articles+ search results

Hate-motivated crime remains problematic in the United States. California passed the first hate crime law in 1978; Congress followed in 1990. States continue to amend their hate crime legislation, producing an amalgam of statutory provisions. This article creates a conceptual framework from which to classify hate crime legislation across the 50 states and Washington, DC. Laws were identified through Westlaw. Analyses compared the types of crimes covered, discrete and insular minorities protected, prosecutorial alternatives, mandates for law enforcement agencies, and additional rights provided to victims among states' legislation. Considerable variation in scope and content of hate crime legislation exists among states, leaving several vulnerable groups unprotected, law enforcement underprepared, and victim rights and resources sparse. Future directions for hate crime policy and legislation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed by the 117th U.S. Congress on August 16, 2022 and signed into law by President Joe Biden. The wide‐ranging Act invests in domestic energy production and manufacturing, funds energy and climate provisions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and contains sweeping healthcare reforms, among other new policies. The IRA contains a myriad of benefits across the energy sector for companies and customers alike. This article describes the financial and environmental benefits of the energy and climate provisions of the Act, with a focus on the impacts to electric utilities, natural gas utilities, and independent power producers (IPPs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTERNATIONAL taxation, LEGISLATIVE committees, and COMPOUND annual growth rate

Chair of the Senate Finance Committee [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JUDICIAL elections, APPELLATE courts, CONSTITUTIONAL courts, PARTISANSHIP, PANEL analysis, and FEDERAL aid

Supreme Court vacancies are now characterized by great partisan efforts to confirm—or impede—the nomination. Amid a politicized vacancy before the 2020 election, there was cause to question the conclusion that these vacancies do not harm the judiciary in the public's eyes. We utilize panel data collected before and after Justice Ginsburg's death to investigate the effects of the vacancy and partisan posturing to fill it. We find that the battle over the vacancy yielded decreases in diffuse support among Democrats, particularly among those who read a story about Senate Republicans' willingness to fill an election-year vacancy after refusing to in 2016. Support for federal judicial elections decreased across survey waves, but only among certain subsets of respondents. Finally, belief that one's preferred 2020 candidate would nominate the next justice significantly influenced support for curbing. Elected branch politics appear capable of influencing the mass public's level of support for the Court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JUDICIAL selection & appointment, JUDICIAL process, CONSERVATISM, CIRCUIT courts, PRACTICAL politics, and UNITED States presidential elections

Significant changes to the federal judicial confirmation process have manifested over the past decade, including multiple procedural reforms in the United States Senate. We argue the "nuclear option," the reduction of the vote-threshold required to proceed to a final confirmation vote on judicial nominees (i.e., to invoke cloture) from three-fifths to a simple majority, contributed to a renewed escalation of partisan confirmation battles on which the Federalist Society capitalized. Pundits and politicians alike show growing concern about the role of interest groups, especially those associated with the conservative legal movement, in judicial nominations. The intersection of these two sets of changes raises questions about the contemporary judicial nominations process. Utilizing a novel dataset of Federalist Society (FedSoc) affiliates drawn from event listings (1993–2020), we analyze the interactive role of FedSoc affiliation with Senate procedural changes to the judicial confirmation process. We find affiliation with the Federalist Society, after the initial nuclear option was implemented, increases the probability of a circuit court nominee's confirmation by approximately 20%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DIAGNOSTIC ultrasonic imaging, TESTIS physiology, and MANAGEMENT by objectives

Objectives: To report the management outcomes of men with ≤20‐mm small testicular masses (STMs) and to identify clinical and histopathological factors associated with malignancy. Patients and methods: A retrospective analysis of men managed at a single centre between January 2010 and December 2020 with a STM ≤20 mm in size was performed. Results: Overall, 307 men with a median (interquartile range [IQR]) age of 36 (30–44) years were included. Of these, 161 (52.4%), 82 (26.7%), 62 (20.2%) and 2 men (0.7%) underwent surveillance with interval ultrasonography (USS), primary excisional testicular biopsy (TBx) or primary radical orchidectomy (RO), or were discharged, respectively. The median (IQR) surveillance duration was 6 (3–18) months. The majority of men who underwent surveillance had lesions <5 mm (59.0%) and no lesion vascularity (67.1%) on USS. Thirty‐three (20.5%) men undergoing surveillance had a TBx based on changes on interval USS or patient choice; seven (21.2%) were found to be malignant. The overall rate of malignancy in the surveillance cohort was 4.3%. The majority of men who underwent primary RO had lesions ≥10 mm (85.5%) and the presence of vascularity (61.7%) on USS. Nineteen men (23.2%) who underwent primary TBx (median lesion size 6 mm) had a malignancy confirmed on biopsy and underwent RO. A total of 88 men (28.7%) underwent RO, and malignancy was confirmed in 73 (83.0%) of them. The overall malignancy rate in the whole STM cohort was 23.8%. Malignant RO specimens had significantly larger lesion sizes (median [IQR] 11 [8–15] mm, vs benign: median [IQR] 8 [5–10] mm; P = 0.04). Conclusions: Small testicular masses can be stratified and managed based on lesion size and USS features. The overall malignancy rate in men with an STM was 23.8% (4.3% in the surveillance group). Surveillance should be considered in lesions <10 mm in size, with a TBx or frozen‐section examination offered prior to RO in order to preserve testicular function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WAR, INTERNATIONAL conflict, DOGS, INTERNATIONAL relations, and WAR (International law)

Research on the constraint President's face in matters of foreign policy is generally of the view that they are largely free to do as they please. Some research however posits that Congressional constrain on the executive is in fact much larger than it is given credit for. Using their research as a jumping off point, I re-examine this matter by asking when the President will seek ex ante Congressional authorization for the use of force. I estimate this potential effect of Congressional constraint on the President by looking at US initiated militarized interstate disputes with at least one fatality. In so doing, it is demonstrated that no Congressional constrain exists in this regard; the President rarely seeks ex ante authorization for the use of force and is therefore not truly constrained in its use. In fact, evidence is brought to bear that if anything the diversionary theory of war initiation may hold water; inflation is shown herein to be negatively linked to ex ante Congressional authorization for the use of force. It seems as though the President is less likely to ask Congress for permission to conduct deadly military operations when inflation is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BIG data, NATURAL language processing, DEMOCRATS (United States), ELECTIONS, and SIGN language

The current paper details a novel quantitative framework leveraging recent advances in AI and Natural Language Processing to quantitatively assess language convergence and accommodation. This new framework is computationally cheap and straightforward to implement. The framework is then applied to a case study of immigration rhetoric in the lead up to the 2016 general election in the USA. Major results from the case study show that (1) Democrats and Republicans exhibited significant language convergence with members of their own parties, (2) President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton converged with Senate Democrats' immigration rhetoric, (3) Democrats accommodated the immigration rhetoric of both President Barack Obama and (candidate) Hillary Clinton, (4) contrary to initial hypotheses, Donald Trump's vitriolic immigration rhetoric did not show signs of language convergence with Republicans in the Senate, and (5) equally surprising, Senate Republicans showed significant non-accommodation to Donald Trump despite potential political costs for having done so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, California passed an extensive data privacy law. One of its most significant features was the inclusion of "inferences drawn" within its definition of "personal information." The law was significantly strengthened in 2020 with the expansion of rights for California consumers, and new obligations on businesses, including the incorporation of GDPRlike principles of data minimization, purpose limitation, storage limitation, and the creation of an independent agency to enforce these laws. In 2022, the Attorney General of California issued an Opinion that provided for an extremely broad interpretation of "inferences drawn." Thereafter, the American Data Privacy Protection Act was introduced in the United States Congress. This law does not provide nearly the protection for inferences that California law does, and this federal bill threatens to preempt almost all of California's data privacy law. This article argues that, given the importance of California being able to finally regulate "inferences drawn," any federal bill must either provide similar protection, exclude California law from preemption, or be opposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Society for Behavioral Medicine (SBM) recommends expanding access to high-speed, high-definition internet and increasing broadband width for rural communities in the USA to increase telehealth opportunities for populations facing geographic barriers to accessing quality healthcare. High-speed telehealth will allow healthcare providers to care for patients in "real time" and will expand access to specialty providers thereby increasing timely follow-up, improving health outcomes, and reducing rural health disparities. Moreover, SBM recommends that the current National Broadband Plan legislation be protected and enhanced to ensure high-quality, but also affordable, internet services in rural areas. Several legislative bills have been put forth but are not fully funded or enacted by individual states. In addition, further mechanisms and supplemental funding are needed to address the continued lack of resources to enhance rural broadband including infrastructure, research, and regulatory reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Tikrit University for The Humanities 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.)

MARITIME boundaries, FILIPINOS, and TREATIES

This article examines how the Philippine-U.S. Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT) between the U.S. and the Philippines became the cornerstone of the two countries' alliance. When the American forces withdrew from their bases in 1992 after the Philippine Senate (by a vote of 12 to 11) rejected the extension of the bases' stay, the MDT has since served as the fallback basis of the Philippine-U.S. security relationship. However, the MDT does not spell out the details of the U.S. commitment to the Philippine defense. The MDT has been the bone of contention during the first and second decades of the new millennium, especially when China started asserting its expansive claims over much of the South China Sea. Eventually, the two allies made the necessary adjustments to transform the MDT from a mere consultative agreement to the sole bedrock of security relations. In conclusion, the article argues that the Philippines and the U.S. were able to maximize the effectiveness and relevance of their alliance by applying the Goldilocks principle—neither too cold, neither too hot—with the U.S. concretizing its security commitments to the Philippines and the two parties committing themselves together in addressing China's maritime expansionism cautiously, reliably, and responsibly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We explored perceptions and preferences regarding the conversion of in-person to virtual conferences as necessitated by travel and in-person meeting restrictions. Methods: A 16-question online survey to assess preferences regarding virtual conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic and future perspectives on this subject was disseminated internationally online between June and August 2020. Findings: A total of 508 responses were received from 73 countries. The largest number of responses came from Italy and the USA. The majority of respondents had already attended a virtual conference (80%) and would like to attend future virtual meetings (97%). The ideal duration of such an event was 2–3 days (42%). The preferred time format was a 2–4-h session (43%). Most respondents also noted that they would like a significant fee reduction and the possibility to attend a conference partly in-person and partly online. Respondents indicated educational sessions as the most valuable sections of virtual meetings. The reported positive factor of the virtual meeting format is the ability to re-watch lectures on demand. On the other hand, the absence of networking and human contact was recognized as a significant loss. In the future, people expressed a preference to attend conferences in person for networking purposes, but only in safer conditions. Conclusions: Respondents appreciated the opportunity to attend the main radiological congresses online and found it a good opportunity to stay updated without having to travel. However, in general, they would prefer these conferences to be structured differently. The lack of networking opportunities was the main reason for preferring an in-person meeting. Key Points: • Respondents appreciated the opportunity to attend the main radiological meetings online, considering it a good opportunity to stay updated without having to travel. • In the future, it is likely for congresses to offer attendance options both in person and online, making them more accessible to a larger audience. • Respondents indicated that networking represents the most valuable advantage of in-person conferences compared to online ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Justice Ginsburg was not usually a doctrinal revolutionary when it came to the fields of administrative law and civil procedure. Her adherence to precedent and careful attention to the proper division of labor among the branches restrained the Justice when confronted with modern doctrines of administrative deference and the creative use of class actions to address nationwide injuries. She also loved black-letter procedure: the strong confines of the Federal Rules, the domains in Congress's control, and the benefits derived from wellhoned, careful doctrinal moves. But sometimes, she met the moment, and took a leap. Whether it was providing regulatory beneficiaries access to the courts or striving to modernize the Court's personal jurisdiction doctrine, a Justice loyal to doctrinal orthodoxies was, every once in a while, someone we might call "the unorthodox RBG.". In administrative law, she was not an early adherent to agency deference in statutory interpretation: The Supreme Court unanimously reversed then-Judge Ginsburg in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. Even as Justice Ginsburg came to align herself with Chevron's proponents, she saw an active role for the courts in safeguarding Congress's power over agencies. Her deference typically paired a belief in the expertise of agencies with a real-world understanding of hard policy problems that she viewed agencies were better able than courts to address. She did not, however, hesitate to question "bureaucratic arrogance" on substance or procedure when agency action hurt groups she cared deeply about. In civil procedure, Justice Ginsburg marked a huge path in the field of personal jurisdiction, where she clarified and redefined the law of general jurisdiction and helped frame a more modern approach to specific jurisdiction. She also loomed large in class actions, always aware of the special power of collective litigation. What links Justice Ginsburg's work in these two areas--class action and jurisdiction--is her effort to confront the challenges the modern national economy poses for the modern procedural landscape. Her juris-diction jurisprudence rose to meet that challenge. Her orthodoxy in the class action context may have proved too strict, however. Her unbending reading of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23's class action requirements helped give rise to today's highly unorthodox forms of aggregate litigation, including multidistrict litigation, with the very pathologies she had hoped; to avoid by adhering to the Rule. Our previous work on "unorthodox" lawmaking, rulemaking, and civil procedure diagnoses legal unorthodoxies as symptoms of broader pressures on the system, not the causes. Not all unorthodoxies are necessarily bad. There is often a tradeoff between action and gridlock, and between stasis and evolution that is captured by the choice between orthodox and unorthodox legal doctrine. And many of today's unorthodoxies, like Chevron was when it was first announced, become tomorrow's black-letter law. We examine how Justice Ginsburg navigated those tensions in two areas of her deep doctrinal expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NANOMECHANICS, SMART structures, HEAT resistant materials, SCIENCE conferences, SMART materials, and SHAPE memory alloys

Smart Manufacturing is specifically designed to help manufacturing executives innovate, empower and re-imagine their businesses for a new era. Metalcasting Congress attracts attendees from across the foundry industry, as well as professionals from other businesses within the manufacturing supply chain. Mar 2-4 2023 Construction Institute Summit Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch, St. Louis, Missouri, USA The theme of the CI Summit is: "Creating Connections - Building our Infrastructure Together.". [Extracted from the article]

DRUGS -- Economic aspects, DRUG laws, INSURANCE companies, HEALTH policy, COST control, PRIVATE sector, HEALTH care reform, PUBLIC sector, COST effectiveness, QUALITY assurance, PHARMACEUTICAL industry, POLICY sciences, and BUDGET

This article compares the pharmaceutical pricing policies employed by public and private insurers in the United States with seven price and spending control strategies employed in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Differences between American and European policies explain why American pharmaceutical prices and per capita spending are higher than in European nations. The article then analyzes two recent bills as examples of significant American reform ideas--H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (introduced in 2019) and the Build Back Better Act (BBBA, introduced in 2021)--and compares them with European cost control strategies. Key drug price provisions of the BBBA were incorporated into the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). H.R. 3 would have used an international (mostly European) price index to cap U.S. prices, the BBBA would cap Medicare prices at a discount from average U.S. market prices. Neither bill would employ the key cost control strategies that European nations do. Both bills would have significantly less impact on prices than legislation that employs European-style cost controls. This article proposes steps that Congress could take in line with European strategies to lower purchase prices and costs for patients. These measures would have to overcome political obstacles that currently stymie reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NEW product development, GENERIC drugs, RANIBIZUMAB, MACULAR degeneration, CORNEAL dystrophies, THERAPEUTICS, and CLINICAL trials

Santen and UBE received FDA approval for Omlonti SP ® sp (Omidenepag Isopropyl Ophthalmic Solution) 0.002% for the reduction of elevated IOP in patients with primary OAG or OHT (September 2022). There were 2 U.S. product approvals, 1 European product approval, and ongoing regulatory review of applications submitted for marketing approval. In this review period, the U.S. Congress reauthorized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) user fees for another 5 years; however, they did not provide a legislative correction for the Genus decision. [Extracted from the article]

FORUMS and COSMETIC dentistry

B February 22-24 b B American Equilibration Society (AES) b Annual Scientific Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA https://aes.clubexpress.com/ B February 23-24 b B American Prosthodontic Society (APS) b Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA https://www.prostho.org/ B February 23-25 b B American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics (AAFP) b Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA https://www.fixedprosthodontics.org/ B March 16-18 b B Academy of Osseointegration (AO) b Annual meeting, Phoenix, AZ, USA https://osseo.org/ B May 3-6 b B Academy of Prosthodontics (AP) b Annual Meeting, Naples, FL, USA https://www.academyofprosthodontics.org/ B June 15-17 b B International Team for Implantology (ITI) b ITI Congress North America, Miami Beach, FL, USA https://events.iti.org/congressnorthamerica/ B June 28-July 1 b B Pacific Coast Society for Prosthodontics (PCSP) b Annual Meeting and Scientific Session, Whistler, BC, Canada https://www.pcsp.org/ B August 9-11 b B American Academy of Esthetic Dentistry (AAED) b Annual Meeting, Kohala Coast, HI, USA https://www.estheticacademy.org/page/AAEDMeetings B October 22-24 b B American Academy of Maxillofacial Prosthetics b Annual Conference, San Diego, CA, USA https://www.maxillofacialprosthetics.org/ B October 25-28 b B American College of Prosthodontics (ACP) b Annual Session, San Diego, CA, USA https://www.prosthodontics.org/ B November 1-4 b B American Academy of Implant Dentistry (AAID) b Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV, USA https://www.aaid.com/Annual Conference/index.html B November 10-11 b B Society for Color and Appearance in Dentistry (SCAD) b Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, USA https://www.scadent.org/. [Extracted from the article]

ISLAMOPHOBIA, XENOPHOBIA, HATE speech, SOCIAL media & politics, and ELECTIONS

In the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, an unprecedented number of American Muslims ran for public office, including the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. This study analyzes the anti-Muslim/anti-immigrant Twitter discourse surrounding Ilhan Omar, one of these two successful candidates. The results identify three categories of accounts that linked Omar to clusters of accounts that shaped the Islamophobia/xenophobic narrative: Influencers, Amplifiers, and Icons. This cadre of accounts played a synergistic and disproportionate role in raising the level of hate speech as a vast network containing a high proportion of apparently inauthentic accounts magnified the messages generated by a handful of provocateurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PARTHENIUM hysterophorus, POLLEN, AIR sampling, ALLERGENS, RIPARIAN areas, and WEEDS

Parthenium hysterophorus (congress grass) is a harmful weed and its pollen grains are important allergens. Due to its minute size and allergenic activity, this particular type of pollen is selected for the study. The aeropalynological survey was conducted for the year 2019 at Chauras Campus, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttarakhand. It is located on the right bank of the Alaknanda river (30°13’35.81”N & 78°48’11.05”E; 560 m amsl). A Rotarod sampler was used for air sampling. The maximum pollen count was observed in July. To evaluate the correlation matrix in R software, correlations (Pearson’s and Spearsman’s) between pollen count and meteorological parameters have been calculated. Back trajectory analysis has also been done using NOAA HYSPLIT MODEL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ALASKA Natives, EYE diseases, DIABETIC retinopathy, ARTIFICIAL intelligence, and MEDICAL care

Estimates of diabetic eye disease in American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) vary over time, region, and methods. This article reports recent prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema (DME) in AI/AN served by the Indian Health Services' (IHS) teleophthalmology program, as identified using ultrawide field imaging (UWFI). This was a retrospective analysis of 2016–2019 clinical data (n = 53,900). UWF images were acquired by certified imagers using a validated protocol, and graded by licensed, certified optometrists supervised by an ophthalmologist. Graders evaluated the extent/severity of retinal lesions in comparison to standard photographs. DR lesions predominantly in any peripheral field were considered "predominantly peripheral lesions" (PPL). The analyses calculated prevalence of any DR, any DME, DR and DME severity, sight-threatening disease, and PPL. Patients averaged 56 years of age with a 68 mmol/mol A1c and 55% had had diabetes for 5+ years. Prevalence of any DR, any DME, and sight-threatening disease was 28.6%, 3.0%, and 3.0%. In patients with mild nonproliferative DR, PPL was seen in 25.3%. PPL suggested a more severe level of DR in 8.7% of patients. DR increased with age. DME decreased with age. Males and patients in the Nashville IHS area had more diabetic eye disease. AI/AN have a high burden of diabetes and its complications. The IHS is resource-constrained, making accurate disease estimates necessary for resource allocation and budget justifications to Congress. These data update the estimates of diabetic eye disease in Indian Country and suggest that UWFI identifies early DR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CHILD patients, HEPATOCELLULAR carcinoma, HEPATIC echinococcosis, SYMPTOMS, LIVER, and HEPATIC veno-occlusive disease

Purpose: The aim of this study was to review the incidence, spectrum and investigation of liver masses presenting to our tertiary liver unit. Methods: A retrospective single-centre cohort study of paediatric patients (age < 16 years) diagnosed with a liver mass who were investigated at a UK paediatric hepatobiliary tertiary referral centre. Data relating to the clinical findings at presentation, source of referral, diagnostic investigations and histopathology findings were recorded and analysed. Results: 107 patients were identified between July 2012 and July 2019 (55 females). 69 (64%) patients had benign liver lesions, whereas the remaining 38 (36%) were found to have malignant masses. The liver lesions were most commonly detected incidentally (33%) with the second most common presentation being with palpable mass (29%). 82 (77%) patients were referred from other hospitals. All patients underwent USS, 74% MRI, 36% CT, 5% CEUS, 1% PET and 5% HIDA scan with 47% ultimately undergoing biopsy. 72% of patients had AFP measured. The most common benign liver masses were haemangioma 33 (48%), hepatic cyst 17 (25%) and FNH 12 (19%). Amongst the malignant lesions, 29 (76%) were hepatoblastoma and 3 (8%) were hepatocellular carcinoma. Conclusions: This large review series demonstrates that just over 1/3 of patients presenting to a paediatric tertiary referral centre with a focal liver lesion had neoplastic liver lesions, despite the published literature commonly stating that 2/3 of paediatric liver masses are malignant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRIMARIES, TRUST, POLITICAL parties, POLITICAL elites, PARTISANSHIP, and LEGISLATIVE voting

When parties decide, do voters listen? We argue that the answer depends on voters' trust in the institutions of American politics. Using both a conjoint experiment and a traditional survey experiment with subjects voting in hypothetical congressional primary elections, we find that respondents from both parties are more likely to support a candidate when that candidate is endorsed by a member of the party or when the candidate has previously served in elected office. However, these findings are conditional on trust and partisanship. For Democrats, we find that support for party-backed candidates erodes among low-trust respondents. Low-trust Democrats are particularly resistant to candidates endorsed by traditional party elites such as Speaker Pelosi, President Obama, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and are less likely to support experienced candidates. While low-trust Republicans are more skeptical of endorsements from traditional party actors like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the most salient attribute for Republicans is an endorsement from President Trump, which significantly boosted support in both studies independent of trust. Our findings support party-centric theories of primaries but suggest that voter distrust in the political system threatens parties' control over their nominations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CALENDAR, NEUTRON scattering, and ORGANOMETALLIC chemistry

26 February-2 March 2023 MC2023-Microscopy Conference Darmstadt, Germany [Info: https://www.microscopy-conference.de/] 5-10 March 2023 APS March Meeting 2023 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA [Info: https://march.aps.org/] 14-17 March 2023 22nd Congress of the French Membrane Group (XXII GEM)-Membranes: Structure, Dynamics and Function Autrans, France [Info: https://workshops.ill.fr/event/320/] 19-23 March 2023 TMS 2023 Annual Meeting & Exhibition San Diego Convention Center & Hilton San Diego Bayfront, San Diego, California, USA [Info: https://www.tms.org/AnnualMeeting/TMS2023] 20-23 March 2023 8th European Conference on Neutron Scattering (ECNS 2023) Garching, Germany [Info: https://indico.frm2.tum.de/event/263/] 20-24 March 2023 ICDD Spring Members Meetings ICDD Headquarters, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA [Info: https://www.icdd.com/events/] 12-15 June 2023 14th International Conference on Biology and Synchrotron Radiation (BSR14) AF Borgen, Lund, Sweden [Info: https://www.bsr14.com/] 25-30 June 2023 Neutron Scattering for a Sustainable Society (Gordon Research Conference) Ventura, California, USA [Info: https://www.grc.org/neutron-scattering-conference/2023/] 23-28 July 2023 Observing Complex Systems in Space and Time with Tailormade X-rays from Next-Generation Sources (Gordon Research Conference) Easton, Massachusetts, USA [Info: https://www.grc.org/x-ray-science-conference/2023/] 22-29 August 2023 26th Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr2023) Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia [Info: https://iucr2023.org/] 4-8 September 2023 25th Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (EuCOMC XXV) Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain [Info: https://www.iucr.org/calendar/calendar-of-events?SQ CALENDAR VIEW=event&SQ CALENDAR EVENT ID=155137&SQ CALENDAR DATE=2023-09-04] *** (All information above as of 3 October 2022) ***. [Extracted from the article]

PRESIDENTS of the United States, INTERGOVERNMENTAL cooperation, and LEGISLATION

Presidents routinely employ Statements of Administration Policy (SAPs) to inform Congress about the executive's thoughts and position on pending legislation. Such statements are used for a variety of purposes, including bill promotion, suggesting changes, issuing veto threats, and addressing perceived threats to traditional powers. While SAPs have been identified as an important vehicle for interbranch communication and a key source of insight into presidential preferences, many questions remain as to how presidents make use of SAPs' full range of potential. Using a novel data set of over 4,600 SAPs across multiple administrations, we explore the content of these interbranch communications to uncover how, when, and why presidents use such statements over time. Ultimately, we demonstrate the many ways that presidential use of SAPs is strategic based on political contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRESIDENTS of the United States, APPOINTMENT to public office, PRESIDENTIAL administrations, MARKOV processes, and SEPARATION of powers

One of the notable features of the most recent presidential administrations has been the increasing prevalence of vacancies in presidentially appointed and Senate‐confirmed positions. This article explains when and how presidents actively take control of those positions once they become vacant. It evaluates its claims with original data on the most important Senate‐confirmed positions during the first year of the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations, with a total of nearly 5,000 quarterly observations of 1,009 administration‐position cases. Estimates from Markov multistate models reveal that presidents use non‐default acting officials more frequently in ideologically opposed agencies, agencies connected to their campaign priorities, and the highest tier of leadership positions. Further, presidents pursue confirmation sparingly, often opting instead to use non‐default acting officials for extended periods of time. These results suggest that presidents have significant discretion over the leadership of the executive establishment that is at odds with our separation of powers system of government and the Senate's constitutional role to provide advice and consent on presidential appointees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRESIDENTS of the United States, POLITICAL opposition, LEGISLATIVE bills, and LEGISLATIVE committees

Who sponsors the president's program when the opposition controls the House presents a puzzle because the president's copartisan members arguably lack agenda‐setting power and the president cannot compel the opposition to consider legislation. Attracting opposition sponsors to their bills is one way presidents hope to enact their agendas when in the minority. Doing so allows the opposition to share or take credit for bills in the president's program. New OMB data about presidents' programs (Kernell et al. 2019) open a window to these dynamics of divided government between the 97th (1981–82) and 109th (2005–6) Congress. In contrast to the near monopolization of program bills by presidents' copartisans when they are in control, these data demonstrate that opposition members sponsor most bills in presidents' programs when the opposition is in the majority. Opposition members with committee and subcommittee chair status, long tenure, and high legislative effectiveness scores (Volden and Wiseman 2014) are especially likely to sponsor presidents' program bills when the opposition controls the House. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRESIDENTS of the United States, AMERICAN letters, and NEWSPAPERS

When he delivered his first annual message in 1801, Thomas Jefferson departed from prior presidential practice and delivered the message to Congress in writing rather than as a speech. Scholars have differed over the meaning and significance of his action. This article examines new historical evidence on the question. The evidence is a commentary in Jefferson's presidential newspaper that explained the reasons for his action; a letter Jefferson wrote explaining his action; and commentaries on the action from Federalist Party opposition newspapers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CONFERENCES & conventions, GASTROENTEROLOGY, PARTICIPATION, and ANNIVERSARIES

The X Anniversary Latvian Gastroenterology Congress with International Participation has been held for the first time for a two-day period (3–4 December, 2021). The first day was devoted to international and local satellite symposia, with a total number of ten, which corresponded to the number of Congresses held. The second day of the Congress was devoted to the plenary session. Due to the severe COVID-19 epidemiology situation in Latvia, for the first time in its history since 2003, it was decided to hold the Congress not in person but remotely from the Rīga Stradiņš University Great Hall stage, with live video broadcasting. Despite the fact that the Congress was virtual, the two days attracted a significant number of participants — 753 registered colleagues. The invited guests included foreign lecturers from the United States, Israel, Germany, Croatia, UK, Italy, and other countries and the discussion panel was led by field leaders from around the world. We continued our tradition of preparing published reports of the congress in a special issue of Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, Section B, in collaboration with the Latvian Academy of Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BISHOPS, RELIGIOUS leaders, PUBLIC support, CLERGY, AFRICAN Americans, and TWENTY-first century

This article examines reparations advocacy by a vanguard of African American faith leader proponents, from Bishop Henry McNeil Turner's late-19th century demands for federal payments toward emigrationism and Black Atlantic linkages, to 21st century Black clergy involvements in national level, local level, and sector-specific reparations policy activism. Attention is paid to evolving theoretical and operational framings of this reparations advocacy and to variances in levels of American religious and political receptivity to reparations proposals. The conclusion drawn from available evidence here is that reparations advocacy by Black religious leaders has proven more pragmatic than purist, as concerns increasingly have shifted toward maximizing public support and prospects for reparations deliverables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ORAL drug administration, TREATMENT effectiveness, MULTIPLE sclerosis, LEGAL evidence, and DATA quality

Copyright of Remedia is the property of Medical Tribune CZ, s.r.o. 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.)

DELPHI method, CANCER survivors, BREAST cancer, COGNITIVE development, and COGNITION disorders

Objective: Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) is a well-known phenomenon among breast cancer survivors. Cognitive impairment among breast cancer survivors can significantly affect their quality of life and ability to function independently. However, there is a lack of specific and focused cognitive intervention to improve their cognitive performances. This study aimed to develop a tailored cognitive intervention framework module by adapting the attention and memory interventions from the Cognitive Rehabilitation Manual of the Brain Injury Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group (BI-SIG) of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) and incorporating them with the relevant exercises for cognitive rehabilitation for Malaysian breast cancer survivors with CRCI based on the consensus agreement of the expert panel. Methods and analysis: The Delphi consensus technique was conducted online to review and evaluate the framework module. A panel of experts, including rehabilitation medicine physicians, occupational therapists, and clinical psychologists in Malaysia, was invited to participate in this study. For each round, the expert consensus was defined as more than 90% of the expert panel agreeing or strongly agreeing with the proposed items. Results: A total of 33 practitioners completed the three Delphi rounds. 72.7% of the expert panel have been practising in their relevant clinical fields for more than six years (M = 10.67, SD = 5.68). In Round 1, 23% of the experts suggested that the framework module for attention training required further improvements, specifically in the language (M = 1.97, SD = 0.75) and instructions (M = 2.03, SD = 0.71) provided. In Round 2, 15% of the experts recommended additional changes in the instruction (M = 2.15, SD = 0.67) for attention training. Amendments made to the framework module in line with the recommendations provided by the experts resulted in a higher level of consensus, as 94% to 100% of the experts in Round 3 concluded the framework module was suitable and comprehensive for our breast cancer survivors. Following the key results, the objectives were practical, and the proposed approaches, strategies, and techniques for attention and memory training were feasible. The clarity of the instructions, procedures, verbatim transcripts, and timeframe further enhanced the efficacy and utility of the framework module. Conclusions: This study found out that the cognitive intervention framework module for breast cancer survivors with cognitive impairment following chemotherapy can be successfully developed and feasible to be implemented using Delphi technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ELECTIONS, REFERENDUM, RACE, QUALITY assurance, and DATA quality

We describe the creation and quality assurance of a dataset containing nearly all available precinct-level election results from the 2016, 2018, and 2020 American elections. Precincts are the smallest level of election administration, and election results at this granularity are needed to address many important questions. However, election results are individually reported by each state with little standardization or data quality assurance. We have collected, cleaned, and standardized precinct-level election results from every available race above the very local level in almost every state across the last three national election years. Our data include nearly every candidate for president, US Congress, governor, or state legislator, and hundreds of thousands of precinct-level results for judicial races, other statewide races, and even local races and ballot initiatives. In this article we describe the process of finding this information and standardizing it. Then we aggregate the precinct-level results up to geographies that have official totals, and show that our totals never differ from the official nationwide data by more than 0.457%. Measurement(s) Election results Technology Type(s) Scripts for collection, cleaning, and quality assurance [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INCUMBENCY (Public officers), ELECTIONS, and UNITED States history

Throughout American history some members of Congress are beset with the unfortunate predicament of facing a fellow incumbent in their bids for reelection. One culprit is responsible for these atypical contests: redistricting. Using district and sub-district level data, this research note provides the first systematic coverage of all dueling incumbent general election U.S. House races from 1843 to 2018. We chronicle and analyze when we expect to see dueling incumbent races, the ability of parties to target out-party incumbents, and the electoral value of previously represented constituents for incumbents in reconfigured districts. Although incumbent duels are uncommon, they comprise a substantial number of incumbent general election defeats in contests following redistricting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MICROBLOGS, OFFENSIVE behavior, NATURAL language processing, and POLITICAL opposition

Civility in political discourse is often thought to be necessary for deliberation and a healthy democracy. However, incivility is on the rise in political discourse in the United States—even from members of Congress—suggesting that political incivility may in fact be a tool to be used strategically. When and why, then, do members of Congress use incivility in their rhetoric? We develop and test expectations for the usage of political incivility by members of Congress on Twitter, using every tweet sent by a member of Congress from 2009–2020 coded for the presence of uncivil rhetoric via a novel application of transformer models for natural language processing. We find that more ideologically extreme members, those in safer electoral situations, and those who are in a position of political opposition are more likely to use incivility in their tweets, and that uncivil tweets increase engagement with members' messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LEGISLATIVE voting, CONSUMER preferences, SELF-perception, and ELECTIONS

For years, countless scholars have posited the role of constituency and party pressure on legislators' roll call voting records. Indeed, though popular estimates of legislators' preferences often come from roll call data (e.g., DW-NOMINATE scores), most scholars are careful to note that these are not necessarily measures of ideology per se but rather of legislators' revealed preferences—that is, they reflect both legislators' ideological commitments as well as the influence of party and constituency. In this paper, we offer fairly robust evidence that existing measures of legislator behavior may be closer to their preferences than once thought. Using a novel survey of former members of the House of Representatives, we leverage the severing of the electoral connection and lack of institutional party pressure to show that legislators' preferences as measured by existing methods closely mirror their own perceptions of themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SOCIAL media, MICROBLOGS, COLLECTIVE representation, SOCIAL policy, RHETORIC, and POLITICAL agenda

For the past decade, members of both the House and Senate have increasingly used Twitter to curate a political agenda, but some are better equipped to drive digital policy conversations—even on a public platform with few constraints, low costs, and outsized user discretion. This research note explores the variable digital representation between congressional chambers, using tweets from the 115th Congress to illustrate asymmetric patterns in lawmakers' rhetorical agendas on Twitter and the role of policy for self-presentation. Senators tweet more frequently, more often about policy, and represent a more diverse agenda on the platform. In this note, we suggest senators' additional resources and incentives for policy expertise shape important differences in digital engagement, illustrating the prevailing importance of institutional nuance for understanding how lawmakers use Twitter to frame their political reputations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ATMOSPHERIC sciences, METEOROLOGICAL charts, and FOUNDING Fathers of the United States

Keywords: History EN History 827 833 7 12/12/22 20221101 NES 221101 In discussing the early history of the National Weather Service (NWS) and its predecessor agencies, [24] make several critical errors and confound the historical record surrounding Cleveland Abbe, one of the key figures in the history of the nation's weather service. In August 1888, for example, Abbe responded to a letter from journalist and meteorological kite experimenter William A. Eddy, who wrote to Abbe to fact-check an article he had written about the history of the weather service. Cleveland Abbe Papers, General Correspondence, 1850 - 1916, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Box 8. 2 Abbe, C., 1892: The modern weather bureau. In his letter, [11] erroneously suggested that Abbe had approached Chief Signal Officer Gen. Albert J. Myer prior to the creation of the service "with a proposition to include weather reports with information forwarded from signal stations" and that the weather service had been organized by Abbe. [Extracted from the article]

PARTISANSHIP, FREE trade, ECONOMIC shock, INTERNATIONAL trade disputes, PRESIDENTIAL administrations, DATA release, and IMPORTS

Emerging literature shows that rising import exposure resulting from the China shock devastated U.S. manufacturing and contributed to the rise of Donald Trump. However, several studies found that these recent localized economic shocks did not negatively impact the tenure of incumbent politicians, and this outcome remains a puzzle. In this paper, we examine the partisan difference in congressional communication strategies on China and trade‐related issues. We propose a theory of China‐bashing to explain how members of Congress frame the negative impacts of trade to their voters. Using press release data from members of Congress, we show that, even though Chinese import competition impacted both Republican‐ and Democrat‐held districts, Republican politicians in adversely affected districts responded by increasing their anti‐China rhetoric, while there was no similar difference among Democrats. At the same time, there was no difference between Republican and Democratic messaging on general trade issues. In doing so, Republican legislators were able to support trade liberalization during the Bush and Obama administrations while blaming its negative externalities to their constituents on China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of ESPOCH Congresses: The Ecuadorian Journal of S.T.E.A.M. is the property of Knowledge E DMCC 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.)

TRUST, STATE power, DISCRETION, GUBERNATORIAL elections, STATE governments, POLITICAL parties, and INCUMBENCY (Public officers)

The Indian Constitution obligates the Governors to act with the aid and advise of their Council of Ministers except in those matters where discretionary powers have been explicitly conferred upon them. Despite the absence of an explicit power to order a state government to face a floor test before the House, Governors have been using their discretion to make such directions. While defining the ambit of this discretion, several Inter-State Council reports and judicial pronouncements have assented to this practice. This paper argues against this trend and asserts that the process of summoning the assembly for a "floor test" must be driven by the choice of elected legislators rather than the Governors' subjective satisfaction. Towards this end, this paper proposes a four-level formula, with certain rights for the opposition parties, which must be followed by the Governors when the confidence of the House in the incumbent government is questioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ARCHAEOLOGY, ENGINEERING, PROTECTION of cultural property, PANORAMIC photography, and COPPER mining

The remaining articles are essentially personal reminiscences, mainly by former HAER employees, of their contributions to its projects, accompanied by fascinating examples of their recording work. In 1969, the United States' National Park Service, Library of Congress and the American Society of Civil Engineers collaborated to create the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), operating in parallel with the existing Historic American Buildings Survey. This bumper double issue of the SIA's Journal presents 11 very different articles that explore and celebrate the achievements of the HAER's first half-century. [Extracted from the article]

IMPERIALISM, UNITED States presidential elections, VOTING laws, and WAR on Terrorism, 2001-2009

Then, the theme reappears in the Obama chapters: 'for a president who saw his role as healing the nation after eight very turbulent years, Obama turned out to be a most controversial president' (p. 77). This theme disappears from the Bush section for logical reasons: during these years, the Democratic party supported the Bush administration and voted for its legislation in Congress, both foreign and domestic. In I Agonies of empire i , Michael Cox re-examines his past writings on post-Cold War US foreign policy, adding new analysis and insights. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Istoricheskii Zhurnal. Nauchnye Issledovaniya is the property of NB-Media Ltd. 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.)

RACE, DEMOCRATS (United States), POLITICAL affiliation, ELECTIONS, and ELECTION Day

Previous literature suggests that Democratic candidates of color receive less support than white Democrats on Election Day. It has been suggested that this reduced support is due to voters' ideological perceptions of people of color being more liberal than whites, which translates into perceptions of candidates. However, these studies are frequently limited to white voters' perceptions of Democratic candidates of color, and the full relationship linking race/ethnicity, to ideological placement, to vote choice has rarely been tested. In the current study, we examine how both the race/ethnicity and party affiliation of Senate candidates shape perceptions of their ideology and vote choice among people of all race and ethnicities. Using the 2006–2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we find support for our hypothesis that Black Democrats are generally perceived as more liberal than white Democrats. These perceptions have real consequences, resulting in fewer votes. Conversely, Black Republican candidates are perceived to be just as conservative—and Hispanic Republicans even more conservative—than white Republican candidates. Findings suggest that the link between race/ethnicity, perceptions of ideology, and electoral success vary according to the race/ethnicity and party of candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AMERICAN law, WIND power, NICKEL mines & mining, CLIMATE change, BATTERY storage plants, GREENHOUSE gas mitigation, GOVERNMENT policy, POWER plants, and NATURAL resources

The larger problem, obviously, is that the US Congress has been unable for years to pass major environmental legislation, much less greenhouse gas reduction legislation. In early 2021, with Joe Biden recently having been inaugurated as president of the United States, I wrote an editorial asking whether the US could be a dependable long-term partner when it comes to addressing climate change.[1] In the editorial I posed a fundamental question: '[C]an the world's climate change leaders depend on the US to re-engage as a long-term good faith partner rather than being subject to the impulses of an American president who does not believe in climate change?. [Extracted from the article]

COMPUTATIONAL linguistics, WOMEN legislators, SENTIMENT analysis, GENDER, CAMPAIGN issues, ELECTIONS, and INTELLIGIBILITY of speech

We explore how gendered language in Senate floor debates evolves between the 101st and 109th sessions (N=229,526 speeches). We hypothesize that female Senators speak like women in the general population, that their speeches focus on traditionally designated women's issues, and that they use female linguistic strategies found in the general population when discussing low politics or women's issues. We also expect women to speak like legislators, adopting more male linguistic approaches for high politics issues or in election year speeches and for female senators to use more male linguistics as time served in the Senate increases. Using a suite of computational linguistics approaches such as topic modeling (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), syntax and semantic analysis (Coh-Metrix), and sentiment analysis (LIWC), our analyses highlight the distinct roles of women speaking for women (e.g. promoting issues like education or healthcare), women speaking like women (e.g. using personal pronouns), and women speaking as Senators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CIVIL rights, MODERATES (Political science), and BLACK rights

The authors argue the Republican Party generally and congressional Republicans in particular were instrumental in advancing civil rights early in the period, and that their retreat from these issues in the late 1800s and early 1900s allowed new (or renewed) abuses of Black citizens to take root. First, it provides an accessible catalog of important reconstruction and civil rights legislation passed in the period from the start of the Civil War through the First World War. As the authors note, this allows us to imagine some of the "what ifs" or counterfactuals in the story of civil rights in the United States (p. 311). [Extracted from the article]

PRESSURE groups, LOBBYING, CIVIL rights organizations, VOTING Rights Act of 1965 (U.S.), CULTURAL pluralism, BLACK rights, and HISPANIC Americans

Minta takes a systematic and multi-pronged approach to his analysis, beginning with an historical account of the congressional advocacy activity of Black and Latino civil rights organizations. Minta's innovative book offers a nuanced rebuttal to this account, making a persuasive case that long-standing civil rights groups still provide valuable and effective representation within the U.S. Congress, if only one knows where to look. Committees with a higher percentage of Black and Latino members also provide greater opportunities for civil rights organizations to provide testify about issues and legislation prioritized by Black and Latino Americans. [Extracted from the article]

REPUTATION and LEGISLATORS

McNally considers these classifications to be important because members of Congress are motivated by reelection, and it would be less risky for them to develop a reputation as an advocate for a deserving disadvantaged group compared to less deserving groups. In chapters 4 and 5, McNally considers which members of Congress are most likely to develop a reputation for being an advocate of a disadvantaged group. [Extracted from the article]