The delegate paradox: Why polarized politicians can represent citizens best

Many advocate for political reforms intended to resolve apparent disjunctures between politicians’ ideologically polarized policy positions and citizens’ less polarized policy preferences. We show these apparent disjunctures can arise even when politicians represent their constituencies well and that resolving them would likely degrade representation. These counterintuitive results arise from a paradox whereby polarized politicians can best represent constituencies composed of citizens with idiosyncratic preferences. We document this paradox among US House members, often criticized for excessive polarization. We show that if House members represented their constituencies’ preferences as closely as possible, they would still appear polarized. Moreover, current members nearly always represent their constituencies better than counterfactual less polarized members. A series of experiments confirms that even “moderate” citizens usually prefer ostensibly polarized representatives to many less polarized alternatives

Mobile Software-Agenten für neuartige Funktionen und Nutzeffekte in intelligenten Gebäudesystemen

Anwendungsbezogene Software innerhalb vernetzter Gebäude nimmt immer mehr zu. Neue Standards erlauben den einfachen Fernzugriff, um neue Services zu installieren oder um Updates aufspielen zu können. Zu diesem Thema wird der OSGi-Standard vorgestellt, der ein Management von Software während des Betriebs vornehmen kann. Außerdem nimmt die Netzlast der heterogenen Netze innerhalb und zu den Häusern stetig zu. Hier können mobile Softwareagenten ihre Vorteile gegenüber herkömmlichen, statischen Kommunikationsmechanismen hervorheben. Im folgenden Text wird die Integration solcher mobilen Softwareagenten in bestehende Standards intelligenter Häuser beschrieben und anhand des Innovationszentrum Intelligentes Haus Duisburg (www.inhaus-duisburg.de) beispielhaft erläutert. Nach der Einleitung wird in Kapitel 2 der aktuelle Stand der Technik beschrieben. Dabei wird vor allem auf den OSGi-Standard und die Technik der mobilen Softwareagenten eingegangen. Im Kapitel 3 wird stehen vor allem Voranalysen zur Fernwartung, Optimierungen von Regelungen und die Integration dynamischer Netzteilnehmer im Vordergrund, die durch die beschriebenen Mechanismen erleichtert werden. Im Kapitel 4 werden die Ergebnisse kurz zusammengefaßt und einen Ausblick gegeben

American politics is contentious, but the public is not as polarized as it thinks it is

Few would disagree that there is little apparent common ground remaining between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, but is the American public just as polarized? Douglas J. Ahler sampled over 2,000 respondents on their own political leanings and their judgments of how liberal and conservative others are. He finds that respondents tended to overestimate polarization in the mass public, including that of those on their, and on the other side, of the ideological spectrum. He also finds that overestimating polarization among one’s peers leads individuals to adopt more extreme political attitudes

Archaeological Investigations for Proposed Trail Rehabilitation within Mammoth Cave

In 2008, staff from the University of Kentucky Program for Archaeological Research (UK-PAR) and the Illinois State Museum Society (ISMS) conducted archaeological and paleontological investigations at Mammoth Cave National Park in advance of proposed rehabilitation of 40,499 linear feet of selected trail segments within Mammoth Cave. This presentation focuses on the results of archaeological investigations conducted within Mammoth Cave and is confined to discussion of the prehistoric materials. These materials were confined to the upper and lower passages of the Historic Tour, the Lantern Tour, and Gothic Avenue trail

Mobile Software-Agenten für neuartige Funktionen und Nutzeffekte in intelligenten Gebäudesystemen

Anwendungsbezogene Software innerhalb vernetzter Gebäude nimmt immer mehr zu. Neue Standards erlauben den einfachen Fernzugriff, um neue Services zu installieren oder um Updates aufspielen zu können. Zu diesem Thema wird der OSGi-Standard vorgestellt, der ein Management von Software während des Betriebs vornehmen kann. Außerdem nimmt die Netzlast der heterogenen Netze innerhalb und zu den Häusern stetig zu. Hier können mobile Softwareagenten ihre Vorteile gegenüber herkömmlichen, statischen Kommunikationsmechanismen hervorheben. Im folgenden Text wird die Integration solcher mobilen Softwareagenten in bestehende Standards intelligenter Häuser beschrieben und anhand des Innovationszentrum Intelligentes Haus Duisburg (www.inhaus-duisburg.de) beispielhaft erläutert. Nach der Einleitung wird in Kapitel 2 der aktuelle Stand der Technik beschrieben. Dabei wird vor allem auf den OSGi-Standard und die Technik der mobilen Softwareagenten eingegangen. Im Kapitel 3 wird stehen vor allem Voranalysen zur Fernwartung, Optimierungen von Regelungen und die Integration dynamischer Netzteilnehmer im Vordergrund, die durch die beschriebenen Mechanismen erleichtert werden. Im Kapitel 4 werden die Ergebnisse kurz zusammengefaßt und einen Ausblick gegeben

Assessment of Riparian Ecosystem Structure in Restored Reaches of Ninemile Creek

Like many streams in the northern Rocky Mountains, Ninemile Creek in Western Montana was degraded by placer mining. This type of gold mining leaves a legacy of physical transformation to the stream, characterized by a highly incised and straightened river channel and loss of the floodplain. These changes to the physical structure lead to hydrology characterized by low-flows during much of the year punctuated by large pulses of water during spring snowmelt. This combination renders it an unsuitable habitat for many invertebrates, fish species, and mammals including beaver. Recently, several phases of restoration in the Ninemile Creek watershed led by Trout Unlimited (TU) have reintroduced sinuosity into several reaches of the stream while increasing floodplain interaction with the river channel. To speed recovery of the biotic component of this newly constructed floodplain ecosystem, TU has planted willows and used a native seed mix. Following restoration, TU has also observed beaver moving back into restored reaches and further enhancing ecosystem structure through dam building. To inform TU about the efficacy of their revegetation efforts in the restored areas of Ninemile Creek, we propose a riparian monitoring plan. This plan focuses on monitoring: vegetation composition using line point intercepts; the presence of beaver lodges, dams, and canals; and the accumulation of fine sediments in the floodplain soils. The effort will help TU adaptively manage their current and future restoration activities on the Ninemile Creek and other similar restoration projects

Doxycycline alters metabolism and proliferation of human cell lines.

The tetracycline antibiotics are widely used in biomedical research as mediators of inducible gene expression systems. Despite many known effects of tetracyclines on mammalian cells-including inhibition of the mitochondrial ribosome-there have been few reports on potential off-target effects at concentrations commonly used in inducible systems. Here, we report that in human cell lines, commonly used concentrations of doxycycline change gene expression patterns and concomitantly shift metabolism towards a more glycolytic phenotype, evidenced by increased lactate secretion and reduced oxygen consumption. We also show that these concentrations are sufficient to slow proliferation. These findings suggest that researchers using doxycycline in inducible expression systems should design appropriate controls to account for potential confounding effects of the drug on cellular metabolism

Opsamling af studerendes svardata fra Study Quiz – en case beskrivelse

Denne artikel er en case beskrivelse af et projekt- og implementeringsforløb af en mobil applikation ved navn Study Quiz i Fysioterapeutuddannelsen på University College Lillebælt (UCL). Artiklen består dels på beskrivelse af app’ens funktionsmuligheder og dels på en eksemplarisk beskrivelse af, hvorledes én af app’ens funktioner har været anvendt på Fysioterapeutuddannelsen. Fokus i beskrivelserne er primært, hvordan app’en kan anvendes, og er blevet anvendt, til at opsamle svardata fra de studerende, og på hvordan disse data kan bruges til at kvalificere undervisningsplanlægningen. De indhentede erfaringerne fra implementeringen bliver præsenteret, og på den baggrund fremsættes en række anbefalinger, som yderligere kan kvalificere den fortsatte implementering af app’en i UCL, men som også kan gælde implementering af tilsvarende teknologier i andre undervisermiljøer