In Illinois, Tammy Duckworth’s better funded campaign puts Mark Kirk’s Senate seat in a precarious position

In a state which has tended to elect Democrats in recent years, it may come as no surprise that the incumbent Republican Senator, Mark Kirk, faces a tough reelection fight against Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth. As part of our series covering key Senate races in the 2016 election Mara Suttmann-Lea gives an overview of the Prairie State’s Senate race, commenting that the state’s early voting laws give the candidates more time to campaign, an opportunity that may favor the better-funded Duckworth campaign

The 1980s Republican roots of Hillary Clinton’s early voting strategy

Despite extensive coverage of early voting as a campaign tool this election cycle, it is not a wholly new phenomenon. In fact, the Clinton campaign’s exploitation of early voting as a part of her ground game has roots in similar efforts by Republican candidates during the 1980s. As Mara Suttmann-Lea explains, candidates can – and do – exploit early voting to their advantage, as it can enable them to more strategic with often limited campaign resources

Profound partisanship, rather than early voting, may have guaranteed Greg Gianforte’s success in Montana amidst assault charges

Amidst allegations of assault against a Guardian reporter just days before the election, it was speculated that Republican candidate for Montana’s sole House of Representative seat, Greg Gianforte, would suffer at the ballot box. However, though the nature of Montana’s early voting system led some to argue Gianforte would only experience a smaller backlash from voters (given that many votes had already been cast), Mara Suttmann-Lea argues that the nature of partisanship and voting behavior in Montana means that even without early voting, Gianforte may well have won regardless of his assault charges

As a true outsider, what Trump’s presidency will look like is anybody’s guess.

Will Trump be able to achieve his policy agenda when he becomes president? Mara Suttmann-Lea writes that presidents are typically able to rely on their reputation, public prestige and powers of persuasion to get things done. While Trump may be able to use his powers of persuasion – in combination with loyalty based appointments – to advance his agenda, his position as an outsider within his own party may prove to be a major stumbling block

Election Disclosure Laws: U.S. Supreme Court Holds Ohio Campaign Disclosure Law Cannot Be Applied Constitutionally to Minor Political Parties Showing Probable Harrassment

Brown v. Socialist Workers \u2774 Campaign Committee, 103 S. Ct. 416 (1982)

In Georgia, vote by mail isn’t working for many new, young, Black, Hispanic, and Asian voters

Georgia has been in the news in recent weeks because of new legislation which effectively restricts the ability of many communities to vote. Using data from the 2018 General election in Georgia, Enrijeta Shino, Mara Suttmann-Lea, and Daniel A. Smith find that ballots from newly registered, young, and Black, Hispanic, and Asian voters were more likely to be rejected by election officials. They write that some of these rejections may be down to individual factors, but also that a lack of voter education and outreach resources for communities with larger populations of racial and ethnic minority voters may equally be at fault

Aberrante Rezeptorexpression bei Patienten mit primärem Hyperaldosteronismus

Der primäre Hyperaldosteronismus (PHA) ist die häufigste Ursache einer sekundären Hypertonie. Ausgehend von den Beobachtungen, dass eine aberrante Rezeptorexpression bei dem pathophysiologisch ähnlichen Krankheitsbild des ACTH-unabhängigen Cushing-Syndroms durchaus häufig vorkommt, wurde in dieser Studie untersucht, ob bei dem PHA ebenso abnorme Rezeptoren vorkommen und welche Rolle diese in der Pathophysiologie der Erkrankung spielen. So könnten neben der Spironolactontherapie und der Adrenalektomie alternative Therapieansätze (z.B. durch Blockade dieser Rezeptoren) eröffnet werden. An der Studie nahmen 12 Patienten mit einem gesicherten PHA und 12 gesunden Kontrollpersonen teil. Die Studienteilnehmer wurden mittels eines Dreitagestestprotokolls biochemisch auf das Vorliegen einer aberranten Rezeptorexpression in der Nebenniere untersucht. Folgende Stimulationen wurden durchgeführt: Orthostasetest, Mahlzeit-Test, ACTH-, GnRH-, TRH-, Glukagon-, AVP- und MCP-Stimulation. Hiermit wurde insgesamt auf 11 potentielle adrenal exprimierte Rezeptoren untersucht. In Plasma wurden Aldosteron, Cortisol, Renin und ACTH bestimmt. Die Auswertung erfolgte mittels deskriptiver Statistik, wobei nur ein Aldosteronanstieg über 50% über dem Ausgangswert als positiv gewertet wurde. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass aberrante Rezeptoren sowohl bei PHA-Patienten, als auch bei Gesunden vorkommen. Eine Reaktion auf GnRH und TRH war ausschließlich bei Erkrankten nachzuweisen, so dass wir davon ausgehen, dass diese Rezeptoren krankheitsspezifisch für den PHA sein könnten. GIP-Rezeptoren konnten weder bei den Patienten noch bei den Probanden nachgewiesen werden und spielen somit keine Rolle für das Aldosteronhaushalt. Die restlichen Rezeptoren (ACTH, AVP, MCP, Glukagon) wurden sowohl bei Patienten als auch bei Probanden nachgewiesen und scheinen somit nicht PHA bezogen zu sein. Schlussendlich konnten wir unsere Hypothese bestätigen - aberrante Rezeptoren kommen bei PHA-Patienten vor und sind teilweise krankheitsspezifisch, so dass eine selektive Blockade dieser Rezeptoren als Therapieansatz durchaus denkbar wäre

Surface functionalization under water using picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses - first observations and novel effects

Functionalization by changing the topography of workpiece surfaces is interesting for many applications. Lasers - especially ultrashort pulse lasers - are flexible tools for this kind of tasks. Besides deterministic structures they allow for processing surfaces in a way that stochastic structures appear. Ripple and spike structures can be fabricated in air. In liquids, however, there are only a few investigations and many open questions. The idea of this paper is to check how water in contact to the workpiece surface affects femtosecond laser surface processing and what kind of structures appear. Results obtained with a picosecond laser are presented for comparison

Temperature distribution during laser based heat conduction welding of CFRP

For the implementation of carbon fiber reinforced (CFRP) parts, these need to be assembled to more complex structures. Therefore, laser transmission welding was transferred to heat conduction welding for joining thermoplastic CFRP to itself. The goal of these investigations was to determine the influence of the focal point geometry and the main fiber orientation within the CFRP on the temperature distribution at the upper joining member. A set-up was chosen consisting of two thermo cameras in order to measure the process temperatures on top and underneath the upper joining member. Furthermore, the heat affected width was determined and correlated to the process temperatures