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This article looks at homeless individuals to see how they think their residential situation affects their relationship with their non-homeless children. Using a survey of 75 homeless parents in Houston, Texas this analysis finds that homeless parents of non-homeless children believe that their living situation has a detrimental impact on their relationship with their children. While many respondents felt that they had a good relationship with their children the chances of maintaining a good relationship were less for respondents with adult children than minor children. While a majority of respondents with children felt that finding housing stability would help their relationship with their children, those with minority children were more optimistic that finding a permanent home would help them improve their parent-child relationship than those with older children.

This study investigated the role of peer mentoring and voluntary self-development activities (i.e., capitalization) in anchoring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students to their college majors. Online data were collected from 214 undergraduate students. As hypothesized, mentoring was positively related to capitalization, and both mentoring and capitalization were positively related to satisfaction with one's major, affective commitment to one's major, involvement in one's major, and willingness to be a mentor. Contrary to expectations, capitalization did not mediate the relationship between peer mentoring and student outcomes, suggesting that these constructs contribute independently to positive outcomes. Implications and future research directions are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)

Despite increasing demand for workers in fields that are grounded in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), retention rates are low among relevant college majors. Using Web-based survey data from 290 STEM majors, the authors investigated links among personality, coping strategies, and STEM major commitment. Proactive personality was positively related to STEM major commitment and to the active planning coping strategy and negatively related to behavioral disengagement. Active planning was positively related to commitment to STEM majors and behavioral disengagement was negatively related to the outcome. Coping strategies fully mediated the relationship between proactive personality and commitment to STEM majors. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Most soils in eastern Australian contain abundant soil potassium (K) reserves, and it is often assumed that there are no problems with soil K status. However, soil K deficiency has been reported in selected locations, and for viticulture, there are potential problems with high soil 1C concentrations due to the application of winery wastewater. This study investigated different soil K variables and plant variables for six soils with distinctive properties from across central and southern New South Wales to determine the presence of soil K deficiency and to understand the effect of adding K on the dynamics of soil K availability. A glasshouse experiment compared the selected soils under three fertiliser K rates with forage kale as the test species. Highly significant differences (P< 0.001) were found for soil and fertiliser K rate effects for three measures of soil K (solution IC, soln K; exchangeable K, exch. K; tetraphenyl borate K; TBK). Significant soil and fertiliser rate effects were detected (P Additional keywords: forage kale, illite, nutrient efficiency indices, plant K uptake, sodium tetraphenyl boron extractable potassium. Received 3 June 2013, accepted 17 October 2013, published online 6 March 2014, Introduction Many Australian soils contain major potassium (K) reserves, and so K is not often considered a nutrient of concern (Williams and Raupach 1983). Despite the perceived abundance of soil [...]

Liming is a common management practice, but there exists uncertainty about the economic benefits. An economic analysis of the costs and profitability of liming arable crops was undertaken using data from the long‐term liming experiment at Rothamsted and Woburn. There was a strong liming effect on gross margins, but large differences in the economic benefit between crops. For some crops (such as spring barley), liming greatly improved the gross margin, while for spring oats liming provided very little increase. Most economic benefit was achieved with the high lime treatment, but the cumulative discounted cash flow indicated that it took approximately 20 years before a distinct difference developed between the lime treatments. Therefore, lime should be considered a capital investment and economic evaluation undertaken over a long period. Liming rate increased the net present value expressed as an annual equivalent (NPVa). An additional £436 ha−1 year−1 at Rothamsted and £208 ha−1 year−1 at Woburn of profit was gained from the adoption of the most profitable liming treatments over not liming. Sensitivity analysis indicated that total liming costs had a weak effect on NPVa, but crop price had a strong effect. The economic performance of liming differed between sites and was higher at Rothamsted than at Woburn, mostly because of soil differences. Liming greatly improves economic returns of most arable crops, but the magnitude of the long‐term economic benefit depends upon the sequence of crops within a given rotation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Latin American Law Review is the property of Universidad de los Andes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction/Purpose: Return to play (RTP) assessment and decision-making protocols are among the most discussed topics in sports medicine. Given the lack of validated guidelines, physicians and rehabilitation practitioners often rely on subjective functional evaluation to guide decisions to RTP. Biomechanical assessment using motion capture may be a useful strategy to evaluate an athlete's post-injury functional status, and to estimate their ability to RTP with reduced risk of re-injury. The purpose of this case-study was to determine the efficacy of using marker-less 3D motion capture to provide an objective functional evaluation to tailor rehabilitation and aid RTP status for a patient who underwent syndesmotic fixation. Methods: In this case-study, a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I collegiate football offensive lineman (Height: 1.96 m, Weight: 141 kg) performed a movement screen 5 weeks after left ankle syndesmotic fixation for purely ligamentous syndesmotic injury. Testing was performed at the anticipated time of RTP. After a standardized warm-up, the patient performed a series of 14 movements consisting of upper and lower extremity actions in all three planes of motion, including bilateral and unilateral lower extremity actions. Kinematic data was captured using an 8-camera marker-less motion capture system (MLMCS). Left and right joint-specific ranges of motion were compared for symmetry and to normative data produced by the MLMCS manufacturer. Results: The participant successfully performed all 14 movements without limitation. Ankle flexion was symmetrical during bilateral and unilateral squatting actions. However, left ankle (i.e., involved side) flexion was consistently less than right ankle flexion during more dynamic actions (Table 1). Despite the asymmetries, ankle range of motion was within normal ranges for both sides in all movements. From a performance standpoint, left-side jump heights were consistently less than the right-side efforts during the unilateral countermovement jump (left: 34.5 cm versus right: 41.1 cm; -16.0%) and consecutive hops (left: 29.5 cm versus right: 33.0 cm; -10.8%). Results were shared with the athletic trainer to focus rehabilitation efforts. The patient was able to fully RTP at 6 weeks. Conclusion: In this case-study, the patient successfully performed a movement screen without limitation at the time of RTP after left ankle syndesmotic fixation. A MLMCS detected kinematic differences that would be difficult to qualitatively recognize. Specifically, the patient expressed reduced ankle flexion and jumping performance on the operative side. No baseline screening was performed, but the observed asymmetries were consistent with what would be expected from the specific injury. Further research is needed to compare baseline measures to kinematic changes. These findings suggest that a basic movement screen using MLMCS can detect kinematic asymmetries after syndesmotic fixation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of increasing rates of potassium (K) fertiliser was studied on a soil with base exchangeable K values ≤ 0.1 cmol(+)/ kg by assessing biomass, feed quality, mineral concentration and grain yield for wheat, triticale and canola. The crops showed variable biomass response to K rates at early plant growth stages, however at anthesis there were significant positive biomass responses to increasing rates of K. A positive K rate effect was detected on feed quality with significant increases in metabolisable energy. Irrespective of sampling time, increasing K rate resulted in significant increases in crop K concentration and mineral ratios, such as the Tetany index, but significant decreases in Ca and Mg concentrations. Final grain yield was significantly increased by K rate and there were beneficial effects on grain quality (thousand grain weight). Overall, this study highlights the importance of K to production responses and implications for the health and productivity of grazing livestock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the two-wave mixing anisotropic diffraction process in GaAs for demodulation of static and dynamic phase encoded signals. The static results quantitatively agreed with a previous theoretical model for cubic crystals. This model has been described explicitly for all beam polarizations and crystal rotation angles with respect to the plane of incidence. Dynamic phase modulation, in which the signal beam was phase modulated at frequency [f.sub.s] and the reference beam at [f.sub.r] = [f.sub.s] + [Delta]f, produced a signal at [Delta]f that was proportional to the difference between the static beam intensities with and without two-wave mixing under all conditions of polarization and crystal orientation studied. A significant dynamic output signal was produced even when only a shift in polarization but no energy transfer occurred as a result of the anisotropic two-wave mixing process. Therefore not only is the two-wave mixing gain important when the photorefractive effect is used for dynamic phase demodulation, but so are the polarization shifts occurring from the mixing process. [C] 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 190.7070, 190.5330, 190.0190, 190.4400.

This note proves a conjecture of Sparling [Germ of a synthesis: space-time is spinorial, extra dimensions are time-like. Proc R Soc Lond Ser A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2007;463(2083):1665-1679; The Ξ-transform for conformally flat space-time. arXiv:gr-qc/0612006; 2006.], that the ultrahyperbolic wave operator and the Ξ transform on form an exact couple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Alu elements are highly researched due to their useful nature as markers in the study of human population genetics. Recently discovered Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) polymorphic Alu insertions (POALINs) have not been examined extensively for genetic variation and their HLA associations. Aims: The aim of this study is to assess the genetic variation between three populations using five recently discovered POALINs. Methods and subjects: The study examined 190 healthy, unrelated subjects from three different populations in the East Midlands (UK) for the presence or absence of five Alu elements (AluHG, AluMICB, AluHJ, AluTF and AluHF) via the polymerase chain reaction followed by gel electrophoresis. Data were analysed for genetic variation and phylogenetic analyses. Results: All Alus were polymorphic in study populations. Appreciable allele frequency variation was observed at a number of loci. The British population was significantly different from both the Punjabi Jat Sikh and Gujarati Patel populations, although showing a closer genetic relationship to the Punjabi Jat Sikh population than the Gujarati Patel population (Nei's DA = 0.0031 and 0.0064, respectively). Conclusions: MHC POALINs are useful markers in the investigation of genetic variation and the assessment of population relationships, and may have some bearing on disease associations due to their linkage disequilibrium with HLA loci; this warrants further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Better understanding of the relationship between soil properties and soil function is required to minimise nutrient losses from agriculture and protect the environment. There is a need to predict the solute movement through horticultural soils because of the intensive management practices. Thus, the mobile water content ( θ m ), the active fraction of soil water content engaged in solute transport, is a suitable soil property to investigate further. Accurate measurement of such solute transport properties in the field are costly, labour intensive and time consuming but there are opportunities to establish predictive relationships. θ m was measured together with other basic soil properties to test established predictive relationships (known as pedotransfer functions, PTFs) and to develop new PTFs. The field measurements were taken on a diverse range of vineyard soils across New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Poor predictions were found with available PTFs for θ m and the mobile water fraction f (= θ m /θ fm ; where θ fm = volumetric water content at which θ m was measured). Backward stepwise multiple regression analysis produced better PTF model predictions than the multiple linear regression analysis for new PTFs that were calculated. Differences in the analysis methods showed a trade-off between the prediction capacity and the number of predictor variables in each PTF model. A prediction accuracy of between 80 to 90% was found with 3 predictor variables in the PTFs for θ m and f . Both the PTFs developed were in strong agreement with the measured properties (minimum R 2 = 0.82). For the θ m PTF, the % clay content (varied from 11 to 59) was the strongest predictor variable while bulk density (ranged from 1.2 to 1.51 g cm −3 ) contributed the smallest. The PTF for f was similar to θ m except it was the % soil organic carbon which had the smallest contribution. These relationships are useful to predict θ m and f from easily measured soil physical properties of vineyard soils in NSW, but further testing on a wider range of soils is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental exposure to heavy metals, such as mercury, during pregnancy may present a health hazard to both mother and unborn child. Both physical and mental effects on the child, including brain, vision, and hearing damage, have been attributed to in utero exposure to mercury/methylmercury. This article examines existing research of the potential short and long-term effects of the element mercury on prenatal children with a focus on prevention. A synthesis of information from current literature is offered as a guide to health care educators and providers to reinforce the potential hazards of mercury exposure and offer ways to avoid accidental exposure. The purpose of this writing is to provide information to health care educators and providers on the risks of mercury consumption and to relate practical information that should be useful when counseling pregnant women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen fertilization is the most critical agronomic input affecting barley production and farm profitability. The strict quality requirements for malting barley are challenging to achieve for farmers. In addition, soil variability and weather conditions can affect barley yield and quality. Thus, the objectives of this study are to (a) quantify the variability of soil properties, and (b) use spatial data in a crop simulation model, quantifying the impacts of climate−soil interactions on the barley crop yield and grain quality. Based on historical yield maps, a commercial field was divided into different yield stability zone levels. The Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer model was used to evaluate soil and crop spatial data. The bulk density affected the soil water content and soil mineral N and hence the crop-growing conditions in each yield stability zone. Our observed and simulated results showed that 120 kg N ha−1 is the optimal rate to increase grain yield while still keeping within the grain N% requirements for malting quality. This study shows the great value of integrating crop modeling with on−farm experimental data for improving understanding of the factors which affect site−specific N fertilization of barley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ionic driving forces provide the net electromotive force for ion movement across receptors, channels, and transporters, and are a fundamental property of all cells. In the nervous system, fast synaptic inhibition is mediated by chloride permeable GABAA and glycine receptors, and single-cell intracellular recordings have been the only method for estimating driving forces across these receptors (DFGABAA). Here we present a tool for quantifying inhibitory receptor driving force named ORCHID: all-Optical Reporting of CHloride Ion Driving force. We demonstrate ORCHID's ability to provide accurate, high-throughput measurements of resting and dynamic DFGABAA from genetically targeted cell types over multiple timescales. ORCHID confirms theoretical predictions about the biophysical mechanisms that establish DFGABAA, reveals differences in DFGABAA between neurons and astrocytes, and affords the first in vivo measurements of intact DFGABAA. This work extends our understanding of inhibitory synaptic transmission and demonstrates the potential for all-optical methods to assess ionic driving forces. Single-cell intracellular recordings have been used as the primary tool for estimating driving forces across inhibitory receptors within the nervous system. Here, the authors present ORCHID as an all-optical method to measure inhibitory receptor driving forces in targeted brain cell types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diffusion policies aid the adoption of technologies by targeting various channels of influence in an innovation system, including costs, learning, and standards. Little empirical research exists on their impacts, however, largely because of a lack of data. Using a panel dataset and econometric models, I analyze the determinants of the early diffusion of smart electricity meters in the US electric power industry, where public policy and regulation have supported the adoption of smart meters by electric utilities. The empirical findings suggest multiple drivers of smart meter diffusion. Policy and regulatory support have had a significant, positive impact on adoption, but the findings also suggest that utility characteristics and some combination of learning, cost reductions, and technology standards have been important determinants affecting smart meter diffusion. The timing, sequence, and context of diffusion policies are important to consider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isomeric lysosphingolipids, galactosylsphingosine (GalSph) and glucosylsphingosine (GlcSph), are present in only minute levels in healthy cells. Due to defects in their lysosomal hydrolysis, they accumulate at high levels and cause cytotoxicity in patients with Krabbe and Gaucher diseases, respectively. Here, we show that GalSph and GlcSph induce lysosomal membrane permeabilization, a hallmark of lysosome-dependent cell death, in human breast cancer cells (MCF7) and primary fibroblasts. Supporting lysosomal leakage as a causative event in lysosphingolipid-induced cytotoxicity, treatment of MCF7 cells with lysosome-stabilizing cholesterol prevented GalSph- and GlcSph-induced cell death almost completely. In line with this, fibroblasts from a patient with Niemann-Pick type C disease, which is caused by defective lysosomal cholesterol efflux, were significantly less sensitive to lysosphingolipid-induced lysosomal leakage and cell death. Prompted by the data showing that MCF7 cells with acquired resistance to lysosome-destabilizing cationic amphiphilic drugs (CADs) were partially resistant to the cell death induced by GalSph and GlcSph, we compared these cell death pathways with each other. Like CADs, GalSph and GlcSph activated the cyclic AMP (cAMP) signalling pathway, and cAMP-inducing forskolin sensitized cells to cell death induced by low concentrations of lysosphingolipids. Contrary to CADs, lysosphingolipid-induced cell death was independent of lysosomal Ca2+ efflux through P2X purinerigic receptor 4. These data reveal GalSph and GlcSph as lysosome-destabilizing lipids, whose putative use in cancer therapy should be further investigated. Furthermore, the data supports the development of lysosome stabilizing drugs for the treatment of Krabbe and Gaucher diseases and possibly other sphingolipidoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1978, California adopted building codes designed to reduce the energy used for temperature control. Using a rich data set of hourly electricity consumption for 158,112 houses in Sacramento, we estimate that the average house built just after 1978 uses 8% to 13% less electricity for cooling than a similar house built just before 1978. Comparing the estimated savings to the policy's projected cost, our results suggest the policy passes a cost-benefit test. In settings where market failures prevent energy costs from being completely passed through to home prices, building codes can serve as a cost- effective tool for improving energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the turn of the twentieth century, microbiologists in Western Europe and North America began to organize centralized collections of microbial cultures. Collectors published lists of the strains they cultured, offering to send duplicates to colleagues near and far. This essay explores the history of microbial culture collections through two cases: Johanna Westerdijk's collection of phytopathogenic fungi in the Netherlands and Ernst Georg Pringsheim's collection of single-celled algae at the German University in Prague. Historians of science have tended to look at twentieth-century biological specimen collections as either repositories of communal research materials or storehouses of economically important biological variation. An examination of Westerdijk's and Pringsheim's collections illustrates how collectors, researchers, and patrons ascribed different kinds of value to collections featuring distinctive microbial life forms. This essay argues that characteristics of cultivated microorganisms, such as a fungus's propensity to infect crops or an alga's amenability to experimentation, shaped the trajectories of Westerdijk's and Pringsheim's collections as these collectors developed relationships with colleagues and patrons. Letters between Westerdijk and Pringsheim open a window onto divergences in their approaches to collecting cultures, while also shedding light on the aspirational internationality of the collections that resulted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of many factors, including climate change, unrestricted population growth, widespread deforestation and intensive agriculture, a new pattern of diseases in humans is emerging. With increasing encroachment by human societies into wild domains, the interfaces between human and animal ecosystems are gradually eroding. Such changes have led to zoonoses, vector‐borne diseases, infectious diseases and, most importantly, the emergence of antimicrobial‐resistant microbial strains as challenges for human health. Now would seem to be an opportune time to revisit old concepts of health and redefine some of these in the light of emerging challenges. The One Health concept addresses some of the demands of modern medical education by providing a holistic approach to explaining diseases that result from a complex set of interactions between humans, environment and animals, rather than just an amalgamation of isolated signs and symptoms. An added advantage is that the scope of One Health concepts has now expanded to include genetic diseases due to advancements in omics technology. Inspired by such ideas, a symposium was organised as part of the 19th International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) Congress (August 2019) to investigate the scope of One Health concepts and comparative anatomy in contemporary medical education. Speakers with expertise in both human and veterinary anatomy participated in the symposium and provided examples where these two disciplines, which have so far evolved largely independent of each other, can collaborate for mutual benefit. Finally, the speakers identified some key concepts of One Health that should be prioritised and discussed the diverse opportunities available to integrate these priorities into a broader perspective that would attempt to explain and manage diseases within the scopes of human and veterinary medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep vein thrombosis is a major source of morbidity and mortality worldwide. For acute proximal deep vein thrombosis, catheter-directed thrombolytic therapy is an accepted method for vessel recanalization. Thrombolytic therapy is not without risk, including the potential for hemorrhagic bleeding that increases with lytic dose. Histotripsy is a focused ultrasound therapy that generates bubble clouds spontaneously in tissue at depth. The mechanical activity of histotripsy increases the efficacy of thrombolytic therapy at doses consistent with current pharmacomechanical treatments for venous thrombosis. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of lytic dose on histotripsy-enhanced fibrinolysis. Human whole blood clots formed in vitro were exposed to histotripsy and a thrombolytic agent (recombinant tissue plasminogen activator, rt-PA) in a venous flow model perfused with plasma. Lytic was administered into the clot via an infusion catheter at concentrations ranging from 0 (control) to 4.54 μg/mL (a common clinical dose for catheter-directed thrombolysis). Following treatment, perfusate samples were assayed for markers of fibrinolysis, hemolysis, and intact red blood cells and platelets. Fibrinolysis was equivalent between the common clinical dose of rt-PA (4.54 μg/mL) and rt-PA at a reduction to one-twentieth of the common clinical dose (0.23 μg/mL) when combined with histotripsy. Minimal changes were observed in hemolysis for treatment arms with or without histotripsy, potentially due to clot damage from insertion of the infusion catheter. Likewise, histotripsy did not increase the concentration of red blood cells or platelets in the perfusate following treatment compared to rt-PA alone. At the highest lytic dose, a refined histotripsy exposure scheme was implemented to cover larger areas of the clot. The updated exposure scheme improved clot mass loss and fibrinolysis relative to administration of lytic alone. Overall, the data collected in this study indicate the rt-PA dose can be reduced by more than a factor of ten and still promote fibrinolysis when combined with histotripsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Clean Power Plan (CPP) was repealed due to concerns about the "unnecessary, costly burdens" it may impose on electric utilities, thereby delaying efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) from the electricity sector. This paper examines the greenhouse gas and welfare implications of this repeal while incorporating the presence of the state renewable portfolio standards (RPS) in the US as the status quo. We assess the carbon abatement and welfare costs with the CPP relative to two alternative baselines: a no‐policy baseline and a pre‐existing policy baseline with the RPS. The CPP is implemented as a regional mass‐based standard, a regional rate‐based standard, or as a national mass‐based standard with trading of emissions across regions over the 2022–2030 period. We find that the incremental discounted welfare costs per metric ton of CO2 that would have been abated by the CPP relative to the RPS would be substantially lower than the global social cost of CO2. However, the overall costs of carbon abatement with the CPP added to the RPS would have become higher than the social cost of carbon when estimated relative to a no‐policy baseline, except with a national mass‐based CPP. Across all policy combinations and choice of baselines, the aggregate welfare costs were lowest under a national mass‐based standard and highest under the regional rate‐based standard. We also find that the CPP would have imposed large welfare costs on consumers and fossil fuel producers while benefiting the renewable fuel producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]