For Love,Money, or Normalcy: Meanings of Strategy and Sentiment in the Russian-American Matchmaking Industry

Public debates about international matchmaking highlight the victimization of impoverished women by western men or the self-interested instrumentalism of women who marry for visas. Meanwhile, agencies and many of their clients portray this as a linking of well-intentioned lonely hearts who just want normal family lives. A meaningful anthropological account must incorporate and move beyond both types of narratives, acknowledging that deeply felt sentiment and ‘strategic’ plans to improve one's life overlap in all kinds of social exchange, romantic or otherwise. How the relationship between self-interest and affect is understood depends upon historically specific and gendered experiences of political economy. Participants’ framings of their own and their prospective spouses’ ‘sincerity’ and ‘seriousness’ are diagnostic of structural pressures each group has experienced, which they seek to address through international marriage.     

Racial equality in France and the United States: media coverage of professional tennis players

I engage debates about racial media bias by analysing newspaper coverage of professional tennis players in France and the United States. Tennis is an elite sport that typically does not have many non-white players and may be especially sensitive to racial boundaries. Tennis also offers a new solution to the methodological challenge of establishing that any difference in newspaper coverage across racial groups is due to bias and not actual differences across the groups. I use the professional tennis ranking system, which assigns an objective marker of how good a player is (and therefore the media coverage that s/he should receive) at any point in time. I explore two types of bias (the amount and tone of media coverage) and uncover no systematic racial differences in the relationship between ranking and media coverage. My findings have several implications for our understanding of racial boundaries and the media.     

Gender-based disparities East/West: rethinking the burden of care in the United States and Taiwan

When feminist bioethicists express concerns about health-related gender disparities, they raise considerations about justice and gender that traditional bioethicists have either not raised or raised somewhat weakly. In this article, I first provide a feminist analysis of long-term healthcare by and for women in the United States and women in Taiwan. Next, I make the case that, on average, elderly US and Taiwanese women fare less well in long-term care contexts than do elderly US and Taiwanese men. Finally, I explore some suggested practical remedies to reduce gender disparities in long-term care contexts.     

Price interconnection of fuel and food markets: Evidence from biodiesel in the United States

The food versus fuel issue has attracted considerable attention with the rapid growth of global biofuel production. The previous literature examining the interconnectedness between biofuel, fossil fuel and agricultural markets employed futures and spot prices. However, food security needs to be discussed with non-financial market prices, such as wholesale prices, since retail companies and households usually do not purchase products directly from financial markets, which encompass speculative activities, making them more volatile than non-financial ones. This paper focuses on non-financial markets in the United States to investigate the price-interconnection of biodiesel, highway diesel, crude oil, and soybean, initially applying partial wavelet coherence and the Diebold-Yilmaz connectedness index to price transmission research on biodiesel, highway diesel, crude oil, and soybean. Our main results are as follows: First, significant coherence between biodiesel and soybean, biodiesel and highway diesel, and highway diesel and crude oil is identified in the short and long term. Second, crude oil and biodiesel prices are found to be net transmitters, while soybean and highway diesel prices are net receivers. Finally, the crude oil market is identified as the source of spillovers among the four markets, and strongly influences the highway diesel market.     

Height and standard of living in Puerto Rico from the Spanish enlightenment to annexation by the United States, 1770–1924

This preliminary work presents a first series of heights of male adults in Puerto Rico. The sample, made up of 6000 prisoner records. the estimates were systematically assessed for selectivity, and we find that selectivity is quite negligible for the main results. The text studies the extreme dependence of the standard of living on the evolution of the price of sugar, a dependence which caused the progressive deterioration of material well-being in the country. Only between 1860 and 1880 did Puerto Ricans enjoy some improvement and a higher level of height. We measures the negative short-term effects of the 1898 annexation Puerto Rico by the United States.     

Biological control of invasive plants through collaboration between China and the United States of America: a perspective

For more than 100 years, classical biological control of invasive plants through screening, introducing and releasing of host-specific natural enemies from native regions has been regarded as one of the promising approaches to the management of invasive plants. Many invasive plants in the United States of America are native to China, and vice versa. China and the USA also share a number of invasive plant species, including water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) and cordgrass (Spartina spp.). Collaboration between the two countries on biological control benefits both the nations by reciprocal opportunities to research and exchange natural enemies, by exchanging information on common invasive species, and by providing training for students and professionals. Here we review the history of collaboration between China and the US on biological control of more than 20 invasive plants. Current collaborative projects associated with four plant species, Polygonum perfoliatum L., Trapa natans L. Pueraria montana (Lour.) Merr. var. lobata and Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, are also covered. We prioritize 14 invasive plants as targets for future collaborative biological control based on information on their importance in introduced areas, natural enemy records, and their potential biocontrol risk to introduced ecosystems. They are: Ampelopsis brevipendunculata, Celastrus orbiculatus, Dioscorea oppositifolia, Euonymus alata, Euonymus fortunei, Ligustrum sinense, Melia azedarach, Paulownia tomentosa, Sapium sebiferum and Ulmus pumila for the US, as well as Spartina alterniflora, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Ambrosia trifida and Solidago canadensis for China. In addition, we emphasize that we must very carefully consider any potential non-target effect when we intend to introduce and release new natural enemies. We anticipate that the high priority both countries have placed on control of invasive plants will stimulate increasing collaboration on biological control.     

Survival after a diagnosis of testicular germ cell cancers in Germany and the United States, 2002–2006: A high resolution study by histology and age

Introduction: The aim of this study was to provide detailed age-specific (5-year age groups) and histology-specific (histologic subtypes of seminoma and nonseminoma) relative survival estimates of testicular germ cell cancer patients in Germany and the United States (U.S.) for the years 2002–2006 and to compare these estimates between countries. Methods: We pooled data from 11 cancer registries of Germany and used data from the U.S. (SEER-13 database) including 11,508 and 10,774 newly diagnosed cases (1997–2006) in Germany and the U.S., respectively. We estimated 5-year relative survival (5-year-RS) by histology and age based on period analysis. Results: 5-year-RS for testicular germ cell tumors was 96.7% and 96.3% in Germany and the U.S., respectively. 5-Year-RS for spermatocytic seminoma was close to 100% in both countries. 5-Year-RS for nonseminoma was lower than for classical seminoma in Germany (93.3% versus 97.6%) and the U.S. (91.0% versus 98.2%). Among nonseminomas, choriocarcinomas provided the lowest 5-year-RS in both countries (Germany 80.1%, U.S. 79.6%). Age-specific 5-year-RS for seminoma showed only little variation by age. 5-Year-RS for nonseminomas tended to be lower at higher ages, especially for malignant teratoma. Discussion: This is the first study that provides up-to-date survival estimates for testicular cancer by histology and age in Germany and the U.S. Survival after a diagnosis of testicular cancer is very comparable between Germany and the U.S. 5-Year-RS for spermatocytic seminoma was close to 100% and the lowest 5-year-RS occurred among choriocarcinoma. Higher age at diagnosis is associated with a poorer prognosis among nonseminoma patients.     

Height and death in the Antebellum United States: A view through the lens of geographically weighted regression

Factors related to geography such as climate, natural resources or waterways often affect human activities. However, traditional approaches such as ordinary least squares (OLS) have limitations in investigating such patterns. Unlike OLS regression, geographically weighted regression (GWR) allows the coefficients of explanatory variables to differ by locality by giving relatively more weight to geographically close observations. GWR depicts spatial patterns. This paper examines the pattern of height and crude death rate in the United States prior to the Civil War by this method. The GWR results show that access to water transportation increased mortality and decreased stature in the food exporting areas of the Midwest, and the opposite pattern appeared in the food importing areas of the Northeast.     

The renowned cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum: its natural history and threat to native Opuntia floras in Mexico and the United States of America

Abstract. The cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) (Phycitidae) is native to South America. It was released as a biological control agent against alien Opuntia- cacti in Australia in the 1920s, then in southern Africa, and latterly on several islands, including those in the Caribbean. In 1989, the cactus moth was discovered in Florida, in the United States of America, where it is now threatening the survival of indigenous Opuntia species. In this paper we identify some of the attributes that have contributed to the success of C. cactorum as a weed biological control agent. Many of these same qualities account for the problems that C. cactorum has caused in Florida and predispose it as a major threat to the speciose, native Opuntia- floras of Central and North America. An estimated 79 platyopuntia (prickly pear) species are at risk: 51 species endemic to Mexico; nine species endemic to the United States; and 19 species common to both countries. Many cultivated and wild Opuntia species, that are used in various ways, are also vulnerable to attack by C. cactorum , including at least 25 species in Mexico and three species in the United States, particularly the widely exploited and culturally important cultivars of O. ficus-indica . Some control strategies are suggested that may minimize the risk and consequences of invasion by the cactus moth. The wider implications of this threat to the practice of weed biological control and to conservation are discussed.     

Changes in terrestrial carbon storage in the United States. 1: The roles of agriculture and forestry

• 1 Changes in the areas of croplands and pastures, and rates of wood harvest in seven regions of the United States, including Alaska, were derived from historical statistics for the period 1700–1990. These rates of land‐use change were used in a cohort model, together with equations defining the changes in live vegetation, slash, wood products and soil that follow a change in land use, to calculate the annual flux of carbon to the atmosphere from changes in land use.
• 2 The calculated flux increased from less than 10 TgC/yr in 1700 to a maximum of about 400 TgC/yr around 1880 and then decreased to approximately zero by 1950. The total flux for the 290‐year period was a release of 32.6 PgC. The area of forests and woodlands declined by 42% (160 × 10⁶ ha), releasing 29 PgC, or 90% of the total flux. Cultivation of soils accounted for about 25% of the carbon loss. Between 1950 and 1990 the annual flux of carbon was approximately zero, although eastern forests were accumulating carbon.
• 3 When the effects of fire and fire exclusion (reported in a companion paper) were added to this analysis of land‐use change, the uptake of carbon calculated for forests was similar in magnitude to the uptake measured in forest inventories, suggesting that past harvests account for a significant fraction of the observed carbon sink in forests.
• 4 Changes in the management of croplands between 1965 and 1990 may have led to an additional accumulation of carbon, not included in the 32.6 PgC release, but even with this additional non‐forest sink, the calculated accumulation of carbon in the United States was an order of magnitude smaller than the North American carbon sink inferred recently from atmospheric data and models.

     

Norms in the politics of housing for minorities: Evidence from a French,a German and a US metropolitan area

Throughout Western societies, policy‐makers who address the problems of disadvantaged ethnic and immigrant minorities confront norms that prescribe equal or preferential treatment for these groups. Variations in these norms make significant differences in policy‐making. Based on evidence from housing and planning policies and a standardized survey of local élites in comparable German, French and US metropolitan areas, this article analyses how these norms altered logics of policy‐making. Normative differences help to explain why policies to house minorities proved more successful in the German setting than in the French. Contrasts in central‐local relations, in local government, in political parties and in the social and economic background of policy‐making fail to account for the difference that these norms make. In the American setting normative ambiguities combined with institutional, social and spatial differences to render parallel norms comparatively ineffective.     

Chaetognaths of the United States South Atlantic Bight: Distribution, abundance and potential interactions with newly spawned larval fish

Chaetognaths are one of the most numerous organisms in the zooplankton community off the coast of North Carolina. During two years of offshore sampling in the late winter to early spring, sixteen chaetognath species were identified, four of which had not previously been reported in the waters of the United States South Atlantic Bight. Offshore samples were dominated by Sagitta enflata Grassi, 1881, one of the larger species, which contributed > 61% of total chaetognath abundance while dominant coastal species were S. tenuis Conant, 1896 and S. hispida Conant, 1895. Abundances, body sizes and spatial distributions were determined for the most abundant chaetognath species along with the overall abundance of three common co-occurring larval fish species (spot, Atlantic croaker and Atlantic menhaden). In addition, laboratory feeding experiments were conducted using S. tenuis and S. hispida to estimate the potential impact of chaetognath predation on representative North Carolina larval fish which spawn offshore and subsequently migrate into local estuaries. Feeding rates (no. prey items day^− 1) varied with prey type and the condition (starved/fed) of the chaetognath. Weight specific daily rations (SDR) were found to vary inversely with chaetognath size, decreasing exponentially with an increase in chaetognath length. The observed abundance and distribution data indicate that wintertime chaetognath populations in offshore waters of Onslow Bay, North Carolina have the potential to interact with recently spawned larval fish and may simultaneously act as competitors, predators, or prey. Furthermore, calculations using published values of chaetognath abundance, zooplankton standing crops, and our SDR estimates indicate that chaetognaths in a representative North Carolina estuary would require a minimum of 5.96 cal m^− 3 day^− 1 to sustain their biomass. Allowing for the reported spatial and temporal variability in zooplankton abundance in these systems, chaetognaths should consume 4.4%-20.9% of the estimated total zooplankton production day^− 1. This further emphasizes the role of chaetognaths not only as predators, but also as competitors with larval fish for zooplankton food stocks in southeastern United Sates estuaries.     

Welfare state type,labour markets and refugees: a comparison of Jews from the former Soviet Union in the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany

The massive exodus of Jews from the former Soviet Union [FSU] has been accompanied by welfare state retrenchment and labour market restructuration in the two preferred destination countries of refugee resettlement: the United States and Germany. This study compares the resettlement policies and outcomes of FSU Jews and shows how the context of resettlement, viz. differences in welfare state type, labour market formation and host ethnic community, yield marked differences in formal job market adaptation. FSU Jews in Germany are almost twice as likely as their American counterparts to rely on some form of refugee cash assistance for their primary means of support, whereas the American cohort is twice as likely to be employed in the formal labour market. However, informal labour market adaptation is quite similar. Findings suggest unwitting system convergence, each exercising a different form of social exclusion - welfare stigma and under employment for refugees in the United States, and high labour market regulation in Germany.     

Estimating daily intakes of manganese due to breast milk,infant formulas,or young child nutritional beverages in the United States and France: Comparison to sufficiency and toxicity thresholds

BackgroundAlthough manganese (Mn) is an essential nutrient, recent research has revealed that excess Mn in early childhood may have adverse effects on neurodevelopment.MethodsWe estimated daily total Mn intake due to breast milk at average body weights by reviewing reported concentrations of breast milk Mn and measurements of body weight and breast milk intake at 3 weeks, 4.25 months, 7 months, and 18 months. We compared these figures to the Mn content measured in 44 infant, follow-up, and toddler formulas purchased in the United States and France. We calculated Mn content of formula products made with ultra-trace elemental analysis grade water (0 μg Mn/L) and with water containing 250 μg Mn/L, a concentration which is relatively high but less than the World Health Organization Health-based value of 400 μg Mn/L or the United States Environmental Protection Agency Health Advisory of 350 μg Mn/L.ResultsEstimated mean daily Mn intake from breast milk ranged from 1.2 μg Mn/kg/day (3 weeks) to 0.16 μg Mn/kg/day (18 months), with the highest intakes at the youngest age stage we considered, 3 weeks. Estimated daily Mn intake from formula products reconstituted with 0 μg Mn/L water ranged from 130 μg Mn/kg/day (3 weeks) to 4.8 μg Mn/kg/day (18 months) with the highest intakes at 3 weeks. Formula products provided 28–520 times greater than the mean daily intake of Mn from breast milk for the 4 age stages that we considered. Estimated daily Mn intake from formula products reconstituted with water containing 250 μg Mn/L ranged from 12 μg Mn/kg/day to 170 μg Mn/kg/day, which exceeds the United States Environmental Protection Agency Reference Dose of 140 μg Mn/kg/day for adults.ConclusionsMn deficiency is highly unlikely with exclusive breast milk or infant formula feeding, but established tolerable daily intake levels for Mn may be surpassed by some of these products when following labeled instructions.     

Pathology,distribution, morphological and genetic identity of Deladenus proximus (Tylenchida: Neotylenchidae) a parasitic nematode of the woodwasp,Sirex nigricornis in the eastern United States

The woodwasp, Sirex nigricornis (Hymenoptera: Siricidae), is solitary and utilizes a symbiotic fungus to extract nourishment from pine trees to feed its larvae. The woodwasp has a brief adult life, but the larvae develop for 1–3 years in the tree xylem. Infections with the nematode Deladenus proximus have been documented in the native woodwasp, S. nigricornis in the eastern United States and Canada. These nematodes appear to sterilize female woodwasps; however, the extent of the pathology and other aspects of the biology of D. proximus remain unknown. In this study we examined the effects of D. proximus on S. nigricornis using fresh – not preserved – specimens. Between 2009 and 2012, a total of 1639 woodwasps were examined for internal nematodes from emerging sites in Illinois, Louisiana and South Carolina. From this total, only 112 individuals were infected with the nematode D. proximus, with varying prevalence across localities and years. Nematodes were found inside every egg of infected females, as well as the hemocoel and the mycangia. Morphometric analyses of mycetophagous reared adult nematodes suggest that a single species is present in localities from Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, New York and South Carolina. The screening of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) of these organisms is consistent with this pattern in that all of these individuals belong to a single clade. Deladenus proximus appears to be an efficient sterilizer, yet its prevalence is relatively low. Experimental infections of the invasive Sirex noctilio are recommended to test the viability of using this nematode as a biological control agent.     

Host range validation,molecular identification and release and establishment of a Chinese biotype of the Asian leaf beetle Lilioceris cheni (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Criocerinae) for control of Dioscorea bulbifera L. in the southern United States

Dioscorea bulbifera, an Asian vine, is invasive in the southeastern USA. It rarely flowers but propagates from potato-like bulbils formed in leaf axils, which persist into the subsequent growing season. Lilioceris cheni Gressitt and Kimoto, a foliage-feeding beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Criocerinae) from Nepal, had been tested, proven to be a specialist and approved for release as a biological control agent. Regulatory delays, however, resulted in the demise of quarantine-held colonies, and acquisition of new Nepalese stock proved untenable. Searches then undertaken in southern China resulted in the collection of over 300 similar beetles. Two Chinese Lilioceris species were identified: one confirmed to be L. cheni and the other identified as Lilioceris egena (Weise). Mitochondrial analysis revealed an exact DNA match between some Chinese and one of the two Nepalese c oxidase subunit I haplotypes and all Chinese L. cheni haplotypes clustered as a single species but the comingling of the two species aroused concerns over possible hybridisation. These concerns were allayed by nuclear D2 analysis showing the absence of dual parental sequences. Nonetheless, diligence was exercised to ensure that the Chinese strains were safe to release. Abridged host testing using critical test species verified specificity. Caged releases during autumn 2011 documented the ability of adult beetles to overwinter in south Florida despite a prolonged lack of foliage. Open releases the following year produced vigorous populations that caused extensive defoliation. Preliminary observations indicate that L. cheni now contributes to the control of D. bulbifera and the bulbil-feeding L. egena should complement these effects if its host range proves appropriate.