The Recent Constitutional Amendments

The present year has witnessed the incorporation in our National Constitution of two important changes to be known respectively as the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments;- the one, proclaimed by the Secretary of State as formally adopted February 25, 1913, empowers Congress to lay a direct tax in the nature of an income tax irrespective of the source whence such income may be drawn, and freed, too, from any necessity of apportionment among the several states in conformity to their population; the other, proclaimed May 31, 1913, transfers the choice of senators from state legislatures directly to the voters. As in the instance of the adoption in 1798 of the Eleventh Amendment, a constitutional interpretation rendered by the Supreme Court has furnished the impulse leading to the adoption of the Sixteenth. The Seventeenth Amendment, however,---a change long-desired by many-draws its inspiration from widely-differing sources and is fraught with far deeper constitutional significance. Here we have our second national legislative chamber brought to rest directly on the will of the citizen-body, and thus, bearing in mind that the National Executive is now practically although not constitutionally chosen by popular vote, our plan of government is seen to be divested of that element of official guardianship deemed essential when in 1787, it was sought to interpose local legislators or Federal electors between the people at large and those who should be selected to administer their government. Time, however, has effectualy demonstrated the peril or ineffectiveness of such intermediates, nor is the spirit of modern self-government easily tolerant, as may be gathered from recent discussions in the British and French parliaments, of legislators whose immediate choice is not confided to the hands of those for whose benefit it is supposed to have been made

People's Democratic Republic of Ralandia Two Case Studies

The following case studies were designed to promote class discussion on economic policy in developing countries. They are problem solving cases, self-contained, and do not require any additional data. There are three components: Ralandia (A), (B), and (C). Ralandai is a fictitious country located on the southeastern coast of Africa. Ralandia (A) gives an overview of the country, and is not in itself a case study. Ralandia (A) together with Ralandia (B) make up the case on Agricultural Policy; and Ralandia (A) together with Ralandia (C) make up the case on Macroeconomic Policy. In approaching the cases, the reader should keep in mind the following questions: what are the problems that exist; what are the factors which affect why certain policies success and others fail; what is the effect of politics on economic policy; and what are the economic implications of political acts?Center for Research on Economic Development, University of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100964/1/ECON408.pd

Membrane interactions of the synthetic N-terminal peptide of HIV-1 gp41 and its structural analogs

AbstractStructural and functional studies assessed the membrane actions of the N terminus of HIV-1 glycoprotein 41 000 (gp41). Earlier site-directed mutagenesis has shown that key amino acid changes in this gp41 domain inhibit viral infection and syncytia formation. Here, a synthetic peptide corresponding to the N terminus of gp41 (FP; 23 residues, 519–541), and also FP analogs (FP520V/E with Val→Glu at residue 520; FP527L/R with Leu→Arg at 527; FP529F/Y with Phe→Tyr at 529; and FPCLP1 with FP truncated at 525) incorporating these modifications were prepared. When added to human erythrocytes at physiologic pH, the lytic and aggregating activities of the FP analogs were much reduced over those with the wild-type FP. With resealed human erythrocyte ghosts, the lipid-mixing activities of the FP analogs were also substantially depressed over that with the wild-type FP. Combined with results from earlier studies, theoretical calculations using hydrophobic moment plot analysis and physical experiments using circular dichroism and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicate that the diminished lysis and fusion noted for FP analogs may be due to altered peptide-membrane lipid interactions. These data confirm that the N-terminal gp41 domain plays critical roles in the cytolysis and fusion underlying HIV-cell infection

Individual, unit and vocal clan level identity cues in sperm whale codas

Fieldwork was supported by Discovery and Equipment grants to H.W. from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. S.G. and L.R. were supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTs) pooling initiative and their support is gratefully acknowledged. MASTs is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. S.G. was also supported by an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS-M), an NSERC Canadian Graduate Scholarship (CGS-D), the Izaak Killam Memorial Scholarship, the Patrick F. Lett Fund, the Dalhousie’s Presidents Award, and an FNU fellowship for the Danish Council for Independent Research from the Ministry of Higher Education and Science supplemented by a Sapere Aude Research Talent Award.The ‘social complexity hypothesis’ suggests that complex social structure is a driver of diversity in animal communication systems. Sperm whales have a hierarchically structured society in which the largest affiliative structures, the vocal clans, are marked on ocean-basin scales by culturally transmitted dialects of acoustic signals known as ‘codas’. We examined variation in coda repertoires among both individual whales and social units—the basic element of sperm whale society—using data from nine Caribbean social units across six years. Codas were assigned to individuals using photo-identification and acoustic size measurement, and we calculated similarity between repertoires using both continuous and categorical methods. We identified 21 coda types. Two of those (‘1+1+3’ and ‘5R1’) made up 65% of the codas recorded, were shared across all units and have dominated repertoires in this population for at least 30 years. Individuals appear to differ in the way they produce ‘5R1’ but not ‘1+1+3’ coda. Units use distinct 4-click coda types which contribute to making unit repertoires distinctive. Our results support the social complexity hypothesis in a marine species as different patterns of variation between coda types suggest divergent functions, perhaps representing selection for identity signals at several levels of social structure.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Excitotoxic mechanisms of apoptosis in the mammalian visual system following monocular visual deprivation

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Twenty questions about design behavior for sustainability, report of the International Expert Panel on behavioral science for design

How behavioral scientists, engineers, and architects can work together to advance how we all understand and practice design—in order to enhance sustainability in the built environment, and beyond.https://www.nature.com/documents/design_behavior_for_sustainability.pdfPublished versio