Immigration Policy Demanders: The Influence of U.S. Interests Groups and the American Electorate on Major Political Party Platforms

This Independent Study seeks to understand how political parties create their platforms. Specifically, this study examines how, when, and why political parties cater to the interests of interest groups and the electorate regarding immigration policy. Three qualitative case studies are examined: 1984, 2004, and 2016 party platforms and the corresponding policy preferences of interest groups and the electorate. Bawn et. al’s theory on political parties forms the theoretical framework of this study, which claims that parties are likely to cater to interest groups when political salience is low and parties are likely to cater to the electorate when political salience is high. Ultimately, I find that Bawn et. al’s theory applies well to my case studies. This study provides insight into how parties are motivated to change, especially within the context of immigration

Atmospheric design concepts for cross-beam experiments Final report

Application of cross beam remote sensing technique to atmospheric research problem

The Impact on Maine's Budget of Allowing Same-Sex Couples to Marry

This analysis estimates the impact of allowing same-sex couples to marry on Maine's state budget. We estimate that allowing same-sex couples to marry will result in a net gain of approximately $7.9 million each year for the State. This net impact will be the result of savings in expenditures on state means-tested public benefits programs and an increase in revenue from state sales and income taxes and marriage license fees. Throughout this report, we estimate the economic impact of weddings conservatively. In other words, we choose assumptions that are cautious from the State's perspective in that they tend to produce lower revenues and higher expenditures given the range of possibilities. Even so, we find that the effect of allowing same-sex couples to marry in Maine is an annual positive fiscal impact of approximately$7.9 million

TLR4 and Insulin Resistance

Chronic inflammation is a key feature of insulin resistance and obesity. Toll-Like Receptor 4 (TLR4), involved in modulating innate immunity, is an important mediator of insulin resistance and its comorbidities. TLR4 contributes to the development of insulin resistance and inflammation through its activation by elevated exogenous ligands (e.g., dietary fatty acids and enteric lipopolysaccharide) and endogenous ligands (e.g., free fatty acids) which are elevated in obese states. TLR4, expressed in insulin target tissues, activates proinflammatory kinases JNK, IKK, and p38 that impair insulin signal transduction directly through inhibitory phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate (IRS) on serine residues. TLR4 activation also leads to increased transcription of pro-inflammatory genes, resulting in elevation of cytokine, chemokine, reactive oxygen species, and eicosanoid levels that promote further insulin-desensitization within the target cell itself and in other cells via paracrine and systemic effects. Increased understanding of cell type-specific TLR4-mediated effects on insulin action present the opportunity and challenge of developing related therapeutic approaches for improving insulin sensitivity while preserving innate immunity