Direct democracy and state legislatures: Does professionalism matter?

This thesis seeks to improve our understanding of the relationship between state legislative professionalism and direct democracy. Using institutionalist theory as a framework, I employ negative binomial regression to measure frequency changes in statewide ballot initiatives (1990-2000) as a function of state legislative professionalism. I find that increased professionalism is associated with higher levels of ballot initiatives appearing on statewide ballots, after controlling for qualification difficulty, interest group strength, divided government, and demographic variables. While the conclusions may not provide insight as to the long-term (or short-term, for that matter) quality of the initiatives or referenda, they do provide insight as to when the citizenry is more likely to eschew one fundamental component of American government---representative democracy---in favor of what has quickly become another important component of American government---direct democracy

Comparative Direct Democracy: A Study of Institutions and Individuals

Do institutions matter? This dissertation examines the role of institutions in the context of comparative direct democracy. Through an institutionalist framework, this study considers how the context in which the mechanism of direct democracy is first introduced has an impact on later usage, and how individuals operate when constrained by those very institutions. In particular, I examine the cases of Italy, France, Uruguay, and Venezuela and find that the inclusion of direct democracy mechanisms (most commonly, the referendum device) is more likely to occur when previously excluded out-groups participate in constitutional formation. In addition, I find that institutional design is an important (but not a universal) factor in understanding referendum outcomes (in particular, in explaining frequency). Finally, I argue that the rational choice perspective does not fully explain individual level motivations of political elites, and that an interweaving of prospect theory and the cybernetic theory of decision-making better explains how elites operate when constrained by institutions. Along the way, I develop a theoretical approach that may be utilized to better evaluate direct democracy outcomes across political systems

Dual Action of BPC194:A Membrane Active Peptide Killing Bacterial Cells

<p>Membrane active peptides can perturb the lipid bilayer in several ways, such as poration and fusion of the target cell membrane, and thereby efficiently kill bacterial cells. We probe here the mechanistic basis of membrane poration and fusion caused by membrane-active, antimicrobial peptides. We show that the cyclic antimicrobial peptide, BPC194, inhibits growth of Gram-negative bacteria and ruptures the outer and inner membrane at the onset of killing, suggesting that not just poration is taking place at the cell envelope. To simplify the system and to better understand the mechanism of action, we performed Forster resonance energy transfer and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy studies in model membranes and show that the BPC194 causes fusion of vesicles. The fusogenic action is accompanied by leakage as probed by dual-color fluorescence burst analysis at a single liposome level. Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations reveal how the peptides are able to simultaneously perturb the membrane towards porated and fused states. We show that the cyclic antimicrobial peptides trigger both fusion and pore formation and that such large membrane perturbations have a similar mechanistic basis.</p>

Perspective on the Martini model

<p>The Martini model, a coarse-grained force field for biomolecular simulations, has found a broad range of applications since its release a decade ago. Based on a building block principle, the model combines speed and versatility while maintaining chemical specificity. Here we review the current state of the model. We describe recent highlights as well as shortcomings, and our ideas on the further development of the model.</p>