bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Origins of the Texas Railroad Commission's Power to Control Production of Petroleum: Regulatory Strategies in the 1920s
Authors: Childs William R.
Published: October 2011

The “Railroad Commission of Texas” conjures up visions of oil and gas and power politics and perhaps the question, What does “railroad” have to do with petroleum? The Railroad Commission (RCT) also brings to mind modern America between 1930 and the 1970s, when the Texas agency controlled from 35 to 45 percent of the oil and gas produced in the United States. These images come from cultural myths of the Lone Star State, from Americans' fascination with conspiracies, and, most telling, from the lack of historical analyses of the commission, its staff, and its regulatory strategies. The prevailing views of the commission are unfortunate ones, for they not only neglect the agency's regulation of railroads, natural-gas utilities, and buses and trucks but also skew the understanding of how the state commission came to regulate petroleum in the first place, how it devised policies for doing so, and how it legitimized itself and defended that legitimacy under the weight of the East Texas crisis between 1930 and 1935.
The Interplay of American Political Culture and Public Policy: The Sacramento River as a Case Study
Authors: Kelley Robert
Published: October 2011

Historians of the United States have learned much in the past twenty years about the history of what is now called its political culture, and about its environmental history.1 These two dimensions of national life, however, are rarely, if ever, looked at together. The result is that we little understand how powerfully environmental policy is influenced not simply by everyday politics—of that we know abundantly—but by the long-term political mentalities of the Democrats and the Republicans, mentalities which originate not in abstract theorizing, but which grow up naturally within the cultural worlds to be found among the distinctive groups of peoples who line up within one party or the other and remain there, generation after generation. What I propose here is to put political culture and natural resource management history together and see what happens.
Why SDI?
Authors: Lakoff Sanford , York Herbert F.
Published: October 2011

Since the onset of the Cold War, and particularly after both superpowers began to amass large arsenals of nuclear weapons, military planners in the East and West have encouraged efforts to develop defenses against nuclear attacks. Both sides have made effective use of “passive” defenses, such as the hardening and dispersal of weapons systems likely to be the prime targets of a preemptive strike and the provision of shelters for command authorities and vital communications centers. Both sides have also tried, but with far less success, to develop “active” defenses, but against the varied and daunting challenge of modern strategic systems, all such efforts so far have been largely in vain, even though they have been undertaken at considerable expense and with great technical sophistication. The main reason is that every advance in active defense has been offset by compensatory improvements in offensive forces.
Structure and Governance in American Higher Education: Historical and Comparative Analysis in State Policy
Authors: Graham Hugh Davis
Published: October 2011

Historians of public policy, who typically share a conviction that historical analysis can clarify the options available to policymakers, have witnessed this decade's quickening debate over the role and control of American higher education with, in one of Yogi Berra's immortal phrases, a sense of “déjà vu all over again.” Political leaders have continued, in a near vacuum of historical knowledge, to manipulate present variables and project them into the future with little awareness, beyond current political memory, of their past consequences, or of a legacy of political and cultural tradition that would constrain their manipulation. At the national level of debate, which is not where educational policy in the United States historically has been made, the level of historical awareness generally has been greater than at the state level. In the flurry of national commissions and foundation reports that probed the deficiencies of American higher education in 1984–85, the historical evolution of the college curriculum was addressed in reasonably informed historical terms.1 Even though the urgency of debate in the 1980s was fueled by the common pain of recession and post-baby-boom retrenchment, and also by fears of increasing vulnerability to oil boycotts and Japanese economic competition, the national elites who wrote the reports were mindful of the roots of Big Science in the Manhattan Project. Their ties to the academic establishment were intimate, and their historical memories embraced the wisdom of the liberal arts as well as the efficacy of land-grant agriculture and Silicon Valley.
Price Controls, Politics, and the Perils of Policy by Analogy: Economic Demobilization After World War II
Authors: Flamm Michael W.
Published: October 2011

In August 1945 the Truman administration faced a host of dilemmas when it moved to demobilize the American economy and dismantle the system of wartime economic regulations. The new President and many of his top officials lacked executive experience, having assumed their positions less than six months earlier. Given Japan's sudden and surprising surrender, they also had not yet prepared detailed reconversion plans, since most had expected the Pacific War to continue for at least six months to a year longer. And within the administration there was no consensus on two key issues—whether price controls would help or hinder the transition to peacetime, and whether inflation or unemployment was the main threat to postwar prosperity.
Response to Karen Orren
Authors: Smith Rogers M.
Published: October 2011

Karen Orren's critique wages more war with itself than it does with my main arguments and evidence, most of which she does not engage directly. The bulk of my essay was devoted to textual critiques of Tocqueville, Myrdal, Hartz, and a number of more recent authors. I argued that their assumptions that liberal democratic traditions formed the core of American political culture led to inadequate accounts of major systems of ascriptive hierarchy, especially racist, nativist, and patriarchal ones. Orren mentions none of the authors I critiqued except Carol Pateman, whom she invokes in a paragraph ending, like a third of her paragraphs in her first two sections, with a rhetorical question about my view, not a forthright contrary proposition. Her failure to address my specific critiques, and her recurring reliance on questions to do the work of affirmative arguments, make it unclear precisely how far she is defending the authors, challenging the criticisms, and disputing the evidence to which my essay was largely devoted.
Description, Interpretation, and Explanation: An Addendum in Response to James Patterson
Authors: Katznelson Ira
Published: October 2011

I welcome Professor Patterson's robust reply, not least because it affords me the chance to clarify my appreciative critique. Our differences and misunderstandings, such as they are, are products of propinquity. We read many of the same books, work on similar themes, care about common issues, and, more often than not, as he notes, share interpretations of American history in the past half-century. We broadly agree about how to straddle the divide of analysis and narrative. We both would wish to distinguish our ambitions from simple sequential chronological description and from social theory too removed from history. We also are committed to mutual learning and collaboration across disciplinary lines.
Charles Abrams and the Problem of a “Business Welfare State”
Authors: Henderson A. Scott
Published: October 2011

During the past two decades, sociologists, political scientists, and historians have been increasingly interested in the development of modern states and their administrative structures. By focusing on specific policies and government agencies, these scholars have provided various frameworks for understanding the growth of the American state in the twentieth century, especially during the New Deal and the 1940s. One issue that has received scant attention, though, is housing policies. Public housing, federally insured home mortgages, and tax policies that privileged home owners were significant state interventions that profoundly affected economic relationships and the formation of social policy. Housing policies therefore need to be seen as part of larger economic and political developments.
City Management and the Emerging Welfare State: Evolution of City Budgets and Civic Responsibilities in Montreal, 1931–1951
Authors: Collin Jean-Pierre
Published: October 2011

The Great Depression of the 1930s transformed municipal political life in Montreal, as it did that in other major cities in North America. For one thing, the debate between populists and reformers was revived as the electoral scene underwent fundamental changes. In many cities, political machines running on patronage became more influential as the middle class began to desert the city for the suburbs. At the same time, the margin of budgetary maneuvering available to cities was shrinking, and local public finances were reduced. Municipalities that had been obliged to borrow to meet social needs resulting from the depression were faced with a prolonged fiscal crisis, which for many of them resulted in bankruptcy and trusteeship. This was Montreal's fate in 1940.
The New Environmental West
Authors: Hays Samuel P.
Published: October 2011

Over the past three decades environmental objectives have emerged in the West with considerable strength and influence to reshape public attitudes. Until World War II agriculture and raw-materials extraction still dominated the region's economic and political views.' But in recent years the West has begun to change rapidly. New residents have brought with them new attitudes toward natural resources. Increasingly, those resources are thought of as an environment to enhance individual and regional standards of living rather than as material commodities alone. An indigenous environmental constitutency has become more vigorous in challenging the previously dominant extractive economy of lumber, grazing, and mining.
American Nuclear Energy Policy, 1945–1990: A Review Essay
Authors: Friedman Robert S.
Published: October 2011

Political scientists have often referred to core decision-making groups in American politics as “policy communities” or, more popularly, as “the iron triangle.” Invariably, they are describing the interaction patterns of specialists in the executive and legislative branches of government and in the private sector who devote primary attention to the initiation and implementation of public policy in a particular issue area. In large measure the groups are depicted as having close-knit working relationships that result from frequent interaction, similarity in information sources and commonality in ideological predisposition. Perceptive observers such as Hedrick Smith, however, have pointed out that in some policy arenas there are critics who are not part of what is usually regarded as the cozy establishment network. These he has referred to as “dissident triangles” or rival networks that compete with varying degrees of success in the process.
Administrative Law as Public Policy: The First Fifty Years
Authors: Pops Gerald M.
Published: October 2011

Administrative law in the United States during the last half century has been dominated by three major themes: (1) the extent to which legislative authority may be delegated to administrative agencies, (2) judicial review of legislative action, and (3) analysis of the formal aspects of agency procedures. At the core of this traditional approach to administrative law—defining its purpose—is the problem of the legitimacy of public administration. Specifically, the issue, to traditionalists, is how far administrative agencies can go before they impinge on the rights of private citizens.
Statehood and the Governance of the District of Columbia: An Historical Analysis of Policy Issues
Authors: Diner Steven J.
Published: October 2011

In November 1990 voters in the District of Columbia elected two “shadow” United States senators (one of whom is former presidential candidate Jesse Jackson) and one “shadow” representative to lobby for statehood. Statehood bills have been introduced in Congress regularly since 1982 and committee hearings on statehood were held in the fall of 1991 and the spring of 1992. Although only recently has there been serious discussion about District statehood, the issue of the proper relationship of the national government to the federal city has been a matter of debate since 1787. This article provides a historical analysis of statehood and alternative policy options and aruges that the relationship between the federal government and the District has always mirrored national polit.
Changing Political Opportunity: The Anti-Rape Movement and Public Policy
Authors: Gornick Janet C. , Meyer David S.
Published: October 2011

Both the legal definition of rape and the social responses to it have changed dramatically over the last twenty-five years. The sorts of assaults classified as criminal, the willingness of women who have been raped to turn to the criminal justice system, the rules of prosecution, and the penalties imposed on those found guilty have all been the explicit subjects of public debates initiated in the early 1970s by activists who broke the silence of earlier decades. Activists' engagement with the policy process throughout the 1970s altered institutions and policy at the local, state, and federal levels, and also affected the development and claims of the broader women's movement.
Moral Character, Policy Effectiveness, and the Presidency: The Case of JFK
Authors: Rorabaugh W. J.
Published: October 2011

The founding fathers laid down a number of principles for successful governance in the new republic. Among these, in the formal sense, were written constitutions, the division of power among three branches of government, checks and balances to prevent abuse of power, the rule of law, and equality before the law. Most of these ideas were English in origin and had been practiced, in varying degrees, in the colonies. The failure of the colonial polity, the founders believed, had occurred because at times British power in North America had been exercised in opposition to notions of sound governance. In addition, the founders heeded public opinion and accepted, somewhat reluctantly, broad participation by white males in the political process. Having experienced British tyranny, they embraced free speech and a free press. While these various principles, the founders agreed, were ingredients that could produce a republic, such a republic would be viable only if the people and their political leaders possessed virtue.
The Historical and Political Foundations of the Welfare State: A Lost Opportunity for the Left?
Authors: Ashford Douglas E.
Published: October 2011

The recent flood of books on the failures of the European social democratic parties in the 1980s suggests that since the turn of the century the democratic left failed to see political opportunities provided by the growth of the welfare state. Two factors make the apparent political oversight of particular interest. First, the historical sequence of enlarging benefits and programs was remarkably similar across countries. Second, early in their development the social democratic left developed fairly detailed policy initiatives for the economy but had much less detailed proposals for social policies and programs. Broadly speaking, the left usually perceived social programs and policies as marginally important instruments for macrosocial change in income redistribution and transfer of wealth but of little political importance. These tendencies are most apparent in the postwar construction of national welfare states but are visible at various critical junctures in political decisionmaking since 1900.
Adversaries by Design: Railroads and the American State, 1887–1916
Authors: Berk Gerald
Published: October 2011

It has become commonplace to acknowledge the exceptionally adversarial nature of business-government relations in the United States. When compared to their counterparts in Germany, France, Japan, and the Nordic countries, American business executives have much more autonomy from the state; and yet, there is also greater distrust between business and government. Such adversarial relations, many students of comparative political economy argue, puts the United States in the late twentieth century at a disadvantage. Faced with competitors in the world market who cooperate with their respective governments on investment, training, and long-term sectoral development, American corporations compete in global markets under a considerable handicap.
Where No Nation Has Gone Before: Domestic Politics and the First International Space Science Mission
Authors: Kay W. D.
Published: October 2011

The history of the U.S. space program can be rather neatly divided into two distinct periods. The first, which begins with the launch ofSputnikin 1957 and runs through the end of Project Apollo in 1972, is sometimes referred to as the “golden age” of space exploration. This period was characterized not only by its impressive scientific and technical successes but also by the fact that it possessed a highly supportive social, economic, and political environment. Buoyed by fears and rumors of Soviet achievements in space, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the 1950s and 1960s usually had little trouble securing an annual budget sufficient to maintain an ambitious set of projects (both manned and unmanned) that stretched from near-earth orbit to the outer reaches of the solar system.
Accurate and efficient algorithms for boundary element methods in electromagnetic scattering: A tribute to the work of F. Olyslager
Authors: Cools K. , Bogaert I. , Fostier J. , Peeters J. , Vande Ginste D. , Rogier H. , De Zutter D.
Published: October 2011

Boundary element methods (BEMs) are an increasingly popular approach to model electromagnetic scattering both by perfect conductors and dielectric objects. Several mathematical, numerical, and computational techniques pullulated from the research into BEMs, enhancing its efficiency and applicability. In designing a viable implementation of the BEM, both theoretical and practical aspects need to be taken into account. Theoretical aspects include the choice of an integral equation for the sought after current densities on the geometry's boundaries and the choice of a discretization strategy (i.e. a finite element space) for this equation. Practical aspects include efficient algorithms to execute the multiplication of the system matrix by a test vector (such as a fast multipole method) and the parallelization of this multiplication algorithm that allows the distribution of the computation and communication requirements between multiple computational nodes. In honor of our former colleague and mentor, F. Olyslager, an overview of the BEMs for large and complex EM problems developed within the Electromagnetics Group at Ghent University is presented. Recent results that ramified from F. Olyslager's scientific endeavors are included in the survey.
In-silico analysis and identification of novel lead molecule for human IGFBP-4 involved in cardiovascular diseases
Authors: Roopesh Kavali , Munikumar Manne , Umamaheswari Amineni
Published: October 2011

Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of disability and premature death throughout the world and contributes substantially to the escalating costs of health care. Insulin like growth factor binding protein 4 (IGFBP-4) mainly belongs to the family of IGFB protein. Over expression of IGFBP-4 leads to cardiovascular diseases namely stroke, acute myocardial infarction and heart failure. IGFBP-4 serves as an effective drug target against cardiovascular disease. Hence, ligand based virtual screening was persuaded in the present study to propose potential inhibitors of IGFBP-4. Two inhibitors (mainly from literature search) were selected to initiate high throughput virtual screening from small molecule databases namely, NCI, ChemBank, ChemPDB, AKos GmbH, Asinex Ltd and KEGG ligand. The structures listed through database search were docked with IGFBP-4 using virtual screening workflow of Maestro v9.2. Three leads that showed better binding affinity and good correlation with two published inhibitors were proposed as potential IGFBP-4 inhibitors. The three proposed leads showed good pharmacological properties in comparison to the two existing inhibitors. The analyses supported efficiency of three leads for next generation drug designing for cardiovascular diseases.
The effect of ion orbit loss and X-loss on the interpretation of ion energy and particle transport in the DIII-D edge plasma
Authors: Stacey Weston M.
Published: October 2011

Calculation models are presented for treating ion orbit loss effects in interpretive fluid transport calculations for the tokamak edge pedestal. Both standard ion orbit loss of particles following trapped or passing orbits across the separatrix and the X-loss of particles that are poloidally trapped in a narrow null-Bθ region extending inward from the X-point, where they gradB and curvature drift outward, are considered. Calculations are presented for a representative DIII-D [J. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] shot which indicate that ion orbit loss effects are significant and should be taken into account in calculations of present and future experiments.
Anomalous resistivity effect on multiple ion beam emission and hard x-ray generation in a Mather type plasma focus device
Authors: Behbahani R. A. , Aghamir F. M.
Published: October 2011

Multi ion beam and hard x-ray emissions were detected in a high inductance (more than 100 nH) Mather type plasma focus (PF) device at different filling gas pressures and charging voltages. The signal analysis was performed through the current trace, as it is the fundamental signal from which all of the phenomena in a PF device can be extracted. Two different fitting processes were carried out according to Lee’s computational (snow-plow) model. In the first process, only plasma dynamics and classical (Spitzer) resistances were considered as energy consumer parameters for plasma. This led to an unsuccessful fitting and did not answer the energy transfer mechanism into plasma. A second fitting process was considered through the addition of anomalous resistance, which provided the best fit. Anomalous resistance was the source of long decrease in current trace, and multi dips and multi peaks of high voltage probe. Multi-peak features were interpreted considering the second fitting process along with the mechanisms for ion beam production and hard x-ray emission. To show the important role of the anomalous resistance, the duration of the current drop was discussed.
First Report of Sclerotinia Blight Caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum on Fan Columbine (Aquilegia flabellata) in Italy
Authors: Garibaldi A. , Bertetti D. , Poli A. , Gullino M. L.
Published: October 2011

Fan columbine is a perennial garden species belonging to the family Ranunculaceae. During the spring of 2011, extensive wilting was observed on 5-month-old potted plants of Aquilegia flabellata grown in an experimental glasshouse belonging to the Center AGROINNOVA at Grugliasco (northern Italy). First symptoms included stem necrosis and darkening and withering of leaves. Plant wilt occurred a few days after the appearance of the first symptoms. Infected plants were characterized by the presence of soft, watery tissues. In the presence of high relative humidity, lesions became covered with a whitish mycelium and irregular, dark gray sclerotia (1.5 to 4.0 × 1.0 to 2.8, average 2.8 × 2.1 mm) were produced on the mycelium. Diseased tissue was surface sterilized for 1 min in 1% NaOCl and plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) amended with 100 mg/l of streptomycin sulfate. Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary (2) was consistently recovered from infected stem pieces. Sclerotia produced on PDA measured 2.0 to 7.0 × 2.0 to 5.0 (average 4.2 × 2.9) mm. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA was amplified using the primers ITS1F/ITS4 and sequenced. BLAST analysis (1) of the 575-bp segment showed a 100% homology with the sequence of S. sclerotiorum (EF091809). The nucleotide sequence has been assigned the GenBank Accession No. JN013184. Pathogenicity of one isolate obtained from sclerotia of infected plants was confirmed by inoculating three 6-month-old plants transplanted in 16-cm-diameter pots in a glasshouse in a sphagnum peat/pomix/pine bark/clay (50:20:20:10) mix. Inoculum that consisted of 3 g/l of substrate of sterile wheat kernels infested with mycelium and sclerotia was placed in the soil and around the base of each plant. Three noninoculated plants served as controls. Plants were maintained in a growth chamber at 21 ± 1°C and relative humidity >90%. The inoculation trial was carried out twice. All inoculated plants developed leaf yellowing within 15 days of soil infestation. White, cottony mycelium and dark sclerotia developed on stems and at the base of all inoculated plants. Eventually, infected plants wilted. Control plants remained symptomless. S. sclerotiorum was reisolated from the stems of inoculated plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report of S. sclerotiorum on A. flabellata in Italy. The disease has been previously reported on A. vulgaris in the United States (3) and A. glandulosa in Russia (4). The economic importance of this disease in Italy is currently limited.

References: (1) S. F. Altschul et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 25:3389, 1997. (2) N. F. Buchwald. Kgl. Veterisk Landb. Aarssk. 75, 1949. (3) D. F. Farr and A. Y. Rossman. Fungal Databases. Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory, ARS, USDA. Retrived from http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases/ , July 7, 2011. (4) P. M. Zhiboedov et al. Mikol. Fitopatol, 36:48, 2002.
Biological diversity of fish communities: pattern and process§
Authors: Magurran A. E. , Khachonpisitsak S. , Ahmad A. B.
Published: October 2011

For over 150 years, ecologists have been striving to explain fundamental patterns of biological diversity, such as the observation that communities invariably consist of common and rare species, and to unravel the processes that underpin these patterns. This task is increasingly urgent given the accelerating loss of biological diversity. Although fishes are the most diverse vertebrate taxon and fish communities occur in a wide range of habitats, they have been relatively little studied in the quest to elucidate the processes that shape patterns of biological diversity. Here, some of the topics that investigations of fish assemblages can illuminate are highlighted. These include the characteristics of ecological communities and the role that dispersal limitation plays in structuring them, the distinction between core and occasional species, the insights that evaluating abundance in different currencies can bring and the assessment of community capacity. Questions are identified that future investigations of fish communities might tackle and a case study of a biodiverse ecoregion (Thailand and Peninsula Malaysia) is used to illustrate the need for better links between these ecological questions and effective conservation practice.
Glycoconjugates and polysaccharides from the Scedosporium/Pseudallescheria boydii complex: structural characterisation, involvement in cell differentiation, cell recognition and virulence
Authors: Lopes Livia Cristina L. , da Silva Mariana Ingrid D. , Bittencourt Vera Carolina B. , Figueiredo Rodrigo T. , Rollin‐Pinheiro Rodrigo , Sassaki Guilherme L. , Bozza Marcelo T. , Gorin Philip A. J. , Barreto‐Bergter Eliana
Published: October 2011

Peptidorhamnomannans (PRMs), rhamnomannans and α‐glucans are especially relevant for the architecture of the Scedosporium/Pseudallescheria boydii cell wall, but many of them are immunologically active, with great potential as regulators of pathogenesis and the immune response of the host. In addition, some of them can be specifically recognised by antibodies from the sera of patients, suggesting that they could also be useful in diagnosis of fungal infections. Their primary structures have been determined, based on a combination of techniques including gas chromatography, electrospray ionization – mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS), 1H‐COSY and TOCSY, 13C and 1H/13C NMR spectroscopy. Using monoclonal antibodies to PRM, we showed that it is involved in germination and viability of P. boydii conidia, in the phagocytosis of P. boydii conidia by macrophages and non‐phagocytic cells and in the survival of mice with P. boydii infection. Also, components of the fungal cell wall, such as α‐glucans, are involved. Rhamnomannans are immunostimulatory and participate in the recognition and uptake of fungal cells by the immune system. These glycosylated polymers, being present in the fungal cell wall, are mostly absent from mammalian cells, and are excellent targets for the design of new agents capable of inhibiting fungal growth and differentiation of pathogens.
Physiological typing of Pseudallescheria and Scedosporium strains using Taxa Profile, a semi‐automated, 384‐well microtitre system
Authors: Horré R. , Schaal K. P. , Marklein G. , de Hoog G. S. , Reiffert S.‐M.
Published: October 2011

During the last few decades, Pseudallescheria and Scedosporium infections in humans are noted with increasing frequency. Multi‐drug resistance commonly occurring in this species complex interferes with adequate therapy. Rapid and correct identification of clinical isolates is of paramount significance for optimal treatment in the early stages of infection, while strain typing is necessary for epidemiological purposes. In view of the development of physiological diagnostic parameters, 570 physiological reactions were evaluated using the Taxa Profile Micronaut system, a semi‐automatic, computer‐assisted, 384‐well microtitre platform. Thirty two strains of the Pseudallescheria and Scedosporium complex were analysed after molecular verification of correct species attribution. Of the compounds tested, 254 proved to be polymorphic. Cluster analysis was performed with the Micronaut profile software, which is linked to the ntsypc® program. The systemic opportunist S. prolificans was unambiguously separated from the remaining species. Within the P. boydii/P. apiosperma complex differentiation was noted at the level of individual strains, but no unambiguous parameters for species recognition were revealed.
Time use, role participation and life satisfaction of older people: Impact of driving status
Authors: Liddle Jacki , Gustafsson Louise , Bartlett Helen , McKenna Kryss
Published: October 2011

Background/aim:  Driving cessation has been recognised as affecting the health and wellbeing of older people. Further exploration of the impact of driving status on time use, role participation and life satisfaction was required.

Methods:  A cross‐sectional survey of 234 older people (current drivers, retired drivers and people who have never driven) was employed. Time use in the previous week, role participation and life satisfaction were measured and compared between the groups, while controlling for sociodemographic variables (health status, activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living status, gender, age and living situation).

Results:  When compared to current drivers, retired drivers had significantly lower life satisfaction (P = 0.01), fewer present roles (P < 0.0001) and were less likely to participate in volunteer (P = 0.005) and family member roles (P = 0.009). Retired drivers spent less time on social leisure (P = 0.002) and away from home (P = 0.0001), and more time in solitary leisure (P = 0.0001). Comparing the participation of retired drivers with those who had never driven indicated that retired drivers spent significantly less time in volunteer work (P = 0.009).

Conclusions:  The findings indicate that older non‐drivers may require support for participation and wellbeing.
Effects of regional analgesia on stress responses to pediatric surgery
Authors: Wolf Andrew R.
Published: October 2011

Introduction

Invasive surgery induces a combination of local response to tissue injury and generalized activation of systemic metabolic and hormonal pathways via afferent nerve pathways and the central nervous system. The local inflammatory responses and the parallel neurohumoral responses are not isolated but linked through complex signaling networks, some of which remain poorly understood. The magnitude of the response is broadly related to the site of injury (greater in regions with visceral pain afferents such as abdomen and thorax) and the extent of the trauma. The changes include alterations in metabolic, hormonal, inflammatory, and immune systems that can be collectively termed the stress response. Integral to the stress responses are the effects of nociceptive afferent stimuli on systemic and pulmonary vascular resistance, heart rate, and blood pressure, which are a combination of efferent autonomic response and catecholamine release via the adrenal medulla. Therefore, pain responses, cardiovascular responses, and stress responses need to be considered as different aspects of a combined bodily reaction to surgery and trauma. It is important at the outset to understand that not all components of the stress response are suppressed together and that this is important when discussing different analgesic modalities (i.e. opioids vs regional anesthesia). For example, in terms of the use of fentanyl in the infant, the dose required to provide analgesia (1–5 mcg·kg−1) is less than that required for hemodynamic stability in response to stimuli (5–10 mcg·kg−1) (1) and that this in turn is less than that required to suppress most aspects of the stress response (25–50 mcg·kg−1) (2). In contrast to this considerable dose dependency, central local anesthetic blocks allow blockade of the afferent and efferent sympathetic pathways at relatively low doses resulting in profound suppression of hemodynamic and stress responses to surgery.
Among potent men post radical prostatectomy, does the need for phosphodiesterase inhibitors have an impact on sexual bother scores?
Authors: Punnen Sanoj , Cooperberg Matthew R. , Sadetsky Natalia , Carroll Peter R.
Published: October 2011

Study Type – Therapy (case series)

Level of Evidence 4

What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?

Although phosphodiesterase inhibitor use post radical prostatectomy improves potency, little is known about its affects on sexual bother. We found no difference in sexual bother scores between patients who use and do not use phosphodiesterase inhibitors. This suggests that the current definition of potency, inclusive of medication use, is valid with respect to sexual bother.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether the current definition of potency, inclusive of phosphodiesterase inhibitor (PDEi) use, is valid with respect to sexual bother (SB). This will be assessed by characterizing the effect of PDEi use on SB scores in men who are potent post radical prostatectomy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The study population consisted of patients who were potent both before and after radical prostatectomy, with at least 2 years of follow‐up.

Disease‐specific quality of life data were evaluated by the University of California, Los Angeles, Prostate Cancer Index (PCI) survey.

The relationships between changes in sexual function (SF) and SB and use of PDEi over time were evaluated by mixed model analysis controlling for age, clinical risk group, marital status, and time of PCI assessment.

RESULTS

Of the 246 patients who met the study criteria, 39% reported PDEi use at some point after treatment.

PDEi use was not associated with improved SF (P= 0.81).

Furthermore, PDEi use was not associated with a change in SB (P= 0.36).

Both SF and SB were significantly associated with time of assessment and age, and SF and SB each improved over time.

In addition, SB was significantly associated with marital status.

CONCLUSIONS

In this analysis, there was no difference in SF scores between men who were potent with or without the use of PDEi.

Furthermore, there was no difference in SB scores between men who were potent with or without the use of PDEi.

This suggests that the current, inclusive, definition of potency is valid with respect to SB.
Does the Impact of Employment Protection Legislation on Foreign Direct Investment Differ by the Skill Intensity of Industries? An Empirical Note
Authors: Bellak Christian , Leibrecht Markus
Published: October 2011

In line with previous literature, we find that strict employment protection deters foreign direct investment. This finding is consistent with the view that rigid labour markets result in high adjustment and exit costs which discourage firm investment. Moreover, our results are consistent with the view that the deterrent effect of rigid labour markets depends on the skill intensity of an industry.
Identification of microbial flora in kefir grains produced in Turkey using PCR
Authors: TAŞ TUĞBA KÖK , EKINCI F YEŞIM , GUZEL‐SEYDIM ZEYNEP B
Published: October 2011

Kefir grains might have different ratios and/or content of microflora according to their origin. The purpose of this study was to determine microbial flora of kefir grains produced in three regional universities in Turkey using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and consensus sequence primers. According to the results of PCR products with the specific primers, the following were identified as the natural inhabitants of the kefir grains: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus helveticus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum and Kluyveromyces marxianus kefir. The results of this study revealed that traditional kefir produced by using kefir grains as natural starter cultures contains lactic acid bacteria especially Lactobacillus spp. One of the sources also contained B. bifidum. This is the first record on the presence of B. bifidum in kefir grains.
The effect of varying fat content on the microstructure of Oaxaca cheese, a typical pasta filata cheese
Authors: COLÍN‐CRUZ MARIA DE LOS ÁNGELES , DUBLÁN‐GARCÍA OCTAVIO , ESPINOZA‐ORTEGA ANGÉLICA , DOMINGUEZ‐LOPEZ AURELIO
Published: October 2011

The effect of varying fat content in Oaxaca cheese, a typical pasta filata, on microstructure was described. Microstructure of cheeses was analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (LM) in nondehydrated and dehydrated samples. In nondehydrated samples, protein fibres were wide and compact in fat‐free cheese, and big serum channels were approximately 100 μm in width. Width of protein fibres and size of channels decreased as fat content increased. Small channels seemed to be occupied only by fat, while in big channels, water and fat were observed. LM both confirmed and supplemented the observations made by SEM, particularly the presence and distribution of fat in channels.
The Protective Role of Religious Coping in Adolescents’ Responses to Poverty and Sexual Decision‐Making in Rural Kenya
Authors: Puffer Eve S. , Watt Melissa H. , Sikkema Kathleen J. , Ogwang‐Odhiambo Rose A. , Broverman Sherryl A.
Published: October 2011

In this study, we explored how adolescents in rural Kenya apply religious coping in sexual decision‐making in the context of high rates of poverty and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 34 adolescents. One‐third (13) reported religious coping related to economic stress, HIV, or sexual decision‐making; the majority (29) reported religious coping with these or other stressors. Adolescents reported praying to God to partner with them to engage in positive behaviors, praying for strength to resist unwanted behaviors, and passive strategies characterized by waiting for God to provide resources or protection from HIV. Adolescents in sub‐Saharan Africa may benefit from HIV prevention interventions that integrate and build upon their use of religious coping.
Synchronous Collection of Multisource Feedback Evaluations Does Not Increase Inter‐rater Reliability
Authors: Garra Gregory , Thode Henry
Published: October 2011

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2011; 18:S65–S70 © 2011 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Objectives:  Most multisource feedback (MSF) evaluations are performed asynchronously, with raters reflecting on the subject’s behavior. Numerous studies have demonstrated poor inter‐rater reliability of MSF. This may be due to cognitive biases that are inherent in such a process. We sought to determine if within‐ and between‐rater group reliability is increased when evaluations are gathered synchronously and relate to a specific patient interaction.

Methods:  This was a survey at a university emergency department (ED) of 30 emergency medicine (EM) residents. ED nurses and faculty anonymously participated in asynchronous MSF assessment of resident performance from February to April 2010 using a Web‐based survey, the Emergency Medicine Humanism Scale (EM‐HS). In May 2010, a second round of MSF collection was conducted in the ED. At the conclusion of patient encounters, the EM‐HS was synchronously obtained from ED nurses and faculty. Evaluators were instructed to assess the resident based on the patient encounter, placing aside any preconceptions of resident performance, attitude, or behavior. Evaluators rated resident performance using a 1–9 scale (“needs improvement” to “outstanding”). The mean rating for each of the questions and the total score provided by each evaluator class was calculated for each EM resident. Differences between the asynchronous and synchronous ratings were compared with t‐tests. Pearson correlations were used to measure agreement in scores within and between nurse and faculty rater groups. Correlations > 0.70 were deemed acceptable and are reported with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results:  Twenty‐one of 30 residents had assessments collected by both asynchronous and synchronous methods. A total of 699 Web‐based (asynchronous) assessments were completed by nurses and 149 by faculty. Synchronous nurse and faculty assessments were obtained in 105 resident–patient encounters. There was no difference in faculty ratings between the MSF collection methods. Nurses assigned slightly (but significantly) higher ratings during synchronous collection. Correlation of the total MSF score between asynchronous and synchronous feedback collection methods within the faculty rater group was poor (0.18, 95% CI = −0.22 to 0.60). Correlation of the total MSF score between asynchronous and synchronous feedback collection methods within nurse rater groups was moderate (0.63, 95% CI = 0.27 to 0.83). Correlations between faculty–nurse rater groups for the total MSF collected asynchronously and synchronously were moderate (0.39, 95% CI = −0.05 to 0.7; and 0.44, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.73, respectively).

Conclusions:  Synchronous collection of MSF did not provide clinically different EM‐HS scores within rater groups and did not result in improved correlations. Our small, single‐center study supports asynchronous collection of MSF.
Conditions for Efficacious Petitions: Empirical Evidence from Two Cities
Authors: PERRELLA ANDREA M. L.
Published: October 2011

This article sheds some light on the widely exercised but little understood political activity of the petition and its potential in local politics. It posits the petition as a tool of group politics used by citizens to obtain some favorable policy decision. Among many factors that determine the success of an initiative, three are examined: (1) resources, operationalized simply as number of names collected; (2) media attention, which can raise the salience of the issue; and (3) coherence, operationalized as the number of issues a petition implicates. Hypotheses are tested against evidence gathered from 126 petitions circulated in two municipal regions. Results imply the petition can help facilitate greater citizen involvement in public affairs.

Este artículo intenta esclarecer el ampliamente practicado pero poco comprendido ejercicio de las peticiones políticas y su potencial en la política a nivel local. En él se postula a la petición política como una herramienta de la política grupal usada por los ciudadanos para obtener una decisión política favorable. Entre los factores que determinan el éxito de una iniciativa, tres son examinados: (1) recursos, considerados como el número de nombres recolectados; (2) cobertura por los medios de comunicación, que puede aumentar la importancia del tema; y (3) coherencia, considerado como el número de consecuencias que implica una petición. Hipótesis son corroboradas con evidencia recolectada de 126 peticiones puestas en circulación en dos regiones municipales. Los resultados implican que las peticiones pueden ayudar a facilitar una mayor participación ciudadana en asuntos públicos.
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Voters in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election
Authors: LEWIS GREGORY B. , ROGERS MARC A. , SHERRILL KENNETH
Published: October 2011

Lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) in the United States are strikingly more likely to vote for Democratic presidential candidates than heterosexuals. LGBs are one of the Democratic Party's most loyal voting blocs, despite the absence of one of the most important mechanisms for creating party identification: intergenerational transmission. We use the 2000 Presidential election to examine whether LGB voters overwhelmingly chose Al Gore because they viewed him as superior to George W. Bush on LGB‐related policy issues or because of their greater overall liberalism and Democratic Party identification. We also examine the impact of socialization within the LGB community for generating political liberalism, Democratic Party identification, and interest in LGB policies. Using logit analysis on a 2000 Harris Interactive poll of 13,000 Americans, including 1,000 LGBs, we find that concern for LGB rights, policy liberalism, and party identification all played a role in the LGB vote.

Lesbianas, hombres gay y bisexuales (LGB) en los Estados Unidos son mucho más propensos a por votar candidatos presidenciales Democráticos que personas heterosexuales. Los LGB son uno de los grupos electoral más leal del Partido Democrático, a pesar de la ausencia de uno de los mecanismos más importantes para crear identificación partidista: la transmisión intergeneracional. En este artículo usamos la elección presidencial del 2000 para examinar si los electores LGB eligieron a Al Gore porque lo consideraban superior a George W. Bush en políticas relacionadas con asuntos LGB o debido a su mayor liberalismo e identificación con el Partido Democrático. También examinamos el impacto de la socialización dentro de la comunidad LGB para generar liberalismo político, identificación con el Partido Democrático, e interés en políticas relacionadas con asuntos LGB. Usando un análisis logit en una encuesta interactiva Harris 2000 de 13,000 estadounidenses, incluyendo 1,000 LGB, los resultados muestran que interés por derechos para los LGB, liberalismo político, e identificación partidaria juegan un papel importante en el voto LGB.