Genetically Modified Food in the US and the UK: Proponents, Dissenters and Media Coverage

This research is a qualitative study examining the communication surrounding the issue of genetically modified food in the UK and the UK from October, 2011 through September, 2012. Material from biotechnology industry organizations, industry-funded non-profits, groups campaigning against the continued use of the technology, and mainstream media coverage of the issue in both countries during this time was examined using thematic analysis. The issue is analyzed through the lenses of Herman and Chomsky\u27s propaganda model, agenda building and framing theory. The research finds support for agenda building as well as a modernized understanding of the propaganda model, which the researcher argues are complementary theories

Carbonyl Sulfide (OCS): Large Scale Distributions Over North America During INTEX-NA and Relationship to CO2

An extensive set of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) observations were made as part of the NASA Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-North America (INTEX-NA) study, flown from 1 July to 14 August 2004 mostly over the eastern United States and Canada. These data show that summertime OCS mixing ratios at low altitude were dominated by surface drawdown and were highly correlated with CO2. Although local plumes were observed on some low-altitude flight legs, anthropogenic OCS sources were small compared to this sink. These INTEX-NA observations were in marked contrast to the early springtime 2001 Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific experiment, which sampled Asian outflow dominated by anthropogenic OCS emissions. To test the gridded OCS fluxes used in past models, the INTEX-NA observations were combined with the sulfur transport Eulerian model (STEM) regional atmospheric chemistry model for a top-down assessment of bottom-up OCS surface fluxes for North America. Initial STEM results suggest that the modeled fluxes underestimate the OCS plant sink by more than 200%

Measurements of nonmethane hydrocarbons in 28 United States cities

Between 1999 and 2005 a sampling campaign was conducted to identify and quantify the major species of atmospheric nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) in United States cities. Whole air canister samples were collected in 28 cities and analyzed for methane, carbon monoxide (CO) and NMHCs. Ambient mixing ratios exhibited high inter- and intra-city variability, often having standard deviations in excess of 50% of the mean value. For this reason, ratios of individual NMHC to CO, a combustion tracer, were examined to facilitate comparison between cities. Ratios were taken from correlation plots between the species of interest and CO, and most NMHCs were found to have correlation coefficients (r2) greater than 0.6, particularly ethene, ethyne and benzene, highlighting the influence of vehicular emissions on NMHC mixing ratios. Notable exceptions were the short-chain alkanes, which generally had poor correlations with CO. Ratios of NMHC vs. CO were also used to identify those cities with unique NMHC sources. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

“We have the right not to be ‘rescued’...”*: When Anti-Trafficking Programmes Undermine the Health and Well-Being of Sex Workers

This paper highlights the impact of raid, rescue, and rehabilitation schemes on HIV programmes. It uses a case study of Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad (VAMP), a sex workers collective in Sangli, India, to explore the impact of anti-trafficking efforts on HIV prevention programmes. The paper begins with an overview of the anti-trafficking movement emerging out of the United States. This U.S. based anti- trafficking movement works in partnership with domestic Indian anti- trafficking organisations to raid brothels to “rescue and rehabilitate” sex workers. Contrary to the purported goal of assisting women, the anti-trafficking projects that employ a raid, rescue, and rehabilitate model often undermine HIV projects at the local level, in turn causing harm to women and girls. We examine the experience of one peer educator in Sangli to demonstrate and highlight some of the negative consequences of these anti-trafficking efforts on HIV prevention programmes

International legislation on white slavery and anti-trafficking in the early 20th century

The chapter focuses on the emergence of international legislation against trafficking in the early twentieth century, focusing on the years between 1904 and 1949. The chapter will introduce key legal measures adopted during that time but focus on the enactment of the International Agreement for the Suppression of the “White Slave Traffic” 1904 and the International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic 1910. These measures, unlike modern anti-trafficking legal standards that recognize more comprehensive forms of exploitation, focused solely on recruitment for prostitution and the exploitation of prostitution. The chapter argues that the early-twentieth-century legal framework was mostly a result of civil society action in the field and that the framework enabled the control of immigration and emigration of young women. The chapter will further show how the terminology changed from “white slavery” to a more neutral “traffic” with the League of Nations. Despite this change, immigration control and nationalism continued to underline much of the rhetoric even after the League of Nations took over the legal framework in 1921

Deconstructing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender victim of sex trafficking: Harm, exceptionality and religion–sexuality tensions

Contrary to widespread belief, sex trafficking also targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) communities. Contemporary social and political constructions of victimhood lie at the heart of regulatory policies on sex trafficking. Led by the US Department of State, knowledge about LGBT victims of trafficking constitutes the newest frontier in the expansion of criminalization measures. These measures represent a crucial shift. From a burgeoning range of preemptive measures enacted to protect an amorphous class of ‘all potential victims’, now policies are heavily premised on the risk posed by traffickers to ‘victims of special interest’. These constructed identities, however, are at odds with established structures. Drawing on a range of literatures, the core task of this article is to confront some of the complexities and tensions surrounding constructions of LGBT trafficking victims. Specifically, the article argues that discourses of ‘exceptional vulnerability’ and the polarized notions of ‘innocence’ and ‘guilt’ inform hierarchies of victimhood. Based on these insights, the article argues for the need to move beyond monolithic understandings of victims, by reframing the politics of harm accordingly

Why prostitution policy (usually) fails and what to do about it?

This article describes and discusses the results of two comparative studies of prostitution policy in Europe that are complementary in their design and methodology. One is a comparison of 21 countries using a most different systems design; the other an in-depth comparison of Austria and The Netherlands, using a most similar systems design. The two studies found a remarkable continuity in the inherent approach to the regulation of prostitution and its effects. Despite differences in political regime, administrative organization, and national cultures, since the middle of the 19th century, the purpose of prostitution policy has been to impose strict controls on sex workers and to a lesser extent their work sites. The effects of this approach have been disappointing: despite rhetorical claims to the contrary the control of sex workers has no discernable effect on the prevalence of prostitution in society. The effects of policies aimed at control are mostly negative in that they corrode the human and labor rights of sex workers. The article discusses several challenges to the regulation of prostitution (such as its deeply moral nature and the lack of precise and reliable data) as well a number of other important outcomes (such as the importance of local policy implementation for the effects of regulation). The article concludes with the empirically substantiated suggestion that a form of collaborative governance in which sex worker advocacy organizations participate in the design and implementation of prostitution policy offers real prospects for an effective and humane prostitution policy

Quantum magneto-optics of graphite family

The optical conductivity of graphene, bilayer graphene, and graphite in quantizing magnetic fields is studied. Both dynamical conductivities, longitudinal and Hall's, are analytically evaluated. The conductivity peaks are explained in terms of electron transitions. We have shown that trigonal warping can be considered within the perturbation theory for strong magnetic fields larger than 1 T and in the semiclassical approach for weak fields when the Fermi energy is much larger than the cyclotron frequency. The main optical transitions obey the selection rule with \Deltan = 1 for the Landau number n, however the \Deltan = 2 transitions due to the trigonal warping are also possible. The Faraday/Kerr rotation and light transmission/reflection in the quantizing magnetic fields are calculated. Parameters of the Slonczewski-Weiss-McClure model are used in the fit taking into account the previous dHvA measurements and correcting some of them for the case of strong magnetic fields.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1106.340

Electrical properties of InSb quantum wells remotely doped with Si

Two-dimensional electron systems were realized in InSb quantum wells with Al x In 1Ϫx Sb barrier layers ␦-doped with Si. Measured electron mobilities in multiple-quantum-well structures were as high as 41 000 cm 2 /V s at room temperature and 209 000 cm 2 /V s at 77 K. Simple models can be used to explain the observed dependencies of the electron density on the quantum-well-to-dopant distance and on the number of quantum wells. Characterization by atomic force microscopy indicates that layer morphology may be a factor limiting electron mobility