Evaluation of the ACT Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP)

In 2005 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) produced a report, Responding to sexual assault: The challenge of change (DPP & AFP 2005), which made 105 recommendations for reforming the way sexual offence cases are handled by the ACT’s criminal justice system. The Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP) is one key initiative developed in response to these recommendations. Managed by the ACT Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS), SARP’s main objective is to improve aspects of the criminal justice system relating to: processes and support for victims of sexual offences as they progress through the system; attrition in sexual offence matters in the criminal justice system; and coordination and collaboration among the agencies involved. In November 2007 the ACT Attorney-General announced $4 million of funding for several SARP reforms. This funding provided for additional victim support staff; a dedicated additional police officer, prosecutor and legal policy officer; and an upgrade of equipment for the Supreme Court and Magistrates Court, including improvements in technology to assist witnesses in giving evidence, and the establishment of an off-site facility to allow witnesses to give evidence from a location outside of the court. In addition, the reform agenda included a number of legislative amendments that changed how evidence can be given by victims of sexual and family violence offences, children and other vulnerable witnesses. The primary objectives of these legislative changes are to provide an unintimidating, safe environment for vulnerable witnesses (including sexual offence complainants) to give evidence and to obtain prompt statements from witnesses to improve the quality of evidence captured (DPP 2009: 13)

Associations between daily mortality in London and combined oxidant capacity, ozone and nitrogen dioxide.

Both nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) are powerful oxidants in ambient air that are intimately linked through atmospheric chemistry and which continuously interchange over very short timescales. Based upon atmospheric chemistry alone, there is a strong, a priori, reason for considering O3 and NO2 together in epidemiological studies, rather than either of the two pollutants separately in single-pollutant models. This paper compares two approaches to this, using Ox, defined as O3 + NO2, as a single metric and also using O3 and NO2 together in two-pollutant models. We hypothesised that the magnitude of the association between Ox and daily mortality would be greater than for NO2 and O3 individually. Using collocated hourly measurements for O3 and NO2 in London, from 2000 to 2005, we carried out a time series analysis of daily mortality. We investigated O3, NO2 and Ox individually in single-pollutant Poisson regression models and NO2 and O3 jointly in two-pollutant models in both all-year and season-specific analyses. We observed larger associations for mean 24-h concentrations of Ox (1.30 % increase in mortality per 10 ppb) than for O3 (0.87 %) and NO2 (0 %) individually. However, when analysed jointly in two-pollutant models, associations for O3 (1.54 %) and NO2 (1.07 %) were comparable to the Ox association. Season-specific analyses broadly followed this pattern irrespective of whether the Ox concentrations were driven by O3 production (summer) or depletion (winter). This novel approach in air pollution epidemiology captures the simultaneous impact of both oxidants whilst avoiding many of the statistical issues associated with two-pollutant models and potentially simplifies health impact calculations

For Love and for Justice: Narratives of Lesbian Activism

This dissertation explores the role of lesbians in the U.S. second wave feminist movement, arguing that the history of women\u27s liberation is more diverse, more intersectional, and more radical than previously documented. The body of this work is five oral histories conducted with lifelong activists and public intellectuals for the Voices of Feminism project at the Sophia Smith Collection: Katherine Acey, former Executive Director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice; Dorothy Allison, author and sex radical; Suzanne Pharr, southern anti-racist organizer and author; Achebe Powell, activist and diversity trainer; and Carmen Vázquez, LGBT activist and founding director of the San Francisco Women\u27s Building. Taken together, their stories dovetail into a new narrative about the relationship between lesbians, feminism, and queer liberation, from the late 60\u27s to the present. In addition to the edited transcripts, this dissertation includes a new chronology of gender and sexual liberation, demonstrating the interconnectedness of late 20th century social change movements, and a chapter on oral history methodology. This work adds to our collective knowledge about lesbian lives by sharing five important life narratives, contributes to a re-imagination of the vast and intersectional scope of second wave feminism and sexual liberation, and attempts to disrupt conventional methods of documenting and sharing history by privileging oral narratives

Biosynthesis of the Pyrrolizidine Alkaloid Rosmarinine

The work presented in this thesis is divided into three sections: (a) Biosynthesis of rosmarinecine; (b) Synthesis of macro-cyclic pyrrolizidine diester analogues; and (c) Structural studies. (a) Biosynthesis of Rosmarinecine The biosynthesis of rosmarinecine, the base portion of the pyrrolizidine alkaloid rosmarinine (A), has been studied in Senecio pleistocephalus (family Compositae) plants. Samples of [1-13C]- and [2,3-13C2]putrescine dihydrochloride were incorporated with very high specific incorporations (up to 25% per unit) into rosmarinine. 13C N.m.r. spectroscopy established complete labelling patterns and showed that two molecules of putrescine were incorporated to about the same extent into rosmarinine. The incorporation of [1-amino-15N, 1-13C]- putrescine dihydrochloride into rosmarinine produced a labelling pattern which was indicative of the conversion of two putrescine molecules into a C4-N-C4 symmetrical intermediate. Intact incorporation of [1,9-13C2]- homospermidine trihydrochloride into rosmarinecine, was consistent with this intermediate being homospermidine. The stereochemistry of the enzymic processes in the pathway was investigated by feeding (R)-[1-2H]- and (S)-[1-2H] putrescine dihydrochloride to S. pleistocephalus. The labelling patterns obtained in rosmarinine, as determined by 2H n.m.r. spectroscopy, were consistent with the following. The oxidation of putrescine to 4-aminobutanal occurs with the loss of the pro-S hydrogen. The aldehyde and another molecule of putrescine condense to give the corresponding imine, which after reduction (on the C-si face) affords homospermidine. Two further oxidations each take place with loss of the pro-S hydrogens generating the dialdehyde, which after Mannich cyclisation produces 1B -formyl-8a-pyrrolizidine. Reduction to isoretronecanol proceeds by the delivery of a hydride equivalent on the C-re face of the carbonyl group. Feeding experiments with (R)-[2-2H]- and (S)-[2-2H]putrescine dihydrochloride established that the two hydroxylations in rosmarinecine occur with retention of configuration and that formation of the pyrrolizidine ring involves the stereospecific removal of the pro-R hydrogen on the carbon which becomes C-1 of rosmarinecine. The proposed product from the first oxidation of homospermidine, N-(4-aminobutyl)-1,2-didehydropyrrolidinium, was shown to be an intermediate in the biosynthetic pathways to several pyrrolizidine alkaloids, by 14C-labelling experiments and an intermediate trapping experiment. Platynecine was shown to be an efficient precursor for rosmarinecine biosynthesis using 3H-labelling experiments. Similarly, rosmarinecine was found to be an efficient precursor for rosmarinine biosynthesis. (b) Synthesis of Macrocyclic Pyrrolizidine Diester Analogues A number of optically active 12-membered macrocyclic dilactones containing (+)-6alpha-hydroxy-1alpha-hydroxymethyl-8beta-pyrrolizidine were prepared by lactonisation via the pyridine-2-thiolesters with different anhydrides. These are the first synthetic macrocyclic pyrrolizidine diester analogues which contain a saturated pyrrolizidine base. (c) Structural Studies The plant Lindelofia longiflora (family Boraginaceae) was shown, by spectroscopic studies, to contain one pyrrolizidine alkaloid, echinatine. Similarly, Cynoglossum macrostylum (family Boraginaceae) was found to contain two major alkaloidal components. Echinatine and heliosupine were identified in the ratio 3:1

Factors Affecting Climate Change Mitigation Policy Implementation

Why do some states have policies that aggressively reduce carbon emissions, while others ignore the threat of climate change? In a world where increasingly extreme weather patterns threaten food production and species extinction, and where rising sea levels and frequent storms damage coastal infrastructure, it is now essential for states to mitigate these effects. My paper analyzes the role of media attention on climate change and environmental association membership rates on the most recent climate change mitigation policies of South Africa, the United States, and Germany. It argues that media and environmental associations influence a population’s desire to reduce carbon emissions, and that these populations are more likely to ask for and see the implementation of climate change mitigation policy in their respective democracies. I also look at the quality and effectiveness of each case’s policy, given the emissions realities in each country