bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Family allowances and fertility: Socioeconomic differences
Authors: Schellekens Jona 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
This article explores socioeconomic differences in the effect of family allowances on fertility. Although several studies have examined the relationship between cash benefits and fertility, few studies have addressed the possible differential effects of cash benefits on families of different income or education levels. I reconstructed the birth histories of women in the past two Israeli censuses of 1983 and 1995 to study socioeconomic differences in the effect of family allowances up to the seventh parity. The results indicate that family allowances have a significant effect at every parity. Using female education as an indicator of socioeconomic status, I find that socioeconomic status is a significant modifier of the effect of family allowances. Family allowances seem to have a relatively large impact on more-educated women.
Parental characteristics and the schooling progress of the children of immigrant and U.S.-born blacks
Authors: Thomas Kevin J.A. 
Published: August 2009

AbstractIn this study, I examine disparities in schooling progress among children born to immigrant and U.S.-born blacks. I find that in one- and two-parent families, children born to black immigrants are less likely to fall behind in school than those born to U.S.-born blacks. In two-parent immigrant families, children born to two immigrant parents have a significant schooling advantage over children born to one immigrant parent. While children born to two immigrant parents in the wealthiest black immigrant families do better in the second generation than in the first, the reverse is observed among children in less wealthy families. These findings contribute in two ways to our understanding of the assimilation processes of children born to black immigrant parents. First, they show that there is a positive association between the number of immigrant parents in a family and children’s schooling performance. Second, they suggest that disparities in the assimilation patterns of the children of black immigrants are a likely product of the interaction between their parental characteristics and the socioeconomic circumstances of their families.
Forced migration and mortality in the very long term: Didperestroikaaffect death rates also in Finland?
Authors: Saarela Jan , Finnäs Fjalar 
Published: August 2009

AbstractIn this article, we analyze mortality rates of Finns born in areas that were ceded to the Soviet Union after World War II and from which the entire population was evacuated. These internally displaced persons are observed during the period 1971-2004 and compared with people born in the same region but on the adjacent side of the new border. We find that in the 1970s and 1980s, the forced migrants had mortality rates that were on par with those of people in the comparison group. In the late 1980s, the mortality risk of internally displaced men increased by 20% in relation to the expected time trend. This deviation, which manifests particularly in cardiovascular mortality, coincides with perestroika and the demise of the Soviet Union, which were events that resulted in an intense debate in civil society about restitution of the ceded areas. Because state actors were reluctant to engage, the debate declined after some few years, and after the mid-1990s, the death risk again approached the long-term trend. Our findings indicate that when internally displaced persons must adjust to situations for which appropriate coping behaviors are unknown, psychosocial stress might arise several decades after their evacuation.
Outcomes of inpatients with and without sickle cell disease after high‐volume surgical procedures
Authors: Dinan Michaela A. , Chou Chia‐Hung , Hammill Bradley G. , Graham Felicia L. , Schulman Kevin A. , Telen Marilyn J. , Reed Shelby D. 
Published: August 2009

AbstractIn this study, we examined differences in inpatient costs, length of stay, and in‐hospital mortality between hospitalizations for patients with and without sickle cell disease (SCD) undergoing high‐volume surgical procedures. We used Clinical Classification Software (CCS) codes to identify discharges in the 2002–2005 Nationwide Inpatient Sample of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project for patients who had undergone either cholecystectomy or hip replacement. We limited the non‐SCD cohort to hospitals where patients with SCD had undergone the same procedure. We compared inpatient outcomes using summary statistics and generalized linear regression analysis to adjust for patient, hospital, and procedural characteristics. Overall, the median age of surgical patients with SCD was more than three decades less than the median age of patients without SCD undergoing the same procedure. In recognition of the age disparity, we limited the analyses to patients aged 18 to 64 years. Nonetheless, patients with SCD undergoing cholecystectomy or hip replacement were 12.1 and 14.4 years younger, had inpatient stays that were 73% and 82% longer, and incurred costs that were 46% and 40% higher per discharge than patients without SCD, respectively. Inpatient mortality for these procedures was low, ∼0.6% for cholecystectomy and 0.2% for hip replacement and did not differ significantly between patients with and without SCD. Multivariable regression analyses revealed that higher inpatient costs among patients with SCD were primarily attributable to longer hospital stays. Patients with SCD who underwent cholecystectomy or hip replacement required more health care resources than patients without SCD. Am. J. Hematol. 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Familial aggregation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Fang Fang , Kamel Freya , Lichtenstein Paul , Bellocco Rino , Sparén Pär , Sandler Dale P. , Ye Weimin 
Published: August 2009

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the relative risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in families of ALS patients.MethodsWe conducted a cohort study based on the Swedish Multi‐Generation Register in 1961 to 2005. Among 6,671 probands (first ALS case in the family), 1,909 full siblings, 13,947 children, and 5,405 spouses were identified (exposed group). Other persons in the Multi‐Generation Register, who were siblings, children, or spouses to persons without ALS, served as the reference group. Relative risks for ALS among the exposed group, compared with the reference group, were calculated from Poisson regression models. Concurrence of ALS within twins was assessed in 86,441 twin pairs registered in the Swedish Twin Register.ResultsNine cases of ALS were noted among the siblings and 37 cases among the children of the probands, giving a 17‐fold risk among the siblings (95% confidence interval, 8.1–30.4) and a 9‐fold risk among the children (95% confidence interval, 6.2–12.0), compared with the reference group. Siblings and children had a greater excess risk if the proband was diagnosed at a younger age, and the excess risks decreased with increasing age at diagnosis of the proband (p < 0.001). Spouses had no significantly increased risk (p = 0.27). Two cases were identified among the cotwins of ALS probands, giving a relative risk of 32 (95% confidence interval, 5.2–102.6).InterpretationThe siblings and children of ALS patients have an about 10‐fold risk for ALS compared with the reference group. The excess risks vary with both age and kinship, indicating a major genetic role in familial ALS. Ann Neurol 2009;66:94–99
Jahn–Teller Effects in Molecular Cations Studied by Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Group Theory
Authors: Wörner Hans Jakob , Merkt Frédéric 
Published: August 2009

AbstractThe traditional “ball‐and‐stick” concept of molecular structure fails when the motion of the electrons is coupled to that of the nuclei. Such a situation arises in the Jahn–Teller (JT) effect which is very common in open‐shell molecular systems, such as radicals or ions. The JT effect is well known to chemists as a mechanism that causes the distortion of an otherwise symmetric system. Its implications on the dynamics of molecules still represent unsolved problems in many cases. Herein we review recent progress in understanding the dynamic structure of molecular cations that have a high permutational symmetry by using rotationally resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and group theory. Specifically, we show how the pseudo‐Jahn–Teller effect in the cyclopentadienyl cation causes electronic localization and nuclear delocalization. The fundamental physical mechanisms underlying the vaguely defined concept of “antiaromaticity” are thereby elucidated. Our investigation of the methane cation represents the first experimental characterization of the JT effect in a threefold degenerate electronic state. A special kind of isomerism resulting from the JT effect has been discovered and is predicted to exist in all JT systems in which the minima on the potential‐energy surface are separated by substantial barriers.
Assessing the integration of audience response system technology in teaching of anatomical sciences
Authors: Alexander Cara J. , Crescini Weronika M. , Juskewitch Justin E. , Lachman Nirusha , Pawlina Wojciech 
Published: August 2009

AbstractThe goals of our study were to determine the predictive value and usability of an audience response system (ARS) as a knowledge assessment tool in an undergraduate medical curriculum. Over a three year period (2006–2008), data were collected from first year didactic blocks in Genetics/Histology and Anatomy/Radiology (n= 42–50 per class). During each block, students answered clinically oriented multiple choice questions using the ARS. Students' performances were recorded and cumulative ARS scores were compared with final examination performances. Correlation coefficients between these variables were calculated to assess the existence and direction of an association between ARS and final examination score. If associations existed, univariate models were then constructed using ARS as a predictor of final examination score. Student and faculty perception of ARS difficulty, usefulness, effect on performance, and preferred use were evaluated using a questionnaire. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between ARS and final examination scores in all didactic blocks and predictive univariate models were constructed for each relationship (allP< 0.0001). Students and faculty agreed that ARS was easy to use and a reliable tool for providing real‐time feedback that improved their performance and participation. In conclusion, we found ARS to be an effective assessment tool benefiting the faculty and the students in a curriculum focused on interaction and self‐directed learning. Anat Sci Educ 2:160–166. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.
Rationalitäten der Wissenproduktion: Über Transformationen von Gegenständen, Technologien und Information in Biomedizin und Lebenswissenschaften
Authors: Paul Norbert W. 
Published: August 2009

AbstractRationalities of Knowledge Production: On Transformations of Objects, Technologies and Information in Biomedicine and the Life Sciences.Since decades, scientific change has been interpreted in the light of of paradigm shifts and scientific revolutions. The Kuhnian interpretation of scientific change however is now more and more confronted with non‐disciplinary thinking in both, science and studies on science. This paper explores how research in biomedicine and the life sciences can be characterized by different rationalities, sometimes converging, sometimes contradictory, all present at the same time with varying ways of influence, impact, and visibility. In general, the rationality of objects is generated by fitting new objects and findings into a new experimental context. The rationality of hypotheses is a move towards the construction of novel explanatory tools and models. This is often inseparable meshing with the third, the technological rationaliy, in which a technology‐driven, self‐supporting and sometimes self‐referential refinement of methods and technologies comes along with an extension into other fields. During the second and the third phase, the new and emerging fields tend to expand their explanatory reach not only across disciplinary boundaries but also into the social sphere, creating what has been characterized as “exceptionalism” (e.g. genetic exceptionalism or neuro‐exceptionalism). Finally, recent biomedicine and life‐sciences reach a level in which experimental work becomes more and more data‐driven because the technologically constructed experimental systems generate a plethora of findings (data) which at some point start to blur the original hypotheses. For the rationality of information the materiality of research practices becomes secondary and research objects are more and more getting out of sight. Finally, the credibility of science as a practice becomes more and more dependent on consensus about the applicability and relevance of its results. The rationality of interest (and accountability) has become more and more characteristic for a research process which is no longer primarily determined by the desire for knowledge but by the desire for relevance. This paper explores in which ways object‐driven and hypotheses‐driven experimental life‐sciences transformed into domains of experimental research evolving in a technologically constructed, data‐driven environment in which they are subjected to constant morphing due to the forces of different rationalities.
CFD Investigation of the Mixing of Yield‐Pseudoplastic Fluids with Anchor Impellers
Authors: Prajapati P. , Ein‐Mozaffari F. 
Published: August 2009

AbstractThe study was carried out to simulate the 3D flow domain in the mixing of pseudoplastic fluids possessing yield stress with anchor impellers, using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package. The multiple reference frames (MRF) technique was employed to model the rotation of the impellers. The rheology of the fluid was approximated using the Herschel–Bulkley model. To validate the model, the CFD results for the power consumption were compared to the experimental data. After the flow fields were calculated, the simulations for tracer homogenization were performed to simulate the mixing time. The effects of impeller speed, fluid rheology, and impeller geometry on power consumption, mixing time, and flow pattern were explored. The optimum values of c/D (impeller clearance to tank diameter) and w/D (impeller blade width to tank diameter) ratios were determined on the basis of minimum mixing time.
Biogas Production: New Trends for Alternative Energy Sources in Rural and Urban Zones
Authors: Martins das Neves L. C. , Converti A. , Vessoni Penna T. C. 
Published: August 2009

AbstractBiogas is a biofuel with a high energy value and basically consisting of methane, which can be used as a renewable energy source as a substitute for natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas. It can be produced by anaerobic digestion of agricultural organic waste or manure in rural areas, where it can be used to generate electric, thermal or mechanical energy. It can also be generated in landfills from the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes and used as an alternative energy source in urban areas. Industrialized and urbanized areas are afflicted by serious environmental problems associated with the generation of organic residues. Anaerobic microorganisms can degrade pollutants resulting in two kinds of products, i.e., digested sludge and biogas, which can be exploited as a soil fertilizer and a renewable energy source, respectively. The correct management of residual waste involves high costs, and inadequate treatment and storage can compromise its quality. Environmental agencies have been encouraging the dissemination of anaerobic digesters to produce biogas from organic residues and the use of the resulting sludge as fertilizer since it is able to destroy pathogenic agents and reduce the humidity level. This review aims to evaluate the production capability of biogas and its application as an alternative energy source in rural and urban areas.
Influence of Cationic Starch Adsorption on Fiber Flocculation
Authors: Zakrajšek N. , Fuente E. , Blanco A. , Golob J. 
Published: August 2009

AbstractThe adsorption of cationic starch on hardwood fibers and its influence on flocculation were studied in relation to the dosage of cationic starch, the effect of shear forces and the presence of different concentrations of inorganic salts in the paper stock. Flocculation was monitored by means of a focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) probe. It was established that floc size at low shear rates depends on adsorption efficiency. At high shear forces, flocs were irreversibly decomposed despite the presence of a higher amount of adsorbed cationic starch on the fibers. Therefore, flocculation was produced by a bridging mechanism. The results show a significant effect of inorganic salts on the adsorption of cationic starch on fibers. Low concentrations of inorganic salts usually improved the adsorption process while higher concentrations (> 0.01 mol/L) reduced the adsorption and limited the flocculation process.
Competitive Adsorption of Nickel and Copper Ions from Aqueous Solution Using Nonliving Biomass of the Marine Brown Alga Laminaria japonica
Authors: Wang Xue Song , Li Zhi Zhong 
Published: August 2009

AbstractThe adsorption of nickel and copper in a bicomponent system using the nonliving biomass of the marine brown alga Laminaria japonica was investigated in batch systems as a function of initial solution pH, contact time and temperature. The adsorption of nickel and copper was strongly pH dependent. Kinetic studies pointed to a rapid uptake with an equilibrium time of about 30 min. The kinetic curves were successfully fitted by linear regression to pseudo first and pseudo‐second‐order equations. The equilibrium data was analyzed using several models, including the extended Langmuir equation, modified extended Langmuir model and combined extended Langmuir‐Freundlich model. The results suggested that the competitive adsorption of nickel and copper at all temperatures was best represented by the combined extended Langmuir‐Freundlich isotherm. The isotherms indicated competitive uptake, with copper being preferentially adsorbed followed by nickel with an increase in the amount of solute in solution. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the simultaneous adsorption of nickel and copper ions could be considered to be a spontaneous, endothermic process, with increased randomness.
Effects of Salt on Microbial Populations and Treatment Performance in Purifying Saline Sewage Using the MUCT Process
Authors: Cui Youwei , Peng Changyao , Peng Yongzhen , Ye Liu 
Published: August 2009

AbstractUnderstanding salt effects on activated sludge systems and treatment performance is essential in order to design and operate a full scale treatment plant processing saline sewage. For this purpose, a bench scale modified University of Cape Town (MUCT) process for treating saline sewage was used to provide information with regard to microbial population shift and treatment performance. Various salt levels (5, 8, 10 and 15 g/L) were studied. Experimental results indicated that the salt concentration in sewage significantly affected phosphorous removal, while salt inhibition of ammonium degradation was slight, even in a 15 g/L salt solution. Outstanding nitrite accumulation in aerobic tanks occurred in the MUCT treating 8 g/L saline sewage, which resulted in denitrifying nitrite by phosphorous accumulating organisms (PAOs) in the anoxic tank. Population size of physiological groups (aerobic‐heterotrophic, nitrifying and denitrifying microbial group) was also investigated at different salt levels. The investigation of changes in the dynamics of the activated sludge microbial structure gave an insight into the nature and the magnitude of salt effects on the microbial community.
The Effect of Oxygen on Anaerobic Color Removal of Azo Dye in a Sequencing Batch Reactor
Authors: Çinar Özer , Demiröz Kevser , Kanat Gamze , Uysal Yagmur , Yaman Cevat 
Published: August 2009

AbstractIn this study, various amounts of oxygen were added to the anaerobic phase of an anaerobic‐aerobic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) receiving azo dye remazol brilliant violet 5R to mimic the input of oxygen into the anaerobic zones of biological textile wastewater treatment plants. The effect of oxygen on the anaerobic biodegradative capability of the mixed microbial culture for remazol brilliant violet 5R was investigated. To investigate the effect of oxygen on anaerobic azo dye biodegradation, the anaerobic phase of the SBR cultures were exposed to a very low limited amount of oxygen for various air flow rates. Initially, an air flow rate of 20 mL/min was applied, further on the air flow rate in the anaerobic phase was increased up to 40 mL/min. System performance was determined by monitoring chemical oxygen demand, color removal rate, activities of anaerobic (azo reductase) and aerobic enzymes (catechol 2,3‐dioxygenase, catechol 1,2‐dioxygenase). The results of percentage COD reduction at each stage were similar for all runs, giving an overall reduction of 96%. Anaerobic color removal efficiency and azo reductase activity of anaerobic microorganisms were adversely affected by the addition of oxygen. Color removal efficiencies of the anaerobic phases decreased from 80% down to 42 and 38% for the limited oxygen conditions of 20 mL/min and 40 mL/min, respectively. It was observed that the activity of catechol 2,3‐dioxygenase and catechol 1,2‐dioxygenase, involved in breakage of aromatic rings, increased after they are exposed to oxygen limited conditions compared to fully anaerobic conditions. It was also observed that catechol 1,2‐dioxygenase enzyme activity increased by increasing the oxygen level on oxygen limited conditions in the anaerobic zone.
Amending Soils with Hydrogels Increases the Biomass of Nine Tree Species under Non‐water Stress Conditions
Authors: Orikiriza Lawrence J. B. , Agaba Hillary , Tweheyo Mnason , Eilu Gerald , Kabasa John David , Hüttermann Aloys 
Published: August 2009

AbstractThe classical aim of the application of super absorbent polyacrylate (SAPs) hydrogels is the prolonging of plant survival under water stress. Their effect on plant growth during non‐water stress conditions is not known. This study examined the root and shoot biomass of seedlings of nine tree species; Eucalyptus grandis, Eucalyptus citriodora, Pinus caribaea, Araucaria cunninghamii, Melia volkensii, Grevillea robusta, Azadirachta indica, Maesopsis eminii and Terminalia superba. The seedlings were potted in five soil types; sand, sandy loam, loam, silt loam and clay. These were amended at two hydrogel levels: 0.2 and 0.4% w/w and grown under controlled conditions in a green house. Root and shoot growth responses of the seedlings were determined by measuring the dry weight of the roots, stems, leaves and twigs. The addition of either 0.2 or 0.4% hydrogel to the five soil types resulted in a significant increase of the root dry weight (p < 0.001) in eight tree species compared to the controls after 8 wk of routine watering. Also, the dry weight of stems and leaves and twigs were significantly (p < 0.001) higher in the nine tree species potted in hydrogel amended soil types than in the hydrogel free controls. These results suggested that hydrogel amendment enhances the efficiency of water uptake and utilization of photosynthates of plants grown in soils which have water contents close to field capacity.