Opacified fibrous thermal insulation

Lightweight, opacified, glass fiber batting for high temperature insulation in cryogenic tanks has lower apparent thermal conductivity than untreated insulations. Decrease results from impeding the transmission of radiant energy without increasing the solid conductance of the material

EDUCATION POLICIES AND MIGRATION REALITIES: UTILIZING A STATE LONGITUDINAL DATA SYSTEM TO UNDERSTAND THE DYNAMICS OF MIGRATION CHOICES FOR COLLEGE GRADUATES FROM APPALACHIAN KENTUCKY

Census data indicates people with higher levels of education are leaving Appalachian Kentucky as they do in other rural areas. Aside from anecdotal information and primarily qualitative community studies, there is little quantitative evidence of the factors which may influence these migration decisions. State policies and regional efforts to increase educational attainment of people in the region have focused on producing more college degrees however may be contributing to the out-migration of those with higher levels of education. The study incorporates community level data with demographic, academic, and employment data from a cohort of 2005-06 college graduates from Appalachian Kentucky. The study includes an analysis of migration rates for a variety of different types of graduates and a set of three complimentary logistic regression models developed to understand the impact of individual demographic and academic factors, factors about the communities where these graduates came from, and the factors related to the communities where they went after completing their degrees and credentials to predict likelihood of migrating. This study builds upon previous efforts by providing extensive, externally validated data about a large population of individuals. It leverages sociological, demographic, and neoclassical microeconomic research methods and leverages data from Kentucky\u27s statewide longitudinal data system to serve as an illustration for how these systems can be used for complex statistical analyses

When Not to Ask: A Defense of Choice-Masking Nudges in Medical Research

In this article, we examine the legality and ethics of a controversial but widespread practice in clinical research: choice-masking nudges. A choicemasking nudge (CMN) exists when a research team explicitly obscures a meaningful choice from participants by presenting a default decision as the standard way forward. Even though an easy-to-use opt-out mechanism is available for participants who independently express concerns with the standard default, the fact that a default has been pre-selected is not made obvious to research participants. To opt out of the nudge, a participant must overtly request non-standard treatment. We argue that use of such nudges in medical research can be justified by their individual, collective, and social benefits, provided that they respect autonomy and satisfy four additional acceptability conditions. In Part II of this Article, we describe three controversial cases of CMNs in medical research. In Part III, we provide background on nudging and explain how our proposed CMNs fit into the existing literature on nudging and libertarian paternalism. In Part IV, we explain how the reasonable person standard as employed by United States research regulations can be used to support CMNs. In Part V, we anticipate some of the strongest objections to CMNs by explaining how CMNs are compatible with a wide range of plausible accounts of autonomy. Finally, in Part VI, we discuss four additional core considerations an acceptable CMN must meet: legitimate policy goals; benefits outweighing harms; burdens distributed fairly; and absence of ethically superior feasible alternatives. We also revisit and analyze the three existing controversies previously explored in Part II and show how each would benefit from the conceptual clarity offered by our analytic framework. Medical research is complicated and can be difficult for participants to understand. Thoughtfully designed CMNs can play an important role in gently guiding large numbers of research participants toward decision outcomes that really are best for them and their communities

Xwnt-5A: a maternal Wnt that affects morphogenetic movements after overexpression in embryos of Xenopus laevis

To contribute to an understanding of the roles and mechanisms of action of Wnts in early vertebrate development, we have characterized the normal expression of Xenopus laevis Wnt-5A, and investigated the consequences of misexpression of this putative signalling factor. Xwnt-5A transcripts are expressed throughout development, and are enriched in both the anterior and posterior regions of embryos at late stages of development, where they are found primarily in ectoderm, with lower levels of expression in mesoderm. Overexpression of Xwnt-5A in Xenopus embryos leads to complex malformations distinct from those achieved by ectopic expression of Xwnts −1, −3A, or −8. This phenotype is unlikely to result from Xwnt-5A acting as an inducing agent, as overexpression of Xwnt-5A does not rescue dorsal structures in UV-irradiated embryos, does not induce mesoderm in blastula caps, and Xwnt-5A does not alter the endogenous patterns of expression of goosecoid, Xbra, or Xwnt-8. To pursue whether Xwnt-5A has the capacity to affect morphogenetic movements, we investigated whether overexpression of Xwnt-5A alters the normal elongation of blastula cap explants induced by activin. Intriguingly, Xwnt-5A blocks the elongation of blastula caps in response to activin, without blocking the differentiation of either dorsal or ventral mesoderm within these explants. The data are consistent with Xwnt-5A having the potential activity of modifying the morphogenetic movements of tissues

Simultaneous Avulsion Fractures of the Tibial Tuberosity of Both Knees in a 14-Year-Old Boy: A Case Report

Fractures of the tibial tuberosity are uncommon injuries in adolescents, representing an estimated 0.4% to 2.7% of all pediatric fractures. Most of these injuries occur in young, active males commonly between the ages of 12 to 17 years. Sports, particularly those involving jumping or sudden starts and stops, are most often implicated. Injuries of the tibial tuberosity of both knees are especially rare, with little more than 30 cases reported in the past 60 years. We present a 14-year-old male football player with simultaneous avulsion fractures of the tibial tuberosity of both knees. We reviewed the anatomy, mechanisms of injury, classification systems, treatment strategies, and complications regarding this rare injury

Dairy Herd Management

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Honors program at M.U.

"Contemporary higher education faces a massive double challenge: to meet and accommodate a tidal wave of students, and at the same time to maintain and advance the highest possible intellectual standards. The building progrram is solid evidence that Missouri is meeting the first issue. The establishement of a formal Honors Program is equally substantial, though less immediately obvious, evidence that Missouri is also grappling with the second challenge."--Page

Conformity and anti-intellectualism

"Dr. McGrew's article stems from his informal remarks as a panel member during a campus discussion program."--Page 19."It is a matter of record that American students are ill prepared academically and that in the name of 'educating the whole child' we have debased our intellectual coinage."--Page 2By Roderick E. McGrew (Associate Professor of History)

Using a model of family adaptation to examine outcomes of caregivers of individuals with autism spectrum disorder transitioning into adulthood

Background The study examined the burden of caring for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) transitioning from high school and factors associated with burden derived from the Double ABCX model of family adaptation (i.e., autism symptom severity, problem behaviors, pile-up life demands, personality traits, social support, cognitive appraisals, and coping strategies). In particular, we were interested in the potential association between the “big 5” personality traits and burden. Method Participants (N = 105) were caregivers of individuals with ASD within two years pre- or post-graduation from high school. Results Primary caregivers reported moderate levels of burden. As hypothesized, burden was significantly associated with both child (i.e., increased autism symptom severity and problem behaviors) and caregiver characteristics (i.e., greater neuroticism, lower levels of extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and social support, and increased use of threat appraisals and passive-avoidance coping strategies). Using multiple regression, increased child behavior problems and increased caregiver use of passive-avoidance coping were identified as independent predictors of burden. Passive-avoidance coping mediated the relationship between caregiver burden and individual personality traits (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness). Conclusions The results suggest that proximal variables, such as caregivers’ use of maladaptive coping strategies, explain the associations between burden and personality. Suggestions for interventions to relieve burden are discussed