The Senate’s CIA report may help to lead to a new politics of intelligence in Washington

The Senate’s recent report into the CIA’s interrogation methods has prompted new discussions on how the U.S. should be conducting intelligence gathering, and the level of Congress’ oversight. Glenn Hastedt writes that the report raises the prospect of a new era of intelligence politics characterized by a skeptical Congress that more tightly controls and challenges the intelligence community, as well as one of continued leaks. He also argues that concerns over short political time frames will continue to push the intelligence community to retroactively justify its actions

Building on MaineCare’s Success

This commentary provides a particular viewpoint on MaineCare (Maine’s Medicaid program). Lisa Pohlmann and Christine Hastedt critique reform efforts in several states and emphasize the key role of MaineCare in the state’s overall health care system

Linking Errors Between Two Populations and Tests: A Case Study in International Surveys in Education

This simulation study was prompted by the current increased interest in linking national studies to international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) such as IEA’s TIMSS, IEA’s PIRLS, and OECD’s PISA. Linkage in this scenario is achieved by including items from the international assessments in the national assessments on the premise that the average achievement scores from the latter can be linked to the international metric. In addition to raising issues associated with different testing conditions, administrative procedures, and the like, this approach also poses psychometric challenges. This paper endeavors to shed some light on the effects that can be expected, the linkage errors in particular, by countries using this practice. The ILSA selected for this simulation study was IEA TIMSS 2011, and the three countries used as the national assessment cases were Botswana, Honduras, and Tunisia, all of which participated in TIMSS 2011. The items selected as items common to the simulated national tests and the international test came from the Grade 4 TIMSS 2011 mathematics items that IEA released into the public domain after completion of this assessment. The findings of the current study show that linkage errors seemed to achieve acceptable levels if 30 or more items were used for the linkage, although the errors were still significantly higher compared to the TIMSS’ cutoffs. Comparison of the estimated country averages based on the simulated national surveys and the averages based on the international TIMSS assessment revealed only one instance across the three countries of the estimates approaching parity. Also, the percentages of students in these countries who actually reached the defined benchmarks on the TIMSS achievement scale differed significantly from the results based on TIMSS and the results for the simulated national assessments. As a conclusion, we advise against using groups of released items from international assessments in national assessments in order to link the results of the former to the latter. Accessed 3,870 times on https://pareonline.net from June 29, 2015 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

Executive/Congressional Liason in a Post Cold War Era

While it is true that presidents can and will attempt to practice domination of the Congress when making public policy, the nature of the new environment makes it less likely that they will regularly succeed. Because of the complexity of issues, there is a need to revisit the mechanics of executive/legislative liaisons in this new era. This essay represents such an attempt. First, we examine the changes that impact presidential policy-making in the post-Cold War era. Second, we review the ongoing debate in presidential literature concerning executive dominance over the Congress. Third, we briefly examine the modern history of presidential/congressional foreign policy interactions and note changes in these interactions. Fourth, we present a brief history of the White House Congressional Liaison Office in both the Cold War and the post-Cold War eras. We specifically examine and analyze the Carter and Clinton administrations. Finally, we present a new working model of a post-Cold War White House Congressional Liaison Office. This model views such an office as playing an important role in executive/legislative strategy and not merely functioning as a tactical offshoot for White House advisors

Executive/Congressional Liason in a Post Cold War Era

While it is true that presidents can and will attempt to practice domination of the Congress when making public policy, the nature of the new environment makes it less likely that they will regularly succeed. Because of the complexity of issues, there is a need to revisit the mechanics of executive/legislative liaisons in this new era. This essay represents such an attempt. First, we examine the changes that impact presidential policy-making in the post-Cold War era. Second, we review the ongoing debate in presidential literature concerning executive dominance over the Congress. Third, we briefly examine the modern history of presidential/congressional foreign policy interactions and note changes in these interactions. Fourth, we present a brief history of the White House Congressional Liaison Office in both the Cold War and the post-Cold War eras. We specifically examine and analyze the Carter and Clinton administrations. Finally, we present a new working model of a post-Cold War White House Congressional Liaison Office. This model views such an office as playing an important role in executive/legislative strategy and not merely functioning as a tactical offshoot for White House advisors

La chanson sociale québécoise et nicaraguayenne de 1960 à 1980.

L’étude qui suit a pour le but une juxtaposition des textes de chansons sociales produites au Québec et au Nicaragua de 1960 à 1980. Les auteurs choisis sont : Raymond Lévesque, Georges Dor, Carlos Mejía Godoy et Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy car leurs textes reflètent les inquiétudes et les attitudes populaires de l’époque de la Révolution tranquille et de la fin du régime somoziste, deux périodes cruciales dans l'histoire récente de ces deux collectivités. Il s’agit d’une prise de parole dont la forme reflète le caractère social de chaque nation comme l’explique Raymond Williams et il s’agit de l’utilisation de tactiques qui relèvent d’occasions comme l’explique Michel de Certeau. La chanson sociale, une des formes de la prise de parole, constitue une réaction contre -culturelle contre le bricolage proposé par les producteurs de la culture officielle. Dans les détails que cette étude examine, le texte de la chanson sociale fait découvrir toute une manière de vivre de chaque nation. En effet, la chanson sociale se sert des éléments de la culture officielle de façon à exposer l’essence de ce que la société réellement éprouve. Notre analyse textuelle touche plus particulièrement les thèmes de la pauvreté et de l’espoir pour l’avenir. La juxtaposition Québec-Nicaragua révèle que les auteurs-chanteurs-compositeurs de chaque nation trouvent des moyens de prendre la parole en accord avec les exigences du caractère social de la culture d’origine

Mechanismus der KATP-Kanal-unabhängigen Wirkung beta-zytotroper Nährstoffe und Interaktion neuer Sulfonylharnstoff-Analoga mit KATP-Kanälen

ATP-empfindliche K+-Kanäle (KATP-Kanäle) bestehen aus 4 Sulfonylharnstoffrezeptor (SUR)- und 4 einwärtsgleichrichtenden K+-Kanal-Untereinheiten (Kir6.x). SUR1, SUR2A bzw. SUR2B sind die Rezeptorsubtypen der B-Zelle, des Herzmuskels bzw. der glatten Muskulatur. Phosphorylierte Peptide könnten endogene SUR-Liganden sein. Das orale Antidiabetikum Repaglinid zeigt keine Selektivität bei der Bindung an die SUR-Subtypen und besetzt daher wahrscheinlich Bindungsstellen-Bereiche, die für alle 3 Subtypen sehr ähnlich sind. Die SUR-Affinität von Liganden sinkt durch meta-Stellung ihrer Sulfonylharnstoff (SU)-Gruppe. Ferner steigt durch Ersetzen der SU-Gruppe durch Sulfonylthioharnstoff die SUR2-Selektivität. Um den Nährstoff-induzierten KATP-Kanal-unabhängigen Weg der Insulinsekretion näher zu charakterisieren, wurden Maus-Pankreasinseln mit Glipizid (Sulfonylharnstoff zur Blockade aller KATP-Kanäle) plus alpha-Ketomonocarbonsäuren (z. B. Ketoisocapronat), Monomethylsuccinat oder BCH perifundiert. Die Testsubstanzen, die allesamt eine KATP-Kanal-unabhängige Sekretion bewirken, führen in ähnlichem Ausmaß zur Einspeisung von Intermediaten in den Citratzyklus. Dies scheint Voraussetzung für Sekretionssteigerung zu sein. Unterschiede hinsichtlich Stärke und Kinetik der Ketosäuren-induzierten Sekretion erklären sich wahrscheinlich durch Unterschiede im spezifischen Metabolismus. Somit könnte ATP die KATP-Kanal-unabhängige Insulinsekretion durch Wirkung auf den exozytotischen Prozess der Insulingranula vermitteln.ATP-sensitive K+-channels (KATP-channels) are composed of 4 sulfonylurea receptor (SUR) subunits and 4 inwardly rectifying K+-channel subunits (Kir6.x). SUR1, SUR2A and SUR2B represent the receptor subunits of pancreatic B-cells, cardiac muscle and smooth muscle, respectively. Phosphorylated peptides could be endogenous SUR-ligands. The oral antidiabetic agent repaglinide shows no selectivity for binding to SUR1, SUR2A or SUR2B and therefore probably interacts with binding regions common to all three receptor types. The binding affinity of ligands for SUR is decreased by meta-arrangement of their anionic sulfonylurea (SU) group. In addition, replacement of the SU group by a sulfonylthiourea group increases the selectivity for SUR2. To further characterize the KATP-channel-independent effect of insulin-releasing fuels, mouse pancreatic islets were perifused with glipizide (sulfonylurea for inhibition of all KATP-channels) plus alpha-ketomonocarboxylic acids (e. g. ketoisocaproate), monomethylsuccinate or BCH. The test compounds, all of them initiating KATP-channel-independent insulin secretion, feed intermediates into the citrate cycle to a similar extent. This seems to be a prerequisite for enhanced secretion. Differences in intensity and kinetics of ketoacid-induced secretion probably result from differences in their specific metabolism. Thus, ATP could trigger KATP-channel-independent insulin secretion by affecting exocytosis of insulin containing granules