bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of cow manure biochar on maize productivity under sandy soil condition
Authors: Uzoma K. C. , Inoue M. , Andry H. , Fujimaki H. , Zahoor A. , Nishihara E. 
Published: April 2011

AbstractIn this study, we performed a greenhouse experiment to investigate the effect of cow manure biochar on maize yield, nutrient uptake and physico‐chemical properties of a dryland sandy soil. Biochar was derived from dry cow manure pyrolysed at 500 °C. Cow manure biochar was mixed with a sandy soil at the rate equivalent to 0, 10, 15 and 20 t biochar per hectare. Maize was used as a test crop. Results of the study indicated that cow manure biochar contains some important plant nutrients which significantly affected the maize crop growth. Maize yield and nutrient uptake were significantly improved with increasing the biochar mixing rate. Application of biochar at 15 and 20 t/ha mixing rates significantly increased maize grain yield by 150 and 98% as compared with the control, respectively. Maize net water use efficiency (WUE) increased by 6, 139 and 91% as compared with the control, with the 10, 15 and 20 t/ha mixing rate, respectively. Nutrient uptake by maize grain was significantly increased with higher biochar applications. Application of cow manure biochar improved the field‐saturated hydraulic conductivity of the sandy soil, as a result net WUE also increased. Results of the soil analysis after the harvesting indicated significant increase in the pH, total C, total N, Oslen‐P, exchangeable cations and cation exchange capacity. The results of this study indicated that application of cow manure biochar to sandy soil is not only beneficial for crop growth but it also significantly improved the physico‐chemical properties of the coarse soil.
Assessment of selenium mineralization and availability from catch crops
Authors: Stavridou E. , Thorup‐Kristensen K. , Young S. D. 
Published: April 2011

AbstractSelenium (Se) release from four plant species (Indian mustard, fodder radish, Italian ryegrass and hairy vetch) was measured under controlled leaching conditions and in a pot incubation experiment as part of a study of the potential for using these plant species as Se catch crops. Catch crops may reduce Se leaching and, by subsequent release of Se from the plant material, increase the available Se for succeeding crops. Plants grown both without and with Se addition (250 g Se/ha) were tested. In the leaching experiment, frozen plant material was incorporated into soil columns and incubated at room temperature for up to 19 weeks. The results showed that Se concentrations in the leachate were higher when Se‐enriched plant material was incorporated in the soil, indicating Se mineralization. When non‐enriched plant material was added to the soil, Se concentrations in the leachate were generally lower than that in the control, indicating Se immobilization. In the pot incubation experiment, the results were consistent with those from the leaching experiment. The addition of enriched plant material increased Se concentration in Indian mustard plants compared with unamended soil. However, the addition of plant materials grown without Se significantly decreased Se concentrations in plant dry matter, again indicating Se immobilization. Fertilizer application with inorganic Se as selenate did not affect Se concentrations either in the leachates or in the plants grown in the pot incubation. Thus, the results show the potential of catch crops to increase Se mineralization and uptake in succeeding crops.
Radiographic Evaluation of BFX Acetabular Component Position in Dogs
Authors: Renwick Alasdair , Gemmill Toby , Pink Jonathan , Brodbelt David , McKee Malcolm 
Published: April 2011

Objective: To assess the reliability of radiographic measurement of angle of lateral opening (ALO) and angle of version of BFX acetabular cups.Study Design: In vitro radiographic study.Sample Population: BFX cups (24, 28, and 32 mm).Methods: Total hip replacement constructs (cups, 17 mm femoral head and a #7 CFX stem) were mounted on an inclinometer. Ventrodorsal radiographs were obtained with ALO varying between 21° and 70° and inclination set at 0°, 10°, 20°, and 30°. Radiographs were randomized using a random sequence generator. Three observers blinded to the radiograph order assessed ALO using 3 methods: (1) an ellipse method based on trigonometry; (2) using a measurement from the center of the femoral head to the truncated surface of the cup; (3) by visual estimation using a reference chart. Version was measured by assessing the ventral edge of the truncated surface.Results: ALO methods 2 and 3 were accurate and precise to within 10° and were significantly more accurate and precise than method 1 (P<.001). All methods were significantly less accurate with increasing inclination. Version measurement was accurate and precise to within 7° with 0–20° of inclination, but significantly less accurate with 30° of inclination.Conclusions: Methods 2 and 3, but not method 1, were sufficiently accurate and precise to be clinically useful. Version measurement was clinically useful when inclination was ≤20°.
Trading Equity for Efficiency in Environmental Protection? Environmental Justice Effects from the SO2 Allowance Trading Program*
Authors: Ringquist Evan J. 
Published: April 2011

Objective. Arthur Okun made plain the fundamental conflict between efficiency and equity that arises in the pursuit of policy goals (Okun, 1974). Although Okun was speaking about government tax and spending policy, the potential conflict between efficiency and equity is also manifest at the nexus of two of the most far‐reaching changes in the environmental policy arena: the adoption of market‐like tools for pollution control and the quest for environmental justice. The article assesses this potential tradeoff by determining whether the pursuit of efficiency through the Clean Air Act Amendment's (CAA) sulfur dioxide allowance trading program (ATP) inadvertently transfers pollution into poor and minority communities.Methods. I employ Probit, Tobit, and GLS models using data for all SO2 trading activity between January 1995 and March 2009 to estimate whether allowance trading concentrates SO2 emissions in poor communities and communities of color. When using these models, I control for sample selectivity and for possible bias stemming from the modifiable areal unit problem.Results. The ATP does not concentrate sulfur dioxide emissions in black or Hispanic communities. To the contrary, communities with high percentages of black and Hispanic residents experience fewer imports of sulfur dioxide. Allowance trading does transfer SO2 emissions into poorly educated communities.Conclusions. There is no inherent tradeoff between efficiency and equity when using market‐based instruments for pollution control. Policymakers, however, might make an effort to design and implement future emissions trading programs in a manner that reduces the monitoring costs of tracking emissions trading. By reducing monitoring costs, policymakers may prevent the concentration of emissions in poorly educated communities while preserving the efficiency benefits of these instruments.
You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry: List Experiment Misreporting*
Authors: Zigerell L. J. 
Published: April 2011

Objective. List experiment respondents may misreport the number of list items that they associate with in order to associate themselves with a socially desirable test item or to disassociate themselves from a socially undesirable test item. Tests for such misreporting were conducted.Methods. List experiments from the 1991 National Race and Politics Survey, the 2006 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, and the 2008 Cooperative Campaign Analysis Project were analyzed or reviewed.Results. Evidence suggested that some respondents deflated their report more than necessary to avoid association with a socially undesirable test item.Conclusions. List experiments may provide inaccurate estimates of the percentage of the population to which the test item applies, but the direction of bias is predictable.
New Voters, New Outlook? Predispositions, Social Networks, and the Changing Politics of Gay Civil Rights*
Authors: Becker Amy B. , Scheufele Dietram A. 
Published: April 2011

Objectives. This study examines the factors that shape public acceptance of homosexuality and support for same‐sex marriage across age cohorts.Methods. We analyzed data from two national surveys. We constructed hierarchical logistic and hierarchical ordinary least squares regressions for relevant age cohorts in order to test our hypotheses and explore our research questions.Results. Our models suggest that personal contact has a greater impact on the attitudes of younger respondents, positively influencing public acceptance of homosexuality. Alternatively, religious and ideological predispositions have a greater impact on the attitudes of older individuals. When examining public support for gay marriage, we find that younger individuals have higher levels of deliberative engagement with the issue debate, while older individuals rely more heavily on their predispositions when determining issue stance. Interestingly, measures of media exposure are not significantly related to either public acceptance of homosexuality or support for same‐sex marriage, suggesting that other factors may have a greater impact on public attitudes at this point in time.Conclusion. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of the emergence of a new political generation and the continuing struggle for gay civil rights.
Decomposing Trends in Attitudes Toward Gay Marriage, 1988–2006*
Authors: Baunach Dawn Michelle 
Published: April 2011

Objective. The objective of this article is to examine the trend in attitudes toward gay marriage through the analysis of data from the General Social Survey.Methods. Using linear decomposition techniques, I explain the change in attitudes toward gay marriage from 1988 to 2006.Results. Attitudes significantly liberalized over time; 71 percent opposed gay marriage in 1988, but by 2006, this figure dropped to 52 percent. Approximately two‐thirds of this change was due to an intracohort change effect, or individuals' modifying their views over time, and one‐third was due to a cohort succession effect, or later cohorts replacing earlier ones. This pattern was replicated across many subgroups of the U.S. public, including age, sex, residential, educational, and religious groups.Conclusion. The results suggest that the use of the “equality/tolerance” framing of gay marriage by its supporters and other societal events or “moments” may have convinced some people who used to disapprove of gay marriage in 1988 to approve of it by 2006.
Racial Threat or Racial Contact? How Race Affected Third‐Party Presidential Voting in the Antebellum North*
Authors: Chamberlain Adam 
Published: April 2011

Objective. In this study, the “racial threat” and “racial contact” hypotheses are evaluated in relation to voting for the Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the North during the 1840s.Methods. Regression models are used to predict the effect of county‐level black populations on Liberty and Free Soil vote percentages in relation to types of employment.Results. Racial threat occurred in high manufacturing counties, but racial contact/threat emerged in more agricultural counties. The effects vary by party and region of the North.Conclusion. The effects of racial context on political behavior during this era are mixed, much like modern political studies have uncovered.
Political Threat and Immigration: Party Identification, Demographic Context, and Immigration Policy Preference*
Authors: Hawley George 
Published: April 2011

Objective. I propose that the effect of partisanship on views on immigration is context dependent. I argue that Republicans in counties experiencing high levels of immigration are more likely to support new immigration restrictions in contrast to Democrats and Independents than Republicans in counties with a relatively small foreign‐born population, and I suspect this is the case because Republicans in high‐immigration counties feel politically threatened by the foreign‐born residents, who are more likely to support Democratic candidates.Method. To test this theory, I create hierarchical logit models of views on immigration policy in which individual party identification interacts with the size of the local immigrant population. Individual‐level data were drawn from the 2004 National Annenberg Election Survey and county‐level contextual variables from the U.S. Census Bureau.Results. I find that the effect of partisanship on individual views on immigration is context dependent; native‐born Republicans are more likely to support immigration restrictions when their local community has a large immigrant population and Democrats less likely.Conclusion. In areas where immigration levels are low, partisanship is a weak predictor of immigration views. As the foreign‐born population increases, however, the views of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents increasingly diverge.
Backing Barack Because He's Black: Racially Motivated Voting in the 2008 Election*
Authors: Block Ray 
Published: April 2011

Objective. If racial considerations influenced the outcome of the 2008 presidential election, then how did they shape the campaign, why did race matter, and for whom were such considerations important? I hypothesize that various racial attitudes exert unique influences on voters' support of Obama and that the effects of these attitudes differ by race.Methods. Using a Time Magazine poll, I distinguish between “attitudes regarding Obama's ‘Blackness’” and “opinions about race relations,” and I examine such sentiments among White and African‐American respondents.Results. Regardless of race, Obama support was highest among voters who were “comfortable” with Black candidates. However, increased optimism with racial progress had no effect on Blacks' voting intentions, and it actually lowered Obama support among Whites.Conclusion. The conventional wisdom is that African Americans “backed Barack because he is Black”; I demonstrate that Obama's race mattered more to White voters than it did to Blacks.
Economic Inequality, Relative Power, and Religiosity*
Authors: Solt Frederick , Habel Philip , Grant J. Tobin 
Published: April 2011

Objective. What effect does the extent of economic inequality within a country have on the religiosity of the people who live there? As inequality increases, does religion serve primarily as a source of comfort for the deprived and impoverished or as a tool of social control for the rich and powerful?Methods. This article examines these questions with two complementary analyses of inequality and religiosity: a multilevel analysis of countries around the world over two decades and a time‐series analysis of the United States over a half‐century.Results. Economic inequality has a strong positive effect on the religiosity of all members of a society regardless of income.Conclusions. These results support relative power theory, which maintains that greater inequality yields more religiosity by increasing the degree to which wealthy people are attracted to religion and have the power to shape the attitudes and beliefs of those with fewer means.
Political Participation Among Latinos in the United States: The Effect of Group Identity and Consciousness*
Authors: Valdez Zulema 
Published: April 2011

Objective. How do group identity and consciousness affect Latinos' political participation in the United States? Recent studies that examine this relationship generally focus on a single ethnic group, for example, Mexicans, or the panethnic group, Latino/Hispanic, which limits the scope of their results. This study investigates how group identity and consciousness affect the political participation of differently identified Latinos.Methods. Using the unique 2007 Latino National Survey (LNS), a telephone survey of 8,500 Latino respondents, I investigate how group identity and consciousness affect political participation, as measured by electoral and nonelectoral activities.Results. Findings suggest that Latinos who self‐identify as American are more likely to engage in political action; however, a sense of group consciousness among ethnic, panethnic, and racial‐identified Latinos alters this effect.Conclusion. The type of and extent to which Latinos engage in political action is contingent on primary self‐identity and specific aspects of group consciousness.
The Effect of Descriptive Representation on Latinos' Views of Government and of Themselves*
Authors: Sanchez Gabriel R. , Morin Jason L. 
Published: April 2011

Objective.This article investigates the relationship between descriptive representation and the political attitudes of Latino citizens in the United States. We specifically test the impact of both panethnic and national‐origin specific representation on Latino citizens' attitudes toward government and their individual‐level identity.Methods.Original data on the ethnicity and national origin of Latino mayors in 2005 and 2006 was merged with the Latino National Survey (2006) to analyze the impact of descriptive representation on four specific outcomes: perceptions of political alienation, efficacy, political commonality, and linked fate.Results.We find a meaningful relationship between descriptive representation and the political attitudes of Latino citizens. However, the impact of representation varies by level (panethnic vs. national origin) and the particular outcome of interest.Conclusions.By developing a Latino‐specific model of descriptive representation, this investigation improves our knowledge of how recent increases in the number of Latinos elected to public office have impacted the Latino electorate.
Epigenetic regulation of cathepsin L expression in chronic myeloid leukaemia
Authors: Samaiya Misti , Bakhshi Sameer , Shukla Abhay A. , Kumar Lalit , Chauhan Shyam S. 
Published: April 2011

AbstractThe expression and significance of cathepsin L (CTSL) has been extensively studied in solid tumours. However no such information in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) was available. We investigated the activity and expression of this protease in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 47 adult CML patients. Thirty adults suffering from systemic diseases and 50 healthy volunteers served as controls. The mRNA levels of CTSL, its specific endogenous inhibitor cystatin C and transcriptional up‐regulator vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were quantitated by real‐time qPCR. CTSL protease activity and its mRNA expression were significantly higher in CML chronic phase (CP) patients compared to CML accelerated phase/blast crisis (AP/BC) patients and controls (P≤ 0.001). VEGF whose expression was most pronounced in CP and declined (P≤ 0.001) in the advanced phases of the malignancy exhibited a strong positive correlation with CTSL expression (r= 0.97; P≤ 0.001). Cystatin C expression was significantly lower (P≤ 0.001) in CML and displayed inverse correlation with CTSL (r=−0.713; P≤ 0.001) activity. CTSL promoter was significantly hypomethylated in CML CP compared to CML AP/BC patients as well as controls. K562, a BC CML cell line displayed CTSL activity, expression and methylation status of CTSL promoter that was comparable to CML AP/BC patients. Treatment of these cells or PBMCs isolated from CML AP/BC patients with 5′‐aza‐cytidine resulted in a dramatic increase in CSTL activity and/or expression thereby demonstrating the role of promoter methylation in the stage specific expression of CTSL in CML. Differential expression of CTSL in CML at various stages of malignancy may prove useful in identification of the high‐risk patients thereby facilitating better management of disease.
From proteomic multimarker profiling to interesting proteins: thymosin‐β4 and kininogen‐1 as new potential biomarkers for inflammatory hepatic lesions
Authors: Henkel Corinna , Schwamborn Kristina , Zimmermann Henning W. , Tacke Frank , Kühnen Elisabeth , Odenthal Margarete , Groseclose M. Reid , Caprioli Richard M. , Weiskirchen Ralf 
Published: April 2011

AbstractDespite tremendous efforts in disclosing the pathophysiological and epidemiological factors associated with liver fibrogenesis, non‐invasive diagnostic measures to estimate the clinical outcome and progression of liver fibrogenesis are presently limited. Therefore, there is a mandatory need for methodologies allowing the reasonable and reliable assessment of the severity and/or progression of hepatic fibrogenesis. We here performed proteomic serum profiling by matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry in 179 samples of patients chronically infected with hepatitis C virus and 195 control sera. Multidimensional analysis of spectra allowed the definition of algorithms capable to distinguish class‐specific protein expression profiles in serum samples. Overall about 100 peaks could be detected per single spectrum. Different algorithms including protein peaks in the range of 2000 and 10,000 Da were generated after pre‐fractionation on a weak cation exchange surface. A specificity of 93% with a sensitivity of 86% as mean of the test set results was found, respectively. The nature of three of these protein peaks that belonged to kininogen‐1 and thymosin‐β4 was further analysed by tandem mass spectrometry (MS)/MS. We further found that kininogen‐1 mRNA was significantly down‐regulated in cirrhotic livers. We have identified kininogen‐1 and thymosin‐β4 as potential new biomarkers for human chronic hepatitis C and conclude that serum profiling is a reliable technique to identify hepatitis‐associated expression patterns. Based on the high throughput capability, the identified differential protein panel may serve as a diagnostic marker and warrants further validation in larger cohorts.
Inhibition of myeloid cell leukemia‐1 by tolfenamic acid induces apoptosis in mucoepidermoid carcinoma
Authors: Choi K‐H , Shim J‐H , Huong LD , Cho N‐P , Cho S‐D 
Published: April 2011

Oral Diseases (2011) 17, 469–475Objectives:  The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of tolfenamic acid (Tol) and ampiroxicam (Amp) in the apoptotic regulation of YD‐15 salivary mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC).Materials and methods:  The effect of Tol on apoptosis and its mechanism were examined using a 3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐5‐(2,4‐disulfophenyl)‐2‐(4‐sulfophenyl)‐2H‐tetrazolium assay, Sub‐G1 population, Western blot analysis, 4′‐6‐Diamidino‐2‐phenylindole staining, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, immunostaining and small interfering RNA transfection.Results:  Tol inhibited cell growth of YD‐15 cells but Amp did not. Tol induces apoptosis in YD‐15 cells as evidenced by nuclear fragmentation, accumulation of the sub‐G1 phase and the activation of caspase 3. Tol inhibited myeloid cell leukemia‐1 (MCL‐1) at the protein and mRNA levels. The treatment of MCL‐1 siRNA to YD‐15 cells resulted in the activation of caspase 3 and the inhibition of cell growth. Moreover, MCL‐1 was regulated by specificity protein 1, but not by mitogen‐activated protein kinases.Conclusion:  These results suggest that Tol could be a potent anti‐cancer drug for YD‐15 MEC cells that acts by regulating the MCL‐1 protein.