Taxpayer Standing and \u3cem\u3eDaimlerChrysler v. Cuno:\u3c/em\u3e Where Do We Go From Here?

In granting certiorari in the case of Daimler-Chrysler Corp. v. Cuno, the Supreme Court asked the parties to brief whether respondents have standing to challenge Ohio\u27s investment tax credit. This report applies modern standing doctrine to the Cuno case and concludes that the Cuno plaintiffs do no have standing to raise their claims in federal court. Moreover, the authors write, allowing the Cuno plaintiffs\u27 case to be resolved in federal court would open the federal court system to a wide range of taxpayer challenges better left to the political branches of government. Nevertheless, they recognize that there may be other litigants that would have standing to challenge Ohio\u27s investment tax credit in federal court

New method for photoresist stripping

Vacuum dehydration of negatively working photoresist eliminates trace contamination of conventional stripping methods. The semiconductor substrate is coated with photoresist, exposed, developed, cured, and etched, and then placed in a vacuum. Following dehydration, the resist film is removable with ordinary solvents

Alpha, Omega, and the Letters in Between: LGBTQI Conservative Christians Undoing Gender

Sociologists studying gender have debated West and Zimmerman’s premise that “doing gender is unavoidable,” seeking to ascertain whether people can “undo” or only “redo” gender. While sociologists have been correct to focus on the interactional accomplishment of gender, they have neglected one of Garfinkel’s key insights about interaction: that people hold each other accountable to particular narratives. Neglecting the narrative aspect of doing—and undoing—gender impedes our ability to recognize processes of social change. Based on a qualitative study, we show how the movement for LGBTQI acceptance within U.S. conservative Protestant churches works to make gender not “omnirelevant” by challenging conservative “complementarity” narratives that posit two complementary, opposite sexes as a commandment preceding the Ten Commandments in time and importance. We explore this movement’s ambivalent relationship with homonormativity, highlight three ways this movement resists projecting binary gender narratives into scripture, and examine how some in this movement see the pursuit of social justice as a Christian mandate. The efforts of LGBTQI conservative Christians exemplify how reshaping sex/gender/sexual narratives can create possibilities for undoing gender

The pharmacology and function of receptors for short-chain fatty acids

Despite some blockbuster G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) drugs, only a small fraction (∼15%) of the more than 390 nonodorant GPCRs have been successfully targeted by the pharmaceutical industry. One way that this issue might be addressed is via translation of recent deorphanization programs that have opened the prospect of extending the reach of new medicine design to novel receptor types with potential therapeutic value. Prominent among these receptors are those that respond to short-chain free fatty acids of carbon chain length 2–6. These receptors, FFA2 (GPR43) and FFA3 (GPR41), are each predominantly activated by the short-chain fatty acids acetate, propionate, and butyrate, ligands that originate largely as fermentation by-products of anaerobic bacteria in the gut. However, the presence of FFA2 and FFA3 on pancreatic β-cells, FFA3 on neurons, and FFA2 on leukocytes and adipocytes means that the biologic role of these receptors likely extends beyond the widely accepted role of regulating peptide hormone release from enteroendocrine cells in the gut. Here, we review the physiologic roles of FFA2 and FFA3, the recent development and use of receptor-selective pharmacological tool compounds and genetic models available to study these receptors, and present evidence of the potential therapeutic value of targeting this emerging receptor pair

Functional and mutational analysis of the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein of thylakoid membranes.

The precursor for a Lemna light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein (pLHCP) has been synthesized in vitro from a single member of the nuclear LHCP multigene family. We report the sequence of this gene. When incubated with Lemna chloroplasts, the pLHCP is imported and processed into several polypeptides, and the mature form is assembled into the light-harvesting complex of photosystem II (LHC II). The accumulation of the processed LHCP is enhanced by the addition to the chloroplasts of a precursor and a co-factor for chlorophyll biosynthesis. Using a model for the arrangement of the mature polypeptide in the thylakoid membrane as a guide, we have created mutations that lie within the mature coding region. We have studied the processing, the integration into thylakoid membranes, and the assembly into light-harvesting complexes of six of these deletions. Four different mutant LHCPs are found as processed proteins in the thylakoid membrane, but only one appears to have an orientation in the membrane that is similar to that of the wild type. No mutant LHCP appears in LHC II. The other two mutant LHCPs cannot be detected within the chloroplasts. We conclude that stable complex formation is not required for the processing and insertion of altered LHCPs into the thylakoid membrane. We discuss the results in light of our model

Assembly of the precursor and processed light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein of Lemna into the light-harvesting complex II of barley etiochloroplasts.

When the in vitro synthesized precursor of a light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein (LHCP) from Lemna gibba is imported into barley etiochloroplasts, it is processed to a single form. Both the processed form and the precursor are found in the thylakoid membranes, assembled into the light-harvesting complex of photosystem II. Neither form can be detected in the stromal fraction. The relative amounts of precursor and processed forms observed in the thylakoids are dependent on the developmental stage of the plastids used for uptake. The precursor as well as the processed form can also be detected in thylakoids of greening maize plastids used in similar uptake experiments. This detection of a precursor in the thylakoids, which has not been previously reported, could be a result of using rapidly developing plastids and/or using an heterologous system. Our results demonstrate that the extent of processing of LHCP precursor is not a prerequisite for its inclusion in the complex. They are also consistent with the possibility that the processing step can occur after insertion of the protein into the thylakoid membrane

RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT OF BIRD DEPREDATIONS AT CATFISH FARMS

Depredations by fish-eating birds are a major constraint on production at commercial catfish facilities in the southeastern United States. A recent survey of catfish farmers estimated total losses due to direct predation by birds and costs associated with employing preventive measures at $17 million, or 4% of national sales. In 1988, the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u27s (USDA) National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) established a research station in Mississippi to develop more effective methods for reducing the impact of birds on southeastern aquaculture farms. This paper describes the impact of double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus, DCCO) on the catfish industry, describes control methods to reduce depredations by this species, and reviews some research currently being conducted at the NWRC Mississippi research station

Spiritual Leadership, School Climate, and Teacher Collective Efficacy in Asian International Schools

This research explored whether spiritual leadership could predict teacher collective efficacy and school climate in Asian international schools. Fifteen international schools from nine countries elected to participate and 104 teachers completed an online survey. Linear regression and multiple regression were used to discover a prediction equation linking spiritual leadership to the outcomes of teacher collective efficacy and school climate. Findings from this study indicated that spiritual leadership significantly predicted teacher collective efficacy accounting for 28.3% of the variation, a small effect according to Cohen (1988). Further, spiritual leadership significantly predicted school climate accounting for 44.1.3% of the variation, a medium effect according to Cohen (1988). Using multiple regression, it was found that four of the six components of spiritual leadership added significantly to the prediction of teacher collective efficacy, p \u3c .05 while all six components of spiritual leadership added significantly to the prediction of school climate, p \u3c .05. It is recommended that more research is needed to examine this spiritual leadership theory in schools and in international schools, specifically research with larger samples

WITNESSES-DEAD MAN STATUTES-COMPETENCE OF SPOUSE OF PARTY OR INTERESTED PERSON-EFFECT OF DIVORCE

The Dead Man statutes, enacted in various forms in almost every state, generally forbid a party or person interested to testify in an action involving a decedent\u27s estate. As is well known, these statutes are the lone survival of the common law rule disqualifying parties and persons interested as witnesses in all actions, a rule which has otherwise been universally repudiated because of the realization that pecuniary interest does not necessarily raise any large probability of falsehood and that, even if it did, the risks of admitting such testimony can easily be minimized and are far outweighed by the advantages to be gained. In a recent Illinois decision the court excluded as a witness not only a party to an action involving a decedent\u27s estate but also the party\u27s divorced wife. This holding raises certain questions: (1) Is it a general rule, established in most states, that the spouse of a person disqualified by a Dead Man statute is likewise disqualified? (2) What are the common law or statutory bases for any such disqualification? (3) What is the effect of divorce? Answers to these questions will require (1) an inquiry into the common law as to the spouse\u27s competency and ( 2) an examination of various relevant statutes