An overview of New England's economic performance in 2009

Like most of the nation, New England continued to suffer economically in 2009. Job losses, rising unemployment, declining personal income, and slumping real estate markets all contributed to one of the worst years for both the national and regional economies. However, while economic conditions were among the worst New England has seen, the region's overall economic performance was better than that of the nation as a whole.Economic conditions - New England

National Party Politics and Supranational Politics in the European Union: New Evidence from the European Parliament

Political parties play an important role in structuring political competition at different levels of governance in the European Union (EU). The political parties that contest national elections also participate in the EU legislative institutions, with the governing parties at the national level participating in the Council of Ministers and a broad range of national parties represented in the European Parliament (EP). Recent research indicates that national parties in the EP have formed ideological coalitions -- party groups -- that represent transnational political interests. These party groups appear to manage legislative behavior such that national interests -- which dominate the Council of Ministers -- are subjugated to ideological conflict. In this paper, we demonstrate that the roll-call vote evidence for the impact of party groups in the EP is misleading. Because party groups have incentives to select votes for roll call so as to hide or feature particular voting patterns, the true character of political conflict is never revealed in roll calls.

Partisanship now trumps political parties’ ownership of issues among voters, except among independents

Throughout recent US political history, certain issues have been considered to be “owned” by either party, such as national defense for the Republican Party and healthcare and the environment for the Democratic Party. But what does the rise of partisan polarization mean for the importance of issue ownership by the parties? In new survey research, Jamie M. Wright, Scott Clifford and Elizabeth N. Simas find that partisanship now means that highlighting a party’s ownership of an issue is only meaningful to independent voters, with partisans already viewing their party of choice as being more competent on these issues

Immigrants in Baltimore: How Warm the Welcome?

Elizabeth Clifford, “Immigrants in Baltimore: How Warm the Welcome?” This paper focuses on the contemporary situation of immigrants in Baltimore. Immigrants in Baltimore face a situation different from those in many other cities in important ways. First, the immigrant population is incredibly diverse in Baltimore, and in Maryland more generally, with no one or two nationalities predominant, whereas in many cities the majority of immigrants are from one of a few origins. Second, in the early years of the 21st century, Baltimore’s growing immigrant population encountered a city in which the city government officially and warmly welcomed them, in an effort to stave off population decline, whereas in many cities local governments are hostile to immigrants. In this paper, I examine current demographics of immigrants in Baltimore, and examine the official response to this immigrant flow. This research draws from secondary analysis of Census data and government sources regarding the official city standpoint on immigration, as well as from fieldwork with an immigrant organization in the city. In addition, the author reflects on her experiences organizing and coordinating the Baltimore Immigration Summit, an annual event that brings together academics, service providers, activists, and others interested in the issue of immigration in Baltimore

Engaging the disengaged indefinitely, and with no budget: creating a sustainable model for student library ambassadors

University Libraries offer a wide range of services and facilities to help enhance the student learning experience and to aid the transition into learning at University. Often, too few Science and Engineering students fully engage with the services and facilities on offer and therefore do not benefit from the opportunities available to them. Drawing on research highlighting the value of peer support, and the fact that students are far more likely to use their peers as an information source than ‘experts’, Loughborough University Library obtained small project funding in 2010 to employ four Student Ambassadors in a pilot project to improve student engagement with the Library. The successful project demonstrated the potency of the idea in engaging with students, particularly non-users, a large proportion of which are based in the Science and Engineering Faculties. In the absence of continued funding, the challenge, addressed here, is how to make such posts sustainable. Past experience at both Nottingham and Loughborough Universities has proven how difficult it is to recruit students on a voluntary basis to engage with University Libraries. In this paper, an innovative and creative method of recruiting and supporting “Learning Resource Leaders” (LRLs) at Nottingham and Loughborough Universities is discussed. The strategies employed have resulted in the recruitment of four LRLs – two at each institution – supported by an industrial sponsor who provides a package of non-monetary incentives. The paper also describes the techniques used by the LRLs to disseminate information about the resources offered by the University Libraries and to engage with the student cohort

From Line to Shape to Space: Composition as Representation of The Visual Elements

It is widely understood that the experience of music exists beyond that of just listening. The idea that audience members draw pictures in their mind or trace shapes with their hands while listening to music has been well studied. This thesis draws from this research and examines it from the mirror image: what if instead of studying the images created while experiencing music, I pre-empted this and translated pre-constructed images into music. In order to create a framework around this translation, I draw from visual art theory and pedagogy, namely the concept of The Visual Elements from Otto G. Ocvirk, et. al’s Art Fundamentals: Theory and Practice, Twelfth Edition (2012). Through the duration of this project, I created seven original compositions, five of which explore the translation of visual elements. In this thesis, I first present relevant literature, including quantitative research around cross-modal perception and later around the visual elements and their musical translations. Then, I discuss my compositional portfolio, methodological and analytical approaches. Finally, I will present my analysis, demonstrating how I translated the different visual elements in my body of work. This analysis is segmented based on the different elements, line, shape, form, space, colour, value, and texture. I used the idea of translating visual elements as a concept to broaden my composition technique and content inspiration

Isolation of mip (microtubule interacting protein) mutations of Aspergillus nidulans

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from "http://mcb.asm.org".We identified four mutations in two previously undescribed loci involved in microtubule function in Aspergillus nidulans as extragenic suppressors of benA33, a heat-sensitive beta-tubulin mutation. Three of the four mutations map to a locus closely linked to riboB on linkage group VIII; we designated this locus mipA (for microtubule-interacting protein). We were not able to map the remaining suppressor because of chromosomal rearrangements. However, since it recombines with riboB at a significantly higher frequency than the mipA alleles, it is unlikely to be in mipA; thus, we designated it mipB1. The mip mutations are not allelic to the previously identified loci that encode alpha- and beta-tubulin, and it is likely that mipA and mipB encode previously unidentified nontubulin proteins involved in microtubule function. Each of the mip mutations suppresses the heat sensitivity conferred by benA33 and suppresses the blockage of nuclear division and movement conferred by this mutation at high temperatures. Interactions between mipA and benA are allele specific. All of the mipA mutations are cryptic in a wild-type benA background but cause cold sensitivity in combination with benA33. These mutations also confer cold sensitivity in combination with benA31 and benA32 and reduce the resistance conferred by these mutations to the antimicrotubule agent benomyl but do not suppress the heat sensitivity conferred by these alleles. Finally, the mipA alleles suppress the heat sensitivity conferred by benA11, benA17, and benA21 but do not confer cold sensitivity in combination with these alleles

Data resource profile : the Scottish national prescribing information system (PIS)

Data Resource Basics: The Prescribing Information System (PIS) covers the prescribed,dispensed and reimbursed prescriptions in community pharmacies from the 5.3 million residents in Scotland. Summary information is available from 1993 and at an individual level from 2009 to the present. Data Collected: The raw data are generated by three data sources: ePrescribed -generated by GPs messages, eDispensed –generated by messages from community pharmacies and Reimbursed messages from scanned paper prescriptions dispensed in the community pharmacies. The four main categories of data collected are: (1) Patient-specific, (2) Prescriber, (3) Dispenser and (4) Drug-specific. PIS data can be linked via a unique identifier to other national databases, including hospital records, maternal and neonatal, the Scottish Cancer Registry and mortality records. The catalogue of databases is available in www.ndc.scot.nhs.uk . Subject to approval of the data controllers other external datasets can also be linked. Data Resource Use: PIS has been used to describe the utilisation of several groups of drugs;factors influencing prescribing and evaluation of interventions to improve it; generation of polypharmacy guidelines; risk of side effects; monitoring of antibiotic use and generation of policy recommendations; associations between community prescription of antimicrobials and deprivation or infection; evaluation of prescription fee abolition; clinical effectiveness, safety and health technology assessment of drugs approved in the last decade. Reasons to be cautious: PIS does not capture information about diagnosis or indication for treatment, over the counter medicines, medicines administered during inpatient hospital stays, upon discharge for short term use, outpatient supplies or some specialist drugs for chronic use. Drug data is currently coded according to the British National Formulary. For longitudinal studies, patient level data is available from 2009 and the frequency of data collection from the three sources is different. Collaboration and data access: PIS data are available upon request to the electronic Data Research and Innovation Service ([email protected]) and project approval by the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel. Funding and competing interests: This dataset is funded from the public monies available to the NHS. Current work to develop an improved PIS research ready analysis platform and this study is supported by the Farr Institute @ Scotland and its 10-funder consortium. The authors declare no conflict of interest

Selective deletion of cochlear hair cells causes rapid age-dependent changes in spiral ganglion and cochlear nucleus neurons

During nervous system development, critical periods are usually defined as early periods during which manipulations dramatically change neuronal structure or function, whereas the same manipulations in mature animals have little or no effect on the same property. Neurons in the ventral cochlear nucleus (CN) are dependent on excitatory afferent input for survival during a critical period of development. Cochlear removal in young mammals and birds results in rapid death of target neurons in the CN. Cochlear removal in older animals results in little or no neuron death. However, the extent to which hair-cell-specific afferent activity prevents neuronal death in the neonatal brain is unknown. We further explore this phenomenon using a new mouse model that allows temporal control of cochlear hair cell deletion. Hair cells express the human diphtheria toxin (DT) receptor behind the Pou4f3 promoter. Injections of DT resulted in nearly complete loss of organ of Corti hair cells within 1 week of injection regardless of the age of injection. Injection of DT did not influence surrounding supporting cells directly in the sensory epithelium or spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). Loss of hair cells in neonates resulted in rapid and profound neuronal loss in the ventral CN, but not when hair cells were eliminated at a more mature age. In addition, normal survival of SGNs was dependent on hair cell integrity early in development and less so in mature animals. This defines a previously undocumented critical period for SGN survival