The Returns from Rent-Seeking: Campaign Contributions, Firm Subsidies, and the Byrd Amendment

This paper examines Congressional support of the Byrd Amendment, a new antidumping law that directs the U.S. Customs Service to distribute collected duties to protected firms. A critical feature of the Byrd Amendment is that it produces a highly transparent measure of how much each firm is rewarded for its rent-seeking efforts to secure the bill’s passage, specifically the dollar value its Byrd disbursement. Therefore, this policy provides researchers with a unique setting in which to study the link between campaign contributions, Congressional behavior, and the subsequent financial returns to firms. Our empirical results show that campaign contributions from potential beneficiaries increased the likelihood that lawmakers would sponsor the Byrd Amendment. We also show that political contributions from the law’s beneficiaries increased with the rewards that they expected to receive, although not by as much as predicted by some political economy models of trade policy.Byrd Amendment, Antidumping, Campaign Contributions, Political Economy of Trade Policy

Functional Analysis of MicroRNA Pathway Genes in the Somatic Gonad and Germ Cells During Ovulation in \u3cem\u3eC. Elegans\u3c/em\u3e

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression that play critical roles in animal development and physiology, though functions for most miRNAs remain unknown. Worms with reduced miRNA biogenesis due to loss of Drosha or Pasha/DGCR8 activity are sterile and fail to ovulate, indicating that miRNAs are required for the process of oocyte maturation and ovulation. Starting with this penetrant sterile phenotype and using new strains created to perform tissue specific RNAi, we characterized the roles of the C. elegans Pasha, pash-1, and two miRNA-specific Argonautes, alg-1 and alg-2, in somatic gonad cells and in germ cells in the regulation of ovulation. Conditional loss of pash-1activity resulted in a reduced rate of ovulation and in basal and ovulatory sheath contractions. Similarly, knockdown of miRNA-specific Argonautes in the cells of the somatic gonad by tissue-specific RNAi results in a reduction of the ovulation rate and in basal and ovulatory sheath contractions. Reduced miRNA pathway gene activity resulted in a range of defects, including oocytes that were pinched upon entry of the oocyte into the distal end of the spermatheca in about 42% of the ovulation events observed following alg-1 RNAi. This phenotype was not observed on worms exposed to control RNAi. In contrast, knockdown of alg-1 and alg-2 in germ cells results in few defects in oocyte maturation and ovulation. These data identify specific steps in the process of ovulation that require miRNA pathway gene activity in the somatic gonad cells

The effects of drinkers\u27 concerned significant others on alcohol cue reactivity

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are pervasive in society and notoriously difficult to treat successfully. Incorporation of a member of the social network into the therapeutic framework for treating AUDs has been found to improve treatment outcomes compared to individual-focused treatments. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of concerned significant others (CSO) on drinkers neural response to alcohol cues. A sample of social to heavy drinkers (n = 16) completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. During the scan, participants completed an alcohol cue reactivity task twice; one time by themselves, and another time while holding the hand of their CSO. Both participants and their CSOs completed a brief battery of psychological questionnaires. Results showed minimal neural activation in response to the cue reactivity paradigm. The interaction of hand condition by alcohol cue reactivity showed some significant activation in the areas of the medial prefrontal cortex, an area implicated in alcohol use disorders and evaluation of reward. This pattern of activation appeared to be moderated by CSO level of drinking, CSO support for abstinence, and relationship satisfaction. Possible reasons for the failure to detect a significant effect of alcohol cues on neural response are discussed. The implications of the current study, as well as potential future directions also are addressed

Southern California Regional Transit Training Consortium: Skills Gap & Needs Assessment

The transit sector grows and evolves quickly with the needs of growing, busy cities. With this growth comes a need for more transit workers and more training to ensure workers can best serve their diverse communities. This report contains a transit training needs assessment and gap analysis to identify the most pressing challenges of the evolving transit workforce served by the Southern California Regional Transit Training Consortium (SCRTTC). Most importantly, this report documents and determines SCRTTC priorities to ensure the incumbent and future transit workforce is equipped with the professional and technological skills required to address the transformational trends affecting the transit sector. The report primarily utilized qualitative methods with the use of a series of interviews, a focus group, a workshop, and an online survey. Above all, this assessment discovered that existing SCRTTC training curriculum is respected, and there is strong demand for additional topics. Transit maintenance professionals consistently endorsed the value and quality of SCRTTC training—they just want more of it. They want it to be developed more efficiently and at a higher volume. They seek more localized and customized delivery methods for training and curriculum. All of those findings compel a question: How can SCRTTC make organizational changes to more rapidly develop curriculum and provide targeted training programs for technicians? This report recommends SCRTTC integrate a suite of digital products into the SCRTTC website to respond to the needs documented in this assessment—namely higher capacity for more training offerings and more online delivery methods while simultaneously enhancing member demands for more customized and location-based training. Implementing the digital platform recommended in this report would empower SCRTTC leadership to foster increased interactivity between transit agencies, training partners, and SCRTTC management. These digital tools would enable SCRTTC to expand its coverage to all of California. This statewide approach to transit training could be used to implement similar consortia in states throughout the U.S