Does intolerance dampen dissent? Macro-tolerance and protest in American metropolitan areas

Political tolerance has long been regarded as one of the most important democratic values because intolerant political cultures are believed to foster conformity and inhibit dissent. Although widely endorsed, this theory has rarely been investigated. Using multilevel regression with poststratification to measure levels of macro-tolerance in U.S. metropolitan areas, and event data to measure rates of protest, we test whether cultures of intolerance do indeed inhibit public expressions of dissent. We find that they do: levels of macro-tolerance are positively and strongly associated with higher rates of protest in American metropolitan areas. Our findings have implications for the study of political tolerance, for normative theories of free speech and other civil liberties, and for scholarship on protest and collective action

Toward RADSCAT measurements over the sea and their interpretation

Investigations into several areas which are essential to the execution and interpretation of suborbital observations by composite radiometer - scatterometer sensor (RADSCAT) are reported. Experiments and theory were developed to demonstrate the remote anemometric capability of the sensor over the sea through various weather conditions. It is shown that weather situations found in extra tropical cyclones are useful for demonstrating the all weather capability of the composite sensor. The large scale fluctuations of the wind over the sea dictate the observational coverage required to correlate measurements with the mean surface wind speed. Various theoretical investigations were performed to establish a premise for the joint interpretation of the experiment data. The effects of clouds and rains on downward radiometric observations over the sea were computed. A method of predicting atmospheric attenuation from joint observations is developed. In other theoretical efforts, the emission and scattering characteristics of the sea were derived. Composite surface theories with coherent and noncoherent assumptions were employed

Mine is a likable rogue, yours is a degenerate criminal. When it comes to 'dirty campaign tricks' partisans tend to ignore bad news about their own.

Pundits appear eager to portray the partisan battles waged during the 2016 U.S. presidential election as reaching new lows where dirty politics were concerned. Yet despite massive media interest in dirty politics and academic investigations into many aspects of this soft underbelly of democratic elections, very little is known about the way the public responds to news about dirty politics—whether the misdeed is a stolen yard sign or a more serious allegation of election fraud. Research by Ryan L. Claassen and Michael J. Ensley reveals good reasons for monitoring public reactions to dirty politics. The public are not neutral when news about a political misdeed surfaces—instead the public see the misdeed through partisan lenses. This research raises new and interesting possibilities regarding the implications of Trump’s allegations of election fraud and likely public response to ongoing reports about investigations into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia

Ultra-strong spin–orbit coupling and topological moiré engineering in twisted ZrS₂ bilayers

We predict that twisted bilayers of 1T-ZrS2 realize a novel and tunable platform to engineer two-dimensional topological quantum phases dominated by strong spin-orbit interactions. At small twist angles, ZrS2 heterostructures give rise to an emergent and twist-controlled moiré Kagome lattice, combining geometric frustration and strong spin-orbit coupling to give rise to a moiré quantum spin Hall insulator with highly controllable and nearly-dispersionless bands. We devise a generic pseudo-spin theory for group-IV transition metal dichalcogenides that relies on the two-component character of the valence band maximum of the 1T structure at Γ, and study the emergence of a robust quantum anomalous Hall phase as well as possible fractional Chern insulating states from strong Coulomb repulsion at fractional fillings of the topological moiré Kagome bands. Our results establish group-IV transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers as a novel moiré platform to realize strongly-correlated topological phases in a twist-tunable setting

Asymmetric Information and Alternate Premium Rating Methods in U.S. Crop Insurance: A Comparison of High and Low Risk Regions

Federally subsidized crop insurance has a long history of underwriting losses. These losses may be due to premium rating procedures that do not account, as fully as possible, for differences in yield loss risk across farms. If farmers understand their own yield loss risk in more detail than is reflected in crop insurance premium rates, an information asymmetry may be leading to adverse selection or moral hazard. Regional differences in underwriting losses suggest that the effect of asymmetric information is relatively large where inter-farm yield variability is also relatively large. An econometric model is used to identify asymmetric information in crop insurance premium rating. A simulation model is used to compare existing crop insurance premium rates to alternative rates calculated using yield loss risk measures based on existing, farm-specific yield history data. Both models are applied to crop/region combinations where inter-farm yield variability is relatively low (non-irrigated corn in the Corn Belt region) and where inter-farm yield variability is relatively high (non-irrigated, continuously cropped wheat in the Northern Plains). Region-wide asymmetric information effects are identified for both regions, but the asymmetric information effect is found to be larger in the high variability region. This difference explains at least part of the inter-regional difference in underwriting losses. The simulation analysis suggests that, on average, across an entire region, premium rates derived from a farm-specific measure of yield variability are closer to actuarially fair rates than RMA premium rates. At a county- and farm-level, however, it is much more difficult to say, with a high level of statistical confidence, whether these alternate premium rates are closer than RMA rates to the actuarially fair rates. To provide a foundation for the crop insurance models, an econometric model of crop yields is estimated and used to separate total yield variation into systematic and random components. Random yield variation is tested against several common distributions, including normal, gamma, and beta. The effect of aggregation on the representation of both systematic and random yield variation is also investigated

Native roadside perennial grasses persist a decade after planting in the Sacramento Valley

Restoring native grassland along roadsides can provide a relatively low-maintenance, drought-tolerant and stable perennial vegetative cover with reduced weed growth, as opposed to the high-maintenance invasive annual cover (requiring intensive mowing and herbicide treatments) that dominates most Sacramento Valley roadsides. A survey of long-established roadside native-grass plantings in Yolo County showed that once established and protected from disturbance, such plantings can persist with minimal maintenance for more than a decade, retaining a high proportion of native species. The survey also showed that each species of native perennial grass displays a microhabitat preference for particular roadside topographic positions, and that native perennial grass cover is negatively affected by disturbance

Inmate emotion coping and psychological and physical well-being: The use of crying over spilled milk

The study investigated the relation between coping strategies of inmates and their psychological and physical well-being. General affective states such as optimism were related to both psychological and physical well-being. Moreover, inmates who experienced specific negative emotions such as regret, anxiety, and sadness reported more psychological and physical complaints. The way in which inmates coped with these negative emotions was also important. Inmates who used an active emotion-focused coping strategy were in better health than inmates inclined to keep their negative feelings to themselves. Emotion-focused coping by sharing negative emotions with people in one's social network can help to increase both psychological and physical well-being. Engaging in emotion management in a more cognitive way, by emphasizing positive aspects of the situation, can help to reduce the intensity of negative emotions. Possible research and policy implications of these results are discussed. © 2007 American Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

The Choices, Challenges, and Lessons Learned from a Multi-Method Social-Emotional / Character Assessment in and Out of School Time Setting

Out-of-School-Time (OST) programs are increasingly recognized as a venue to actively engage children and youth in character development activities, but little guidance exists as to how to assess individual children and youth in OST environments for the sake of evaluating their character development. This research brief uses an illustrative case study to reflect upon the experience of selecting and completing a strength-based, multi-modal social-emotional / character assessment that used a direct assessment and a multiple informant behavior rating scale in an OST setting. Insights derived from the case study reveal opportunities and challenges associated with each assessment modality. This paper shares lessons learned with those conducting individual assessments in OST environments and with those seeking to improve our capacity to complete screening, formative, and summative assessments of social-emotional and character constructs in OST youth development programs to help children

Moiré Engineering of Nonsymmorphic Symmetries and Hourglass Superconductors

Moiré heterostructures hold the promise to provide platforms to tailor strongly correlated and topological states of matter. Here, we theoretically propose the emergence of an effective, rectangular moiré lattice in twisted bilayers of SnS with nonsymmorphic symmetry. Based on first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that strong intrinsic spin-orbit interactions render this tunable platform a moiré semimetal that hosts 2D hourglass fermions protected by time-reversal symmetry T and the nonsymmorphic screw rotation symmetry C^˜2y. We show that topological Fermi arcs connecting pairs of Weyl nodal points in the hourglass dispersion are preserved for weak electron-electron interactions, particularly in regions of superconducting order that emerge in the phase diagram of interaction strength and filling. Our work established moiré engineering as an inroad into the realm of correlated topological semimetals and may motivate further topology related researches in moiré heterostructures