Invaluable Involvement: Purposive Interest Group Networks in the 21st Century

We present the first social network analysis of purposive and coordinated interest group relationships. We utilize a network measure based on cosigner status to United States Supreme Court amicus curiae, or friend of the court briefs. The illuminated structures lend insight into the central players and overall formation of the network over the first seven years of the 21st century. We find that the majority of interest groups primarily partake in coalition strategies with other groups of similar policy interest and ideological character. This is in contrast to previous literature that focused only on one or the other. The factions are tied together by various central players, who act as hubs, leaving a disparate collection of organizations that work alone. Network analysis provides evidence, for example, that the National Wildlife Foundation, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union are all particularly strong groups, but exploit different central roles. Ultimately, our work and data suggest several subsequent questions and opportunities pertaining to the coalition strategies of interest groups

The Factors of Interest Group Networks and Success: Organization, Issues and Resources

While interest groups use a variety of techniques to exert influence, coalition strategies are the dominant lobbying technique. However, many questions remain about such coalitions. This paper is the second in a series of social network analyses of purposive and coordinated interest group relationships. We utilize a network measure based on cosigner status to United States Supreme Court amicus curiae, or friend of the court briefs. The illuminated structures lend insight into the central players and overall formation of the network over the first several years of the 21st century. The factions are tied together by various central players, who act as hubs, leaving a disparate collection of organizations that work alone. Using an exponential-family random graph model (ERGM), we find that graph-theorectic and organizational characteristics, such as size and budget, as well as policy interests explain interest group network formation

Agricultural producer perceptions of climate change and climate education needs for the Central Great Plains

Citation: Hibbs, Amber Campbell, Daniel Kahl, Lisa PytlikZillig, Ben Champion, Tarik Abdel-Monem, Timothy Steffensmeier, Charles W. Rice, and Kenneth Hubbard. “Agricultural Producer Perceptions of Climate Change and Climate Education Needs for the Central Great Plains.” Journal of Extension 52, no. 3 (June 2014). https://www.joe.org/joe/2014june/a2.php.The Central Great Plains Climate Education Partnership conducted focus groups throughout Kansas to gain a better understanding of farmer perceptions and attitudes towards climate change education. Results indicate concern about climatic changes, even if producers are unsure that "human caused climate change" is occurring. Participants indicated they would like access to information through Web-based programs that allow them to manipulate variables relevant to their area and situation. Participants prefer locally relevant information and identified Extension agents as trusted educators. The study provided an expanded understanding of agricultural producer perceptions that will be valuable to individuals or organizations providing climate education

Novel Neuroprotective Function of Apical-Basal Polarity Gene crumbs in Amyloid Beta 42 (Aβ42) Mediated Neurodegeneration

Alzheimer’s disease (AD, OMIM: 104300), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with no cure to date, is caused by the generation of amyloid-beta-42 (Aβ42) aggregates that trigger neuronal cell death by unknown mechanism(s). We have developed a transgenic Drosophila eye model where misexpression of human Aβ42 results in AD like neuropathology in the neural retina. We have identified an apical-basal polarity gene crumbs (crb) as a genetic modifier of Aβ42-mediated-neuropathology. Misexpression of Aβ42 caused upregulation of Crb expression, whereas, downregulation of Crb either by RNAi or null allele approach rescued the Aβ42-mediated-neurodegeneration. Co-expression of full length Crb with Aβ42 increased severity of Aβ42-mediated-neurodegeneration, due to three fold induction of cell death in comparison to the wild type. Higher Crb levels affect axonal targeting from the retina to the brain. The structure function analysis identified intracellular domain of Crb to be required for Aβ42-mediatedneurodegeneration. We demonstrate a novel neuroprotective role of Crb in Aβ42-mediatedneurodegeneration

Financial Data Transparency, International Institutions, and Sovereign Borrowing Costs

Recent events in international finance illustrate the close connection between the viability of a country's major private financial institutions and the sustainability of its sovereign debt. We explore the precise nature of this connection and the ways in which it shapes investors’ expectations of sovereign creditworthiness. We consider how investors use the overall level of information available about the private financial sector—and the potential risks it poses to government finances—when making decisions about investing in sovereign debt. We expect that governments providing more information about the private financial sector will have lower, and less volatile, borrowing costs. In order to test this argument, we create a new Financial Data Transparency (FDT) Index measuring governments’ willingness to release credible financial system data. Using the FDT and a sample of high-income OECD countries, we find that such transparency reduces sovereign borrowing costs. The effects are conditional on the level of public indebtedness. Transparent countries with low debt enjoy lower and less volatile borrowing costs

Stability and Kinetics of DNA Pseudoknots: Formation of T∗A•T Base-Triplets and Their Targeting Reactions

Pseudoknots have been found to play important roles in the biology of RNA. These stem-loop motifs are considered to be very compact and the targeting of their loops with complementary strands is accompanied with lower favorable free energy terms. We used a combination of spectroscopic (UV, CD and fluorescence), calorimetric (DSC, PPC and ITC) and kinetic (SPR) techniques to investigate: 1) Local base-triplet formation in pseudoknots; 2) energetic contributions for the association of pseudoknots with their complementary strands; and 3) the kinetic rates as a function of targeting strand length. We investigated a set of DNA pseudoknots with sequence: d(TCTCTTnAAAAAAAAGAGAT5TTTTTTT), where “Tn” is a thymine loop with n = 5, 7, 9, and 11. The favorable folding of each pseudoknot resulted in favorable enthalpy-entropy compensation, correlated to favorable base-pair stacking contributions and unfavorable uptakes of ions and water molecules. The increase in the length of the loop yielded higher TMs, 53°C to 59°C and folding enthalpies ranging from -60 to -110 kcal/mol, resulting in a significant stabilization, ΔG°(5) = -8.5 to -16.6 kcal/mol, which is consistent with the formation of 1-2 TAT/TAT base-triplet stacks. The PPC results yielded folding volume changes, ΔVs, ranging from 18 to 23 ml/mol, indicating the higher volume of the folded pseudoknots is due to the uptake of both water (ΔnW of -11 to -24 mol H2O/mol) and ions (Δnion of -2.5 to -4.1 mol Na+/mol). We use ITC and DSC to determine thermodynamic profiles for the reaction of pseudoknots with partially complementary strands. We obtained favorable reaction free energies terms. However, the targeting of compact pseudoknots containing local base-triplets is less favorable due to their larger folding free energy term. The SPR data indicated that the rate of association, kon, decreases while the rate of dissociation, koff, increases as the length of the targeting strand increases, which yielded increasing KD, app.. This indicates the affinity of the target strand to the pseudoknot decreases as the length of the target strand increases. A similar trend was obtained when dissociation constants, KD, DSC, were measured from DSC Hess cycles. However, the KD, DSC were much smaller. This apparent discrepancy between these techniques is that SPR is measuring both the initial association and initial dissociation rates of steady state equilibrium states, while DSC measures true equilibrium states of the entire molecules

Effects of Rostrum Injuries on Body Condition, Dam Passage, and Hydrodynamics of Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) in the Alabama River

The rostrum of Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) aids in finding zooplankton prey as well as provides lift and stability during swimming, but this structure can sometimes be damaged or even completely missing. Injury or loss of the rostrum may have non-lethal impacts on body condition and swimming ability, although little data exist concerning such effects. Here I quantify the extent and prevalence of Paddlefish rostrum damage across the Alabama River, as well as potential sublethal effects of such damage. Data collected across the Alabama River during 2017-2023 by both Auburn University and Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries personnel were combined to determine (1) the proportion of fish with damaged rostra across the four river sections separated by three lock-and dam structures, and how rostrum condition varied by length and sex, (2) the impact of damage on body condition and gonad development, (3) whether severity of rostrum damage was related to passage/non-passage over the crested spillway at Claiborne Lock and Dam, and (4) impacts of various types of rostrum damage on hydrodynamics around the rostrum. I found that the highest percentage of Paddlefish with rostrum damage was in the lower two sections of the Alabama River (lower Alabama River and Claiborne Lake), with lower values in the upper two sections (William “Bill” Dannelly Reservoir and Jones Bluff Reservoir). Female paddlefish had significantly better rostrum condition scores than males. Rostrum condition did not vary as a function of length. Males with rostrum damage had significantly lower body condition than those fish without damage, however there was no difference in females. Passage rate past Claiborne Lock and Dam did not differ between individuals with versus those without rostrum damage, and a calculated rostrum damage score did not differ significantly between fish that passed versus those that did not pass. Differences in flow disruption around rostrum models showed an overall effect of rostrum damage type. However, there were no differences between rostrum damage types at low water velocity, and some differences were observed at higher water velocity. This project calls for additional investigation into how water forces interact with different types of rostrum damage to fully characterize the effects on hydrodynamics

Uncovering the Gender Participation Gap in Crime

Research on the gender variation in the crime market, a peculiar labor market for illegal activities, is limited, although the issue is relevant per se and for its policy implications. We document a gender gap in criminal activities, based on property and white collar crimes, using data from the U.S. National Incident Based Reporting System. We show that there is a gender participation gap where around 30 percent of the crimes are committed by females. In order to explain, at least in part, the gender participation gap we investigate whether there are differences in incentives to be involved in criminal activities and in responsiveness to these incentives across gender. In particular we focus on criminal earnings and probability of arrest. We show that on average females earn 18 percent less than males while they face the same likelihood of arrest. We find that females are more responsive to changes in the expected probability of arrest, while males respond more to changes in the expected illegal earnings. The fact that females behave differently than males has implications for the heterogeneity in response to crime control policies. In addition, using a Blinder-Oaxaca type decomposition technique, we find that differences in incentives explain about 12 percent of the gender crime gap, while differences in responsiveness explain about 55 percent of the gap

Adaptive and maladaptive personality traits as predictors of violent and nonviolent offending behavior in men and women

he aim of this study was to assess both violent and nonviolent offending behavior in a single, mixed-sex population. The rationale for this is that the two types of offending are usually researched separately, despite evidence that they overlap. A comprehensive measure of general violence, intimate partner violence (IPV), and nonviolent offending behavior was administered to 116 men and 181 women, together with measures of personality and personality disorder (PD) traits, to investigate whether predictors of violent and nonviolent offending were similar or different for men and women. Men were found to perpetrate higher levels of general violence and nonviolent offenses than women, but women perpetrated significantly more IPV than men. Cluster B PD traits predicted all three offense types for women and also men's general violence and nonviolent offending. Women's general violence and men's non-violence also had one unique risk factor each, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness, respectively. The main difference was for IPV, where men's IPV was predicted by cluster A PD traits, indicating that men's and women's risk factors for IPV may be different, although their risk factors for the other offense types were fairly consistent