Secrecy of Taxpayer Information and the Disclosure thereof by an Order of Court in Terms of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 and the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000

The secrecy provisions of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 (hereinafter, the TA Act) provide that taxpayer information may generally not be disclosed by the South African Revenue Service (hereinafter, SARS). One of the exceptions to the preservation of secrecy is when a court orders disclosure following an application regulated by secs. 69(2)(c), 69(3), 69(4), and 69(5) of the TA Act. This article considers this exception to taxpayer secrecy in terms of the TA Act, with a focus on the circumstances provided in sec. 69(5) of the TA Act, which must be met before the court may order disclosure. This is done by first considering the previous provisions relating to secrecy and the exception thereof by an order of court found in, for example, the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, which applied before the commencement of the TA Act. The case law on the previous provisions and the more recent cases on the TA Act secrecy provisions are analysed. This article also considers the disclosure of taxpayer information by a court in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (hereinafter,the PAI Act), in light of the recent finding by the Constitutional Court in Arena Holdings (Pty) Ltd t/a Financial Mail and Others v South African Revenue Service and Others.1 In this case, the majority of the court declared certain provisions of the PAI Act and the TA Act constitutionally invalid, which results in the mandatory disclosure of taxpayer information when it is in the public interest, as contemplated in sec. 46 of the PAI Act. The PAI Act, in addition to the TA Act, now allows for a court order to disclose information in terms of the public interest procedure if access was refused by SARS. This begs the question: What is the interaction between a TA Act court order to disclose taxpayer information and a PAI Act court order to disclose taxpayer information if the requirements ofsec. 46 of the PAI Act are applicable and if access was refused by SARS

Sensitivity to social exclusion in major depressive disorder (MDD) predicts therapeutic outcome after in-patient treatment

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The conduction pathway of potassium channels is water free under physiological conditions.

Ion conduction through potassium channels is a fundamental process of life. On the basis of crystallographic data, it was originally proposed that potassium ions and water molecules are transported through the selectivity filter in an alternating arrangement, suggesting a "water-mediated" knock-on mechanism. Later on, this view was challenged by results from molecular dynamics simulations that revealed a "direct" knock-on mechanism where ions are in direct contact. Using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance techniques tailored to characterize the interaction between water molecules and the ion channel, we show here that the selectivity filter of a potassium channel is free of water under physiological conditions. Our results are fully consistent with the direct knock-on mechanism of ion conduction but contradict the previously proposed water-mediated knock-on mechanism

Drones: Innovative Technology for Use in Precision Pest Management.

Arthropod pest outbreaks are unpredictable and not uniformly distributed within fields. Early outbreak detection and treatment application are inherent to effective pest management, allowing management decisions to be implemented before pests are well-established and crop losses accrue. Pest monitoring is time-consuming and may be hampered by lack of reliable or cost-effective sampling techniques. Thus, we argue that an important research challenge associated with enhanced sustainability of pest management in modern agriculture is developing and promoting improved crop monitoring procedures. Biotic stress, such as herbivory by arthropod pests, elicits physiological defense responses in plants, leading to changes in leaf reflectance. Advanced imaging technologies can detect such changes, and can, therefore, be used as noninvasive crop monitoring methods. Furthermore, novel methods of treatment precision application are required. Both sensing and actuation technologies can be mounted on equipment moving through fields (e.g., irrigation equipment), on (un)manned driving vehicles, and on small drones. In this review, we focus specifically on use of small unmanned aerial robots, or small drones, in agricultural systems. Acquired and processed canopy reflectance data obtained with sensing drones could potentially be transmitted as a digital map to guide a second type of drone, actuation drones, to deliver solutions to the identified pest hotspots, such as precision releases of natural enemies and/or precision-sprays of pesticides. We emphasize how sustainable pest management in 21st-century agriculture will depend heavily on novel technologies, and how this trend will lead to a growing need for multi-disciplinary research collaborations between agronomists, ecologists, software programmers, and engineers

COLOR III: a multicentre randomised clinical trial comparing transanal TME versus laparoscopic TME for mid and low rectal cancer

Total mesorectal excision (TME) is an essential component of surgical management of rectal cancer. Both open and laparoscopic TME have been proven to be oncologically safe. However, it remains a challenge to achieve complete TME with clear circumferential resections margin (CRM) with the conventional transabdominal approach, particularly in mid and low rectal tumours. Transanal TME (TaTME) was developed to improve oncological and functional outcomes of patients with mid and low rectal cancer.An international, multicentre, superiority, randomised trial was designed to compare TaTME and conventional laparoscopic TME as the surgical treatment of mid and low rectal carcinomas. The primary endpoint is involved CRM. Secondary endpoints include completeness of mesorectum, residual mesorectum, morbidity and mortality, local recurrence, disease-free and overall survival, percentage of sphincter-saving procedures, functional outcome and quality of life. A Quality Assurance Protocol including centralised MRI review, histopathology re-evaluation, standardisation of surgical techniques, and monitoring and assessment of surgical quality will be conducted.The difference in involvement of CRM between the two treatment strategies is thought to be in favour of the TaTME. TaTME is therefore expected to be superior to laparoscopic TME in terms of oncological outcomes in case of mid and low rectal carcinomas

Theory of pinning in a Superconducting Thin Film Pierced by a Ferromagnetic Columnar Defect

This is an analytical study of pinning and spontaneous vortex phase is a system consisting of a superconducting thin film pierced by a long ferromagnetic columnar defect of finite radius $R$. The magnetic fields, screening currents, energy and pinning forces for this system are calculated. The interaction between the magnetic field of vortices and the magnetization outside the plane of the film and its close proximity enhances vortex pinning significantly. Spontaneous vortex phase appears when the magnetization of the columnar defect is increased above a critical value. Transitions between phases characterized by different number of flux quanta are also studied. These results are generalized to the case when the superconductor is pierced by an array of columnar defects.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Measurements and quasi-quantum modeling of the steric asymmetry and parity propensities in state-to-state rotationally inelastic scattering of NO (2?1/2) with D2.

Relative integrated cross sections are measured for spin-orbit-conserving, rotationally inelastic scattering of NO