A New Voting Rights Act for a New Century: How Liberalizing the Voting Rights Act’s Bailout Provisions Can Help Pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2017

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the coverage formula of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in Shelby County. v. Holder in 2013. Members of Congress have attempted to renew the VRA with an updated coverage formula through the Voting Rights Advancement Acts of 2015 and of 2017. Unfortunately, Congressional Republicans have not supported either bill. Even if passed in its current form, the Supreme Court is likely to strike down the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2017 (VRAA) for violating the principle of “equal sovereignty between the States” as set forth by the Court in Shelby County. Therefore, this note argues that Congress should amend the bailout provisions of the VRA to pass the VRAA. The amended bailout provisions will (1) give states under the preclearance regime a quicker timeframe to prove nondiscrimination in voting; and (2) encourage states under the preclearance regime to create affirmative programs to register and turnout more voters. In this way, the new VRA will increase participation in local, state, and federal elections and create even more representative governments

On propagators and vertices of Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory

We calculate the three-point functions of pure Landau gauge QCD and investigate their influence on the propagators. As expected, the ghost-gluon vertex leads only to minor modifications, while the three-gluon vertex has a sizeable impact on the mid-momentum regime of the gluon propagator. We describe an effective model of the three-gluon vertex that includes contributions from the neglected two-loop diagrams and thus allows to obtain propagators in good agreement with lattice results. We also determine the three-gluon vertex from these propagators and find good agreement with lattice results as well. In turn, these results allow us to assess the effect of the missing two-loop diagrams in the gluon propagator equation. Finally, we present the first self-consistent calculation that includes all two-and three-point functions.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figs., contribution to "QCD-TNT-III: From quarks and gluons to hadronic matter: A bridge too far?", 2-6 Sept 2013, ECT*, Trento, Ital

Damage localization and quantification in simply supported beams using static test data

Artic. 012007 12th International Conference on Damage Assessment of StructuresA novel simple method using static test data for damage detection, localization, and quantification in beams is presented in this paper. The method is based on the change of the deflections of the beam between a reference and a damaged state. For simply supported beams with a single damage, the maximum value of the change of deflections indicates the location of damage. Once the damage is located, one could estimate the rotational stiffness at the damaged cross section by applying a superposition scheme to isolate the effect of damage and by using basic structural analysis equilibrium equations. Afterwards, damage extent is evaluated through an existing relation between rotational stiffness and damage severity. Several static tests of a simply supported steel beam with a point load at different locations were conducted to exam the performance of the strategy. The damage is artificially introduced as an opened crack located at the bottom of the beam. The deflections of the beam were measured by using a Digital Image Correlation system. The results show that the method can accurately detect and quantify the damage. The method is non-model based and can be easily conducted. No specific loading positions are required and damage identification objective can be achieved from just one single static test.Junta de Andalucía P12-TEP-254

From ligand to complexes: inhibition of HIV-1 Integrase by beta-diketo acid metal complexes

Recently, a class of compounds bearing a β-diketo acid moiety have emerged as the most promising lead in anti-HIV-1 IN drug discovery. It is believed that the β-diketo acid pharmacophoric motif could be involved in a functional sequestration of one or both divalent metal ions, which are critical cofactors at the enzyme catalytic site. This would subsequently block the transition state of the IN-DNA complex. In this scenario, it is of paramount importance to acquire information about the mode of action of diketo acids, which could then be useful in the design of new compounds as IN inhibitors

Neuroimaging and electroencephalographic (EEG) methods for investigating neural circuits in mental disorders

It is increasingly recognised that dysfunction in neural circuits plays a key role in the neurobiological basis of mental disorders.  The efficacy of pharmacological and behavioural treatments for mental disorders could therefore be improved by targeting dysfunctions in neurocircuits.  However, to achieve this, a better understanding of the specific alterations in neural circuits involved in different mental disorders is required.  Such understanding can be acquired by using advanced neuroscience methods to examine the pathways and function of neurocircuits in both typically developing individuals and in those with mental disorders.  This article provides an overview of currently available neuroscience methods of investigating neural circuits, including advantages and limitations of different techniques, and highlights the importance of using multi-modal imaging in future researchÉ cada vez mais reconhecido que a disfunção nos circuitos neurais desempenha um papel fundamental na base neurobiológica dos transtornos mentais. A eficácia dos tratamentos farmacológicos e comportamentais para os transtornos mentais pode, portanto, ser melhorada por direcionar as disfunções nos neurocircuitos. No entanto, para isso, é necessário um melhor entendimento das alterações específicas nos circuitos neurais envolvidos em diferentes transtornos mentais. Tal entendimento pode ser adquirido usando-se métodos avançados de neurociência para examinar as vias e a função dos neurocircuitos em indivíduos com desenvolvimento típico e naqueles com transtornos mentais. Este artigo fornece uma visão geral dos métodos da neurociência atualmente disponíveis na investigação de circuitos neurais, incluindo vantagens e limitações de diferentes técnicas, e destaca a importância do uso de imagens multimodais em pesquisas futura

High-pressure vibrational properties of polyethylene

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Analytical Expressions for the Mutual Coupling of Loop Antennas Valid from the RF to Optical Regimes

Arrays of circular loop antennas are commonly employed at radio frequencies for communications and geo- physical sensing, while also holding enormous potential in the optical regime for applications such as solar energy harvesting. Exact analytical expressions exist for predicting the mutual coupling between a variety of antennas, including dipoles and slots. However, due to the complexity of the integrals involved, analytical expressions for evaluating the coupling between loop antennas have not been previously available. This paper presents straightforward analytical expressions for efficient calculation of the coupling between two circular loops at arbitrary locations. The theory is extended to the optical regime by taking into account the dispersion and loss of the material comprising the loop antenna. These analytical expressions provide insight into the physics underlying the mutual coupling phenomenon. Along with the approximate analytical expressions, a useful pseudo-analytical representation is developed which is more exact, especially in the near-field regime, and can be easily and efficiently evaluated in MATLAB via numerical integration. It is shown that full-wave simulations for a two-element array of nanoloops can take up to six hours, while the corresponding analytical and pseudo-analytical implementations derived here take less than a minute.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Education- Commission Fulbright Program “Salvador de Madariaga” for sponsoring the join t research collaboration under Grant PRX14/00320, in part by the Spanish and A ndalusian research programs Grant TEC2013-48414-C3-01 and Grant P12-TIC-1442, in part by the Center for Nanoscale Science, and in part by an NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center under Grant DMR-142062