bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Different Types of Resistant Starch Elicit Different Glucose Reponses in Humans
Authors: Haub Mark D. , Hubach Kelcie L. , Al-tamimi Enas K. , Ornelas Sammy , Seib Paul A.
Published: January 2010

The purpose of this study was to determine whether different types of resistant starch (RS) elicited different glycemic responses. Eleven healthy subjects consumed solutions containing 30 g of either dextrose (DEX), resistant starch type 2 (RS2), or cross-linked resistant wheat starch type 4 () on three separate occasions, which were assigned randomly. Finger stick blood samples were collected before and over the following two hours and measured for glucose. The incremental area under the curve (iAUC) for the glucose response was calculated for all trials. The two types of resistant starch significantly () decreased iAUC compared with DEX. The response with was significantly decreased compared with the RS2 trial. These data demonstrate that different types of resistant starch elicit significantly different glycemic responses.
Targeting Insulin and Insulin-Like Growth Factor Pathways in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer
Authors: Beauchamp Marie-Claude , Yasmeen Amber , Knafo Ariane , Gotlieb Walter H.
Published: January 2010

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal of all gynecological malignancies, due in part to the diagnosis at an advanced stage caused by the lack of specific signs and symptoms and the absence of reliable tests for screening and early detection. Most patients will respond initially to treatment but about 70% of them will suffer a recurrence. Therefore, new therapeutic modalities are urgently needed to overcome chemoresistance observed in ovarian cancer patients. Evidence accumulates suggesting that the insulin/insulin growth factor (IGF) pathways could act as a good therapeutic target in several cancers, including ovarian cancer. In this paper, we will focus on the role of insulin/IGF in ovarian cancer tumorigenesis and treatment.
Stability and Convergence of an Effective Numerical Method for the Time‐Space Fractional Fokker‐Planck Equation with a Nonlinear Source Term
Authors: Yang Qianqian , Liu Fawang , Turner Ian
Published: January 2010

Fractional Fokker‐Planck equations (FFPEs) have gained much interest recently for describing transport dynamics in complex systems that are governed by anomalous diffusion and nonexponential relaxation patterns. However, effective numerical methods and analytic techniques for the FFPE are still in their embryonic state. In this paper, we consider a class of time‐space
fractional Fokker‐Planck equations with a nonlinear source term (TSFFPENST), which involve the Caputo time fractional derivative (CTFD) of order α∈ (0, 1) and the symmetric Riesz space fractional derivative (RSFD) of order μ∈ (1, 2]. Approximating the CTFD and RSFD using the L1‐algorithm and shifted Grünwald method, respectively, a computationally effective numerical method is presented to solve the TSFFPE‐NST. The stability and convergence of the proposed numerical method are investigated. Finally, numerical experiments are carried out to support the theoretical claims.
Effects of Particle Surface Charge, Species, Concentration, and Dispersion Method on the Thermal Conductivity of Nanofluids
Authors: Gowda Raghu , Sun Hongwei , Wang Pengtao , Charmchi Majid , Gao Fan , Gu Zhiyong , Budhlall Bridgette
Published: January 2010

The purpose of this experimental study is to evaluate the effects of particle species, surface charge, concentration, preparation technique, and base fluid on thermal transport capability of nanoparticle suspensions (nanofluids). The surface charge was varied by changing the pH value of the fluids. The alumina ([Formula: see text]) and copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were dispersed in deionized (DI) water and ethylene glycol (EG), respectively. The nanofluids were prepared using both bath-type and probe sonicator under different power inputs. The experimental results were compared with the available experimental data as well as the predicted values obtained from Maxwell effective medium theory. It was found that ethylene glycol is more suitable for nanofluids applications than DI water in terms of thermal conductivity improvement and stability of nanofluids. Surface charge can effectively improve the dispersion of nanoparticles by reducing the (aggregated) particle size in base fluids. A nanofluid with high surface charge (low pH) has a higher thermal conductivity for a similar particle concentration. The sonication also has a significant impact on thermal conductivity enhancement. All these results suggest that the key to the improvement of thermal conductivity of nanofluids is a uniform and stable dispersion of nanoscale particles in a fluid.
An Obesity Dietary Quality Index Predicts Abdominal Obesity in Women: Potential Opportunity for New Prevention and Treatment Paradigms
Authors: Wolongevicz Dolores M. , Zhu Lei , Pencina Michael J. , Kimokoti Ruth W. , Newby P. K. , D'Agostino Ralph B. , Millen Barbara E.
Published: January 2010

Background. Links between dietary quality and abdominal obesity are poorly understood.Objective. To examine the association between an obesity-specific dietary quality index and abdominal obesity risk in women.Methods. Over 12 years, we followed 288 Framingham Offspring/Spouse Study women, aged 30–69 years, without metabolic syndrome risk factors, cardiovascular disease, cancer, or diabetes at baseline. An 11-nutrient obesity-specific dietary quality index was derived using mean ranks of nutrient intakes from 3-day dietary records. Abdominal obesity (waist circumference >88 cm) was assessed during follow-up.Results. Using multiple logistic regression, women with poorer dietary quality were more likely to develop abdominal obesity compared to those with higher dietary quality (OR 1.87; 95% CI, 1.01, 3.47;Pfor trend=.048) independent of age, physical activity, smoking, and menopausal status.Conclusions. An obesity-specific dietary quality index predicted abdominal obesity in women, suggesting targets for dietary quality assessment, intervention, and treatment to address abdominal adiposity.
The Coming-Out of Malaria Gametocytes
Authors: Kuehn Andrea , Pradel Gabriele
Published: January 2010

The tropical disease malaria, which results in more than one million deaths annually, is caused by protozoan parasites of the genusPlasmodiumand transmitted by blood-feeding Anopheline mosquitoes. Parasite transition from the human host to the mosquito vector is mediated by gametocytes, sexual stages that are formed in human erythrocytes, which therefore play a crucial part in the spread of the tropical disease. The uptake by the blood-feeding mosquito triggers important molecular and cellular changes in the gametocytes, thus mediating the rapid adjustment of the parasite from the warm-blooded host to the insect host and subsequently initiating reproduction. The contact with midgut factors triggers gametocyte activation and results in their egress from the enveloping erythrocyte, which then leads to gamete formation and fertilization. This review summarizes recent findings on the role of gametocytes during transmission to the mosquito and particularly focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying gametocyte activation and emergence from the host erythrocyte during gametogenesis.
Altered Gene Expression in Morphologically Normal Epithelial Cells from Heterozygous Carriers ofBRCA1orBRCA2Mutations
Authors: Bellacosa Alfonso , Godwin Andrew K. , Peri Suraj , Devarajan Karthik , Caretti Elena , Vanderveer Lisa , Bove Betsy , Slater Carolyn , Zhou Yan , Daly Mary , Howard Sharon , Campbell Kerry S. , Nicolas Emmanuelle , Yeung Anthony T. , Clapper Margie L. , Crowell James A. , Lynch Henry T. , Ross Eric , Kopelovich Levy , Knudson Alfred G.
Published: January 2010

We hypothesized that cells bearing a single inherited “hit” in a tumor suppressor gene express an altered mRNA repertoire that may identify targets for measures that could delay or even prevent progression to carcinoma. We report here on the transcriptomes of primary breast and ovarian epithelial cells cultured from BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and controls. Our comparison analyses identified multiple changes in gene expression, in both tissues for both mutations, which were validated independently by real-time reverse transcription-PCR analysis. Several of the differentially expressed genes had been previously proposed as cancer markers, including mammaglobin in breast cancer and serum amyloid in ovarian cancer. These findings show that heterozygosity for a mutant tumor suppressor gene can alter the expression profiles of phenotypically normal epithelial cells in a gene-specific manner; these detectable effects of “one hit” represent early molecular changes in tumorigenesis that may serve as novel biomarkers of cancer risk and as targets for chemoprevention. Cancer Prev Res; 3(1); 48–61
Endogenous Erythropoietin and Outcome in Heart Failure
Authors: Belonje Anne M.S. , Voors Adriaan A. , van der Meer Peter , van Gilst Wiek H. , Jaarsma Tiny , van Veldhuisen Dirk J.
Published: January 2010

Background—

Endogenous erythropoietin is increased in patients with heart failure (HF). Previous small-scale data suggest that these erythropoietin levels are related to prognosis. This study aims to analyze the clinical and prognostic value of erythropoietin levels in relation to hemoglobin in a large cohort of HF patients.

Methods and Results—

In patients hospitalized for HF, endogenous erythropoietin levels were measured at discharge and after 6 months. In anemic patients, the relation between erythropoietin and hemoglobin levels was determined by calculating the observed/predicted ratio of erythropoietin levels. We studied data from 605 patients with HF. Mean age was 71±11 years; 62% were male; and mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 0.33±0.14. Median erythropoietin levels were 9.6 U/L at baseline and 10.5 U/L at 6 months. Higher erythropoietin levels at baseline were independently related to an increased mortality at 18 months (hazard ratio, 2.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.40 to 3.04;
P
<0.01). In addition, persistently elevated erythropoietin levels (higher than median at baseline and at 6 months) were related to an increased mortality risk (hazard ratio, 2.24; 95% confidence interval, 1.02 to 4.90;
P
=0.044). The observed/predicted ratio was determined in a subset of anemic patients, 79% of whom had erythropoietin levels lower than expected and 9% had levels higher than expected on the basis of their hemoglobin. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that a higher observed/predicted ratio was related to an increased mortality risk (hazard ratio, 3.52; 95% confidence interval, 1.53 to 8.12;
P
=0.003).

Conclusions—

Erythropoietin levels predict mortality in HF patients, and persistently elevated levels have an independent prognostic value. In anemic HF patients, the majority had a low observed/predicted ratio. However, a higher observed/predicted ratio may be related to an independent increased mortality risk.
Effects of Right Ventricular Ejection Fraction on Outcomes in Chronic Systolic Heart Failure
Authors: Meyer Philippe , Filippatos Gerasimos S. , Ahmed Mustafa I. , Iskandrian Ami E. , Bittner Vera , Perry Gilbert J. , White Michel , Aban Inmaculada B. , Mujib Marjan , Dell'Italia Louis J. , Ahmed Ali
Published: January 2010

Background—

Studies of the effect of right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) on outcomes in heart failure (HF) are limited by small sample size and short follow-up.

Methods and Results—

We examined the effect of baseline RVEF on outcomes in 2008 Beta-Blocker Evaluation of Survival Trial (BEST) participants with HF and left ventricular ejection fraction ≤35% during 24 months of mean follow-up. RVEF, estimated by gated-equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography, was used to categorize patients into 4 RVEF groups: ≥40% (n=733), 30% to 39% (n=531), 20% to 29% (n=473), and <20% (n=271). Unadjusted rates for all-cause mortality in patients with RVEF ≥40%, 30% to 39%, 20% to 29%, and <20% were 27%, 32%, 35%, and 47%, respectively. When compared with patients with RVEF ≥40%, unadjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for all-cause mortality for those with RVEF 30% to 39%, 20% to 29%, and <20% were 1.19 (0.97 to 1.46;
P
=0.087), 1.45 (1.17 to 1.78;
P
=0.001), and 1.98 (1.59 to 2.47;
P
<0.0001), respectively. Respective multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for all-cause mortality associated with RVEF 30% to 39%, 20% to 29%, and <20% were 1.07 (0.87 to 1.32;
P
=0.518), 1.12 (0.89 to 1.40;
P
=0.328), and 1.32 (1.02 to 1.71;
P
=0.034), respectively. Adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for other outcomes associated with RVEF <20% (compared with ≥40%) were as follows: cardiovascular mortality, 1.33 (1.01 to 1.76;
P
=0.041); HF mortality, 1.61 (1.03 to 2.52;
P
=0.037); sudden cardiac death, 1.29 (0.87 to 1.91;
P
=0.212); all-cause hospitalization, 1.21 (1.00 to 1.47;
P
=0.056); and HF hospitalization, 1.39 (1.10 to 1.77;
P
=0.007).

Conclusions—

Baseline RVEF <20% is a significant independent predictor of mortality and HF hospitalization in systolic HF.
Joint Effects of Physical Activity, Body Mass Index, Waist Circumference, and Waist-to-Hip Ratio on the Risk of Heart Failure
Authors: Hu Gang , Jousilahti Pekka , Antikainen Riitta , Katzmarzyk Peter T. , Tuomilehto Jaakko
Published: January 2010

Background—

Obesity increases heart failure (HF) risk; however, the independent effect of physical activity and the joint effect of physical activity and adiposity on HF risk are not established. We evaluated the single and joint associations of physical activity and different indicators of adiposity (body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio) with HF risk.

Methods and Results—

Study cohorts included 59 178 Finnish participants who were 25 to 74 years of age and free of HF at baseline. During a mean follow-up of 18.4 years, 1921 men and 1693 women developed HF. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of HF associated with low, moderate, and high physical activity were 1.00, 0.79, and 0.69 (
P
trend
<0.001) for men and 1.00, 0.86, and 0.68 (
P
trend
<0.001) for women, respectively. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of HF at different levels of body mass index (<25, 25 to 29.9, and ≥30 kg/m
2
) were 1.00, 1.25, and 1.99 (
P
trend
<0.001) for men and 1.00, 1.33, and 2.06 (
P
trend
<0.001) for women, respectively. Abdominal adiposity, measured by waist circumference or waist-to-hip ratio, was associated with a greater risk of HF among both men and women (all
P
trend
<0.01). In joint analyses, the protective effect of physical activity was consistent in subjects at all levels of body mass index.

Conclusions—

General overweight and general and abdominal obesity are independently associated with an increased risk of HF, whereas moderate or high levels of physical activity are associated with a reduced risk of HF. The protective effect of physical activity on HF risk is observed at all levels of body mass index.
Effect of Lipid Lowering With Rosuvastatin on Progression of Aortic Stenosis
Authors: Chan Kwan Leung , Teo Koon , Dumesnil Jean G. , Ni Andy , Tam James
Published: January 2010

Background—

Aortic stenosis (AS) is an active process with similarities to atherosclerosis. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of cholesterol lowering with rosuvastatin on the progression of AS.

Methods and Results—

This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in asymptomatic patients with mild to moderate AS and no clinical indications for cholesterol lowering. The patients were randomized to receive either placebo or rosuvastatin 40 mg daily. A total of 269 patients were randomized: 134 patients to rosuvastatin 40 mg daily and 135 patients to placebo. Annual echocardiograms were performed to assess AS progression, which was the primary outcome; the median follow-up was 3.5 years. The peak AS gradient increased in patients receiving rosuvastatin from a baseline of 40.8±11.1 to 57.8±22.7 mm Hg at the end of follow-up and in patients with placebo from 41.6±10.9 mm Hg at baseline to 54.8±19.8 mm Hg at the end of follow-up. The annualized increase in the peak AS gradient was 6.3±6.9 mm Hg in the rosuvastatin group and 6.1±8.2 mm Hg in the placebo group (
P
=0.83). Treatment with rosuvastatin was not associated with a reduction in AS progression in any of the predefined subgroups.

Conclusion—

Cholesterol lowering with rosuvastatin 40 mg did not reduce the progression of AS in patients with mild to moderate AS; thus, statins should not be used for the sole purpose of reducing the progression of AS.

Clinical Trial Registration Information—

URL: http://www.controlled-trials.com/. Clinical trial registration number: ISRCTN 32424163.
Blood Pressure, Blood Flow, and Oxygenation in the Clipped Kidney of Chronic 2-Kidney, 1-Clip Rats
Authors: Palm Fredrik , Onozato Maristela , Welch William J. , Wilcox Christopher S.
Published: January 2010

Angiotensin II maintains renal cortical blood flow and renal oxygenation in the clipped kidney of early 2-kidney, 1-clip Goldblatt hypertensive (2K,1C) rats. The involvement of Ang II is believed to decline, whereas oxidative stress increases during the progression of 2K,1C hypertension. We investigated the hypothesis that the acute administration of drugs to inhibit reactive oxygen species (Tempol), angiotensin II type 1 receptors (candesartan), or angiotensin-converting enzyme (enalaprilat) lowers mean arterial pressure and increases kidney blood flow and oxygenation in the clipped kidney of chronic 2K,1C rats in contrast to sham controls. Twelve months after left renal artery clipping or sham, mean arterial pressure, renal cortical blood flow, and renal cortical and medullary oxygen tension were measured after acute administration of Tempol followed by enalaprilat or candesartan followed by enalaprilat. The mean arterial pressure of the 2K,1C rat was reduced by candesartan (−9%) and, more effectively, by Tempol (−35%). All of the applied treatments had similar blood pressure-lowering effects in sham rats (average: −21%). Only Tempol increased cortical blood flow (+35%) and cortical and medullary oxygen tensions (+17% and +94%, respectively) in clipped kidneys of 2K,1C rats. Administration of enalaprilat had no additional effect, except for a modest reduction in cortical blood flow in the clipped kidney of 2K,1C rats when coadministered with candesartan (−10%). In conclusion, acute administration of Tempol is more effective than candesartan in reducing the mean arterial blood pressure and improving renal blood perfusion and oxygenation in the clipped kidney of chronic 2K,1C rats.
Shear Stress Mediates Endothelial Adaptations to Exercise Training in Humans
Authors: Tinken Toni M. , Thijssen Dick H.J. , Hopkins Nicola , Dawson Ellen A. , Cable N. Timothy , Green Daniel J.
Published: January 2010

Although episodic changes in shear stress have been proposed as the mechanism responsible for the effects of exercise training on the vasculature, this hypothesis has not been directly addressed in humans. We examined brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, an index of NO-mediated endothelial function, in healthy men in response to an acute bout of handgrip exercise and across an 8-week period of bilateral handgrip training. Shear stress responses were attenuated in one arm by cuff inflation to 60 mm Hg. Similar increases were observed in grip strength and forearm volume and girth in both limbs. Acute bouts of handgrip exercise increased shear rate (
P
<0.005) and flow-mediated dilation percentage (
P
<0.05) in the uncuffed limb, whereas no changes were evident in the cuffed arm. Handgrip training increased flow-mediated dilation percentage in the noncuffed limb at weeks 2, 4, and 6 (
P
<0.001), whereas no changes were observed in the cuffed arm. Brachial artery peak reactive hyperemia, an index of resistance artery remodeling, progressively increased with training in the noncuffed limb (
P
<0.001 and 0.004); no changes were evident in the cuffed arm. Neither acute nor chronic shear manipulation during exercise influenced endothelium-independent glyceryl trinitrate responses. These results demonstrate that exercise-induced changes in shear provide the principal physiological stimulus to adaptation in flow-mediated endothelial function and vascular remodeling in response to exercise training in healthy humans.
Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in U.S. Incarceration
Authors: Pettit Becky , Western Bruce
Published: January 2010

Although growth in the U.S. prison population over the past twenty-five years has been widely discussed, few studies examine changes in inequality in imprisonment. We study penal inequality by estimating lifetime risks of imprisonment for black and white men at different levels of education. Combining administrative, survey, and census data, we estimate that among men born between 1965 and 1969, 3 percent of whites and 20 percent of blacks had served time in prison by their early thirties. The risks of incarceration are highly stratified by education. Among black men born during this period, 30 percent of those without college education and nearly 60 percent of high school dropouts went to prison by 1999. The novel pervasiveness of imprisonment indicates the emergence of incarceration as a new stage in the life course of young low-skill black men.
What is Originality in the Humanities and the Social Sciences?
Authors: Guetzkow Joshua , Lamont Michèle , Mallard Grégoire
Published: January 2010

Drawing on interviews with peer-review panelists from five multidisciplinary fellowship competitions, this paper analyzes one of the main criteria used to evaluate scholarship in the humanities and the social sciences: originality. Whereas the literature in the sociology of science focuses on the natural sciences and defines originality as the production of new findings and new theories, we show that in the context of fellowship competitions, peer reviewers in the social sciences and humanities define originality much more broadly: as using a new approach, theory, method, or data; studying a new topic; doing research in an understudied area; or producing new findings. Whereas the literature has not considered disciplinary variation in the definition of originality, we identified significant differences. Humanists and historians clearly privilege originality in approach, and humanists also emphasize originality in the data used. Social scientists most often mention originality in method, but they also appreciate a more diverse range of types of originality. Whereas the literature tends to equate originality with substantive innovation and to consider the personal attributes of the researcher as irrelevant to the evaluation process, we show that panelists often view the originality of a proposal as an indication of the researcher's moral character, especially of his/her authenticity and integrity. These contributions constitute a new approach to the study of peer review and originality that focuses on the meaning of criteria of evaluation and their distribution across clusters of disciplines.
The Academic Caste System: Prestige Hierarchies in PhD Exchange Networks
Authors: Burris Val
Published: January 2010

The prestige of academic departments is commonly understood as rooted in the scholarly productivity of their faculty and graduates. I use the theories of Weber and Bourdieu to advance an alternative view of departmental prestige, which I show is an effect a department's position within networks of association and social exchange—that is, it is a form of social capital. The social network created by the exchange of PhDs among departments is the most important network of this kind. Using data on the exchange of PhDs among sociology departments, I apply network analysis to investigate this alternative conception of departmental prestige and to demonstrate its superiority over the conventional view. Within sociology, centrality within interdepartmental hiring networks explains 84 percent of the variance in departmental prestige. Similar findings are reported for history and political science. This alternative understanding of academic prestige helps clarify anomalies—e.g., the variance in prestige unconnected to scholarly productivity, the strong association between department size and prestige, and the long-term stability of prestige rankings—encountered in research that is based on the more conventional view.
Privatizing the Welfare State: Nonprofit Community-Based Organizations as Political Actors
Authors: Marwell Nicole P.
Published: January 2010

This paper examines a form of state social provision that has been neglected by current sociological theory: publicly funded supportive services. Federal policies of privatization and devolution, embraced since the Reagan years, have made private, nonprofit organizations the primary deliverers of these services. Public supportive services are distributed via competitive state- and local-level allocative processes that send government contracts to specific nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs), which in turn serve specific neighborhoods and individuals. I describe a model by which CBOs generate greater contract revenues by adding electoral politics to their more traditional roles of providing services and building communities. This model produces a new kind of CBO: the machine politics CBO. By reciprocally distributing services to residents and binding residents to the organization, machine politics CBOs create reliable voting constituencies for local elected officials. These officials trade these constituencies at higher levels of the governmental system and steer government human service contracts to favored CBOs. Through this process, nonprofit CBOs can influence the allocation of service-based social provision in cities and therefore impact individuals' ability to access these services.
Embeddedness and Price Formation in the Corporate Law Market
Authors: Uzzi Brian , Lancaster Ryon
Published: January 2010

The determination of prices is a key function of markets, yet sociologists are just beginning to study it. Most theorists view prices as a consequence of economic processes. By contrast, we consider how social structure shapes prices. Building on embeddedness arguments and original fieldwork at large law firms, we propose that a firm's embedded relationships influence prices by prompting private-information flows and informal governance arrangements that add unique value to goods and services. We test our arguments with a separate longitudinal dataset on the pricing of legal services by law firms that represent corporate America. We find that embeddedness can significantly increase and decrease prices net of standard variables and in markets for both complex and routine legal services. Moreover, results show that three forms of embeddedness—embedded ties, board memberships, and status—affect prices in different directions and have different magnitudes of effects that depend on the complexity of the legal service.
The Social Construction of Market Value: Institutionalization and Learning Perspectives on Stock Market Reactions
Authors: Zajac Edward J. , Westphal James D.
Published: January 2010

This study advances a social constructionist view of financial market behavior. The paper suggests that the market's reaction to particular corporate practices, such as stock repurchase plans, are not, as financial economists contend, simply a function of the inherent efficiency of such practices. Rather, stock market reactions are also influenced by the prevailing institutional logic and the degree of institutionalization of the practice. The theory first predicts that the emergence of the agency perspective on corporate governance in the mid-1980s represented a powerful new institutional logic that would lead the market to reverse its prior aggregate reaction to stock repurchase plans in the United States. The paper then considers the potential for institutional decoupling of repurchase plans and develops competing hypotheses about how the market value of these policies might have changed as more firms formally adopted, but did not implement, the plans over time. In contrast to a financial economic perspective on market valuation, which suggests that markets should discount the value of a policy as evidence of non-implementation accumulates, this study posits that institutionalization processes might increase the market value of a policy as more firms adopt it, despite growing evidence of decoupling. Implications for institutional theory and theoretical perspectives on capital markets are discussed.
The Treadmill of Destruction: National Sacrifice Areas and Native Americans
Authors: Hooks Gregory , Smith Chad L.
Published: January 2010

When examining environmental justice and injustice, surprisingly few studies have examined the experiences of Native Americans. In filling this gap, we criticize and build on environmental and political sociology. We make the case and provide evidence that the U.S. military pursues a pattern of environmental “bads” that cannot be reduced to capitalism and that coercive state policies can mold the spatial distribution of people relative to environmental dangers. Our contribution, then, is both theoretical and substantive. First, we recast the environmental sociology literature by specifying the scope conditions under which a “treadmill of production” and a “treadmill of destruction” are applicable. Specifically, we argue that a “treadmill of destruction” is driven by a distinct logic of geopolitics that cannot be reduced to capitalism. Second, we provide empirical evidence of the “treadmill of destruction” by examining the environmental inequality endured by Native Americans at the hands of the U.S. military. We have collected data on a large number of military bases that have been closed but remain dangerous due to unexploded ordnance. We provide evidence that Native American lands tend to be located in the same county as such hazardous sites. In the twentieth century, the United States fought and won two global wars and prevailed in a sustained Cold War. The geopolitical demands of remaining the world's leading military power pushed the United States to produce, test, and deploy weapons of unprecedented toxicity. Native Americans have been left exposed to the dangers of this toxic legacy.
Are Schools the Great Equalizer? Cognitive Inequality during the Summer Months and the School Year
Authors: Downey Douglas B. , von Hippel Paul T. , Broh Beckett A.
Published: January 2010

How does schooling affect inequality in cognitive skills? Reproductionist theorists have argued that schooling plays an important role in reproducing and even exacerbating existing disparities. But seasonal comparison research has shown that gaps in reading and math skills grow primarily during summer vacation, suggesting that non-school factors (e.g., family and neighborhood) are the main source of inequality. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort of 1998–99, this article improves upon past seasonal estimates of school and non-school effects on cognitive skill gains. Like past research, this study considers how socioeconomic and racial/ethnic gaps in skills change when school is in session versus when it is not. This study goes beyond past research, however, by examining the considerable inequality in learning that is not associated with socioeconomic status and race. This “unexplained” inequality is more than 90 percent of the total inequality in learning rates, and it is much smaller during school than during summer. The results suggest, therefore, that schools serve as important equalizers: nearly every gap grows faster during summer than during school. The black/white gap, however, represents a conspicuous exception.
Childhood Emotional and Behavioral Problems and Educational Attainment
Authors: McLeod Jane D. , Kaiser Karen
Published: January 2010

Do childhood emotional and behavioral problems diminish the probability of graduating from high school and attending college? If so, are their effects primarily attributable to the persistence of those problems over time, to continuities in social environments, or to the cumulative effects of early academic failures? We provide answers to these questions using data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth data set (1986-2000). Internalizing and externalizing problems at ages 6-8 significantly and strongly diminish the probability of receiving a high school degree. Among youth who receive a high school degree, externalizing problems also diminish the probability of subsequent college enrollment. In the case of high school degree receipt, the educational disadvantages associated with child emotional and behavioral problems result from the association of those problems with academic failures in middle and high school. In contrast, the association of childhood behavior problems with college enrollment appears to reflect the persisting effects of early behavioral and academic predispositions. Our results add to a growing body of research that demonstrates that social selection processes contribute to socioeconomic disparities. They also suggest new directions for research concerned with socially-structured, transactional, person-environment interactions.
Group Dominance and the Myth of Racial Democracy: Antiracism Attitudes in Brazil
Authors: Bailey Stanley R.
Published: January 2010

Group dominance perspectives contend that ideologies are central to the production and reproduction of racial oppression by their negative affect on attitudes toward antiracism initiatives. The Brazilian myth of racial democracy frequently is framed in this light, evoked as a racist ideology to explain an apparent lack of confrontation of racial inequality. Data from a 2000 probability sample of racial attitudes in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, contradict this long-held assertion, showing that most Brazilians in this state recognize racism as playing a role in Brazilian society, support the idea of affirmative action, and express interest in belonging to antiracism organizations. Moreover, opinions on affirmative action appear more strongly correlated with social class, as measured by education level, than race. As compared with results from the United States regarding opinions on similar selected affirmative action policies, the racial gap in Brazilian support for affirmative action is only moderate. Results also show that those who recognize the existence of racial discrimination in Brazil are more likely to support affirmative action. Implications for race theorizing from a group dominance perspective in Brazil as well as for antiracism strategies are addressed.
Macro-level Gender Inequality and the Division of Household Labor in 22 Countries
Authors: Fuwa Makiko
Published: January 2010

While most previous studies focus on the effects of individuals' and couples' characteristics on the division of housework, this study argues that macro-level factors are equally important in the dynamics of housework distribution between spouses. Data from the 1994 International Social Survey Programme is used to examine whether macro-level gender inequality limits the effect of individual-level variables (relative resources, time availability, and gender ideology) on the division of housework in 22 industrialized countries. The results show that the equalizing effects of time availability and gender ideology are stronger for women in more egalitarian countries; women in less egalitarian countries benefit less from their individual-level assets. Additional analysis shows that other macro-level factors (economic development, female labor-force participation, gender norms, and welfare regimes) may also influence the division of housework. The results suggest that changes in individual-level factors may not be enough to achieve an equal division of housework without the reduction of macro-level gender inequality.
Racial and Ethnic Differences in Marriage after the Birth of a Child
Authors: Harknett Kristen , McLanahan Sara S.
Published: January 2010

This article uses new data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study to examine the reasons why white, Mexican American, and other Hispanic parents are approximately 2.5 times more likely than African American parents to marry within the 30 months after a nonmarital birth. Combining Fragile Families microdata with 2000 U.S. Census data shows that marriage market conditions exert a large influence on marriage decisions, even among couples that already have formed a romantic relationship and had a child together. The findings also show that an undersupply of employed African American men can explain a large portion of the racial and ethnic differences in marriage after a nonmarital birth. The current findings support the theory that marriage markets are influential not only during the search for romantic partners but also in determining whether romantic relationships, once formed, will lead to marriage.
Union Members and Voluntary Associations: Membership Overlap as a Case of Organizational Embeddedness
Authors: Cornwell Benjamin , Harrison Jill Ann
Published: January 2010

Prevailing conceptions of organizational embeddedness emphasize linkages to exchange partners via elites and contracts. What is neglected, the authors argue, is the nature and potential impact from the voluntary associations of rank-and-file members with the panoply of organizations in their daily lives, including churches, PTAs, and sports teams. The functions of these organizations provide contexts in which individuals trade information and form opinions about organizations and their members. By participating, individuals embed their own organizations in a broader organizational culture. This article treats the embeddedness of unions in the interorganizational network as a factor that has impacted and varied with the decline of organized labor. Organizational affiliation networks containing 18,263 individuals, drawn from the 1974-1994 General Social Survey data, show the isolation of unions in American organizational culture despite their relatively high rates of membership. Chronic aspects of the problem include union members' lack of nonunion voluntary association membership in general and the particularly low embeddedness of the organizations with which they affiliate.
Dimensions of Social Capital and Rates of Criminal Homicide
Authors: Messner Steven F. , Rosenfeld Richard , Baumer Eric P.
Published: January 2010

Robert Putnam comprehensively analyzes the multidimensional nature of social capital and makes a persuasive argument for its relevance to various community social problems, including violent crime. However, systematic empirical evaluations of the links between the multiple dimensions of social capital and violence are limited by the lack of adequate measures. Using data from the Social Capital Benchmark Survey, the authors model the relationships between several dimensions of social capital and homicide rates for 40 U.S. geographic areas. Their findings show that many forms of social capital highlighted in the literature as having beneficial consequences for communities are not related to homicide rates. Two dimensions of social capital, social trust and social activism, do exhibit significant associations with homicide rates, net of other influences. However, in the latter case, the relationship is positive, and in both cases, simultaneous equation models suggest that these dimensions of social capital are consequences as well as causes of homicide. The results underscore the importance of examining the different dimensions of social capital and assessing their reciprocal relationships with homicide and other social outcomes.
Cultural Politics and Modernist Architecture: The Tulip Debate in Postwar Hungary
Authors: Molnár Virág
Published: January 2010

The article focuses on the interpretive struggles and contests surrounding the adoption and legitimation of fully or partly “imported” ideas. It examines the reception of modernist architecture in post-1945 Hungary to improve our understanding of how international cultural paradigms are incorporated into a particular national context. It maps the processes through which modernist architecture came to be institutionalized in Hungary as a cultural link to Western Europe during the Cold War. It shows how this meaning was enacted and reinforced in a crucial polemic, the “Tulip Debate,” by imposing a bipolar discourse about social modernization on it-a strategy that often has been deployed to politicize the process of cultural reception in Hungary. The case study suggests that countries with a long history of foreign contact tend to develop societywide interpretive schemes that are instrumental in channeling international discourse into local debates. The interpretive schemes of one period often may resonate with others, constituting a cluster of techniques that have evolved historically and can be recycled in new situations. They provide actors with discursive strategies for arbitrating between international trends and the national context, and for segmenting the intellectual field in professional and political power struggles. The article underscores the need for a closer scrutiny of the origin and use of discursive structures that shape local interpretive processes in cross-national diffusion.
A Comparative Study of Inequality and Corruption
Authors: Jong-sung You , Khagram Sanjeev
Published: January 2010

This article argues that income inequality increases the level of corruption through material and normative mechanisms. The wealthy have both greater motivation and more opportunity to engage in corruption, whereas the poor are more vulnerable to extortion and less able to monitor and hold the rich and powerful accountable as inequality increases. Inequality also adversely affects social norms about corruption and people's beliefs about the legitimacy of rules and institutions, thereby making it easier for them to tolerate corruption as acceptable behavior. This comparative analysis of 129 countries using two-stage least squares methods with a variety of instrumental variables supports the authors' hypotheses using different measures of corruption (the World Bank's Control of Corruption Index and the Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index). The explanatory power of inequality is at least as important as conventionally accepted causes of corruption such as economic development. The authors also found a significant interaction effect between inequality and democracy, as well as evidence that inequality affects norms and perceptions about corruption using the World Values Surveys data. Because corruption also contributes to income inequality, societies often fall into vicious circles of inequality and corruption.
Income Inequality, Democracy, and Public Sector Size
Authors: Lee Cheol-Sung
Published: January 2010

This study synthesizes and tests explanations of how public sector size and democracy affect income inequality. The results, based on unbalanced panel data for 64 developing and developed countries and a total of 341 observations from 1970 to 1994, show that a strong interaction between democracy and public sector development explains withincountry income inequality. Public sector expansion translates into worse distributional outcomes in nondemocracies or limited democracies because the state is more inclined to support the development of particular core industries or client populations in urban formal sectors through targeted taxation or transfer systems. On the other hand, the larger public sector size leads to better distributional outcomes in fully institutionalized democracies because the democratic political mechanisms enable the state institutions to be more responsive to the demands of lower classes and more committed to achieving better distributional outcomes. This study demonstrates that democracy is associated with inequality as an institutional background that converts the effects of public sector size on inequality from positive to negative by strengthening the hegemony of equity orientation within state institutions.
Constructing Social Problems in an Age of Globalization: A French-American Comparison
Authors: Benson Rodney , Saguy Abigail C.
Published: January 2010

Despite growing academic interest in political and cultural globalization, sociologists have failed to systematically account for the factors that favor cross-national convergence or divergence in the form or content of public political debates in news media. This article uses two original data sets on American and French news reporting on immigration and sexual harassment to test the effects of four factors potentially relevant to such convergence or divergence: 1) cultural repertoires, 2) legal constraints, 3) journalistic field relations to the state and market and competition among journalistic outlets, and 4) global position of nation-states. Differences in dominant national cultural repertoires correlate with persistent cross-national variations in media frames. Legal reform related to the two issues offers a strong explanation of shifts in framing over time. Lesser news media autonomy vis-à-vis the state is associated with fewer journalistic enterprise stories on immigration and less reporting on sexual harassment scandals, while greater competition may make sensationalized reporting on immigration more likely. America's dominant position in the global political economy correlates with substantially greater visibility of U.S. policies and personalities in France, than vice versa. There is some evidence for greater cross-national divergence in issue frames over time, as U.S. global visibility and influence have increased.
Aiding Peace, Abetting Violence: Third Parties and the Management of Conflict
Authors: Phillips Scott , Cooney Mark
Published: January 2010

When and how will third parties intervene in the conflicts of others? When will third parties further violence, and when will they foster peace? These are questions addressed by Black's theory of the third party. The authors conducted the first systematic test of the theory, drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 100 men imprisoned for assault or homicide. Specifically, they tested Cooney's elaboration of Black's theory, which argues (1) that the social location of a third party, based on ties to the principals, predicts whether he or she will act as a partisan or settlement agent or remain uninvolved, and (2) that the third-party structure of a conflict, based on the general configuration of all the third parties present, predicts whether the conflict will escalate to violence. The study results confirm most of the theoretical predictions regarding both third-party behavior and violence. The discussion also extends the theoretical model, offering new concepts and suggesting how the theory can be applied to a range of subjects, such as international war and the long-term historical decline of interpersonal violence.