No Strength in Numbers: The Failure of Big-City Bills in American State Legislatures, 1880–2000

Do big cities exert more power than less populous ones in American state legislatures? In many political systems, greater representation leads to more policy gains, yet for most of the nation's history, urban advocates have argued that big cities face systematic discrimination in statehouses. Drawing on a new historical dataset spanning 120 years and 13 states, we find clear evidence that there is no strength in numbers for big-city delegations in state legislatures. District bills affecting large metropolises fail at much higher rates than bills affecting small cities, counties, and villages. Big cities lose so often because size leads to damaging divisions. We demonstrate that the cities with the largest delegations—which are more likely to be internally divided—are the most frustrated in the legislative process. Demographic differences also matter, with district bills for cities that have many foreign-born residents, compared with the state as a whole, failing at especially high rates.</jats:p

Quantification of Tissue Scattering Properties by Use of Fiber Optic Spectroscopy

Globally, cancer is becoming a major health problem as advances in medicine continue to extend the life spans of our populations. In 2011 alone, there were an estimated 12.7 million new cancer cases diagnosed, 7.6 million cancer related deaths, and 28 million people living with cancer within 5 years of their initial diagnosis [1]. Cancer research is one of the main research topics in health sciences and EU funding alone amounts to 1.1 billion euro between 2007 and 2011. Survival rates are closely correlated with early diagnosis and research on the development and improvement of diagnostic methods is increasing. Common techniques to detect cancer are ultrasound (US), x-ray computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonant imaging (MRI), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET), which visualize areas inside the body with a detection threshold of approximately 1 cm3 for solid tumors

ChatGPT – What an Attorney Needs To Know When Using This New Tool

There is a large potential impact of ChatGPT, an AI language processing model, on the legal industry. In this article, Grant Gamm highlights the various benefits and limitations of the new technology, while emphasizing ethical considerations that attorneys must keep in mind when using it. The article also touches on the broader issues of bias and hallucinations that can arise with AI tools and their potential impact on society. Overall, the article highlights the need for attorneys to maintain competence in technological advancements and be vigilant about ethical implications when adopting new tools like ChatGPT.https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lawjournalonline/1118/thumbnail.jp

Wireless distance estimation with low-power standard components in wireless sensor nodes

In the context of increasing use of moving wireless sensor nodes the interest in localizing these nodes in their application environment is strongly rising. For many applications, it is necessary to know the exact position of the nodes in two- or three-dimensional space. Commonly used nodes use state-of-the-art transceivers like the CC430 from Texas Instruments with integrated signal strength measurement for this purpose. This has the disadvantage, that the signal strength measurement is strongly dependent on the orientation of the node through the antennas inhomogeneous radiation pattern as well as it has a small accuracy on long ranges. Also, the nodes overall attenuation and output power has to be calibrated and interference and multipath effects appear in closed environments. Another possibility to trilaterate the position of a sensor node is the time of flight measurement. This has the advantage, that the position can also be estimated on long ranges, where signal strength methods give only poor accuracy. In this paper we present an investigation of the suitability of the state-of-the-art transceiver CC430 for a system based on time of flight methods and give an overview of the optimal settings under various circumstances for the in-field application. For this investigation, the systematic and statistical errors in the time of flight measurements with the CC430 have been investigated under a multitude of parameters. Our basic system does not use any additional components but only the given standard hardware, which can be found on the Texas Instruments evaluation board for a CC430. Thus, it can be implemented on already existent sensor node networks by a simple software upgrade.Comment: 8 pages, Proceedings of the 14th Mechatronics Forum International Conference, Mechatronics 201

An Analysis of the factors influencing paper selection for books of reproduced fine art

Toner-based digital presses are now capable of matching offset lithographic presses in image and print quality. Current trends show increased interest in printing fine art books on digital presses. It is necessary to understand the extent to which digital printing systems are capable of accurately rendering fine-art reproductions. This research analyzed paper properties that maximize image quality and preference for digitally printed fine art reproductions. Four images, representing four art media, were printed on twelve papers using two digital presses. The twelve papers represented different combinations of color, print-show-through, roughness and gloss. A psychophysical experiment was conducted in which observers ranked the twelve papers for each image on the basis of image quality, color rendering quality, and surface appearance quality. The results were analyzed and a model was developed to predict the probability that a paper was ranked in the top three. Paper color (coolness), basis weight, roughness, and gloss were model parameters. Unlike gloss, roughness, and print-show-through, there was no previous metric for quantifying coolness. Therefore, an additional experiment was conducted to develop a model to predict the perception of coolness using colorimetry. An alternative experiment model was also developed that included parameters such as caliper, print gloss, line raggedness, and dot circularity. The resulting models allowed for the optimization of paper parameters that maximize the probability a paper will produce preferred and high quality images. It was concluded that the probability a book was judged as having high image quality was optimized for papers with high coolness, low roughness and low gloss. Neither print show-through, line raggedness, nor mottle were significant factors. An additional lexical analysis was performed for observer descriptions of their ranking behavior. This analysis provided complementary data to the psychophysical results. Observers\u27 descriptions of their ranking strategies did not match the rank data, suggesting a possible disconnect between observers\u27 conscious and subconscious ranking behaviors

Comparing engagement : predicting African American student success at predominately white institutions and historically black colleges and universities.

The study examined the relationship between African American student engagement and student background variables through the context of institution type. The study focused on the impact of student background variables (mother\u27s level of education, father\u27s level of education, enrollment status, sex, and grade point average) on student engagement, while taking into account institution types. Differences in engagement levels between different types of institutions were explored. Engagement variables were measured as benchmarks of effective educational practice gathered from the National Survey of Student Engagement. The results indicated that African American students had significantly higher grade point averages when attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as compared to African American students who attended Predominately White Institutions (PWIs). Additionally, institution type was found to be a significant predictor of all NSSE benchmark scores with the exception of Level of Academic Challenge. Enrollment status was found to be a significant predictor of all NSSE benchmark scores with the exception of Supportive Campus Environment, and grade point average was a significant predictor of all NSSE benchmark scores. Students at HBCUs scored reported significantly higher levels of student engagement on all NSSE benchmarks with the exception of Level of Academic Challenge when compared to students at PWIs. Surprisingly, no significant differences were found in institutional African American six year graduation rates when comparing students by institution type. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are also considered

THE INFLUENCE OF TASK TYPE AND WORKING MEMORY ON THE SYNTACTIC COMPLEXITY OF NARRATIVE DISCOURSE PRODUCTION IN HEALTHY AGING ADULTS

This study investigated the lifespan influences of task type and working memory on the syntactic complexity of narrative discourse production. Participants included 180 healthy adults across three age cohorts: 20-29 years (Young Group), 60-69 years (Older Group) and 75-89 years (Elderly Group). Participants completed standardized working memory measures and four discourse tasks (single/sequential picture description, storytelling and personal recount). Syntactic complexity for each sample was measured via clausal density yielding a complexity index. For analysis, participants were placed into one of two groups based on working memory scores above (High Working Memory Group) or below (Low Working Memory Group) the mean. Significant differences in syntactic complexity between working memory groups were found for the single picture description and the storytelling; individuals in the high working memory group produced language with greater syntactic complexity. When the effects of cohort and working memory were investigated with a two-way ANOVA, working memory group was no longer significantly related to syntactic complexity. However, there was a significant relationship between cohort and syntactic complexity for the single picture description and storytelling tasks. Analyses indicate that the relationships between syntactic complexity, age, and working memory are dependent on task type

Dr. Brianna Burke (Student Spotlight)

This year UHURU took on a new advisor, Dr. Brianna Burke. Burke is an Assistant Professor of English and focuses on environmental justice, ecocriticism, Native American literature, and multi-cultural 20th Century American literature