The Liberty Impact of Gender

Can the federal government unilaterally change your gender? In October of 2018, the New York Times revealed that the Trump Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services was considering a new federal definition of “gender.” The policy would redefine gender as a “biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.” This policy places transsex people at a substantial risk of deprivation of property and speech rights, as gender implicates both property and expression. It also impedes the exercise of substantive due process rights and privileges and immunities. For example, inaccurate gender designations can hinder a transsex parent’s ability to raise children, and accurate gender markers protect the right to a common calling by shielding transsex people from employment discrimination and procedural barriers. This Comment argues that gender designations represent both a property right and a protected expression of speech. Government-issued gender designations, or gender markers, have taken on a special legal identity that is distinct from assigned or lived gender, and these markers frequently translate into discrete rights for transsex individuals. The Trump Administration’s policy not only upends traditional understandings of gender under state and federal law, but also attempts to dissuade transsex people from engaging in public life, and ultimately, existing in the world. Because transsex people have a liberty interest in maintaining an accurate gender designation, the Trump Administration’s redefinition is unconstitutional

Handling issues in modified DDGS Bulk transportation of the feedstuff is challenging due to caking, flow problems

Citation: Bhadra, R. and R. P. Kingsly Ambrose. Handling issues in modified DDGS. World Grain Magazine, April 2014 Issue. Sosland Publishing Co., Kansas City, MO.Bulk solids handling in food and biomass processing industries is often associated with handling and transportation problems due to moisture absorption, caking, microbial growth, and overall product quality degradation

Práticas contenciosas de responsabilidade social corporativa pela British American Tobacco nos Camarões

Since the mid-1980s, tobacco companies have intensified market expansion strategies in several African countries. They have used music to target youths and children. They organised fashion shows to entice women into smoking. They offered kids free cigarettes on the streets and for a very long time undermined efforts by governments to put in place effective tobacco legislation. They actively participated in the smuggling of tobacco products into the continent. Worse still, tobacco companies persuaded some African governments to promote tobacco cultivation as a major source of foreign earnings. And in recent years, the tobacco industry has resorted to using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to massage its image and cover its tracks. British American Tobacco (BAT), which is the focus of this paper, had a virtual monopoly in parts of Africa, both in terms of tobacco manufacturing and sales of cigarettes. In eleven African countries BAT had more than a 90% share of the cigarette market. This paper examines some of the health, social and economic impacts of BAT’s activities in Africa from 1985 to 2010 using Cameroon as a case study. The paper concludes that though the full effects of rising tobacco consumption (namely a steep rise in smoking-induced illness and premature death) was at the dawn of the 21st century, Africa was already in the grip of a major tobacco epidemic. There is no doubt therefore that, BAT’s heavy footprint on the African continent wreaked havoc on the economy, health and welfare of the people, thus partially contributing to the non-realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were designed to help the world’s poorest people.A implementação da responsabilidade social corporativa (CSR) por empresas com má reputação, especialmente as envolvidas na produção de tabaco, atraiu críticas de vários setores. Desde meados da década de 1980, as empresas de tabaco intensificaram as estratégias de expansão do mercado em vários países africanos. Elas usaram música para atrair jovens e crianças, organizaram desfiles de moda para atrair as mulheres para fumar, ofereceram cigarros livres para crianças nas ruas e, por muito tempo, minaram os esforços dos governos para implementar uma legislação eficaz sobre o tabaco e participaram ativamente do contrabando de produtos de tabaco no continente. Pior ainda, as empresas de tabaco persuadiram alguns governos africanos a promover o cultivo do tabaco como uma importante fonte de ganhos no exterior e, nos últimos anos, a indústria do tabaco recorreu ao uso da responsabilidade social corporativa (CSR) para massagear sua imagem e para cobrir sua trilha. A British American Tobacco (BAT), que é o foco deste artigo, teve um monopólio virtual em partes da África, tanto em termos de fabricação de tabaco quanto de vendas de cigarros. Em onze países africanos, a BAT tinha mais de 90% do mercado de cigarros. Este artigo examina alguns dos impactos de saúde, sociais e econômicos das atividades das BATs em África de 1985 a 2010 usando Camarões como estudo de caso. O objetivo deste artigo é demonstrar como a British American Tobacco usou sua estratégia de responsabilidade social corporativa para encobrir a controvérsia que envolve suas atividades nos Camarões.O documento conclui, portanto, que a forte pegada do BAT no continente africano causou estragos na economia, na saúde e no bem-estar das pessoas, contribuindo parcialmente para o aumento dos gastos sociais do governo dos Camarões

Enhanced QoS and QoE Support through Energy Efficient Handover Algorithm for UMTS Architectures

Spectrum inefficiency is a significant issue because of the increasingly more solicitation of transmission capacity by the end clients. Accomplishing high transmission rates and elevated levels of Quality of Service (QoS) speaks to in any case an open issue. Long haul Evolution (LTE) has been proposed as the reason for the fourth era versatile cell systems (4G) that points of the LTE standard are higher client bit rates, lower delays, expanded range proficiency, diminished expense, and operational effortlessness. In any case, this innovation is as yet being worked on and a few open issues must be still explored, for example, obstruction coordination, and power utilization, assets the board and handover procedures. The point of this work is to ensure the decrease of intensity utilization utilizing another handover calculation dependent on green arrangement. Also, the proposed conspire ensures the minimization of superfluous handovers. In any case, the issue in this technique is doesn't mulls over of the impact of green strategies in high force hubs. Along these lines, in the proposed framework the impact of high force hubs are thought of. This situation is expanded more than one full scale cell and various kinds of low force hubs, for example, pico-cell and microcells. In this situation, the force sparing is broke down during the handover strategies. Think about these issues; another strategy is proposed called Dynamic base Station arranging (DBSP) for accomplishing vitality productivity. The fundamental idea is to kill a BS individually that will insignificantly influence the system by utilizing a recently presented thought of system sway, which considers the extra burden increases brought to its neighboring BSs. So as to additionally diminish the flagging and execution overhead over the air and back take, utilize the estimated estimations of system sway as their choice measurements. A trial result shows that the proposed strategy accomplishes high vitality proficiency under different situations. In this work the presentation of an UMTS organize situation is assessed by utilizing different estimations of the priority bits of the CBR application

On a whale shark caught at Vizhinjam, Kerala

On 20th June 2005, a female whale shark Rhincodon typus entangled in a ozhukuvala net at about 1000 hrs from 45 meter depth was dragged to the Vizhinjam landing centre

Developing a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to Predict the Contamination of GM Corn in Non-GM Corn

The current rate of population growth necessitates the use of viable technologies like genetic modification to address estimated global food and feed requirements. However, in recent years, there has been an increase in resistance against the diffusion of genetic modification technology around the world. Many countries have adopted coexistence policies to allow a certain percentage of adventitious presence in non-genetically modified crops. However, the tolerance percentage for adventitious presence has been a bottleneck to free trade in some cases. It is a challenging task to fix a tolerance percentage considering the level of permeation of genetic modification technology in agriculture. This article introduces a software developed to serve as a decision-making tool to predict the probability distribution of genetically modified (GM) contamination in non-GM grain lot using user inputs such as final quantity of processed corn, overall tolerance level, and moisture content. The output from the software includes the mass of corn in each processing stage, the tolerance level and the probability distribution of potential GM contamination. The software predicted the probability of contamination with adventitious presence at tolerance levels of 5.0%, 3.0%, 1.0%, 0.9%, 0.5%, and 0.1% as 0.05, 0.07, 0.11, 0.12, 0.16, and 0.36, respectively. The predictions from the model were compared to a similar study wherein the effect of tolerance levels incurred in the costs of segregation was studied. The mean absolute percentage error for the predictions was found to be 3.07%. This software can be used as a tool in testing GM contamination in non-GM grain against a desired threshold levels in a grain elevator

Study on Prognostic Value of Electrophysiological Tests and Efficacy of Steroids and Acyclovir in Bell's Palsy.

Bell's palsy is the most frequent disease of the seventh cranial nerve, with a good prognosis. More than 70% patients attain complete clinical recovery, with no noticeable residua. Persistent sequellaes are usually noted in cases with profound axonal loss only. Electrophysiological tests may offer valuable information in defining the severity of nerve injury and a possible residual dysfunction. Treatment of Bell’s palsy is still controversial. Therapy is difficult to evaluate, because as many as two thirds of patients with Bell’s palsy spontaneously recover and achieve near-normal function. Many patients begin to improve as early as 10 days after the onset, even without treatment . Drug therapy mainly consists of corticosteroids with or without an antiviral (acyclovir). These drugs hasten the recovery and lessen the ultimate degree of dysfunction. One hundred and one patients with clinical signs of Bell's palsy were included in this study. Clinical signs were recorded (the degree of facial muscle palsy) and treated with steroids and acyclovir in combination or separately. Electrophysiological tests (amplitude and latency of compound muscle action potential CMAP) were done on first week and fourteenth day of the onset of palsy. The results were analysed in regard to the usefulness of electrophysiological studies in prognostication and which combination of drugs is most useful in management of Bells palsy. The most reliable prognostic data is obtained after the fourteenth day from the onset of palsy. • Electrophysiological studies can predict duration of the clinical recovery and the outcome of the illness. • Amplitude ratio of CMAP is the most reliable parameter in assessing the prognosis • Latency measurement as an independent factor is not much helpful in assessing the prognosis, however when combined with the amplitude ratio predicts the prognosis. • Simultaneous subclinical facial nerve involvement does occur on the contralateral side in 16% of the cases. • Bell’s palsy patients with incomplete facial paralysis have excellent outcomes • Steroids are safe and are probably effective in management of bells palsy which improves the rate of recovery. • Acyclovir in combination with prednisolone is safe and has a definite role in improving facial functional outcomes in patients with Bell’s palsy than using the drug alone • Early treatment in cases with incomplete paralysis hastens the recovery and it has no effect on cases with severe deficit

Unusual landing of blue shark

The fishermen of Thoothoor and Thengapattanam are experts in hook and line operations for sharks and conduct multiday distant water shark fishing off Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts at 150-180 km from shore. Large-sized elasmobranchs caught here are landed in southern India, where the meat is saltdried and sold for domestic consumption. Blue sharks are not regular contributors to the shark fishery in India and are rarely seen in such large numbers as in the present observation

The Paradox of Corporate Social Responsibility in Africa: Case of French Multinational Corporations

In the context of globalisation Africa requires investment by multinational corporations (MNCs) to improve its competitiveness and to facilitate micro-level structural changes required for alleviating poverty and reducing its riskiness for investment. Economic theory recognises that MNCs can contribute to economic growth in developing countries through generating positive externalities. However, the extent to which Africa benefits from spill-over effects of MNCs remains to be empirically investigated. While some multinational corporations that operate in Africa take the corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies seriously, on the other hand there had been several complaints in many African countries on how these French multinational corporations conduct business within the continent. Thus, this paper intends to analyse the various paradoxes that are surrounding the activities of French multinational companies operating in Africa

Increasing Maize Tolerance to Drought and Flood with Seed Coating Treatments

The lack of irrigation in regions prone to drought, and flooding due to high rainfall or lack of drainage affects seed viability and the subsequent germination and crop establishment. Seed treatment in the form of coatings shows promise as an effective method to preserve the viability of corn (Zea mays) seeds in drought and flood conditions. Chemical formulations may help improve the seed corn vigor under these stressed conditions. This study examined the efficacy of β-aminobutyric acid [BABA] and N-isopropylacrylamide [NIPA] in inducing drought resistance, as well as the ability of lanolin and linseed oil to provide flood tolerance for seed corn. Germination rates and linear shoot growth measurements were used as indications of seed vigor. Uniform coatings of the treatments were applied to untreated seed corn, and treated seed performance was compared to an uncoated control batch of seeds. Water imbibition, moisture, and temperature were manipulated to replicate drought, flood, and optimal growth conditions. The preliminary results of these experiments indicate that these coatings did not significantly increase the viability during short-terms of stressed conditions. At suboptimal temperatures, uncoated control seeds displayed significantly higher seed vigor and growth rates. Manipulation of coating thickness and/or testing at more intense stress levels may be necessary for coating treatments to exhibit positive effects on corn seed resistance to drought and flood