Linking Language to Latino Turnout

After Latino-Americans demonstrated their power in the 2012 presidential election, securing increased minority support at the polls has become a primary goal for both major U.S. political parties. A reliable bloc of Latino voters on one’s side could mean more wins, yet Latinos have a low voter turnout rate. This paper explores how to increase Latino turnout and argues that the use of the Spanish language in electoral advertising will have a positive effect and actually raise the rate of Latino participation. By comparing statewide Latino turnout data during both the 2002 midterm elections and the 2008 presidential election, I find states with a sizable amount of Spanish-language get-out-the-vote messages do see increased rates of Latino voter turnout even when controlling for other variables, suggesting Spanish-language advertising could possibly be a useful supplemental tool in future political campaigns

Loopholes and Ambiguities of Section 2036

The possibility of divergent tax treatment of economically similar situations has made section 2036 of the Internal Revenue Code\u27 one of the most abused of the federal estate tax provisions. Originally enacted to ensure inclusion within the gross estate of the value of all property ostensibly transferred by the decedent prior to his death and yet beneficially enjoyed by him during his lifetime, the section is being circumvented by an increasing number of tax avoidance patterns. Although some of the confusion can be traced to the erratic approach of the courts to cases involving section 2036, the primary interpretive difficulty stems from Congress\u27 failure to define precisely what it hoped to accomplish by the enactment of that section. Under section 2036, the inter vivos gift of property in which the lifetime income is reserved for the transferor is clearly includible in the gross estate of the decedent-transferor. On the other hand, it is equally clear that the transferor may accomplish the same economic result, without subjecting the property to inclusion within his taxable estate by virtue of section 2036, simply by dividing his property and giving away an amount equal to the actuarial value of the remainder interest while retaining an amount equal to the actuarial value of the lifetime income. Taxation under section 2036 thus seems to turn on the form utilized by the decedent in dividing and transferring his property, rather than on the economic result. Unfortunately, most of the tax avoidance patterns fall within the gray area between the two forms of transfers mentioned above. A discussion of some of these patterns may serve to focus attention on the need for a review of the congressional purpose underlying section 2036 and for a possible statutory recasting of that section

Individual Perceptions Of Innovation: A Multi-Dimensional Construct

The purpose of the research was to understand and quantify how individuals perceive the meaning of the word innovation across a specific, indentified relatively homogenous cultural group. A traditional definition of innovation generally refers to the creation of a new or novel product or service. The intent was to demonstrate that a uniquely identified cultural group, involving a homogeneous group of IT industry employees accustomed to frequent innovations, might perceive a different meaning of innovation. This paper presents findings that redefine innovation, as a three-dimensional construct. Factor analysis identifies the constructs as new, improve or change. Individuals understand the meaning of innovation in these three unique (and independent) dimensions. In addition, three independent demographic variables (gender, job function, and generational cohort) suggest that variations in the perception of innovation are job-related and age dependent. Implications are that innovation is a complex concept, adapted by individuals, to describe something more than a new product or service

Conservation Reserve: A Preliminary Assessment of Short-Term Impacts

With passage of the Food Security Act of 1985 (FSA85), Congress and the Administration set in motion the largest set of conservation measures since the inception of federal soil conservation programs. Although the FSA85 also has sodbuster, swampbuster, cross compliance and conservation easement components, the Conservation Reserve (CR) is the centerpiece. During Congressional deliberations, some participants claimed the CR as a foundation of all future agricultural conservation policy (U.S. Senate)

Real-time analysis of single influenza virus replication complexes reveals large promoter-dependent differences in initiation dynamics

The viral RNA (vRNA) genome of influenza viruses is replicated by the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RNAP) via a complementary RNA (cRNA) intermediate. The vRNA promoter can adopt multiple conformations when bound by the RNAP. However, the dynamics, determinants, and biological role of these conformations are unknown; further, little is known about cRNA promoter conformations. To probe the RNA conformations adopted during initial replication, we monitored single, surface-immobilized vRNA and cRNA initiation complexes in real-time. Our results show that, while the 3′ terminus of the vRNA promoter exists in dynamic equilibrium between pre-initiation and initiation conformations, the cRNA promoter exhibited very limited dynamics. Two residues in the proximal 3′ region of the cRNA promoter (residues absent in the vRNA promoter) allowed the cRNA template strand to reach further into the active site, limiting promoter dynamics. Our results highlight promoter-dependent differences in influenza initiation mechanisms, and advance our understanding of virus replication

Magnetorheological landing gear: 2. Validation using experimental data

Aircraft landing gears are subjected to a wide range of excitation conditions with conflicting damping requirements. A novel solution to this problem is to implement semi-active damping using magnetorheological (MR) fluids. In part 1 of this contribution, a methodology was developed that enables the geometry of a flow mode MR valve to be optimized within the constraints of an existing passive landing gear. The device was designed to be optimal in terms of its impact performance, which was demonstrated using numerical simulations of the complete landing gear system. To perform the simulations, assumptions were made regarding some of the parameters used in the MR shock strut model. In particular, the MR fluid's yield stress, viscosity, and bulk modulus properties were not known accurately. Therefore, the present contribution aims to validate these parameters experimentally, via the manufacture and testing of an MR shock strut. The gas exponent, which is used to model the shock strut's nonlinear stiffness, is also investigated. In general, it is shown that MR fluid property data at high shear rates are required in order to accurately predict performance prior to device manufacture. Furthermore, the study illustrates how fluid compressibility can have a significant influence on the device time constant, and hence on potential control strategies

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 39, No. 2

• The Recovery of the Feminine in an Early American Pietist Community: The Interpretive Challenge of the Theology of Conrad Beissel • A Religious and Geographical History of the Shakers, 1747-1988 • Indiana Amish Family Records • Eel for Christmas: An Italian Tradition • Recollections of Ninety-Two Years • Those Old-Time Children\u27s Days • Aldes un Neies (Old and New)https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/1126/thumbnail.jp

Cage-induced stereotypic behaviour in laboratory mice covaries with nucleus accumbens FosB/ΔFosB expression.

Stereotypic behaviour (SB) occurs in certain human disorders (e.g. autism), and animals treated with stimulants or raised in impoverished conditions, including laboratory mice in standard cages. Dysfunctional cortico-basal ganglia pathways have been implicated in these examples, but for cage-induced forms of SB, the relative roles of ventral versus dorsal striatum had not been fully ascertained. Here, we used immunohistochemical staining of FosB and ΔFosB to assess long-term activation within the nucleus accumbens and caudate-putamen of C57BL/6 mice. Housed in typical laboratory cages, these mice spontaneously developed different degrees of route-tracing, bar-mouthing and other forms of SB (spending 0% to over 50% of their active time budgets in this behaviour). The most highly stereotypic mice showed the most elevated FosB/ΔFosB activity in the nucleus accumbens. No such patterns occurred in the caudate-putamen. The cage-induced SB common in standard-housed mice thus involves elevated activity within the ventral striatum, suggesting an aetiology closer to compulsive gambling, eating and drug-seeking than to classic amphetamine stereotypies and other behaviours induced by motor loop over-activation

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior Increases Resistance to Extinction: Clinical Demonstration, Animal Modeling, and Clinical Test of One Solution

Basic research with pigeons on behavioral momentum suggests that differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) can increase the resistance of target behavior to change. This finding suggests that clinical applications of DRA may inadvertently increase the persistence of target behavior even as it decreases its frequency. We conducted three coordinated experiments to test whether DRA has persistence-strengthening effects on clinically significant target behavior and then tested the effectiveness of a possible solution to this problem in both a nonhuman and clinical study. Experiment 1 compared resistance to extinction following baseline rates of reinforcement versus higher DRA rates of reinforcement in a clinical study. Resistance to extinction was substantially greater following DRA. Experiment 2 tested a rat model of a possible solution to this problem. Training an alternative response in a context without reinforcement of the target response circumvented the persistence-strengthening effects of DRA. Experiment 3 translated the rat model into a novel clinical application of DRA. Training an alternative response with DRA in a separate context resulted in lower resistance to extinction than employing DRA in the context correlated with reinforcement of target behavior. The value of coordinated bidirectional translational research is discusse