Tainui: A Case Study of Direct Negotiations

This article explores the direct Treaty negotiation process in the context of the tribal history, the then-current thinking on Treaty of Waitangi claims, and the path that the author sees for Tainui. The author begins with the historical context to the Tainui, highlighting the injustices that the tribes suffered through raupatu (land confiscation) and warfare. The article then explores the Crown's attempts to provide redress followed by the negotiations. The result was the Ngai Tahu settlement claim in the South Island in March 1946. The author notes two issues in the negotiation process. First, there was the need for the government to admit that its invasion of the Waikato and subsequent confiscations were wrong. Secondly, there was the need for the government to return land or to otherwise provide the Waikato people with a secure economic base. The Coalcorp case, which provided an incentive for the claim to be placed at the negotiation table, is also briefly discussed (Tainui Māori Trust Board v Attorney-General [1989] 2 NZLR 513 (CA)). The result of that case was direct negotiation with the Crown, as well as some internal negotiation. As the negotiations had not been completed at the time of writing, the author concludes that Tainui's survival as a people rests on its desire to commit to a long-lasting and forward-thinking strategy. However, the author also argues that the outcome rests solely on the political will of both parties to settle.&nbsp

Theory of the quantum Hall effect in graphene

We study the quantum Hall effect (QHE) in graphene based on the current injection model. In our model, the presence of disorder, the edge-state picture, extended states and localized states, which are believed to be indispensable ingredients in describing the QHE, do not play an important role. Instead the boundary conditions during the injection into the graphene sheet, which are enforced by the presence of the Ohmic contacts, determine the current-voltage characteristics.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, rewritten, role of contacts for boundary conditions in small device

Transition Matrix Monte Carlo

Although histogram methods have been extremely effective for analyzing data from Monte Carlo simulations, they do have certain limitations, including the range over which they are valid and the difficulties of combining data from independent simulations. In this paper, we describe an complementary approach to extracting information from Monte Carlo simulations that uses the matrix of transition probabilities. Combining the Transition Matrix with an N-fold way simulation technique produces an extremely flexible and efficient approach to rather general Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: Maui Conference on Statistical Physic

Proliferation-dependent differential regulation of the dolichol pathway genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The dolichol pathway serves in the synthesis of the dolichol-linked oligosaccharide precursor for protein N-glycosylation. Recently, we reported that mRNAs of genes that function at the early steps in the dolichol pathway in yeast, ALG7, ALG1 and ALG2, were co-ordinately induced following growth stimulation of G0-arrested cells in a manner similar to that of the transcripts of the early growth response genes (Kukuruzinska,M.A. and Lennon,K. Glycobiology, 4, 437-443, 1994). To determine whether the entire dolichol pathway was co-ordinately regulated with growth, we examined the expression of genes functioning late in the pathway, including two genes encoding oligosaccharyltransferase subunits, at two critical control points in the G1 phase of cell cycle: G0/G1 and START. We show that early in G1, at the G0/G1 transition point, the late ALG genes and the two oligosaccharyltransferase-encoding genes examined were regulated co-ordinately with the early ALG genes: they were downregulated upon exit from the mitotic cell cycle into G0, and they were induced following growth stimulation in the absence of de novo protein synthesis. All the dolichol pathway genes produced transcripts with short, half-lives that were rapidly stabilized in the presence of cycloheximide. In contrast, cell division arrest late in G1, at START, was accompanied by a selective downregulation of only the first dolichol pathway gene, ALG7, and not of the genes functioning later in the pathway. These results indicate that, depending on their position in G1, cells either co-ordinately or differentially regulate the dolichol pathway gene

Post War Destruction and Construction in the U.S.: Shaping a New Landscape and Way of Life

After World War II, the U.S. embarked on a massive building initiative, creating housing where little or none had existed before outside of cities and tearing down existing housing in cites to replace it with new housing and commercial and cultural centers. Without the destruction of entire sections of cities wrought by the war in Europe, we created our own forms of destruction and (re)construction, significantly changing the landscape and, for many, the way of life

Mitral paravalvular abscess with left ventriculo-atrial fistula in a patient on dialysis

Background: Infective endocarditis in hemodialysis patients is challenging but is becoming more common recently. Case report: A 64-year-old man with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis presented with infective endocarditis of mitral valve and coronary artery disease after commencing training for home hemodialysis. During a course of antibiotic treatment the patient developed left ventriculo-atrial fistula due to mitral paravalvular abscess. Abscess debridement followed by reconstruction of the mitral annulus with fresh autologous pericardial patch and mitral valve replacement using a mechanical prosthesis with concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting was performed successfully. Conclusion: Timely diagnosis, proper antibiotic treatment and early surgical intervention including aggressive debridement should improve the outcome of this high-risk disease. © 2009 Kitamura et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Tadashi Kitamura, James Edwards, Suchi Khurana and Robert G Stukli