Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Agenda-Setting and the Media: A Look at Child Welfare Legislation, 1995-2005

AGENDA-SETTING AND THE MEDIA: A LOOK AT CHILD WELFARE LEGISLATION IN VIRGINIA, 1995-2005 By Tamara L. Temoney, Ph.D. A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2008 Major Director: Janet Hutchinson, Ph.D. Associate Professor, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs This project used a content analysis methodology to determine the agenda-setting capacity of the media to influence child welfare legislation in a state legislature. With a foundation in agenda-setting theory, this study identifies how the coverage of child abuse and neglect in the print media impacts decision-makers to introduce legislation related to child abuse and neglect. Through a comparison of the issues covered in the newspaper with the issues receiving legislative attention, this study showed that media influence varies by topic, with some topics being more open to media affects than others. A second component of this study analyzed how child abuse and neglect is portrayed in four newspapers circulating across the state. With an emphasis on identifying the types of issues that receive media attention in Virginia, this qualitative study showed key themes and patterns prevalent in child welfare coverage. The media demonstrates an affinity for covering episodic, micro-level instances of abuse, and thematic, macro-level systemic
Randomly Drawn Opportunity Sets in a Random Utility Model of Lake Recreation

Random Utility Models are widely applied in studies of recreation demand. The model is particularly useful when the number of recreation sites from which individuals may choose is large. Yet, when the number gets too large, say in the hundreds, estimation becomes burdensome. We present an analysis suggested by McFadden (1978) for dealing with large numbers of sites. We estimate a model using randomly drawn opportunity sets. We use each person's chosen site plus a random draw of as few as eleven other sites (when hundreds are available) to estimate a plausible behavioral model.
Ca2+-modulated ROS-GC1 transduction system in testes and its presence in the spermatogenic cells

ROS-GC1 belongs to the Ca2+-modulated sub-family of membrane guanylate cyclases. It primarily exists and is linked with signaling of the sensory neurons – sight, smell, taste, and pinealocytes. Exceptionally, it is also present and is Ca2+-modulated in t he non-neuronal cells, the sperm cells in the testes, where S100B protein serves as its Ca2+ sensor. The present report demonstrates the identification of an additional Ca2+ sensor of ROS-GC1 in the testes, neurocalcin δ. Through mouse molecular genetic models, it compares and quantifies the relative input of the S100B and neurocalcin δ in regulating the Ca2+ signaling of ROS-GC1 transduction machinery, and via immunochemistry it demonstrates the co-presence of neurocalcin δ and ROS-GC1 in the spermatogenic cells of the testes. The suggestion is that in more ways than one the Ca2+-modulated ROS-GC1 transduction system is linked with the testicular function. This non-neuronal transduction system may represent an illustration of the ROS-GC1 expanding role in the trans-signaling of the neural and non-neural systems.
HIV- and AIDS-associated neurocognitive functioning in Zambia – a perspective based on differences between the genders

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) are frequently associated with neurocognitive impairment (NCI). However, few studies have examined the interrelationship between gender and NCI in the HIV and AIDS population. This cross-sectional study examined the neurocognitive (NC) functioning of HIV-infected male and female adults from urban Zambia. The participants included 266 HIV seropositive (HIV+) adults (males [n=107] and females [n=159]). Participants completed NC assessment by means of a comprehensive test battery using normative data from 324 HIV-seronegative (HIV−) controls. The norms corrected for effects of age, education, and gender in the general population, and the test battery measures domains of attention/working memory (learning and delayed recall), executive function, verbal fluency, processing speed, verbal and visual episodic memory, and fine motor skills. An overall comparison of the HIV+ male and female participants yielded no statistically significant differences. Analysis of covariance results controlling for disease characteristics showed that HIV+ female participants had worse delayed recall scores than males, F(1,117) =9.70, P=0.002, partial η2=0.077. The females also evidenced a trend toward greater impairment on learning efficiency (P=0.015). The findings suggest that there are gender-related differences in NCI after controlling for disease characteristics. It was observed that although the HIV+ females enjoyed better health compared to their HIV+ male counterparts, they still had worse performance on the neuropsychological tests. This implies that HIV may have more NC consequences for Zambian females than males.
Multimodal medical image fusion in nonsubsampled contourlet transform domain

This paper proposed a novel medical image fusion algorithm based on nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT). Firstly, CT image and MRI image are decomposed into high and low frequency subband by NSCT. For selection of fusion rules, the coefficients of low frequency subband are fused by local entropy, and fusion criterion for the coefficients of high frequency subband is regional energy. The performance of the proposed framework is evaluated by various quantitative measures. Visual and quantitative analysis and comparisons of the proposed algorithm with the existing fusion methods show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in the application of medical image fusion.
Traditional warning signs of cyclones on remote islands in Fiji and Tonga

Traditional knowledge of disasters has been found to save lives. On remote islands where telecommunications to the mainland are unreliable, unless there are always working batteries in the radio, signs from the environment may be the only warning of an oncoming cyclone. But this knowledge is in danger of being lost, as it is an oral history not well documented, and younger people increasingly rely on technology. This article presents the results of fieldwork on remote islands in Fiji and Tonga in the South Pacific, documenting natural warning signs on islands in two different countries. The results show that there are numerous known signs, with remarkable similarities and consistencies between the two islands. This provides evidence that not only is traditional knowledge of warning signs for cyclones alive and well, the consistency in the signs suggests support for this knowledge as being just as important as western scientific knowledge. The integration of traditional knowledge and western scientific knowledge into a comprehensive warning system may help to overcome some of the limitations of the existing system and the reasons why warnings are sometimes ignored.
Sulforaphane induces thioredoxin through the antioxidant-responsive element and attenuates retinal light damage in mice.

PURPOSE Thioredoxin (Trx) is a multifunctional endogenous redox regulator that protects cells against various types of cellular or tissue stresses. This study was conducted to test whether sulforaphane (SF), a naturally occurring isothiocyanate that is highly concentrated in broccoli sprouts, induces Trx in retinal tissues and whether pretreatment with SF protects against light-induced retinal damage in mice. METHODS Expression of Trx in mouse retina was analyzed by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. Retinal damage was induced by exposure to white light at 6000 lux for 2 hours. To estimate retinal cell damage, the number of cell nuclei and the percentage of TUNEL-positive cells were counted in the outer nuclear layer and the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) layer and the electroretinograms recorded. To analyze further the mechanism of Trx induction by SF, cultured human K-1034 RPE cells were used. RESULTS Both intraperitoneal and oral SF induced Trx protein in the neural retina and RPE. The maximum induction of Trx was observed with intraperitoneal SF 0.5 mg/d for 3 days. After exposure to light, mice pretreated with SF had a significantly lower percentage of TUNEL-positive RPE and photoreceptor cells, a significantly higher number of RPE and photoreceptor nuclei, and greater amplitude of ERG a- and b-waves than in the saline-treated mice. In K-1034 cells, 1 microM SF induced Trx protein, whereas 10 microM SF did not damage cells or augment cellular peroxide production, tested by a lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay and 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA)/flow cytometry, respectively. In the luciferase reporter assay, the antioxidant-responsive element (ARE) played a role in SF-induced Trx expression. In the electrophoretic mobility shift assay, SF induced binding of Nrf2, small Maf, and c-Jun to the ARE of the Trx gene. CONCLUSIONS SF induced Trx in murine retina and effectively reduced retinal light damage. Evidence suggests that the ARE is involved in the mechanism of Trx induction by SF in RPE cells.
THE EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRADING VOLUME , RETURNS AND VOLATILITY Non-technical Executive Summary

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between trading volume and stock return volatility in the Australian market. The initial analysis centres upon Karpoff's [1986, 1987] model of the volume-price change relationship. Evidence is found which supports the model. The relationship between price change and trading volume, irrespective of the direction of the price change, is significant across three alternative measures of daily trading volume for the aggregate market and individual stocks. Furthermore, evidence is found supporting the hypothesis that the volume-price change slope for negative returns is smaller than the slope for positive returns, thereby supporting an asymmetric relationship. Trading volume is then examined in the context of conditional volatility using a GARCH framework. Similar to the results of Lamoureux and Lastrapes [1990], the findings show a reduction in the significance and magnitude of the conditional variance equation coefficients, and a reduction in the persistence of variance when trading volume is added as an exogenous variable. Hence, there is prima facie evidence that if trading volume proxies for the rate of information arrival, then ARCH effects and much of the persistence in variance can be explained. Acknowledgments: This paper has benefited from the comments of Rob Brown, Robert Faff, Keith McLaren, workshop participants at the University of Southern Queensland and delegates at the AsiaPacific Finance Association Conference (Sydney, 1994). The financial assistance of a Faculty Research Grant at the University of Melbourne is gratefully acknowledged. Contact: Tim Brailsford, Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3052. Australia. Phone: +61-3-344-7662 FAX: +61-3-344-6681 Email: t.brailsford@EcoAccFin.unimelb. edu.au 2
Elevated Plasma Corticosterone Decreases Yolk Testosterone and Progesterone in Chickens: Linking Maternal Stress and Hormone-Mediated Maternal Effects

Despite considerable research on hormone-mediated maternal effects in birds, the underlying physiology remains poorly understood. This study investigated a potential regulation mechanism for differential accumulation of gonadal hormones in bird eggs. Across vertebrates, glucocorticoids can suppress reproduction by downregulating gonadal hormones. Using the chicken as a model species, we therefore tested whether elevated levels of plasma corticosterone in female birds influence the production of gonadal steroids by the ovarian follicles and thus the amount of reproductive hormones in the egg yolk. Adult laying hens of two different strains (ISA brown and white Leghorn) were implanted subcutaneously with corticosterone pellets that elevated plasma corticosterone concentrations over a period of nine days. Steroid hormones were subsequently quantified in plasma and yolk. Corticosterone-implanted hens of both strains had lower plasma progesterone and testosterone levels and their yolks contained less progesterone and testosterone. The treatment also reduced egg and yolk mass. Plasma estrogen concentrations decreased in white Leghorns only whereas in both strains yolk estrogens were unaffected. Our results demonstrate for the first time that maternal plasma corticosterone levels influence reproductive hormone concentrations in the yolk. Maternal corticosterone could therefore mediate environmentally induced changes in yolk gonadal hormone concentrations. In addition, stressful situations experienced by the bird mother might affect the offspring via reduced amounts of reproductive hormones present in the egg as well as available nutrients for the embryo.
Decision Making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals

Contents Illustrations 00 Prologue 00 1. Political Ideology and Circuit Court Decision Making 00 2. The Law and Circuit Court Decision Making 00 3. Judicial Background and Circuit Court Decision Making 00 4. Other Institutions and Circuit Court Decision Making 00 5. Litigants and Circuit Court Decision Making 00 6. Panel Effects and Circuit Court Decision Making 00 7. Procedural Threshold Effects and Circuit Court Decision Making 00 8. Circuit Court Decision Making and Precedential Impact 00 Epilogue 00 Notes 00 Index 00
Banking of Surplus Emissions Allowances: Does the Volume Matter?

In the European Emission Trading scheme the supply of allowances exceeds emissions - cumulating, according to our estimates, in a surplus of 2.7 billion tonnes by 2013/2014. We find that initially the surplus was acquired by power companies so as to hedge future carbon costs. As the surplus exceeds this hedging demand, additional allowances need to be acquired as speculative investment. This requires higher rates of return and implies that expected future carbon prices are highly discounted. This could explain the recent drop in carbon prices. The analysis shows that the volume of unused allowances matters for the discount applied to future carbon prices. We use our supply-demand framework to assess currently discussed policy options set-aside, reserve price for auctions and adjustments of emission targets.
Fertility indices of cows in a high-yielding herd

The aim of the study was to analyse the effect of non-genetic factors on fertility indices in high-yielding Black-and-White Polish Holstein-Friesian cows. The analysis covered 2414 reproductive periods in 1063 cows born in the years 1999-2008. Fertility indices of the cows were evaluated. The age of heifers at first calving was found to decrease in successive years in the population analysed. A shorter rearing period for heifers was not found to negatively affect fertility indices during their later productive life. A significant decrease in reproductive efficiency was observed in the case of yield exceeding 3600 kg over 100 days of lactation in primiparous cows. However, milk yield in the previous standard lactation had the strongest influence on fertility indices. Where milk yield exceeded 9000 kg, each increase of 2000 kg had a significant (P≤0.01) negative effect on all the fertility indices evaluated in the study.
Retention of glucose units added by the UDP-GLC:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase delays exit of glycoproteins from the endoplasmic reticulum

It has been proposed that the UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase, an endoplasmic reticulum enzyme that only glucosylates improperly folded glycoproteins forming protein-linked Glc1Man7-9-GlcNAc2 from the corresponding unglucosylated species, participates together with lectin- like chaperones that recognize monoglucosylated oligosaccharides in the control mechanism by which cells only allow passage of properly folded glycoproteins to the Golgi apparatus. Trypanosoma cruzi cells were used to test this model as in trypanosomatids addition of glucosidase inhibitors leads to the accumulation of only monoglucosylated oligosaccharides, their formation being catalyzed by the UDP- Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase. In all other eukaryotic cells the inhibitors produce underglycosylation of proteins and/or accumulation of oliogosaccharides containing two or three glucose units. Cruzipain, a lysosomal proteinase having three potential N-glycosylation sites, two at the catalytic domain and one at the COOH-terminal domain, was isolated in a glucosylated form from cells grown in the presence of the glucosidase II inhibitor 1-deoxynojirimycin. The oligosaccharides present at the single glycosylation site of the COOH-terminal domain were glucosylated in some cruzipain molecules but not in others, this result being consistent with an asynchronous folding of glycoproteins in the endoplasmic reticulum. In spite of not affecting cell growth rate or the cellular general metabolism in short and long term incubations, 1-deoxynojirimycin caused a marked delay in the arrival of cruzipain to lysosomes. These results are compatible with the model proposed by which monoglucosylated glycoproteins may be transiently retained in the endoplasmic reticulum by lectin-like anchors recognizing monoglucosylated oligosaccharides.
PhishGuard: A browser plug-in for protection from phishing

Phishing is an act of identity theft aimed at acquiring sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, credit card detail etc., by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Phishers use a number of different social engineering mechanism such as spoofed e-mail to try to trick their victims. Data suggests that some of the phishing attacks have convinced up to 5% of their recipients to provide sensitive information to spoofed websites resulting in a direct loss of multi Billion Dollars across the countries. Though there are many existing anti-phishing solutions, Phishers continue to succeed to lure victims. In this paper, we have proposed a novel algorithm which aims at identifying a forged website by submitting random credentials before the actual credentials in a login process of a website. We have also proposed a mechanism for analysing the responses from the server against the submissions of all those credentials to determine if the website is original or phished one. Though our idea is generic and would work in any authentication technologies which are based on exchange of any credentials, our current prototype is developed for sites supporting HTTP Digest Authentication and accepting userid and password pair as credential. Our algorithm is developed within a browser plug-in for Mozilla FireFox v3.0. and can detect phishing attack conclusively.
The President and Congressional Parties in an Era of Polarization

This article describes a portion of the research on Congress and the president produced over the last two decades that relates to presidential party leadership. The main focus is on whether the theoretical arguments and empirical findings of that research apply to the polarized partisan era of the ‘Republican Revolution’ and the Bush presidency. It also concentrates on only a few aspects of the literature, particularly presidential success in the legislative process, the tendency to ‘go public’, and the consequences of divided government. Three aspects of presidential-congressional interaction are explained. A segment of the literature that is particularly relevant to this discussion involves the consequences of divided government. The implications of polarization are relevant to a large and important share of the political agenda.
Gutenberg‐Richter's law in sliding friction of gels

We report on experimental studies of spatio-temporally heterogeneous stick-slip motions in the sliding friction between a hard polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA, plexiglass) block and a soft poly-dimethyl siloxane (PDMS, silicone) gel plate. We perform experiments on two PDMS gels with different viscoelastic properties. For the less viscous gel, large and rapid events are preceded by an alternation of active and less active periods. For the more viscous gel, successive slow slip events take place continuously. The probability distributions of the force drop, a quantity analogous to seismic moment, obey a power law similar to Gutenberg-Richter's empirical law for the frequency-size statistics of earthquakes, and the exponents of the power law vary with the plate velocity and the viscosity of the gel. We propose a simple model to explain the dependence of the power law exponent on the plate velocity, which agrees with experimental results.
The Effects of Taxes and Socioeconomic Variables on Market Work and Home Production in Norway in the Years 1970 to 2000

This paper analyses significant forces of the allocation of time to different home production activities, as developed by Gronau, in a data set consisting of decennial time-use surveys of Norwegian households. The theoretical framework consists of joint allocation of time model, where household decisions to allocate time between the market and the household are analyzed simultaneously. The estimation takes place within a limited dependent variables framework. As an alternative to the usually employed Tobit model, Cragg´s double-hurdle model is used, so as to be able to model individual decisions in a two step framework, discerning between the wish to participate and the amount of time to invest in different activities. The conclusion of the paper is that taxation has a significant effect on the allocation of time to market and non-market activities. There is evidence in favour of more disaggregation of time-use, but the overall message of the home production literature – that explicit consideration of the market-versus-home production margin can improve estimates of labor supply elasticities - is upheld.
INVESTIGATING ANTECEDENTS OF TAM AND INTENTION TO USE NEW IT IN EARLY PHASE OF IMPLEMENTATION

This paper reports on a study that examined the relationship between expected tool functionality, one’s IT strategy commitment, and perceived supervisor support with employees’ intention to use a new IT to be implemented in their work place. Results indicate a significant relationship between a tool’s expected functionality and a user’s perception of its usefulness and ease of use. In turn, perceived usefulness, IT strategy commitment, and perceived supervisor support are significantly related to intention to use the new IT. Perceived supervisor support was also found to be indirectly related to intention to use through IT strategy commitment.
Tournaments and Liquidity Constraints for the Agents

A celebrated result in the theory of tournaments is that relative performance evaluation (tournaments) is a superior compensation method to absolute performance evaluation (piece rate contracts) when the agents are risk-averse, the principal is risk-neutral or less risk-averse than the agents and production is subject to common shocks that are large relative to the idiosyncratic shocks. This is because tournaments get closer to the first best by filtering common uncertainty. This paper shows that, surprisingly, tournaments are superior even when agents are liquidity constrained so that transfers to them cannot fall short of a predetermined level. The rationale is that, by providing insurance against common shocks through a tournament, payments to the agents in unfavorable states increase and payments in favorable states decrease which enables the principal to satisfy tight liquidity constraints for the agents without paying any ex ante rents to them, while simultaneously providing higher-power incentives than under piece rates.