The Demographics of Georgia III: Lesbian and Gay Couples - Brief

Using 2000 Census data, this report compares the residential patterns, household incomes, house values, property taxes, and parenting patterns of Georgia's same-sex and different-sex couples. FRC Brief 12

The Friends and Family Plan: Assessing the Impact of Knowing Someone Gay on Support for Gay Rights

I estimate the impact of knowing someone gay on acceptance of homosexuality and support for gay rights. Method: Logit analyses on individual-level data from 27 national surveys control for demographic and political variables that predict both acquaintance with lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) and support for gay rights. Findings: Knowing LGBs affects beliefs on the morality of homosexual relations, employment discrimination, gays in the military, sodomy laws, and same-sex marriage. Conclusion: Coming out remains an important strategy in the battle for gay rights. Working Paper 08-1

Understanding State Government Appropriations For the Arts: 1976-1999

Using panel data analysis, we examine the relative importance of citizen and government characteristics on a highly discretionary and volatile budget item: state appropriations to arts agencies. Despite the unimportance of arts spending to most citizens, changes in arts spending appear to reflect citizen desires. Spending rises with per capita income, state revenues, and citizen political and social liberalism, but characteristics of state legislatures do not significantly affect spending.Department of Economics and W.T. Beebe Institute of Personnel and Employment Relations Working Paper 07-0

A renewed search for water maser emission from Mira variables

There is an approximately 60% detection rate for 1612 MHz masers in association with red, color-selected IRAS sources, though few are detected from the bluer circumstellar shells of Mira variables. On the other hand and complementarily, past, pre-IRAS 22 GHz surveys detected many water masers in association with Mira variables. This paper reports on a 22 GHz survey of blue, color-selected Miras at Haystack, wherein 18 new detections are found from 238 searched objects.Comment: submitted to Astronomical J., 18 pages, 3 figs, 2 table

Acoustical transducer calibrating system and apparatus

An acoustical transducer calibrating system includes a differential pressure actuating device having an inner chamber for applying differential pressures to the transducer, and an outer chamber for vacuum sealing. Mounted within the inner chamber is an electrostatic actuator for exciting the transducer at selected frequencies so that its sensitivity can be determined for different operating ambient pressures

Apparatus ad method for quiescent containerless processing of high temperature metals and alloys in low gravity

The electron bombardment furnace consists of two confinement grid sections which may be moved and separated from each other. Inside the bombardment furnace, a tungsten element is enclosed. The material specimen is located within the tungsten element and grounded by means of grounded support wires connected to the respective sections of the furnace. The material specimen is supported on the ground wires and heated by electron bombardment until melt occurs. The furnace sections are separated in opposite directions causing the ground wires to pull from the surfaces of the specimen, leaving the specimen freely suspended in the process chamber without the action of external forces. The specimen remains in its melt condition in the processing chamber where it can be undercooled without external forces acting on the specimen, which would cause dynamic nucleation

Effect of time dependent flight loads on JT9D-7 performance deterioration

The results of a modal transient analysis of the engine/aircraft system are presented. The response of the JT9D to analytically simulated vertical gusts and landings was predicted using a NASTRAN finite element mathematical model of the JT9D/747 propulsion system. The NASTRAN finite element model of the propulsion system included engine structural models of the fan, low/high pressure compressors, diffuser/turbine cases, and high/low pressure rotors, as well as nacelle models of the inlet cowl, tailcone, and wing pylon. The analysis conducted predicts that an insignificant level of JT9D-7 performance deterioration would occur due to a typical vertical gust encounter or a typical revenue service landing. Analysis of a high sink rate landing with a heavy fuel load indicates the possibility of local wear, however, the lack of an accurate dynamic rotor/seal interference model precludes an accurate quantitative evaluation of performance change for this once-per-airframe-life event

Representation of Lesbian and Gay Men in Federal, State, and Local Bureaucracies

Americans increasingly view lesbians and gay men as a legitimate minority, entitled to equal employment opportunities and perhaps to adequate representation in government. Scholars of public administration have extensively studied whether women and racial minorities receive fair representation and pay in the public sector, but we have generally ignored lesbians and gay men, largely because we lack data on the sexual orientation of government employees. Using a 5 percent sample of the 2000 Census, this paper provides new insights into one group of lesbian and gay employees: full-time workers with same-sex unmarried partners. It first determines whether they are as likely to hold jobs in the public and nonprofit sectors as workers who are married, have different-sex unmarried partners, or have never been married. Second, it explores whether lesbians' and gay men's representation is concentrated in particular occupations. It then examines whether workers with same-sex partners earn as much as other workers, and whether any disparities can be explained by race, gender, education, age, occupation, and location. Working Paper 08-2

Natural killer cells as an initial defense against pathogens.

Natural killer (NK) cells serve as a crucial first line of defense against tumors and a diverse range of pathogens. Recognition of infection by NK cells is accomplished by the activation of receptors on the NK cell surface, which initiate NK cell effector functions. Many of the receptors and ligands involved in NK cell antimicrobial activity have been identified, and we are beginning to appreciate how they function during infection. In addition, NK cells are activated by cytokines (e.g. interleukin 12 and type I interferons), which are products of activated macrophages and dendritic cells. In response to these activating stimuli, NK cells secrete cytokines and chemokines and lyse target cells. Recent studies have focused on the mechanisms by which NK cells recognize and respond to viruses, parasites and bacteria, and on the unique role of NK cells in innate immunity to infection