Anatomy of a Successful Campaign for Election Day Registration in Iowa

Demos conducted a telephone survey of 27 individuals involved in Iowa's EDR campaign from June to July, 2007. Interviewees included legislative leaders, election officials, lobbyists, public policy advocates and grassroots organizers.4 Follow-up conversations were initiated in subsequent months. The results are summarized herein. We believe that the insights gained by this research will prove instructive to those interested in pursuing Election Day Registration legislation in their states. In general, individuals who participated in the Demos survey shared a common perception of the reasons behind Iowa's successful EDR campaign. Election Day Registration passed in 2007 because of new, progressive political leadership; a strategic organizing and lobbying campaign; the support of the state's chief elections officer; and the neutralization of any opposition by county auditors. Each would prove essential to the outcome

How Same Day Registration Became Law in North Carolina

2007 was the first year that the North Carolina General Assembly seriously considered Same Day Registration. SDR bills had been introduced in prior years and attracted legislative support, but never gained sufficient traction. This report recounts North Carolina's road to Same Day Registration from three different perspectives: legislative supporters, elections officials and the advocacy community. Demos conducted a telephone survey of 16 individuals who were involved in the successful effort to pass SDR legislation in 2007. Interviewees included legislators, public policy advocates, community organizers and election officials. Those individuals collectively identified three primary reasons for Same Day Registration's success in 2007:* New political leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly* The support of influential election officials; and,* A strong, unified coalition of advocates and organizers

Positive and negative regulation of angiogenesis by soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-1 exists in different forms, derived from alternative splicing of the same gene. In addition to the transmembrane form, endothelial cells produce a soluble VEGFR-1 (sVEGFR-1) isoform, whereas non-endothelial cells produce both sVEGFR-1 and a different soluble molecule, known as soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase (sFlt)1-14. By binding members of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family, the soluble forms reduce the amounts of VEGFs available for the interaction with their transmembrane receptors, thereby negatively regulating VEGFR-mediated signaling. In agreement with this activity, high levels of circulating sVEGFR-1 or sFlt1-14 are associated with different pathological conditions involving vascular dysfunction. Moreover, sVEGFR-1 and sFlt1-14 have an additional role in angiogenesis: they are deposited in the endothelial cell and pericyte extracellular matrix, and interact with cell membrane components. Interaction of sVEGFR-1 with α5β1 integrin on endothelial cell membranes regulates vessel growth, triggering a dynamic, pro-angiogenic phenotype. Interaction of sVEGFR-1/sFlt1-14 with cell membrane glycosphingolipids in lipid rafts controls kidney cell morphology and glomerular barrier functions. These cell-matrix contacts represent attractive novel targets for pharmacological intervention in addition to those addressing interactions between VEGFs and their receptors

A funder's perspective on data management, FAIR data and Open Access

Presentation on the perspective of Dutch health funder ZonMW on data management, FAIR data and Open Access for the Health-RI FAIR data stewards basics course, in Utrecht, on 18 June 202

Lending relationships and credit rationing: the impact of securitization

Do lending relationships mitigate credit rationing? Does securitization influence the impact of lending relationships on credit rationing? If so, is its impact differently in normal periods versus crisis periods? This paper combines several unique data sets to address these questions. Employing a disequilibrium model to identify credit rationing, we find that more intense lending relationships, measured through their length and lower number, considerable improve credit supply and reduce the degree of credit rationing. In general, we find that a relationship with a bank that is more involved in securitization activities relaxes credit constraints in normal periods; however, it also increases credit rationing during crisis periods. Finally, we study the impact of different types of securitization – covered bonds and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) – on credit rationing. While both types of securitization reduce credit rationing in normal periods, the issuance of MBS by a firm’s main bank aggravates these firm’s credit rationing in crisis periods.lending relationships;financial crisis;securitization

Cross-Country Comparisons of Competition and Pricing Power in European Banking

Studies of banking competition and competitive behaviour both within and across countries typically utilise only one of the few measures that are available. In trying to assess the relative competitive position of banking markets in 14 European countries, we find that the existing indicators of competition often give conflicting predictions, both across countries and over time. Seeking greater consistency, we attempt to separate bank pricing power from other, non-core, influences embodied in competition measures. While there is some improvement in cross-country consistency, the main result is that our measure of bank pricing power suggests that banking market competition in Europe may well be stronger than implied by traditional measures and analysis.Competition; banking

Spatiotemporal chaotic dynamics of solitons with internal structure in the presence of finite-width inhomogeneities

We present an analytical and numerical study of the Klein-Gordon kink-soliton dynamics in inhomogeneous media. In particular, we study an external field that is almost constant for the whole system but that changes its sign at the center of coordinates and a localized impurity with finite-width. The soliton solution of the Klein-Gordon-like equations is usually treated as a structureless point-like particle. A richer dynamics is unveiled when the extended character of the soliton is taken into account. We show that interesting spatiotemporal phenomena appear when the structure of the soliton interacts with finite-width inhomogeneities. We solve an inverse problem in order to have external perturbations which are generic and topologically equivalent to well-known bifurcation models and such that the stability problem can be solved exactly. We also show the different quasiperiodic and chaotic motions the soliton undergoes as a time-dependent force pumps energy into the traslational mode of the kink and relate these dynamics with the excitation of the shape modes of the soliton.Comment: 10 pages Revtex style article, 22 gziped postscript figures and 5 jpg figure

The nine reasons why inmates offend: Rational choice and determinism

The purpose of this study was to consolidate the myriad theories of crime and create a comprehensive list of reasons a person may violate the law. This thesis aimed to accurately identify and categorize the general criminal motivations of sentenced inmates at Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center (GHRC). By administering a survey to sentenced inmates this study supported the research hypothesis that all of the participants would agree that they had committed their illegal act due exclusively to one or more of the nine reasons discussed