Democratic Hopes in the Polycentric City

The polycentric model of municipal governance suggests that multiple jurisdictions may approximate an efficient market for local public services: citizens move to jurisdictions offering services they value at tax rates they are willing and able to pay. The model is appealing to political theorists for its emphasis on free association and responsive governance, but problematic insofar as institutions prescribed by the model permit exclusionary practices and objectionable inequalities. I argue for a revised conception of polycentricity: efficient spatial patterns of boundaries and services are acceptable only if they are consistent with (inter alia) fair opportunities for both mobility and loyalty to place. This suggests a vision of the polycentric city in which fairness and contestation are as important as freedom and efficiency

Concepts, Conceptions, and Principles of Justice

G.A. Cohen argues that Rawlsian constructivism mistakenly conflates principles of justice with optimal rules of regulation, a confusion that arises out of how Rawls has us think about justice. I use the concepts/conceptions distinction to argue that while citizens may reasonably disagree about the substance and demands of justice, some principles convergence may be possible: we can agree upon regulative principles consistent with justice, as each of us understands it. Rawlian constructivism helps us find that principled convergence, and this too is a conception of justice

Hopeful Losers? A Moral Case for Mixed Electoral Systems

Liberal democracies encourage citizen participation and protect our freedoms, yet these regimes elect politicians and decide important issues with electoral and legislative systems that are less inclusive than other arrangements. Some citizens inevitably have more influence than others. Is this a problem? Yes, because similarly just but more inclusive systems are possible. Political theorists and philosophers should be arguing for particular institutional forms, with particular geographies, consistent with justice.Les démocraties libérales encouragent la participation citoyenne et protègent nos libertés. Pourtant, ces régimes élisent des politiciens et décident de problèmes importants via les systèmes électoral et législatif, qui sont moins inclusifs que d’autres arrangements. Certains citoyens ont inévitablement plus d’influence que d’autres. Est-ce un problème? Oui, parce que des systèmes similairement justes, mais plus inclusifs, sont possibles. Les théoriciens et philosophes politiques devraient ainsi plaider en faveur de formes institutionnelles particulières, aux géographies précises, en cohérence avec la justice

EvoPipes.net: Bioinformatic Tools for Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics

Recent increases in the production of genomic data are yielding new opportunities and challenges for biologists. Among the chief problems posed by next-generation sequencing are assembly and analyses of these large data sets. Here we present an online server, http://EvoPipes.net, that provides access to a wide range of tools for bioinformatic analyses of genomic data oriented for ecological and evolutionary biologists. The EvoPipes.net server includes a basic tool kit for analyses of genomic data including a next-generation sequence cleaning pipeline (SnoWhite), scaffolded assembly software (SCARF), a reciprocal best-blast hit ortholog pipeline (RBH Orthologs), a pipeline for reference protein-based translation and identification of reading frame in transcriptome and genomic DNA (TransPipe), a pipeline to identify gene families and summarize the history of gene duplications (DupPipe), and a tool for developing SSRs or microsatellites from a transcriptome or genomic coding sequence collection (findSSR). EvoPipes.net also provides links to other software developed for evolutionary and ecological genomics, including chromEvol and NU-IN, as well as a forum for discussions of issues relating to genomic analyses and interpretation of results. Overall, these applications provide a basic bioinformatic tool kit that will enable ecologists and evolutionary biologists with relatively little experience and computational resources to take advantage of the opportunities provided by next-generation sequencing in their systems

Calcium influx and vascular reactivity in systemic hypertension

Numerous studies have focused on functional vascular changes that characterize the hypertensive state. Recent evidence that suggests that increased vascular reactivity in hypertension is due to changes in the delivery of activator Ca++ through channels in the cell membrane will be reviewed. The primary evidence supporting this hypothesis comes from studies that characterize the effects of Ca++-free solution and calcium channel blockers on contractile properties of isolated vascular smooth muscle. In the present study, experiments were performed to investigate the role of Ca++ influx in vascular contractions produced by interventions that cause membrane depolarization. Isometric tension development in helical strips of carotid arteries from stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats in response to elevated K+ and tetraethylammonium chloride was greater than that in carotid arteries from Wistar-Kyoto normotensive rats. The rate of tension development to K+-free solution in carotid arteries from stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats was faster than in Wistar-Kyoto normotensive rat arteries. Contractile responses to all 3 depolarizing interventions were reduced in arterial strips incubated in Ca++-free solution containing the chelator ethylene glycol bis-([beta]-aminoethyl ether) N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid and in arterial strips treated with the Ca++ channel blocker verapamil. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that constrictor stimuli that produce membrane depolarization cause an opening of Ca++ channels in the plasma membrane that are sensitive to the organic channel blockers. Further, a change in Ca++ permeability or membrane depolarizing mechanisms contributes to increased contractile responsiveness in carotid arteries of stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26837/1/0000397.pd

The Rat Grimace Scale: A partially automated method for quantifying pain in the laboratory rat via facial expressions

We recently demonstrated the utility of quantifying spontaneous pain in mice via the blinded coding of facial expressions. As the majority of preclinical pain research is in fact performed in the laboratory rat, we attempted to modify the scale for use in this species. We present herein the Rat Grimace Scale, and show its reliability, accuracy, and ability to quantify the time course of spontaneous pain in the intraplantar complete Freund's adjuvant, intraarticular kaolin-carrageenan, and laparotomy (post-operative pain) assays. The scale's ability to demonstrate the dose-dependent analgesic efficacy of morphine is also shown. In addition, we have developed software, Rodent Face Finder®, which successfully automates the most labor-intensive step in the process. Given the known mechanistic dissociations between spontaneous and evoked pain, and the primacy of the former as a clinical problem, we believe that widespread adoption of spontaneous pain measures such as the Rat Grimace Scale might lead to more successful translation of basic science findings into clinical application