The Law, Gendered Abuse, and the Limits and Possibilities of Feminist Theory

Reviewing Leigh Goodmark, A Troubled Marriage: Domestic Violence and the Legal System (2011)

Woman Battering and Welfare Reform: The View from a Welfare-To-Work Program

This research compares employment training program staff estimates (N = 118) and enrollee reports (N = 122) of woman battering, that is, the physical violence and other abuse men deploy against their wives and girlfriends. The vast majority of staff estimate that woman battering obstructs the transition from welfare to work for at least some of their clients. Overall, staff respondents\u27 relative sense of the frequency of battering quite accurately reflects enrollee reports. However, staff are especially reluctant to give estimates of physical violence and injury. Moreover, many give very low estimates for those items that are obvious markers of battering, which enrollees report at nontrivial levels. Such discrepancies are particularly disturbing because successful welfare reform implementation depends in part on staff understandings of woman battering as an obstacle to welfareto- work transitio

The Law, Gendered Abuse, and the Limits and Possibilities of Feminist Theory

Reviewing Leigh Goodmark, A Troubled Marriage: Domestic Violence and the Legal System (2011)

The price of protection?: women who petition for restrainingorders against abusers typically see decreased earnings

Women in abusive relationships are able to petition the courts for a civil restraining order. While these restraining orders can promote women’s safety, in new research, Melanie Hughes and Lisa Brush find that they can be accompanied by serious financial hardship for women. They find that in the year after petitioning, women lose an average of $1,018 as a result of taking time off work or other factors related to the abuse itself. They also find that for many women, welfare payments can act as a buffer from some of the worst economic losses associated with abuse. In light of their findings, policymakers should consider economic assistance for women trying to exit abusive situations, regardless of their income

An updated model for estimating the TMDL-related benefits of oyster reef restoration Harris Creek, Maryland, USA

In 2014, a user-friendly, web-accessible model was developed that allowed restoration practitioners and resource managers to easily estimate the TMDLrelated benefits of oyster reef (Crassostrea virginica) restoration per unit area, run restoration scenarios in Harris Creek, MD to optimize restoration planning and implementation, and calculate the benefits of the chosen plan. The model was rooted in scientifically defensible data and was readily transferrable to systems throughout the Chesapeake Bay and Eastern Shore. The model operated in five vertically well-mixed boxes along the main axis of the creek. Exchanges among creeks were computed using a tidal prism approach and were compared to exchanges provided from a high resolution 3D hydrodynamic model. Watershed inputs for the model were obtained for the Harris Creek sub-watershed from the Phase V Chesapeake Bay Program Watershed Model. The base model simulated daily concentrations over an annual cycle of chlorophyll-a, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, the biomass of benthic microalgae, and the water column and sediment pools of labile organic carbon (C) and associated N and P. Water quality data for model forcing and calibration were obtained from the Chesapeake Bay Program, the Choptank Riverkeeper, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. An oyster sub-model was coupled to this base model to compute the volume of water filtered, removal of phytoplankton, suspended solids, and associated nutrients via filtration, recycling of nutrients and consumption of oxygen by oyster respiration, production of feces, N and P accumulation in oyster tissues and shell, oyster-enhanced denitrification, and N and P burial associated with restored reefs. The completed model was served online and operated through a web browser, enabling users to conduct scenario analysis by entering box-specific values for acres restored, restored oyster density, and restored oyster size, as well as the economic value of associated N and P removal. The updated model incorporates all aspects of the previous model but replaces oyster related data collected outside Harris Creek with site-specific data, and now includes restored oyster populations and water quality data through 2016. It also incorporates the impacts of two common, reef-associated filter feeding organisms: the hooked mussel Ischadium recurvum and the sea squirt Molgula manhattensis. Additional data collected in Harris Creek and incorporated into the model include: biomass of benthic microalgae, biogeochemical fluxes in relation to oyster biomass, and the biomass density and distribution of the dominant non-oyster reef filter feeders (I. recurvum, and M. manhattensis). The revised model incorporates an improved estimate of annual oyster growth, uses an improved method for estimating N and P sequestered in tissues and shells, and accounts for the prerestoration oyster population in Harris Creek. The model also incorporates data on the filtration capacity of I. recurvum and M. manhattensis in relation to C. virginica collected as part of a previous study (not in Harris Creek) by Kellogg and Newell (unpublished data)

A model for estimating the TMDL-related benefits of oyster reef restoration : Harris Creek, Maryland, USA

A user-friendly, web-accessible model has been developed that allows restoration practitioners and resource managers to easily estimate the TMDL-related benefits of oyster reef restoration per unit area, run restoration scenarios in Harris Creek, MD to optimize restoration planning and implementation, and calculate the benefits of the chosen plan. The model is rooted in scientifically defensible data and is readily transferable to systems throughout the Chesapeake Bay and Eastern Shore. The model operates in five vertically well-mixed boxes along the main axis of the creek. Exchanges among creeks are computed using a tidal prism approach and were compared to exchanges provided from a high resolution 3D hydrodynamic model. Watershed inputs for the model were obtained for the Harris Creek sub-watershed from the Phase V Chesapeake Bay Program Watershed Model. The base model simulates daily concentrations over an annual cycle of chlorophyll-a, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, the biomass of benthic microalgae, and the water column and sediment pools of labile organic carbon (C) and associated N and P. Water quality data for model forcing and calibration were obtained from the Chesapeake Bay Program, the Choptank Riverkeeper, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. An oyster sub-model has been coupled to this base model and computes the volume of water filtered, removal of phytoplankton, suspended solids, and associated nutrients via filtration, recycling of nutrients and consumption of oxygen by oyster respiration, production of feces, N and P accumulation in oyster tissues and shell, oyster-enhanced denitrification, and N and P burial associated with restored reefs. The completed model is served online and operates through a web browser, enabling users to conduct scenario analysis by entering box-specific values for acres restored, restored oyster density, and restored oyster size, as well as the economic value of associated N and P removal

The value of paleoecology as an aid to monitoring ecosystems and landscapes, chiefly with reference to North America

Paleoecological indicators are examined as to their accuracy in reconstructing past biotic communities and environmental conditions, their utility in answering important questions about such communities and conditions, and the temporal and spatial scales over which they are effective. Next, environmental problems susceptible of paleoecological analysis are considered, as are the ecosystem and landscape properties that can be inferred from such an analysis. The usefulness of paleoecology in anticipating ecological surprises is then discussed. Finally, a set of conclusions and recommendations is presented

A review of how we assess denitrification in oyster habitats and proposed guidelines for future studies

Excess nitrogen (N) loading and resulting eutrophication plague coastal ecosystems globally. Much work is being done to remove N before it enters coastal receiving waters, yet these efforts are not enough. Novel techniques to remove N from within the coastal ecosystem are now being explored. One of these techniques involves using oysters and their habitats to remove N via denitrification. There is substantial interest in incorporating oyster-mediated enhancement of benthic denitrification into N management plans and trading schemes. Measuring denitrification, however, is expensive and time consuming. For large-scale adoption of oyster-mediated denitrification into nutrient management plans, we need an accurate model that can be applied across ecosystems. Despite significant effort to measure and report rates of denitrification in oyster habitats, we are unable to create such a model, due to methodological differences between studies, incomplete data reporting, and inconsistent measurements of environmental variables that may be used to predict denitrification. To make a model that can predict denitrification in oyster habitats a reality, a common sampling and reporting scheme is needed across studies. Here, we provide relevant background on how oysters may stimulate denitrification, and the importance of oyster-mediated denitrification in remediating excess N loading to coastal systems. We then summarize methods commonly used to measure denitrification in oyster habitats, discuss the importance of various environmental variables that may be useful for predicting denitrification, and present a set of guidelines for measuring denitrification in oyster habitats, allowing development of models to support incorporation of oyster-mediated denitrification into future policy decisions

What a girl’s gotta do: the labour of the biopolitical celebrity in austerity Britain

This article debunks the wide-spread view that young female celebrities, especially those who rise to fame through reality shows and other forms of media-orchestrated self-exposure, dodge ‘real’ work out of laziness, fatalism and a misguided sense of entitlement. Instead, we argue that becoming a celebrity in a neoliberal economy such as that of the United Kingdom, where austerity measures disproportionately disadvantage the young, women and the poor is not as irregular or exceptional a choice as previously thought, especially since the precariousness of celebrity earning power adheres to the current demands of the neoliberal economy on its workforce. What is more, becoming a celebrity involves different forms of labour that are best described as biopolitical, since such labour fully involves and consumes the human body and its capacities as a living organism. Weight gain and weight loss, pregnancy, physical transformation through plastic surgery, physical symptoms of emotional distress and even illness and death are all photographically documented and supplemented by extended textual commentary, usually with direct input from the celebrity, reinforcing and expanding on the visual content. As well as casting celebrity work as labour, we also maintain that the workings of celebrity should always be examined in the context of wider cultural and real economies