Voting: Is it Just for Old People?

In 2004, the clothing retailer Urban Outfitters sold a t-shirt with the slogan, “Voting is for Old People”. Did Urban Outfitters step over the line, or were they a reflection of the sate of our democracy and the demographics of current voters? Many organizations have developed to combat the problem of low youth voter turnout and disengagement. One of the most well-known organizations is Rock the Vote. In its 18 year existence, has youth turnout increased? Have their efforts been futile or on the other side, have they been successful in paving the way for the youth to demand attention from the government and be heard? The purpose of this research is to measure the effects of the efforts targeted toward youth voters over the past 18 years, in terms of voter turnout using American National Election Studies Data. The results show that voting is not just for old people

Rhetoric and Campaign Language: Explaining New Electoral Success of African American Politicians in Non-Minority Districts

My dissertation seeks to answer two important questions in African American politics: What accounts for the new electoral success of African American candidates in non-minority majority districts, and is there some sort of specific rhetoric used in the campaign speeches of these African American politicians? I seek to show that rhetoric matters and that there is a consistent post-racial language found in the speeches of successful African American elected officials. In experimental studies, I show that that this post-racial language is effective in shaping perceptions of these politicians and is a contributing factor to their success. In addition, I show that the language found in the speeches of successful African American elected officials is not found in the speeches of unsuccessful African American politicians running for a similar office. I engage in this research by conducting experiments using campaign speeches from 2010 primary and general election candidates, conducting quantitative text analysis, and performing ethnographical interviewing with successful African American elected officials

Free Your Mind: Contemporary Racial Attitudes and Post Racial Theory

The inauguration of the United States first Black President has prompted mass discussions of race relations in America. It is often articulated that America is now in a post-racial society. However, the question still remains: does the election of a Black president demonstrate that America is now a color-blind society? To answer this question, we rely on data collected by PEW (2007). Our results suggest that white and African Americans differ significantly in the extent to which they express post-racial attitudes. Specifically, we find that whites more commonly express post-racial attitudes, claiming that racism and discrimination are rare, in opposition to African American views. On the other hand, blacks are more likely to believe that discrimination still occurs. We further find that whites\u27 post-racial beliefs are significant determinants of their attitudes towards race-related policies, such as affirmative action. Keywords: Race, Obama, Post-racial, Public Opinion, Racial Attitudes, Racial Politics, African American

Proteomics and in silico approaches to extend understanding of the glutathione transferase superfamily of the tropical liver fluke Fasciola gigantica

Fasciolosis is an important foodborne, zoonotic disease of livestock and humans, with global annual health and economic losses estimated at several billion US$. Fasciola hepatica is the major species in temperate regions, while F. gigantica dominates in the tropics. In the absence of commercially available vaccines to control fasciolosis, increasing reports of resistance to current chemotherapeutic strategies and the spread of fasciolosis into new areas, new functional genomics approaches are being used to identify potential new drug targets and vaccine candidates. The glutathione transferase (GST) superfamily is both a candidate drug and vaccine target. This study reports the identification of a putatively novel Sigma class GST, present in a water-soluble cytosol extract from the tropical liver fluke F. gigantica. The GST was cloned and expressed as an enzymically active recombinant protein. This GST shares a greater identity with the human schistosomiasis GST vaccine currently at Phase II clinical trials than previously discovered F. gigantica GSTs, stimulating interest in its immuno-protective properties. In addition, in silico analysis of the GST superfamily of both F. gigantica and F. hepatica has revealed an additional Mu class GST, Omega class GSTs, and for the first time, a Zeta class member

Probing the self-assembly and anti-glioblastoma efficacy of a cinnamoyl-capped dipeptide hydrogelator

Herein, we introduce the first diphenylalanine dipeptide hydrogelator capped with the cinnamoyl functional group (Cin-L-F-L-F). We evaluate the effects of the cinnamoyl moiety on molecular self-assembly events and resultant physical properties of the hydrogel formed. In addition, we report our preliminary results of this dipeptide’s cytotoxicity against glioblastoma (GBM) cancer cells

Measurement of blood loss during postpartum haemorrhage

Background We set out to validate the accuracy of gravimetric quantification of blood loss during simulated major postpartum haemorrhage and to evaluate the technique in a consecutive cohort of women experiencing major postpartum haemorrhage. The study took part in a large UK delivery suite over a one-year period. All women who experienced major postpartum haemorrhage were eligible for inclusion. Methods For the validation exercise, in a simulated postpartum haemorrhage scenario using known volumes of artificial blood, the accuracy of gravimetric measurement was compared with visual estimation made by delivery suite staff. In the clinical observation study, the blood volume lost during postpartum haemorrhage was measured gravimetrically according to our routine institutional protocol and was correlated with fall in haemoglobin. The main outcome measure was the accuracy of gravimetric measurement of blood loss. Results Validation exercise: the mean percentage error of gravimetrically measured blood volume was 4.0 ± 2.7% compared to visually estimated blood volume with a mean percentage error of 34.7 ± 32.1%. Clinical observation study: 356 out of 6187 deliveries were identified as having major postpartum haemorrhage. The correlation coefficient between measured blood loss and corrected fall in haemoglobin for all patients was 0.77; correlation was stronger (0.80) for postpartum haemorrhage >1500 mL, and similar during routine and out-of-hours working. Conclusion The accuracy of the gravimetric method was confirmed in simulated postpartum haemorrhage. The clinical study shows that gravimetric measurement of blood loss is correlated with the fall in haemoglobin in postpartum haemorrhage where blood loss exceeds 1500 mL. The method is simple to perform, requires only basic equipment, and can be taught and used by all maternity services during major postpartum haemorrhag

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: a measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background power spectra at 98 and 150 GHz

International audienceWe present the temperature and polarization angular power spectra of the CMB measured by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) from 5400 deg2 of the 2013–2016 survey, which covers >15000 deg2 at 98 and 150 GHz. For this analysis we adopt a blinding strategy to help avoid confirmation bias and, related to this, show numerous checks for systematic error done before unblinding. Using the likelihood for the cosmological analysis we constrain secondary sources of anisotropy and foreground emission, and derive a “CMB-only” spectrum that extends to ℓ=4000. At large angular scales, foreground emission at 150 GHz is ∼1% of TT and EE within our selected regions and consistent with that found by Planck. Using the same likelihood, we obtain the cosmological parameters for ΛCDM for the ACT data alone with a prior on the optical depth of τ=0.065±0.015. ΛCDM is a good fit. The best-fit model has a reduced χ2 of 1.07 (PTE=0.07) with H0=67.9±1.5 km/s/Mpc. We show that the lensing BB signal is consistent with ΛCDM and limit the celestial EB polarization angle to ψP =−0.07ˆ±0.09ˆ. We directly cross correlate ACT with Planck and observe generally good agreement but with some discrepancies in TE. All data on which this analysis is based will be publicly released

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR4 Maps and Cosmological Parameters

International audienceWe present new arcminute-resolution maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background temperature and polarization anisotropy from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, using data taken from 2013–2016 at 98 and 150 GHz. The maps cover more than 17,000 deg2, the deepest 600 deg2 with noise levels below 10μK-arcmin. We use the power spectrum derived from almost 6,000 deg2 of these maps to constrain cosmology. The ACT data enable a measurement of the angular scale of features in both the divergence-like polarization and the temperature anisotropy, tracing both the velocity and density at last-scattering. From these one can derive the distance to the last-scattering surface and thus infer the local expansion rate, H0. By combining ACT data with large-scale information from WMAP we measure H0=67.6± 1.1 km/s/Mpc, at 68% confidence, in excellent agreement with the independently-measured Planck satellite estimate (from ACT alone we find H0=67.9± 1.5 km/s/Mpc). The ΛCDM model provides a good fit to the ACT data, and we find no evidence for deviations: both the spatial curvature, and the departure from the standard lensing signal in the spectrum, are zero to within 1σ; the number of relativistic species, the primordial Helium fraction, and the running of the spectral index are consistent with ΛCDM predictions to within 1.5–2.2σ. We compare ACT, WMAP, and Planck at the parameter level and find good consistency; we investigate how the constraints on the correlated spectral index and baryon density parameters readjust when adding CMB large-scale information that ACT does not measure. The DR4 products presented here will be publicly released on the NASA Legacy Archive for Microwave Background Data Analysis