2022 Primary Turnout: Trends and Lessons for Boosting Participation

This report examines turnout trends during the 2022 primary elections, conducted in 49 states and the District of Columbia, compared with turnout during the 2010, 2014, and 2018 midterm election cycles (Louisiana holds its primary on Election Day.) The paper also analyzes whether certain policy changes—such as unifying primary dates or adopting open primary or "top-two" or "top-four" formats—can boost voter participation.This paper is a follow-up to BPC's 2018 Primary Turnout and Reform Recommendations report, which found persistently low participation rates across states and over time.Low primary turnout should be an ongoing concern for political parties, policymakers, and the public, given primaries' outsized influence in our representative government. As these trends have intensified and turnout has yet to reach reasonable benchmarks, bold steps should be taken to increase participation in primary contests. Our analysis sheds light on the ability of various proposals to boost turnout

Selective induction of apoptosis by aqueous extract of Chinese medicinal herb Scutellaria barbata in HCT-116 colon cancer cells and CCD-841 colon epithelial cells.

Scutellaria barbata (SB) has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for treating liver, lung and rectal tumors. We previously found that aqueous extracts of SB inhibited mutagenesis, DNA binding, and metabolism of aflatoxin B1 and benzo(a)pyrene. They were also shown to inhibit foci formation in the colon of AOM-induced mice. Other research demonstrated that ethanol extracts inhibit colorectal cancer growth, inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis. In this study, the effects of aqueous extracts of SB on the induction and modulation of apoptosis in HCT-116 colon cancer cells and CCD-841 normal colon epithelial cells were assessed using TUNEL assay, Apoptosis/Necrosis Detection Kit, and Human Apoptosis Antibody Array. Our findings suggest that SB possess a wide range of antitumor activity and may be a useful drug for treating colon cancer

The Effects of Proportional Representation on Election Lawmaking in Aotearoa New Zealand

It is widely recognized that most politicians are self-interested and desire election rules beneficial to their reelection. Although partisanship in electoral system reform is well-understood, the factors that encourage or constrain partisan manipulation of the other democratic “rules of the game”—including election administration, franchise laws, campaign finance, boundary drawing, and electoral governance—has received little scholarly attention to date. Aotearoa New Zealand remains the only established democracy to switch from a non-proportional to a proportional electoral system and thus presents a natural experiment to test the effects of electoral system change on the politics of election lawmaking. Using a longitudinal comparative case study analysis, this thesis examines partisan and demobilizing election reforms passed between 1970 and 1993 under first-past-the-post and between 1997 and 2018 under mixed-member proportional representation (MMP). Although partisan election reforms have not diminished under MMP, demobilizing reforms have become less common. Regression analysis uncovers evidence that partisan election lawmaking is more likely when the effective number of parties in parliament is lower, when non-voters have more leverage, and when reforms are pursued that diminish electoral participation

Simulating Army Rail Yard Operations at the Port of Bremerhaven

To maintain the United States military’s capability to deploy rapidly across the globe, logistical planning tools, simulations, and models enhance leaders’ decision making abilities. This research develops a discrete event model designed to simulate military operations within a railyard in order to support the Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Planning Logistics Analysis Network System (PLANS). The research team chose the Port of Bremerhaven, Germany as a case study due to its relevance to current military operations, granting us access to timely data and stakeholders with recent operational experience. The discrete event simulation (DES) utilizes stochastic processes and multiple layouts in order to analyze the amount of time it takes to move varying amounts of cargo and vehicles and identify potential bottlenecks in the operation

Omic data from evolved E. coli are consistent with computed optimal growth from genome-scale models

Proteomic and transcriptomic data from wild-type and laboratory-evolved strains of Escherichia coli are consistent with predicted pathway usage from optimal growth rate solutions.In laboratory-evolved strains, there is an upregulation of the pathways in the computed optimal growth states, and downregulation of non-functional pathways.Known regulatory mechanisms are only partially responsible for altered metabolic pathway activity

The Student Movement Volume 105 Issue 7: Please Pass the Plexiglass: Friends Unite for Shielded Bite

NEWS Receiving the COVID-19 Vaccine, Interviewed by TJ Hunter Andrews University Choral Performs “Celebrating the Light” Concert, Jenae Rogers AUSA Hosts Sabbath Experience at PMC, Caralynn Chan Dr. Kizzmekia Shanta Corbett Gives Lecture on the Safety and Effectiveness of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines, Terika Williams Loving in the Grey: This Semester’s First In-Person Chapel, Kristin Ferrer PULSE Holilday Recap, Gloria Oh New Year’s Aspirations, Wambui Karanja The Wellness Column: No Longer Sitting Ducks, Jessica Rim Winter Break Endeavors, by HeeYun Oh HUMANS AU Christmas Album Interview, Interview by Abigail Lee My Experience in COVID Isolation, Interview by Terika Williams Spring Semester 2021 Club Events, Interview by Celeste Richardson ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Creative Spotlight: Brent LaPorre, Interviewed by Megan Napod Current February Favorites, Megan Napod Long Live the King, Joshua Deonarine IDEAS Insurrection, Impeachment, and Inauguration: Three Wednesdays in January, Solana Campbell What We Learned from 2020 and Are Keeping in 2021, Sion Kimhttps://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/sm-105/1000/thumbnail.jp