The Intermountain West today: A regional survey

What does it mean to live in the Intermountain West today? What issues are most and least important to the region’s residents? Do Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah have a collective identity or are state-level differences too great? Is there an identifiable Intermountain West personality? Today we will present the results of a unique survey that attempts to answer these questions

American political affiliation, 2003–43: a cohort component projection

The recent rise and stability in American party identification has focused interest on the long-term dynamics of party bases. Liberal commentators cite immigration and youth as forces which will produce a natural Democratic advantage in the future while conservative writers highlight the importance of high Republican fertility in securing Republican growth. These concerns foreground the neglect of demography within political science. This paper addresses this omission by conducting the first ever cohort component projection of American partisan populations to 2043 based on survey and census data. A number of scenarios are modeled, but, on current trends, we predict that American partisanship will shift much less than the nation’s ethnic composition because the parties’ age structures are similar. Still, our projections find that the Democrats gain two to three percentage points from the Republicans by 2043, mainly through immigration, though Republican fertility may redress the balance in the very long term

America’s new swing region: The political demography and geography of the Mountain West

The 2008 Presidential election showed the political importance of the Mountain West, America\u27s new swing region. Changing demographics and shifting geographical voting patterns have put this region in play between the two parties and competition is sure to be fierce for many years to come. This paper examines the political demography and geography of states in the Mountain West in anticipation of this November’s elections and the 2012 Presidential election

Trust in Government in the Trump Era: A Comprehensive Study of U.S. Public Opinion on the Federal Government Under the Trump Administration

The election and presidency of Donald Trump has upended American politics in numerous ways. For his most ardent supporters, President Trump's efforts to change things in Washington; to deliver nationalist economic policies on trade, jobs, and immigration; and to advance culturally conservative rhetoric and racial appeals are worth the break with past presidential behavior and national unity. For his detractors, the actions of Trump and his administration represent a serious abrogation of presidential norms and mark a dangerous shift away from pluralist democracy and toward more authoritarian nationalism. Many other voters with less intense feelings about Trump are just trying to put the whole spectacle out of their minds and to find some semblance of normalcy in a politically fractured environment. For those who study public attitudes about government itself, the Trump presidency raises serious questions about whether the United States is experiencing real, long-lasting changes in voters' attitudes toward government, or if Americans are reacting in intense but more typical ways that are consistent with past trends. To examine these issues in more detail, the Center for American Progress, along with its colleagues at Hart Research Associates, designed a comprehensive national survey to measure basic beliefs about government and specific voter attitudes about the Trump administration. The online survey of 1,500 registered voters nationally was conducted March 19–25, 2018, and has an overall margin of error of +/- 2.6 percent. This study builds upon a major public opinion study that CAP and Hart conducted in 2015, which examined public attitudes about government and explored a variety of proposals for improving the performance and representation of the government in Washington. The results of that research are summarized in the unpublished May 2016 report, "Of the People, By the People, For the People? A National Study of Public Trust and Confidence in Government."1Based on the results of the current study and comparisons with earlier responses from the 2015 research and other publicly available data, we believe that reactions to the Trump administration represent a genuine break with past public views of government in significant ways. Most importantly, the partisan divisions on measures of trust and confidence in government found in earlier research are now fully solidified. Many American voters today are not basing their evaluations of government on objective criteria that weigh policy choices and overall performance in a neutral manner. Rather, in-party and out-party voters are reacting in entirely divergent ways to the government itself based primarily upon who is leading the government and which party is in control

Indexação e recuperação da informação com função de crença

Um modelo usando funções de crença para indexar e recuperar documentos á proposto. Tal modelo é baseado em um vocabulário controlado, semelhante a um tesauro, e na frequência dos termos em cada documento. Cada descritor nesse vocabulário é um termo escolhido entre seus sinônimos. Um descritor pode ter um subconjunto de descritores mais gerais, um subconjunto de descritores mais específicos e um subconjunto de descritores relacionados. Assim, descritores não são mutuamente exclusivos e modelos probabilísticos convencionais não são adequados. Contudo, uma função de crença pode ser definida sobre um subconjunto dos descritores atômicos. Taís descritores são aqueles sem termos mais específicos  (denotados por Ω). Subconjuntos de Ω  podem ser vistos corno temos mais gerais, ou como termos relacionados. Desde modo, uma função de crença sobre Ω pode estimar o conteúdo semântico de um documento. Uma consulta ponderada (à base de documentos) pode ser vista como outra função de crença. Desde que ambas as funções são definidas sobre Ω, é possível computar o grau de condordância ente elas. Equivalentemente, é possível determinar o grau de concordância entre a consulta  e os documentos e ordená-los segundo esse valor. Palavras-chave Indexação automática. Ordenação de documentos. Recuperação da informação. Modelo de recuperação. Teoria de função de crença.Modelo com  função de crença. Modelo baseado em frequência. Relevância de documentos. Information indexing and retrieval with a belief function model Abstract A belief function model for automatic indexing and ranking of documents with respect to a given user query is proposed here. The model is based on a controlled vocabulary, like a thesaurus, and on term frequency in each document. Each descriptor in this volcabulary is a term among its synonyms chosen to be the index term. A descriptor can have a subset of broader descriptors, a subset of narrower descritors, and a subset of related descritors. Thus descriptors are not mutually exclusive and naive probabilistic models are not adequate. However, a belief function can still be definied over a subset of atomic descriptors. These atomic descriptors are those without narrower terms (denoted Ω). Subsets of Ω can be viewed as broader terms, or as related terms. Hence, the belief function over Ω can estimate the semantic content of a document A weighted user query can bem seen as another belief function too. Since both functions are definied over Ω, we can compute the conflict between them. The inverse of this computed conflict is a measure of agreement between the document and the user query. Here we propose that the set of documents be ranked by their agreement with the given user query. Keywords  Automatic indexing; Ranking of documents.Information retrieval.Retrieval model.Belief function theory.Belief function model. Frequency based model. Relevance of documents

The effect of elastic abdominal binder use on respiratory function on persons with high spinal cord injury at orthostatic position

Introduction : Spinal cord injury causes respiratory muscles paralysis, especially in high thoracic paraplegia and tetraplegia with injury above or right on the sixth thoracic segment, and also biomechanics, volumes, capacities and respiratory pressures changes in affected people. The elastic abdominal binder provides a mechanical support for respiratory function treatment, assisting with abdominal restraint and abdominal compliance reduction while at orthostatic position. Objective : To verify the elastic abdominal binder effect on the respiratory function of people with spinal cord injuries during standing position with the help of orthostatic table, from vertical angle position of 60° and 90°. Method : The study included 56 people suffering from spinal cord injury with motor level above or right on the sixth thoracic segment. They were randomly divided into four distinct groups regarding the use or not of the binder and different inclinations of the orthostatic table during the evaluation procedure. The measured outcomes were vital capacity, tidal volume, inspiratory and expiratory pressure and oxygen saturation. The descriptive analysis presented according to average and standard deviation or median and interquartile. For the outcomes analysis of the five evaluations, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of two factors with repeated measures was used. Statistical significance was set at 5%. Results : The values obtained from respiratory parameters showed no statistical significance regarding the elastic abdominal binder intervention nor on the angle of the standing position. Conclusion : There was no contrasting effect regarding the use of the binder among the evaluated people, therefore it should not be nominated as a standard procedure in the treatment of spinal cord injury at orthostatic position. However, this procedure should not be absolute contraindicated, thus its effect has not demonstrated any harm to participants. Introdução : A lesão da medula espinhal ocasiona paralisia dos músculos respiratórios, principalmente na tetraplegia e paraplegia torácica alta, com lesão acima ou igual ao sextosegmento torácico, e assim mudanças na biomecânica, volumes, capacidades e pressões respiratórias das pessoas acometidas. A cinta abdominal elástica proporciona um suporte mecânico ao tratamento e cuidados com as alterações da função respiratória destas pessoas, podendo auxiliar na contenção abdominal, reduzindo a complacência abdominal durante a posição ortostática. Objetivo : Verificar os efeitos que a cinta abdominal elástica proporciona à função respiratória das pessoas com lesão medular posicionadas em ortostatismo com auxílio da mesa ortostática, a partir da posição a 60° e 90° de angulação vertical. Método : Participaram deste estudo 56 pessoas acometidas por lesão medular com nível motor igual ou acima do sexto segmento torácico, divididos aleatoriamente em quatro grupos distintos em relação ao uso ou não da cinta e angulações da mesa ortostática durante o procedimento de avaliação. Os desfechos mensurados foram capacidade vital, volume corrente, pressão inspiratória e expiratória máxima e saturação de oxigênio. A análise descritiva apresentou-se por meio de média e desvio padrão ou mediana e interquartis. Para análise dos desfechos nos cinco momentos avaliados utilizou-se a Análise de Variância (ANOVA) de dois fatores com medidas repetidas. A significância estatística foi estipulada em 5%. Resultados : Os valores encontrados para os parâmetros respiratórios avaliados demonstraram que não houve significância estatística em relação à intervenção cinta abdominal elástica e à angulação do ortostatismo. Conclusão : Não houve efeito diferencial em relação ao uso da cinta nas pessoas avaliadas, não podendo ser indicada como um procedimento padrão para as abordagens de tratamento na posição ortostática na lesão medular espinhal. Em contrapartida, este procedimento não deve ser uma contraindicação absoluta, pois, seu efeito não demonstrou malefícios aos participantes

Electroacupuncture and Moxibustion Decrease Renal Sympathetic Nerve Activity and Retard Progression of Renal Disease in Rats

Background/Aim: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an increasing major public health problem worldwide. the sympathetic nervous system and nitric oxide play an important role in the pathogenesis of CKD. Traditional Chinese medicine has accumulated thousands of years of therapeutic experiences. Electroacupuncture (EA) and moxibustion (MO) are two such therapeutic strategies. the aim of this study was to investigate the renal and hemodynamic effects of EA-MO in an experimental model of a CKD. Methods: Male Wistar rats submitted to 5/6th nephrectomy (5/6 NX) were studied for 8 weeks. There were four groups: (1) control, normal rats; (2) NX, 5/6 NX only; (3) NX-AS, 5/6 NX and EA-MO session using sham points, and (4) NX-AM, 5/6 NX and EA-MO session using real acupoints. Biochemical and blood pressure studies, renal sympathetic nerve activity measurements, nitric oxide levels and the histopathological indices were assessed. Results:The EA- and MO-treated group presented significant improvement in all measured functional and histopathological parameters. Conclusion: These findings suggest that EA-MO had beneficial effects on CKD. This effect was probably achieved by the modulation of the renal sympathetic nerve activity and nitric oxide levels, leading to decreased blood pressure, which is associated with less proteinuria. Copyright (c) 2012 S. Karger AG, BaselConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fed Univ São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Med, Div Nephrol, São Paulo, BrazilFed Univ São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Physiol, Cardiovasc Physiol Div, São Paulo, BrazilFed Univ São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Pathol, São Paulo, BrazilFed Univ São Paulo UNIFESP, Chinese Med & Acupuncture Div, Dept Orthoped & Traumatol, São Paulo, BrazilFed Univ São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Med, Div Nephrol, São Paulo, BrazilFed Univ São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Physiol, Cardiovasc Physiol Div, São Paulo, BrazilFed Univ São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Pathol, São Paulo, BrazilFed Univ São Paulo UNIFESP, Chinese Med & Acupuncture Div, Dept Orthoped & Traumatol, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Pulp therapy in deciduous teeth: therapeutic possibilities based on evidences

Introduction: Pulpotomy of primary teeth has been the treatment of choice in cases of inflammation of the coronal pulp caused by caries or trauma with no involvement of the radicular pulp, thus avoiding the premature loss of the teeth. Not only is the diagnosis of the inflamed dental pulp required for this therapy to succeed, but also the selection of an effective and biocompatible medicament. However, none of the drugs available and recommended for pulpotomy therapy present all the requirements of an ideal pulp capping agent. Objective: Through a systematic literature review, between the years of 2000 and 2011, focusing in randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, aiming to analyze and discuss based on alternatives for the treatment of pulpotomy in human deciduous teeth. Conclusion: Scientific evidences showed that the medicaments and techniques influence were few. Thus, further and well-designed studies are suggested for clarification. The information generated in such experiments may contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms of pulp therapy to new therapeutic approaches aimed at improving pulp therapy in deciduous teeth.Introdução: A pulpotomia em dentes decíduos é uma técnica conservadora de terapia pulpar amplamente utilizada \ud em Odontopediatria, sendo de fundamental importância para evitar a perda prematura desses dentes, quer seja \ud por alterações provocadas pela cárie dentária ou traumatismo dentário. Apesar de ser uma técnica estudada há \ud muitos anos, causa muitas controvérsias e discussões, principalmente em termos de biocompatibilidade dos \ud medicamentos empregados e pelas dificuldades e falhas no diagnóstico da condição pulpar. Objetivo: Por meio \ud de uma revisão sistemática da literatura, no período compreendido entre 2000 e 2011, e com enfoque em estudos \ud clínicos randomizados, revisões sistemáticas e meta-análises, este trabalho teve como objetivo discutir, com base em \ud evidências científicas, alternativas para o tratamento de pulpotomia em dentes decíduos humanos. Conclusão: As \ud evidências científicas fidedignas com o uso de materiais capeadores pulpares e as técnicas de Eletrocirurgia e Laser \ud de Baixa Potência foram escassas. Desta forma, sugere-se a realização de estudos complementares bem delineados \ud estatisticamente para maiores esclarecimentos. As informações geradas em tais experimentos poderão contribuir \ud para um melhor entendimento dos mecanismos da terapia pulpar, podendo gerar o desenvolvimento de protocolos \ud com novas formas terapêuticas, que visam a melhorar a terapia pulpar em dentes decíduo