There is optimism that the growing number of women in political office will reorient the focus of international politics toward more social and humanitarian issues. One basis for this optimism is the argument that women legislators hold distinct foreign policy preferences and act on them to affect changes in policy. However, we know little about gender differences in the behavior of individual legislators on these issues. This study investigates the behavior of individual legislators of the United States, one of the most important actors in international politics, in the context of development aid. Analyzing a diverse set of legislative behaviors in the U.S. Congress, we find no evidence that women legislators behave any differently than men with regard to these issues. Beyond its contribution to our understanding of the making and future of American foreign policy, this study contributes to broader debates about women’s representation and foreign policy.

This paper reports on an ultra-wideband low-noise distributed amplifier (LNDA) in a transferred-substrate InP double heterojunction bipolar transistor (DHBT) technology which exhibits a uniform low-noise characteristic over a large frequency range. To obtain very high bandwidth, a distributed architecture has been chosen with cascode unit gain cells. Each unit cell consists of two cascode-connected transistors with 500 nm emitter length and ft/fmax of ~360/492 GHz, respectively. Due to optimum line-impedance matching, low common-base transistor capacitance, and low collector-current operation, the circuit exhibits a low-noise figure (NF) over a broad frequency range. A 3-dB bandwidth from 40 to 185 GHz is measured, with an NF of 8 dB within the frequency range between 75 and 105 GHz. Moreover, this circuit demonstrates the widest 3-dB bandwidth operation among all reported single-stage amplifiers with a cascode configuration. Additionally, this work has proposed that the noise sources of the InP DHBTs are largely uncorrelated. As a result, a reliable prediction can be done for the NF of ultra-wideband circuits beyond the frequency range of the measurement equipment.

Glaukonitglimmer von 10 kretazischen Gesteinen werden mineralogisch und chemisch untersucht. Die von den Glaukonitkòrnern und Glimmern der Kolloidtonfraktion errechneten Strukturformeln der Glaukonitglimmer bestàtigen die Glaukonitglimmer als exakt dioktaedrische Minerale. Die Strukturformeln geben nur Mittelwerte der Verteilung der chemischen Hauptbestandteile und der Kationenladung der Glaukonitstruktur an. Innerhalb des Konzentrationsdreieckes Muskowit-Seladonit-Pyrophyllit deckt sich das Areal der Glaukonite mit dem der Illite, wenn auf den Seiten des Dreieckdiagrammes die Kationenladungen der Tetraeder-, Oktaeder- und Zwischenschichten aufgetragen werden. Entsprechend der iibereinstimmenden Verteilung der Kationenladungen in der Glaukonit- und Illitstruktur kònnen die Glaukonite als die eisenreichen Àquivalente der Illite angesehen werden. Der Gehalt an Spurenelementen in Glaukoniten ist, abgesehen vom Bor, deutlich geringer als in Biotiten und Muskowiten. Die chemische und strukturelle Inhomogenitat der Glaukonite in den Gesteinen wird am besten durch eine Entstehung der Glaukonite aus Gelen im Sediment erklàrt.

Fossil carnivorans are described from earliest Eocene localities in the Clarks Fork and southern Bighorn basins of Wyoming. Three new species, Miacis rosei, Uintacyon gingerichi, and Vassacyon bowni, collected from the base of the Wasatchian North American Land Mammal Age (Wa-0), are the smallest and possibly most basal members of their respective genera, and increase from one to four the number of miacids known from this faunal zone. An upper dentition of Miacis deutschi from slightly younger (Wa-2) deposits is also described. Previously known only from lower teeth and a single M1, the specimen of M. deutschi includes the left P3-M2, alveoli for the canine, first two premolars and the last molar, as well as most of the maxilla. the new material helps fill gaps in our knowledge of the dental morphology of basal Miacidae and provides insight into the functional differences of the carnassial teeth in the diverging Uintacyon and Miacis lineages. It also provides an opportunity to further assess the hypothesis that climactic warming in the earliest Eocene resulted in evolutionary dwarfing of mammalian species; based on three criteria for identifying dwarfed species at least one of the new taxa, U. gingerichi, is consistent with this hypothesis.

Fossiliferous marine Devonian has been known in Chile for less than a decade. The initial discovery from south of the Salar de Atacama region, in the Sierra de Almeida, northern Chile is described together with its brachiopods. The brachiopods indicate an age span of Emsian–Eifelian or Givetian, shallow-water conditions in the Benthic Assemblage 2 range, and a biogeographic boundary region between the cool climate Malvinokaffric Realm and warmer region extra-Malvinokaffric Realms, including the Eastern Americas Realm and the Rhenish-Bohemian Region of the Old World Realm. The recent discovery of a Malvinokaffric Realm trilobite far to the south in Chile, at Buill in the Andes of Chiloe, serves to underline our very preliminary knowledge of the Chilean Devonian, whereas the alleged Devonian brachiopods from the Chonos Archipelago far to the south are probably bivalves of uncertain age.

A phylogenetic analysis was conducted to address evolutionary relationships among the earliest members of the Miacidae (one of two early Cenozoic carnivoran families) and to ascertain the position of an ambiguous taxon, “Miacis” jepseni, with respect to the genera Miacis, Uintacyon, Vulpavus, Vassacyon, and Oödectes. The results of this analysis indicate that “Miacis” jepseni should be referred to the genus Oödectes, and both genus and currently included species are rediagnosed. The phylogenetic relationship of Oödectes to other miacids, and relationships among early Eocene miacids more generally, however, are less well resolved. Support is found for sister taxon relationships between Miacis and Vulpavus and between Uintacyon and Vassacyon, and it is suggested that this latter clade is the sister taxon to all other members of Miacidae.

Obesity and type 2 diabetes lead to dramatically increased risks of atherosclerosis and CHD. Multiple mechanisms converge to promote atherosclerosis by increasing endothelial oxidative stress and up-regulating expression of pro-inflammatory molecules. Microvesicles (MV) are small ( < 1 μm) circulating particles that transport proteins and genetic material, through which they are able to mediate cell–cell communication and influence gene expression. Since MV are increased in plasma of obese, insulin-resistant and diabetic individuals, who often exhibit chronic vascular inflammation, and long-term feeding of a high-fat diet (HFD) to rats is a well-described model of obesity and insulin resistance, we hypothesised that this may be a useful model to study the impact of MV on endothelial inflammation. The number and cellular origin of MV from HFD-fed obese rats were characterised by flow cytometry. Total MV were significantly increased after feeding HFD compared to feeding chow (P< 0·001), with significantly elevated numbers of MV derived from leucocyte, endothelial and platelet compartments (P< 0·01 for each cell type). MV were isolated from plasma and their ability to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 expression was measured in primary rat cardiac endothelial cells in vitro. MV from HFD-fed rats induced significant ROS (P< 0·001) and VCAM-1 expression (P= 0·0275), indicative of a pro-inflammatory MV phenotype in this model of obesity. These findings confirm that this is a useful model to further study the mechanisms by which diet can influence MV release and subsequent effects on cardio-metabolic health.

Primary school years seem to represent a critical period for the development of overweight and obesity. However, only a few studies have analysed the prospective relationship between dietary patterns and weight status in children. The aims of the present study were to identify dietary patterns at the beginning of and during the primary school period and to examine their relevance to the development of body composition. Nutritional and anthropometric data from 371 participants of the Dortmund Nutritional and Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) Study at the beginning (ages 6 and 7 years) and end (ages 10 and 11 years) of the primary school period were used. Principal component analyses (PCA) were conducted to identify dietary patterns, which were regressed on changes in BMI and fat mass index (FMI) between ages 6 and 7 years and ages 10 and 11 years. Reduced rank regression (RRR) was used to directly extract patterns explaining variation in changes in BMI and FMI between ages 6 and 7 years and ages 10 and 11 years. PCA yielded interpretable patterns of dietary changes at the beginning of and during the primary school period, which were not related to changes in body composition. Conversely, RRR allowed identifying predictive patterns: higher baseline intakes of white bread and lower baseline intakes of whole-grain products as well as increases in the consumption of savoury snacks, sausages and cheese during primary school years independently predicted increases in BMI and FMI during the primary school period. In conclusion, selection of unfavourable carbohydrate sources at the beginning of the primary school period and increases in the consumption of processed savoury foods during primary school years may adversely affect the development of body composition during the course of primary school.

One parasitic dipterous species and 27 parasitic hymenopterous species were collected. Parasites were primarily collected by mass-rearing host larvae on cut host plant foliage in the laboratory or by rearing larvae on artificial diet. The tachinid Nemorilla pyste (Walk.) and five hymenopterous species, Glypta n. sp. (Ichneumonidae), Campoplex sp. (Ichneumonidae), Agathis acrobasidis (Cushman) (Braconidae), Elasmus atratus How. (Eulophidae), and Catolaccus aeneoviridis Girault (Pteromalidae), were definite parasites, and biological notes are given. Collection data are also given for the other 22 species.

One reduviid predator, Zelus socius Uhler, and six spiders were observed feeding on C. houstonana.

Postembryonic changes in external morphological structures of Choristoneura houstonana (Grote) from first to last instars are described. A setal map for first and structures for first and last instars are described and illustrated. Possible generic characters are suggested.

Choristoneura houstonana (Grote) lays eggs singly in July. Egg development ranged from 8 to 11 days, with the majority hatching 10 days after oviposition.

Larvae are solitary, and mine during early instars but later instars feed externally on leaves in shelters made by webbing foliage together. There is one generation each year and overwintering occurs in a hibernaculum, in mined leaves. Field-collected head-capsule width frequencies indicated nine larval instars. Rearing larvae on seedling junipers indoors indicated a range of 8–11 instars.

Pupation occurs during June and July in the shelter where the larva feeds. The pupal stage lasted about 10 days at a constant temperature of 80°F.