Democracy with group identity

Group-based identity undermines democracy by impeding democratic change of government. A substantial literature has therefore studied how to make democracy consistent with group identity. We contribute to this literature by introducing the role of group decisiveness into voting incentives and mobilization of voters. In the elections that we study, for the same populations, accounting for income and other influences, group identity increased voter turnout on average by some 8 percentage points in local elections and decreased voter turnout by some 20 percentage points in national elections. We empirically investigate the effect of group identity on voter turnout and also evaluate whether group identity resulted in budgetary imbalance or replacement of local government because of disfunctionality. Our general contribution is to show how democracy can persist with group identity, although democracy in such instances differs from usual political competition

Modulation of phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis in celery by exogenous fatty acids.

The effects of C16 and C18 fatty acids on the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine were studied in Apium graveolens cell suspension cultures and postmitochondrial supernatants. When cells were exposed to exogenous oleic acid, the rate of phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis increased 1.4-fold within 5 min of the addition of the fatty acid to the culture medium. The sensitivity of microsomal CTP:cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase (EC 2.7.7.15) to saturated and unsaturated fatty acids was monitored through the addition of unesterified fatty acids to postmitochondrial supernatants. The saturated fatty acids, palmitic and stearic, appeared to have little effect on CTP:cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase activity, whereas exposure to oleic, linoleic and cis-vaccenic acids resulted in significant increases in enzyme activity. Optimal microsomal CTP:cholinephosphate cytidylyl- transferase activities were achieved by the incubation of postmitochondrial supernatants with 500 μM oleate. The exogenous fatty acids were found to be incorporated into microsomal membranes in their unesterified form. Removal of unesterified fatty acids by incubation of microsomal membranes with defatted bovine serum albumin resulted in the reduction of microsomal CTP:cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase activity; demonstrating that the enzyme requires unesterified unsaturated fatty acids

Environmental radioactivity measurement in soils of an abandoned potash deposit at Holle, Republic of Congo

The main objective of the present study was to assess natural radioactivity level from soils of an abandoned potash mine and its surroundings at Holle locality in Hinda district, the Republic of Congo. Samples were analyzed using an HPGe gamma spectrometer. Activity concentration values obtained varied from 21.01 ± 6.47 to 117.3 ± 2.69 Bq/kg with a mean value of 46.15 ± 4.69 Bq/kg of 40K; that of 238U varied from 17.36 ± 10.74 to 40.04 ± 8.58 Bq/kg with a mean value of 25.14 ± 10.06 Bq/k, while that of 232Th varied from 8.68 ± 3.7 to 27.33 ± 2.69 Bq/kg with a mean value of 18.16 ± 2.94 Bq/kg. Mean activity concentration values obtained for 238U, 232Th and 40K were relatively low compared to the world average values. Radiological hazard indices associated were also calculated and found to be under recommended limits. Results pointed out that radioactivity level in the region was relatively low. Consequently, soils of the surrounding abandoned potash mine can be used for buildings construction

Justifiable sensationalism

While prostitution had been a staple of sensational reporting for decades, the explosion of newspaper exposés about vice in London in the late 1940s and the early 1950s is difficult to miss. Taking this sexual sensationalism as its starting point, this article examines the relationship between the press, public opinion and policy change around the subject of prostitution, paying particular attention to the rise in media attention in the mid-twentieth century that is understood to have helped bring the Wolfenden Committee into being in 1954. It argues that while sexual sensationalism can be read as a kind of moral panic and as a tool of moral regulation, looking closely at the narratives and function of sensationalism, as well as its reception by the police, the State and the public, complicates this story. To understand the political impacts of sensational media, we need to look at the conflicts as much as the consensus within the ‘public sphere’, criminal justice and politics. In the formation of policies about commercial sex, public confusion was as important as public opinion and conflict was as central as consensus