Strategic Positioning: UNESCO\u27s Use of Argumentation to Encourage a U.S. Return to Membership

This dissertation is an argumentation analysis of UNESCO’s use of argumentation theory to encourage a U.S. return to membership in 2003. The U.S. left UNESCO in 1985 under complaint that it had become politicized and was fraught with budgetary mismanagement. It is an attempt to bridge international communication scholarship and international relations scholarship on an organization that is positioned to have great influence in the international community

Use of Evaporative Cooling Systems and Their Effects on Core Body Temperature and Lying Times in Lactating Dairy Cattle

A study was performed to assess the effect of an evaporative cooling system on respiration rates, rear udder temperature (Tu), core body temperature (CBT), and resting time in lactating dairy cows. Cows were divided into two treatment groups and rotated between two facilities. Cows were either housed in a bedded pack barn (PACK) equipped with an evaporative cooling system (Cyclone fans, Chippewa Falls, WI) or a tie-stall barn (TIE) equipped with cooling cells. Cows housed in PACK had two cooling treatments: FAN (Cyclone fans only, no fog); and FANFOG (Cyclone fans and fog on). Groups of cows rotated between TIE and PACK every 8 hours, and effects of housing as well as cooling treatment within PACK were analyzed. During FANFOG, PACK cows had a reduction (P \u3c 0.05) in respiration rate (breaths per minute) in comparison to TIE (69 vs 76 ± 2.4 BPM). Breaths per minute also increased significantly throughout the day for TIE but this was not the case for PACK. No differences were found in Tu between treatments. While exposed to the FANFOG environment, cows spent decreased time above 102.2°F CBT when compared to FAN. Cows housed in PACK during FAN and FANFOG also spent fewer hours/ day above 102.2°F CBT vs TIE. Cows housed in TIE showed numerically greater total daily lying times during FAN and FANFOG compared to cows housed in PACK, although these results were not significant. These results confirm that evaporative cooling systems (Cyclone fans and fog) are effective at decreasing respiration rates and CBT, while having no effect on Tu and lying times in lactating dairy cows

Effect of Meter Orientation Downstream of a Short Radius Elbow on Electromagnetic Flow Meters

Electromagnetic flow meters (known as magnetic flow meters) are a widely used type of flow meter. This study examines the performance of magnetic flow meters when the electrodes in the meter are positioned at two different orientations: electrodes parallel with the plane of an upstream 90° short radius elbow and electrodes perpendicular to the plane of an upstream 90° short radius elbow. Four different meters from four different manufacturers were included in the study in which a baseline straight pipe test was first performed using more than 50 diameters of straight pipe upstream of each meter. The four meters were then installed at five different locations downstream from a 90° short-radius elbow. At each location, the meters were tested in two orientations at five different flow rates. From this study, shifts in the flow rate were observed with the electrodes located at two different orientations. These shifts in flow rate ranged from 0.01% to 4.40% of the total flow measurement, and the average shifts in flow rate ranged from 0.07% to 2.78%. For the purposes of this study, the shift in flow rate is the percentage relative to the baseline test. The results from this study illustrated that there is a significant difference in measurement accuracy when the meter electrodes are installed at different orientations relative to the plane of the bend

Phosphorylation-dependent substrate selectivity of protein kinase B (AKT1)

Protein kinase B (AKT1) is a central node in a signaling pathway that regulates cell survival. The diverse pathways regulated by AKT1 are communicated in the cell via the phosphorylation of perhaps more than 100 cellular substrates. AKT1 is itself activated by phosphorylation at Thr-308 and Ser-473. Despite the fact that these phosphorylation sites are biomarkers for cancers and tumor biology, their individual roles in shaping AKT1 substrate selectivity are unknown. We recently developed a method to produce AKT1 with programmed phosphorylation at either or both of its key regulatory sites. Here, we used both defined and randomized peptide libraries to map the substrate selectivity of site-specific, singly and doubly phosphorylated AKT1 variants. To globally quantitate AKT1 substrate preferences, we synthesized three AKT1 substrate peptide libraries: one based on 84 “known” substrates and two independent and larger oriented peptide array libraries (OPALs) of ~1011 peptides each. We found that each phospho-form of AKT1 has common and distinct substrate requirements. Compared with pAKT1T308, the addition of Ser-473 phosphorylation increased AKT1 activities on some, but not all of its substrates. This is the first report that Ser-473 phosphorylation can positively or negatively regulate kinase activity in a substrate-dependent fashion. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that the OPAL-activity data effectively discriminate known AKT1 substrates from closely related kinase substrates. Our results also enabled predictions of novel AKT1 substrates that suggest new and expanded roles for AKT1 signaling in regulating cellular processes

Heterogeneous movement of insectivorous Amazonian birds through primary and secondary forest: A case study using multistate models with radiotelemetry data

Given rates of deforestation, disturbance, and secondary forest accumulation in tropical rainforests, there is a great need to quantify habitat use and movement among different habitats. This need is particularly pronounced for animals most sensitive to disturbance, such as insectivorous understory birds. Here we use multistate capture-recapture models with radiotelemetry data to determine the successional stage at which within-day movement probabilities of Amazonian birds in secondary forest are similar to those in primary forest. We radio-tracked three common understory insectivore species in primary and secondary forest at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments project near Manaus, Brazil: two woodcreepers, Glyphorynchus spirurus (n=19) and Xiphorhynchus pardalotus (n=18), and the terrestrial antthrush Formicarius colma (n=19). Forest age was a strong predictor of fidelity to a given habitat. All three species showed greater fidelity to primary forest than to 8-14-year-old secondary forest, indicating the latter's relatively poor quality. The two woodcreeper species used 12-18-year-old secondary forest in a manner comparable to continuous forest, but F. colma avoided moving even to 27-31-year-old secondary forest-the oldest at our site. Our results suggest that managers concerned with less sensitive species can assume that forest reserves connected by 12-18-year-old secondary forest corridors are effectively connected. On the other hand, >30. years are required after land abandonment before secondary forest serves as a primary forest-like conduit for movement by F. colma; more sensitive terrestrial insectivores may take longer still. © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Policy Feedback and the Politics of the Affordable Care Act

There is a large body of literature devoted to how “policies create politics” and how feedback effects from existing policy legacies shape potential reforms in a particular area. Although much of this literature focuses on self‐reinforcing feedback effects that increase support for existing policies over time, Kent Weaver and his colleagues have recently drawn our attention to self‐undermining effects that can gradually weaken support for such policies. The following contribution explores both self‐reinforcing and self‐undermining policy feedback in relationship to the Affordable Care Act, the most important health‐care reform enacted in the United States since the mid‐1960s. More specifically, the paper draws on the concept of policy feedback to reflect on the political fate of the ACA since its adoption in 2010. We argue that, due in part to its sheer complexity and fragmentation, the ACA generates both self‐reinforcing and self‐undermining feedback effects that, depending of the aspect of the legislation at hand, can either facilitate or impede conservative retrenchment and restructuring. Simultaneously, through a discussion of partisan effects that shape Republican behavior in Congress, we acknowledge the limits of policy feedback in the explanation of policy stability and change

Higher pre-infection vitamin E levels are associated with higher mortality in HIV-1-infected Kenyan women: a prospective study

Background: Low vitamin E levels are often found in HIV-1 infection, and studies have suggested that higher levels may decrease the risk of disease progression. However, vitamin E supplementation has also been reported to increase CCR5 expression, which could increase HIV- 1 replication. We hypothesized that vitamin E levels at HIV-1 acquisition may influence disease progression. Methods: Vitamin E status was measured in stored samples from the last pre-infection visit for 67 Kenyan women with reliably estimated dates of HIV-1 acquisition. Regression analyses were used to estimate associations between pre-infection vitamin E and plasma viral load, time to CD4 count less than 200 cells/[micro]L, and mortality. Results: After controlling for potential confounding factors, each 1 mg/L increase in pre-infection vitamin E was associated with 0.08 log[sub]10 copies/mL (95% CI -0.01 to +0.17) higher set point viral load and 1.58-fold higher risk of mortality (95% CI 1.15�2.16). The association between higher preinfection vitamin E and mortality persisted after adjustment for set point viral load (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.13�2.13). Conclusion: Higher pre-infection vitamin E levels were associated with increased mortality. Further research is needed to elucidate the role vitamin E plays in HIV-1 pathogenesis.This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants AI-43844 and AI-38518 (all authors), and Fogarty International Center grant D43 TW000007 (SMG)

Association of sexual relationship power with PrEP persistence and other sexual health outcomes among adolescent and young women in Kenya and South Africa

IntroductionGendered power inequalities impact adolescent girls’ and young women's (AGYW) sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes. We investigated the influence of sexual relationship power on AGYW's SRH outcomes, including HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) persistence.MethodsThe POWER study in Kisumu, Kenya, and Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa provided PrEP to 2,550 AGYW (aged 16–25). AGYW's perceived power in their primary sexual relationship was measured among the first 596 participants enrolled using the Sexual Relationship Power Scale's (SRPS) relationship control sub-scale. Multivariable regression was used to test for (1) key sociodemographic and relationship characteristics associated with relationship power; and (2) the association of relationship power with SRH outcomes including PrEP persistence.ResultsIn this cohort, the mean SRPS score was 2.56 (0.49), 542 (90.9%) initiated PrEP; 192 (35.4%) persisted with PrEP at 1 month of which 46 (24.0% of 192) persisted at 6 months. SRPS were significantly lower among AGYW who cohabited with their sex partner (−0.14, 95% CI: −0.24 to −0.04, p = 0.01), or had ≥1 sex partner (−0.10, 95% CI: −0.19 to −0.00, p = 0.05). AGYW with lower SRPS were more likely to not know their partner's HIV status (aOR 2.05, 95% CI: 1.27 to 3.33, p < 0.01), but SRPS was not associated with PrEP persistence, STI infection, condom, or hormonal contraception use.DiscussionAGYW's reasons for initiating PrEP and reasons for continuously using PrEP may be different. While low relationship power was associated with perceived HIV vulnerability, AGYW's PrEP persistence may be influenced by more than relationship power