Interactive Effect of Ethephon and Shading on the Anthocyanin Composition of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Crimson Seedless

The Vitis vinifera cultivar Crimson Seedless primarily accumulates the anthocyanin peonidin-3-glucoside. Theresearch undertook the study of two factors which could influence the accumulation of anthocyanin in grape berryskins: ethephon application and shade. Ethephon treatment at 200ppm applied one week post-véraison significantlyincreased the concentration of all anthocyanins in berry skins. Peonidin-3-glucoside was found to increase mostsignificantly in response to ethephon application, and was increased 150% compared with an untreated control. Theproportion of 3‑monoglucoside anthocyanins increased in response to ethephon application. A shading treatment didnot affect total anthocyanin concentration in berry skins, but the anthocyanin cyanidin-3-glucoside was decreasedsignificantly by shade. Its content was 50% of a sun-exposed control. The observed effects were found to occur attwo sites at which the experiment was performed in the Hex River and Paarl regions. Colour development in theVitis vinifera cultivar Crimson Seedless does not appear to be influenced significantly by bunch shading. The use ofcommercial growth regulators like ethephon exert a strong influence on anthocyanin production in grape skins ofthis cultivar, and are therefore a more likely solution to overcome poor colour development in its production

Perceptions of Electoral Fairness and Voter Turnout

Previous research has established a link between turnout and the extent to which voters are faced with a “meaningful” partisan choice in elections; this study extends the logic of this argument to perceptions of the “meaningfulness” of electoral conduct. It hypothesizes that perceptions of electoral integrity are positively related to turnout. The empirical analysis to test this hypothesis is based on aggregate-level data from 31 countries, combined with survey results from Module 1 of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems survey project, which includes new and established democracies. Multilevel modeling is employed to control for a variety of individual- and election-level variables that have been found in previous research to influence turnout. The results of the analysis show that perceptions of electoral integrity are indeed positively associated with propensity to vote. </jats:p

Why don't some men with banked sperm respond to letters about their stored samples?

Long-term storage of banked sperm, especially when it is not needed, for reproductive purposes, is costly and poses practical problems for sperm banks. For sperm banks to function efficiently, men must understand the implications of unnecessary storage, and make timely decisions about disposal of their own samples. Men who bank sperm prior to cancer treatment are routinely offered follow-up consultations to test their fertility, update consent and, where necessary, expedite referral for Assisted Conception. Yet sperm banks report that men do not respond to letters, suggesting samples are stored needlessly. We conducted semi-structured interviews with six men with a history of not responding to letters, to document reasons for non-response. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Men's reasons for not responding are a complex interplay between past, present and future perspectives. In terms of their past, information is important on diagnosis, because men must understand that fertility can change after treatment. Present and future concerns focus on fears of being told fertility has not recovered and being pressured to dispose of banked sperm. The challenge is to devise invitation letters that address men's concerns while offering them tangible benefits and peace of mind

‘Repeal the 8th’ in a Transnational Context: The Potential of SRHRs for Advancing Abortion Access in El Salvador

This article undertakes a discursive feminist reading of citizenship and human rights to understand, through the cases of Ireland and El Salvador, domestic abortion rights movements as part of a transnational women’s rights movement. While abortion has been partially decriminalised in Ireland, approximately 42 per cent of the world’s women1 of reproductive age still live in a country where abortion is prohibited entirely or only permitted to save a woman’s life or health (Singh et al., 2018, p. 4). In El Salvador, abortion is illegal and those suspected of having the procedure are prosecuted. As in Ireland, since 2012/2013 numerous controversies have brought the issue to wider public attention and have further galvanised the feminist movement to campaign for reform. Feminist abortion rights campaigns in both countries have connected important sites of activism and contestation: civil society, national parliaments, regional human rights systems and the United Nations

Shared parental leave and the sexual family: the importance of encouraging men to care

This paper considers how shared parental leave could achieve its aim of encouraging fathers to provide care. I will argue that achieving this ambition is dependent upon the legislation continuing to be available only to those performing a parenting role, when two parents are providing childcare. Despite the problems with the two parent family model, it should be retained temporarily because it has unique potential to encourage men to care, as highlighted by Swedish legislation. This is the most effective way to challenge gender inequality. Shared parental leave should only be made available to a wider category of carers after men have been given a realistic chance to care. Widening access earlier risks reinforcing women’s association with caring work

Justify your alpha

Benjamin et al. proposed changing the conventional “statistical significance” threshold (i.e.,the alpha level) from p ≤ .05 to p ≤ .005 for all novel claims with relatively low prior odds. They provided two arguments for why lowering the significance threshold would “immediately improve the reproducibility of scientific research.” First, a p-value near .05provides weak evidence for the alternative hypothesis. Second, under certain assumptions, an alpha of .05 leads to high false positive report probabilities (FPRP2 ; the probability that a significant finding is a false positive

CSR Business as Usual? The Case of the Tobacco Industry

Tobacco companies have started to position themselves as good corporate citizens. The effort towards CSR engagement in the tobacco industry is not only heavily criticized by anti-tobacco NGOs. Some opponents such as the the World Health Organization have even categorically questioned the possibility of social responsibility in the tobacco industry. The paper will demonstrate that the deep distrust towards tobacco companies is linked to the lethal character of their products and the dubious behavior of their representatives in recent decades. As a result, tobacco companies are not in the CSR business in the strict sense. Key aspects of mainstream CSR theory and practice such as corporate philanthropy, stakeholder collaboration, CSR reporting and self-regulation, are demonstrated to be ineffective or even counterproductive in the tobacco industry. Building upon the terminology used in the leadership literature, the paper proposes to differentiate between transactional and transformational CSR arguing that tobacco companies can only operate on a transactional level. As a consequence, corporate responsibility in the tobacco industry is based upon a much thinner approach to CSR and has to be conceptualized with a focus on transactional integrity across the tobacco supply chain