Party competition is the primary driver of the recent increase in restrictive voter id laws in the American states

The lead up to the recent midterm elections was marked by contentious debates over the effects on turnout of voter ID laws passed in several American states. In new research William D. Hicks, Seth C. McKee, Mitchell D. Sellers and Daniel A. Smith find that there has been a large increase in the number of states that have adopted voter ID laws since 2001, and in these states the level of partisan polarization in voting on these laws is very high. They find that not only is the introduction and passage of stricter voter ID legislation influenced by the number of Republican lawmakers in a state legislature, but how electorally competitive the environment that those legislators find themselves in is important as well

Sleep abnormalities in the synaptopathies—SYNGAP1-related intellectual disability and Phelan–McDermid syndrome

Neurodevelopmental disorders are frequently associated with sleep disturbances. One class of neurodevelopmental disorders, the genetic synaptopathies, is caused by mutations in genes encoding proteins found at the synapse. Mutations in these genes cause derangement of synapse development and function. We utilized a validated sleep instrument, Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) to examine the nature of sleep abnormalities occurring in individuals with two synaptopathies—Phelan–McDermid syndrome (PMD) (N = 47, male = 23, female = 24, age 1–46 years) and SYNGAP1-related intellectual disability (SYNGAP1-ID) (N = 64, male = 31, female = 33, age 1–64 years), when compared with unaffected siblings (N = 61, male = 25, female = 36, age 1–17 years). We found that both PMD and SYNGAP1-ID have significant sleep abnormalities with SYNGAP1-ID having greater severity of sleep disturbance than PMD. In addition, sleep disturbances were more severe for PMD in individuals 11 years and older compared with those less than 11 years old. Individuals with either disorder were more likely to use sleep aids than unaffected siblings. In conclusion, sleep disturbances are a significant phenotype in the synaptopathies PMD and SYNGAP1-ID. Improved sleep is a viable endpoint for future clinical trials for these neurodevelopmental disorders

Mineral Surface and Fluid Chemistry in Nakhlite Analog Water-Rock Reactions

We report on experiments with Mars analog materials under diagenetic conditions and find characteristic chemical surface changes in correspondence with the fluid conditions

Amazonian Hydrothermal Alteration Comparing Nakhlite Secondary Mineralogy to Water Rock Reaction Experiments

We report on results from experiments with Mars analog materials under diagenetic conditions. The mineralogical results of our experiments suggest that an important type of fluid alteration in the Amazonian may be short duration (e.g. less than 1 year) events from near neutral, dilute brines, that were able to exchange CO2 either directly, or via ice reservoirs, with the atmosphere

Flux profile scanners for scattered high-energy electrons

The paper describes the design and performance of flux integrating Cherenkov scanners with air-core reflecting light guides used in a high-energy, high-flux electron scattering experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The scanners were highly radiation resistant and provided a good signal to background ratio leading to very good spatial resolution of the scattered electron flux profile scans.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figure

A reflective journal as learning process and contribution to quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis

Using selected, contemporaneous illustrations from the reflective journal of a doctoral student undertaking data analysis for the first time, this article examines the relationship between journaling as a learning process when undertaking computer-assisted qualitative data analysis and establishing quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis. The writing of the journal is shown both to enact some potential validity criteria (e.g. in producing an audit trail) whilst also recording and reflectively prompting the process of learning, interpretation and bracketing, thus evidencing transparency. By using a journal inside the software package and alongside the stages of the interpretative phenomenological analysis, analysis within the software package, it is argued that quality and validity become dynamic, not static constructs. These constructs are intimately linked to the researcher-learning-process and permit a critical stance to be taken

Fractionated Martian Atmosphere – the Case of the Nakhlites, Revisited with Experiments

We report on fractionated noble gases in the Martian meterorites - a literature survey and new data

A direct limit on the turbulent velocity of the intracluster medium in the core of Abell 1835 from XMM-Newton

We examine deep XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) observations of the X-ray luminous galaxy cluster A1835. For the first time in a galaxy cluster we place direct limits on turbulent broadening of the emission lines. This is possible because the coolest X-ray emitting gas in the cluster, which is responsible for the lines, occupies a small region within the core. The most conservative determination of the 90 per cent upper limit on line-of-sight, non-thermal, velocity broadening is 274 km/s, measured from the emission lines originating within 30 kpc radius. The ratio of turbulent to thermal energy density in the core is therefore less than 13 per cent. There are no emission lines in the spectrum showing evidence for gas below ~3.5 keV. We examine the quantity of gas as a function of temperature and place a limit of 140 Msun/yr (90 per cent) for gas cooling radiatively below 3.85 keV.Comment: 5 pages, accepted by MNRAS, includes minor change suggested by refere

Genotype-specific effects of ericoid mycorrhizae on floral traits and reproduction in Vaccinium corymbosum

American Journal of Botany is published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the Botanical Society of America. Premise: Most plants interact with mycorrhizal fungi and animal pollinators simultaneously. Yet, whether mycorrhizae affect traits important to pollination remains poorly understood and may depend on the match between host and fungal genotypes. Here, we examined how ericoid mycorrhizal fungi affected flowering phenology, floral traits, and reproductive success, among eight genotypes of highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum (Ericaceae). We asked three overarching questions: (1) Do genotypes differ in response to inoculation? (2) How does inoculation affect floral and flowering traits? (3) Are inoculated plants more attractive to pollinators and less pollen limited than non-inoculated plants of the same genotype?. Methods: To examine these questions, we experimentally inoculated plants with ericoid mycorrhizal fungi, grew the plants in the field, and measured flowering and floral traits over 2 years. In year 2, we conducted a hand-pollination experiment to test whether plants differed in pollen limitation. Results: Inoculated plants had significantly higher levels of colonization for some genotypes, and there were significant floral trait changes in inoculated plants for some genotypes as well. On average, inoculated plants produced significantly larger floral displays, more fruits per inflorescence, and heavier fruits with lower sugar content, than non-inoculated, control plants. Hand pollination enhanced the production of fruits, and fruit mass, for non-inoculated plants but not for those that were inoculated. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that inoculation with ericoid mycorrhizal fungi enhanced flowering and altered investment in reproduction in genotype-specific ways. These findings underscore the importance of examining belowground symbionts and genotype-specific responses in their hosts to fully understand the drivers of aboveground interactions

Measurement of the Partial Cross Sections s(TT), s(LT) and [s(T)+epsilon*s(L)] of the p(e,e' pi+)n Reaction in the Delta(1232) Resonance

We report new precision p(e,e' pi+})n measurements in the Delta(1232) resonance at Q2 = 0.127(GeV/c)2 obtained at the MIT-Bates Out-Of-Plane scattering facility. These are the lowest, but non-zero, Q2 measurements in the pi+ channel. The data offer new tests of the theoretical calculations, particularly of the background amplitude contributions. The chiral effective field theory and Sato-Lee model calculations are not in agreement with this experiment