Contrary to popular belief, American presidential election campaigns have become less partisan over time

Partisan polarization has perhaps been most common term used to describe American politics in recent years. In new research, Jesse H. Rhodes and Zachary Albert investigate how partisanship has manifested in presidential campaigns over the past six decades. They find that – contrary to the impression created by contemporary public discussion and media coverage – explicit partisanship has declined dramatically as a feature of presidential campaigns, largely due to the abandonment of partisan rhetoric by Democratic presidential candidates. They argue that Democratic candidates have avoided partisan appeals in their public rhetoric in order to reach out to moderate voters alienated by corrosive partisanship

Primary primers: voters are generally happy to work alongside elites to choose their party’s presidential nominee

Since 1984, party elites, both elected and DNC members, have played a role in selecting the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. While recent years have seen calls to move away from a system that includes those who some accuse of being unelected elites, in new research, Zachary Albert and Raymond La Raja find that voters are actually happy with a mixed system where voters and elites share influence on the choice of nominee

Whose education counts? The impact of grown children's education on the physical functioning of their parents in Tawian

Journal ArticleResearch has identified education as an important predictor of physical functioning in old age. Older adults in Taiwan tend to experience close ties to family members and high rates of adult child coresidence, much more so than is typical in Western cultures. These circumstances might imply additional health-related benefits stemming from the education of grown children. This association could arise in a number of ways, for instance through the sharing of health-related information between child and parent, the quality of caregiving efforts, monetary assistance for medical and other services, or through other psychosocial avenues. In this study, a nationally representative survey of older Taiwanese is employed to examine these concurrent effects. Outcome variables include the existence of any functional limitations (dichotomously measured) and the severity of functional disorders (ordinally measured). Dichotomous and ordinal logistic models are employed. Results suggest that, after adjusting for age, sex, and other factors, both child's and parent's education have an impact on the existence of physical limitations; however, the child's education is more important than the parent's in predicting severity of limitations. This finding implies that models ignoring social network characteristics in the effort to determine health outcomes of older adults may be misspecified, at least in some non-Western societies

Partisan Policymaking: Research and Advocacy in an Era of Polarization

In recent decades, partisan polarization has not only grown but also extended to a wide variety of political processes. Despite this fact, we lack a strong understanding of the policy process under conditions of relatively extreme polarization. The roles of interest groups and think tanks in this environment are particularly understudied. How have research producing institutions changed in response to partisan polarization? And which types of organizations are most influential under the current system? Existing theories often lack an appreciation of the role of partisanship and assume relatively unstructured pluralistic competition in the development and debate of public policy. To help rectify this limitation, I view actors in the policy process as part of a system structured mainly by partisan dynamics. This changing “marketplace for ideas” has incentivized some interest groups and think tanks to invest in a single political party to enhance their influence and accomplish their goals. The result is a policy system defined by two competing extended party networks, or loose coalitions of formal party members and outside research institutions. Under such conditions, influence accrues to those organizations that engage in relatively partisan research and advocacy efforts. In the first empirical chapter, I use interview results to show that members of Congress require information, ideas, and talking points from outside actors. These politicians seek out resources that will help further their individual and partisan goals (which are increasingly distant from the opposing party). This decision-making calculus has downstream effects on research institutions, incentivizing many to become party allies across a range of issue areas. Not all groups have responded this way, though. There still exists a cohort of academic and/or politically moderate organizations that have changed more slowly in response to increased polarization. Problematically, groups that are both partisan (in terms of their preferences and behavior) and political (in terms of their direct advocacy strategies) are growing in number and influence. In the second empirical chapter, I levy a wide range of evidence to show that these “Partisan-Political” groups are designed to produce research that consistently supports a particular ideological or partisan vision. These types of groups also develop reputations as key party allies and thick ties to members from their preferred party. In the final empirical chapter, I use a case study of the debate surrounding cap-and-trade regulations to show that these partisan advocacy strategies pay off, as Partisan-Political groups have significant influence over the discourses of their preferred party. In general, the textual and network analyses in this chapter demonstrate that ideas and talking points flow mostly along party lines, prohibiting compromise and allowing extended party actors to institutionalize their preferences. Thus, there is significant evidence for “polarized policymaking”, with two relatively distinct extended party networks developing alternative ideas and discourses in policy debates. These findings have implications for the presence and continuation of partisan polarization, the legislative process, and democratic representation

The burden of congenital Chagas disease and implementation of molecular diagnostic tools in Latin America

It is estimated that between 8000 and 15 000 Trypanosoma cruzi infected babies are born every year to infected mothers in Chagas disease endemic countries. Currently, poor access to and performance of the current diagnostic algorithm, based on microscopy at birth and serology at 8-12 months after delivery, is one of the barriers to congenital Chagas disease (CCD) control. Detection of parasite DNA using molecular diagnostic tools could be an alternative or complement to current diagnostic methods, but its implementation in endemic regions remains limited. Prompt diagnosis and treatment of CCD cases would have a positive clinical and epidemiological impact. In this paper, we analysed the burden of CCD in Latin America, and the potential use of molecular tests to improve access to early diagnosis and treatment of T. cruzi infected newborns.Fil: Picado, Albert. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; SuizaFil: Cruz, Israel. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; SuizaFil: Redard Jacot, Maël. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; SuizaFil: Schijman, Alejandro Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Torrico, Faustino. Universidad Mayor de San Simón; Bolivia. Fundación CEADES; BoliviaFil: Sosa-Estani, Sergio Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública; Argentina. Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative; BrasilFil: Katz, Zachary. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; SuizaFil: Ndung'u, Joseph Mathu. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; Suiz

Diffusion on Complex Networks : A way to probe their large scale topological structures

A diffusion process on complex networks is introduced in order to uncover their large scale topological structures. This is achieved by focusing on the slowest decaying diffusive modes of the network. The proposed procedure is applied to real-world networks like a friendship network of known modular structure, and an Internet routing network. For the friendship network, its known structure is well reproduced. In case of the Internet, where the structure is far less well-known, one indeed finds a modular structure, and modules can roughly be associated with individual countries. Quantitatively the modular structure of the Internet manifests itself in an approximately 10 times larger participation ratio of its slowest decaying modes as compared to the null model -- a random scale-free network. The extreme edges of the Internet are found to correspond to Russian and US military sites.Comment: Latex, 13 pages, 4 figures (To appear Physica A

Enhancement of Solid Fuel Combustion in a Hybrid Rocket Motor Using Amorphous Ti–Al–B Nanopowder Additives

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Difference in Plumage Color Used in Species Recognition between Incipient Species Is Linked to a Single Amino Acid Substitution in the Melanocortin‐1 Receptor

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/600084Many studies demonstrate that differences in mating signals are used by incipient species in recognizing potential mates or sexual competitors (i.e., species recognition). Little is known, however, about the genetic changes responsible for these differences in mating signals. Populations of the Monarcha castaneiventris flycatcher vary in plumage color across the Solomon Islands, with a subspecies on Makira Island having chestnut bellies and blue‐black upper parts (Monarcha castaneiventris megarhynchus) and a subspecies on neighboring satellite islands being entirely blue‐black (melanic; Monarcha castaneiventris ugiensis). Here we show that a single nonsynonymous point mutation in the melanocortin‐1 receptor (MC1R) gene is present in all melanic birds from one island (Santa Ana) but absent in all chestnut‐bellied birds from Makira Island, implicating this mutation in causing melanism. Birds from a second satellite island (Ugi) do not show the same perfect association between this MC1R variant and plumage color, suggesting an alternative mechanism for melanism on this island. Finally, taxidermic mount presentation experiments in Makira (chestnut) and Santa Ana (melanic) suggest that the plumage difference mediates species recognition. Assuming that the signals used in species recognition are also used in mutual mate choice, our results indicate that a single amino acid substitution contributes to speciation