Partisan voters treat politics and elections like a competitive sports rivalry

The rise of political polarization in the U.S. government has been mirrored by a similar trend of growing animosity between people who support different parties. But how have these – often uncivil – rivalries arisen? Using data from two representative surveys of Americans in 2010 and 2012, Patrick R. Miller find that partisans treat politics as they would a sports rivalry, with parties viewed in terms of good and evil, with a strong motivation to win at any cost, often independent of policy outcomes. He also finds that not only are those that view politics as a rivalry the most politically knowledgeable, they are also the most vicious, uncivil, and party-driven voters. This hostile mindset is made worse by a combination of competitive elections and politicians who further fan the flames of partisan rivalries

Emerging Investigators Series: Pyrolysis Removes Common Microconstituents Triclocarban, Triclosan, and Nonylphenol from Biosolids

Reusing biosolids is vital for the sustainability of wastewater management. Pyrolysis is an anoxic thermal degradation process that can be used to convert biosolids into energy rich py-gas and py-oil, and a beneficial soil amendment, biochar. Batch biosolids pyrolysis (60 minutes) revealed that triclocarban and triclosan were removed (to below quantification limit) at 200 °C and 300 °C, respectively. Substantial removal (\u3e90%) of nonylphenol was achieved at 300 °C as well, but 600 °C was required to remove nonylphenol to below the quantification limit. At 500 °C, the pyrolysis reaction time to remove \u3e90% of microconstituents was less than 5 minutes. Fate studies revealed that microconstituents were both volatilized and thermochemically transformed during pyrolysis; microconstituents with higher vapor pressures were more likely to volatilize and leave the pyrolysis reactor before being transformed than compounds with lower vapor pressures. Reductive dehalogenation products of triclocarban and suspected dehalogenation products of triclosan were identified in py-gas. Application of biosolids-derived biochar to soil in place of biosolids has potential to minimize organic microconstituents discharged to the environment provided appropriate management of py-gas and py-oil

Civic Implications of Secondary School Journalism: Associations With Voting Propensity and Community Volunteering

This study examines the association between high school journalism and civic engagement in early adulthood, independent of other civic activities. Nationally representative data show that taking high school journalism classes is related positively to voting in the years following high school, to a similar degree that taking debate classes or participating in student government is related to voting. High school journalism also moderates the association between family socioeconomics and civic engagement. Underprivileged student journalists tend to vote and volunteer more than their non-journalism peers. The study theorizes journalism education’s unique contributions to civic development and civic communication competence

Rituximab induced pulmonary edema managed with extracorporeal life support

Though rare, rituximab has been reported to induce severe pulmonary edema. We describe the first report of ECLS utilization for this indication. A 31-year-old female with severe thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura developed florid pulmonary edema after rituximab infusion. Despite advanced ventilatory settings, she developed severe respiratory acidosis and remained hypoxemic with a significant vasopressor requirement. Since her pulmonary insult was likely transient, ECLS was considered. Due to combined cardiorespiratory failure, she received support with peripheral venoarterial ECLS. During her ECLS course, she received daily plasmapheresis and high dose steroids. Her pulmonary function recovered and she was decannulated after 8 days. She was discharged after 23 days without residual sequelae

Fish oil (n-3 fatty acids) in drug resistant epilepsy: a randomised placebo-controlled crossover study.

Backgroundn-3 fatty acids inhibit neuronal excitability and reduce seizures in animal models. High-dose fish oil has been explored in two randomised trials in drug resistant epilepsy with negative results. We performed a phase II randomised controlled crossover trial of low-dose and high-dose fish oil in participants with drug resistant epilepsy to explore whether low-dose or high-dose fish oil reduces seizures or improves cardiovascular health.MethodsRandomised placebo-controlled trial of low-dose and high-dose fish oil versus placebo (corn oil, linoleic acid) in 24 participants with drug resistant epilepsy. A three-period crossover design was utilised lasting 42 weeks, with three 10-week treatment periods and two 6-week washout periods. All participants were randomised in double-blind fashion to receive placebo, high dose or low dose in different sequences. The primary outcome was per cent change in total seizure frequency.FindingsLow-dose fish oil (3 capsules/day, 1080 mg eicosapentaenoic acid+docosahexaenoic acid) was associated with a 33.6% reduction in seizure frequency compared with placebo. Low-dose fish oil was also associated with a mild but significant reduction in blood pressure. High-dose fish oil was no different than placebo in reducing seizures or improving cardiac risk factors.InterpretationIn this phase II randomised crossover trial, low-dose fish oil was effective in reducing seizures compared with placebo. The magnitude of improvement is similar to that of recent antiepileptic drug trials in drug resistant epilepsy (DRE). The results indicate that low-dose fish oil may reduce seizures and improve the health of people with epilepsy. These findings justify a large multicentre randomised trial of low-dose fish oil (n-3 fatty acids <1080 mg/day) in drug resistant epilepsy.Trial registration numberNCT00871377

Environmental Dependence of the Fundamental Plane of Galaxy Clusters

Galaxy clusters approximate a planar (FP) distribution in a three-dimensional parameter space which can be characterized by optical luminosity, half-light radius, and X-ray luminosity. Using a high-quality catalog of cluster redshifts, we find the nearest neighbor cluster for those common to an FP study and the cluster catalog. Examining scatter about the FP, we find 99.2% confidence that it is dependent on nearest neighbor distance. Our study of X-Ray clusters finds that those with high central gas densities are systematically closer to neighbor clusters. If we combine results here with those of Fritsch and Buchert, we find an explanation for some of our previous conclusions: Clusters in close proximity to other clusters are more likely to have massive cooling flows because they are more relaxed and have higher central gas densities.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters. Moderate revisions, including more statistical analysis and discussion. Latex, 7 page

On Utilization of Contributory Storage in Desktop Grids

The availability of desktop grids and shared computing platforms has popularized the use of contributory resources, such as desktops, as computing substrates for a variety of applications. However, addressing the exponentially growing storage demands of applications, especially in a contributory environment, remains a challenging research problem. In this report, we propose a transparent distributed storage system that harnesses the storage contributed by grid participants arranged in a peer-to-peer network to yield a scalable, robust, and self-organizing system. The novelty of our work lies in (i) design simplicity to facilitate actual use; (ii) support for easy integration with grid platforms; (iii) ingenious use of striping and error coding techniques to support very large data files; and (iv) the use of multicast techniques for data replication. Experimental results through simulations and an actual implementation show that our system can provide reliable and efficient storage with large file support for desktop grid applications

Who Are the “Journalism Kids?” Academic Predictors of Journalism Participation in Secondary Schools

Prior scholastic journalism research did not adequately address the possibility that journalism students perform better academically because of their backgrounds and inherent abilities. Using Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 data, this study shows that high school journalism attracts better students. Although for-credit and extracurricular programs differentiate journalism student characteristics, journalism students generally tend to have greater English self-efficacy, higher English grade point average, greater involvement in schools, be female and White, or have a higher socioeconomic background than those who do not participate in journalism. Future assessments of journalism’s contribution to academic achievement should account for students’ pre-journalism characteristics