The Double Bind: The Politics of Racial & Class Inequalities in the Americas, Executive Summary

The main goal of the task force, under the leadership of APSA President Rodney Hero, was to investigate the relationship between race and class in producing material, political, and social inequalities in the nations of the Americas. The task force also examined how the political systems in these countries work to foment and/or ameliorate inequalities that track with ethnic and racial identities and socioeconomic status.The work of the task force unfolded in a period in which political science has begun to pay greater attention to the causes and consequences of various forms of inequality. To some extent, political science has lagged behind cognate fields of history, economics, and sociology in terms of scholarly attentiveness to inequality. The recent literature on inequality in political science, however, has focused almost exclusively on rising income inequality and how it affects political representation. The long-standing gaps in the life chances of whites and communities of color in the nations of the Americas have been largely unexplored. At the same time, in Latin America, which had long denied the existence of a relationship between race and ethnicity and class disparities, there has been an explosion in data-gathering on race and ethnicity and in particular on the relationship between race and inequality. The task force members have explicitly sought to grapple with both the problem of rising socioeconomic inequality and the multifaceted racial gaps that exist throughout the Americas. Moreover, they examined the ways in which race and class inequalities are epiphenomena of politics. Thus, their work was organized around several core concepts and theoretical insights that animate research programs in political science—e.g., the role of institutions, the mobilizing power of group memberships, party politics, and social movements. They find that ethnoracial minorities, even in countries in which they represent a large percentage of the population and participate actively in elections, are hampered in translating their demographic potential and civic participation into meaningful socioeconomic gains by their low socioeconomic status and the incentives of the party system

The Double Bind: The Politics of Racial & Class Inequalities in the Americas

The main goal of the task force, under the leadership of APSA President Rodney Hero, was to investigate the relationship between race and class in producing material, political, and social inequalities in the nations of the Americas. The task force also examined how the political systems in these countries work to foment and/or ameliorate inequalities that track with ethnic and racial identities and socioeconomic status.The work of the task force unfolded in a period in which political science has begun to pay greater attention to the causes and consequences of various forms of inequality. To some extent, political science has lagged behind cognate fields of history, economics, and sociology in terms of scholarly attentiveness to inequality. The recent literature on inequality in political science, however, has focused almost exclusively on rising income inequality and how it affects political representation. The long-standing gaps in the life chances of whites and communities of color in the nations of the Americas have been largely unexplored. At the same time, in Latin America, which had long denied the existence of a relationship between race and ethnicity and class disparities, there has been an explosion in data-gathering on race and ethnicity and in particular on the relationship between race and inequality. The task force members have explicitly sought to grapple with both the problem of rising socioeconomic inequality and the multifaceted racial gaps that exist throughout the Americas. Moreover, they examined the ways in which race and class inequalities are epiphenomena of politics. Thus, their work was organized around several core concepts and theoretical insights that animate research programs in political science—e.g., the role of institutions, the mobilizing power of group memberships, party politics, and social movements. They find that ethnoracial minorities, even in countries in which they represent a large percentage of the population and participate actively in elections, are hampered in translating their demographic potential and civic participation into meaningful socioeconomic gains by their low socioeconomic status and the incentives of the party system

A robot hand testbed designed for enhancing embodiment and functional neurorehabilitation of body schema in subjects with upper limb impairment or loss.

Many upper limb amputees experience an incessant, post-amputation "phantom limb pain" and report that their missing limbs feel paralyzed in an uncomfortable posture. One hypothesis is that efferent commands no longer generate expected afferent signals, such as proprioceptive feedback from changes in limb configuration, and that the mismatch of motor commands and visual feedback is interpreted as pain. Non-invasive therapeutic techniques for treating phantom limb pain, such as mirror visual feedback (MVF), rely on visualizations of postural changes. Advances in neural interfaces for artificial sensory feedback now make it possible to combine MVF with a high-tech "rubber hand" illusion, in which subjects develop a sense of embodiment with a fake hand when subjected to congruent visual and somatosensory feedback. We discuss clinical benefits that could arise from the confluence of known concepts such as MVF and the rubber hand illusion, and new technologies such as neural interfaces for sensory feedback and highly sensorized robot hand testbeds, such as the "BairClaw" presented here. Our multi-articulating, anthropomorphic robot testbed can be used to study proprioceptive and tactile sensory stimuli during physical finger-object interactions. Conceived for artificial grasp, manipulation, and haptic exploration, the BairClaw could also be used for future studies on the neurorehabilitation of somatosensory disorders due to upper limb impairment or loss. A remote actuation system enables the modular control of tendon-driven hands. The artificial proprioception system enables direct measurement of joint angles and tendon tensions while temperature, vibration, and skin deformation are provided by a multimodal tactile sensor. The provision of multimodal sensory feedback that is spatiotemporally consistent with commanded actions could lead to benefits such as reduced phantom limb pain, and increased prosthesis use due to improved functionality and reduced cognitive burden

Feeling Judged? The Presence of Outgroup Members Promotes Virtuous Choices

We investigate whether the presence of an ingroup vs. outgroup observer influences consumer choices of virtuous versus indulgent foods. In seven studies, we find that consumers make healthier choices in the presence of outgroup (vs. ingroup) others, mediated by the anticipation of being judged negatively by outgroup members

Posture of the arm when grasping spheres to place them elsewhere

Despite the infinitely many ways to grasp a spherical object, regularities have been observed in the posture of the arm and the grasp orientation. In the present study, we set out to determine the factors that predict the grasp orientation and the final joint angles of reach-tograsp movements. Subjects made reach-to-grasp movements toward a sphere to pick it up and place it at an indicated location. We varied the position of the sphere and the starting and placing positions. Multiple regression analysis showed that the sphere's azimuth from the subject was the best predictor of grasp orientation, although there were also smaller but reliable contributions of distance, starting position, and perhaps even placing position. The sphere's initial distance from the subject was the best predictor of the final elbow angle and shoulder elevation. A combination of the sphere's azimuth and distance from the subject was required to predict shoulder angle, trunkhead rotation, and lateral head position. The starting position best predicted the final wrist angle and sagittal head position. We conclude that the final posture of the arm when grasping a sphere to place it elsewhere is determined to a larger extend by the initial position of the object than by effects of starting and placing position. © 2010 Springer-Verlag

The use of the ketogenic diet in the treatment of psychiatric disorders

Introduction: The ketogenic diet (KD) is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate, and moderate-protein diet that has shown benefit as a treatment in neurologic disorders and may serve as a therapeutic option in individuals with psychiatric disorders. Methods: A search was conducted using EBSCOhost and PubMed databases for studies relating to ketogenic or low-carbohydrate diets and psychiatric disorders. Results: A total of 32 experimental or observational studies were identified by initial search strategies, 14 of which met the criteria to be included in this analysis. Although specific diet formulations varied somewhat between studies, they all generally examined low-carbohydrate dietary intake with the goal of producing a ketotic state. The studies included in this review indicated the KD was beneficial in reducing symptoms associated with various psychiatric disorders. Discussion: This review summarizes the available evidence regarding the efficacy of the ketogenic diet in psychiatric disease states. Data from the studies analyzed demonstrated a positive response in individuals who were able to remain on the diet, regardless of the disease state. However, there is a need for more data to clearly define the specific benefits the KD may provide

Quantitative effects of tobacco smoking exposure on the maternal-fetal circulation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite the existence of various published studies regarding the effects of tobacco smoking on pregnancy, and especially in regards to placental blood flow and vascular resistance, some points still require clarification. In addition, the amount of damage due to tobacco smoking exposure that occurs has not been quantified by objective means. In this study, we looked for a possible association between flow resistance indices of several arteries and the levels of urinary cotinine and the concentration of carbon monoxide in the exhaled air (COex) of both smoking and non-smoking pregnant women. We also looked for a relationship between those findings and fetal growth and birth weight.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a prospective design, thirty pregnant smokers and thirty-four pregnant non-smokers were studied. The volunteers signed consent forms, completed a self-applied questionnaire and were subjected to Doppler velocimetry. Tobacco smoking exposure was quantified by subject provided information and confirmed by the measurement of urinary cotinine levels and by the concentration of carbon monoxide in the exhaled air (COex). The weight of newborns was evaluated immediately after birth.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Comparing smoking to non-smoking pregnant women, a significant increase in the resistance index was observed in the uterine arteries (P = 0.001) and umbilical artery (P = 0.001), and a decrease in the middle cerebral artery (P = 0.450). These findings were associated with progressively higher concentrations of COex and urinary cotinine. A decrease in the birth weight was also detected (P < 0.001) in association with a progressive increase in the tobacco exposure of the pregnant woman.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In pregnant women who smoke, higher arterial resistance indices and lower birth weights were observed, and these findings were associated with increasing levels of tobacco smoking exposure. The values were significantly different when compared to those found in non-smoking pregnant women. This study contributes to the findings that smoking damage during pregnancy is dose-dependent, as demonstrated by the objective methods for measuring tobacco smoking exposure.</p

Search for R-parity violating supersymmetry via the LLE couplings lambda_{121}, lambda_{122} or lambda_{133} in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV

A search for gaugino pair production with a trilepton signature in the framework of R-parity violating supersymmetry via the couplings lambda_121, lambda_122, or lambda_133 is presented. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of L~360/pb, were collected from April 2002 to August 2004 with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. This analysis considers final states with three charged leptons with the flavor combinations eel, mumul, and eetau (l=e or mu). No evidence for supersymmetry is found and limits at the 95% confidence level are set on the gaugino pair production cross section and lower bounds on the masses of the lightest neutralino and chargino are derived in two supersymmetric models.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures (fig2 includes 3 subfigures