indeed this rate should be defined in terms of the observed process. We prove that, when using Itô calculus, g( N) is indeed the arithmetic average growth rate R a( x) and, when using Stratonovich calculus, g( N) is indeed the geometric average growth rate R g( x). Writing the solutions of the SDE in terms of a well-defined average, R a( x) or R g( x), instead of an undefined ‘average’ g( x), we prove that the two calculi yield exactly the same solution. The apparent difference was due to the semantic confusion of taking the informal term ‘average growth rate’ as meaning the same average.

Is awesome really awesome?: How the inclusion of informal terms on an AAC device influences children's attitudes toward peers who use AAC

Two videotapes were created of a child communicating with a voice output augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. In one the child communicated using formal English only and in the other the child communicated using formal English and age appropriate informal terms. Children in grades 4 and 5 viewed either the formal English only or the formal and informal English videotape. After viewing the videotape, children completed a measure of self-reported attitudes toward children who use AAC. Results indicated effects for gender and for the gender by grade interaction. These results are discussed along with clinical implications.

Windows with a view on language evolution

Accounts of the evolution of human language must, by their very nature, express claims of a historical sort: claims about why, when, where or how human language emerged and/or developed in some distant past. What is more, it is of the essence of those claims that they are put forward in the absence of direct evidence about the events and factors that may or may not have been involved in the evolution of language. In modern work on language evolution, however, scholars have come up with various strategies aimed at lessening or even solving this problem of evidential paucity. One of these approaches starts from the assumption that language evolution can be studied by examining other phenomena about which there is direct evidence. This article sets out, in informal terms, what it is to use such phenomena as windows on language evolution.

The morphology and affinities of Geranium sections Lucida and Unguiculata

Descriptions of the external morphology of six species of Geranium are presented to match those published by the author previously for the six species of the related sections Anemonifolia and Ruberta. It is proposed to merge Anemonifolia with Ruberta and to re-define sections Lucida and Unguiculata, the first containing G. lucidum, G. glaberrimum and G. lasiopus, and the second G. macrorrhizum and G. dalmaticum, while G. cataractarum is placed in Ruberta. G. lasiopus is a plant of vertical and overhanging cliffs and has adaptations to keep the seeds within the habitat, whereas G. glaberrimum, from the same area of Turkey, occurs on step-crevice and lacks these arrangements. For the species covered earlier, additional notes are provided for most, including reports on variation in G. robertianum in England, Taiwan and China. Attention is drawn to the informal term tangle-strands for bundles of long clinging hairs borne by dormant stages of some plants and animals. Scanning electron micrographs of the mericarp surface of all 12 species and a list of specimen citations of interspecific hybrids are presented. © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2004, 144, 409–429.

Supply Chain Relationships and Contracts: The Impact of Repeated Interaction on Capacity Investment and Procurement

Consider a firm that is developing a highly innovative product. Producing the product requires that an upstream supplier invest in production capacity well in advance. Because the product is ill-defined at the time when the supplier initiates his capacity investment, the firms are unable to write court-enforceable contracts that specify the terms of trade. The supplier faces a classic hold up problem. When the firms finally do negotiate the terms of trade, his cost of capacity will be sunk (irrelevant). Anticipating this, the supplier will underinvest in capacity. However, with repeated new product introduction and capacity investment, the firms may adopt informal terms of trade: The buyer promises to purchase at a price that reflects the cost of capacity, and the supplier increases his capacity investment. The value of future cooperation creates an incentive for the buyer to pay the supplier as promised. Assuming symmetric information about demand, capacity and production costs, we derive optimal informal terms of trade that are appealingly simple. Then, assuming that the buyer cannot observe the supplier's capacity investment and the supplier cannot observe the buyer's demand, we compare the performance of informal price-only and quantity commitment agreements. If the production cost is low and either the capacity cost is low or the discount factor is high, then the buyer should promise to purchase a specific quantity rather than simply promise to pay a per unit price; otherwise, the buyer should simply promise to pay a specified unit price.

Chemostratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Basal Quartz in Southern Alberta

Abstract The Lower Cretaceous Basal Quartz (BQ) of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) is the basal part of the Lower Mannville Formation, which, together with the overlying Upper Mannville, is considered one of the most prolific hydrocarbon- bearing successions in the WCSB. However, due to the reservoir complexity often associated with low accommodation fluvial settings, detailed stratigraphic studies are required to fully exploit the potential. Preliminary findings of this chemostratigraphic study on the Horsefly, BAT, and Ellerslie units show that considerable and systematic elemental variation exists between the claystones of the three units. These variations allow the stratigraphic affinity of a claystone core sample to be determined using chemostratigraphy, thereby demonstrating that the technique is a viable additional stratigraphic tool in the WCSB, and more generally, in low accommodation fluvial settings. Introduction The Lower Cretaceous Basal Quartz (BQ) is an informal term for the Lower Mannville succession, which together with the "Ostracode," forms the Lower Mannville Formation (see Figure 1). In the study area of southern Alberta, the BQ is thin (<100 m), and is characterized by a complex stratigraphy punctuated by multiple unconformities(1, 2) (Figure 2). Based upon detailed stratigraphic and petrographic differentiation, the BQ is divisible into seven mappable units (Regional A, Mesa IV, Valley and Terrace, Horsefly, BAT, and Ellerslie). This chemostratigraphic study has concentrated on the fine grained facies of the Horsefly, BAT and Ellerslie units, which form the upper of two cycles within the Lower Mannville Formation (see Figure 1). The technique of chemostratigraphy is used to differentiate between the finer grained sediments of the Horsefly, BAT, and Ellerslie units based on variations in their major and trace element compositions. By the selection of cored intervals in wells whose stratigraphy had already been determined by detailed petrographicstudies(1), it is shown that the associated finer grained facies of the Horsefly, BAT, and Ellerslie units exhibit significantly different elemental compositions. Chemostratigraphy, or chemical stratigraphy, involves the characterization and correlation of strata using major and trace element geochemistry. For this study, data for a total of 47 elements (ten major elements, 23 trace elements, and 14 rare earth elements) have been determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emissions spectrometry (ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The sample preparation and analytical procedures are detailed in Pearce et al.(3) and Jarvis and Jarvis(4). Conventional cores from six wells (Table 1) were sampled for the study. The intervals sampled have already been stratigraphically assigned [Zaitlin et al.,(1) Table 1]; when sampling the core, apparently homogenous silty claystone chips with volumes of approximately 2 - 3 cm3 were selected for analysis. Results and Discussion Geochemical Differentiation The principal aim of this paper is to demonstrate that significant geochemical variations exist between the silty claystones of the Horsefly, BAT, and Ellerslie units. The most effective way to demonstrate any such variation is in the form of geochemical profiles, binary and ternary diagrams (see Figures 3, 4, and 5). Geochemical Profiles Geochemical profiles for a single section are constructed by plotting element concentrations, or element ratios, against depth.

Chemostratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Basal Quartz in Southern Alberta

The Lower Cretaceous Basal Quartz (BQ) of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) is the basal part of the Lower Mannville Formation, which, together with the overlying Upper Mannville, is considered one of the most prolific hydrocarbon- bearing successions in the WCSB. However, due to the reservoir complexity often associated with low accommodation fluvial settings, detailed stratigraphic studies are required to fully exploit the potential. Preliminary findings of this chemostratigraphic study on the Horsefly, BAT, and Ellerslie units show that considerable and systematic elemental variation exists between the claystones of the three units. These variations allow the stratigraphic affinity of a claystone core sample to be determined using chemostratigraphy, thereby demonstrating that the technique is a viable additional stratigraphic tool in the WCSB, and more generally, in low accommodation fluvial settings.Introduction. The Lower Cretaceous Basal Quartz (BQ) is an informal term for the Lower Mannville succession, which together with the "Ostracode," forms the Lower Mannville Formation (see Figure 1). In the study area of southern Alberta, the BQ is thin (<100 m), and is characterized by a complex stratigraphy punctuated by multiple unconformities(1, 2) (Figure 2). Based upon detailed stratigraphic and petrographic differentiation, the BQ is divisible into seven mappable units (Regional A, Mesa IV, Valley and Terrace, Horsefly, BAT, and Ellerslie). This chemostratigraphic study has concentrated on the fine grained facies of the Horsefly, BAT and Ellerslie units, which form the upper of two cycles within the Lower Mannville Formation (see Figure 1).The technique of chemostratigraphy is used to differentiate between the finer grained sediments of the Horsefly, BAT, and Ellerslie units based on variations in their major and trace element compositions. By the selection of cored intervals in wells whose stratigraphy had already been determined by detailed petrographicstudies(1), it is shown that the associated finer grained facies of the Horsefly, BAT, and Ellerslie units exhibit significantly different elemental compositions.Chemostratigraphy, or chemical stratigraphy, involves the characterization and correlation of strata using major and trace element geochemistry. For this study, data for a total of 47 elements (ten major elements, 23 trace elements, and 14 rare earth elements) have been determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emissions spectrometry (ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The sample preparation and analytical procedures are detailed in Pearce et al.(3) and Jarvis and Jarvis(4).Conventional cores from six wells (Table 1) were sampled for the study. The intervals sampled have already been stratigraphically assigned [Zaitlin et al.,(1) Table 1]; when sampling the core, apparently homogenous silty claystone chips with volumes of approximately 2 - 3 cm3 were selected for analysis.Results and DiscussionGeochemical Differentiation. The principal aim of this paper is to demonstrate that significant geochemical variations exist between the silty claystones of the Horsefly, BAT, and Ellerslie units. The most effective way to demonstrate any such variation is in the form of geochemical profiles, binary and ternary diagrams (see Figures 3, 4, and 5). Geochemical ProfilesGeochemical profiles for a single section are constructed by plotting element concentrations, or element ratios, against depth.

Contesting meaning: Newfie and the politics of ethnic labelling

The ethnic label Newfie is a site of ideological dispute: for some, it is simply an informal term for residents and expatriates of the Canadian province of Newfoundland, for others it may function as an in–group term of solidarity which takes on negative connotations when used by non–Newfoundlanders, and for still others it is the equivalent of a racial slur. In this study we first trace the history of the term, a fairly recent innovation. We then examine present–day attitudes as expressed in (provincial and national) media discourse and in self–report data. We argue that debate over Newfie is part of a larger ideological struggle concerning the commodification of an ‘invented’ Newfoundland culture, which itself must be understood in terms of Newfoundland’s socioeconomic position as Canada’s poorest province. Finally, we compare the Newfie case to other instances of contested group labelling.

Palestinian Students' Attitudes Towards Modern Standard Arabic and Palestinian City Arabic

This study investigates Palestinian students' attitudes towards Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Palestinian City Arabic (PCA) in the context of two extralinguistic factors: speakers' educational level and setting. The speaker's level of education is defined by the academic degree he/ she holds. Accordingly, the speakers under consideration fall into two groups: highly educated and less educated. The former consists of members holding a four-year-university degree or higher, while members of the latter have not attained such a degree. Setting is defined in terms of formality and informality which are used to differentiate between structured and unstructured situations in conversational interactions. Twenty-two male and female undergraduate Palestinians studying in San Francisco State University, California, USA, participated in the study and expressed their views on the use of the varieties under discussion in different language situations. Those views came in the form of responses to a 32-item questionnaire on the basis of two tape-recorded passages; one in MSA and another in PCA. The responses elicited from the participants form the corpus for the present study. This paper attempts to address two major concerns: 1. The setting for which each variety is considered appropriate. 2. The purposes/functions for which the educated and less-educated groups use each variety The findings indicate that 1. Generally, MSA is deemed more appropriate for formal settings, and PCA for their informal counterparts. 2. In formal settings, the highly educated group mainly uses MSA, while the less educated group uses PCA. 3. In informal settings, the highly educated group employs MSA at a higher rate than the less educated group. However, there is a slight tendency, among members of the less educated group, in favour of using MSA for formal settings.

Geochronology of Neogene alkaline volcanic rocks (Miles Canyon basalt), southern Yukon Territory, Canada: the relative effectiveness of laser 40Ar/39Ar and K-Ar geochronology

Miles Canyon basalt is an informal term used to describe numerous exposures of young alkaline olivine basalt flows in southern Yukon. The volcanic rocks are part of the Northern Cordilleran volcanic province. K-Ar and Ar-Ar whole-rock dates indicate that the Miles Canyon succession of flows at the Whitehorse Rapids are clearly Late Miocene in age (ca. 8.4 Ma). The largest exposure of the Miles Canyon basalt occurs at the Alligator Lake volcanic complex where two nearly concordant Pliocene Ar-Ar dates indicate eruption at ca. 3.2 Ma. K-Ar analyses from other sites yield dates of 2.4 and 7.1 Ma and indicate an episodic Neogene volcanic history for the region. There is no evidence of Quaternary or postglacial volcanism. The dates are older than assumed by previous workers, and in some cases the K-Ar dates are strongly discordant from Ar-Ar determinations. More accurate Ar-Ar determinations may result from the method's ability to select smaller amounts of better material for analysis. Excess 40Ar was not encountered. As a result, the accuracy of any single or several discordant K-Ar determinations for Neogene subaerial volcanic rocks, particularly low-K rocks such as basalts, should be questioned and resulting interpretations made with caution. Models accounting for the eruption of the Northern Cordilleran volcanic province lavas have typically relied upon extension along north-trending faults that were generated by stresses along the continental margin. However, we consider a slab window model which better accounts for the initiation and distribution of northern Cordilleran Neogene volcanic activity.

Stratigraphy of the Late Aptian Lower Greensand around Nutfield, Surrey

A detailed study of Lower Greensand deposits exposed in the fuller's earth workings of Nutfield. Surrey, has yielded new information on their lithofacies and stratigraphy. Two informal lithostratigraphic units, representing contrasting depositional regimes, are proposed for the Sandgate Formation of the Nutfield area. These units are of member status but, pending a comprehensive review of Upper Aptian lithostratigraphic nomenclature, they are provisionally assigned the informal terms Nutfield Beds and Redhill Sands. The Nutfield Beds are characterized by muddy, bioturbated, calcareous sandstones, deposited in quiet-water environments; they include economically important beds of fuller's earth, deposited as reworked volcanic ash. The overlying Redhill Sands consist of poorly consolidated, glauconitic sandstones, characterized by large-scale foresets of tidal bar origin. The Nutfield Beds form a geographically restricted lens, up to 15 m thick, lying within a syndepositional basin referred to as the ‘Nutfield Basin’ in this study. The underlying cherty sandstones ( c . 1–2 m), which constitute the top of the Hythe Formation, show a similarly restricted distribution. The Redhill Sands are also thickest ( c . 15 m) in the middle of the basin, but extend beyond the limits of the Nutfield Beds to the west. Relatively rapid subsidence within the Nutfield Basin combined with high sea-level stand during deposition of the Nutfield Beds produced conditions favourable for the accumulation and subsequent preservation of volcanic ash (now fuller's earth) deposits. Five candidate sequence boundaries have been identified in this study. SB1 is placed at a level within the uppermost Hythe. SB la is placed at the base of a thin glauconitic, pebbly sandstone bed that underlies the top-Hythe cherty sandstones. The cherty sandstones and the Nutfield Beds are interpreted as transgressive and highstand deposits within the same sequence. SB2 is drawn at the base of the Redhill Sands, and SB2a at the base of a unit of pebbly, clay-rich sandstone within the upper part of the Redhill Sands. SB3 is taken at the base of the Folkestone Sands, and is marked by an erosional surface with a relief of up to 4.5 m. Biostratigraphic control is not sufficiently precise to allow correlation of the sequences with those identified in the coastal sections of Folkestone.