Testing extractants for Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn in tropical soils treated with sewage sludge for 13 consecutive years

In this paper, we report on a field experiment being carried out in a Typic Eutrorthox. The experiment was initiated in the 1997-98 agricultural season as a randomized block design with four treatments (0, 5, 10, and 20 t ha -1) of sewage sludge and five replicates. Compound soil samples were obtained from 20 subsamples collected at depths of 0-0.1 and 0.1-0.2 m. Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn concentrations were extracted with DTPA pH 7.3; 0.1 mol L -1 HCl, Mehlich-I, Mehlich-III, and 0.01 mol L-1 CaCl 2. Metal concentrations were determined via atomic absorption spectrometry. Diagnostic leaves and the whole above-ground portion of plants were collected to determine Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn concentrations extracted by nitric-perchloric digestion and later determined via atomic absorption spectrometry. Sewage sludge application caused increases in the concentrations of soil Cu, Fe, and Mn in samples taken from the 0-0.1 m depth evaluated by the extractants Mehlich-I, Mehlich-III, 0.01 mol L-1 HCl and DTPA pH 7.3. None of the extractants provided efficient estimates of changes in Mn concentrations. The acid extractants extracted more Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn than the saline and chelating solutions. The highest concentrations of Cu, Fe, and Zn were obtained with Mehlich-III, while the highest concentrations of Mn were obtained with HCl. We did not observe a correlation between the extractants and the concentrations of elements in the diagnostic leaves nor in the tissues of the whole maize plant (Zea mays L.). © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Doppia imposizione sui redditi transfrontalieri tra ordinamenti tributari e mercato europeo.

La ricerca affronta in modo unitario e nell’ottica europea i multiformi fenomeni della doppia imposizione economica e giuridica, assumendo come paradigma iniziale la tassazione dei dividendi cross-border. Definito lo statuto giuridico della doppia imposizione, se ne motiva la contrarietà all’ordinamento europeo e si indagano gli strumenti comunitari per raggiungere l’obiettivo europeo della sua eliminazione. In assenza di un’armonizzazione positiva, il risultato sostanziale viene raggiunto grazie all’integrazione negativa. Si dimostra che il riserbo della Corte di Giustizia di fronte a opzioni di politica fiscale è soltanto un’impostazione di facciata, valorizzando le aperture giurisprudenziali per il suo superamento. Questi, in sintesi, i passaggi fondamentali. Si parte dall’evoluzione delle libertà fondamentali in diritti di rango costituzionale, che ne trasforma il contenuto economico e la portata giuridica, attribuendo portata costituzionale ai valori di neutralità e non restrizione. Si evidenzia quindi il passaggio dal divieto di discriminazioni al divieto di restrizioni, constatando il fallimento del tentativo di configurare il divieto di doppia imposizione come principio autonomo dell’ordinamento europeo. Contemporaneamente, però, diventa opportuno riesaminare la distinzione tra doppia imposizione economica e giuridica, e impostare un unico inquadramento teorico della doppia imposizione come ipotesi paradigmatica di restrizione alle libertà. Conseguentemente, viene razionalizzato l’impianto giurisprudenziale delle cause di giustificazione. Questo consente agevolmente di legittimare scelte comunitarie per la ripartizione dei poteri impositivi tra Stati Membri e l’attribuzione delle responsabilità per l’eliminazione degli effetti della doppia imposizione. In conclusione, dunque, emerge una formulazione europea dell’equilibrato riparto di poteri impositivi a favore dello Stato della fonte. E, accanto ad essa, una concezione comunitaria del principio di capacità contributiva, con implicazioni dirompenti ancora da verificare. Sul piano metodologico, l’analisi si concentra criticamente sull’operato della Corte di Giustizia, svelando punti di forza e di debolezza della sua azione, che ha posto le basi per la risposta europea al problema della doppia imposizione.

Christologia, or, A declaration of the glorious mystery of the person of Christ, God and man : with the infinite wisdom, love and power of God in the contrivance and constitution thereof; as also of the grounds and reasons of his incarnation, the nature of his ministry in heaven, the present state of the church above thereon, and the use of his person in religion; with an account and vindication of the honour, worship, faith, love and obedience due unto him, in and from the church /

Bound with: Meditations and discourses on the glory of Christ / by John Owen.

Occurrence and Behavior of Juvenile Red Snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, on Commercial Shrimp Fishing Grounds in the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, is subject to significant overfishing in U.S. Gulf of Mexico waters, and regulations are being implemented to reduce fishing mortality and restore them to a 20% spawning potential ratio by the year 2009. One source of mortality that must be reduced to achieve this goal is the incidental capture ofjuvenile red snappers in shrimp, Penaeus spp., trawls. NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service is conducting research to develop shrimp trawl modifications to reduce the snapper bycatch. An important part of this research is the study of juvenile red snapper behavior on commercial shrimp grounds and in relation to trawling gear. An area of high juvenile red snapper abundance was identified off the coast of Mississippi. Most snappers were observed around structures or objects on the bottom which they appeared to use for refuge or orientation. Those ranging over barren bottom had no apparent point of orientation. When encountered by shrimp trawls, most juvenile snappers rose above the trawl footrope and fell back into the trawl. These observations have directed research toward modifying shrimp trawls to release juvenile red snappers after entry, rather than preventing them from entering a shrimp trawl.

Wando River S248 (Above Hwy 41 Bridge)

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources provides maps to recreational and state shellfish grounds, available to the public for recreational harvesting or to commercial harvest. This map shows the location of Wando River S248 (Above Hwy 41 Bridge) Recreational Shellfish Ground in Charleston County.

Effect of height of bridge above water on salt deposition levels

Maintenance of bridge structures is a major issue for the Queensland Department of Main Roads. In the previous phase of this CRC project an initial approach was made towards the development of a program for lifetime prediction of metallic bridge components. This involved the analysis of five representative bridge structures with respect to salt deposition (a major contributor to metallic corrosion) to determine common elements to be used as “cases” - those defined for buildings are not applicable. The five bridges analysed included the Gladstone Port Access Road Overpass, Stewart Road Overpass, South Johnstone River Bridge, Johnson Creek Bridge and the Ward River Bridge.

Citizen Consultation from Above and Below : The Australian Perspective

In Australia, a range of Federal Government services have been provided online for some time, but direct, online citizen consultation and involvement in processes of governance is relatively new. Moves towards more extensive citizen involvement in legislative processes are now being driven in a “top-down” fashion by government agencies, or in a “bottom-up” manner by individuals and third-sector organisations. This chapter focusses on one example from each of these categories, as well as discussing the presence of individual politicians in online social networking spaces. It argues that only a combination of these approaches can achieve effective consultation between citizens and policymakers. Existing at a remove from government sites and the frameworks for public communication which govern them, bottom-up consultation tools may provide a better chance for functioning, self-organising user communities to emerge, but they are also more easily ignored by governments not directly involved in their running. Top-down consultation tools, on the other hand, may seem to provide a more direct line of communication to relevant government officials, but for that reason are also more likely to be swamped by users who wish simply to register their dissent rather than engage in discussion. The challenge for governments, politicians, and user communities alike is to develop spaces in which productive and undisrupted exchanges between citizens and policymakers can take place.

Citizen consultation from above and below : the Australian perspective

Citizen engagement and e‐government initiatives in Australia remain somewhat underdeveloped, not least for a number of fundamental structural reasons. Fledgling initiatives can be divided into a number of broad categories, including top‐down government consultation through blogs and similar experimental online sites operated by government departments; bottom‐up NGO‐driven watchdog initiatives such as GetUp!’s Project Democracy site, modelled on projects established in the UK; and a variety of more or less successful attempts by politicians (and their media handlers) to utilise social networking tools to connect with constituents while bypassing the mainstream media. This chapter explores these initiatives, and discusses the varying levels of success which they have found to date.

The relationship between drivers’ perceptions toward police speed enforcement and self-reported speeding behaviour

Exceeding the speed limit and driving too fast for the conditions are regularly cited as significant contributing factors in traffic crashes, particularly fatal and serious injury crashes. Despite an extensive body of research highlighting the relationship between increased vehicle speeds and crash risk and severity, speeding remains a pervasive behaviour on Australian roads. The development of effective countermeasures designed to reduce the prevalence of speeding behaviour requires that this behaviour is well understood. The primary aim of this program of research was to develop a better understanding of the influence of drivers’ perceptions and attitudes toward police speed enforcement on speeding behaviour. Study 1 employed focus group discussions with 39 licensed drivers to explore the influence of perceptions relating to specific characteristics of speed enforcement policies and practices on drivers’ attitudes towards speed enforcement. Three primary factors were identified as being most influential: site selection; visibility; and automaticity (i.e., whether the enforcement approach is automated/camera-based or manually operated). Perceptions regarding these enforcement characteristics were found to influence attitudes regarding the perceived legitimacy and transparency of speed enforcement. Moreover, misperceptions regarding speed enforcement policies and practices appeared to also have a substantial impact on attitudes toward speed enforcement, typically in a negative direction. These findings have important implications for road safety given that prior research has suggested that the effectiveness of speed enforcement approaches may be reduced if efforts are perceived by drivers as being illegitimate, such that they do little to encourage voluntary compliance. Study 1 also examined the impact of speed enforcement approaches varying in the degree of visibility and automaticity on self-reported willingness to comply with speed limits. These discussions suggested that all of the examined speed enforcement approaches (see Section 1.5 for more details) generally showed potential to reduce vehicle speeds and encourage compliance with posted speed limits. Nonetheless, participant responses suggested a greater willingness to comply with approaches operated in a highly visible manner, irrespective of the corresponding level of automaticity of the approach. While less visible approaches were typically associated with poorer rates of driver acceptance (e.g., perceived as “sneaky” and “unfair”), participants reported that such approaches would likely encourage long-term and network-wide impacts on their own speeding behaviour, as a function of the increased unpredictability of operations and increased direct (specific deterrence) and vicarious (general deterrence) experiences with punishment. Participants in Study 1 suggested that automated approaches, particularly when operated in a highly visible manner, do little to encourage compliance with speed limits except in the immediate vicinity of the enforcement location. While speed cameras have been criticised on such grounds in the past, such approaches can still have substantial road safety benefits if implemented in high-risk settings. Moreover, site-learning effects associated with automated approaches can also be argued to be a beneficial by-product of enforcement, such that behavioural modifications are achieved even in the absence of actual enforcement. Conversely, manually operated approaches were reported to be associated with more network-wide impacts on behaviour. In addition, the reported acceptance of such methods was high, due to the increased swiftness of punishment, ability for additional illegal driving behaviours to be policed and the salutary influence associated with increased face-to-face contact with authority. Study 2 involved a quantitative survey conducted with 718 licensed Queensland drivers from metropolitan and regional areas. The survey sought to further examine the influence of the visibility and automaticity of operations on self-reported likelihood and duration of compliance. Overall, the results from Study 2 corroborated those of Study 1. All examined approaches were again found to encourage compliance with speed limits, such that all approaches could be considered to be “effective”. Nonetheless, significantly greater self-reported likelihood and duration of compliance was associated with visibly operated approaches, irrespective of the corresponding automaticity of the approach. In addition, the impact of automaticity was influenced by visibility; such that significantly greater self-reported likelihood of compliance was associated with manually operated approaches, but only when they are operated in a less visible fashion. Conversely, manually operated approaches were associated with significantly greater durations of self-reported compliance, but only when they are operated in a highly visible manner. Taken together, the findings from Studies 1 and 2 suggest that enforcement efforts, irrespective of their visibility or automaticity, generally encourage compliance with speed limits. However, the duration of these effects on behaviour upon removal of the enforcement efforts remains questionable and represents an area where current speed enforcement practices could possibly be improved. Overall, it appears that identifying the optimal mix of enforcement operations, implementing them at a sufficient intensity and increasing the unpredictability of enforcement efforts (e.g., greater use of less visible approaches, random scheduling) are critical elements of success. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were also performed in Study 2 to investigate the punishment-related and attitudinal constructs that influence self-reported frequency of speeding behaviour. The research was based on the theoretical framework of expanded deterrence theory, augmented with three particular attitudinal constructs. Specifically, previous research examining the influence of attitudes on speeding behaviour has typically focussed on attitudes toward speeding behaviour in general only. This research sought to more comprehensively explore the influence of attitudes by also individually measuring and analysing attitudes toward speed enforcement and attitudes toward the appropriateness of speed limits on speeding behaviour. Consistent with previous research, a number of classical and expanded deterrence theory variables were found to significantly predict self-reported frequency of speeding behaviour. Significantly greater speeding behaviour was typically reported by those participants who perceived punishment associated with speeding to be less certain, who reported more frequent use of punishment avoidance strategies and who reported greater direct experiences with punishment. A number of interesting differences in the significant predictors among males and females, as well as younger and older drivers, were reported. Specifically, classical deterrence theory variables appeared most influential on the speeding behaviour of males and younger drivers, while expanded deterrence theory constructs appeared more influential for females. These findings have important implications for the development and implementation of speeding countermeasures. Of the attitudinal factors, significantly greater self-reported frequency of speeding behaviour was reported among participants who held more favourable attitudes toward speeding and who perceived speed limits to be set inappropriately low. Disappointingly, attitudes toward speed enforcement were found to have little influence on reported speeding behaviour, over and above the other deterrence theory and attitudinal constructs. Indeed, the relationship between attitudes toward speed enforcement and self-reported speeding behaviour was completely accounted for by attitudes toward speeding. Nonetheless, the complexity of attitudes toward speed enforcement are not yet fully understood and future research should more comprehensively explore the measurement of this construct. Finally, given the wealth of evidence (both in general and emerging from this program of research) highlighting the association between punishment avoidance and speeding behaviour, Study 2 also sought to investigate the factors that influence the self-reported propensity to use punishment avoidance strategies. A standard multiple regression analysis was conducted for exploratory purposes only. The results revealed that punishment-related and attitudinal factors significantly predicted approximately one fifth of the variance in the dependent variable. The perceived ability to avoid punishment, vicarious punishment experience, vicarious punishment avoidance and attitudes toward speeding were all significant predictors. Future research should examine these relationships more thoroughly and identify additional influential factors. In summary, the current program of research has a number of implications for road safety and speed enforcement policy and practice decision-making. The research highlights a number of potential avenues for the improvement of public education regarding enforcement efforts and provides a number of insights into punishment avoidance behaviours. In addition, the research adds strength to the argument that enforcement approaches should not only demonstrate effectiveness in achieving key road safety objectives, such as reduced vehicle speeds and associated crashes, but also strive to be transparent and legitimate, such that voluntary compliance is encouraged. A number of potential strategies are discussed (e.g., point-to-point speed cameras, intelligent speed adaptation. The correct mix and intensity of enforcement approaches appears critical for achieving optimum effectiveness from enforcement efforts, as well as enhancements in the unpredictability of operations and swiftness of punishment. Achievement of these goals should increase both the general and specific deterrent effects associated with enforcement through an increased perceived risk of detection and a more balanced exposure to punishment and punishment avoidance experiences.

Social Media Sites as Online Information Grounds : An exploratory study of the ways in which Information Technology (IT) professionals experience social media

Social media tools are often the result of innovations in Information Technology and developed by IT professionals and innovators. Nevertheless, IT professionals, many of whom are responsible for designing and building social media technologies, have not been investigated on how they themselves use or experience social media for professional purposes. This study will use Information Grounds Theory (Pettigrew, 1998) as a framework to study IT professionals’ experience in using social media for professional purposes. Information grounds facilitates the opportunistic discovery of information within social settings created temporarily at a place where people gather for a specific purpose (e.g., doctors’ waiting rooms, office tea rooms etc.), but the social atmosphere stimulates spontaneous sharing of information (Pettigrew, 1999). This study proposes that social media has the qualities that make it a rich information grounds; people participate from separate “places” in cyberspace in a synchronous manner in real-time, making it almost as dynamic and unplanned as physical information grounds. There is limited research on how social media platforms are perceived as a “place,” (a place to go to, a place to gather, or a place to be seen in) that is comparable to physical spaces. There is also no empirical study on how IT professionals use or “experience” social media. The data for this study is being collected through a study of IT professionals who currently use Twitter. A digital ethnography approach is being taken wherein the researcher uses online observations and “follows” the participants online and observes their behaviours and interactions on social media. Next, a sub-set of participants will be interviewed on their experiences with and within social media and how social media compares with traditional methods of information grounds, information communication, and collaborative environments. An Evolved Grounded Theory (Glaser, 1992) approach will be used to analyse tweets data and interviews and to map the findings against the Information Ground Theory. Findings from this study will provide foundational understanding of IT professionals’ experiences within social media, and can help both professionals and researchers understand this fast-evolving method of communications.

Equity in estate litigation : setting aside inter vivos transactions post mortem on the grounds of undue influence and unconscionable bargains

Where the value of an estate of a deceased person has been diminished by intervivos transfers of property, equitable doctrines provide powerful tools for practitioners advising those who are seeking to claim benefits under wills (or an intestacy) and those seeking further and better provision from the deceased estate.

Why 'down under' is a cut above: a comparison of rates of and reasons for caesarean section in England and Australia

Background Most studies examining determinants of rising rates of caesarean section have examined patterns in documented reasons for caesarean over time in a single location. Further insights could be gleaned from cross-cultural research that examines practice patterns in locations with disparate rates of caesarean section at a single time point. Methods We compared both rates of and main reason for pre-labour and intrapartum caesarean between England and Queensland, Australia, using data from retrospective cross-sectional surveys of women who had recently given birth in England (n = 5,250) and Queensland (n = 3,467). Results Women in Queensland were more likely to have had a caesarean birth (36.2%) than women in England (25.1% of births; OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.28-1.61), after adjustment for obstetric characteristics. Between-country differences were found for rates of pre-labour caesarean (21.2% vs. 12.2%) but not for intrapartum caesarean or assisted vaginal birth. Compared to women in England, women in Queensland with a history of caesarean were more likely to have had a pre-labour caesarean and more likely to have had an intrapartum caesarean, due only to a previous caesarean. Among women with no previous caesarean, Queensland women were more likely than women in England to have had a caesarean due to suspected disproportion and failure to progress in labour. Conclusions The higher rates of caesarean birth in Queensland are largely attributable to higher rates of caesarean for women with a previous caesarean, and for the main reason of having had a previous caesarean. Variation between countries may be accounted for by the absence of a single, comprehensive clinical guideline for caesarean section in Queensland. Keywords: Caesarean section; Childbirth; Pregnancy; Cross-cultural comparison; Vaginal birth after caesarean; Previous caesarean section; Patient-reported data; Quality improvement