Constitutional Change in a Long-Depressed Community: A Case Study of Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth, a boom and bust city with a marginal economy, has a unique position outside the mainstream of American life that adds a different dimension lo the understanding of community politics. Settlement patterns have contributed to the development of separate business and labor subcommunities that are substantially alienated from and hostile to one another and have rarely been able to cooperate in any civic endeavor. Operating within the framework of a political system caricaturing that of Minnesota as a whole, the two subcommunities reversed the pattern of local concern found in other cities; labor became the progressive force in local matters while business played a highly conservative role. Since World War II, the decline of the city\u27s established economic base hos been completed. At the same time, the Democratic-Farmer- Labor Party has emerged as the dominant political party locally. Its leaders, in alliance with organized labor, have tried to do something about Duluth\u27s predicament. In J 956, they secured a major change in the city\u27s form of government that was designed to open the door to progress an other fronts. Ta do so, they forged an alliance with the business community that, at least temporarily, transcended the city\u27s normal cleavage. While the constitutional change was of little immediate importance, the effect of the alliance was ta convince community leaders on both sides that cooperation for civic improvement was possible, thus opening the door lo a series of government-aided developments that may hove for-reaching consequences for Duluth\u27s economic and social well-being

Not Written in Stone

Using long-ignored constitutions of various Jewish organizations, this unique book uncovers the political history of Canadian Jewry since its beginning during the 1700s. Building on the premise that Jews, since time immemorial, have written down their values and ideologies, this study effectively demonstrates how these writings record the principles and values that motivated a community

Fruit Quality of Grafted Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus): Relationship between Rootstock, Soil Disinfection and Plant Stand

Grafting of vegetable transplants is a unique horticultural technology, which was adapted from the practice in perennial crops. However, rootstock/scion combinations may affect and alter the final size, yield, and quality of fruits of grafted plants, both immediately postharvest and during prolonged storage. We evaluated the effect of two rootstocks [TZ148 and Nurit (commercial Cucurbita spp. hybrids)] grafted on one scion (seedless watermelon cv. 1262) in two plant stands (2500 and 5000 plant ha-1), on plant viability, number of marketable fruits (fruits weight above 5 kg) and fruit quality after one week storage at 20°C, in non- or disinfested soil. Soil disinfection significantly improved the viability of non-grafted plants. All grafted plants significantly performed better vine vigor, with no wilt or vine decline symptoms, in either disinfested or non-treated soil, regardless of the type of the rootstock. Plant stand did not affect plant viability. The number of marketable watermelon fruits per m2 was 75 to 700% higher in grafted plants than in non-graft ed. Grafting on Nurit produced significantly more marketable fruits than grafting on TZ148. The quality of fruits harvested from grafted plants was significantly better than non-grafted fruit in both plant stands and soils. Watermelons harvested from Nurit-grafted plants had better taste and texture and almost seedless compared to control and TZ-148-grafted plant

Instances and connectors : issues for a second generation process language

This work is supported by UK EPSRC grants GR/L34433 and GR/L32699Over the past decade a variety of process languages have been defined, used and evaluated. It is now possible to consider second generation languages based on this experience. Rather than develop a second generation wish list this position paper explores two issues: instances and connectors. Instances relate to the relationship between a process model as a description and the, possibly multiple, enacting instances which are created from it. Connectors refers to the issue of concurrency control and achieving a higher level of abstraction in how parts of a model interact. We believe that these issues are key to developing systems which can effectively support business processes, and that they have not received sufficient attention within the process modelling community. Through exploring these issues we also illustrate our approach to designing a second generation process language.Postprin

Naming Names: The Impact of Supreme Court Opinion Attribution on Citizen Assessment of Policy Outcomes

The manner in which political institutions convey their policy outcomes can have important implications for how the public views institutions\u27 policy decisions. This paper explores whether the way in which the U.S. Supreme Court communicates its policy decrees affects how favorably members of the public assess its decisions. Specifically, we investigate whether attributing a decision to the nation\u27s High Court or to an individual justice influences the public\u27s agreement with the Court\u27s rulings. Using an experimental design, we find that when a Supreme Court outcome is ascribed to the institution as a whole, rather than to a particular justice, people are more apt to agree with the policy decision. We also find that identifying the gender of the opinion author affects public agreement under certain conditions. Our findings have important implications for how public support for institutional policymaking operates, as well as the dynamics of how the Supreme Court manages to accumulate and maintain public goodwill

The Impact of Advocacy Organizations on Low-Income Housing Policy in U.S. Cities

Financial support for affordable housing competes with many other municipal priorities. This work seeks to explain the variation in support for affordable housing among U.S. cities with populations of 100,000 or more. Using multivariate statistical analysis, this research investigates political explanations for the level of city expenditures on housing and community with a particular interest in the influence of housing advocacy organizations (AOs). Data for the model were gathered from secondary sources, including the U.S. Census and the National Center for Charitable Statistics. Among other results, the analysis indicates that, on average, the political maturity of AOs has a statistically significant, positive effect on local housing and community development expenditures

Autophagy, Inflammation, and Metabolism (AIM) Center of Biomedical Research Excellence:Supporting the next generation of autophagy researchers and fostering international collaborations

Recently, NIH has funded a center for autophagy research named the Autophagy, Inflammation, and Metabolism (AIM) Center of Biomedical Research Excellence, located at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center (UNM HSC), with aspirations to promote autophagy research locally, nationally, and internationally. The center has 3 major missions: (i) to support junior faculty in their endeavors to develop investigations in this area and obtain independent funding; (ii) to develop and provide technological platforms to advance autophagy research with emphasis on cellular approaches for high quality reproducible research; and (iii) to foster international collaborations through the formation of an International Council of Affiliate Members and through hosting national and international workshops and symposia. Scientifically, the AIM center is focused on autophagy and its intersections with other processes, with emphasis on both fundamental discoveries and applied translational research.</p