Are Social Welfare Policies ‘Pro-Life’? An Individual-Level Analysis of Low-Income Women

This paper tests the hypothesis that low-income women’s likelihood of choosing abortion will decrease as their access to and participation in social welfare programs increases. Though an affirmative finding could challenge the coherence of a morally and fiscally conservative Republican coalition and thus improve prospects for the safety net’s political future, findings from a sample of low-SES, urban mothers do not support this hypothesis. Welfare program participation and state welfare generosity are positively associated with the likelihood of choosing abortion. The existence and magnitude of this relationship, however, is mediated by the rules of state welfare bureaucracies and also varies by women’s race and marital status. Limitations on abortion access appear to reduce abortions, while the nongovernmental safety net does not affect abortion decisions.

Social Policy and Social Services in Women's Pregnancy Decision-Making: Political and Programmatic Implications

This dissertation empirically evaluates the argument that welfare state expansion will reduce abortion. Its central question concerns the extent to which women's economic needs and the degree to which social services meet them influence their abortion decisions. It also investigates the characteristics and political behavior of pro-life, pro-social welfare Americans, the most likely targets of any effort to reframe welfare as a pro-life issue. To these ends, this project employs individual-level data from the National Election Study, the Fragile Families Study, and a survey of clients at Baltimore abortion providers and pregnancy centers. Other main data sources include state welfare policies and abortion rates, and neighborhood-level Census data linked to directories of child care and abortion providers. This project represents perhaps the first rigorous, social-scientific investigation of the link between economic assistance and abortion decisions. Its findings contribute to the literature on policy compliance and policy tools, and carry implications for social welfare politics and the composition of party coalitions. In many ways, data analyzed in this study align with the status quo of abortion and welfare policy and politics. Political debates over welfare are largely independent of political debates over abortion. Likewise, the cases in which the root issues associated with low-income women's abortion decisions could be exclusively solved by welfare policy are rare. Welfare policy appears to be an effective capacity-building tool with respect to abortion decisions for some women, in some ways, and in combination with other supports. The pro-life movement's current dominant approach to abortion policy appears to meet the movement's goal of reducing abortions more efficiently than a capacity-building approach. Investment in capacity-building policy or in political messages of that tone holds promise for progress toward their respective policy and political goals. On the other hand, expected gain is modest considering both of these efforts would stretch the limits of the possible in American politics

Crisis Management, COVID-19, and Libraries: Implications for LIS Education

LIS educators contribute a unique perspective in preparing an information workforce ready to meet the challenges associated with crises. This panel addresses issues related to emergency planning, effective communication, and crisis management along with the important connections to and implications for LIS Education. The panel begins with a presentation on public libraries’ coalition building and joint responses to crises. In this portion of the panel, Dr. Noah Lenstra discusses how public librarians are navigating this facet of their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, setting the stage for broader discussion on how partnerships and programming fit within library emergency planning, and how LIS education can help prepare future librarians for these tasks. Dr. Rachel Williams will address the results of a survey on public library responses to COVID-19. Her presentation examines how public libraries responded in the moment to an emerging pandemic and how the developing knowledge around crisis management and personal and organizational resilience are important skills for emerging public library professionals. Sharing her experiences as a public library Board of Trustees member, Dr. Laura Saunders’ talk expands on the conversation related to public libraries. Her presentation introduces issues related to academic libraries’ responses to crises and opportunities for course development in these areas. Drs. Lisa Hussey and Deborah Charbonneau wrap up the panel presentations through an examination of the current state of disaster management courses. Their discussion also outlines suggestions for incorporating emergency planning and crisis management into the LIS curriculum. To facilitate engagement on crisis management in LIS education, audience participants will be invited to share their experiences navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, as educators and advisors, and as colleagues of and collaborators with professionals

Fingermark visualisation with iron oxide powder suspension:the variable effectiveness of iron (II/III) oxide powders, and Tween® 20 as an alternative to TritonTM X-100

The effectiveness of the current UK iron oxide powder suspension formulation, ‘C-IOPS-09’ (Triton X-100 based), for fingermark or latent fingerprint visualization is shown to be affected by variations between batches of the recommended iron oxide powder from Fisher Scientific (I/1100/53). When incorporated into the C-IOPS-09 formulation, a 2015 powder batch resulted in the detection of ∼19% fewer fingermarks, of broadly reduced contrast, when compared to powder suspension prepared with a 2008 batch of the same product. Furthermore, the 2015 powder batch was found to be unsuitable in experimental reduced-surfactant concentration powder suspension, because it caused surface-wide or background staining. The studies in this paper also investigated the use of Tween 20 surfactant as an alternative to the currently utilised Triton X-100, in preparation for the potential unavailability of Triton X-100 in the future. Powder suspensions prepared with Tween 20 surfactant solutions of 4% and 40% were shown to offer similar effectiveness to the currently recommended C-IOPS-09 formulation, when compared using the same batch of Fisher Scientific iron oxide powder (2008 or 2015). The difference between the 2008 and 2015 iron oxide batches was hence also evident with these alternative surfactant solutions. Particle size distribution analysis of the iron oxide powders in Tween 20 and Triton X-100 based surfactant solutions show that the more effective powder exhibits a higher sub-micrometre particle population than the less effective powder. This work leads to an improved specification for powder suspension formulations. This is demonstrated with an example powder suspension formulation which uses a 10% Tween 20 surfactant solution and iron oxide nanopowder (50–100 nm) from Sigma Aldrich, which was shown to visualise 27% more fingermarks than the C-IOPS-09 formulation prepared with the 2015 Fisher Scientific powder batch, in a comparative study

American Eel: A Symposium. Session Five

Session Five elaborates law and policy frameworks for the conservation and sustainability of American eels from both the United States and Canada

American Eel: A Symposium. Session Five

Session Five elaborates law and policy frameworks for the conservation and sustainability of American eels from both the United States and Canada

Recombinant factor VIIa analog NN1731 (V158D/E296V/M298Q-FVIIa) enhances fibrin formation, structure and stability in lipidated hemophilic plasma

Introduction—The bypassing agent recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) is efficacious in treating bleeding in hemophilia patients with inhibitors. Efforts have focused on the rational engineering of rFVIIa variants with increased hemostatic potential. One rFVIIa analog (V158D/E296V/M298QFVIIa, NN1731) improves thrombin generation and clotting in purified systems, whole blood from hemophilic patients and factor VIII-deficient mice. Methods—We used calibrated automated thrombography and plasma clotting assays to compare effects of bypassing agents (rFVIIa, NN1731) on hemophilic clot formation, structure, and ability to resist fibrinolysis. Results—Both rFVIIa and NN1731 shortened the clotting onset and increased the maximum rate of fibrin formation and fibrin network density in hemophilic plasma clots. In the presence of tissue plasminogen activator, both rFVIIa and NN1731 shortened the time to peak turbidity (TTPeaktPA) and increased the area under the clot formation curve (AUCtPA). Phospholipids increased both rFVIIa and NN1731 activity in a lipid concentration-dependent manner. Estimated geometric mean concentrations of rFVIIa and NN1731 producing similar onset, rate, TTPeaktPA, and AUCtPA as seen with 100% factors VIII and IX were: 24.5, 74.3, 29.7, and 37.1 nM rFVIIa, and 8.6, 31.2, 9.0, and 11.3 nM NN1731, respectively. In each case, the NN1731 concentration was significantly lower than rFVIIa. Conclusions—These findings suggest that like rFVIIa, NN1731 improves the formation, structure, and stability of hemophilic clots. Higher lipid concentrations may facilitate assessment of both rFVIIa and NN1731 activity. NN1731 appears likely to support rapid clot formation in tissues with high endogenous fibrinolytic activity

Dysregulation of Connexin expression plays a pivotal role in psoriasis

Background: Psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory disease affecting 2–3% of the population, is characterised by epidermal hyperplasia, a sustained pro-inflammatory immune response and is primarily a T-cell driven disease. Previous work determined that Connexin26 is upregulated in psoriatic tissue. This study extends these findings. Methods: Biopsies spanning psoriatic plaque (PP) and non-involved tissue (PN) were compared to normal controls (NN). RNA was isolated and subject to real-time PCR to determine gene expression profiles, including GJB2/CX26, GJB6/CX30 and GJA1/CX43. Protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Keratinocytes and fibroblasts were isolated and used in 3D organotypic models. The pro-inflammatory status of fibroblasts and 3D cultures was assessed via ELISA and RnD cytokine arrays in the presence or absence of the connexin channel blocker Gap27. Results: Connexin26 expression is dramatically enhanced at both transcriptional and translational level in PP and PN tissue compared to NN (>100x). In contrast, CX43 gene expression is not affected, but the protein is post-translationally modified and accumulates in psoriatic tissue. Fibroblasts isolated from psoriatic patients had a higher inflammatory index than normal fibroblasts and drove normal keratinocytes to adopt a “psoriatic phenotype” in a 3D-organotypic model. Exposure of normal fibroblasts to the pro-inflammatory mediator peptidoglycan, isolated from Staphylococcus aureus enhanced cytokine release, an event protected by Gap27. Conclusion: dysregulation of the connexin26:43 expression profile in psoriatic tissue contributes to an imbalance of cellular events. Inhibition of connexin signalling reduces pro-inflammatory events and may hold therapeutic benefit

Molecular ecology of the sleeper shark subgenus Somniosus (Somniosus) reveals genetic homogeneity within species and lack of support for S. antarcticus

Inferences made from molecular data support regional stock assessment goals by providing insights into the genetic population dynamics of enigmatic species. Population genomics metrics, such as genetic diversity and population connectivity, serve as useful proxies for species health and stability. Sleeper sharks (genus Somniosus) are ecologically important deep-sea predators, estimated to reach ages of 250 to 300 yr and taking decades to reach sexual maturity. The subgenus Somniosus (Somniosus) is comprised of 3 species: S. pacificus, S. microcephalus, and S. antarcticus. Given the life history strategy of somniosids, they are vulnerable to overfishing and population declines. Further, data to assess the stocks of these species are limited. To address this deficiency, we used the reduced representation library method Restriction-site Associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) to conduct phylogenomic and population genomics analyses, providing novel information for use in stock assessments. Our results strongly support the species status of S. microcephalus (N = 79), but recover S. antarcticus (N = 2) intermixed within the S. pacificus (N = 170) clade. Population genomics analyses reveal genetic homogeneity within S. pacificus and S. microcephalus, and estimates of effective population size were in the hundreds for both species. Kinship analysis identified 2 first-degree relative pairs within our dataset (1 within each species). Our results contribute new information for stock assessments of these uniquely long-lived species by providing the strongest molecular evidence to date for the synonymization of S. antarcticus and S. pacificus, as well as estimating population genomic metrics for each supported species within the Somniosus (Somniosus) subgenus