Armed violence and the politics of gun control in Brazil: an analysis of the 2005 referendum

This article analyses the factors behind the paradoxical result of the Brazilian gun-control referendum. It adopts a qualitative approach to explore the dissemination of ideologies surrounding crime, gun control and security. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with activists involved in the referendum's campaign. The results reveal that ideologically driven campaigns in a context of corruption scandals, high levels of violence and fear influenced the result. The neoliberal discourse of individual freedoms played a role, as did the phrasing of the referendum's question, fragile confidence in public institutions and unequal campaign funding and regulation.

Estimating the effect of state-level gun purchasing policy on county-level firearm suicide mortality

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Al-based anodic oxide films structure observation using field emission gun scanning electron microscopy

In the present work, the anodic oxide films of Al, Al-Cu 4.5% and Al-Si 6.5% alloys are formed using direct and pulse current. In the case of Al-Cu and Al-Si alloys, the electrolyte used contains sulfuric acid and oxalic acid, meanwhile for Al the electrolyte contains sulfuric acid only. Al-Cu alloy was submitted to a heat treatment in order to decrease the effect of inter metallic phase theta upon the anodic film structure. Fractured samples were observed using a field emission gun scanning electron microscope JSM-6330F at (LME)/Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), Campinas, SP, Brazil. The oxide film images enable evaluation of the pore size and form with a resolution similar to the transmission electron microscope (TEM) resolution. It is also observed that the anodizing process using pulse current produces an irregular structure of pore walls, and by direct cur-rent it is produced a rectilinear pore wall. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The telescopic eye: aqua optica

The Telescopic Eye: Aqua Optica was an installation work which explores concepts and philosophies related to instrumental, lens based observations of heavens as experienced when seeing through a telescope. In particular it considers how the eye of the observer and the lens of the telescope must act in unison to extend both the perception and conception of that which is remote and beyond direct naked eye sensing - an act of transcendence. A series of projected images (the video) of celestial objects are observed by the viewer through a large spherical aquatic lens which is mounted on a large wooden tripod. These images slowly dissolve and morph into each other. The sequence in which these images are presented is based on approximate chronological order in which these celestial objects were historically observed through the telescope – such as the local bodies of our the solar system starting with the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn (as first observed by Galileo in 1610) and eventually extending out to distant nebula, star clusters and galaxies. For the Transduction exhibition the Telescopic Eye: Aqua Optica was installed outside in a small quadrangle next to the Tech Bar and as the night drew darker it was able to also embody the lighting and other visual elements from the surrounding buildings and streets. The Aqua Optica system often encompasses such local lighting and images as a added layer to the video projection work. In this case (at night and outside at Federation Square) the extent of the layering was very successful and increased dramatically as the night became darker. This multi layering of images invokes (for the viewer) a connection between the immediate environment of the Federation square and cityscape with the vastly distant images of the cosmos. For me such a multilayered imaging represents how scientific instruments of observation can generate a complex and augmented visualisation of reality, one which has historically come to re-define our conception of the cosmos and our place in it both spatially and temporally.

Stop jumping the gun : a call for evidence-based invasive predator management

Invasive mammalian predators are major drivers of species extinctions globally. To protect native prey, lethal control is often used with the aim of reducing or exterminating invasive predator populations. The efficacy of this practice, however, is often not considered despite multiple practical and ecological factors that can limit success. Here, we summarize contemporary knowledge regarding the use and challenges of both lethal control and alternative approaches for reducing invasive predator impacts. As the prevailing management approach, we outline four key issues that can compromise the effectiveness of lethal control: release of herbivore and mesopredator populations, disruption of predator social systems, compensatory predator immigration, and ethical concerns. We then discuss the relative merits and limitations of four alternative approaches that may enhance conservation practitioner's ability to effectively manage invasive predators: top-predator conservation or reintroduction, maintaining habitat complexity, exclusion fencing, and behavioral and evolutionary ecology. Considerable uncertainty remains regarding the effectiveness of management approaches in different environmental contexts. We propose that the deficiencies and uncertainties outlined here can be addressed through a combination of adaptive management, expert elicitation, and cost-benefit analyses. Improved management of invasive predators requires greater consideration and assessment of the full range of management approaches available.

Mental illness and gun violence: lessons for the United States from Australia and Britain

In the United States, the nexus between mental illness and shootings has been the subject of heated argument. An extreme expression of one point of view is that “guns don't kill people, the mentally ill do.” This article seeks to demonstrate the falsehood of this argument, by examining the real-world experience of two comparable societies. Australia and Great Britain are both Anglophone nations with numerous points of commonality with the United States, including high rates of mental illness and significant exposure to popular culture that perpetuates the stigma of the mentally ill as a violent threat. However, in Australia, it is difficult to obtain firearms, and a mentally ill person behaving aggressively is unlikely to be able to harm others. On the contrary, police are almost the only people routinely armed in Australian communities and are often too ready to use firearms against the mentally ill. In Britain, guns are even more difficult to obtain, and operational police are not usually armed. The authors examine statistical data on mental illness, homicide, and civilian deaths caused by police in all three nations. They also consider media and popular opinion environments. They conclude that mental illness is prevalent in all three societies, as is the damaging stigma of “the dangerous madman.” However, the fewer people (including police officers) who have access to firearms, the safer that community is.

Gengivite Ulcerativa Necrosante (GUN)

Introdução: A Gengivite Ulcerativa Necrosante (GUN) é uma das patologias orais com mais décadas de estudo. A sua designação foi evoluindo ao longo dos anos até ter sido englobada na categoria das doenças periodontais necrosantes (DPN). As lesões provocadas pela GUN são consideradas únicas entre as doenças periodontais, principalmente pela sua apresentação clínica bastante distinta (Rowland, 1999). Apesar de ser uma doença com sinais muito próprios e fatores predisponentes bem estabelecidos, a etiologia e patogénese das lesões são muito mal compreendidas. O objetivo deste trabalho é efetuar uma revisão bibliográfica dos principais conceitos relativos a esta doença, defini-la e classificá-la, assim como fazer uma abordagem ao seu diagnóstico e respetivo plano de tratamento. Materiais e Métodos: Foi realizada uma pesquisa na base de dados da PubMed e da b-ON, utilizando como palavras-chave: “Necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis”, AND “Necrotizing periodontal disease”. Apenas foram pesquisados artigos em português e inglês, não tendo sido empregues quaisquer limites temporais, resultando num total de 32 artigos, complementado com uma obra literária. Resultados/Conclusões: Após análise da literatura é possível verificar que, mesmo os estudos mais recentes, revelam muitas dúvidas sobre esta doença, apesar das décadas de existência. Porém todos os estudos são unânimes em realçar um aspeto muito importante, a realização de um diagnóstico precoce é a chave para um tratamento adequado, criando, aos pacientes, as condições mínimas necessárias para uma adequada higiene oral e alimentação, que até aí a doença os obrigava a privar.

Australian waterfalls as tourism attractions

For a largely arid country with generally low relief, Australia has a remarkably large number and variety of waterfalls. Found mainly near the coast, close to where most of the population lives and near the major tourist resort areas, these landscape features have long been popular scenic attractions. As sights to see and places to enjoy a variety of recreational activities, waterfalls continue to play an important role in Australia’s tourism, even in seaside resort areas where the main attractions are sunshine, sandy beaches and surf. The aesthetic appeal of waterfalls and their value as recreational resources are recognized by the inclusion of many in national parks. Even here, demands of visitors and pressures from developers raise serious problems. This paper examines the way in which waterfalls have been developed and promoted as tourist attractions, demonstrating their importance to Australian tourism. It considers threats to the sustainable use of waterfall resources posed by power schemes and, particularly, by the tourist industry itself. Queensland’s Gold Coast is selected as a case study, and comparisons are made with other areas in which waterfalls have played important roles as tourist attractions, especially the Yorkshire coast of northeast England. The discussion draws largely on an examination of tourist literature from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, including holiday brochures and guide books, as well as other published sources, together with field observation in various parts of the world

Capabilities for strategic infrastructure asset management

Infrastructure organisations are operating in an increasingly challenging business environment as a result of globalisation, privatisation and deregulation. Under such circumstances, asset managers need to manage their infrastructure assets effectively in order to contribute to the overall performance of their organisation. In an external business environment that is constantly changing, extant literature on strategic management advocates a resourced--�]based view (RBV) approach that focuses on factors internal to the organisation such as resources and capabilities to sustain organisation performance. The aim of this study is to explore the core capabilities needed in the management of infrastructure assets. Using a multiple case study research strategy focusing on transport infrastructure, this research firstly examines the goals of infrastructure asset management and their alignment with broader corporate goals of an infrastructure organisation. It then examines the strategic infrastructure asset management processes that are needed to achieve these goals. The core capabilities that can support the strategic infrastructure asset management processes are then identified. This research produced a number of findings. First, it provided empirical evidence that asset management goals are being pursued with the aim of supporting the broader business goals of infrastructure organisations. Second, through synthesising the key asset management processes deemed necessary to achieve the asset management goals, a strategic infrastructure asset management model is proposed. Third, it identified five core capabilities namely stakeholder connectivity, cross-functional, relational, technology absorptive and integrated information management capability as central to executing the strategic infrastructure asset management processes well. These findings culminate in the development of a capability model to improve the performance of infrastructure assets.

New media services : ratings and recommendations websites in the travel and tourism industry

The travel and hospitality industry is one which relies especially crucially on word of mouth, both at the level of overall destinations (Australia, Queensland, Brisbane) and at the level of travellers’ individual choices of hotels, restaurants, sights during their trips. The provision of such word-of-mouth information has been revolutionised over the past decade by the rise of community-based Websites which allow their users to share information about their past and future trips and advise one another on what to do or what to avoid during their travels. Indeed, the impact of such user-generated reviews, ratings, and recommendations sites has been such that established commercial travel advisory publishers such as Lonely Planet have experienced a pronounced downturn in sales ¬– unless they have managed to develop their own ways of incorporating user feedback and contributions into their publications. This report examines the overall significance of ratings and recommendation sites to the travel industry, and explores the community, structural, and business models of a selection of relevant ratings and recommendations sites. We identify a range of approaches which are appropriate to the respective target markets and business aims of these organisations, and conclude that there remain significant opportunities for further operators especially if they aim to cater for communities which are not yet appropriately served by specific existing sites. Additionally, we also point to the increasing importance of connecting stand-alone ratings and recommendations sites with general social media spaces like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and of providing mobile interfaces which enable users to provide updates and ratings directly from the locations they happen to be visiting. In this report, we profile the following sites: * TripAdvisor, the international market leader for travel ratings and recommendations sites, with a membership of some 11 million users; * IgoUgo, the other leading site in this field, which aims to distinguish itself from the market leader by emphasising the quality of its content; * Zagat, a long-established publisher of restaurant guides which has translated its crowdsourcing model from the offline to the online world; * Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree site, which attempts to respond to the rise of these travel communities by similarly harnessing user-generated content; * Stayz, which attempts to enhance its accommodation search and booking services by incorporating ratings and reviews functionality; and * BigVillage, an Australian-based site attempting to cater for a particularly discerning niche of travellers; * Dopplr, which connects travel and social networking in a bid to pursue the lucrative market of frequent and business travellers; * Foursquare, which builds on its mobile application to generate a steady stream of ‘check-ins’ and recommendations for hospitality and other services around the world; * Suite 101, which uses a revenue-sharing model to encourage freelance writers to contribute travel writing (amongst other genres of writing); * Yelp, the global leader in general user-generated product review and recommendation services. In combination, these profiles provide an overview of current developments in the travel ratings and recommendations space (and beyond), and offer an outlook for further possibilities. While no doubt affected by the global financial downturn and the reduction in travel that it has caused, travel ratings and recommendations remain important – perhaps even more so if a reduction in disposable income has resulted in consumers becoming more critical and discerning. The aggregated word of mouth from many tens of thousands of travellers which these sites provide certainly has a substantial influence on their users. Using these sites to research travel options has now become an activity which has spread well beyond the digirati. The same is true also for many other consumer industries, especially where there is a significant variety of different products available – and so, this report may also be read as a case study whose findings are able to be translated, mutatis mutandis, to purchasing decisions from household goods through consumer electronics to automobiles.

Whitefly Transmission and Efficient ssDNA Accumulation of Bean Golden Mosaic Geminivirus Require Functional Coat Protein

Bean golden mosaic geminivirus (BGMV) has a bipartite genome composed of two circular ssDNA components (DNA-A and DNA-B) and is transmitted by the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. DNA-A encodes the viral replication proteins and the coat protein. To determine the role of BGMV coat protein systemic infection and whitefly transmission, two deletions and a restriction fragment inversion were introduced into the BGMV coat protein gene. All three coat protein mutants produced systemic infections when coinoculated with DNA-B onto Phaseolus vulgaris using electric discharge particle acceleration "particle gun." However, they were not sap transmissible and coat protein was not detected in mutant-infected plants. In addition, none of the mutants were transmitted by whiteflies. With all three mutants, ssDNA accumulation of DNA-A and DNA-B was reduced 25- to 50-fold and 3- to 10-fold, respectively, as compared to that of wild-type DNA. No effect on dsDNA-A accumulation was detected and there was 2- to 5-fold increase in dsDNA-B accumulation. Recombinants between the mutated DNA-A and DNA-B forms were identified when the inoculated coat protein mutant was linearized in the common region.

Firearm suicide in Queensland

The purpose of this article is to examine firearm suicide in Queensland. In 2006, statistical data were gathered from all closed paper coronial files for the 12-month period of December 2003—December 2004. Of the 567 people who committed suicide in Queensland during this period, 48 (8.5%) used firearms. The following results emerge from this data: first, gun suicides are continuing to decrease in Queensland, most likely as a function of ongoing gun controls, a decrease accompanied by a lesser increase in other methods of suicide, thereby providing little support for substitution theory; second, men continue to be more likely to shoot themselves, particularly elderly men; third, firearms are more likely to be used in rural settings, and by those with no known history of mental illness or previous suicide attempts. Finally, in spite of otherwise very high suicide rates, Aborigines rarely employ firearms, using instead the culturally significant method of hanging.

Photocatalytic hydrogen production with iron oxide under solar irradiation

As solar hydrogen is a sustainable and environmental friendly energy carrier, it is considered to take the place of fossil fuels in the near future. Solar hydrogen can be generated by splitting of water under solar light illumination. In this study, the use of nanostructured hematite thin-film electrodes in photocatalytic water splitting was investigated. Hematite (á-Fe2O3) has a narrow band-gap of 2.2 eV, which is able to utilise approximately 40% of solar radiation. However, poor photoelectrochemical performance is observed for hematite due to low electrical conductivity and a high rate of electron-hole recombination. An extensive review of useful measures taken to overcoming the disadvantages of hematite so as to enhance its performance was presented including thin-film structure, nanostructuring, doping, etc. Since semiconductoring materials which exhibit an inverse opal structure are expected to have a high surface-volume ratio, unique optical characteristics and a shorter distance for photogenerated holes to travel to the electrode/electrolyte interface, inverse opals of hematite thin films deposited on FTO glass substrate were successfully prepared by doctor blading using PMMA as a template. However, due to the poor adhesion of the films, an acidic medium (i.e., 2 M HCl) was employed to significantly enhance the adhesion of the films, which completely destroyed the inverse opal structure. Therefore, undoped, Ti and Zn-doped hematite thin films deposied on FTO glass substrate without an inverse opal structure were prepared by doctor blading and spray pyrolysis and characterised using SEM, EDX, XRD, TGA, UV-Vis spectroscopy and photoelectrochemical measurements. Regarding the doped hematite thin films prepared by doctor blading, the photoelectrochemical activity of the hematite photoelectrodes was improved by incorporation of Ti, most likely owing to the increased electrical conductivity of the films, the stabilisation of oxygen vacancies by Ti4+ ions and the increased electric field of the space charge layer. A highest photoresponse was recorded in case of 2.5 at.% Ti which seemed to be an optimal concentration. The effect of doping content, thickness, and calcination temperature on the performance of the Ti-doped photoelectrodes was investigated. Also, the photoactivity of the 2.5 at.% Ti-doped samples was examined in two different types of electrochemical cells. Zn doping did not enhance the photoactivity of the hematite thin films though Zn seemed to enhance the hole transport due to the slow hole mobility of hematite which could not be overcome by the enhancement. The poor performance was also obtained for the Ti-doped samples prepared by spray pyrolysis, which appeared to be a result of introduction of impurities from the metallic parts of the spray gun in an acidic medium. Further characterisation of the thin-film electrodes is required to explain the mechanism by which enhanced performance was obtained for Ti-doped electrodes (doctor blading) and poor photoactivity for Zn and Ti-doped samples which were synthesised by doctor blading and spray pyrolysis, respectively. Ti-doped hematite thin films will be synthesised in another way, such as dip coating so as to maintain an inverse opal structure as well as well adhesion. Also, a comparative study of the films will be carried out.