Why Are There So Many Divided Senate Delegations?

The last three decades have witnessed a sharp increase in the number of states with spilt Senate delegations, featuring two senators of different parties. In addition, there is evidence that senators of different parties do not cluster in the middle: they are genuinely polarized. We propose a model which explains this phenomenon. Our argument builds upon the fact that when a Senate election is held, there is already a sitting senator. If the voters care about the policy position of their state delegation in each election, they may favor the candidate of the party which is not holding the other seat. We show that, in general: (1) a candidate benefits if the non-running senator is of the opposing parry; (2) the more extreme the position of the non-running senator, the more extreme may be the position of the opposing party candidate. Our 'opposite party advantage' hypothesis is tested on a sample including every Senate race from 1946 to 1986. After controlling for other important factors, such as incumbency advantage, coattails end economic conditions, we find reasonably strong evidence of the 'opposite party advantage.'

Letters to Newspaper

Reprinted letter from School of Living member Howard Morris to the Dayton Daily News

Land of Funk Art

The Funk Mural on Land of Funk Way in Dayton was completed in 2018. There are, however, a few other artistic tributes to some of our Dayton Funk heroes, including the metal statue tribute to Roger Troutman and a mural to the Dayton Funk bands located on Germantown Street. Although these are just a few examples here in Dayton, there are also many images of funk art all over the world.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/dayton_funk_content/1035/thumbnail.jp

The clinical impact of assay standardization and traceability: A case study of cholesterol

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the major cause of death internationally, and yet most can be prevented using population-wide strategies by addressing behavioral risk factors, including reduction of blood cholesterol levels. Following the definition of clinical decision limits for cholesterol according to risk of CHD, an international effort was undertaken to establish traceability of routine clinical cholesterol assays to improve reproducibility and accuracy. This task has been achieved through the establishment of the Cholesterol Reference Measurement Laboratory Network. This work is associated with a reduction in the number of persons with elevated cholesterol levels and reduction in the death rates from CHD. It has been a major achievement for the discipline of laboratory medicine and a guide for future efforts for the improvement of patient outcomes

The tribological and wear properties of carbon-graphite composites

A range of carbon-graphites with differing properties has been evaluated for wear resistance. These include carbons with a high degree of graphitic order (natural and synthetic graphite), those with little or no such order (pitch bonded cokes, glassy carbons) and impregnated grades. Testing has been carried out using abrasive wear, dry sliding wear, particle erosion, slurry erosion, cavitation erosion and the corresponding wear rates have been related to the bulk properties of the different materials. In all tests; hardness, elastic modulus, porosity and the presence of fillers were found to influence the wear rates of the various grades. Maximum wear rates were consistently observed with the softer, more porous unfilled carbons