The continued importance of a feminist analysis: gendered inequalities visible through a critique of Howard government policy on domestic violence

This paper argues that feminist analyses remain crucial to any critical analysis of social policy. From the outset, it needs to be said that we are not suggesting that other critical analyses are less important, such as anti-racist analysis, for example (Dominelli 2002a, 2002b). We also acknowledge the significance of intersectionality theory which identifies the ways in which race and racism may compound gender inequality to shape experiences of oppression or privilege (Mullings & Schultz 2006; Weber 2006). Having said this, in this paper we argue that feminist analyses remain as important as ever, in challenging dominant patriarchal/capitalist discourse currently informing social policy in Australia.

As a counter discourse, feminism puts women’s experiences and the unequal relationships of patriarchy at the forefront of analysis, highlights gender inequalities entrenched in social institutions and policy, and draws attention to the organisation of society along gender specific lines and the inequalities resulting from the relegation of women to the private sphere (Dominelli 2002a).

Specifically, we will demonstrate that the Howard government’s policy responses to the issue of family violence have reflected a renewed attack on previous gains made by women, and exemplify a neo-liberal, neo-conservative approach to social policy that demands a critical feminist analysis. Given the recent federal election, it seems particularly timely to reassert the importance of a feminist analysis of social policy and to direct the attention of the new federal government towards reversing recent trends to de-politicise violence towards women.

Speculative attacks on debts and optimum currency area: a welfare analysis

Traditionally the issue of an optimum currency area is based on the theoretical underpinnings developed in the 1960s by McKinnon [13], Kenen [12] and mainly Mundell [14], who is concerned with the benefits of lowering transaction costs vis-à- vis adjustments to asymmetrical shocks. Recently, this theme has been reappraised with new aspects included in the analysis, such as: incomplete markets, credibility of monetary policy and seigniorage, among others. For instance, Neumeyer [15] develops a general equilibrium model with incomplete asset markets and shows that a monetary union is desirable when the welfare gains of eliminating the exchange rate volatility are greater than the cost of reducing the number of currencies to hedge against risks. In this paper, we also resort to a general equilibrium model to evaluate financial aspects of an optimum currency area. Our focus is to appraise the welfare of a country heavily dependent on foreign capital that may suffer a speculative attack on its public debt. The welfare analysis uses as reference the self-fulfilling debt crisis model of Cole and Kehoe ([6], [7] and [8]), which is employed here to represent dollarization. Under this regime, the national government has no control over its monetary policy, the total public debt is denominated in dollars and it is in the hands of international bankers. To describe a country that is a member of a currency union, we modify the original Cole-Kehoe model by including public debt denominated in common currency, only purchased by national consumers. According to this rule, the member countries regain some influence over the monetary policy decision, which is, however, dependent on majority voting. We show that for specific levels of dollar debt, to create inflation tax on common-currency debt in order to avoid an external default is more desirable than to suspend its payment, which is the only choice available for a dollarized economy when foreign creditors decide not to renew their loans.

Essays on international finance, default and inflation

This thesis is composed by three papers, each one of them corresponding to one chapter. The first and the second chapters are essays on international finance appraising default and inflation as equilibrium outcomes for crisis time, in particular, for confidence crisis time that leads to speculative attack on the external public debt issued by emerging economies. With this background in mind, welfare effects from adopting common currency (chapter 1) and welfare effects from increasing the degree of economic openness (chapter 2) are analyzed in numerical exercises, based on DSGE framework. Cross-countries results obtained are then presented to be compared with empirical evidence and to help on understanding past policy decisions. Some policy prescriptions are also suggested. In the third chapter we look to the inflation targeting regime applied to emerging economies that are subject to adverse shocks, like the external debt crisis presented in the previous chapters. Based on a more theoretical approach, we appraise how pre commitment framework should be used to coordinate expectations when policymaker announcement has no full credibility and self fulfilling inflation may be possible.

Do police reduce crime? Estimates using the allocation of police forces after a terrorist attack

An important challenge in the crime literature is to isolate causal effects of police on crime. Following a terrorist attack on the main Jewish center in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in July 1994, all Jewish institutions (including schools, synagogues, and clubs) were given 24-hour police protection. Thus, this hideous event induced a geographical allocation of police forces that can be presumed to be exogenous in a crime regression. Using data on the location of car thefts before and after the terrorist attack, we find a large deterrent effect of observable police presence on crime. The effect is local, with little or no appreciable impact outside the narrow area in which the police are deployed.

Spittlebug impacts on sugarcane quality and ethanol production

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Coati (Nasua nasua) Attacks on Humans: Case Report

Coatis [including Nasua nasua, the ring-tailed coati], are medium-sized mammals widely distributed in the Americas. They are social animals, whose normal diet includes insects, fruits, and small vertebrates, and rarely prey on larger sized animals. There are, to our knowledge, no reports in the medical literature of attacks on humans. This report describes a coati attack on 2 children in their home. The children sustained deep scratches and bites. The animal may have injured the humans in a defensive strike, but motivation for attack was uncertain. Coati attacks may occur in places where there is interaction between these mammals and humans.

Micellar modification of drug stability: analysis of the effect of hexadecyltrimethylammonium halides on the rate of degradation of cephaclor

The intra- and intermolecular rates of degradation of cephaclor were determined with and without hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTABr). Micellar-derived spectral shifts were used to measure the association of the ionic forms as well as to determine the effect of CTABr on the apparent acid dissociation constant of the antibiotic. The rate of degradation of cephaclor increased with detergent and was salt sensitive. Micellar effects were analyzed quantitatively within the frame-work of the speudophase ion exchange model. All experimental data were fitted to this model which was used to predict the combined effects of pH and detergent concentration. Micelles increased the rate of OH- attack on cephaclor; most of the effect was due to the concentration of reagents in the micellar pseudophase. The intramolecular degradation was catalyzed 25-fold by micelles, and a working hypothesis to rationalize this effect is proposed. The results demonstrate that quantitative analysis can be utilized to assess and predict effects of detergents on drug stability.

Different levels of policy change: A comparison between the public discussion on social security in Sweden and in Finland

The deep economic recession that hit Sweden and Finland at the beginning of the 90s, and the fall in public revenues and rapidly growing public debts that followed on it, triggered a development of cutbacks and restructuring measures which has resulted in a scientific debate over what this has meant for these countries’ systems of social policy, traditionally resting on the Nordic welfare state paradigm. In this connection, questions of to what extent changes made can be ascribed mainly to the economic constraints posed by the recession at all, or rather, to other more long-term societal trends or phenomena, including globalisation, European integration and/or ideational or ideological shifts among influential (elite) groups, have often been touched upon. Applying an ideas-centred approach, this paper attempts to contribute to the knowledge on the reasoning of influential elite societal groups in social policy issues before, during and after the 90’s recession, by empirically analysing their statements on social security made in the press. A distinction is made between three different levels of proposed policy changes, reaching from minor alterations of single programs to changes of the policy paradigm. Results show that the 1990s did not only mean the emergence of suggestions for minor cutbacks in and alterations of prevailing programmes. The share of suggestions implying de facto a (further) departure from the basic features of the social security system also showed that the model was under continuous pressure throughout the 90s. However, many of the changes suggested were not justified by any clear references to a policy paradigm in either country (or not justified at all). Instead, references to “purely” structural justifications did become more common over time. In this respect, as regards social security, our results cannot confirm the fairly popular notion among many researchers of a clearly ideological attack on the welfare state. However, it remains uncertain whether and to what extent the increased proportion of references to “structural realities” in the 90s should be interpreted as an indication of a change in the idea of what the welfare state is and what the goals behind it are. Results further show that the patterns of the discussion in the two countries studied bore a remarkable resemblance at a general level, whereas there are indications of differences in the driving forces behind suggestions for similar reforms in these two countries.

A Call for Systematic Research on Solute Carriers

Solute carrier (SLC) membrane transport proteins control essential physiological functions, including nutrient uptake, ion transport, and waste removal. SLCs interact with several important drugs, and a quarter of the more than 400 SLC genes are associated with human diseases. Yet, compared to other gene families of similar stature, SLCs are relatively understudied. The time is right for a systematic attack on SLC structure, specificity, and function, taking into account kinship and expression, as well as the dependencies that arise from the common metabolic space.

Plankton biomass in the Mamala Basin (Oahu Island, Hawaii Islands) under antropogenic influence in August-September of 2002-2004

Anthropogenic impact on biomass of coastal plankton communities caused by submerged disposal of urban sewage waters (dumping) was studied. Observations were carried out in August-September of 2002-2004 in the Mamala Bay (Oahu Island, Hawaii Islands) using satellite and straight sea measurements. An analysis of variability of integral indicators of the water column determined on the basis of on-board measurements allowed us to divide them into two groups: elements most sensitive to pollution (heterotrophic bacteria (H-Bact), phototrophic cyanobacteria Synechococcus spp. (SYN), and chlorophyll a (CHLa)) and elements that manifested episodic positive dependence on inflow of polluted waters (heterotrophic unicellular eukaryotes, small unicellular algae, phototrophic green bacteria Prochlorococcus spp., as well as total biomass of microplankton). It was shown that submerged waste water disposal in the region of the diffuser of the dumping device led to insignificant (aver. 1.2-1.4 times) local increase in integral biomass of H-Bact, SYN, and in concentration of CHLa. Similar but sharper (aver. 1.5-2.1 times) increase in these parameters was found in water layers with maximal biomasses. Possible pathways of disposed waters (under the pycnocline, at its upper boundary, and in the entire mixed layer) were analyzed on the basis of studying vertical displacement of biomasses of H-Bact, SYN, and prochlorophytes. Possibility of using optical anomalies distinguished from satellite data as markers of anthropogenic eutrophication caused by dumping was confirmed. Application of such markers depends on water transparency and on shapes of curves of vertical distribution of autotrophic organisms.

Potency of Michael reaction acceptors as inducers of enzymes that protect against carcinogenesis depends on their reactivity with sulfhydryl groups

Induction of phase 2 enzymes and elevations of glutathione are major and sufficient strategies for protecting mammals and their cells against the toxic and carcinogenic effects of electrophiles and reactive forms of oxygen. Inducers belong to nine chemical classes and have few common properties except for their ability to modify sulfhydryl groups by oxidation, reduction, or alkylation. Much evidence suggests that the cellular “sensor” molecule that recognizes the inducers and signals the enhanced transcription of phase 2 genes does so by virtue of unique and highly reactive sulfhydryl functions that recognize and covalently react with the inducers. Benzylidene-alkanones and -cycloalkanones are Michael reaction acceptors whose inducer potency is profoundly increased by the presence of ortho- (but not other) hydroxyl substituent(s) on the aromatic ring(s). This enhancement correlates with more rapid reactivity of the ortho-hydroxylated derivatives with model sulfhydryl compounds. Proton NMR spectroscopy provides no evidence for increased electrophilicity of the β-vinyl carbons (the presumed site of nucleophilic attack) on the hydroxylated inducers. Surprisingly, these ortho-hydroxyl groups display a propensity for extensive intermolecular hydrogen bond formation, which may raise the reactivity and facilitate addition of mercaptans, thereby raising inducer potencies.

Crystallographic evidence for the action of potassium, thallium, and lithium ions on fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase.

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (Fru-1,6-Pase; D-fructose-1,6-bisphosphate 1-phosphohydrolase, EC 3.1.3.11) requires two divalent metal ions to hydrolyze alpha-D-fructose 1,6-bisphosphate. Although not required for catalysis, monovalent cations modify the enzyme activity; K+ and Tl+ ions are activators, whereas Li+ ions are inhibitors. Their mechanisms of action are still unknown. We report here crystallographic structures of pig kidney Fru-1,6-Pase complexed with K+, Tl+, or both Tl+ and Li+. In the T form Fru-1,6-Pase complexed with the substrate analogue 2,5-anhydro-D-glucitol 1,6-bisphosphate (AhG-1,6-P2) and Tl+ or K+ ions, three Tl+ or K+ binding sites are found. Site 1 is defined by Glu-97, Asp-118, Asp-121, Glu-280, and a 1-phosphate oxygen of AhG-1,6-P2; site 2 is defined by Glu-97, Glu-98, Asp-118, and Leu-120. Finally, site 3 is defined by Arg-276, Glu-280, and the 1-phosphate group of AhG-1,6-P2. The Tl+ or K+ ions at sites 1 and 2 are very close to the positions previously identified for the divalent metal ions. Site 3 is specific to K+ or Tl+. In the divalent metal ion complexes, site 3 is occupied by the guanidinium group of Arg-276. These observations suggest that Tl+ or K+ ions can substitute for Arg-276 in the active site and polarize the 1-phosphate group, thus facilitating nucleophilic attack on the phosphorus center. In the T form complexed with both Tl+ and Li+ ions, Li+ replaces Tl+ at metal site 1. Inhibition by lithium very likely occurs as it binds to this site, thus retarding turnover or phosphate release. The present study provides a structural basis for a similar mechanism of inhibition for inositol monophosphatase, one of the potential targets of lithium ions in the treatment of manic depression.

Blurring the lines : how Japanese American internment camps re-defined art and religion's relationship

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor during WWII, anyone of Japanese descent living on the West Coast was placed in internment camps scattered throughout the country. Life inside the camps included many different activities to make life as normal as possible. This study will focus on two intersecting day-to-day activities in particular, the practice of religion within the camps, as well as the creation of art. Art created in the camps was influenced by multiple religious traditions. An analysis of artworks created by professional and amateur artists, interviews and an examination of existing scholarship demonstrates that internment camps created a unique environment for the creation of art. The values of internees reflected the seamless coexistence of Christianity, Buddhism and Shinto in internment camp art.

Boston 2000: harbor nodes, modes & links

Shows transportation network in and around the harbor.

Summary of the action of the ... regular session of the Wisconsin Legislature on some of the more important questions coming before it /

Description based on: 1941.