Race, Gender, and Affirmative Action Attitudes in American and Canadian Universities

Direct comparisons of American and Canadian faculty and students’ views concerning issues of race, gender, and affirmative action in higher education are rare. The 1999 North American Academic Study Survey provides a unique opportunity to analyze the role of national and positional factors in faculty and student attitudes towards race, gender, and affirmative action in the US and Canada. The findings indicate that national factors are more important than positional factors on many racial and affirmative-action issues. Differences between students and faculty are more pronounced than are cross-national variations on many gender-related issues.Rares sont les comparaisons directes entre l’opinion des corps professoral et étudiant des États-Unis et du Canada sur les problématiques liées à la nationalité, au sexe et à la discrimination positive dans l’enseignement supérieur. Le document 1999 North American Academic Study Survey donne l’occasion unique d’analyser le rôle des facteurs nationaux et socioculturels sur l’attitude des corps professoral et étudiant envers la nationalité, le sexe et la discrimination positive aux États-Unis et au Canada. Les résultats suggèrent que, pour plusieurs problématiques liées à la nationalité et à la discrimination positive, les facteurs nationaux sont plus importants que les facteurs socioculturels. Pour plusieurs problématiques liées au sexe, on observe des différences d’attitudes plus marquées entre le corps professoral et le corps étudiant d’un même pays que d’un pays à l’autre

A bacterial disease of the American shad (Alosa sapidissima)

For the past six years a bacterial infection has been the cause of large losses of adult, spawning, American shad (Alosa sapidissima) in the Coos, Millicoma and Smith Rivers of Oregon. There was a sizable commercial fishery for shad in these rivers and losses of fish due to this infection represented an important economic loss to the industry. This study was undertaken to determine the causative agent of the disease and describe the pathology of the disease. Fifteen strains of bacteria were isolated from diseased shad in the Coos, Millicoma, and Smith Rivers. Cultural and morphological studies, physiological reactions, animal infection, serological tests, and determination of the mole percent guanine + cytosine showed that the causative agent belonged in the genus Aeromonas. Since the shad disease isolates could cause "red leg" disease in frogs and "red mouth" disease in trout, they were named Aeromonas hydrophila. The disease was shown to be a bacterial hemorrhagic septicemia. Externally, the diseased shad had large hemorrhagic areas on their sides and reddening of the head and fins. Very little pathology could be seen internally. The causative organism was recovered from the spleen, liver, kidney, heart, blood and external lesions of the diseased animals. A review of the literature revealed that there was confusion in the nomenclature of the three motile species of bacteria included in the genus Aeromonas. Many authors felt that the three species (A. liquefaciens, A. hydrophila, A. punctata) were one distinct species. Comparative tests performed on the shad disease isolates and known cultures of Aeromonas failed to reveal major differences between these organisms. Attempts were made to separate the three species on the basis of the mole percent guanine + cytosine and thermal denaturation temperature (Tm) of the bacterial DNA. Three shad disease isolates had Tm values of 94.3, 94.6, and 94.2°C with corresponding mole percent guanine + cytosine values of 60.9, 61.7, and 60.7. An isolate of Aeromonas liquefaciens obtained from the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia had a Tm of 94.1°C and a mole percent guanine + cytosine of 60.3. Aeromonas hydrophila (CDC) had a Tm of 95.4°C and a mole percent guanine + cytosine of 63.4 while A. punctata (CDC) had a Tm of 93.5°C and a mole percent guanine + cytosine value of 59.0. The mole percent guanine + cytosine results indicated that the shad disease bacterium was closely related to A. liquefaciens. The three known cultures of Aeromonas each had a distinct mole percent guanine + cytosine value

Interface Roughening in a Hydrodynamic Lattice-Gas Model with Surfactant

Using a hydrodynamic lattice-gas model, we study interface growth in a binary fluid with various concentrations of surfactant. We find that the interface is smoothed by small concentrations of surfactant, while microemulsion droplets form for large surfactant concentrations. To assist in determining the stability limits of the interface, we calculate the change in the roughness and growth exponents $\alpha$ and $\beta$ as a function of surfactant concentration along the interface.Comment: 4 pages with 4 embedded ps figures. Requires psfig.tex. Will appear in PRL 14 Oct 199

Conceiving time?: women who do or do not conceive

This article explores the importance of time for an understanding of women's experiences of reproductive identity. In order to do this we draw on data from two separate qualitative research projects. The first project is concerned with the experiences of conception, pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood in primagravidae, whilst the second focuses on the experiences of individuals (especially women) who defined themselves (at the time of the fieldwork, or some time previously) as 'involuntarily childless' and/or 'infertile'. These two areas are usually treated as separate; however this article explores similarities between them in terms of time and medicalisation. Our central concern then is with exploring the similarities of experience for women who do or do not conceive

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events among patients receiving omalizumab: Results from EXCELS, a prospective cohort study in moderate to severe asthma

BackgroundEXCELS, a postmarketing observational cohort study, was a commitment to the US Food and Drug Administration to assess the long-term safety of omalizumab in an observational setting, focusing predominantly on malignancies.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine a potential association between omalizumab and cardiovascular (CV)/cerebrovascular (CBV) events in EXCELS.MethodsPatients (≥12 years of age) with moderate to severe allergic asthma and who were being treated with omalizumab (n = 5007) or not (n = 2829) at baseline were followed up for ≤5 years. Analyses included overall CV/CBV events, but focused on the subset of arterial thromboembolic events (ATEs), comprising CV death, myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, transient ischemic attack, and unstable angina. A prespecified analysis of the end point of ATE was conducted to control for available potential confounders. A blinded independent expert panel adjudicated all events.ResultsAt baseline, the 2 cohorts had similar demographic characteristics, but severe asthma was more common in the omalizumab versus the non-omalizumab group (50% vs 23%). Omalizumab-treated patients had a higher rate of CV/CBV serious adverse events (13.4 per 1,000 person years [PYs]) than did non–omalizumab-treated patients (8.1 per 1,000 PYs). The ATE rates per 1,000 PYs were 6.66 (101 patients/15,160 PYs) in the omalizumab cohort and 4.64 (46 patients/9,904 PYs) in the non-omalizumab cohort. After control for available confounding factors, the hazard ratio was 1.32 (95% CI, 0.91-1.91).ConclusionThis observational study demonstrated a higher incidence rate of CV/CBV events in the omalizumab versus the non-omalizumab cohort. Differences in asthma severity between cohorts likely contributed to this imbalance, but some increase in risk cannot be excluded

The imperative to invest in science has never been greater

In order to sustain and improve the health of Americans, to ensure our ability to overcome new health challenges, and to realize the economic benefits of a vigorous scientific economy, we encourage our government to implement three actions. First, establish predictable, managed growth in the US scientific enterprise by establishing a sustainable and predictable real annual increase in science funding. This will require additional investments in the proven NIH-university partnership to maintain our world-leading position in biomedical science. Second, preserve the current cadre of well-trained junior scientists, including physician-scientists, and maintain a pipeline of young scientists motivated to innovate and improve health. Third, analyze changing health needs and priorities for health science–related investments in order to address ongoing shifts in population demographics and diseases, opportunities for improved prevention or treatment, and the availability of new scientific tools and disciplines. It is in the nation’s best interests -- for good health, for a robust economy, and for scientific leadership -- to advocate for strong federal support of biomedical science in America’s great research universities. Translation of this science yields enormous benefits to our nation’s health and to the economy

Influence of Different Plant Species on Methane Emissions from Soil in a Restored Swiss Wetland

Plants are a major factor influencing methane emissions from wetlands, along with environmental parameters such as water table, temperature, pH, nutrients and soil carbon substrate. We conducted a field experiment to study how different plant species influence methane emissions from a wetland in Switzerland. The top 0.5 m of soil at this site had been removed five years earlier, leaving a substrate with very low methanogenic activity. We found a sixfold difference among plant species in their effect on methane emission rates: Molinia caerulea and Lysimachia vulgaris caused low emission rates, whereas Senecio paludosus, Carex flava, Juncus effusus and Typha latifolia caused relatively high rates. Centaurea jacea, Iris sibirica, and Carex davalliana caused intermediate rates. However, we found no effect of either plant biomass or plant functional groups – based on life form or productivity of the habitat – upon methane emission. Emissions were much lower than those usually reported in temperate wetlands, which we attribute to reduced concentrations of labile carbon following topsoil removal. Thus, unlike most wetland sites, methane production in this site was probably fuelled chiefly by root exudation from living plants and from root decay. We conclude that in most wetlands, where concentrations of labile carbon are much higher, these sources account for only a small proportion of the methane emitted. Our study confirms that plant species composition does influence methane emission from wetlands, and should be considered when developing measures to mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions

Race, Slavery, and the Expression of Sexual Violence in Louisa Picquet, The Octoroon

Historically, victims of sexual violence have rarely left written accounts of their abuse, so while sexual violence has long been associated with slavery in the United States, historians have few accounts from formerly enslaved people who experienced it first-hand. Through a close reading of the narrative of Louisa Picquet, a survivor of sexual violence in Georgia and Louisiana, this article reflects on the recovery of evidence of sexual violence under slavery through amanuensis-recorded testimony, the unintended evidence of survival within the violent archive of female slavery, and the expression of “race” as an authorial device through which to demonstrate the multigenerational nature of sexual victimhood

Corporate Interests: How the News Media Portray the Economy

This study examines contradictory claims about the news media's coverage of the economy. After discussing various sociological perspectives on news media, I compare the objective performance of California's economy, as measured by statistical indicators, to accounts of the economy found in the state's largest newspaper—the Los Angeles Times. The data reveal that, despite growth patterns that overwhelmingly favored economic elites, the negative news about the economy disproportionately depicted events and problems affecting corporations and investors instead of the general workforce. When the Times did discuss problems affecting workers, the articles were relatively short, most often placed in the back sections of the newspaper, and rarely discussed policy alternatives to the status quo. Moreover, unlike the viewpoints of business leaders and government officials, the viewpoints of workers or their spokespersons were rarely used as sources of information. These findings provide qualified support for existing scholarship purporting that the news media, when reporting on the economy, privilege the interests of corporations and investors over the interests of the general workforce