Five minutes with Sir Tony Brenton: “In twenty years’ time Russia won’t be perfect, but it will be a great deal closer to what Europe can regard as good neighbour than it is now”

Sir Tony Brenton, former British Ambassador to the Russian Federation reflects on Vladimir Putin’s recent election win, the economic challenges Russia faces over the next two decades, and gives EU leaders some advice on how they should engage with Russia

Introducing heterarchy : a relational-contextual framework within the study of International Relations : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Politics at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

This thesis posits that for too long International Relations (IR) has been overly rigid and insular, discouraging cross-disciplinary cooperation within the social sciences and becoming increasingly irrelevant to policy-makers. IR academia tend to stick rigidly to their theoretical paradigms in interpreting the real world, straight-jacketing their thinking into theories that limit analysis. However, humans think relationally and contextually so why not apply this form of thinking to IR? Heterarchy, the theoretical framework presented here, seeks to overcome this silo effect, to expand IR’s relevance, and encompass previously barred academic areas to the sub-discipline. This thesis presents a new relational-contextual framework within which empirical variables can be situated to provide a different understanding of actors’ actions and speech acts within the IR field.1 Heterarchy sits in part within both foundationalist and anti-foundationalist ontologies, challenging both positivist and post-positive schools by relating the world through relationalcontextual rationales. Heterarchy suggests that IR (referring to the practice of international affairs) can best be understood from a sub-systemic viewpoint where the behavior of actors can only be observed by knowing the differing contexts between ‘self’ and ‘other’, and where relations continuously form and shape each actor; hence its relational-contextual nature. These relational-contexts are initiated through certain identifiable catalysts which stimulate similarly identifiable variables to expose actor relationships to the observer. While this does have constructivist and relativist underpinnings, heterarchy differentiates itself from both in terms of its approach and methodology. Having laid out this conceptual framework, the thesis then investigates how heterarchy might work empirically by exploring the Japanese-South Korean relationship which defies conventional understandings

Water Retention, Bulk Density, Particle Size, and Thermal and Hydraulic Conductivity of Arable Soils in Interior Alaska

The relative proportion of liquid, gas, and solid as constituents of soil depends on factors such as climate, biological activity, and management practices. Therefore, the physical state of soil is a dynamic process, changing with time and position in the profile. Temperature, thermal and hydraulic conductivity, density, and water content are some quantitative properties characterizing the physical state of soil. These properties are important in describing soil processes such as water and heat flow, movement of chemicals, biological activity, and erosion. Water in the soil is subject to a number of forces resulting from the attraction of the soil matrix for water and presence of solutes and gravity. The energy status of water-the sum of these forces-is termed water potential. Processes such as evaporation and plant water uptake are governed by the gradient in water potential in the soil and across the root-soil interface, respectively. The term water potential is more descriptive of the soil water status than water content as movement of water is in response to differences in water potential

Identification of genes involved in leukaemia and differentiation induced by activated mutants of the GM-CSF receptor β subunit.

Interleukin (IL)-3, IL-5 and granulocyte-macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) are cytokines that affect the growth, survival and differentiation of many cells within the haematopoietic system. The functions of these factors are mediated by membrane bound receptor complexes that are composed of specific ligand binding subunits (α)and a common signal transducing subunit(hβc). Constitutively activated mutants of hβc have been previously identified that are able to confer factor-independent signalling in a number of haematopoietic cell lines (including FDC-P1 and FDB-1). These activated mutants fall into two classes defined by the location of the mutation and their biochemical and leukaemogenic properties. In particular, the transmembrane mutant, V449E, causes an acute myeloid leukaemia in vivo, whereas the extracellular mutants (FI∆ or I374N) cause chronic myeloproliferative disorders. The work described in this thesis used the activated hβc mutants to uncover novel transcriptional events induced by the GM-CSF/IL-3/IL-5 receptor complex and to define pathways associated with proliferation and differentiation. Large-scale gene expression profiling techniques were used to investigate the genes involved in these biological processes in the murine myelomonocytic cell line FDC-P1, and the bi-potent FDB-1 myeloid cell line, which are responsive to IL-3 and GM-CSF. Membrane arrays were used to identify differences in gene expression between I374N and V449E expressing FDC-P1 cells. This technique revealed that the gene Ptpmt1 was differentially expressed between V449E and I374N, which was subsequently confirmed by Northern blotting. This finding suggested that the phosphatase encoded by Ptpmt1 may be involved in the different outcomes induced by these two hβc mutants. Northern analysis also revealed Ptpmt1, Nab1 and Ddx26b to be regulated in response to human GM-CSF in FDC-P1 cells expressing human GM CSFα and hβc. A large-scale cDNA microarray experiment was also performed to identify genes that are selectively expressed during differentiation of FI∆ expressing FDB-1 cells, compared to proliferating V449E expressing FDB-1 cells over 24 hours. A comprehensive analysis approach was adopted to examine the microarray data and identify differentially expressed genes. Among the genes displaying differential expression were Btg1, S100a9, Cd24, and Ltf found to be differentiation-associated and Bnip3, Cd34, Myc, Nucleophosmin, and Nucleostemin found to be proliferation-associated. Hipk1, Klf6, Sp100, and Sfrs3 were also identified as potential transcriptional regulators during growth and differentiation. Northern analysis was used to confirm differences in expression for these 13 genes between FI∆ and V449E expressing FDB-1 cells. Eleven of the 13 genes examined were confirmed to be differentially expressed between FI∆ and V449E expressing FDB-1 cells over 24 hours. Furthermore, six genes (Btg1, Hipk1, Cd24, Cd34, Klf6 and Nucleostemin) examined over 72 hours revealed differences in gene expression at early (6-12 hours) and late (48-72 hours) time points. Cell surface expression of CD24 protein was also shown to be induced upon FI∆ expression or GM-CSF induced differentiation of FDB-1 cells, consistent with elevated levels of Cd24 mRNA in FI∆ cells over time. Based on their confirmed gene expression differences seen on the microarrays and Northern analysis, four genes (Btg1, Cd24, Klf6 and Nucleostemin) were selected for over-expression analysis in FDC-P1 or FDB-1 cells, in order to gain insights into the function of these genes. Optimisation of the retroviral infection process was performed so that the role of these genes in proliferation and differentiation could be investigated in the FDB-1 model. Such preliminary functional experiments in FDB-1 cells will enable prioritisation of the genes for further analysis of their function in primary cells. Thus, the work in this thesis describes the first use of microarrays to identify gene expression differences between hβc mutants with differential activities affecting myeloid growth and differentiation.Thesis (PhD)-- School of Medicine, 200

Hard days and nights: the final 147 days of the Gillard Government

IntroductionThe 2010 election produced a hung parliament, leaving Julia Gillard as caretaker Prime Minister while negotiations took place as to which party would form government. Because the ALP and the Coalition had each emerged with 72 seats in the House of Representatives, both parties needed the support of at least four other MPs in order to attain a majority in the House and form government.In the weeks immediately following the election there was frenzied activity as both major parties sought to secure agreements with the independents and minor party MPs that would deliver the voting support on the floor of the House required for either major party to form and maintain government. Negotiations took place over 17 days, largely in the public spotlight.Ultimately the ALP secured agreements for support from three Independents—Tony Windsor, Robert Oakeshott, and Andrew Wilkie—and the Greens MP Adam Bandt, enabling Gillard to reach the requisite 76 votes and form a minority government. Julia Gillard was duly re-appointed Prime Minister on 14 September 2010.Thereafter she endured what many considered to be the toughest of political environments—a largely disillusioned electorate; a hostile, often vicious press; herself burdened by scandals of others’ making and pursued by allegations of her own past misdemeanours; and relentless leadership speculation within the Labor Caucus that created an aura of instability around her government and raised the ire and anxiety of citizens.This paper describes the key events and issues that dominated the 147 days between Gillard’s National Press Club announcement in January that an election would be held 14 September 2013, and the Labor Caucus ballot on Wednesday 26 June 2013 which saw Gillard replaced as leader by Kevin Rudd, whom Gillard had herself deposed on Wednesday 24 June 2010

Integrating the least developed countries into the world trading system : the current impact of EU preferences under everything but arms

Trade preferences are a key element in industrial countries'efforts to assist the integration of least developed countries (LDCs) into the world economy. Brenton provides an initial evaluation of the impact of the European Union's recently introduced"Everything but Arms"(EBA) initiative on the products currently exported by the LDCs. He shows that the changes introduced by the EBA initiative in 2001 are relatively minor for currently exported products, primarily because over 99 percent of EU imports from the LDCs are in products which the EU had already liberalized, and the complete removal of barriers to the key remaining products-rice, sugar, and bananas-has been delayed. Brenton looks at the role EU preferences to LDCs in general have been playing and could play in assisting the integration of the LDCs. He shows that there is considerable variation across countries in the potential impact that EU preferences can have given current export structures. There is a group of LDCs for whom EU trade preferences on existing exports are not significant since these exports are mainly of products where the most-favored-nation duty is zero. Export diversification is the key issue for these countries. For other LDCs, EU preferences have the potential to provide a more substantial impact on trade. However, the author shows that only 50 percent of EU imports from non-ACP (Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific) LDCs which are eligible actually request preferential access to the EU. The prime suspect for this low level of use are the rules of origin, both the restrictiveness of the requirements on sufficient processing and the costs and difficulties of providing the necessary documentation. More simple rules of origin are likely to enhance the impact of EU trade preferences in terms of improving market access and in stimulating diversification toward a broader range of exports.Trade Policy,Economic Theory&Research,Export Competitiveness,Agribusiness&Markets,Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Agribusiness&Markets,Trade Policy,Access to Markets,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT