Showing 1401 - 1410 of 5831 Items
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Clara Jergins
Access: Open access
- Immigration justice advocates and immigration restrictionists alike are unhappy with the way that the U.S. asylum system functions. This project seeks to develop a better understanding of policy changes and the politicized influence of the president and executive authorities over the asylum system since 9/11—in particular, these individuals’ ability to implement their policy preferences through the hiring and instruction of Asylum Officers and Immigration Judges. Through case studies of nonprofit organizations, it identifies the key points in the asylum process where asylum has been restricted, and the ways in which these restrictions can be responded to. On the basis of these factors, this project identifies four key changes, made by Congress, through which the asylum system could be improved: the establishment of an Article I immigration court, encoded testimonial and credibility standards, universal representation, and an end to asylum seeker detention. These changes are asserted to depoliticize the asylum process and to create a stable asylum system in which those that should qualify for asylum do qualify.
Date: 2017-05-01
Creator: Dominick Sanchez
Access: Open access
- Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is often used for optimization problems due to its speed and relative simplicity. Unfortunately, like many optimization algorithms, PSO may potentially converge too early on local optima. Using multiple neighborhoods alleviates this problem to a certain extent, although premature convergence is still a concern. Using dynamic topologies, as opposed to static neighborhoods, can encourage exploration of the search space at the cost of exploitation. We propose a new version of PSO, Dynamic-Static PSO (DS-PSO) that assigns multiple neighborhoods to each particle. By using both dynamic and static topologies, DS-PSO encourages exploration, while also exploiting existing knowledge about the search space. While DS-PSO does not outperform other PSO variants on all benchmark functions we tested, its performance on several functions is substantially better than other variants.
Date: 2005-09-02
Creator: Anne E. McBride, Jeffrey T. Cook, Elizabeth A. Stemmler, Kate L. Rutledge, Kelly A., McGrath, Jeffrey A. Rubens
Access: Open access
- Arginine methylation can affect both nucleocytoplasmic transport and protein-protein interactions of RNA-binding proteins. These effects are seen in cells that lack the yeast hnRNP methyltransferase (HMT1), raising the question of whether effects on specific proteins are direct or indirect. The presence of multiple arginines in individual methylated proteins also raises the question of whether overall methylation or methylation of a subset of arginines affects protein function. We have used the yeast mRNA-binding protein Npl3 to address these questions in vivo. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization Fourier transform mass spectrometry was used to identify 17 methylated arginines in Npl3 purified from yeast: whereas 10 Arg-Gly-Gly (RGG) tripeptides were exclusively dimethylated, variable levels off methylation were found for 5 RGG and 2 RG motif arginines. We constructed a set of Npl3 proteins in which subsets of the RGG arginines were mutated to lysine. Expression of these mutant proteins as the sole form of Npl3 specifically affected growth of a strain that requires Hmtl. Although decreased growth generally correlated with increased numbers of Arg-to-Lys mutations, lysine substitutions in the N terminus of the RGG domain showed more severe effects. Npl3 with all 15 RGG arginines mutated to lysine exited the nucleus independent of Hmtl, indicating a direct effect of methylation on Npl3 transport. These mutations also resulted in a decreased, methylation-independent interaction of Npl3 with transcription elongation factor Tho2 and inhibited Npl3 self-association. These results support a model in which arginine methylation facilitates Npl3 export directly by weakening contacts with nuclear proteins. © 2005 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: S. Maria Garcia
Access: Open access
- Non-native species foundation species can alter ecosystems in both positive and negative ways. The creation of habitat can be beneficial to native species when they provide a limiting resource or in a stressful environment. Yet this creation of habitat can also be detrimental by replacing native species and/or facilitating the presence of more non-native species. In Willapa Bay, WA, a non-native foundation species, Zostera japonica, co-exists with the native foundation species Zostera marina. Zostera japonica persists at the higher intertidal in monocultures, the two species overlap in the mid intertidal, and Z. marina persists in monocultures in the low intertidal. Epifaunal invertebrates, the organisms that live on eelgrass blades, connect eelgrass to higher trophic levels. Through a series of transplants and removals, I used this zonation pattern to ask if the two species can fulfill a similar functional role in respect to epifaunal invertebrates (functional redundancy), and if this was due to the identity of the foundation species or a response to the stress gradient of the intertidal. My results suggest that the epifaunal invertebrate community is responding more to the physiological stress gradient, and the functional redundancy of the two species depends on the location they are found. Z. japonica is expanding the range of vegetated habitat into to the physiologically stressful high zone, which supports a different community. This experiment highlights that the impacts of non- native species are highly localized and that abiotic and biotic factors are important to trophic interactions.
Date: 2009-04-29
Creator: Thomas 'Tom' D Gallagher
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Thomas D. Gallagher was born on September 6, 1954, in Redfield, South Dakota, to Ray and Theresa Gallagher. His father was a lawyer and was active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars, serving as its national commander in 1969-1970. Tom attended the University of South Dakota and later received a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard University. He moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the Congressional Research Service from 1978-1980. He became a staff member of the Senate Budget Committee when Senator Muskie was its chairman. He started working for Senator Mitchell in early 1981 as a legislative assistant on the Finance Committee, where he remained for about four years. He then took a job at the International Trade Commission. At the time of this interview, he was senior managing director of International Strategy and Investment.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Gallagher’s father’s involvement in the Veterans of Foreign Wars and how this spurred Gallagher’s interest in public affairs; the path Gallagher took to Washington, D.C.; working for the Congressional Research Service; working on the Senate Budget Committee staff for Senator Muskie; John McEvoy’s recommendation of Gallagher to work for Mitchell; Finance Committee issues; the political considerations between Budget and Finance; Mitchell’s working relationship with Gallagher and other staff; working on a bill on alternative energy tax credits; working with state staff to learn Maine issues; Mitchell’s relationship with Senator Dole; the fate of Democrats in the 1980 election; an anecdote about Mitchell being kicked out of a Delta Air Lines lounge and the company’s subsequent apology; Mitchell’s judge-like demeanor; the 1982 U.S. Senate campaign and election; the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, and the Foreign Investment and Real Property Tax Act of 1980; Senator Long as a mentor to Mitchell; Social Security reform; the looming need for Tax Reform; Reagan’s economic policies; the partisanship of Senate staffers; the difference between being part of a committee staff or member staff; “psychic remuneration”; how Mitchell positioned himself to become part of the Senate leadership; and the skills that Mitchell has that have contributed to his success.
Date: 2009-04-22
Creator: David T Flanagan
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
David T. Flanagan was born in Bangor, Maine on June 39, 1947. He grew up in Bangor, Hampden, and then Portland, where he attended Deering High School. He was the eldest of eight children. His mother, Constance Flanagan, was a registered nurse, and his father, Thomas Flanagan, was an insurance claims adjustor for the USF&G Company. David attended Harvard University, where he studied history and government, and then went on to the University of London, Kings College, earned a master’s degree, and returned to Boston College Law School on a scholarship. He worked on the congressional campaign of Peter Kyros, Sr., and did some political work for Elmer Violette and Governor Ken Curtis. He ran as an Independent candidate for governor of Maine in 2002. For many years, he served as president and CEO of Central Maine Power. He has also been chairman of the American University in Bulgaria and general counsel to the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee’s investigation of Hurricane Katrina. At the time of this interview, he was a member of a task force to investigate restructuring of the University of Maine System. As of 2010, he is chairman of the Board of Visitors for the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: interests while in high school; growing up in Portland; Harvard University and work-study jobs; King’s College School of Economics and traveling to Moscow and Leningrad; Boston College School of Law; working in the Maine legislature; working for Governor Brennan; working as the attorney for the Maine Bureau of Public Lands; securing the Maine public lands from the timber industry in a lawsuit; working as the attorney general for Maine Department of Conservation; Peter Kyros, Jr.; John O’Leary; Brennan’s working style; the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act; Mitchell’s rise to leadership in the Senate; Central Maine Power’s role in Maine politics; the American University in Bulgaria; and the Senate investigation of Hurricane Katrina.
Date: 2010-01-21
Creator: Ellyn 'Lyn' C Ballou
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Ellyn “Lyn” Clemmer Ballou was born in Patterson, New Jersey, on December 8, 1944, to Hazel Hendrickson and John Gerhard Clemmer, Jr. Her father worked for the Philadelphia Electric Company and her mother was a homemaker. Lyn attended Middlebury College, studying languages. She and her husband moved to Maine so he could go to the University of Maine School of Law. She worked at the law firm Pierce Atwood while he attended school, and she worked for Joe Brennan in the District Attorney’s Office, where she met George Mitchell. She later earned her law degree, clerked for Sidney Wernick, and practiced law for several years. At the time of this interview she was teaching French in Topsham, Maine.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Ballou’s family background and the Quaker tradition; her interests and inspirations in high school; Middlebury; time abroad in France; meeting and marrying her husband, Peter; working at Pierce Atwood; Cumberland County District Attorney’s office; Joe Brennan; Arthur Stilphen; going back to law school; female lawyers; Murray, Plumb & Murray; her transition to teaching French; and George Mitchell scholars and the Mitchell Institute.
Date: 2009-06-20
Creator: Michael 'Mike' Aube
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Michael “Mike” Aube was born on July 17, 1950, in Biddeford, Maine, and grew up in the Biddeford-Saco area in a Franco-American bilingual family. His mother worked as a clerk/cashier at a grocery store; his father was an electrical worker for a small electrical contractor in Saco, then began his own small electrical contracting business. Mike attended Boston College from 1968-1972, majoring in history and education. Although he became a certified teacher, he entered the realm of government and politics, working for George McGovern in 1972, and in 1973 becoming president of Maine Young Democrats. He served on Maine’s Democratic State Committee and worked for George Mitchell. Between 1975-1980, he went to Washington, DC, to work for the Senate Budget Committee (Muskie was chairman of the committee) as a researcher and was then promoted to director of special projects in Maine. He stayed in Washington until 1981 as Senator George Mitchell’s executive assistant. He has worked with the Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce, with jurisdiction over Maine, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. At the time of this interview he was Maine state director for USDA Rural Development.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Aube’s work for the Economic Development Administration, USDA Rural Development; mayor of Bangor; the 1972 McGovern campaign; Mitchell as Democratic National Committeeman; Aube’s involvement in the Maine Young Democrats and working for Mitchell during the 1974 gubernatorial race; the 1973 Maine Public Power referenda; an anecdote about Mitchell being a light sleeper; an anecdote about retrieving the discarded campaign literature to reuse; factors that contributed to Mitchell’s loss in 1974; visiting the Mitchell family; the 1976 Muskie reelection campaign; Mitchell’s appointment to the Senate; the transition to Mitchell in the Senate office; an anecdote about how initially no one knew who Senator Mitchell was; Senator Mitchell saying he needed to become majority leader so that he could control the schedule; staffing the Environment and Public Works Committee and working on economic and community development issues; working as Mitchell’s executive assistant; Aube’s decision to leave Washington, D.C.; Aube’s decision to become a Republican; how Mitchell helped Aube’s daughter with an application to the Disney Corporation; and an anecdote about campaigning at Bowdoin College in 1974 when Mitchell recited the starting line-up of the Red Sox and their batting averages to earn a vote.
Date: 2009-12-07
Creator: Jason S Grumet
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Jason S. Grumet was born February 25, 1967, in Rochester, New York, to Gerald and Madeleine Grumet. After high school, he spent a year traveling North America through a program with the National Audubon Society Expedition Institute. He received an environmental studies degree from Brown University and then worked for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. He attended Harvard Law School and ran an organization that worked for the Northeast State Air Pollution Control officials. At the time of this interview, he was president of the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Mitchell and the Clean Air Act of 1990; Mitchell and the National Commission on Energy Policy; the Clinton Global Initiative; purpose of the National Commission on Energy Policy; bipartisanship; how Senators Mitchell, Daschle, Dole, and Baker interacted on the bipartisan health care commission; how the challenges with Clinton health care influenced the commission; reaction to the report from the commission; Chris Jennings and Mark McClellan; working with the law firms of former senators; lack of bipartisan energy on health care; the Obama administration’s role; how the projects are organized; Senator Mitchell and bipartisan leadership; and Mitchell’s legacy.
Date: 2009-04-13
Creator: William 'Bill' E Frenzel
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
William E. “Bill” Frenzel was born July 31, 1928, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended Saint Paul Academy and received a B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1950 and an M.A. in 1951. He served as a lieutenant in the Navy from 1951 to 1954 during the Korean War. He served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1962 to 1970, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota’s Third District. He held that office from 1971 until he retired in 1991; he served on the House Budget Committee and the Ways and Means Committee during his tenure. He also served as a Congressional Representative to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) for fifteen years. Since retiring from the House, Frenzel was president of the Ripon Society until 2004, a guest scholar of the Brookings Institute and, in 1997, was named director of the Brookings Governmental Affairs Institute. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed him to the bipartisan President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security and, in 2002, to chair the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations. He currently chairs the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, is the vice chairman of the Eurasia Foundation, chairman of the Japan-America Society, chairman of the U.S. Steering Committee of the Transatlantic Policy Network, co-chairman of the Center for Strategic Tax Reform, co-chairman of the Bretton Woods Committee, co-chairman of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Tax and Investment Center, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: first impressions of Senator Mitchell; the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 negotiations, major players, and Mitchell’s role and its eventual passage; the reasoning behind going to Andrews Air Force Base budget summit; spending caps and PAYGO; “read my lips” and the 1992 presidential campaign; Mitchell’s personality and characteristics as a senator; Senators Baker and Dole in comparison to Mitchell; Tom Foley, Barber Conable, and Bob Michel as Frenzel’s role models in the House of Representatives; changes in relationships between congressional members, partisanship, and the effect on Congress; Frenzel’s decision to retire from the House; term limits; Frenzel’s hopes and fears in terms of the U.S. budget; the Reagan deficit; Gramm-Rudman Act; Republicans in Congress and President Clinton; GATT; free trade, NAFTA, and how some states’ concerns, like Maine’s, are involved; the filibuster; how Frenzel relates to other legislators like George Mitchell as a Republican to a Democrat; and the two parties in the U.S. today.