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A vast body of work investigates the consequences of legislative term limits for public policy. However, considerably less research has delved into their effects in noneconomic policy domains. In this article, we develop the argument that implemented term limits increase the effect that a state government’s ideology has on the state’s incarceration rate. When analyzing incarceration rates among all states between 1979 and 2017, we find evidence to support our theoretical expectation. Specifically, for states with term limits, we find that an increase in state government conservatism is associated with a higher incarceration rate. Conversely, for non-term-limited states, we find that the policy preferences of the state government have little influence on the incarceration rate. These findings deepen our insight into how institutional design can affect public policy.
A common assessment research design is the single-group pre-test/post-test design in which examinees are administered an assessment before instruction and then another assessment after instruction. In this type of study, the primary objective is to measure growth in examinees, individually and collectively. In an item response theory (IRT) framework, longitudinal IRT models can be used to assess growth in examinee ability over time. In a diagnostic classification model (DCM) framework, assessing growth translates to measuring changes in attribute mastery status over time, thereby providing a categorical, criterion-referenced interpretation of growth. This study introduces the Transition Diagnostic Classification Model (TDCM), which combines latent transition analysis with the log-linear cognitive diagnosis model to provide methodology for analyzing growth in a general DCM framework. Simulation study results indicate that the proposed model is flexible, provides accurate and reliable classifications, and is quite robust to violations to measurement invariance over time. The TDCM is used to analyze pre-test/post-test data from a diagnostic mathematics assessment.
The paper focuses on comparative experiment on manufacturing and inspection of two different prismatic one-off parts, which have different complexity. Our experiment shows that transforming product definition method from the Drawing Centric Definition (DCD) to the Model Centric Definition (MCD) enables 28%-29% time savings in manufacturing and inspection phases of machined one-off part's life cycle. Furthermore, transition from MCD to Model-Based Definition (MBD) enables 5%-9% time savings, respectively. Applying of MBD enables more time savings in complex part compared to a less complex part.
What is the role of legislative term limits in the structure of legislative institutions? Using Mooney’s collective action problem theoretical framework on legislative leadership power, I claim that legislative term limits should be a key determinant in a state Speaker’s power via the delegation of institutional tools that control the lawmaking process. Speakers can use these tools to influence policy outcomes and their colleagues. I test this expectation in an analysis of lower chamber rules in nearly all states between 1981 and 2015. The results indicate that states with implemented term limits are associated with a more powerful Speaker. These findings suggest that a more nuanced relationship between legislative term limits and leadership power exist than previously thought.
The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic has significantly altered lives across the globe. In the United States, several states attempted to manage the pandemic by issuing stay-at-home orders. In this research note, I examine whether the gender of state policy makers in the executive branch might impact a state's adoption of a stay-at-home order. Using event history analysis, I find that the governor's gender has no impact on the likelihood of a state adopting a stay-at-home order. However, I find that gender plays a significant role for agency heads. Specifically, my analysis shows that states with a female-headed health agency tend to adopt stay-at-home orders earlier than states with a male administrator. These findings shed light on how female leadership in the executive branch may impact public policy regarding COVID-19.
OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: By combining clinical knowledge of hoarding disorder (HD) with qualitative methods from cultural anthropology, we hope to build a patient-centered approach that will allow us to better understand the clinician perspectives on patient motivations and explanatory models of individuals with HD, and improve treatment outcomes. We describe the ways that these methodologies are productively merged in this project as a result of TL1 collaboration, and present a preliminary picture of methodological and theoretical issues uncovered as part of this processes. We further describe the analytical methods used for this project, and explore issues raised through the combination of psychological and anthropological data and insights. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: This study represents an attempt to combine the qualitative methodologies of cultural anthropology with the clinical knowledge of psychology and psychiatry in order to better understand gaps between provider and patient beliefs and knowledge about hoarding disorder. This study will present preliminary methodological issues arising from interviews with hoarding experts. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: This study will discuss preliminary issues including shared language, strengths and limitations of both disciplines, and factors for consideration when combining these disparate methodologies. It will close with recommendations for consideration when moving forward with similar collaborations. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This project seeks to unite psychological and social factors that may contribute to the lived experience of individuals with HD in order to better understand the way that HD is manifested. It also unites disparate methodologies to provide us with a more holistic and complete picture of the experience of HD. While HD has been studied within psychiatry, it has never been assessed using the qualitative methods of anthropology. These methods provide the possibility of expanding knowledge about the ways that this disorder is experienced by individuals and their families, and potentially impacted by shared beliefs and cultures. Furthermore, qualitative data of this nature provides a patient perspective on the experience of HD as a psychiatric illness. This patient perspective can be used to better inform treatment, improve patient outcomes, and to allow providers and researchers to gain a fuller understanding of this complex population.
When the U.S. Supreme Court decides to exercise judicial review on a law passed by a democratically elected institution, it can have a profound and critical impact on public policy. Furthermore, recent research shows that the Court more frequently declares state statutes unconstitutional than federal statutes. However, only a limited number of studies have extensively explored this political phenomenon. One aspect of a state that has not been considered in connection with the Supreme Court's use of judicial review over state legislation is the electoral environment in which the laws are produced. We argue that because electoral competition affects the legislative output from a state, it could also influence the likelihood that a state has a statute invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court. When examining all states between 1971 and 2010, we find evidence in support of our theoretical expectation. Specifically, we find that an increase in electoral competition corresponds to an increased likelihood that a state has a statute invalidated by the Supreme Court. This finding contributes to our understanding of the Supreme Court's use of judicial review, and it also suggests that electoral pressure can incentivize states to craft unconstitutional public policy.
Collection of seismic reflection data from continental margins and ocean basins surrounding North America makes it possible to estimate the amount of material eroded from the area formerly covered by Laurentide ice sheets since major glaciation began in North America. A minimum estimate is made of 1.62 × 106 km3, or an average 120 m of rock physically eroded from the Laurentide region. This figure is an order of magnitude higher than earlier estimates based on the volume of glacial drift, Cenozoic marine sediments, and modern sediment loads of rivers. Most of the sediment produced during Laurentide glaciation has already been transported to the oceans. The importance of continental glaciation as a geomorphic agency in North America may have to be reevaluated. Evidence from sedimentation rates in ocean basins surrounding Greenland and Antarctica suggests that sediment production, sediment transport, and possibly denudation by permanent ice caps may be substantially lower than by periodic ice caps, such as the Laurentide. Low rates of sediment survival from the time of the Permo-Carboniferous and Precambrian glaciations suggest that predominance of marine deposition during some glacial epochs results in shorter lived sediment because of preferential tectonism and cycling of oceanic crust versus continental crust.
Interpretation of Deep Sea Drilling Project results and air-gun seismic profiles suggests that about 106 km3 of sediment have been eroded from eastern North America and southern Greenland and deposited in the adjacent North Atlantic since the beginning of continental glaciation. This volume is a minimum estimate which does not account for sediment beneath the continental shelf nor that portion carried south of the Blake-Bahama Outer Ridge by the Western Boundary Undercurrent. It represents erosion of about 100 m of solid rock and indicates that more than 90% of the sediment eroded from these areas was deposited as sands, silts, and clays in the adjacent western North Atlantic. Glaciation accounts for between 55 and 95 m of this average 100 m, and fluvial processes account for the remainder. The documented erosion in part substantiates W. A. White's (1972, Geological Society of America Bulletin83, 1037–1056) hypothesis of deep erosion and exhumation of shield regions, but is not in agreement with the entire volume of erosion implied by his model.
A stable isotope and 14C investigation of carbonates from three late Quaternary cores with high rates of sedimentation from the northeastern Bermuda Rise has produced the highest resolution record of the glacial maximum to Holocene stable isotope change yet obtained from an open ocean location. The record includes a three-step “termination” and the first direct evidence of an early deglacial meltwater “spike” in the open sea.
The psychobiological model of personality by Cloninger and colleagues originally hypothesized that interindividual variability in the temperament dimension ‘harm avoidance’ (HA) is explained by differences in the activity of the brain serotonin system. We assessed brain serotonin transporter (5-HTT) density in vivo with positron emission tomography (PET) in healthy individuals with high or low HA scores using an ‘oversampling’ study design.
Method
Subjects consistently in either upper or lower quartiles for the HA trait were selected from a population-based cohort in Finland (n = 2075) with pre-existing Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) scores. A total of 22 subjects free of psychiatric and somatic disorders were included in the matched high- and low-HA groups. The main outcome measure was regional 5-HTT binding potential (BPND) in high- and low-HA groups estimated with PET and [11C]N,N-dimethyl-2-(2-amino-4-methylphenylthio)benzylamine ([11C]MADAM). In secondary analyses, 5-HTT BPND was correlated with other TCI dimensions.
Results
5-HTT BPND did not differ between high- and low-HA groups in the midbrain or any other brain region. This result remained the same even after adjusting for other relevant TCI dimensions. Higher 5-HTT BPND in the raphe nucleus predicted higher scores in ‘self-directedness’.
Conclusions
This study does not support an association between the temperament dimension HA and serotonin transporter density in healthy subjects. However, we found a link between high serotonin transporter density and high ‘self-directedness’ (ability to adapt and control one's behaviour to fit situations in accord with chosen goals and values). We suggest that biological factors are more important in explaining variability in character than previously thought.
An inappropriate cross-connection between sewage- and drinking-water pipelines contaminated tap water in a Finnish town, resulting in an extensive waterborne gastroenteritis outbreak in this developed country. According to a database and a line-list, altogether 1222 subjects sought medical care as a result of this exposure. Seven pathogens were found in patient samples of those who sought treatment. To establish the true disease burden from this exposure, we undertook a population-based questionnaire investigation with a control population, infrequently used to study waterborne outbreaks. The study covered three areas, contaminated and uncontaminated parts of the town and a control town. An estimated 8453 residents fell ill during the outbreak, the excess number of illnesses being 6501. Attack rates were 53% [95% confidence interval (CI) 49·5–56·4] in the contaminated area, 15·6% (95% CI 13·1–18·5) in the uncontaminated area and 6·5% (95% CI 4·8–8·8) in the control population. Using a control population allowed us to differentiate baseline morbidity from the observed morbidity caused by the water contamination, thus enabling a more accurate estimate of the disease burden of this outbreak.
This report presents the parasitological, bacteriological, mycological and physicochemical data obtained from both surface water and beach sand of a lake used for water sports. These show that the lake is contaminated in both winter and spring by water which overflows from the River Maine, and is self-purified by a mechanism of ‘lagunage’. In summer signs of pollution are at their lowest level although use of the complex is at its peak. Conversely, the amoebic flora, which is independent of the usual criteria of pollution, predominates in summer, and serves as a marker for the need for increased surveillance. The sand of the beaches does not appear to show any infectious hazard. Environmental pressure will doubtless change these data over a period of time, and it is planned to monitor this.
This paper describes particle transport in Stokes flow in a two-dimensional corner whose walls oscillate, which is a simple model for particle transport in the pulmonary alveoli. Formally speaking, the wall motion produces a perturbation to the well-known Moffatt corner eddies. However, this ‘perturbation’ is dominant as the corner is approached. The motion of particles is regular near to the corner. Far from the corner, chaotic motion within the main part of the flow is restricted to very small regions. We deduce that there is competition between the far-field motion that generates eddies and the wall motion. The relative strengths of these two motions determines whether a given particle moves regularly or chaotically. Consequently, there is an intermediate region in which chaotic transport is maximized.
We discuss our ongoing multi-instrument HST investigation of the nuclear regions of the 11 interacting and merging galaxies in the Toomre Sequence. We are studying the nuclear kinematics using STIS (G750M) spectra, the nuclear stellar populations using STIS (G430L) spectra, and the nuclear morphology using NICMOS and WFPC2 images. The results will provide new insight into the physical processes that operate during galaxy interactions.
We report optical switching by a silica microsphere optical resonator coated by a conjugated polymer. Microspheres were fabricated by melting the tip of an optical fiber and coated by dipping in a 1 mg/ml toluene solution of poly(2,5-dioctyloxy-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (DOO-PPV). The resonator properties were characterized by evanescently coupling 1.55 µm light propagating along a stripline-pedestal anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide into optical whispering gallery modes (WGMs). WGM linewidths less than 2 MHz were measured, corresponding to cavity Q > 108. WGM resonant frequency shifts as large as 3.2 GHz were observed when 405 nm pump light with a power density of ~100 mW/cm2 was incident on the microsphere. The time constant of the observed frequency shifts is approximately 0.165 seconds, leading us to attribute the frequency shift to thermo-optic effects. Such a system should be capable of thermo-optically switching at speeds on the order of 10 kHz.