279 research outputs found
Advocacy & Public Policy Grantmaking: Matching Process to Purpose
Over the past five years, advocacy and public policy grantmaking has moved away from supporting individual grantees to achieve their particular policy goals toward a more targeted, proactive approach designed to achieve the funder's policy goals. More recently, some funders have begun to explore new ways of designing advocacy and public policy grantmaking to achieve longer-term and more substantial changes in the policy landscape at large. As foundations consider how to approach their advocacy and public policy grantmaking in the future, a better understanding of this variety of approaches, and pros and cons of each among foundations with a long history of policy work, may provide options for framing and focusing such efforts.Building on research conducted in 2007 by Coffman and Campbell, this brief summarizes advocacy and public policy grantmaking approaches and their implications for grant portfolio composition and management, auxiliary supports and evaluation. "Advocacy and public policy grantmaking" refers to grantmaking in support of a wide range of advocacy activities that are intend to trigger, block, maintain, support and/or monitor changes in public policy at any level of government. The findings below emerged from an extensive literature review, as well as interviews with staff at 14 foundations and three independent consultants with in-depth policy experience. Interviewees were selected to represent an array of foundation sizes, content areas and structures, all with mature policy portfolios. Foundation staff were asked to describe their foundation's approach to advocacy and public policy grantmaking, including:The foundation's goals for its advocacy and policy grantsWhat the foundation has learned about how best to structure grantmaking and construct a portfolio to achieve its goalsWhat auxiliary supports (e.g., convenings, technical assistance, etc.) the foundation provides that have proven indispensable to its workHow the foundation defines the role of its policy staff, and how these staff interact with other staffHow the foundation designs reporting and conducts (or would like to conduct) evaluationHow the foundation thinks about its role in the larger field of "actors" in the advocacy field and in relation to other funders.The assessment revealed two approaches to advocacy and public policy grantmaking for which foundation practices and processes are fairly well established: a policy target approach to achieve the passage, successful implementation and maintenance of a funder's specific policy goal; and an advocacy niche approach to strengthen the presence or influence of a particular strategic function (i.e., policy analysis and research or grassroots mobilization) within the policymaking process. In addition, the assessment identified an emerging approach to advocacy and public policy grantmaking that has yet to be well defined: a field-building approach to develop the stability and long-term adaptive capacity of a group -- or field -- of advocacy organizations. Many funders choose a combination of these approaches, and some prefer to be more strongly positioned within a single approach. Approaches are not mutually exclusive, and may even be mutually supportive; but each approach has unique implications for grantee selection, organizational processes, program officer roles and evaluation.This report frames a series of options for advocacy and public policy grantmaking and explores implications for foundation practices by drawing on the best experiences from the field. It presents a particular focus on what it means for foundations to design their grantmaking to build the capacity and influence of a field of advocates to tackle a wide range of policy challenges over time. As such, this brief can help foundation staff and leadership establish a common language and understand trade-offs among the different advocacy strategy paths
HITECH Revisited
Assesses the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, which offers incentives to adopt and meaningfully use electronic health records. Recommendations include revised criteria, incremental approaches, and targeted policies
Interpolazione numerica: un approccio CUDA-parallelo
L’obbiettivo di questa tesi è quello di massimizzare l’ottimizzazione dell’algoritmo interpolatorio delle basi di Lagrange cercando di sfruttare quanto più possibile le peculiarità dell’architettura parallela CUDA
Potenzialità applicative e rischi dell'approccio neuroscientifico nell'accertamento penale. Verso un'interazione sempre più imprescindibile tra scienza e diritto.
Le neuroscienze e la genetica comportamentale, cercando di comprendere il funzionamento del cervello umano e scoprire le relazioni tra i geni e il comportamento, vengono ad interagire con il mondo giuridico. Per comprendere le molteplici vesti che queste nuove discipline possono rivestire all'interno dello stesso è stato necessario inquadrare quest'interazione nei complessi rapporti tra scienza e diritto che vengono sempre di più in rilievo nell'accertamento penale in ragione dell'avanzamento tecnologico e delle complessità processuali. L'analisi parte dall'evoluzione epistemologica della scienza moderna e del sistema delle prove nel processo penale. L'obiettivo del raggiungimento della verità processuale spinge verso un'integrazione del sapere giudiziale con quello scientifico, vengono chiariti dunque i rapporti che si possono instaurare tra l'esperto (perito e consulente tecnico) e il giudice e successivamente si delineano le peculiarità della nuova prova scientifica nelle diverse fasi della dinamica probatoria.
In questo quadro introduttivo si pongono le neuroscienze forensi e la genetica comportamentale, le cui principali frontiere di applicazione investono, ad oggi, la diagnosi dell'infermità mentale, dunque il giudizio di imputabilità, e la valutazione della prova dichiarativa. L'approccio neuroscientifico ha però delle ripercussioni giuridiche se accolto in maniera acritica, porta con sé infatti una visione dell'essere umano contrapposta a quella fatta propria dal diritto. I rischi di un nuovo determinismo biologico del comportamento umano mina i fondamenti della giustizia penale come il concetto di imputabilità, libero arbitrio, responsabilità e autodeterminazione. L'apertura di scenari inediti rende sempre più pregnante l'esigenza di uno studio approfondito di queste tematiche in modo da evitare i pericoli insiti nell'accoglimento di tali prove nel giudizio penale senza rinunciare però al fondamentale apporto delle scienze dell'uomo
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High-throughput smFRET analysis of freely diffusing nucleic acid molecules and associated proteins
Single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) is a powerful technique for nanometer-scale studies of single molecules. Solution-based smFRET, in particular, can be used to study equilibrium intra- and intermolecular conformations, binding/unbinding events and conformational changes under biologically relevant conditions without ensemble averaging. However, single-spot smFRET measurements in solution are slow. Here, we detail a high-throughput smFRET approach that extends the traditional single-spot confocal geometry to a multispot one. The excitation spots are optically conjugated to two custom silicon single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) arrays. Two-color excitation is implemented using a periodic acceptor excitation (PAX), allowing distinguishing between singly- and doubly-labeled molecules. We demonstrate the ability of this setup to rapidly and accurately determine FRET efficiencies and population stoichiometries by pooling the data collected independently from the multiple spots. We also show how the high throughput of this approach can be used o increase the temporal resolution of single-molecule FRET population characterization from minutes to seconds. Combined with microfluidics, this high-throughput approach will enable simple real-time kinetic studies as well as powerful molecular screening applications
Group Vibrational Mode Assignments as a Broadly Applicable Tool for Characterizing Ionomer Membrane Structure as a Function of Degree of Hydration
Infrared spectra of Nafion, Aquivion, and the 3M membrane were acquired during total dehydration of fully hydrated samples. Fully hydrated exchange sites are in a sulfonate form with a C₃V local symmetry. The mechanical coupling of the exchange site to a side chain ether link gives rise to vibrational group modes that are classified as C₃V modes. These mode intensities diminish concertedly with dehydration. When totally dehydrated, the sulfonic acid form of the exchange site is mechanically coupled to an ether link with no local symmetry. This gives rise to C₁ group modes that emerge at the expense of C₃V modes during dehydration. Membrane IR spectra feature a total absence of C₃V modes when totally dehydrated, overlapping C₁ and C₃V modes when partially hydrated, and a total absence of C₁ modes when fully hydrated. DFT calculated normal mode analyses complemented with molecular dynamics simulations of Nafion with overall λ (λ_(Avg)) values of 1, 3, 10, 15 and 20 waters/exchange site, were sectioned into sub-cubes to enable the manual counting of the distribution of λ_(local) values that integrate to λ_(Avg) values. This work suggests that at any state of hydration, IR spectra are a consequence of a distribution of λ_(local) values. Bond distances and the threshold value of λ_(local), for exchange site dissociation, were determined by DFT modelling and used to correlate spectra to manually counted λ_(local) distributions
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