Electoral Manipulation and Regime Support

ABSTRACT Does electoral fraud stabilize authoritarian rule or undermine it? The answer to this question rests in part on how voters evaluate regime candidates who engage in fraud. Using a survey experiment conducted after the 2016 elections in Russia, the authors find that voters withdraw their support from ruling party candidates who commit electoral fraud. This effect is especially large among strong supporters of the regime. Core regime supporters are more likely to have ex ante beliefs that elections are free and fair. Revealing that fraud has occurred significantly reduces their propensity to support the regime. The authors’ findings illustrate that fraud is costly for autocrats not just because it may ignite protest, but also because it can undermine the regime’s core base of electoral support. Because many of its strongest supporters expect free and fair elections, the regime has strong incentives to conceal or otherwise limit its use of electoral fraud.

The Deep Roots of Anti-Black Institutional Racism in Canada

Based on a review of existing literature, this paper discusses Canadian evidences of anti-Black institutional racism, the organizational “standard operating procedures” that adversely affect minorities by design or intent (“systematic racism”) or by the effect of exclusion or exploitation (“systemic racism”), with particular reference to education and law enforcement. This paper contends that anti-Black institutional racism in Canada is a superstructure whose core base is chattel slavery.

The study of rolling stock wheels impact on rail switch frogs

Studies of stress distribution across cross sections by polarization-optical method made it possible to propose a relatively simple experimental method of determining contact forces. Experimental determination of contact forces on crossbars of switches is possible by means of sensors located in places of stress concentration (at core base). Analysis of oscillations during impact-pulse loading makes it possible to determine design parameters of the path. Typically, single circuits with four to five degrees of freedom produce quite satisfactory results and may be recommended for the calculated determination of contact forces on the crossbars of the switches.

Performance evaluation of the effectiveness of the use of core drivers in the construction of base plates

This article is an example of the calculation of a foundation monolithic slab using void formers during the construction of an apartment complex consisting of three buildings located on one stylobation. The issue of economy in the construction of a hollow core base slab compared to a solid one, by reducing the volume of concrete and reinforcement due to the location of liners in the neutral zone of concrete, is considered. At the same time, the bearing capacity and rigidity of the structure should remain at the same level.

Synthetic Tyrosine tRNA Molecules with Noncanonical Secondary Structures

The L-shape form of tRNA is maintained by tertiary interactions occurring in the core. Base changes in this domain can cause structural defects and impair tRNA activity. Here, we report on a method to safely engineer structural variations in this domain utilizing the noncanonical scaffold of tRNAPyl. First, we constructed a naïve hybrid between archaeal tRNAPyl and tRNATyr, which consisted of the acceptor and T stems of tRNATyr and the other parts of tRNAPyl. This hybrid tRNA efficiently translated the UAG codon to 3-iodotyrosine in Escherichia coli cells, when paired with a variant of the archaeal tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase. The amber suppression efficiency was slightly lower than that of the “bench-mark” archaeal tRNATyr suppressor assuming the canonical structure. After a series of modifications to this hybrid tRNA, we obtained two artificial types of tRNATyr: ZtRNA had an augmented D (auD) helix in a noncanonical form and the D and T loops bound by the standard tertiary base pairs, and YtRNA had a canonical auD helix and non-standard interloop interactions. It was then suggested that the ZtRNA scaffold could also support the glycylation and glutaminylation of tRNA. The synthetic diversity of tRNA would help create new tRNA–aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase pairs for reprogramming the genetic code.

Unraveling the 4n − 1 rule for DNA i-motif stability: base pairs vs. loop lengths

The 4n − 1 repeat pattern for poly-2′-deoxycytidine i-motifs results from ideal loop lengths and core base pairs.

Of spheres and squares: Can Sloterdijk help us rethink the architecture of climate science?

This article explores how different visions and values of science translate into different architectural shapes. I bring Peter Sloterdijk’s ‘spherology’ to bear on my ethnographic fieldwork at the NEEM ice core base in Greenland, a significant node in the global infrastructure of climate science. I argue that the visual form of the geodesic dome of the camp materializes specific values and visions of this branch of paleoclimate science, which I elaborate vis-a-vis the pragmatic claims of the scientists/designers and the particular architectural history of Danish ice core drilling in Greenland. I argue that this aesthetic history articulates with Buckminster Fuller’s ideas of a ‘new nature’ and ‘scalar connections’ encapsulated in his geodesic form. Second, I argue that the aesthetic production of space in the camp replicates the modern distinction between science and society, in so far as the lab space is rectangular and the recreational space is spherical. Third, I argue that NEEM scientists and Sloterdijk are essentially engaged in a common project: the scientists work hard to align air bubbles in the cores with atmospheric fluctuations in the hemisphere on the evidentiary terrain of ice, and Sloterdijk attempts to connect micro-uteri with macro-uteri in an attempt to fundamentally rethink space. Fuller’s notion of ‘Spaceship Earth’, appropriated by Sloterdijk in his thinking about anthropogenic climate change, lends itself well to capturing the scalar alignments and the isolated NEEM base – on a mission to save planet Earth. In conclusion, I argue that Sloterdijk’s spherology may serve as a point of departure for rethinking the aesthetic grammar of the architecture of science.

The experimental research results of the influence of the shape of the contact surface of the basement to the deformable subgrade.

The article presents the analysis of the results of field experimental study of the effect of the contact surface forms of the foundation on the deformability of subgrade. Experimental data show peculiarities of intensely deformed state of subgrade loaded on a curved concave contact surface. Stiffening of the base in this case is due to higher modulus of deformation of soil deformation in the core base, due to the additional lateral compression of soil, relating to a form of the contact surface.

Talking with al Qaeda: Is There a Role for Track Two?

Despite saying that they will never “talk to terrorists,” many countries have done so. Often these dialogues have included a component of so-called “Track Two Diplomacy.” This article examines whether such a dialogue could be held withal Qaedaand other such groups. Research demonstrates that dialogues have been useful in ending terror campaigns in certain circumstances, but that they were never the decisive element. Where they have been useful, dialogues have helped to distinguish those members of terror organizations who are willing to talk from the hardliners, in helping to develop ‘acceptable’ players on the other side, and in allowing the two sides to better understand each other. The article finds that a dialogue with the hard core ofal Qaedais likely impossible, but that some elements may be willing to talk. Such dialogues will be localized and will be about specific concerns and, like in other cases, will be about seeing if there are elements of the movement that can be detached from the hard-core base. Track Two may have a role to play in these dialogues, but expectations should be kept modest.

Field research of a wedge-shaped core on the models of the strip foundations with variable geometric shape

Many authors noted in the field research on the models of rigid foundations that a compacted wedge-shaped core of soil is formed with the destruction of the bases, which is a natural extension of the foundation. In the research of the strip foundation model with variable geometric shape of the foundation base, a compaction soil area of spherical shape with a diameter close to the width of the foundation model is found on a sand base. A wedge-shaped core, along the edges of which there has been a shift in mass of the base when achieving the ultimate loading, has been noted in a compaction soil area. The solid part of the foundation base is the compacted wedge-shaped core base, the height of the wedge-shaped core being commensurate with the length of the elements forming the foundation. Identified geometric parameters of compacted core under the foundation base of strip foundation with geometrically variable shape can be used in determining the ultimate bearing capacity of soil of the base for such foundations.