A two-species stage-structured model for West Nile virus transmission

We develop a host–vector model of West Nile virus (WNV) transmission that incorporates multiple avian host species as well as host stage-structure (juvenile and adult stages), allowing for both species-specific and stage-specific biting rates of vectors on hosts. We use this ordinary differential equation model to explore WNV transmission dynamics that occur between vectors and multiple structured host populations as a result of heterogeneous biting rates on species and/or life stages. Our analysis shows that increased exposure of juvenile hosts generally results in larger outbreaks of WNV infectious vectors when compared to differential host species exposure. We also find that increased juvenile exposure is an important mechanism for determining the effect of species diversity on the disease risk of a community

Making Sense of Commercial Common Sense

The article examines the use of "commercial common sense" in the interpretation of commercial contracts. It reviews the origins of the test of commercial common sense and traces the application of the test in relatively recent New Zealand and United Kingdom appellate decisions. The author's contention is that the test is only properly applied when a court asks itself which of the interpretations put forward by the parties is most consistent with the contracting parties' mutual commercial purpose. The test is not properly applied when a court prefers one interpretation to another simply because it is the court's view that the alternative would mean one party made a particularly bad bargain.&nbsp

Book Review: Feminist Judgments of Aotearoa New Zealand – Te Rino: A Two-Stranded Rope

Book review of Elisabeth McDonald, Rhonda Powell, Māmari Stephens and Rosemary Hunter (eds) Feminist Judgments of Aotearoa New Zealand – Te Rino: A Two-Stranded Rope (Hart Publishing, Portland, 2017)

Dr. Right : Elderly Women in Pursuit of Negotiated Health Care and Mutual Decision Making

This study explores a group of elderly women who were searching for physicians that were interested in providing negotiated health care options with particular interest in mutual decision making. The grounded theory approach was used to explore the health care interactions between the physicians and the elderly women (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Qualitative interviews were conducted with eleven women, 75 years and older. The categorical working title of Looking for Dr. Right helped to focus our discovery of the reasons for these women\u27s search for a new physician. Grounded in the data, a proposed hypothesis was developed regarding the need for a two-way dialogue addressing specific health care concerns between an elderly woman and her physician