Managing Rapeability: Women\u27s Perceptions and Negotiations of the Fear of Sexual Assault

For women, the fear of sexual assault and harassment is pervasive. This study examines women\u27s perceptions and negotiations of such fear while emphasizing the gendered social structures within which such fears are learned and experienced. Open ended interviews were conducted with 13 women enrolled in a self-defense undergraduate class. The interviews were transcribed and qualitatively analyzed. Findings provide rich descriptions of women\u27s fears of victimization, how they learn such fears, and how they cognitively and behaviorally managed fear in their everyday lives. The author argues that learning and managing fear of sexual assault and harassment is part of gender socialization for women within a cultural context that assumes male privilege and male dominance

The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation: Implications for Public Procurement and Some Collateral Damage

The European Union has erected a significant new barrier to foreign competitors that seek to compete in EU Member State public procurements. In the European Union there are uniform rules (known as “State aid” rules) on subsidies for all Member States, which are intended to ensure that competition in the internal market is not distorted by government subsidies. To counter (perceived) disadvantages of EU firms when competing with competitors from non-EU countries not subject to the EU “State aid” regime, the EU has adopted the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), which entered into force in January 2023 and will go into full effect in October 2023. The FSR poses significant challenges for firms from outside the EU (such as the U.S. or China) that hope to compete in procurement procedures, or engage in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving the EU. This article focuses on the FSR’s requirements for vendors from abroad that will compete in EU Member States for covered procurements, including defense procurements. As the discussion reflects, vendors that intend to compete in EU Member State procurements should prepare for the FSR’s requirements regarding government support, or risk being excluded or sanctioned by the European Commission

EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation Update: Risks And Responsibilities For Foreign Firms In EU Public Procurement Markets

The European Union’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) (Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market) has now entered into force, along with an implementing regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1441 of 10 July 2023), which provide important clarifications for foreign firms competing for major awards in EU procurement markets. The FSR is the EU’s effort to address distortive foreign government subsidies in the EU internal market, including in public procurement. The EU restricts Member States’ power to subsidize domestic firms under the EU’s “State aid” doctrine; the FSR is an effort to level the playing field by constraining foreign subsidies to foreign vendors as well. Companies competing in EU markets must now give special notice—“notifications”—if they have received foreign government financial contributions and if the transactions at issue (procurements and other transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions) exceed certain monetary thresholds. Although the FSR exempts most EU defense procurement, the Commission retains authority to launch “ex officio” inquiries into perceived subsidies in the defense sector. The regulation is likely to trigger considerable additional administrative burdens for U.S. companies (and firms from other nations) competing for major EU public procurement awards. This article focuses on new developments relevant for firms (especially government contractors) that are potentially subject to the notification and declaration obligations of the FSR, including obligations under the FSR’s implementing regulation

Removing the Threat of Diclofenac to Critically Endangered Asian Vultures

Veterinary use of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drug diclofenac in South Asia has resulted in the collapse of populations of three vulture species of the genusGyps to the most severe category of global extinction risk. Vultures are exposed to diclofenac when scavenging on livestock treated with the drug shortly before death. Diclofenac causes kidney damage, increased serum uric acid concentrations, visceral gout, and death. Concern about this issue led the Indian Government to announce its intention to ban the veterinary use of diclofenac by September 2005. Implementation of a ban is still in progress late in 2005, and to facilitate this we sought potential alternative NSAIDs by obtaining information from captive bird collections worldwide. We found that the NSAID meloxicam had been administered to 35 captiveGyps vultures with no apparent ill effects. We then undertook a phased programme of safety testing of meloxicam on the African white-backed vultureGyps africanus, which we had previously established to be as susceptible to diclofenac poisoning as the endangered AsianGyps vultures. We estimated the likely maximum level of exposure (MLE) of wild vultures and dosed birds by gavage (oral administration) with increasing quantities of the drug until the likely MLE was exceeded in a sample of 40G. africanus. Subsequently, sixG. africanus were fed tissues from cattle which had been treated with a higher than standard veterinary course of meloxicam prior to death. In the final phase, ten Asian vultures of two of the endangered species(Gyps bengalensis,Gyps indicus) were dosed with meloxicam by gavage; five of them at more than the likely MLE dosage. All meloxicam-treated birds survived all treatments, and none suffered any obvious clinical effects. Serum uric acid concentrations remained within the normal limits throughout, and were significantly lower than those from birds treated with diclofenac in other studies. We conclude that meloxicam is of low toxicity toGyps vultures and that its use in place of diclofenac would reduce vulture mortality substantially in the Indian subcontinent. Meloxicam is already available for veterinary use in India

Calf health from birth to weaning. III. housing and management of calf pneumonia

Calfhood diseases have a major impact on the economic viability of cattle operations. A three part review series has been developed focusing on calf health from birth to weaning. In this paper, the last of the three part series, we review disease prevention and management with particular reference to pneumonia, focusing primarily on the pre-weaned calf. Pneumonia in recently weaned suckler calves is also considered, where the key risk factors are related to the time of weaning. Weaning of the suckler calf is often combined with additional stressors including a change in nutrition, environmental change, transport and painful husbandry procedures (castration, dehorning). The reduction of the cumulative effects of these multiple stressors around the time of weaning together with vaccination programmes (preconditioning) can reduce subsequent morbidity and mortality in the feedlot. In most studies, calves housed individually and calves housed outdoors with shelter, are associated with decreased risk of disease. Even though it poses greater management challenges, successful group housing of calves is possible. Special emphasis should be given to equal age groups and to keeping groups stable once they are formed. The management of pneumonia in calves is reliant on a sound understanding of aetiology, relevant risk factors, and of effective approaches to diagnosis and treatment. Early signs of pneumonia include increased respiratory rate and fever, followed by depression. The single most important factor determining the success of therapy in calves with pneumonia is early onset of treatment, and subsequent adequate duration of treatment. The efficacy and economical viability of vaccination against respiratory disease in calves remains unclear

Self-cleaning as a defence to exclusions for misconduct: an emerging concept in EC public procurement law?

The EU procurement directives provide for both discretionary and mandatory exclusions from EU public contracts of suppliers convicted of criminal offences or involved in gross misconduct. This article seeks to demonstrate that, although it is not stated expressly in the directives, it is a legal requirement to recognise as a defence to exclusion that the supplier concerned has undertaken self-cleaning measures to prevent a repetition of the conduct concerned

Gendered Inequalities in Sex Education Curriculum

This study explored how high-school sex education reinforces gender stereotypes and inequalities. Existing literatures document how female sexual pleasure is ambiguously defined and for the most part socially and culturally absent. In both subtle and overt ways, sex education enforces these themes of ambiguity and absence. This research documents how these stereotypes and inequalities appear in the content of high-school sex education curriculum used as well as the language used. This study included semi-structured in-depth interviews of health instructors that assess how instructors negotiate these issues and content analysis of their sex education curriculum. Results include instructor requirements, curriculum restrictions, value and belief issues, and genital definitions. This study reveals an overall lack of sex and sexuality in sex education