The Well-Being of California\u27s Children

More than one in eight children in the United States lives in California. In recent years, California\u27s citizens and lawmakers have given a great deal of attention to addressing the needs of these children, and some programs have directed considerable resources toward enhancing their welfare and development. Given the growth in programs aimed at improving children\u27s well-being, it has become increasingly important to take stock of how children in the state are faring. However, our ability to assess child-centered policies has been seriously hindered because most national studies that include indicators of children\u27s well-being have not been large enough to yield reliable information on children at the state level. This report uses a new source of information—the National Survey of America’s Families (NSAF)—that was explicitly designed to measure children’s welfare and well-being and that provides a large enough sample of California families to assess the status of children in the state. In particular, the report draws on information collected for 1,917 children living in California households that participated in the 1999 NSAF to examine variations in the well-being of children in the state and how they are faring in comparison to children living elsewhere. An important objective of this report is to provide a baseline of information about children’s well-being in 1999 against which similar indicators can be reexamined in subsequent years. Moreover, this analysis provides information about the needs of special subgroups of children and suggests to policymakers ways to target the populations that are in particular need of assistance

PinR mediates the generation of reversible population diversity in Streptococcus zooepidemicus

Opportunistic pathogens must adapt to and survive in a wide range of complex ecosystems. Streptococcus zooepidemicus is an opportunistic pathogen of horses and many other animals, including humans. The assembly of different surface architecture phenotypes from one genotype is likely to be crucial to the successful exploitation of such an opportunistic lifestyle. Construction of a series of mutants revealed that a serine recombinase, PinR, inverts 114 bp of the promoter of SZO_08560, which is bordered by GTAGACTTTA and TAAAGTCTAC inverted repeats. Inversion acts as a switch, controlling the transcription of this sortase-processed protein, which may enhance the attachment of S. zooepidemicus to equine trachea. The genome of a recently sequenced strain of S. zooepidemicus, 2329 (Sz2329), was found to contain a disruptive internal inversion of 7 kb of the FimIV pilus locus, which is bordered by TAGAAA and TTTCTA inverted repeats. This strain lacks pinR and this inversion may have become irreversible following the loss of this recombinase. Active inversion of FimIV was detected in three strains of S. zooepidemicus, 1770 (Sz1770), B260863 (SzB260863) and H050840501 (SzH050840501), all of which encoded pinR. A deletion mutant of Sz1770 that lacked pinR was no longer capable of inverting its internal region of FimIV. The data highlight redundancy in the PinR sequence recognition motif around a short TAGA consensus and suggest that PinR can reversibly influence the wider surface architecture of S. zooepidemicus, providing this organism with a bet-hedging solution to survival in fluctuating environments

Zinc loss in sweat of athletes exercising in hot and neutral temperatures

Zinc (Zn) loss from sweat of 9 male and 9 female athletes exercising under hot (35 degrees C, HE) and neutral (25 degrees C, NE) conditions was examined. Subjects exercised at 50% VO2max on a cycle ergometer for 1 hr during each trial. Cell-free sweat samples were analyzed for Zn by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. There was a significant interaction of time, gender, and temperature for whole-body sweat rates (WBSR). WBSR for males were higher during both trials and at each time. WBSR from the second half of exercise were higher than those from the first half for both sexes and temperature conditions. Sweat Zn concentration was higher in the NE than in the HE, but when the sweat rates were included, the rate of Zn loss was no different between HE and NE. Zn concentration of the sweat for the first half of exercise was over twice that of the second half. Sweat Zn concentration of the men was no different than that of the women; however, due to greater sweat rate, men had significantly higher Zn losses. Although total Zn losses are estimated to be relatively low compared to the RDA, exercise at moderate intensities may increase surface Zn losses

EquiFACS: the Equine Facial Action Coding System

Although previous studies of horses have investigated their facial expressions in specific contexts, e.g. pain, until now there has been no methodology available that documents all the possible facial movements of the horse and provides a way to record all potential facial configurations. This is essential for an objective description of horse facial expressions across a range of contexts that reflect different emotional states. Facial Action Coding Systems (FACS) provide a systematic methodology of identifying and coding facial expressions on the basis of underlying facial musculature and muscle movement. FACS are anatomically based and document all possible facial movements rather than a configuration of movements associated with a particular situation. Consequently, FACS can be applied as a tool for a wide range of research questions. We developed FACS for the domestic horse (Equus caballus) through anatomical investigation of the underlying musculature and subsequent analysis of naturally occurring behaviour captured on high quality video. Discrete facial movements were identified and described in terms of the underlying muscle contractions, in correspondence with previous FACS systems. The reliability of others to be able to learn this system (EquiFACS) and consistently code behavioural sequences was high—and this included people with no previous experience of horses. A wide range of facial movements were identified, including many that are also seen in primates and other domestic animals (dogs and cats). EquiFACS provides a method that can now be used to document the facial movements associated with different social contexts and thus to address questions relevant to understanding social cognition and comparative psychology, as well as informing current veterinary and animal welfare practices

Seeding Techniques for Alfalfa to Improve Subirrigated Meadows

Improving quality and quantity of forage harvested from poor condition, subirrigated hay meadows in the Nebraska Sand Hills is critical to the winter forage reserve of livestock producers. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is the most commonly used legume for meadow improvement. Broadcast seeding (11.2 kg/ha) was compared to sod seeding (11.2 kg/ha) as a method to introduce alfalfa into an alkaline subirrigated meadow (Fluvaquentic Haplustolls). Before seeding, the study area received 78.5 kg/ha phosphorous. Paraquat (0.29 kg/ha) was applied to one-half of the area to suppress plant competition and provide qualitative information on treatment consistency across a range of sod competition. Lo-till sod seeding was accomplished with a power tillage seeder. Seedling density was determined in spring the following year. Broadcast alfalfa had a greater seedling density than sod-seeded alfalfa (38.4 and 19.1 plants/m2, respectively, p=.09). Apparently, paraquat had no effect on seedling establishment and tended to reduce total yield. Yields the year of seeding, using a two harvest scheme, were greater for broadcast compared to sod-seeded alfalfa (p=.02). However, there was no significant difference between yields of broadcast alfalfa and control

Exploratory comparison of methods for combining failure-rate data from different data sources

Thirteen methods are considered for use in pooling failure-rate data from different data sources. A Bayesian approach is taken in which two distinct sources of variation are assumed to be present; namely, prior variation between data sources and statistical error variation within each data source. An exploratory Monte Carlo simulation is used to compare the performance of the methods when used to construct both pooled point and 90% interval estimates of the failure-rate. The results indicated that those methods based on simple averaging techniques are satisfactory when only a small number of data sources are to be pooled. When there are fifteen or more data sets to be pooled, more sophisticated methods, which incorporate additional model structure, are superior. An example is given to illustrate the use of each of the proposed methods

Extended likelihood inference in reliability

Extended likelihood methods of inference are developed in which subjective information in the form of a prior distribution is combined with sampling results by means of an extended likelihood function. The extended likelihood function is standardized for use in obtaining extended likelihood intervals. Extended likelihood intervals are derived for the mean of a normal distribution with known variance, the failure-rate of an exponential distribution, and the parameter of a binomial distribution. Extended second-order likelihood methods are developed and used to solve several prediction problems associated with the exponential and binomial distributions. In particular, such quantities as the next failure-time, the number of failures in a given time period, and the time required to observe a given number of failures are predicted for the exponential model with a gamma prior distribution on the failure-rate. In addition, six types of life testing experiments are considered. For the binomial model with a beta prior distribution on the probability of nonsurvival, methods are obtained for predicting the number of nonsurvivors in a given sample size and for predicting the required sample size for observing a specified number of nonsurvivors. Examples illustrate each of the methods developed. Finally, comparisons are made with Bayesian intervals in those cases where these are known to exist

Synchronisation in Coupled Sine Circle Maps

We study the spatially synchronized and temporally periodic solutions of a 1-d lattice of coupled sine circle maps. We carry out an analytic stability analysis of this spatially synchronized and temporally periodic case and obtain the stability matrix in a neat block diagonal form. We find spatially synchronized behaviour over a substantial range of parameter space. We have also extended the analysis to higher spatial periods with similar results. Numerical simulations for various temporal periods of the synchronized solution, reveal that the entire structure of the Arnold tongues and the devil's staircase seen in the case of the single circle map can also be observed for the synchronized coupled sine circle map lattice. Our formalism should be useful in the study of spatially periodic behaviour in other coupled map lattices.Comment: uuencoded, 1 rextex file 14 pages, 3 postscript figure

Comparing Galaxy Morphology at Ultraviolet and Optical Wavelengths

We have undertaken an imaging survey of 34 nearby galaxies in far-ultraviolet (FUV, ~1500A) and optical (UBVRI) passbands to characterize galaxy morphology as a function of wavelength. This sample, which includes a range of classical Hubble types from elliptical to irregular with emphasis on spirals at low inclination angle, provides a valuable database for comparison with images of high-z galaxies whose FUV light is redshifted into the optical and near- infrared bands. Ultraviolet data are from the UIT Astro-2 mission. We present images and surface brightness profiles for each galaxy, and we discuss the wavelength-dependence of morphology for different Hubble types in the context of understanding high-z objects. In general, the dominance of young stars in the FUV produces the patchy appearance of a morphological type later than that inferred from optical images. Prominent rings and circumnuclear star formation regions are clearly evident in FUV images of spirals, while bulges, bars, and old, red stellar disks are faint to invisible at these short wavelengths. However, the magnitude of the change in apparent morphology ranges from dramatic in early--type spirals with prominent optical bulges to slight in late-type spirals and irregulars, in which young stars dominate both the UV and optical emission. Starburst galaxies with centrally concentrated, symmetric bursts display an apparent ``E/S0'' structure in the FUV, while starbursts associated with rings or mergers produce a peculiar morphology. We briefly discuss the inadequacy of the optically-defined Hubble sequence to describe FUV galaxy images and estimate morphological k-corrections, and we suggest some directions for future research with this dataset.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJS. 15 pages, 17 JPEG figures, 10 GIF figures. Paper and full resolution figures available at http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Kuchinski/frames.htm