Individual Philanthropy Patterns in Metro Atlanta

This report responds to the question of what do Metro-Atlanta nonprofit leaders know about why individuals give to charity. Specifically, there are several questions that are fundamental to this initial study. They include:* Who is giving?* What motivates individuals to give?* How much is being given?* Where is the giving being directed?The study is an initial attempt commissioned by The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta to collect reliable baseline data on individual giving patterns in the Twenty-two County Atlanta region. The information is to be used for understanding the demographic characteristics of givers as well as their perceptions, beliefs, values, and attitudes about charitable giving, volunteering, charitable organizations, and the factors that motivate them to support nonprofit organizations. In addition, the data also provides insight into the types of information that are most useful to individuals when making their giving decisions, and direction about issues the nonprofit sector must address to increase giving and enhance its visibility and legitimacy

Topography Experiment (TOPEX) Software Document Series Volume 7: TOPEX Mission Radar Altimeter Engineering Assessment Report, February 1994

This document describes the GSFC/WFF analysis of the on-orbit engineering data from the TOPEX radar altimeter, to establish altimeter performance. In accordance with Project guidelines, neither surface truth nor precision orbital data are used for the engineering assessment of the altimeter. The use of such data would imply not only a more intensive and complete performance evaluation, but also a calibration. Such evaluations and.calibrations are outside the scope of this document and will be presented in a separate Verification Report

Lactate: brain fuel in human traumatic brain injury: a comparison with normal healthy control subjects.

We evaluated the hypothesis that lactate shuttling helps support the nutritive needs of injured brains. To that end, we utilized dual isotope tracer [6,6-(2)H2]glucose, that is, D2-glucose, and [3-(13)C]lactate techniques involving arm vein tracer infusion along with simultaneous cerebral (arterial [art] and jugular bulb [JB]) blood sampling. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients with nonpenetrating brain injuries (n=12) were entered into the study following consent of patients' legal representatives. Written and informed consent was obtained from control volunteers (n=6). Patients were studied 5.7±2.2 (mean±SD) days post-injury; during periods when arterial glucose concentration tended to be higher in TBI patients. As in previous investigations, the cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (CMRgluc, i.e., net glucose uptake) was significantly suppressed following TBI (p<0.001). However, lactate fractional extraction, an index of cerebral lactate uptake related to systemic lactate supply, approximated 11% in both healthy control subjects and TBI patients. Further, neither the CMR for lactate (CMRlac, i.e., net lactate release), nor the tracer-measured cerebral lactate uptake differed between healthy controls and TBI patients. The percentages of lactate tracer taken up and released as (13)CO2 into the JB accounted for 92% and 91% for control and TBI conditions, respectively, suggesting that most cerebral lactate uptake was oxidized following TBI. Comparisons of isotopic enrichments of lactate oxidation from infused [3-(13)C]lactate tracer and (13)C-glucose produced during hepatic and renal gluconeogenesis (GNG) showed that 75-80% of (13)CO2 released into the JB was from lactate and that the remainder was from the oxidation of glucose secondarily labeled from lactate. Hence, either directly as lactate uptake, or indirectly via GNG, peripheral lactate production accounted for ∼70% of carbohydrate (direct lactate uptake+uptake of glucose from lactate) consumed by the injured brain. Undiminished cerebral lactate fractional extraction and uptake suggest that arterial lactate supplementation may be used to compensate for decreased CMRgluc following TBI

Keeping up with the Times: Improving the Modern Counselor through Professional Identity Development, Technological Policy, and Positive Risk Taking

Awareness of ‘best practices’ and ‘critical issues’ assists counselors-in-training as they attempt to navigate the expectations of their programs and prepare for their future careers. This article identified the development of a professional identity as a significant goal for counselors-in-training and a curriculum responsibility for counselor educators. The authors also identified two critical issues that counselors-in-training and working professionals face currently. The first critical issue addressed is how technologies fit into counseling practices and their impact on the counseling process. The second critical issue is the potential impact of counselor-client willingness to take a risk with therapeutic options. New and seasoned counselors alike will be met with challenges as they develop and grow in their professional identity. Counselors can support their own professional development by understanding ‘critical issues’ that have the potential to impact professional identity as well as gleaning the knowledge of ‘best practices’ for ethical decision-making

Endogenous Nutritive Support after Traumatic Brain Injury: Peripheral Lactate Production for Glucose Supply via Gluconeogenesis.

We evaluated the hypothesis that nutritive needs of injured brains are supported by large and coordinated increases in lactate shuttling throughout the body. To that end, we used dual isotope tracer ([6,6-(2)H2]glucose, i.e., D2-glucose, and [3-(13)C]lactate) techniques involving central venous tracer infusion along with cerebral (arterial [art] and jugular bulb [JB]) blood sampling. Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) who had nonpenetrating head injuries (n=12, all male) were entered into the study after consent of patients' legal representatives. Written and informed consent was obtained from healthy controls (n=6, including one female). As in previous investigations, the cerebral metabolic rate (CMR) for glucose was suppressed after TBI. Near normal arterial glucose and lactate levels in patients studied 5.7±2.2 days (range of days 2-10) post-injury, however, belied a 71% increase in systemic lactate production, compared with control, that was largely cleared by greater (hepatic+renal) glucose production. After TBI, gluconeogenesis from lactate clearance accounted for 67.1% of glucose rate of appearance (Ra), which was compared with 15.2% in healthy controls. We conclude that elevations in blood glucose concentration after TBI result from a massive mobilization of lactate from corporeal glycogen reserves. This previously unrecognized mobilization of lactate subserves hepatic and renal gluconeogenesis. As such, a lactate shuttle mechanism indirectly makes substrate available for the body and its essential organs, including the brain, after trauma. In addition, when elevations in arterial lactate concentration occur after TBI, lactate shuttling may provide substrate directly to vital organs of the body, including the injured brain

Relative Survival of Three Sizes of Walleyes Stocked into Illinois Lakes

The ability to differentially batch-mark several size-groups of fish stocked concurrently in lakes or rivers makes it possible to compare survival within a single year. We evaluated stocking of walleyes Stizostedion vitreum in Illinois during 1991–1996. Ten lakes were stocked with combinations of two or three sizes of walleyes, including fry and small (50-mm) and large (100-mm) fingerlings. This permitted a total of 73 lake-year comparisons: fry versus large fingerlings (23 lake-years), fry versus small fingerlings (29 lake-years), and small versus large fingerlings (21 lake-years). Stocked fish were differentially marked with oxytetracycline or fin clips. Electrofishing catch per effort, relative survival, and population estimates were used in conjunction with production costs to compare size-based contributions and survival. Survival generally favored fingerlings over fry (70% of lake-years for small fingerlings, 67% for large fingerlings) and small fingerlings over large fingerlings (72% of lake-years). In some lake-years, fry and large fingerlings had the highest survival. Fish stocked as fry and small fingerlings were larger than large fingerlings beginning their third year of growth. Based on our results, stocking small fingerlings will generally be more cost-effective than stocking fry or large fingerlings. However, if fry or large fingerlings are available, stocking assessment on specific lakes may allow biologists to determine particular lakes where alternative sizes could be economically feasible

Buckeye Battleground

Buckeye Battleground is the result of a decade’s worth of research at the Bliss Institute on elections in Ohio, with special emphasis on the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns, and the 2006 gubernatorial campaign. This book seeks to explain why Ohio is, and has been, at the center of American elections. Using historical analysis, demographic data, and public opinion surveys, the authors demonstrate Ohio’s role as the quintessential “battleground” state in American elections. This title is unique in its approach and coverage.https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/buckeye_battleground/1000/thumbnail.jp

Buckeye Battleground: Ohio, Campaigns, and Elections in the Twenty-First Century

Buckeye Battleground is the result of a decade\u27s worth of research at the Bliss Institute on elections in Ohio, with special emphasis on the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns, and the 2006 gubernatorial campaign. This book seeks to explain why Ohio is, and has been, at the center of American elections. Using historical analysis, demographic data, and public opinion surveys, the authors demonstrate Ohio\u27s role as the quintessential battleground state in American elections. This title is unique in its approach and coverage.https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/uapress_publications/1151/thumbnail.jp

Flexible Modeling of Epidemics with an Empirical Bayes Framework

Seasonal influenza epidemics cause consistent, considerable, widespread loss annually in terms of economic burden, morbidity, and mortality. With access to accurate and reliable forecasts of a current or upcoming influenza epidemic's behavior, policy makers can design and implement more effective countermeasures. We developed a framework for in-season forecasts of epidemics using a semiparametric Empirical Bayes framework, and applied it to predict the weekly percentage of outpatient doctors visits for influenza-like illness, as well as the season onset, duration, peak time, and peak height, with and without additional data from Google Flu Trends, as part of the CDC's 2013--2014 "Predict the Influenza Season Challenge". Previous work on epidemic modeling has focused on developing mechanistic models of disease behavior and applying time series tools to explain historical data. However, these models may not accurately capture the range of possible behaviors that we may see in the future. Our approach instead produces possibilities for the epidemic curve of the season of interest using modified versions of data from previous seasons, allowing for reasonable variations in the timing, pace, and intensity of the seasonal epidemics, as well as noise in observations. Since the framework does not make strict domain-specific assumptions, it can easily be applied to other diseases as well. Another important advantage of this method is that it produces a complete posterior distribution for any desired forecasting target, rather than mere point predictions. We report prospective influenza-like-illness forecasts that were made for the 2013--2014 U.S. influenza season, and compare the framework's cross-validated prediction error on historical data to that of a variety of simpler baseline predictors.Comment: 52 page