Energy polarization and popular representation: Evidence from the Russian Duma

In this article we introduce the term “energy polarization” to explain the politics of energy market reform in the Russian Duma. Our model tests the impact of regional energy production, party cohesion and ideology, and electoral mandate on the energy policy decisions of the Duma deputies (oil, gas, and electricity bills and resolution proposals) between 1994 and 2003. We find a strong divide between Single-Member District (SMD) and Proportional Representation (PR) deputies High statistical significance of gas production is demonstrated throughout the three Duma terms and shows Gazprom's key position in the post-Soviet Russian economy. Oil production is variably significant in the two first Dumas, when the main legislative debates on oil privatization occur. There is no constant left–right continuum, which is consistent with the deputies' proclaimed party ideology. The pro- and anti-reform poles observed in our Poole-based single dimensional scale are not necessarily connected with liberal and state-oriented regulatory policies, respectively. Party switching is a solid indicator of Russia's polarized legislative dynamics when it comes to energy sector reform.

A simple orientation robust transmit polarization signalling scheme

A special transmit polarization signalling scheme is presented to alleviate the power reduction as a result of polarization mismatch from random antenna orientations. This is particularly useful for hand held mobile terminals typically equipped with only a single linearly polarized antenna, since the average signal power is desensitized against receiver orientations. Numerical simulations also show adequate robustness against incorrect channel estimations.

Polarization dependent photorefractive amplitude modulation production in MgO:LiNbO 3 phase modulators

We present experimental and theoretical results of the intensity dependence of residual amplitude modulation (RAM) production in electro-optic phase modulators. By utilizing the anisotropy of the medium, we show that RAM has a photorefractive origin.

Spin-polarization and ferromagnetism of graphitic carbon nitride materials

Polymeric graphitic carbon nitride materials have attracted increasing attention in recent years owning to their potential applications in energy conversion, environment protection, and so on. Here, from first-principles calculations, we report the electronic structure modification of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) in response to carbon doping. We showed that each dopant atom can induce a local magnetic moment of 1.0 μB in non-magnetic g-C3N4. At the doping concentration of 1/14, the local magnetic moments of the most stable doping configuration which has the dopant atom at the center of heptazine unit prefer to align in a parallel way leading to long-range ferromagnetic (FM) ordering. When the joint N atom is replaced by C atom, the system favors an antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering at unstrained state, but can be tuned to ferromagnetism (FM) by applying biaxial tensile strain. More interestingly, the FM state of the strained system is half-metallic with abundant states at the Fermi level in one spin channel and a band gap of 1.82 eV in another spin channel. The Curie temperature (Tc) was also evaluated using a mean-field theory and Monte Carlo simulations within the Ising model. Such tunable electron spin-polarization and ferromagnetism are quite promising for the applications of graphitic carbon nitride in spintronics.

Non-invasive assessment of corneal crosslinking changes using polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography

Collagen crosslinking (CXL) has shown promising results in the prevention of the progression of keratoconus and corneal ectasia. However, techniques for in vivo and in situ assessment of the treatment are limited. In this study, ex vivo porcine eyes were treated with a chemical CXL agent (glutaraldehyde), during which polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) recordings were acquired simultaneously to assess the sensitivity of the technique to assess changes in the cornea. The results obtained in this study suggest that PS-OCT may be a suitable technique to measure CXL changes in situ and to assess the local changes in the treated region of the cornea.

Collagen in the scarless fetal skin wound : detection with picrosirius-polarization

Our group has developed an ovine model of deep dermal, partial-thickness burn where the fetus heals scarlessly and the lamb heals with scar. The comparison of collagen structure between these two different mechanisms of healing may elucidate the process of scarless wound healing. Picrosirius staining followed by polarized light microscopy was used to visualize collagen fibers, with digital capture and analysis. Collagen deposition increased with fetal age and the fibers became thicker, changing from green (type III collagen) to yellow/red (type I collagen). The ratio of type III collagen to type I was high in the fetus (166), whereas the lamb had a much lower ratio (0.2). After burn, the ratios of type III to type I collagen did not differ from those in control skin for either fetus or lamb. The fetal tissue maintained normal tissue architecture after burn while the lamb tissue showed irregular collagen organization. In conclusion, the type or amount of collagen does not alter significantly after injury. Tissue architecture differed between fetal and lamb tissue, suggesting that scar development is related to collagen cross-linking or arrangement. This study indicates that healing in the scarless fetal wound is representative of the normal fetal growth pattern, rather than a "response" to burn injury.

Orientation robust transmit polarization diversity techniques

Polarisation diversity is a technique to improve the quality of mobile communications, but its reliability is suboptimal because it depends on the mobile channel and the antenna orientations at both ends of the mobile link. A method to optimise the reliability is established by minimising the dependency on antenna orientations. While the mobile base station can have fixed antenna orientation, the mobile terminal is typically a handheld device with random orientations. This means orientation invariance needs to be established at the receiver in the downlink, and at the transmitter in the uplink. This research presents separate solutions for both cases, and is based on the transmission of an elliptically polarised signal synthesised from the channel statistics. Complete receiver orientation invariance is achieved in the downlink. Effects of the transmitter orientation are minimised in the uplink.

Polarization of forecast densities : a new approach to time series classification

Time series classification has been extensively explored in many fields of study. Most methods are based on the historical or current information extracted from data. However, if interest is in a specific future time period, methods that directly relate to forecasts of time series are much more appropriate. An approach to time series classification is proposed based on a polarization measure of forecast densities of time series. By fitting autoregressive models, forecast replicates of each time series are obtained via the bias-corrected bootstrap, and a stationarity correction is considered when necessary. Kernel estimators are then employed to approximate forecast densities, and discrepancies of forecast densities of pairs of time series are estimated by a polarization measure, which evaluates the extent to which two densities overlap. Following the distributional properties of the polarization measure, a discriminant rule and a clustering method are proposed to conduct the supervised and unsupervised classification, respectively. The proposed methodology is applied to both simulated and real data sets, and the results show desirable properties.

Calculations of the free energy of interaction of the c-Fos−c-Jun coiled coil: Effects of the solvation model and the inclusion of polarization effects

The leucine zipper region of activator protein-1 (AP-1) comprises the c-Jun and c-Fos proteins and constitutes a well-known coiled coil protein−protein interaction motif. We have used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in conjunction with the molecular mechanics/Poisson−Boltzmann generalized-Born surface area [MM/PB(GB)SA] methods to predict the free energy of interaction of these proteins. In particular, the influence of the choice of solvation model, protein force field, and water potential on the stability and dynamic properties of the c-Fos−c-Jun complex were investigated. Use of the AMBER polarizable force field ff02 in combination with the polarizable POL3 water potential was found to result in increased stability of the c-Fos−c-Jun complex. MM/PB(GB)SA calculations revealed that MD simulations using the POL3 water potential give the lowest predicted free energies of interaction compared to other nonpolarizable water potentials. In addition, the calculated absolute free energy of binding was predicted to be closest to the experimental value using the MM/GBSA method with independent MD simulation trajectories using the POL3 water potential and the polarizable ff02 force field, while all other binding affinities were overestimated.

Effect of third-order aberrations on dynamic accommodation

We investigate the potential for the third-order aberrations coma and trefoil to provide a signed cue to accommodation. It is first demonstrated theoretically (with some assumptions) that the point spread function is insensitive to the sign of spherical defocus in the presence of odd-order aberrations. In an experimental investigation, the accommodation response to a sinusoidal change in vergence (1–3 D, 0.2 Hz) of a monochromatic stimulus was obtained with a dynamic infrared optometer. Measurements were obtained in 10 young visually normal individuals with and without custom contact lenses that induced low and high values of r.m.s. trefoil (0.25, 1.03 μm) and coma (0.34, 0.94 μm). Despite variation between subjects, we did not find any statistically significant increase or decrease in the accommodative gain for low levels of trefoil and coma, although effects approached or reached significance for the high levels of trefoil and coma. Theoretical and experimental results indicate that the presence of Zernike third-order aberrations on the eye does not seem to play a crucial role in the dynamics of the accommodation response.

Management and organisational barriers in the acquisition of computer usage skills by mature age workers

Aim: To investigate workplace cultures in the acquisition of computer usage skills by mature age workers. Methods: Data were gathered through focus groups conducted at job network centres in the Greater Brisbane metropolitan region. Participants who took part were a mixture of workers and job-seekers. Results: The results suggest that mature age workers can be exposed to inappropriate computer training practices and age-insensitive attitudes towards those with low base computer skills. Conclusions: There is a need for managers to be observant of ageist attitudes in the work place and to develop age-sensitive strategies to help mature age workers learn computer usage skills. Mature age workers also need to develop skills in ways which are practical and meaningful to their work.

Sensitivity of proximal femoral stiffness and areal bone mineral density to changes in bone geometry and density

Areal bone mineral density (aBMD) is the most common surrogate measurement for assessing the bone strength of the proximal femur associated with osteoporosis. Additional factors, however, contribute to the overall strength of the proximal femur, primarily the anatomical geometry. Finite element analysis (FEA) is an effective and widely used computerbased simulation technique for modeling mechanical loading of various engineering structures, providing predictions of displacement and induced stress distribution due to the applied load. FEA is therefore inherently dependent upon both density and anatomical geometry. FEA may be performed on both three-dimensional and two-dimensional models of the proximal femur derived from radiographic images, from which the mechanical stiffness may be redicted. It is examined whether the outcome measures of two-dimensional FEA, two-dimensional, finite element analysis of X-ray images (FEXI), and three-dimensional FEA computed stiffness of the proximal femur were more sensitive than aBMD to changes in trabecular bone density and femur geometry. It is assumed that if an outcome measure follows known trends with changes in density and geometric parameters, then an increased sensitivity will be indicative of an improved prediction of bone strength. All three outcome measures increased non-linearly with trabecular bone density, increased linearly with cortical shell thickness and neck width, decreased linearly with neck length, and were relatively insensitive to neck-shaft angle. For femoral head radius, aBMD was relatively insensitive, with two-dimensional FEXI and threedimensional FEA demonstrating a non-linear increase and decrease in sensitivity, respectively. For neck anteversion, aBMD decreased non-linearly, whereas both two-dimensional FEXI and three dimensional FEA demonstrated a parabolic-type relationship, with maximum stiffness achieved at an angle of approximately 15o. Multi-parameter analysis showed that all three outcome measures demonstrated their highest sensitivity to a change in cortical thickness. When changes in all input parameters were considered simultaneously, three and twodimensional FEA had statistically equal sensitivities (0.41±0.20 and 0.42±0.16 respectively, p = ns) that were significantly higher than the sensitivity of aBMD (0.24±0.07; p = 0.014 and 0.002 for three-dimensional and two-dimensional FEA respectively). This simulation study suggests that since mechanical integrity and FEA are inherently dependent upon anatomical geometry, FEXI stiffness, being derived from conventional two-dimensional radiographic images, may provide an improvement in the prediction of bone strength of the proximal femur than currently provided by aBMD.

Silylation of layered double hydroxides via a calcination−rehydration route

Silylated layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were synthesized through a surfactant-free method involving an in situ condensation of silane with the surface hydroxyl group of LDHs during its reconstruction in carbonate solution. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns showed the silylation reaction occurred on the external surfaces of LDHs layers. The successful silylation was evidenced by 29Si cross-polarization magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (29Si CP/MAS NMR) spectroscopy, attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR FTIR) spectroscopy, and infrared emission spectroscopy (IES). The ribbon shaped crystallites with a “rodlike” aggregation were observed through transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. The aggregation was explained by the T2 and T3 types of linkage between adjacent silane molecules as indicated in the 29Si NMR spectrum. In addition, the silylated products show high thermal stability by maintained Si related bands even when the temperature was increased to 1000 °C as observed in IES spectra.