articles+ search results

The Sino-U.S. relations tumbled during the Trump Administration. The talk of decoupling permeated the decision-making circle in Washington D.C. Many factors have contributed to the free fall. The roles Congress has played are undoubtedly one of them. Based on the new institutionalist approach, this study provides three analyses of recent China-related legislative activities. First, the historical analysis of legislative data illustrates a surge in congressional activism on China-related legislative activities. Second, the content analysis reveals some of the triggers in the deterioration of bilateral relations in recent years. Third, the political analysis of the critical congressional players and the structures and procedures Congress created provides some insight into the domestic and political logic of the congressional crusade against China. Finally, the paper ends with assessing the impact of the surge in Congressional activism on the new Biden Administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUBSTANCE abuse prevention, SUBSTANCE abuse -- Law & legislation, CONFIDENCE intervals, RESEARCH methodology, RULES, HEALTH outcome assessment, DESCRIPTIVE statistics, STATISTICAL sampling, POLICY sciences, CONTENT analysis, ODDS ratio, MEDICAL research, FEDERAL government, and DIFFUSION of innovations

Background and Aims: The growing body of research evidence on substance use and substance use disorder (SU/SUD) prevention could be leveraged to strengthen the intended impact of policies that address SU/SUD. The aim of the present study was to explore how research was used in United States federal legislation that emphasized SU/SUD prevention. Design: Using a mixed‐methods approach, we assessed whether the use of research predicted a bill's legislative progress. We randomly sampled 10 bills that represented different types of research keywords to examine how research was used in these bills, applying content analysis. Setting: United States Congress. Participants/Cases: Federal legislation introduced between the 101st and the 114th Congresses (1989–2017; n = 1866). Measurements The quantitative outcome measures were bills' likelihood of passing out of committee and being enacted. Qualitative outcomes included the ways research was used in legislation. Findings Bills that used any research language were 2.2 times more likely to pass out of committee (OR = 2.18; 95% CI, 1.75, 2.72) and 82% more likely to be enacted (OR = 1.82; 95% CI, 1.23, 2.69) than bills not using research language. Bills using dissemination words were 57% more likely to pass out of committee (OR = 1.57; CI, 1.08, 2.28) and analysis words were 93% more likely (OR = 1.93; 95% CI, 1.51, 2.47) than bills not using dissemination or analysis words. Research was used to (i) define the problem to justify legislative action, (ii) address the problem by providing funding, and (iii) address the problem through industry regulations. However, there was a lack of research use that targets underlying risk and protective factors. Conclusions: In the US Congress, substance use and substance use disorder prevention bills that use research language appear to be more likely to progress in the legislative cycle than bills that do not, suggesting that legislation using research may be viewed as more credible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on her fight against the people's right to abortion. She talks about the reverberations of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade which was felt by patients in states across the U.S., her introduction of the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA) in 2013, and her view that Congress and the Administration should do everything to strengthen and support the Title X Program.

ARTIFICIAL organs and CONFERENCES & conventions

HT

Date	Event	Venue	Contact
6-10 September 2022	48th Annual Congress of the European Society for Artificial Organs (ESAO)	Krems, Austria
10-14 September 2022	29th International Congress of The Transplantation Society	Buenos Aires, Argentina
14-17 September 2022	33rd Annual ELSO Conference	Boston, MA, USA

ht. [Extracted from the article]

VETO, WEAPONS exports & imports, STOCK prices, and DIPLOMATIC & consular service

On October 2nd, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and critic of the Saudi Arabian regime, disappeared after a visit to the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey nd was most likely murdered shortly afterwards. After this incident, a period of uncertainty started about whether or not a major arms deal that was signed between the United States and Saudi Arabia would still going to be approved by Congress or in turn will be rejected. The main findings presented in this study clearly demonstrate that the uncertainty surrounding the deal caused a significant drop in the daily return on the equity prices of US defense firms. This result suggests that investors believe that it is very likely that the major arms deal will be blocked by Congress in the short-run thereby reducing the business perspectives of the US defense-related industry. Besides these findings also imply that investors expect that the US president will not use its veto power or make permanently use of the exemption clause provided in the US arms trade legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TRIALS (Law), CONVERSATION analysis, and LINGUISTICS

Through a 'micro' and 'macro' level analysis, this study focuses on elements of questioning and question design in the Senate Judiciary hearing conducted for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Specifically, two lines of questioning are analyzed: that of Kamala Harris, D. California, and that of Ted Cruz, R. Texas. Through an analysis that builds heavily on prior research that uses Conversation Analysis (CA) to understand the news interview, this study attempts to expand such research to institutional talk done by politicians in Congress. The analysis portion of the paper investigates, on a 'micro' level, the linguistic elements at play in each line of questioning. In the discussion section, a 'macro' level analysis situates the findings of this paper within the broader US political climate among the public and in terms of the growing conservatism of the Supreme Court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MEDICAID beneficiaries, MEDICAL care, MEDICAL personnel, MILITARY hospitals, UNITED States armed forces, MEDICAL quality control, and MILITARY dependents

Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that those receiving direct care were younger, had a highe proportiong of females, and were healthier than MHS beneficiaries receiving private care or the general civilian population. Costs for breast cancer care in the Military Health System: an analysis by benefit type and care source. The role of direct care federal health systems, including the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Indian Health Service (IHS), and the Military Health System (MHS), have long been a topic of debate in Congress and policy circles concerning access, cost, and quality. For the comparison between direct care and private care, those receiving direct care were also less senior in their military careers. [Extracted from the article]

SPIES, LIBERTY, COURTS-martial & courts of inquiry, BRITISH monarchy, AMERICAN identity, MILITARY policy, and CAMPAIGN funds

In the weeks before it declared independence, the Continental Congress was already at work building the institutions it would need to maintain the new republic. In June 1776, a committee was appointed to explore linking the 13 provincial legislatures in a Confederation. Another was tasked to consider how the United Colonies, soon to become the United States of America, could protect itself against Great Britain by striking treaties with European powers. But before these committees were formed, the Congress first appointed a "Committee on Spies" to deal with a chronic problem: how the law should treat "persons giving intelligence to the enemy, or supplying them with provisions." The resolutions that were the Committee's answer re-defined the law of treason, substituting a new notion of American sovereignty in place of the allegiance that had been owed the British monarchy. They drew a bright line between those lukewarm or hostile to the Revolution, and the new American identity embraced by its supporters. And they placed limits on the military's ability to try civilians charged with spying by court-martial, setting a precedent for American military justice. This paper argues that the impact of the Committee's work has been under-examined, as has been its influence on George Washington and the evolving American policy of military deference to civil authority in matters of justice. It explores how the Committee's "Resolves" prompted the creation of new treason statutes in nearly all the United "States," which in turn prompted hundreds of prosecutions. The paper revises scholars' views on how and why the Spies Committee was formed. It traces the Committee's contribution to language incorporated by the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution's article on treason, drafted 13 years later by a scholar who had been a Spies Committee member. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Constitution's division of powers from which E. Corwin famously asserted an "invitation to struggle" in the making of US foreign policy (1957, 171) has become overshadowed by partisan conflict in the contemporary era. Although much of the extant literature points to Congress's subsidiary role in foreign policy relative to the presidency-centered model, the appeal of partisanship has worked to further deepen congressional abrogation and extend presidential unilateralism (Lindsay in Congress and the politics of U.S. Foreign Policy. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1994; Kriner in After the rubicon: congress, presidents, and the politics of waging war. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2010; Potter in Pres Stud Quart 46(4):849–867, 2016). Our analysis illustrates a puzzle. On one hand, there are growing levels of majority support in the USA for political leadership on the world stage. But on the other hand, our analysis of congressional behavior such as voting, lawmaking, and oversight shows relatively clear patterns of congressional decline—Congress no longer exercises much of its power in foreign affairs, neither in form or substance. Partisan incentives for congressional abdication to the presidency carry at least one additional risk we point to: Congressional capitulation from its constitutional duty places democracy in the jeopardy that the Framers' design was intended to prevent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BLADDER obstruction, GASTRIC outlet obstruction, OVERACTIVE bladder, AMINO acids, PEPPERS, PATHOLOGY, and PATIENT satisfaction

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) called Kubiker (Naturmed, Montegranaro, FM, Italy), consisting of vitamins (C and D), herbal products (cucurbita maxima, capsicum annum, polygonum cuspidatum), and amino acid L-Glutamine, as first line treatment of (OAB) Materials and methods: According to institutional protocols, data on patients addressing to a tertiary referral centre for OAB symptoms were recorded. OAB was evaluated through validated questionnaires including ICIQ-SF, USS, and OAB-q-SF. Patients with previous antimuscarinic or β3 agonist treatment, neurological disease or pathologies which may mimic OAB, including infections, were excluded. Only unobstructed patients were considered and were given CAM twice daily for 12 weeks. After treatment, symptoms were re-evaluated repeating previous questionnaires and PGI-I was given to evaluate perceived improvement. Results: A total of 41 patients were evaluated and 35 respected inclusion criteria and were enrolled. All subjects had a full compliance and adherence with CAM medication intake. The median patient's age was 65 (56–73). Male were 8 (22.9%) while females were 27 (77.1%). Median baseline OAB-q SF and ICIQ-SF scores were 18 (15–25) and 9 (6–13), respectively. After treatment, 85.7% patients had a clinical benefit, with a significant reduction of OAB symptoms, also according to USS (p < 0.01). The median OAB-q SF and ICIQ-SF scores were 10 (7–15) and 6 (0–8) (p < 0.01). CAM was successful with an improvement in subjective patient's satisfaction, with a median PGI-I score of 2 (1–3). Patients (men and women) who still had UUI after 3 months CAM medication were eight (22.8%), and among them, those who did not refer any therapeutic benefit were five (14.3%) Conclusions: According to our study, CAM may be useful medication for a first line treatment of uncomplicated idiopathic OAB cases, providing a nonnegligible effects on symptoms. However, further studies are mandatory to draw definitive conclusions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COGNITION disorders, LEWY body dementia, DEMENTIA patients, ALZHEIMER'S disease, VASCULAR dementia, OLDER patients, APOLIPOPROTEIN E4, and ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE

We evaluated the effect of Acetyl-cholinesterase-inhibitors (AChEIs) on cognitive decline and overall survival in a large sample of older patients with late onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD), vascular dementia (VD) or Lewy body disease (LBD) from a real world setting. Patients with dementia enrolled between 2005 and 2020 by the "Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers" were analysed; the mean follow-up period was 7.9 years. A 1:1 propensity score matching was performed generating a cohort of 1.572 patients (786 treated [AChEIs +] and 786 not treated [AChEIs-] with AChEIs. The MMSE score was almost stable during the first 6 years of follow up in AChEIs + and then declined, while in AChEIs− it progressively declined so that at the end of follow-up (13.6 years) the average decrease in MMSE was 10.8 points in AChEIs- compared with 5.4 points in AChEIs + (p < 0.001). This trend was driven by LOAD (Δ-MMSE:−10.8 vs. −5.7 points; p < 0.001), although a similar effect was observed in VD (Δ-MMSE:−11.6 vs. −8.8; p < 0.001). No effect on cognitive status was found in LBD. At multivariate Cox regression analysis (adjusted for age, gender, dependency level and depression) a strong association between AChEIs therapy and lower all-cause mortality was observed (H.R.:0.59; 95%CI: 0.53–0.66); this was confirmed also in analyses separately conducted in LOAD, VD and LBD. Among older people with dementia, treatment with AChEIs was associated with a slower cognitive decline and with reduced mortality, after a mean follow-up of almost eight years. Our data support the effectiveness of AChEIs in older patients affected by these types of dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide, associated with a 98% loss of life expectancy and a 30% increase in disability-adjusted life years. Image-based artificial intelligence (AI) can help improve outcomes for PDAC given that current clinical guidelines are non-uniform and lack evidence-based consensus. However, research on image-based AI for PDAC is too scattered and lacking in sufficient quality to be incorporated into clinical workflows. In this review, an international, multi-disciplinary team of the world's leading experts in pancreatic cancer breaks down the patient pathway and pinpoints the current clinical touchpoints in each stage. The available PDAC imaging AI literature addressing each pathway stage is then rigorously analyzed, and current performance and pitfalls are identified in a comprehensive overview. Finally, the future research agenda for clinically relevant, image-driven AI in PDAC is proposed. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), estimated to become the second leading cause of cancer deaths in western societies by 2030, was flagged as a neglected cancer by the European Commission and the United States Congress. Due to lack of investment in research and development, combined with a complex and aggressive tumour biology, PDAC overall survival has not significantly improved the past decades. Cross-sectional imaging and histopathology play a crucial role throughout the patient pathway. However, current clinical guidelines for diagnostic workup, patient stratification, treatment response assessment, and follow-up are non-uniform and lack evidence-based consensus. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can leverage multimodal data to improve patient outcomes, but PDAC AI research is too scattered and lacking in quality to be incorporated into clinical workflows. This review describes the patient pathway and derives touchpoints for image-based AI research in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional expert panel. The literature exploring AI to address these touchpoints is thoroughly retrieved and analysed to identify the existing trends and knowledge gaps. The results show absence of multi-institutional, well-curated datasets, an essential building block for robust AI applications. Furthermore, most research is unimodal, does not use state-of-the-art AI techniques, and lacks reliable ground truth. Based on this, the future research agenda for clinically relevant, image-driven AI in PDAC is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

POLLING places, POLITICAL parties, POLITICAL elites, ELECTIONS, VOTER turnout, NOMINATIONS for office, SWING states (United States politics), and VOTE buying

But Tinubu's feat was the more remarkable given that he prevailed - against the opposition of President Buhari, vice-president Osinbajo, Senate president B Ahmad Lawan b and APC Chairman B Abdullahi Adamu b . B Campaigning has already started for the February 2023 presidential poll. b Former Lagos State Governor B Bola Tinubu b emerged the winner of the ruling All Progressives Congress ( B APC b ) party primaries held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. [...] Their record in government is questionable but Tinubu and Abubakar are skilled at managing political parties. [Extracted from the article]

DAYLIGHT saving, UNITS of time, BIOLOGICAL rhythms, PUBLIC housing, and HOUSING policy

In March 2022, the US Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act that would abolish the biannual change in clocks each fall and spring and permanently adopt daylight saving time that aligns with the "spring forward" time change each March. A number of scientific and medical societies have endorsed the abolishment of the biannual clock change, but oppose the permanent adoption of daylight saving time. Instead, leading organizations such as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (SRBR) position statements highlight peer-reviewed evidence in favor of a permanent shift to standard time. The present perspectives will summarize some of the key AASM and SRBR recommendations, with a particular focus on the potential cardiovascular implications of a legislative change that would result in a permanent switch to either standard time or daylight saving time. Collectively, although there is building scientific consensus that abolishing the biannual time change has several sleep and circadian health benefits, the preponderance of evidence is opposite to the current legislation and instead suggests a permanent switch to standard time may offer the maximum health and safety benefits. This scientific evidence should be considered as the United States House of Representatives considers the Sunshine Protection Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SMOKING prevention, ELECTRONIC cigarettes, SERIAL publications, TOBACCO products, COVID-19 pandemic, and ADOLESCENCE

The article discusses the efforts of the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to curb youth smoking after passage of the Protecting American Lungs and Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act. Topics include the purpose of the Act, estimated number of middle and high school students that use tobacco products according to the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey, and things that can be done to prevent and reduce the use of tobacco products.

RUNOFF elections, ELECTIONS, PARTISANSHIP, DEMOCRATS (United States), VOTING, PRESIDENTIAL elections, and FEDERAL government

Recent work on American presidential elections suggests that voters engage in anticipatory balancing, which occurs when voters split their ticket in order to moderate collective policy outcomes by forcing agreement among institutions controlled by opposing parties. We use the 2021 Georgia U.S. Senate runoffs, which determined whether Democrats would have unified control of the federal government given preceding November victories by President-elect Biden and House Democrats, to evaluate support for anticipatory balancing. Leveraging an original survey of Georgia voters, we find no evidence of balancing within the general electorate and among partisans across differing model specifications. We use qualitative content analysis of voter electoral runoff intentions to support our findings and contextualize the lack of evidence for balancing withan original analysis showing the unprecedented partisan nature of contemporary Senate elections since direct-election began in 1914. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

YOUNG women, CRITICAL theory, BABY boom generation, and ELECTIONS

Critical mass theories predict that women in government will sponsor and vote for more women and feminist bills as their numbers increase. Using Voteview.com data of roll-call votes measuring left–right ideology from 1977 to 2019 this paper shows that ideological divides among women in the U.S. House of Representatives have deepened rather than veered in a liberal direction. Republican women have moved rightward over time and more conservative ones are winning elections. Belonging to a politicized generation, older Silent Generation and Boomer women are more ideologically extreme than younger women. Parties are also elevating their more ideological female members. As their numbers increase, female House members are expected to remain ideologically diverse in a polarized legislative environment. Critical mass theories are deficient in failing to place female political actors in a dynamic workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LEGISLATIVE voting, VOTING, DEMOGRAPHIC characteristics, ELECTIONS, DEMOCRATS (United States), and REPUBLICANS

Why do some members of Congress vote more on the extremes of their party than others? I argue that lawmakers representing more homogeneously white districts have greater electoral incentive to moderate their voting records, since the two parties compete more for support of white voters than for the support of minority voters. I provide evidence using roll-call votes from the U.S. House and Senate. I find members representing more homogeneously white districts have more moderate voting records, a finding that holds for Democrats and Republicans. I explore two potential mechanisms: legislator responsiveness and electoral punishment. While legislators do not seem to adjust their voting behavior in response to short-term changes in district racial composition, more homogeneously white districts are found to assess larger vote share penalties on more extreme candidates in general elections. The findings have implications for our understanding of race, representation, and electoral accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MILITARY life, LIFE partners, MILITARY dependents, DEPLOYMENT (Military strategy), and MILITARY research

The emotional cycle of deployment theorized by Logan and adapted by Pincus, House, Christenson, and Alder is often applied by academics and military support agencies to define, explain, and provide advice on the experiences and possible emotional reactions of military families during phases of deployment. Interviews with army partners showed that spatiotemporal experiences and perspectives are more complex than those afforded by the emotional cycle of deployment. This article argues that applying the concept of liminality uncovers some of this complexity, illuminating the in-between times experienced during deployments that are otherwise hidden. Army partners move through and between deployments and deployment phases haunted by specters of past and future deployments. By disrupting seemingly chronological and discrete spatiotemporal narratives, which often frame research on military families and deployment, this article demonstrates how army partners move through and between deployments and deployment stages negotiating past and future deployments. It shows how they continuously adapt and evolve practices while negotiating interpreted pasts and imagined futures in pursuit of becoming "ideal." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUBSTANCE abuse -- Psychological aspects, PUBLIC health, LIBRARY technical services, NATIONAL health services, CHILD welfare, HEALTH systems agencies, MENTAL illness, FEDERAL government, and ADULTS

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is up for some significant changes, including a long‐awaited reauthorization — in a bill under consideration in Congress. On May 6, Frank Pallone, Jr. (D–NJ) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R–Wash.), chairman and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released proposed legislation that would reauthorize SAMHSA and revamp many of its programs. Markups (voting by the Health Subcommittee) of the bill, the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well‐Being Act of 2022, were scheduled for May. Changes included in the bill include changes to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CONSTITUTIONS and APPORTIONMENT

"The great object of the Constitution was, to give Congress a power to lay taxes, adequate to the exigencies of government; but they were to observe . . . the rule of apportionment, according to the census, when they laid any direct tax.". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DRUG prices, PHARMACY benefit management, PHARMACEUTICAL policy, DRUG laws, and HEALTH care industry

Prescription drug prices in the United States continue to rise with no end in sight. Individuals are foregoing other needs to pay for their medicines while healthcare companies continue to rake in enormous profits. In this Essay, I discuss how Americans can reverse this oppressive drug pricing trend. As both a pharmacist and a member of Congress, I explain why drug prices are so high from a unique perspective, and illuminate what patients and Congress can do to bring prices down and advocate for a better system. After discussing various actors involved with prescription drug pricing, this Essay then focuses on Pharmacy Benefit Managers ("PBMs") as the clandestine menace of the healthcare industry. This Essay utilizes first-hand stories from patients, pharmacists, and doctors to illustrate why PBMs need to be exposed and held accountable. Most importantly, this Essay will provide a legislative framework for making lower drug prices a reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CONGRESSIONAL Review Act, 1996 (U.S.), STATUTES, LEGISLATION, EXECUTIVE-legislative relations, and GOVERNMENT agencies

The Congressional Review Act ("CRA") authorizes fast-track procedures for resolutions disapproving agency rules. The near-universal assumption is that the CRA is relevant only when a new President seeks, with the support of Congress, to cancel regulations promulgated during the previous administration. Yet the CRA has substantially greater unrealized potential. When the agency, the President, and congressional majorities agree on their preferred interpretation of a statute, they can secure formal legislative endorsement of this interpretation through the following two-step maneuver: first, the agency promulgates an interpretive rule that construes the statute to have the opposite of the meaning the agency actually wants--for example, by interpreting a statute to prohibit a regulation that the agency would like to adopt. Next, Congress and the President use the CRA to disapprove that interpretive rule--thus establishing, via a formal exercise of legislative power, that the statute has the meaning the agency rule rejected. This double-negative maneuver would be a lawful way for the Executive and Legislative Branches to clarify, or even to change, statutory law in a manner that bypasses the filibuster and other legislative roadblocks. This Article develops this legal argument and also discusses the practical, political, and normative implications of this novel use of the CRA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HORTICULTURAL crops, OLIVE, SPINACH, CROPS, PEARS, and MALNUTRITION

Biostimulants are agronomic products that have become highly important in agriculture, as they are formulated with substances capable of stimulating physiological and biochemical processes in plants that help them adapt to different detrimental environmental conditions such as drought, salinity, high temperatures, nutritional deficiencies, etc. in such a way that the crops, under these conditions, maintain a good agronomic yield and quality of harvest. Every two years, the International Congress on Biostimulants is held with the aim of publicizing the most innovative and recent advances in every relevant type of product: new active ingredients, modes of action, cultivation protocols, test platforms and phenotyping, use of analytical omics tools, etc. In December 2021, the 5th World Congress on Biostimulants was held in Miami (Florida, USA). This publication summarizes the most relevant results that were presented at this congress, in which biostimulants formulated with algae extracts and amino acids stood out in a number of presentations. The various studies presented were carried out on diverse crops such as apple, blackberry, carrot, celery, cherry, corn, grape (table and wine), olive, pear, pepper, potato, rapeseed, spinach, sunflower, soybean, tomato, and wheat. The future lines of the new generation of biostimulants were also marked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RIGHT of privacy, PRIVACY, CONGRESSIONAL hearings (U.S.), FORUMS, GOVERNMENT corporations, DISCOURSE analysis, and PUBLIC spaces

This study explores how emerging US data privacy regulations are discussed at state and federal levels, examining Twitter discourse around Senate public hearings on data privacy and public forums on the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The recent legal steps reflect growing public outcry over corporate data misuses and lack of appropriate legislation. The findings suggest that the issue public of Twitter users in this study largely considered corporations and the government as untrustworthy actors for privacy legislation. The political distrust was raising doubts over regulatory capture and if a future US federal privacy law will be weaker than state laws (e.g., CCPA) while overriding them. The study explores implications of the findings on the current deadlock over the state preemption clause in developing a comprehensive federal privacy law. I argue that the emerging regulatory efforts on data privacy may not be effective unless the public trust in institutions is regained in the US and that the continuing absence of a federal law amid the political distrust can leave people with limited individual privacy strategies as a result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INCENTIVE (Psychology), SENTIMENT analysis, DIGITAL communications, SOCIAL media, MACHINE learning, and PSYCHOLOGICAL feedback

Does Twitter trigger negative tones in politicians' digital communication? On social media direct feedback mechanisms such as retweets or likes signal to politicians which message and tone are popular. Current research suggests that negative language increases the number of retweets a single tweet receives, indicating preferences for negativity in the audience on Twitter. However, it remains unclear whether politicians adapt to the logic of Twitter or simply follow the rules determined by the broader political context, namely the state of their electoral race. We use sentiment analysis to measure the tone used by 342 candidates in 97,909 tweets in their Twitter campaign in the 2018 midterm elections for the US House of Representatives and map the ideological composition of each politician's Twitter network. We show that the feedback candidates receive creates an incentive to use negativity. The size and direction of the tonal incentive is connected to the ideological composition of the candidate's follower network. Unexpectedly, the platform-specific incentive does not affect the tone used by candidates in their Twitter campaigns. Instead we find that the tone is mainly related to characteristics of the electoral race. We show that our findings are not dependent on our sentiment measurement by validating our results using hand coding and machine learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

QUANTITATIVE research, CHINA-United States relations, LEGISLATION, ACTIVISM, and GOVERNMENTALITY

Through a quantitative analysis of Taiwan–related legislation between 1979 and 2020, the article finds that the degree of Taiwan–related legislation is significantly correlated with the degree of tension in U.S.—China relations. While a deteriorating cross–Taiwan Strait relationship is clearly associated with the increasing legislative activities for the sake of Taiwan, an improving relationship from the state of fair to good cannot guarantee a decrease of such activities. A unified government and the extent of the Taiwan lobby are both helpful in passing pro–Taiwan acts but statistically insignificant. A content analysis of pro–Taiwan bills approved by the Trump administration suggests a creeping movement to "normalize" U.S–Taiwan relations with congressional activism and the less-restrained White House as a co–engine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INDIVIDUAL retirement accounts, EMPLOYEE savings plans, RETIREMENT policies, TAX benefits, PENSIONS, RETIREMENT planning, and TAX credits

Pending legislation would change numerous retirement policies. This column describes what might become law if the Senate bill known as the Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2021 (SECURE Act 2.0) reflects changes approved by the House of Representatives. Potential changes include mandatory autoenrollment, enhanced retirement plan start-up credits for small businesses, enhanced saver’s tax credit benefits, lower required minimum distribution penalties, and Roth options for simplified employer pensions (SEPs) and savings incentive match plans for employees of small employers (SIMPLEs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ENGINEERING, FOOD waste, EMISSIONS (Air pollution), and THICKENING agents

Climate change enhanced the need to decarbonize the food production and supply chain covering food processing, packaging, transport, retailing, and end-of-life disposal. Another solution is using raw materials produced locally or in the surroundings to produce food products, avoiding food transportation in ships, airplanes, or trains from long distances or overseas. Today's way food products are offered to consumers contributes to 30% of the greenhouse emissions (GHE), which is more than 2 tons of CO per person per year in the United States and Europe. [Extracted from the article]

UNITED States legislators, UNITED States Congressional elections, PRIMARIES, and VOTING research

Effective lawmakers are the workhorses of the US Congress, yet we know little about the electoral payoffs of their efforts. Are effective lawmakers better at warding off challengers in the next election? Do they win at a greater rate? To answer these questions, we draw on original data on congressional primary elections from 1980 to 2016, allowing us to focus on elections that lack partisan cues and where voters tend to be highly knowledgeable about politics. We find that incumbents receive an electoral boost in congressional primaries from their legislative work in Congress. Ineffective lawmakers are more likely to face quality challengers, and they lose their primaries at a greater rate than do more effective lawmakers. These differences diminish in the complex informational environment of a primary with multiple challengers. These findings provide important insights into the conditions under which voters hold their elected representatives accountable for their legislative successes and failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JURISDICTION, LEGISLATIVE bodies, LAW enforcement, PETITIONS, LEGISLATIVE committees, and COLONIAL Virginia, ca. 1600-1775

Committee formation in early American legislatures happened when those assemblies were inundated with petitions, a relationship unexamined in institutional political science. We develop a model where a floor creates committees to respond to topic-specific petitions, predicting committee creation when petitions (1) are topically specific, (2) are spread across constituencies, and (3) have complex subject matter, and predicting committee appointments from petition-heavy constituencies. Analysis of case studies and with two original data sets—petitions sent to the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1766 to 1769, and over 100,000 petitions sent to Congress and recorded in the House Journal (1789–1875)—shows that petitions, their complexity, and their geographic dispersion predict committee creation. Our theoretical argument helps reinterpret the entropy of political agendas and the origins of standing committees in American legislatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

REPUBLICANS, CORRUPT practices in elections, STALKING, CONSPIRACY theories, POLITICAL parties, and SCHOOL shootings

UNITED States presidential election, 2020 and FOR-profit universities & colleges

WOMEN legislators, BLACK women, EDUCATIONAL attainment, and LEARNING

Black women have been historically excluded from Congress and the policymaking power available in the institution. This essay shares details about the 52 Black women who have navigated this raced and gendered institution (Hawkesworth 2003) since 1969. We discuss data on these Black congresswomen, including, but not limited to, their educational attainment, occupations prior to serving in Congress, and ties to Black Greek Letter organizations. We argue that this descriptive data will prompt new questions for legislative scholars and open conversations about disciplinary norms and assumptions which may need revision in light of Congress' increasing diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TURKS, TURKISH history, CHAIRS, ELECTIONS, SOCIALISM, and AGRICULTURE

Copyright of Larq Journal for Philosophy, Linguistics & Social Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the extent and patterns of politicisation in the field of military interventions for the USA after the end of the Cold War. The analysis shows that key votes on war and peace in the US Congress are contested to a higher degree than in the European parliaments. It finds that Republican members of Congress (MoC) are in general more supportive of military interventions than Democrats. At the same time, party loyalty towards the president influences the level of support. Furthermore, an original content analysis of congressional debates reveals that MoC use specific argumentative frames in line with partisan ideology. Both parts of the analysis point to the relevance of partisanship and partisan ideology for understanding the politicisation of military interventions policies. Thus, the traditional bipartisan spirit, paradigmatically invoked by US Senator Arthur Vandenberg during the Cold War, has almost vanished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

POLARIZATION (Social sciences), LOBBYING, PRESSURE groups, and VOTING laws

Abstact: The lobbying activity of interest groups has been overlooked as a contributing factor to legislative party polarization in the United States. Using bill-level data from Congress and three state legislatures, I show floor votes on bills lobbied by more non-profit interest groups are more polarized by party. The state legislative data demonstrate the robustness of the relationship between lobbying and polarization, showing it is not an artifact of party agenda control, salience, or bill content. Increased lobbying from these groups in recent years helps explain high levels of partisan polarization in Congress and an uneven pattern across the state legislatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

APPORTIONMENT (Election law), LEGISLATORS, VOTERS, and VOTING

This paper examines state interest in the nine bases of congressional seat apportionment considered for the House of Representatives as part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. We ask, what if voters preferred apportionments that delivered larger vote shares to their state? We then show that among all states, one basis of apportionment was a weak Condorcet winner, while the others were in a vote cycle. In both chambers of Congress, however, pure majority voting created orderings of the nine bases and a different Condorcet winner. Ironically, Congress did not select either Condorcet winner. Instead, a population-based apportionment was reported out of committee and passed both chambers as a consequence of agenda control and lack of pairwise voting. Our analysis provides an example of how agenda setting with incomplete information unintentionally can produce undesirable outcomes for a legislature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WEALTH, PRESSURE groups, and INSURANCE

The interest group theory of government assumes that the state's primary purpose is to facilitate wealth transfers between special interests. The values of the transfers depend on their durability, which can be increased by mechanisms that raise the cost of repealing them. Nonetheless, such mechanisms cannot function perfectly, and, thus, uncertainty surrounding their durability remains. We argue that the uncertainty could be mitigated by an insurance mechanism that compensates interest groups if other durability-enhancing mechanisms fail. To illustrate how such an insurance mechanism works, we rely on the 2014 settlements between the Department of Justice and Bank of America and Citigroup, respectively, which required both banks to donate to housing-counseling organizations whose funding Congress had reduced three years earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Partisan, fractious federalism has strongly shaped the Biden administration's efforts to reverse Trump's undermining of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In June 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Democratic, rather than Republican, state attorneys general to uphold the ACA. This enabled Biden to proceed with legislative and executive initiatives to reinvigorate the program. Biden secured passage of the American Rescue Plan (ARP), which temporarily boosted ACA enrollments. He also successfully pursued several executive initiatives to bolster the program. The victories of Democratic state attorneys general and private litigants in the courts during the Trump presidency often provided the platform for Biden's success. On balance, the ACA's vital signs have improved under Biden. But the durability of these gains depends heavily on whether Congress approves Build Back Better legislation that extends ARP benefits, and whether Biden can overcome resistance by Republican states in the courts and otherwise (especially concerning waivers). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CONGRESSIONAL hearings (U.S.), DELIBERATION, SOCIAL groups, WOMEN legislators, and PARTICIPATION

The rising number of women in Congress changes deliberation. Using committee hearing transcripts from 1995 to 2017, we analyze how the gender composition of committees affects group dynamics in committee hearings. While we find limited evidence that increasing proportions of women affects women's participation, we find that discussion norms within committees change significantly in the presence of more women. Namely, interruptions decrease when there are more women on the committee; with higher proportions of women, men are less likely to interrupt others. Furthermore, committee members are more likely to engage and stay on the same topics in the presence of more women, suggesting a shift in norms toward more in-depth exchange. Overall, our results show that increasing the proportion of women changes discussion dynamics within Congress by shifting norms away from interruptions and one-sided talk in committees, thereby shifting group norms that govern decision-making during an important policy-making stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a model of endogenous network formation to recover unobserved social networks using only observable outcomes. We propose a novel equilibrium concept that allows for a sharp characterization of equilibrium behaviour and that yields a unique prediction under testable conditions. While the equilibrium is characterized by a large number of non-linear equations, we show that it can be efficiently employed to recover the networks by an appropriately designed approximate Bayesian computation method. We apply the model to recover the network of social links between lawmakers in the U.S. Congress using data from the 109th to 113th legislatures. We show that social connections are important for legislators' productivities, and we identify some of the key determinants of network centralities in the U.S. Congress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GOVERNMENT policy on climate change, CLEAN energy, PRESIDENTS, GOVERNMENT agencies, and CLIMATE change mitigation

Copyright of Review of Policy Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

SENTIMENT analysis, PARTISANSHIP, CAMPAIGN issues, POLITICAL candidates, REGRESSION analysis, and ELECTIONS

Objectives: We investigate to what extent partisan political candidates in the United States pay attention to different issues in their campaign communication, and whether they systematically deliver messages using different types of sentiment. Methods: We analyze the 267,538 tweets issued by candidates for the U.S. Congress during the 2018 midterm elections using a combination of latent topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and regression analysis, estimating both issue emphasis and the emotional tone of communications. Results: We find that candidates discussed a small number of distinct issues. Sentiment analysis reveals that the emotions used to convey these topics varied considerably more than interparty emphasis. Moreover, we observe that Democrats and Republicans discussed the same topics in very different ways, with Democrats—the out‐party at the time—proving more negative in their messaging. Conclusions: When partisans discuss those issues their respective parties "own," there are asymmetries in the emotion they use to communicate about these issues. The concept and measurement of issue ownership are complicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the statute of limitations applicable to most federal crimes, 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a), "no person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense, not capital, unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within five years next after such offense shall have been committed." That long-standing, generally uncontroversial procedural statute was thrust into the spotlight in 2020, when courts, prosecutors, and criminal defendants confronted an unprecedented and extraordinary scenario. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many federal district courts suspended grand juries to prevent the spread of the highly contagious life-threatening virus through group congregation. Indeed, to combat the rampant and unabating COVID-19 outbreak in Florida, the District Court for the Southern District of Florida suspended grand juries from March 26, 2020, until November 17, 2020, creating a nearly eight-month period during which prosecutors could not obtain indictments. But, under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, criminal defendants have the right to be prosecuted by indictment. Thus, during the grand jury suspension, the five-year statute of limitations applicable to most federal crimes was expiring on uncharged criminal conduct that ended in 2015 at a time when prosecutors could not comply with the Fifth Amendment. Despite being alerted of this constitutional issue, Congress did not enact legislation giving either the Chief Judge of the United States Supreme Court or the Chief Judges of the United States District Courts authority to suspend statutes of limitations during national emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that affect the functioning of the courts. The combination of that judicial decision to suspend grand juries and that legislative decision not to suspend statutes of limitations posed a pandemic riddle: how can prosecutors comply with both the statutes of limitations and the Fifth Amendment when there are no grand juries? This Article examines the text of 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a), Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a), and 18 U.S.C. §§ 3288 and 3289; the purposes of statutes of limitations and the Fifth Amendment right to prosecution by indictment; and the related legislative history. Based on that examination, this Article suggests that, for most federal crimes, when defendants assert their Fifth Amendment right to prosecution by indictment during a pandemic (or other national emergency) that suspended grand juries and the statute of limitations on their alleged crimes is expiring, prosecutors can uphold that constitutional right and that statutory privilege as well as the public interest in seeing lawbreakers brought to justice by: (1) filing an information to toll the statute of limitations under 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a); (2) dismissing that information without prejudice under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a) if the defendant does not waive his right to prosecution by indictment; and (3) obtaining a timely indictment within six months of the resumption of grand juries under the savings clauses in 18 U.S.C. §§ 3288 and 3289 for re-prosecutions after the dismissal of a timely filed information. This Article concludes that there already is a mechanism in the federal statute of limitations appliable to most federal crimes that allows prosecutors to constitutionally preserve criminal charges when a national emergency prevents grand juries from finding indictments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CIRCUIT courts, ELECTRONIC equipment, BORDER searches, and LAW enforcement agencies

Across the country, circuit courts disagree over what level of suspicion, if any, is required for border officials to search electronic devices. This leaves law enforcement agencies in the lurch because they must craft nationwide policies that cover jurisdictions with differing rules. The Supreme Court should bring this quandary to an end by holding that no reasonable suspicion or warrant is required for border searches of electronic devices. Many scholars and litigants have called for a reasonable suspicion or warrant requirement in light of Supreme Court decisions like Riley and Carpenter that recognize the privacy concerns raised by searches of electronic devices. However, a reasonable suspicion or warrant requirement fails to account for the overwhelming government interests at the US border, including ensuring national security, controlling who and what enters the country, and combatting transnational crime. This Note calls upon the Supreme Court to reject limitations on border searches and hold that no reasonable suspicion or warrant is required for searches of electronic devices at the border. This holding recognizes the government's paramount interests and leaves room for Congress to legislate additional protections as technology evolves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LEGISLATIVE bills, SCHOOL boards, GOVERNORS, HOMEOWNERS insurance, INSURANCE rates, INSURANCE crimes, TORT reform, and ESTATE planning

HOMEOWNERS, COUNTIES, TORT reform, DWELLINGS, BUSINESS enterprises, and HOMEOWNERS' associations

TORT reform, DEADLINES, BUSINESS enterprises, REGULATORY reform, FINANCIAL planning, and MEMORIAL Day

UNITED States senators, VOTING, ELECTIONS, and POLITICAL participation

State senators will vote on the bill on the Senate floor tomorrow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]