Making Voting Easier: Election Day Registration in New York

As policymakers, election officials, and the public consider whether New York should change the way in which voters are allowed to register to participate in elections, and bring New York State election law into compliance with the Help America Vote Act, the following report provides an analysis of the potential impact of election day registration (EDR) in New York. EDR in New York has the potential to increase voter participation for New Yorkers by as much as: Over 12 percentage point increase in turnout by 18-to-25-year-olds. Nearly 10 percentage point increase in turnout by thosewith a grade school education or less.An 11 point increase in turnout by Latinos and nearly 9 percentage point increase in turnout by African Americans.Over 10 percentage point increase in turnout by those who have lived at their current address for less than six months.Over 12 percentage point increase in turnout by naturalized citizens

New physics with the compact linear collider

Probing beyond the established picture of particle physics will require some radical rethinking of accelerator designs. If accelerators are to reach the ever-higher energies that theorists would dearly like to see explored, the technological spin-offs of this engineering feat could be as surprising as the new subatomic physics

CLIC Beam Position Monitor Tests

Prototype CLIC beam position monitors (BPMs) have been tested in the CLIC test facility (CTF) using a 50 MeV, 1 nC single bunch beam. The test set-up consisted of two BPMs and a charge normalization/phase reference cavity. The detection electronics consisted of a 5 channel super-heterodyne receiver to give charge independent horizontal and vertical positions in each BPM. Data were taken and processed at the full 10 Hz CTF repetition rate using a PC running LabVIEW. Both BPMs were mounted on 0.1 µm resolution micro-movers for displacement calibration. Separate tests in the lab of both cavities and electronics have shown that the potential resolution of the BPM system is less than one micron. An upper limit on resolution of ±4 µm has been demonstrated directly with the CTF beam. The measurement was almost certainly limited by the shot to shot angular jitter of the CTF beam

An insight into the brand-conscious Saudi generation of ‘drifters’

The underground pastime of drifting, (which takes its name from the intentional skidding and spinning of cars down freeways and in car parks), has achieved cult-status amongst Saudi youth. So much so, that a whole sub-culture has germinated from a petri dish nourished by: creativity, collective individualism, rebellion, and surrogate cultural hybridization. Its effects can be observed in musical tastes, fashion, slang, brand choices and most notably through user generated content and message forums. The following paper offers an insight into the mindset of those involved in these activities, arguing that they represent a distinct homogenous consumer segment. Secondly, that they seek a type of achievement motivation which encourages participation and brand consumption – as part of a quest for authenticity and global acceptance. Authenticity is a complicated construct, which also includes battling Socio-Religious stereotypes, held by others. Data was collected using three types of participation observation method and in-depth interviews

One-pot near-ambient temperature syntheses of aryl(difluoroenol) derivatives from trifluoroethanol

Difluoroalkenylzinc reagents prepared from 1-(2’-methoxy-ethoxymethoxy)-2,2,2-trifluoroethane and 1-(N,N-diethylcarbamoyloxy)-2,2,2-trifluoroethane at ice bath temperatures, underwent Negishi coupling with a range of aryl halides in a convenient one pot procedure. While significant differences between the enol acetal and carbamate reagents were revealed, the Negishi protocol compared very favourably with alternative coupling procedures in terms of overall yields from trifluoroethanol

Alternation between short- and long photoperiod reveals hypothalamic gene regulation linked to seasonal body weight changes in Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus)

This work was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, Emmy-Noether HE6383 to AH) and the British Society for Neuroendocrinology (Research grant to JB). The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.Peer reviewedPostprin

User experience of mixed reality applications for healthy ageing : A systematic review

Mixed reality (MR) technologies are being used increasingly to support healthy ageing, but past reviews have concentrated on the efficacy of the technology. This systematic review provides a synthesis of recent experimental studies on the instrumental, emotional and non-instrumental aspects of user experience of healthy older adults in relation to MR-related applications. The review was listed on PROSPERO, utilised a modified PICOS framework, and canvassed all published work between January 2010 to July 2021 that appeared in major databases (Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library). The literature search revealed 15 eligible studies. Results indicated that all included studies measured the instrumental quality of their applications, all but two studies measured the emotional reactions triggered by gameplay, and only six studies examined participants’ perception of non-instrumental quality of the applications. All included studies focused on improving a health domain such as cognitive or physical training. This suggests that the instrumental quality of the MR applications remains the focus of user experience studies, with far fewer studies examining the non-instrumental quality of the applications. Implications for game design and future research are discussed

The Carbon Isotope Organic Geochemistry of Early Ordovician Rocks from the Annascaul Formation, County Kerry

Ireland is well known to geologists as containing some of the thickest successions of Early Ordovician (485-470 Ma; Walker et al. 2012) sedimentary rocks in the world. The carbon stable isotope compositions (δ13C value) of similarly aged rocks have been reported for only very few places in the world (i.e., Argentina, southern China, and southern France), and no such analyses have been performed on the Early Ordovician, organic-rich rocks of Ireland. Here we report the δ13C values of bulk organic material and organic isolates recovered from the Annascaul Formation of Southwestern Ireland. Members of the Annascaul Formation spanning the Early Ordovician were sampled at multiple sites within five localities on the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry. Mean bulk organic δ13C values for the organic matter within rocks of the Farranacarriga, Tinal, Illaunglass, Bealacoon, and Killelton Members ranged from -28.7‰ (Farranacarriga) to -22.1‰ (Illaunglass); the average δ13C values of organics isolated from the Farranacarriga and Bealacoon Members were -29.0 and -28.4‰, respectively. No statistical difference was observed between the δ13C value of isolates and the δ13C value of bulk sediment from which organics had been isolated (P-0.85, Farranacarriga, n-6; P-0.81, Bealacoon, n-5; paired t-test). The δ13C values we present here agree well with the previously published δ13C values for Early Ordovician organic carbon (average = -28.4, -25.4, -25.5‰) from Argentina, southern China, and southern France (respectively). Our new data from the Annascaul Formation are ∼3.3‰ higher than the average value reported for δ13C values of organic matter of marine origin for the same period, raising the possibility that terrestrial bryophytes (or other terrestrial photosynthesizers) contributed to these Early Ordovician sediments. Further equivocal evidence is provided by the abundant organic macerals found within the Farranacarriga Member with possible vitrinite origin. The δ13C values of palynomorphsized organic isolates from the Annascaul Formation reflect a marine origin for these organisms, consistent with their previous identification as acritarchs. Given the recognition of the earliest thalloid macrofossils and land-plant cryptospores in the Middle Ordovician sediments of the Appalachian basin (USA) and Argentina, respectively, our results highlight the Early-Middle Ordovician boundary as a potentially crucial time of terrestrial ecosystem expansion and development

Spectroscopic Confirmation of Two Massive Red-Sequence-Selected Galaxy Clusters at z ~ 1.2 in the SpARCS-North Cluster Survey

The Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-sequence Cluster Survey (SpARCS) is a deep z'-band imaging survey covering the Spitzer Wide-Area Infrared Extragalactic Survey (SWIRE) Legacy fields designed to create the first large homogeneously selected sample of massive clusters at z > 1 using an infrared adaptation of the cluster red-sequence method. We present an overview of the northern component of the survey which has been observed with Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT)/MegaCam and covers 28.3 deg^2. The southern component of the survey was observed with Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO)/MOSAICII, covers 13.6 deg^2, and is summarized in a companion paper by Wilson et al. We also present spectroscopic confirmation of two rich cluster candidates at z ~ 1.2. Based on Nod-and-Shuffle spectroscopy from GMOS-N on Gemini, there are 17 and 28 confirmed cluster members in SpARCS J163435+402151 and SpARCS J163852+403843 which have spectroscopic redshifts of 1.1798 and 1.1963, respectively. The clusters have velocity dispersions of 490 ± 140 km s^(–1) and 650 ± 160 km s^(–1), respectively, which imply masses (M_(200)) of (1.0 ± 0.9) × 10^(14) M_⊙ and (2.4 ± 1.8) × 10^(14) M_⊙. Confirmation of these candidates as bonafide massive clusters demonstrates that two-filter imaging is an effective, yet observationally efficient, method for selecting clusters at z > 1

Spectroscopic Confirmation of a Massive Red-Sequence-Selected Galaxy Cluster at z = 1.34 in the SpARCS-South Cluster Survey

The Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-sequence Cluster Survey (SpARCS) is a z'-passband imaging survey, consisting of deep (z' ~ 24 AB) observations made from both hemispheres using the CFHT 3.6m and CTIO 4m telescopes. The survey was designed with the primary aim of detecting galaxy clusters at z >~ 1. In tandem with pre-existing 3.6um observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope SWIRE Legacy Survey, SpARCS detects clusters using an infrared adaptation of the two-filter red-sequence cluster technique. The total effective area of the SpARCS cluster survey is 41.9 deg^2. In this paper, we provide an overview of the 13.6 deg^2 Southern CTIO/MOSAICII observations. The 28.3 deg^2 Northern CFHT/MegaCam observations are summarized in a companion paper by Muzzin et al. (2008). In this paper, we also report spectroscopic confirmation of SpARCS J003550-431224, a very rich galaxy cluster at z = 1.335, discovered in the ELAIS-S1 field. To date, this is the highest spectroscopically confirmed redshift for a galaxy cluster discovered using the red-sequence technique. Based on nine confirmed members, SpARCS J003550-431224 has a preliminary velocity dispersion of 1050 +/- 230 km/s. With its proven capability for efficient cluster detection, SpARCS is a demonstration that we have entered an era of large, homogeneously-selected z > 1 cluster surveys.Comment: 10 pages, 6 Figures, Submitted to the Ap