A new direction for US climate policy : assessing the first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency

Following his surprise election, President Trump has translated several campaign promises into a relentless progression of executive measures. This article traces the first 100 days of his presidency as they relate to climate and energy policy, assessing the impact of personnel choices, his regulatory reform agenda, and his proposed budget blueprint, as well as executive or agency orders across various sectors. It also differentiates between the expected impact of federal policy choices and fundamental trends in the energy sector as well as the activist role of states and municipalities in shaping climate policy outcomes. Finally, the article discusses procedural constraints and judicial review as moderating forces, limiting the scale and speed with which the new president can overturn the climate legacy of his predecessor. In the end, the article argues that a retrospective of recent administrations reveals a cyclical pattern which both confines and perpetuates the alternating extremes of successive presidencies

Investigating Photosynthetic Stability: Relation Between Thylakoid Lipid Content and the Stability of the Cytochrome b6f Complex

The cytochrome b6f complex is an enzyme found in plants, cyanobacteria, and green algae that catalyzes the transport of electrons in the rate-limiting step of oxygenic photosynthesis. This dimeric complex has an extensive lipid architecture that is primarily composed of five distinct lipid classes: monogalactosyl diacylglycerol (MGDG), digalactosyl diacylglycerol (DGDG), phosphatidyl glycerol (PG), monoglucosyl diacylglycerol (GlcDG), and sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol (SQDG). While these lipid classes have been identified, their precise role in the function of the cytochrome complex are only beginning to be understood. Mechanisms describing the relation between thylakoid lipid content on the stability of the b6f complex are not known. This study validates the importance of the lipids on cytochrome b6f dimer formation and stability by showing that SQDG and the synthetic lipids 1,2-dioleoylphosphatidylglycerol and 2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine reduce the temperature dependent rate of monomerization (denaturation) of the native dimer. A novel method of growing the cyanobacterium Synechococcus PCC 7002 anaerobically to test the relation between thylakoid lipid content and growth temperature was developed. This method of growing Synechococcus greatly reduces the relative SQDG content and increases the relative PG content in thylakoid membranes. The analysis of MGDG, DGDG, PG, GlcDG, and SQDG content in Synechococcus cultures grown at 30℃ and 33℃ revealed that the MGDG content depends inversely on the growth temperature

The Effectiveness of Victim-Witness Advocate Services

The victims\u27 movement in the United States occurred due to the development of victimology, the introduction of state victim compensation programs, the rise of the women\u27s movement, and the rise of crime that was accompanied by a parallel dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system. The interest in victimology was due to the increasing concern about crime in America in the late 1960s. Research by Frank Cannavale found that the largest cause of prosecution failure was due to a lack of cooperation among victims-witnesses who stopped helping the justice system because it was indifferent to their most basic needs (Young & Stein, 2004). Research had recently shown that the main reason for unsuccessful prosecutions was that witnesses and victims of crime were not being treated well by the criminal justice system (Lee, 2019). This became a significant factor for why and how victims assistance programs were developed. Early programs assisted in victim compensation, federal Supplemental Security Income, assistance in court proceedings and restitution, resources to social services, transportation, and translation for Spanish-speaking clients (Lee, 2019). It led to establishing a wide variety of services, specializations, and considerations Victim advocate programs offer services such as crisis intervention, counseling and advocacy, medical services, support during criminal investigations, support during prosecution, support after case disposition, help victims understand their rights, crime prevention, public education, and training of allied professions. Although, focus for victim and witness advocate programs is primarily domestic violence and sexual assault cases against women, programs began to expand and acknowledge other victims of crime to like elderly victim, victims of homicides, victims of theft, and children. By the end of the 1980s, more than 8,000 victim service programs were in operation (Young & Stein, 2004). The objective of this study is to determine if victim-witnesses of crimes are more likely to continue with and participate in the prosecution of their offender if they use victim witness advocate services and to determine if victim-witness advocate services are beneficial

The connection between the heat storage capability of PCM as a material property and their performance in real scale applications

Using phase change materials (PCM) for Thermal Energy Storage, the most important material property is their heat storage capability, usually given as h(T). Ideally, h(T) changes suddenly at a single temperature. However, many PCM change phase in a temperature range and show hysteresis. In addition, experience shows that even measurements with the same device on the same material can give different results when the heating rate, the amount of sample mass or the equipment device are varied. The question thus arises how to deal with different h(T) results when trying to predict the performance of a real scale application. This paper identifies the main origins of these effects and gives strategies for dealing with them.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° PIRSES-GA-2013-610692 (INNOSTORAGE) and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 657466 (INPATH-TES). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research groups GREA (2014 SGR 123) and DIOPMA (2014 SGR 1543). GREA and DIOPMA are certified agents TECNIO in the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia. This work has been partially funded by the Spanish government (ENE2015-64117-C5-1-R (MINECO/FEDER)). Dr. Camila Barreneche and Dr. Aran Solé would like to thank Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España for Grant Juan de la Cierva, FJCI-2014-22886 and FJCI-2015-25741, respectively

Differentiating attention styles and regulatory aspects of self-reported interoceptive sensibility.

Based on prior research, multiple discriminable dimensions of interoception have been defined: awareness, accuracy and sensibility. Some investigators defined interoceptive awareness as metacognitive awareness of interoceptive accuracy, assessed as correspondence between subjective confidence in and objective accuracy of one's heartbeat detection. However, metacognitive awareness has been understood quite differently: 'a cognitive set in which negative thoughts/feelings are experienced as mental events, rather than as the self' or as 'error awareness'. Interoceptive sensibility, defined as self-reported interoception, distinguishes self-reported interoception from objective interoceptive accuracy, but does not differentiate between anxiety-driven and mindful attention styles towards interoceptive cues, a distinction of key clinical importance: one attention style is associated with somatization and anxiety disorders; the other has been viewed as healthy, adaptive, resilience-enhancing. The self-report Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness was developed to differentiate these attention styles. It has been translated into 16 languages and applied in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Findings from these applications suggest that differentiating interoceptive sensibility according to attention style and regulatory aspects (i) provides insights into the psychology of interoceptive awareness, (ii) differentiates between clinically maladaptive and beneficial interoceptive attention, and (iii) helps elucidate therapeutic approaches that claim to provide health benefits by training mindful styles of bodily awareness.This article is part of the themed issue 'Interoception beyond homeostasis: affect, cognition and mental health'

Cheers Indiana : brewing in the crossroads of America

This project examines the history and evolution of the beer brewing industry in Indiana through a half hour long documentary, titled Indiana in a Pint. Indiana has a rich and vibrant history of brewing beer, dating back to the initial recognition of statehood in 1816. Indiana reached one hundred breweries pre-prohibition, but the 1980’s, the number was down to two. Now, however, Indiana is well on its way to having one hundred breweries once again. The documentary details the history of brewing in Indiana as well as highlighting the current craft brewing community.Department of TelecommunicationsThesis (M.A.

Changing Attitudes Toward Euthanasia

Death is a very individual matter which does not readily lend itself to collective decision. Medical ethicists frequently conclude that to allow a person to die from malice is more reprehensible than to help a person to die from mercy. The most striking change which is taking place in consideration of the problem is recognition of the need to reinforce the patient\u27s right to decide on the course of medical treatment. A New York Times editorial of February 3, 1903 condemned the practice of active euthanasia by comparing it to practices of savages in all parts of the world . Seventy years later the Times of July 3, 1973 carried an editorial which recognized compelling arguments for passive euthanasia. It stated . . . a growing movement now asserts that there is a right to die as well as a right to live, and that the former right is violated often by officious, prolonged, excruciating and expensive medical intervention that keeps people alive who would be better off dead since they are in agony or are living vegetables without hope of recovery. The subject of euthanasia has at last come out of the closet , as its complexities are recognized and debated publicly. Individual concern with the dying process is widespread, although this concern has not yet been crystallized into an action oriented movement asserting a civil right. There is a strong possibility that changing attitudes toward euthanasia will soon be expressed in the passage of state legislation, but it will continue to generate polarized opinions for some time to come before a coherent public policy is achieved