THE DISTRIBUTION AND FUNCTION OF DENITRIFICATION GENES: EXPLORING AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT AND SOIL CHEMICAL IMPLICATIONS

Denitrification is a microbially-mediated process that converts nitrate (NO3-) to dinitrogen (N2) gas and has implications for soil fertility, climate change, and water quality. Using PCR, qPCR, and T-RFLP, the effects of environmental drivers and land management on the abundance and composition of functional genes were investigated. Environmental variables affecting gene abundance were soil type, soil depth, nitrogen concentrations, soil moisture, and pH, although each gene was unique in its spatial distribution and controlling factors. The inclusion of microbial variables, specifically genotype and gene abundance, improved denitrification models and highlights the benefit of including microbial data in modeling denitrification. Along with some evidence of niche selection, I show that nirS is a good predictor of denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) and N2O:N2 ratio, especially in alkaline and wetland soils. nirK was correlated to N2O production and became a stronger predictor of DEA in acidic soils, indicating that nirK and nirS are not ecologically redundant.

Labor laws : revised to July 1, 1951 /

Includes indexes.

Labor laws : revised to July 1, 1949 /

Includes indexes.

Materials and cases on the law of the employment relation /

Includes bibliographical references.

Impact of PL 94-566 on agricultural employers and UI trust funds in selected states.

"Prepared by G. Joachim [i.e. Joachim G.] Elterich and Linda Graham"--Prelim. p.

Vulnerabilities, impacts and adaptations to climate change in the agricultural sector and agricultural soils.

2009

The census of Iowa, as returned in the year 1873 : showing, in detail, the population, agricultural statistics, and other items of interest / published under direction of the Executive Council, 1874

This is the Census of Iowa as returned in the year 1873, showing in detail, the population, agricultural statistics, and other items of interest

Scaling laws and thermodynamic analysis for vascular branching of microvessels

When blood flows through small vessels, the two-phase nature of blood as a suspension of red cells (erythrocytes) in plasma cannot be neglected, and with decreasing vessel size, a homogeneous continuum model become less adequate in describing blood flow. Following the Haynes’ marginal zone theory, and viewing the flow as the result of concentric laminae of fluid moving axially, the present work provides models for fluid flow in dichotomous branching composed by larger and smaller vessels, respectively. Expressions for the branching sizes of parent and daughter vessels, that provides easier flow access, are obtained by means of a constrained optimization approach using the Lagrange multipliers. This study shows that when blood behaves as a Newtonian fluid, Hess – Murray law that states that the daughters-to-parent diameter ratio must equal to 2^(-1/3) is valid. However, when the nature of blood as a suspension becomes important, the expression for optimum branching diameters of vessels is dependent on the separation phase lengths. It is also shown that the same effect occurs for the relative lengths of daughters and parent vessels. For smaller vessels (e. g., arterioles and capillaries), it is found that the daughters-to-parent diameter ratio may varies from 0,741 to 0,849, and the daughters-to-parent length ratio varies from 0,260 to 2,42. For larger vessels (e. g., arteries), the daughters-to-parent diameter ratio and the daughters-to-parent length ratio range from 0,458 to 0,819, and from 0,100 to 6,27, respectively. In this paper, it is also demonstrated that the entropy generated when blood behaves as a single phase fluid (i. e., continuum viscous fluid) is greater than the entropy generated when the nature of blood as a suspension becomes important. Another important finding is that the manifestation of the particulate nature of blood in small vessels reduces entropy generation due to fluid friction, thereby maintaining the flow through dichotomous branching vessels at a relatively lower cost.

Labour rights as human rights : workers' safety at work in Australian-based supply chains

The increase of buyer-driven supply chains, outsourcing and other forms of non-traditional employment has resulted in challenges for labour market regulation. One business model which has created substantial regulatory challenges is supply chains. The supply chain model involves retailers purchasing products from brand corporations who then outsource the manufacturing of the work to traders who contract with factories or outworkers who actually manufacture the clothing and textiles. This business model results in time and cost pressures being pushed down the supply chain which has resulted in sweatshops where workers systematically have their labour rights violated. Literally millions of workers work in dangerous workplaces where thousands are killed or permanently disabled every year. This thesis has analysed possible regulatory responses to provide workers a right to safety and health in supply chains which provide products for Australian retailers. This thesis will use a human rights standard to determine whether Australia is discharging its human rights obligations in its approach to combating domestic and foreign labour abuses. It is beyond this thesis to analyse Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) laws in every jurisdiction. Accordingly, this thesis will focus upon Australian domestic laws and laws in one of Australia’s major trading partners, the Peoples’ Republic of China (China). It is hypothesised that Australia is currently breaching its human rights obligations through failing to adequately regulate employees’ safety at work in Australian-based supply chains. To prove this hypothesis, this thesis will adopt a three- phase approach to analysing Australia’s regulatory responses. Phase 1 will identify the standard by which Australia’s regulatory approach to employees’ health and safety in supply chains can be judged. This phase will focus on analysing how workers’ rights to safety as a human right imposes a moral obligation on Australia to take reasonablely practicable steps regulate Australian-based supply chains. This will form a human rights standard against which Australia’s conduct can be judged. Phase 2 focuses upon the current regulatory environment. If existing regulatory vehicles adequately protect the health and safety of employees, then Australia will have discharged its obligations through simply maintaining the status quo. Australia currently regulates OHS through a combination of ‘hard law’ and ‘soft law’ regulatory vehicles. The first part of phase 2 analyses the effectiveness of traditional OHS laws in Australia and in China. The final part of phase 2 then analyses the effectiveness of the major soft law vehicle ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR). The fact that employees are working in unsafe working conditions does not mean Australia is breaching its human rights obligations. Australia is only required to take reasonably practicable steps to ensure human rights are realized. Phase 3 identifies four regulatory vehicles to determine whether they would assist Australia in discharging its human rights obligations. Phase 3 then analyses whether Australia could unilaterally introduce supply chain regulation to regulate domestic and extraterritorial supply chains. Phase 3 also analyses three public international law regulatory vehicles. This chapter considers the ability of the United Nations Global Compact, the ILO’s Better Factory Project and a bilateral agreement to improve the detection and enforcement of workers’ right to safety and health.

The Profits of Charity : International Perspectives on the Law Governing the Involvement of Charities in Commerce

"The Profits of Charity examines the contemporary law governing the involvement of charity in commerce and explores the reasons why this involvement is dramatically changing. From a perspective familiar to charity lawyers, NGO managers, and scholars, Kerry O'Halloran identifies the concepts and the law underpinning charities and their profits by tracing legal developments in the field and identifying the resulting opportunities and challenges for the future. At a time when many leading nations are confronting economic recession, the threat of terrorism, and the retreat of the 'welfare state,' this book explores why governments are turning to charities in their quest to cultivate social capital, consolidate civil society, and promote civic engagement." -- publisher website

Prestación laboral mediante las empresas de trabajo temporal según la legislación española

En los últimos años, es cada vez más frecuente que las necesidades puntuales de personal que tienen las empresas se cubran mediante trabajadores adscritos a una ETT. El elevado grado de aceptación de la contratación a través de esta vía no sólo deriva del hecho de ser un medio más flexible de contratación, sino tambien de los menores costes salariales que implican la contratación de trabajadores de empresas de trabajo temporal; siendo este el principio incentivo para su utilización. Así pues, el recurso de la contratación de los trabajadores de las empresas de trabajo temporal no sólo constituye un medio para atender a necesidades temporales de la empresa usuaria, sino que además se ha constituido en un medio de reducir los costes salariales. El aspecto más destacable de la relación que se crea , desde el punto de vista del trabajador, es que el empleador es la ETT, pese a que la prestación se realiza, fisicamente en la empresa usuaria. La contratación de trabajadores con la finalidad de cederlos con carácter temporal a otras empresas para hacer frente a necesidades conyunturales ha sido tradicionalmente prohibida por los ordenamientos laborales y considerada como tráfico ilegal de mano de obra, asimilándola a la actividad de intermediación en el mercado de trabajo con fines lucrativos, por estimar que ambas figuras podían atentar contra derechos fundamentales de los trabajadores. Sin embargo desde finales de la decada de los sesenta, los países centrales de la Unión Europea, teniendo ratificado, al igual que España, el convenio 96 de la OIT, han venido regulando la actividad de las empresas de trabajo temporal por entender que su actuación, cuando se desarrolla de forma debidamente controlada, lejos de perjudicar a los trabajadores por ellas contratados pueden canalizar un volumen muy importante de empleo cuya especialización e inmediatez en la respuesta, sobre todo en el sector de servicios, no puede ofrecerse a través de mecanismos tradicionales. Por otra parte, para los trabajadores constituye un mecanismo importante para acceder a la actividad laboral y familiarizarse con la vida de la empresa, posibilitando además una cierta diversificación profesional y formación polivalente, a la vez, que en determinados casos, facilita a ciertos colectivos un sistema de trabajo que les permiter compaginar la actividad laboral con otras ocupaciones no productivas o responsabilidades familiares. La puesta en marcha de la legislación reguladora del trabajo temporal ha cubierto un importante vacio que existia en la gestión de las empresas en el área de recursos humanos, fomentando el contrato de carácter fijo y regularizando situaciones de temporalidad.

An hydrochemical answer to a legislative demand involving health risk related to water quality

Effluents and surface waters around an area involved with the inking of tissues at Itatiba municipality, São Paulo State, Brazil, were chemically analyzed with the purpose of evaluating the influence on the water quality of the chemicals released, as well to provide answers to legislative requirements related to the São Paulo State Register 997 published on 31 May 1976.

Chronological Monte Carlo-based assessment of distribution system reliability

Regulatory authorities in many countries, in order to maintain an acceptable balance between appropriate customer service qualities and costs, are introducing a performance-based regulation. These regulations impose penalties, and in some cases rewards, which introduce a component of financial risk to an electric power utility due to the uncertainty associated with preserving a specific level of system reliability. In Brazil, for instance, one of the reliability indices receiving special attention by the utilities is the Maximum Continuous Interruption Duration per customer (MCID). This paper describes a chronological Monte Carlo simulation approach to evaluate probability distributions of reliability indices, including the MCID, and the corresponding penalties. In order to get the desired efficiency, modern computational techniques are used for modeling (UML -Unified Modeling Language) as well as for programming (Object- Oriented Programming). Case studies on a simple distribution network and on real Brazilian distribution systems are presented and discussed. © Copyright KTH 2006.

Qualidade da água utilizada para irrigação de hortaliças na região de Botucatu-SP

This work had as objective verifies the water quality used for irrigation by the vegetables producers of Botucatu-SP area. They were interviewed 27 producers that sell vegetables in the street markets of Botucatu. Among these producers, ten were selected, being one of each place. Three samples of water of each source were collected. The main standard to evaluate the obtained results were the CONAMA Resolution (National Environment Council) N° 357, March 17, 2005, that it establishes the standard for water classification. The Electric Conductivity was evaluated of agreement value suggested by CETESB and the color was verified according to OMS (Health World Organization), for potable water due to CONAMA Resolution not to stipulate a value for classification. For the public health, just the coliformes and nitrate are the preoccupying variables for they be related with the incidence of diseases, so, the analyzed waters, 40% of them (A, F, H and J producers) offer some risk for the health of Botucatu population, second established standard for CONAMA. We can to conclude that in a general way, those waters, are in conditions no alarming, because they don't present values very different from those established by the legislation.