643 research outputs found

    Coming together or drifting apart? Income maintenance in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom

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    There has been long-standing debate in the comparative welfare state literature as to whether social policy regimes come to look more alike over time (“converge”) or else retain their distinctiveness. In this article, we explore this question through a detailed interrogation of the social policy record since 1996 of three states widely classified as “liberal”: Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Overall, we find that the social/economic pressures faced by all three countries are more similar now than they were two decades ago and that each has sought to legitimize its politic response to the global financial crisis (GFC) in similar ways. In terms of the three policy areas we explore, we find convergence is much more substantial in “welfare-to-work” than in either child-contingent support, or pensions. But we also find that any straightforward convergence story is unsustainable, despite the GFC and accelerating globalization, and partisan effects remain important

    School-wide behavior screening for instructional decisionmaking

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    Since No Child Left Behind has become law, there has been increased use of data to drive instructional decisionmaking for academics. However, the focus placed on improving behavior and using data to drive decisions for school-wide behavior improvement has not occurred with the same fervor. Behavior needs often are identified too late in a student\u27s school career, which limits intervention efficacy and increases cost. This study tests the reliability and validity of the School-wide Efficient Behavior Screening (SWEBS); (Pierson, 2003) and discusses how educators used the SWEBS to make instructional decisions to sort students into three levels of differentiated interventions.;The SWEBS was administered in three elementary schools in a large midwest town (urban) to determine interrater reliability. Items with poor interrater reliability were eliminated and a new factor analysis revealed three factors anticipated a priori: Academic Survival Skills, Conduct, and Social-Emotional Needs. Test-retest reliability was found to be .921 and interrater reliability was .939. Validity was found to be satisfactory, as the SWEBS identified students already identified to be at-risk through other means. Teachers rated the behaviors of 591 students. Thirty-six of the teachers participated in focus groups to interpret the data, and were surveyed later about the experience. Qualitative findings showed that the SWEBS items seem to identify students appropriately with social, emotional, and behavioral needs. Teachers also reported that it was useful for designing and monitoring school-wide interventions, determine systemic needs in the school improvement process, and design instructional groups. Implications and directions for future research are discussed

    Bioactivity and structural properties of chimeric analogs of the starfish SALMFamide neuropeptides S1 and S2

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    The starfish SALMFamide neuropeptides S1 (GFNSALMFamide) and S2 (SGPYSFNSGLTFamide) are the prototypical members of a family of neuropeptides that act as muscle relaxants in echinoderms. Comparison of the bioactivity of S1 and S2 as muscle relaxants has revealed that S2 is ten times more potent than S1. Here we investigated a structural basis for this difference in potency by comparing the bioactivity and solution conformations (using NMR and CD spectroscopy) of S1 and S2 with three chimeric analogs of these peptides. A peptide comprising S1 with the addition of S2's N-terminal tetrapeptide (Long S1 or LS1; SGPYGFNSALMFamide) was not significantly different to S1 in its bioactivity and did not exhibit concentration-dependent structuring seen with S2. An analog of S1with its penultimate residue substituted from S2 (S1(T); GFNSALTFamide) exhibited S1-like bioactivity and structure. However, an analog of S2 with its penultimate residue substituted from S1 (S2(M); SGPYSFNSGLMFamide) exhibited loss of S2-type bioactivity and structural properties. Collectively, our data indicate that the C-terminal regions of S1 and S2 are the key determinants of their differing bioactivity. However, the N-terminal region of S2 may influence its bioactivity by conferring structural stability in solution. Thus, analysis of chimeric SALMFamides has revealed how neuropeptide bioactivity is determined by a complex interplay of sequence and conformation

    Structural basis of differential neutralization of DENV-1 genotypes by an antibody that recognizes a cryptic epitope

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    We previously developed a panel of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against Dengue virus (DENV)-1, of which few exhibited inhibitory activity against all DENV-1 genotypes. This finding is consistent with reports observing variable neutralization of different DENV strains and genotypes using serum from individuals that experienced natural infection or immunization. Herein, we describe the crystal structures of DENV1-E111 bound to a novel CC' loop epitope on domain III (DIII) of the E protein from two different DENV-1 genotypes. Docking of our structure onto the available cryo-electron microscopy models of DENV virions revealed that the DENV1-E111 epitope was inaccessible, suggesting that this antibody recognizes an uncharacterized virus conformation. While the affinity of binding between DENV1-E111 and DIII varied by genotype, we observed limited correlation with inhibitory activity. Instead, our results support the conclusion that potent neutralization depends on genotype-dependent exposure of the CC' loop epitope. These findings establish new structural complexity of the DENV virion, which may be relevant for the choice of DENV strain for induction or analysis of neutralizing antibodies in the context of vaccine development

    Just property. Volume two: enlightenment, revolution, and history

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    A history of private propert

    It Took a Tenants' Movement: Tenants and the Making of Habitations Jeanne-Mance (1959-1994)

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    This thesis demonstrates how public housing tenants in Habitations Jeanne-Mance (HJM) used their collective agency to challenge governance power within HJM and Montreal from 1959 to 1994. Written from the perspective of tenants and positioned in relation to urban governance studies on public housing within human geography, which consistently undervalue the agency of tenants to shape or challenge governance structures, this history of the tenants’ movement within HJM critiques this prevailing view in documenting how tenants governed from below in altering the historical trajectory of their housing project. Framing these tenant struggles historically in relation to governance within a from below dialectical approach grounded within a Gramscian reading of “war of position,” I detail how tenants constructed HJM as a space of resistance to elite power and governance. In constructing this space of resistance, I contend the tenants alone fundamentally shaped the history of HJM as a housing project. Situating their movements within the Left and citywide housing movements in Montreal from the 1960s to the 1990s, HJM for tenants from this era also became the modality in which these tenants lived their politics. Incorporating class-based politics within the shifting Quebec nationalist positions into their struggles that shaped the institutions tenants established within HJM and their neighbourhood, the tenants’ movement was sustained by the formation of a white Québécois political bloc within the tenants association. With these foundations, tenants challenged local elite political power over the rental contract in demanding recognition in the 1960s; formed the tenants association in the 1970s; campaigned for tenants’ management in the 1980s; and defeated social mix redevelopment plans in the 1990s. Through these struggles, tenants changed how the political class within Montreal historically understood HJM and culminated in the tenants making HJM a present-day outlier within the postwar era of public housing history in North America

    Potent Dengue virus neutralization by a therapeutic antibody with low monovalent affinity requires bivalent engagement

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    We recently described our most potently neutralizing monoclonal antibody, E106, which protected against lethal Dengue virus type 1 (DENV-1) infection in mice. To further understand its functional properties, we determined the crystal structure of E106 Fab in complex with domain III (DIII) of DENV-1 envelope (E) protein to 2.45 Å resolution. Analysis of the complex revealed a small antibody-antigen interface with the epitope on DIII composed of nine residues along the lateral ridge and A-strand regions. Despite strong virus neutralizing activity of E106 IgG at picomolar concentrations, E106 Fab exhibited a ∼20,000-fold decrease in virus neutralization and bound isolated DIII, E, or viral particles with only a micromolar monovalent affinity. In comparison, E106 IgG bound DENV-1 virions with nanomolar avidity. The E106 epitope appears readily accessible on virions, as neutralization was largely temperature-independent. Collectively, our data suggest that E106 neutralizes DENV-1 infection through bivalent engagement of adjacent DIII subunits on a single virion. The isolation of anti-flavivirus antibodies that require bivalent binding to inhibit infection efficiently may be a rare event due to the unique icosahedral arrangement of envelope proteins on the virion surface

    Hydrologic and Erosion Responses to Wildfire Along the Rangeland-Xeric Forest Continuum in the Western US: A Review and Model of Hydrologic Vulnerability

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    The recent increase in wildfire activity across the rangeland–xeric forest continuum in the western United States has landscape-scale consequences in terms of runoff and erosion. Concomitant cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) invasions, plant community transitions and a warming climate in recent decades along grassland–shrubland–woodland–xeric forest transitions have promoted frequent and large wildfires, and continuance of the trend appears likely if warming climate conditions prevail. These changes potentially increase overall hydrologic vulnerability by spatially and temporally increasing soil exposure to runoff and erosion processes. Plot and hillslope-scale studies demonstrate burning may increase event runoff or erosion by factors of 2–40 over small-plot scales and more than 100-fold over large-plot to hillslope scales. Reports of flooding and debris flow events from rangelands and xeric forests following burning show the potential risk to natural resources, property, infrastructure and human life. We present a conceptual model for evaluating post-fire hydrologic vulnerability and risk. We suggest that post-fire risk assessment of potential hydrologic hazards should adopt a probability-based approach that considers varying site susceptibility in conjunction with a range of potential storms and that determines the hydrologic response magnitudes likely to affect values-at-risk. Our review suggests that improved risk assessment requires better understanding in several key areas including quantification of interactions between varying storm intensities and measures of site susceptibility, the varying effects of soil water repellency, and the spatial scaling of post-fire hydrologic response across rangeland–xeric forest plant communities
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