International Public Opinion, Perception, and Understanding of Global Climate Change

human development, climate change

The Jewish Contribution to Lithuanian Independence 1918/1919

Historians have already shown how the Jewish minority contributed to the rebirth of the Lithuanianstate in 1918. The beginning of the experiment to integrate the Jewish minority intothe reemergent Lithuanian state, however, has often been told from the perspective of failureonly. The article challenges this view, by describing how Zionism, the Jewish national movement,supported the emergence of the Lithuanian state. The author analyses how the Jewssupported the newly created Lithuanian government by voting to send representatives to it,and by producing a document that improved the international position of the Lithuanian delegationat the Paris Peace Conference, and which was helpful for the international recognitionof the young state.Key words: Lithuanian Jews, Lithuanian-Jewish relations, Zionism, Paris Peace Conference,international recognition

Two-dimensional order in β-sheet peptide monolayers

Amphiphilic peptides comprising alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acid residues were designed to form super-secondary structures composed of self-assembled β-strands as monolayers at the air−water interface. Insights provided by in situ grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD), surface pressure vs area isotherms, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy allow structural characterization of the assembled nanostructures and rational correlation with the peptide sequence. Peptides seven to seventeen amino acids in length were found to form crystalline arrays with coherence lengths in the range of 100 to 1000 Å. Two-dimensional registry of the self-assembled peptides was induced by placement of proline residues at the peptide termini. The films were found to intercalate ordered arrays of ions between juxtaposed β-sheet ribbons to generate peptide−ion composite phases

Americans’ Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes

This report presents results from a national study of what Americans understand about how the climate system works, and the causes, impacts, and potential solutions to global warming. Among other findings, the study identifies a number of important gaps in public knowledge and common misconceptions about climate change. Educational levels: Graduate or professional, Undergraduate upper division, Undergraduate lower division, General public

Policy-Instrument Choice and Benefit Estimates for Climate-Change Policy in the United States

This paper provides the first willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates in support of a national climate-change policy that are comparable with the costs of actual legislative efforts in the U.S. Congress. Based on a survey of 2,034 American adults, we find that households are, on average, willing to pay between $79 and$89 per year in support of reducing domestic greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions 17 percent by 2020. Even very conservative estimates yield an average WTP at or above $60 per year. Taking advantage of randomized treatments within the survey valuation question, we find that mean WTP does not vary substantially among the policy instruments of a cap-and-trade program, a carbon tax, or a GHG regulation. But there are differences in the sociodemographic characteristics of those willing to pay across policy instruments. Greater education always increases WTP. Older individuals have a lower WTP for a carbon tax and a GHG regulation, while greater household income increases WTP for these same two policy instruments. Republicans, along with those indicating no political party affiliation, have a significantly lower WTP regardless of the policy instrument. But many of these differences are no longer evident after controlling for respondent opinions about whether global warming is actually happening.

The impact of a vaginal brachytherapy boost to pelvic radiation in stage III endometrial cancer.

PURPOSE:We investigate the use and impact of a vaginal brachytherapy boost (VBB) after pelvic radiotherapy for stage III endometrial adenocarcinoma on vaginal and pelvic control. MATERIAL AND METHODS:One hundred patients treated from 1998-2011 with surgery and adjuvant therapy with or without a VBB were included. Variables examined were grade, stage, lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI), vaginal involvement (VI), cervical stromal involvement (CSI), myometrial invasion (MI), and a VBB. Failure was scored as vaginal, or pelvic. Fisher's exact test assessed association between variables with vaginal and pelvic control. RESULTS:With a median follow up of 43 months, 31% were stage IIIA, 6% stage IIIB, and 63% stage IIIC. Thirty-eight (38%) received pelvic radiotherapy alone, and 62% received adjuvant chemotherapy. Of the 100 patients, 82 were treated with a VBB, 10 were not treated with a VBB, and 8 were not treated with RT. Of the 82 patients who received a VBB, 5 failed in the vagina with vaginal and pelvic control rates of 94% and 92%. The impact of VB reached borderline significance with its impact on pelvic control, 92% vs. 70% (p = 0.056), and did not affect vaginal control, 94% and 90% (p = 0.50). Neither tumor grade, LVSI, CSI, stage, nor LVSI (p > 0.05) statistically significantly impacted vaginal control. CONCLUSIONS:There are no clinical guidelines for the use of a VBB in stage III endometrial cancer. The majority of our patients were treated with a VBB and experienced excellent pelvic and vaginal control. The presence of traditional adverse features did not negatively impact control in our patient cohort. However, the role of a VBB needs further investigation to understand the incremental benefit beyond pelvic RT

Toward a New Consciousness: Values to Sustain Human and Natural Communities

A Synthesis of Insights and Recommendations from the 2007 Yale F&ES Conferenc

Global Warming Risk Perceptions in India

Thaker, Jagadish, Smith, Nicholas, and Leiserowitz, Anthony ; 2020; Global warming risk perceptions in India; "Published in Risk Analysis" ; http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/risa.13574Publishe

Climate Change in the Latino Mind

This report focuses on a critical demographic in the United States – Latinos. Currently 17% of the U.S. population (more than 58 million people) and the second-largest racial/ethnic group in the nation, Latinos are a fast-growing demographic projected to reach 24% of the population by 2065, while non-Latino whites will decrease from 62% of the current population to 46% in 2065. A 2017 nationally representative survey of 2,054 English and Spanish-speaking Latinos investigates their current climate change knowledge, risk perceptions, policy support, behaviors, motivations, and barriers to political action

Perceptions of scientific consensus predict later beliefs about the reality of climate change using cross-lagged panel analysis: A response to Kerr and Wilson (2018)

In a recent study, Kerr and Wilson (2018) claim to provide a failed test of the Gateway Belief Model (GBM) using a cross-lagged panel analysis with 356 college students. Although we applaud the authors’ effort to extend scholarly work on the GBM, we point out several mischaracterizations of our work and present evidence that contradicts their findings