Razed, repressed and bought off: The demobilization of the Ogoni protest campaign in the Niger Delta

This study examines the demobilization of the Ogoni protest campaign in the oil producing Niger Delta region of Nigeria in the mid-1990s. The contentious politics literature suggest that protest campaigns demobilize as a consequence of the polarization between radical and moderate protesters. In this study, we offer a different causal mechanism and argue that protest campaigns can demobilize before such indiscriminate repression. Moreover, states can prevent the subsequent radicalization of a protest campaign followed by harsh repression by coopting the radicals and the remaining moderate elites while continuing to use repression to prevent collective action. Our conclusion assesses how relations between extractive industry firms and their local host communities have or have not changed in the twenty years since the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995

Globalization and Natural-Resource Conflicts

The extraction of lucrative natural resources is increasingly, in several regions of the world, a source of violence—conflicts in which transnational corporations are frequently complicit but that they are also typically best positioned to resolve. While theoretical analysis of natural-resourcerelated violence is not yet mature, there are strong reasons for the U.S. armed forces and their civilian leadership to be cautious about intervening in such conflicts

The Establishment of a Preliminary Weight Profile for the 257 Table Birds within the Sheepdrove Organic Farm Organic Silvo-Poultry System.

A preliminary weight profile was produce for the organic silvo-poultry system on Sheepdrove organic farm. Seven batches (each of 20 hens and 20 cocks) were weighed over a two month period (January/February 2003). No current organic silvo-poultry weight profile was available but the weights achieved were found to exceed those of the nearest suggested profile (ISA 657) but were beneath the weights required for Sheepdroves markets. There was great and inconsistent variation between the batches and between sheds. This suggested that environment and management of particular houses could be having a large impact on final chicken weights

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN FRANCOPHONE AFRICA: SOURCES OF SENEGAL’S SUCCESS

poster abstractSenegal remains the only Francophone nation in Africa to have avoided a military intervention or a successful coup. The former French colony, previously merged with the French Sudan, was granted their independence in 1960. Senegal has continued to develop steadily as a nation by reducing its dependence on France and becoming increasingly democratized. In 2010, Freedom House gave Senegal a rating of three for both political rights and civil liberties, giving the nation a status of “partly free” (Freedom House, 2010). Senegal is one of over a dozen nations on the continent with this Freedom House status. The state has been associated with both Ghana and Tanzania as nations whose liberalization is on a gradual path of progress in comparison to nations such as South Africa or Mali whose liberalization pace is much faster (Clark, 2007). The nation’s development is continuing to improve, but as demonstrated by Cote d’Ivoire, there is still the risk of succumbing to political regression. Senegal’s success has no single point of origin. Plausible explanatory variables include government effectiveness, freedom of expression in the media, and, more recently, support of opposition parties. The dynamics of their liberation and the rapport between the state and their former colonizer form the foundation of Senegal’s move towards democracy. This study consists of a comprehensive determination of the sources of the nation’s political success based on an examination of existing literature on Senegal’s political development

A Multi-Faceted Analysis of Performance Criteria: Implications for the Education and Assessment of Elite Soccer Officials in Australia

The standard of officiating is one of the most perennial and problematic issues in sport. The problem is exacerbated by a general lack of understanding concerning the precise nature of officiating work. Studies have made preliminary progress in identifying officiating performance criteria in some sports such as Touch football and basketball (see Anshel, 1995; Anshel & Webb, 1991), however, studies like these are rare. This investigation took steps to address this void in officiating research. Specifically, the research comprised two studies. The preliminary study involved implementing techniques, based on a hybrid Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS), to identify essential performance criteria. The principal study utilised these criteria as the basis of a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to meet three specific aims, namely, which criteria are most important; which criteria are undertaken with adequate levels of preparation; and, as a consequence of the first two aims, which criteria require greatest improvement. In addition, as the hybrid BARS technique had not been analysed comprehensively in previous research, the validation of the technique formed a secondary aim of the principal study

Expression of a synthetic E. coli heat-labile enterotoxin B sub-unit (LT-B) in maize

We have produced the B subunit of the enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) heat-labile enterotoxin (LT-B) in transgenic maize seed. LT-B is a model antigen that induces a strong immune response upon oral administration and enhances immune responses to conjugated and co-administered antigens. Using a synthetic LT-B gene with optimized codon sequence, we examined the role of promoters and the SEKDEL endoplasmic reticulum retention motif in LT-B accumulation in callus and in kernels. Two promoters, the constitutive CaMV 35S promoter and the maize 27 kDa gamma zein promoter, which directs endosperm-specific gene expression in maize kernels, regulated LT-B expression. Ganglioside-dependent ELISA analysis showed that using the constitutive promoter, maximum LT-B level detected in callus was 0.04% LT-B in total aqueous-extractable protein (TAEP) and 0.01% in R1 kernels of transgenic plants. Using the gamma zein promoter, LT-B accumulation reached 0.07% in R1 kernels. The SEKDEL resulted in increased LT-B levels when combined with the gamma zein promoter. We monitored LT-B levels under greenhouse and field conditions over three generations. Significant variability in gene expression was observed between transgenic events, and between plants within the same event. A maximum of 0.3% LT-B in TAEP was measured in R3 seed of a transgenic line carrying CaMV 35S promoter/LT-B construct. In R3 seed of a transgenic line carrying the gamma zein promoter/LT-B construct, up to 3.7% LT-B in TAEP could be detected. We concluded that maize seed can be used as a production system for functional antigens

An Investigation into Students' Understandings of Class Inclusion Concepts in Geometry

This study investigated students' understandings of class inclusion concepts in Geometry. The purpose was to identify a developmental pathway leading to an understanding of the interrelationships among two-dimensional figures and their properties. The design involved a tightly focused investigation of the manner in which geometrical class inclusion concepts evolve, in particular, relationships among triangle and quadrilateral figures, and relationships among their properties. Empirical evidence is provided to explain the difficulties students face in understanding of class inclusion notions. This evidence has theoretical as well as practical implications

Blood Banking in Living Droplets

Blood banking has a broad public health impact influencing millions of lives daily. It could potentially benefit from emerging biopreservation technologies. However, although vitrification has shown advantages over traditional cryopreservation techniques, it has not been incorporated into transfusion medicine mainly due to throughput challenges. Here, we present a scalable method that can vitrify red blood cells in microdroplets. This approach enables the vitrification of large volumes of blood in a short amount of time, and makes it a viable and scalable biotechnology tool for blood cryopreservation.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH R21 EB007707)Wallace H. Coulter FoundationUnited States. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (Acquisition Activity Cooperative Agreement RO1 A1081534)Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative TechnologyUnited States. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (Acquisition Activity Cooperative Agreement R21 AI087107)United States. Army. Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Cente

Parasitism as a Driver of Trophic Niche Specialisation.

The population trophic niche of free-living species can be subdivided into smaller niches comprising individuals specialising on specific food items. The roles of parasites in creating these specialised subgroups remain unclear. Intrapopulation differences in parasite infections can develop from specialist individuals within populations. Their differences in morphology and habitat can increase their exposure to intermediate hosts via infected prey, altering their parasite fauna. However, we also suggest that parasite infections can drive this niche specialisation. Through mechanisms including parasite manipulation, altered host phenotypes, and/ or parasite-mediated competition, parasites can alter the resource availability of their hosts, altering their trophic niches. Thus, trophic niche specialisations could result from parasitism via varying influences on host traits, raising questions for future research