The American Jewish Committee's Annual Opinion Surveys: An Assessment of Sample Quality

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) surveys of Jewish opinion are unique both in being conducted annually and in the subject matter covered. This paper assesses the quality of these samples. I first summarize my earlier findings on the implications of limiting a sample to respondents who answered Jewish when asked a screening question about their religion. I then explore how well the AJC samples actually represent the chosen target population of Jews by religion. That exploration rests on public use datasets available for five recent AJC survey years. Outcomes from these five datasets can be compared to one another as well as to outcomes from public use datasets of two other recent national surveys of Jews, especially on the demographic characteristics of the respondents. The paper finds some larger-than-expected differences among AJC samples, and between these and the other two types of datasets. Finally, the paper considers the extent to which these differences matter for the substantive analysis of American Jewish opinion

To Build a Notion:US State Department Nation Building Expertise and Postwar Settlements in 20th Century East Central Europe

This article offers a contribution to the sociology of social science knowledge practices and expertise through the empirical lens of US nation building policies. Drawing on archival materials, including the State Department's Freedom of Information Act documents, and interviews with key policymakers we offer a comparative historical sociology of the US State Department as a site of nation building knowledge and expertise. In examining the evolving character of nation building expertise in three key moments across the twentieth century, we find that as nation building expertise and its attendant knowledge practices were redefined and institutionally relocated, the essential character of the expertise and data collection practices that were valorized shifted from social scientism in the 1910s to geopolitical empiricism in the 1940s to liberal legalism in the 1990s. This changing character of nation building knowledge practices at the State Department had an effect on the substance of US nation building policy

Assessing Immigrant Assimilation: New Empirical and Theoretical Challenges

This review examines research on the assimilation of immigrant groups. We review research on four primary benchmarks of assimilation: socioeconomic status, spatial concentration, language assimilation, and intermarriage. The existing literature shows that today's immigrants are largely assimilating into American society along each of these dimensions. This review also considers directions for future research on the assimilation of immigrant groups in new southern and midwestern gateways and how sociologists measure immigrant assimilation. We document the changing geography of immigrant settlement and review the emerging body of research in this area. We argue that examining immigrant assimilation in these new immigrant gateways is crucial for the development of theories about immigrant assimilation. We also argue that we are likely to see a protracted period of immigrant replenishment that may change the nature of assimilation. Studying this change requires sociologists to use both birth cohort and generation as temporal markers of assimilation.Sociolog

ICM Web: the interactive chromatin modeling web server

The interactive chromatin modeling web server (ICM Web) is an interactive tool that allows users to rapidly assess nucleosome stability and fold sequences of DNA into putative chromatin templates. ICM Web takes a sequence composed of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts as input and generates (i) a nucleosome energy level diagram, (ii) coarse-grained representations of free DNA and chromatin and (iii) plots of the helical parameters (Tilt, Roll, Twist, Shift, Slide and Rise) as a function of position. The user can select from several different energy models, nucleosome structures and methods for placing nucleosomes in the energy landscape. Alternatively, if nucleosome footprints are known from experiment, ICM Web can use these positions to create a nucleosome array. The default energy model achieves a correlation coefficient of 0.7 with 100 experimentally determined values of stability and properly predicts the location of six positioned nucleosomes in the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter. ICM Web is suitable for interactively investigating nucleosome stability and chromatin folding for sequences up to tens of kilobases in length. No login is required to use ICM Web

Antigen-specific influence of GM/KM allotypes on IgG isotypes and association of GM allotypes with susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum malaria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>malaria is a complex disease in which genetic and environmental factors influence susceptibility. IgG isotypes are in part genetically controlled, and GM/KM allotypes are believed to be involved in this control.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, 216 individuals from Daraweesh, an area of seasonal malaria transmission in Sudan, were followed for nine years for malaria infection. Total IgG and IgG isotypes against four malaria antigens, MSP2-3D7, MSP2-FC27, AMA1, and Pf332-C231 were measured in plasma obtained from the cohort at the end of the study, during the dry malaria-free period. The GM/KM allotypes of the donors were determined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The GM 1,17 5,13,14,6 phenotype was associated with a higher incidence of malaria compared with the non-1,17 5,13,14,6 phenotypes (P = 0.037). Paradoxically, the carriers of the GM 1,17 5,13,14,6 phenotype had significantly higher baseline levels of total IgG and non-cytophilic IgG isotypes as compared to non-carriers. The KM allotypes influence on IgG isotypes level was limited. Finally, the differences in the baseline concentrations of total IgG and IgG isotypes between the different GK/KM phenotype carriers were antigen-dependent.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The results show that GM but not KM allotypes appeared to influence host susceptibility to uncomplicated malaria as well as the antibody profile of the donors, and the carriers of the GM 1,17 5,13,14,6 phenotype were the most susceptible</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The GM allotypes have significant influence on susceptibility to uncomplicated <it>P. falciparum </it>malaria and antigen-dependent influence on total IgG and IgG subclasses.</p

Genetic Determination and Linkage Mapping of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Related Traits in Senegal

Plasmodium falciparum malaria episodes may vary considerably in their severity and clinical manifestations. There is good evidence that host genetic factors contribute to this variability. To date, most genetic studies aiming at the identification of these genes have used a case/control study design for severe malaria, exploring specific candidate genes. Here, we performed a family-based genetic study of falciparum malaria related phenotypes in two independent longitudinal survey cohorts, as a first step towards the identification of genes and mechanisms involved in the outcome of infection. We studied two Senegalese villages, Dielmo and Ndiop that differ in ethnicity, malaria transmission and endemicity. We performed genome-scan linkage analysis of several malaria-related phenotypes both during clinical attacks and asymptomatic infection. We show evidence for a strong genetic contribution to both the number of clinical falciparum malaria attacks and the asymptomatic parasite density. The asymptomatic parasite density showed linkage to chromosome 5q31 (LOD = 2.26, empirical p = 0.0014, Dielmo), confirming previous findings in other studies. Suggestive linkage values were also obtained at three additional chromosome regions: the number of clinical malaria attacks on chromosome 5p15 (LOD = 2.57, empirical p = 0.001, Dielmo) and 13q13 (LOD = 2.37, empirical p = 0.0014 Dielmo), and the maximum parasite density during asymptomatic infection on chromosome 12q21 (LOD = 3.1, empirical p<10−4, Ndiop). While regions of linkage show little overlap with genes known to be involved in severe malaria, the four regions appear to overlap with regions linked to asthma or atopy related traits, suggesting that common immune related pathways may be involved

Schooling and Poor Children in 19th-Century America

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68138/2/10.1177_000276429203500307.pd