bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Moving Beyond Tokenism: Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and the Election of Women to State Legislatures*
Authors: Crowley Jocelyn Elise 
Published: August 2006

Objective.State legislative bodies that contain more than a token level (15 percent) of female representatives provide these lawmakers with a greater sense of self‐efficacy and opportunities for wider policy influence than those where women number under 15 percent. The objective of this study is to determine the set of factors that carry states across this critical threshold, with a particular emphasis on the political mobilization effects of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ratification drive.Method.This study used event‐history analysis methods on state‐level data collected from 1972–2000.Results.I find that states that ratified the ERA, but not states that ratified only later to rescind, had a higher likelihood of crossing this token threshold as compared with states that never ratified at all. These results obtain even after controlling for the social eligibility pool of female candidates, the political opportunity structure, the social context of each state, and preexisting levels of female representation.Conclusions.The ERA ratification campaign during the 1970s and early 1980s created long‐lasting, state‐level effects in electing women through its role as a political education tool as well as through its symbolic power.
The Drug‐Laden Balloon: U.S. Military Assistance and Coca Production in the Central Andes*
Authors: Rouse Stella M. , Arce Moises 
Published: August 2006

Objective. This article explores the empirical effects of U.S. drug policy on coca cultivation in the Central Andes. We assess the impact of U.S. military assistance on the production of coca in the Central Andes, while controlling for other explanatory variables that influence coca cultivation.Method. Using data from 1980–2001 for Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru, we perform a pooled cross‐sectional time‐series analysis.Results. The effects of U.S. military assistance on coca cultivation are not uniform across the Central Andes. Coca production decreased in Bolivia and Peru and increased in Colombia. Total coca production in the Central Andes, however, remained unchanged.Conclusion. This study is consistent with existing literature that points out the obstacles governments face as they attempt to suppress illicit goods. Specifically, our empirical findings support the idea of the “balloon effect,” whereby government efforts to “squeeze” illicit trade in one area result in the expansion of that trade elsewhere.
From Every Tribe and Nation? Blacks and the Christian Right*
Authors: Robinson Carin 
Published: August 2006

Objectives.The Christian Right is predominantly made up of white evangelicals but in recent years, the movement has attempted to include African Americans in social policy initiatives. This article examines support for the Christian Right from African Americans.Methods.The article is based on an analysis of data from the 1996 and 2000 National Election Studies and data from the Religion and Politics Survey, 2000.Results.The study finds that social conservatism does not predict support for the Christian Right from blacks like it does for whites but that evangelical affiliation predicts support from both groups. Black women are more likely to support the organization than are black men.Conclusions.The insignificant effect of social conservatism on blacks' attitudes toward the Christian Right raises questions as to how the movement can best appeal to this minority group. At the very least, the Christian Right does not appear to have solidified support from African Americans on the basis of shared convictions related to abortion and gay rights. Support for the Christian Right from African Americans remains difficult to measure and largely unpredictable.
Transformation of the Black Business Elite*
Authors: Boyd Robert L. 
Published: August 2006

Objective.This study fills a void in research on race and social change by analyzing the transformation of the “black business elite,” that is, those blacks who have been nationally recognized as successful entrepreneurs.Methods.Data from encyclopedic sources on eminent black entrepreneurs are used to build a chronology that documents how this elite has changed over time.Results.In the early and middle 20th century, the elite was dominated by southerners who prospered in lines of enterprise that arose because of racially segregated consumer markets, namely, banking, insurance, and publishing. By the end of the 20th century, the elite was dominated by northerners, many of whom were born in the North and succeeded in forms of mass media entertainment that appeal to racially integrated audiences.Conclusion.These geographical and occupational shifts reflect salient post World War II changes in race relations, most notably the decline of racial segregation in many areas of social life and the increase of opportunities for black entertainers to achieve distinction on a national level. Yet, blacks' pursuit of eminence in the business world continues to be focused into a narrow range of endeavors.
Economic Segregation, Race, and Homicide*
Authors: Eitle David , D'Alessio Stewart J. , Stolzenberg Lisa 
Published: August 2006

Objective. Prior research assessing the association between structured inequality and homicides has produced inconsistent findings, particularly in regard to establishing an association between economic disadvantage and black homicide rates. In this study, we employ a measure of the spatial distribution of income, Jargowksy's (1996) economic segregation measure, to assess overall and race‐specific homicide rates.Methods. Using cross‐sectional Census data and Supplemental Homicide Report data across 166 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, the present analysis uses negative binomial regression models to examine the association between economic segregation and homicide rates.Results. We find that both economic segregation and absolute deprivation (i.e., the overall extent of economic disadvantage) are robust predictors of black, white, and overall homicide rates. However, an alternative measure of economic segregation, a measure capturing poverty concentration, was not found to be a significant predictor of black homicide rates.Conclusion. We suggest that further studies should consider the extent of isolation across the income continuum, instead of focusing solely on poverty concentration.
The Transnational Organization of Production and Environmental Degradation: A Cross‐National Study of the Effects of Foreign Capital Penetration on Water Pollution Intensity, 1980–1995*
Authors: Jorgenson Andrew K. 
Published: August 2006

Objective. This study attempts to increase our understanding of the environmental impacts of the transnational organization of production in the context of foreign capital penetration.Methods. With a sample of 53 countries, panel analyses using OLS and robust regression are conducted to assess the effects of foreign direct investment in the manufacturing sector on growth in organic water pollution intensity, 1980–1995. Slope‐dummy interaction variables are used to compare the effects in developed countries and less‐developed countries. The tested models include a variety of relevant controls, such as domestic investment, state environmentalism, size of the manufacturing sector, and level of economic development.Results. Findings for the analyses indicate that foreign direct investment in manufacturing positively affects growth in organic water pollution intensity in less‐developed countries, while the effect in developed countries is nonsignificant.Conclusions. This research illustrates the need for social scientists to investigate the environmental impacts of both the transnational organization of production and the overall scale of production in different sectors.
For Those Who Like Odds: A Direct Interpretation of the Logit Coefficient for Continuous Variables*
Authors: Roncek Dennis W. , Swatt Marc L. 
Published: August 2006

Objective. Researchers have suggested a number of different methods for interpreting the coefficients in a logit model. Unfortunately, many of these interpretations suffer from a lack clarity or involve a substantial number of manipulations of the logit coefficient prior to interpretation. In this article, we discuss a straightforward method of interpreting logit coefficients for continuous dependent variables without the need for extensive transformation.Method. Drawing on Stolzenberg's (1979) techniques for interpreting logarithmic regression models, we demonstrate that the logit coefficient multiplied by 100 can be directly interpreted as the percentage change in the odds given a unit change in the independent variable. We also derive an analogous interpretation for ordinal logit models.Results. After these derivations, the ease of this technique is demonstrated using a simple logit model.Conclusion. Given the generality of this interpretation, as well as its ease of computation, it is hoped that researchers from a number of disciplines will adopt this strategy for interpreting logit models.
Pope John Paul II and Catholic Opinion Toward the Death Penalty and Abortion*
Authors: Mulligan Kenneth 
Published: August 2006

Objective.Research on opinion leadership examines the convergence of opinion between elites and masses on issues of public policy. I examine the confluence of opinion between Pope John Paul II and American Catholics on the death penalty and legalized abortion.Method.I use data from three nationally representative opinion surveys and one statewide survey conducted prior to John Paul's death.Results.The results support the supposition that Catholics who esteemed the pope are more negative in their evaluations of the death penalty and abortion.Conclusions.John Paul II, as leader of the Catholic Church, may have influenced Catholic opinion on political issues.
Frequency Mapping of the Pulmonary Veins in Paroxysmal Versus Permanent Atrial Fibrillation
Authors: SANDERS PRASHANTHAN , NALLIAH CHRISHAN J. , DUBOIS RÉMI , TAKAHASHI YOSHIHIDE , HOCINI MÉLÈZE , ROTTER MARTIN , ROSTOCK THOMAS , SACHER FRÉDERIC , HSU LI‐FERN , JÖNSSON ANDERS , O'NEILL MARK D. , JAÏS PIERRE , HAÏSSAGUERRE MICHEL 
Published: August 2006

Introduction: The pulmonary veins (PVs) are a dominant source of triggers initiating atrial fibrillation (AF). While recent evidence implicates these structures in the maintenance of paroxysmal AF, their role in permanent AF is not known. The current study aims to compare the contribution of PV activity to the maintenance of paroxysmal and permanent AF. Methods and Results: Thirty‐four patients with paroxysmal AF (n = 20) or permanent AF (n = 14) undergoing ablation were studied. Prior to ablation, 32 seconds of electrograms were acquired from each PV and the coronary sinus (CS). The frequency of activity of each PV and CS was defined as the highest amplitude frequency on spectral analysis. The effects of ablation on the AF cycle length (AFCL) and frequency and on AF termination were determined. Significant differences were observed between paroxysmal and permanent AF. Paroxysmal AF demonstrates higher frequency PV activity (11.0 ± 3.1 vs 8.8 ± 3.0 Hz; P = 0.0003) but lower CS frequency (5.8 ± 1.2 vs 6.9 ± 1.4 Hz; P = 0.01) and longer AFCL (182 ± 17 vs 158 ± 21 msec; P = 0.002), resulting in greater PV to atrial frequency gradient (7.2 ± 2.2 vs 4.2 ± 2.9 Hz; P = 0.006). PV isolation in paroxysmal AF resulted in a greater decrease in atrial frequency (1.0 ± 0.7 vs −0.05 ± 0.4 Hz; P < 0.0001), greater prolongation of the AFCL (49 ± 35 vs 5 ± 6 msec; P < 0.0001), and more frequent AF termination (11/20 vs 0/14; P = 0.0007) compared to permanent AF. Conclusion: Paroxysmal AF is associated with higher frequency PV activity and lesser CS frequency compared to permanent AF. Isolation of the PVs had a greater impact on the fibrillatory process in paroxysmal AF compared to permanent AF, suggesting that while the PVs have a role in maintaining paroxysmal AF, these structures independently contribute less to the maintenance of permanent AF.
Morphologic Characteristics of the Left Atrial Appendage, Roof, and Septum: Implications for the Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation
Authors: WONGCHAROEN WANWARANG , TSAO HSUAN‐MING , WU MEI‐HAN , TAI CHING‐TAI , CHANG SHIH‐LIN , LIN YENN‐JIANG , LO LI‐WEI , CHEN YI‐JEN , SHEU MING‐HUEI , CHANG CHENG‐YEN , CHEN SHIH‐ANN 
Published: August 2006

Introduction: The left atrium (LA) ablation in different regions, including LA appendage (LAA), LA roof, and LA septum, has recently been proposed to improve the success rate of treating patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The purpose of this study was to investigate the anatomy of LAA, LA roof, and LA septum, using computed tomography (CT). Methods and Results: Multidetector CT scan was used to depict the LA in 47 patients with drug‐refractory paroxysmal AF (39 males, age = 50 ± 12 years) and 49 control subjects (34 males, age = 54 ± 11 years). The area of LAA orifice, neck, and the length of roof line were greater in AF group than in control subjects. Three types of LAA locations and two types of LAA ridges were observed. Higher incidence of inferior LAA was noted in AF patients. The different morphologies of LA roof were described. Roof pouches were revealed in 15% of AF and 14% of controls. Moreover, we found septal ridge in 32% of AF and 23% of controls. Conclusions: Considerable variations of LAA and LA roof morphologies were demonstrated. Peculiar structures, including roof pouches and septal ridges, were delineated by CT imaging. These findings were important for determining the strategy of AF ablation and avoiding the procedure‐related complications.
Analysis of Piezoelectric Composite Beams and Plates with Multiple Delaminations
Authors: Raja S. , Adya H. P. Prathima , Viswanath S. 
Published: August 2006

In the present work, the effect of delamination or debonding on the static and dynamic characteristics of laminated piezoelectric beams and plates is studied. A four-noded quadrilateral shear flexible plate element is developed to model the damages in composite substrate and in piezoelectric layers. The elastic stiffness and electro-elastic stiffness degradations are introduced at the elemental level through coupled constitutive relations. The undamaged structure is modeled as a single laminate while the delaminated region is modeled as sublaminates whose interface contains the desired delamination or debonding. The continuity of displacement is maintained across the delaminated edge by imposing the strain-based multipoint constraints. Numerical studies are conducted on composite specimens with surface bonded active layers. The results are presented to evaluate the performance of these smart structures in the presence of delamination. For actuators, the performance is measured in terms of the achievable deflection control and in sensors as a measurable output voltage. It is observed that actuator and sensor debonding degrade the capabilities of active materials significantly. Therefore, the study concludes that a damage tolerant approach is essential for the design of smart structural systems to account for damage-induced uncertainty in the functional properties of smart actuators and sensors.
Feature Extraction for Defect Detection in Strands by Guided Ultrasonic Waves
Authors: Rizzo Piervincenzo , di Scalea Francesco Lanza 
Published: August 2006

Multi-wire strands are widely used in civil structures as tensioning members in prestressed concrete, cable-stayed and suspension bridges. In recent years, various researchers including the authors have investigated guided ultrasonic waves as a tool for monitoring the health of the strands. Magnetostrictive ultrasonic transducers have been successfully used to excite and detect the guided waves in these components. This study improves the general guided-wave technique with magnetostrictive transducers for the detection and sizing of defects in strands. The improvement consists of extracting sensitive and robust features of the wave signals, and then using these features to construct a damage index (D.I.). The proposed D.I. is unaffected by accidental variations in the excitation power or by changes in the electromechanical coupling efficiency of the transducers. The specific defect under investigation is a notch cut at varying depths in a strand that is subjected to a typical operational load. Features extracted after discrete wavelet processing of the wave signals result in a D.I. that is robust against noise and is linearly related to the notch depth in a logarithmic scale. In particular, the variance of the signal’s wavelet coefficients results in the largest sensitivity to notch depth.
MultiSeq: unifying sequence and structure data for evolutionary analysis
Authors: Roberts Elijah , Eargle John , Wright Dan , Luthey-Schulten Zaida 
Published: August 2006

Abstract

Background
Since the publication of the first draft of the human genome in 2000, bioinformatic data have been accumulating at an overwhelming pace. Currently, more than 3 million sequences and 35 thousand structures of proteins and nucleic acids are available in public databases. Finding correlations in and between these data to answer critical research questions is extremely challenging. This problem needs to be approached from several directions: information science to organize and search the data; information visualization to assist in recognizing correlations; mathematics to formulate statistical inferences; and biology to analyze chemical and physical properties in terms of sequence and structure changes.

Results
Here we present MultiSeq, a unified bioinformatics analysis environment that allows one to organize, display, align and analyze both sequence and structure data for proteins and nucleic acids. While special emphasis is placed on analyzing the data within the framework of evolutionary biology, the environment is also flexible enough to accommodate other usage patterns. The evolutionary approach is supported by the use of predefined metadata, adherence to standard ontological mappings, and the ability for the user to adjust these classifications using an electronic notebook. MultiSeq contains a new algorithm to generate complete evolutionary profiles that represent the topology of the molecular phylogenetic tree of a homologous group of distantly related proteins. The method, based on the multidimensional QR factorization of multiple sequence and structure alignments, removes redundancy from the alignments and orders the protein sequences by increasing linear dependence, resulting in the identification of a minimal basis set of sequences that spans the evolutionary space of the homologous group of proteins.

Conclusion
MultiSeq is a major extension of the Multiple Alignment tool that is provided as part of VMD, a structural visualization program for analyzing molecular dynamics simulations. Both are freely distributed by the NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics and MultiSeq is included with VMD starting with version 1.8.5. The MultiSeq website has details on how to download and use the software: http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~schulten/multiseq/
Profiling helper T cell subset gene expression in deer mice
Authors: Oko Lauren , Aduddell-Swope Bethany , Willis Derall , Hamor Robyn , Coons Teresa A , Hjelle Brian , Schountz Tony 
Published: August 2006

AbstractBackgroundDeer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) are the most common mammals in North America and are reservoirs for several zoonotic agents, including Sin Nombre virus (SNV), the principal etiologic agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in North America. Unlike human HCPS patients, SNV-infected deer mice show no overt pathological symptoms, despite the presence of virus in the lungs. A neutralizing IgG antibody response occurs, but the virus establishes a persistent infection. Limitations of detailed analysis of deer mouse immune responses to SNV are the lack of reagents and methods for evaluating such responses.ResultsWe developed real-time PCR-based detection assays for several immune-related transcription factor and cytokine genes from deer mice that permit the profiling of CD4+helper T cells, including markers of Th1 cells (T-bet, STAT4, IFNγ, TNF, LT), Th2 cells (GATA-3, STAT6, IL-4, IL-5) and regulatory T cells (Fox-p3, IL-10, TGFβ1). These assays compare the expression of in vitro antigen-stimulated and unstimulated T cells from individual deer mice.ConclusionWe developed molecular methods for profiling immune gene expression in deer mice, including a multiplexed real-time PCR assay for assessing expression of several cytokine and transcription factor genes. These assays should be useful for characterizing the immune responses of experimentally- and naturally-infected deer mice.
Getting by on credit: how district health managers in Ghana cope with the untimely release of funds
Authors: Asante Augustine D , Zwi Anthony B , Ho Maria T 
Published: August 2006

Abstract
Background
District health systems in Africa depend largely on public funding. In many countries, not only are these funds insufficient, but they are also released in an untimely fashion, thereby creating serious cash flow problems for district health managers. This paper examines how the untimely release of public sector health funds in Ghana affects district health activities and the way district managers cope with the situation.

Methods
A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews was adopted. Two regions (Northern and Ashanti) covering the northern and southern sectors of Ghana were strategically selected. Sixteen managers (eight directors of health services and eight district health accountants) were interviewed between 2003/2004. Data generated were analysed for themes and patterns.

Results
The results showed that untimely release of funds disrupts the implementation of health activities and demoralises district health staff. However, based on their prior knowledge of when funds are likely to be released, district health managers adopt a range of informal mechanisms to cope with the situation. These include obtaining supplies on credit, borrowing cash internally, pre-purchasing materials, and conserving part of the fourth quarter donor-pooled funds for the first quarter of the next year. While these informal mechanisms have kept the district health system in Ghana running in the face of persistent delays in funding, some of them are open to abuse and could be a potential source of corruption in the health system.

Conclusion
Official recognition of some of these informal managerial strategies will contribute to eliminating potential risks of corruption in the Ghanaian health system and also serve as an acknowledgement of the efforts being made by local managers to keep the district health system functioning in the face of budgetary constraints and funding delays. It may boost the confidence of the managers and even enhance service delivery.