Qualified exceptionalism: the US Congress in comparative perspective

The framers of the American Constitution devised a singular bicameral legislative body, which invested substantial power in both a broadly representative lower chamber and a second "deliberative" chamber that was both insulated from the voters and unrepresentative of the population as a whole. Until the early 20th Century, the singular U.S. Congress changed little, but with growing national responsibilities, it sought to construct organizational forms that could address a consistently stronger executive. Since the 1980s, the Congress has relied increasingly on stronger parties to organize its activities. This development, embraced in turn by Democrats and Republicans, has led to changes that have edged the Congress in the direction of parliamentary democracies. We conclude this analysis has real, but limited utility, as congressional party leaders continue to barter for votes and, in the context, of narrow chamber majorities, often rely heavily on presidential assistance on divisive issues that are important to their party brand. Yet, the traditional features of the American separated system - bicameralism, the committee systems, and the centrifugal forces emanating from diverse congressional districts, increasingly complex policy issues, and the fear of electoral retribution - also remain strong, and effectively constrain the influence of leaders.'Qualified exceptionalism' thus most aptly describes the contemporary American Congress, which remains 'exceptional,' but less than unique, as it responds to many of the same forces, in some of the same ways (e.g., strong parties), as do many other representative assemblies around the world

Properties of vanadium-base alloys irradiated in the Dynamic Helium Charging Experiment

One property of vanadium-base alloys that is not well understood in terms of their potential use as fusion reactor structural materials is the effect of simultaneous generation of helium and neutron damage. In the present Dynamic Helium Charging Experiment (DHCE), helium was produced uniformly in the specimen at linear rates of {approx} 0.4 to 4.2 appm helium/dpa by the decay of tritium during irradiation to 18--31 dpa at 425--600 C in Li-filled capsules in a sodium-cooled fast reactor. This paper presents results of postirradiation examination and tests of microstructure and mechanical properties of V-5Ti, V-3Ti-1Si, V-8Cr-6Ti, and V-4Cr-4Ti (the latter alloy has been identified as the most promising candidate vanadium alloy). Effects of helium on tensile strength and ductility were insignificant after irradiation and testing at > 420 C. However, postirradiation ductilities at {minus}150 C in DHCE specimens. Predominantly brittle-cleavage fracture morphologies were observed only at {minus}196 C in some specimens that were irradiated to 31 dpa at 425 C during the DHCE. For the helium generation rates in this experiment ({approx} 0.4--4.2 appm He/dpa), grain-boundary coalescence of helium microcavities was negligible and intergranular fracture was not observed

Detection of interstellar E-1-cyano-1,3-butadiene in GOTHAM observations of TMC-1

Interstellar matter and star formationStars and planetary system

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

SWELLING OF URANIUM AND URANIUM ALLOYS ON POSTIRRADIATION ANNEALING

The swelling of U and of a few selected U alloys on postirradiation annealing was investigated by utilizing density measurements in conjunction with the observation of pores in the microstructures of annealed specimens. Speciniens were irradiated to about 0.3 at.% burnup in a constrained condition at approximately 275 deg C and were subsequently pulse annealed. The amount of swelling was found to be less than 1% for U specimens that were pulse annealed up to 75 hr at temperatures below 550 deg C; the amount of swelling, however, increased considerably on annealing at temperatures between 550 and 650 deg C. Specimens pulse annealed up to 75 hr at 618 deg C decreased in density by approximately 18%. The swelling was accompanied by the formation of bubbles on grain boundaries in recrystallized regions. The observations suggest that recrystallization is a necessary prerequisite for pronounced swelling in the alpha phase. Uranium specimens pulse annealed up to 75 hr at temperatures between 650 and 750 deg C in the BETA phase decreased in density by about 5%. Specimens annealed in the BETA phase, in contrast with those annealed at 618 deg C in the alpha phase, were badly cracked and contained pores of a smaller diameter, which were uniformly distributed within the grains. A specimen pulse annealed up to 16 hr at 822 deg C decreased in density, by, about 20%. This heat treatment produced pores of large diameter, located along grain boundaries, as well as pores of smaller diameter, distributed uniformly within the grains. Uranium alloys containing between 1 wt% and 9 wt% of either Ti, Zr, Nb, or Mo generally swelled more than pure U on pulse annealing up to 75 hr at 618 deg C and 740 deg C. An exception was the behavior of a U --4.0 wt % Nb alloy, which swelled less than U on annnealing at 618 deg C. A C addition of 0.11 wt% to U substantially decreased the swelling on pulse annealing up to 75 hr at 618 deg C, whereas the effect of 0.02 wt % N was small; at 740 deg C a N addition of 0.02 wt % to U caused an appreciable increase in the swelling, but the effect of 0.11 wt % C was slight. (auth

Corrosion and oxidation of vanadium-base alloys

The corrosion of several V-base alloys on exposure at elevated temperatures to helium environments containing hydrogen and/or water vapor are presented. These results are utilized to discuss the consequences of the selection of certain radiation-damage resistant, V-base alloys for structural materials applications in a fusion reactor

Dislocation sweeping of defects in neutron- and electron-irradiated niobium

The glide of dislocations in a (441)-oriented Nb single crystal irradiated at 325 K with 5.5 x 10/sup 21/ neutrons/m/sup 2/ (E > 0.1 MeV) is shown for increasing time of tensile elongation (2 x 10/sup -4/ mm/s) in the High Voltage Electron Microscope at Argonne National Laboratory. The dimensions of the tensile specimen in the guage length were approximately 2 mm x 0.5 mm x 0.0001 mm. An electron energy of 900 keV was used during the simultaneous deformation and TEM observation