How Should Alaskans Choose?: The Debate Over Ranked Choice Voting

In November 2020, Alaskan voters will decide whether or not they will adopt a Ranked Choice Voting system for elections within their state. While the move would be an unprecedented one for the state, the state of Maine and cities across the country have already adopted Ranked Choice Voting in recent years. The electoral system of Ranked Choice Voting in the United States has seen city-wide adoption, mass repeal, and renewed interest and support over the last century. Proponents hail its ability to improve representation and campaign civility, while opponents point out its complexity and potential to decrease voter turnout. The issue of whether to adopt this electoral reform invokes questions about access to representation, voter participation, and solutions to the larger structural problems, such as polarization, that plague American politics today

SVILUPPO DI SISTEMI INNOVATIVI PER MISURE IN FIAMME INDUSTRIALI

I test sui bruciatori forniscono l’opportunità di raccogliere e verificare informazioni preziose come: parametri operativi, emissioni inquinanti, dimensioni della fiamma, flusso di calore, limiti di sicurezza e altro. Le informazioni che derivano dai dati delle prove, sono spesso essenziali per la verifica delle prestazioni dei vari dispositivi usati oltre ad essere fondamentali per la ricerca e lo sviluppo. I dati empirici raccolti dai test dei bruciatori sono informazioni che possono essere utilizzate per migliorare le capacità predittive dei modelli CFD, che stanno diventando strumenti sempre più utilizzati nella ricerca, nello sviluppo e nella progettazione di impianti di combustione all’avanguardia. Nella tesi si descrive un sistema di campionamento di gas caldi strumentato con spettrometro FTIR, di proprietà IFRF, utilizzato nella caldaia CASPER situata nell’Area Sperimentale Enel a Livorno. Le prove sono state eseguite bruciando gas naturale e prelevando i campioni di gas direttamente in fiamma. La caldaia consente di provare, in scala ridotta, le modifiche da applicare ai bruciatori delle centrali del parco ENEL e permette di sviluppare bruciatori a bassa emissione di NOx, da destinare ad impianti industriali di media potenza. Con essa è possibile caratterizzare nuove tipologie di combustibili ( liquidi e gassosi ) e verificare l’effetto dei vari parametri sulle emissioni di NOx, CO, particolato e sulla produzione di incombusti. Può essere impiegata per la caratterizzazione di additivi promotori della combustione ed è anche utilizzata per la produzione di vapore. Per eseguire le misure, la sonda di campionamento collegata allo spettrometro FTIR è stata inserita nelle porte numero 1 e 2 di CASPER, a diverse distanze dall’asse del bruciatore. Gli spettri IR ottenuti sono stati analizzati inizialmente con il software Calcmet™, utilizzando le impostazioni ORION. Successivamente, data la presenza di alcune misure in errore, sono state sviluppate nuove impostazioni di analisi che hanno consentito di ottenere risultati migliori sia per numero di componenti ricercati che per residui relativi all’analisi spettrale. Calcmet™, con le nuove impostazioni, è stato usato anche per analizzare gli spettri derivanti da una precedente campagna sperimentale eseguita nella fornace Fosper ottenendo buoni risultati. Si pensa di continuare la sperimentazione dello strumento di campionamento per verificare più in dettaglio le sue potenzialità nel campo della ricerca e dello sviluppo

The Air We All Breathe: Internet Bans in Probation Conditions— Dalton v. State

In today’s world, the Internet is synonymous with opportunity. Recently, the Supreme Court has even recognized a First Amendment right to access the Internet. However, it is still common practice to assign the special conditions of Internet bans or restrictions for individuals on parole or supervised release. Courts have split on how to strike a balance between the goal of deterrence and protection of an individual’s rights. The Court of Appeals of Alaska weighed into this ongoing debate in Dalton v. State, by holding that a restriction requiring prior approval from a parole officer before any and all Internet use was unconstitutionally broad. This decision marked a departure from precedent, and a general recognition that the Internet has become an indispensable part of living in, and importantly, successfully reentering society today

AS INTERFACES ENTRE O ENSINO DE CIÊNCIAS E A PSICOLOGIA DO DESENVOLVIMENTO: A CONTRIBUIÇÃO DE VIGOTSKI

Este artigo discute interface entre o Ensino de Ciências e um de seus fundamentos, a Psicologia do Desenvolvimento. De forma geral, o conceito de desenvolvimento humano vem sendo apresentado como processo de estruturação psicológica da infância até a fase adulta, definição que remete à psicologia produzida a partir do modelo da sociedade moderna, que acentua a concepção de natureza humana individual e universal. Uma abordagem do Ensino de Ciências está associada a este modelo, que valoriza a investigação sobre os mecanismos universais do funcionamento psicológico no processo de construção de conhecimento, produzindo práticas educativas que negam as diferenças entre os sujeitos no processo de desenvolvimento. E, além disso, produzindo  um panorama da aprendizagem científica que propõe que no desenvolvimento intelectual da criança não há interação entre os conceitos espontâneos e os conceitos científicos, mas antes uma fronteira, entre as idéias criadas por um desenvolvimento mental prévio à realidade, oriundo das operações psicológicas universais, e as concepções científicas. Estudamos o desenvolvimento psicológico a partir de outra vertente teórica acerca dos vínculos entre o cultural e o universal, a abordagem histórico-cultural. A psicologia de Vigotski descreve o desenvolvimento como um processo que acontece na inserção do homem na cultura, o que leva a compreensão da subjetividade como sendo a produção da singularidade ao longo da história coletiva. Esta ênfase epistemológica engendra novo modo de entender a formação das funções psicológicas superiores e, consequentemente, a formação dos conceitos, prevendo uma relação dialética entre os conceitos espontâneos e os conceitos científicos

Tomato Rab11a Characterization Evidenced a Difference Between SYP121-Dependent and SYP122-Dependent exocytosis

The regulatory functions of Rab proteins in membrane trafficking lie in their ability to perform as molecular switches that oscillate between a GTP- and a GDP-bound conformation. The role of tomato LeRab11a in secretion was analyzed in tobacco protoplasts. Green fluorescent protein (GFP)/red fluorescent protein (RFP)-tagged LeRab11a was localized at the trans-Golgi network (TGN) in vivo. Two serines in the GTP-binding site of the protein were mutagenized, giving rise to the three mutants Rab11S22N, Rab11S27N and Rab11S22/27N. The double mutation reduced secretion of a marker protein, secRGUS (secreted rat β-glucuronidase), by half, whereas each of the single mutations alone had a much smaller effect, showing that both serines have to be mutated to obtain a dominant negative effect on LeRab11a function. The dominant negative mutant was used to determine whether Rab11 is involved in the pathway(s) regulated by the plasma membrane syntaxins SYP121 and SYP122. Co-expression of either of these GFP-tagged syntaxins with the dominant negative Rab11S22/27N mutant led to the appearance of endosomes, but co-expression of GFP-tagged SYP122 also labeled the endoplasmic reticulum and dotted structures. However, co-expression of Rab11S22/27N with SYP121 dominant negative mutants decreased secretion of secRGUS further compared with the expression of Rab11S22/27N alone, whereas co-expression of Rab11S22/27N with SYP122 had no synergistic effect. With the same essay, the difference between SYP121- and SYP122-dependent secretion was then evidenced. The results suggest that Rab11 regulates anterograde transport from the TGN to the plasma membrane and strongly implicate SYP122, rather than SYP121. The differential effect of LeRab11a supports the possibility that SYP121 and SYP122 drive independent secretory event

CD4+CD25+ lymphocyte subsets in chronic graft versus host disease patients undergoing extracorporeal photochemotherapy.

Extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP) has been used successfully for the treatment of chronic Graft versus Host Disease (cGvHD). However, the mechanism by which ECP exerts its protective effects remains elusive. Some recent observations have suggested a possible role of certain subsets of T lymphocytes with immunosuppressive properties (T-regulatory cells) that coexpress CD4 and high levels of the interleukin-2 receptor chain: CD4+CD25+ T lymphocytes. We studied whether ECP affects the percentage of these cells in the peripheral blood of patients with cGvHD. The study population consisted of 14 patients with cGvHD refractory to systemic steroids. On enrolment in each cycle of ECP, patients underwent clinical examination, blood chemistry analysis and other instrumental procedures to document and assess involvement of the various organs and systems. For cytofluorimetric identification and phenotyping of CD4+CD25+ T lymphocytes, peripheral blood samples were collected in EDTA anticoagulant before ECP, after 48 hours, and after 6 and 12 months from the start of treatment. The 14 patients in this study received a total of more than 300 cycles of ECP, with only minor side effects. The clinical outcome was negative in 2 patients and positive in 12 patients. Within-subject analysis indicated that the percentage of CD4+CD25+ T lymphocytes before ECP and after 12 months of treatment was significantly increased. Our study confirms that changes in the percentage of CD4+CD25+ T cells induced by ECP could be a central aspect in the cascade of immune events leading to the immunological and clinical effects of this treatment in patients with cGvHD

Deficiency of Mitochondrial Aspartate-Glutamate Carrier 1 Leads to Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cell Proliferation Defects Both In Vitro and In Vivo

Aspartate-Glutamate Carrier 1 (AGC1) deficiency is a rare neurological disease caused by mutations in the solute carrier family 25, member 12 (SLC25A12) gene, encoding for the mitochondrial aspartate-glutamate carrier isoform 1 (AGC1), a component of the malate-aspartate NADH shuttle (MAS), expressed in excitable tissues only. AGC1 deficiency patients are children showing severe hypotonia, arrested psychomotor development, seizures and global hypomyelination. While the effect of AGC1 deficiency in neurons and neuronal function has been deeply studied, little is known about oligodendrocytes and their precursors, the brain cells involved in myelination. Here we studied the effect of AGC1 down-regulation on oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), using both in vitro and in vivo mouse disease models. In the cell model, we showed that a reduced expression of AGC1 induces a deficit of OPC proliferation leading to their spontaneous and precocious differentiation into oligodendrocytes. Interestingly, this effect seems to be related to a dysregulation in the expression of trophic factors and receptors involved in OPC proliferation/differentiation, such as Platelet-Derived Growth Factor \u3b1 (PDGF\u3b1) and Transforming Growth Factor \u3b2s (TGF\u3b2s). We also confirmed the OPC reduction in vivo in AGC1-deficent mice, as well as a proliferation deficit in neurospheres from the Subventricular Zone (SVZ) of these animals, thus indicating that AGC1 reduction could affect the proliferation of different brain precursor cells. These data clearly show that AGC1 impairment alters myelination not only by acting on N-acetyl-aspartate production in neurons but also on OPC proliferation and suggest new potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of AGC1 deficiency