How legislators use state constitutions to block policy changes they oppose

Political polarization is now part of the character of much of US politics, with many states enacting policies which reinforce legislators' ideological views. In new research on state prohibitions on same-sex marriage, Daniel Fay finds that state lawmakers pursued constitutional amendments, despite the policy often already being enshrined in state law. He writes that states were more likely to adopt ..

How Nationality Influences Development in Youth Soccer

The primary purpose of the study was to identify tactics to improve youth soccer development in the United States (U.S.), which will positively impact future American soccer players. The thesis analyzes how factors related to nationality influence development in youth soccer and identifies the fundamental differences in youth soccer development between male and female American and international soccer players. The proposal delineates why player development is paramount toward the success of a country`s national team, more so than the population or wealth of a nation. The research study used a structured survey-based approach for statistically testing hypotheses. The targeted group for the study was National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and NCAA Division II collegiate soccer players. NCAA Division I and II are considered to be elite amateur levels in the United States. Therefore, the players mostly played for quality youth clubs and academies from around the world. Qualtrics was used to create and distribute the survey, which was distributed to numerous NCAA Division I and II men`s and women`s soccer players across the U.S. at various programs, homing in on how nationality influences development in youth soccer

Tell Khaiber: An administrative centre of the Sealand period

Excavations at Tell Khaiber in southern Iraq by the Ur Region Archaeological Project have revealed a substantial building (hereafter the Public Building) dating to the mid-second millennium b.c. The results are significant for the light they shed on Babylonian provincial administration, particularly of food production, for revealing a previously unknown type of fortified monumental building, and for producing a dated archive, in context, of the little-understood Sealand Dynasty. The project also represents a return of British field archaeology to long-neglected Babylonia, in collaboration with Iraq's State Board for Antiquities and Heritage. Comments on the historical background and physical location of Tell Khaiber are followed by discussion of the form and function of the Public Building. Preliminary analysis of the associated archive provides insights into the social milieu of the time. Aspects of the material culture, including pottery, are also discussed

Living with brain cancer: From researcher to patient

As an academic researcher, my work-life revolves around testing the efficaciousness of pharmaceutical drugs on the prevention of cardiac dysfunction, arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death in animal models of heart disease. I never thought I would go from someone studying a life-threatening disease to a patient living with one in twenty-four hours. Yet, that transformation occurred October 8, 2019. I was just appointed to Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM), yet after sitting for my professional headshot I had a grand mal seizure. I cannot recall this event, but I bit the tip of my tongue off, dislocated my right shoulder, and underwent violent contractions. I was rushed to the Emergency Department, thankfully within the same building (JHUSOM). A few scans later, I was told I had ‘a mass’ in my brain that needed to be removed immediately. Fearing the worst, I followed the advice of my newly appointed neurosurgeon and scheduled surgery for October 19, 2019. I had no time to process what had and what was about to happen. What followed was two years of post-surgical recovery during a global pandemic, my own personal awe in the power of medicine, resurgence of my seizures and tumors, and now – my road to recovery through chemotherapy and radiation. These two years have taught me so much about the day-to-day difficulties patients with chronic diseases live with, strategies I use to cope with my new normal, and most importantly, the necessity of caregivers. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Patient, Family & Community Engagement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework (https://www.theberylinstitute.org/ExperienceFramework). Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this lens

Cognitive function in people with and without freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease

Freezing of gait (FOG) is common in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) which is extremely debilitating. One hypothesis for the cause of FOG episodes is impaired cognitive control, however, this is still in debate in the literature. We aimed to assess a comprehensive range of cognitive tests in older adults and people with Parkinson’s with and without FOG and associate FOG severity with cognitive performance. A total of 227 participants took part in the study which included 80 healthy older adults, 81 people with PD who did not have FOG and 66 people with PD and FOG. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological assessments tested cognitive domains of global cognition, executive function/attention, working memory, and visuospatial function. The severity of FOG was assessed using the new FOG questionnaire and an objective FOG severity score. Cognitive performance was compared between groups using an ANCOVA adjusting for age, gender, years of education and disease severity. Correlations between cognitive performance and FOG severity were analyzed using partial correlations. Cognitive differences were observed between older adults and PD for domains of global cognition, executive function/attention, and working memory. Between those with and without FOG, there were differences for global cognition and executive function/attention, but these differences disappeared when adjusting for covariates. There were no associations between FOG severity and cognitive performance. This study identified no significant difference in cognition between those with and without FOG when adjusting for covariates, particularly disease severity. This may demonstrate that complex rehabilitation programs may be undertaken in those with FOG

Optimizing Constrainted Concurrent Applications at Run-time

Computer systems are resource constrained. Application adaptation is a useful way to optimize system resource usage while satisfying an application’s performance requirements. Current multicore computer systems supporting these applications, however, are not designed to reliably meet these requirements. Meanwhile, these computer systems are resource-limited, e.g., have power-induced energy and thermal constraints. Compounding the application’s performance requirements are increasingly-stringent microprocessor thermal constraints. Previous application adaptation efforts, however, were ad-hoc, time-consuming, and highly application-specific, with limited portability between computer systems. This thesis presents OCCAM, a software platform for developing multicore adaptable applications. OCCAM’s design-time platform consists of design patterns, APIs, and data structures that allow application developers to specify the performance constraints and application-specific optimization techniques. OCCAM generates a run-time controller offline, using profiling data. It then uses this profiling data to generate an internal model that it subsequently employs to generate a robust Markov Decision Process-based Model Predictive Controller. Using a set of Recognition, Mining, and Synthesis benchmarks, the experimental study demonstrates that OCCAM can successfully optimize the system while meeting the systems performance requirements across a wide range of computer platforms, ranging from an energy-constrained single-core system to a high-performance 16-core system. Finally, OCCAM presents a simulation-based, stochastic model checking-based framework for quantifying the robustness of the controller

A Survey of Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae) and their Opiine Parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Palau

Surveys for fruit flies and their parasitoids, conducted by male lure trapping and host fruit sampling in 2001, 2013, and 2014, demonstrate that the agricultural pests Bactrocera dorsalis, B. frauenfeldi, and B. umbrosa and non- economic B. calophylli (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae) are present and widespread in Palau. The COI gene haplotype networks and aedeagus measurements of B. dorsalis, detected in Palau in 1996, suggest that it is most likely of Philippine origin. Bactrocera occipitalis, previously reported from Palau, was not collected during these surveys, and is probably absent. Fopius arisanus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Opiinae) was reared from fruit containing parasitized larval fruit flies. Parasitism was low (3.4-11.7%), compared to Hawaii or French Polynesia, where F. arisanus has lowered populations of B. dorsalis

Older adults can improve compensatory stepping with repeated postural perturbations

The ability to respond quickly and accurately to an external perturbation with a stepping response is critical to avoid falls and this ability is impaired in older, compared to young adults. However, little is known about whether young and older adults improve compensatory stepping responses similarly with practice. This study compares the extent to which young and older adults can improve, retain, and generalize postural compensatory steps in response to external perturbations. Centre of mass displacement, step characteristics and lower leg muscle activation latencies were measured during one training session of compensatory stepping in response to large surface translations in 13 young and 12 older adults. Retention was tested 24 h later. Older adults decreased their center of mass displacements over repeated exposure to large surface translations in both the anterior and posterior directions and retained these improvements. In contrast, young adults only showed adaptation and retention of forward stepping responses. Neither group was able to generalize improvements in stepping responses across directions. These results suggest step training may be beneficial for older adults, however additional, multidirectional training may be necessary to facilitate generalization of postural stepping responses for any direction of a slip or trip