Peeking through the Iron Curtain: Memories of Watching Finnish Television in Estonia during Soviet Occupation

The present study analyses the memories of watching Finnish television in Estonia during the last decades of the Soviet occupation from the late 1960s until the beginning of 1990s. The study stems from a culturalist approach, perceiving television as a relevant aspect in the audiences’ everyday lives. It explores the significance of Finnish television on the society of occupied Estonia from the point of view of its historical audiences. The literature review concentrates on concepts such as the power of television, transnational media, historical audience reception and memory as an object of research. It also explains the concept of spillover, which refers to the unintentional bilateral flow of television signals from one country to another. Despite the numerous efforts of the Soviet authorities to prevent the viewing of the "bourgeois television", there still remained a small gap in the Iron Curtain. The study describes the phenomenon of watching Finnish television in Estonia. It provides understanding about the significance of watching Finnish television in Soviet Estonia through the experiences of its former audience. In addition, it explores what do people remember about watching Finnish television, and why. The empirical data was acquired from peoples’ personal memories through the analysis of private interviews and written responses during the period from February 2010 to February 2011. A total of 85 responses (5 interviews and 83 written responses) were analysed. The research employed the methods of oral history and memory studies. The main theoretical sources of the study include the works of Mati Graf and Heikki Roiko-Jokela, Hagi Šein, Sonia Livingstone, Janet Staiger and Emily Keightley. The study concludes that besides fulfilling the role of an entertainer and an informer, Finnish television enabled its Estonian audiences to gain entry into the imaginary world. Access to this imaginary world was so important, that the viewers engaged in illegal activities and gained special skills, whereby a phenomenon of "television tourism" developed. Most of the memories about Finnish television are vivid and similar. The latter indicates both the reliability and the collectiveness of such memories, which in return give shape to collective identities. Thus, for the Estonian viewers, the experience of watching Finnish television during the Soviet occupation has became part of their identity.

Electron Donor-Acceptor Complexes of the Fullerenes C60 and C70 with Amines

Based on electronic absorption spectroscopy, C60 is found to form complexes with aromatic amines with an enthalpy of association in the range 9-16 kJ mol-1. Interaction of C70 with the amines is negligible. Cyclic voltammetric measurements confirm these observations.

Quenching across quantum critical points: Role of topological patterns

We introduce a one-dimensional version of the Kitaev model consisting of spins on a two-legged ladder and characterized by Z(2) invariants on the plaquettes of the ladder. We map the model to a fermionic system and identify the topological sectors associated with different Z2 patterns in terms of fermion occupation numbers. Within these different sectors, we investigate the effect of a linear quench across a quantum critical point. We study the dominant behavior of the system by employing a Landau-Zener-type analysis of the effective Hamiltonian in the low-energy subspace for which the effective quenching can sometimes be non-linear. We show that the quenching leads to a residual energy which scales as a power of the quenching rate, and that the power depends on the topological sectors and their symmetry properties in a non-trivial way. This behavior is consistent with the general theory of quantum quenching, but with the correlation length exponent nu being different in different sectors. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2010

Using Correlated Parameters for Improved Ranking of Protein-Protein Docking Decoys

A successful protein-protein docking study culminates in identification of decoys at top ranks with near-native quaternary structures. However, this task remains enigmatic because no generalized scoring functions exist that effectively infer decoys according to the similarity to near-native quaternary structures. Difficulties arise because of the highly irregular nature of the protein surface and the significant variation of the nonbonding and solvation energies based on the chemical composition of the protein-protein interface. In this work, we describe a novel method combining an interface-size filter, a regression model for geometric compatibility (based on two correlated surface and packing parameters), and normalized interaction energy (calculated from correlated nonbonded and solvation energies), to effectively rank decoys from a set of 10,000 decoys. Tests on 30 unbound binary protein-protein complexes show that in 16 cases we can identify at least one decoy in top three ranks having <= 10 angstrom backbone root mean square deviation from true binding geometry. Comparisons with other state-of-art methods confirm the improved ranking power of our method without the use of any experiment-guided restraints, evolutionary information, statistical propensities, or modified interaction energy equations. Tests on 118 less-difficult bound binary protein-protein complexes with <= 35% sequence redundancy at the interface showed that in 77% cases, at least 1 in 10,000 decoys were identified with <= 5 angstrom backbone root mean square deviation from true geometry at first rank. The work will promote the use of new concepts where correlations among parameters provide more robust scoring models. It will facilitate studies involving molecular interactions, including modeling of large macromolecular assemblies and protein structure prediction. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 32: 787-796, 2011.

Noise measurements of a phase fluorometric instrument

We present noise measurements of a phase fluorometric oxygen sensor that sets the limits of accuracy for this instrument. We analyze the phase sensitive detection measurement system with the signal ''shot'' noise being the only significant contribution to the system noise. Based on the modulated optical power received by the photomultiplier, the analysis predicts a noise spectral power density that was within 3 dB of the measured power spectral noise density. Our results demonstrate that at a received optical power of 20 fW the noise level was low enough to permit the detection of a change oxygen concentration of 1% at the sensor. We also present noise measurements of a new low-cost version of this instrument that uses a photodiode instead of a photomultiplier. These measurements show that the noise for this instrument was limited by noise generated in the preamplifier following the photodiode. (C) 1996 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Design and realization of high-performance wave-pipelined 8×8 b multiplier in CMOS technology

Wave pipelining is a design technique for increasing the throughput of a digital circuit or system without introducing pipelining registers between adjacent combinational logic blocks in the circuit/system. However, this requires balancing of the delays along all the paths from the input to the output which comes the way of its implementation. Static CMOS is inherently susceptible to delay variation with input data, and hence, receives a low priority for wave pipelined digital design. On the other hand, ECL and CML, which are amenable to wave pipelining, lack the compactness and low power attributes of CMOS. In this paper we attempt to exploit wave pipelining in CMOS technology. We use a single generic building block in Normal Process Complementary Pass Transistor Logic (NPCPL), modeled after CPL, to achieve equal delay along all the propagation paths in the logic structure. An 8×8 b multiplier is designed using this logic in a 0.8 ?m technology. The carry-save multiplier architecture is modified suitably to support wave pipelining, viz., the logic depth of all the paths are made identical. The 1 mm×0.6 mm multiplier core supports a throughput of 400 MHz and dissipates a total power of 0.6 W. We develop simple enhancements to the NPCPL building blocks that allow the multiplier to sustain throughputs in excess of 600 MHz. The methodology can be extended to introduce wave pipelining in other circuits as well

On the improvement of chimney weirs

This paper is devoted to the improvement in the range of operation (linearity range) of chimney weir (consisting of a rectangular weir or vertical slot over an inward trapezium), A new and more elegant optimization procedure is developed to analyse the discharge-head relationship in the weir. It is shown that a rectangular weir placed over an inverted V-notch of depth 0.90d gives the maximum operating range, where d is the overall depth of the inward trapezoidal weir (from the crest to the vertex). For all flows in the rectangular portion, the discharge is proportional to the linear power of the head, h, measured above a reference plane located at 0.292d below the weir crest, in the range 0.90d less than or equal to h less than or equal to 7.474: within a maximum error of +/-1.5% from the theoretical discharge. The optimum range of operation of the newly designed weir is 200% greater than that in the chimney weir designed by Keshava Murthy and Giridhar, and is nearly 950% greater than that in the inverted V-notch. Experiments with two weirs having half crest widths of 0.10 and 0.12 m yield a constant average coefficient of discharge of 0.634 and confirm the theory. The application of the weir in the design of rectangular grit chamber outlet is emphasized, in that the datum for the linear discharge-head relationship is below the crest level of the weir.

Synthesis and cation binding properties of new bile acid-based crown ethers

A series of bile acid-based crown ethers (7a-c,12 and 13) were easily constructed from readily available precursors. Measurement of association constants (K-a) with alkali metal picrates in CHCl3 showed that azacrown ethers 7a-c and Chola-Cuowns 12 and 13 show greater binding towards Rb+ and K+. The presence of the aromatic moieties showed subtle changes in the binding properties. Insight II minimized structures show very different conformations of aromatic units in 7a-b and 13.

In-situ power monitoring scheme and its application in dynamic voltage and threshold scaling for digital CMOS integrated circuits

An in-situ power monitoring technique for Dynamic Voltage and Threshold scaling (DVTS) systems is proposed which measures total power consumed by load circuit using sleep transistor acting as power sensor. Design details of power monitor are examined using simulation framework in UMC 90nm CMOS process. Experimental results of test chip fabricated in AMS 0.35µm CMOS process are presented. The test chip has variable activity between 0.05 and 0.5 and has PMOS VTH control through nWell contact. Maximum resolution obtained from power monitor is 0.25mV. Overhead of power monitor in terms of its power consumption is 0.244 mW (2.2% of total power of load circuit). Lastly, power monitor is used to demonstrate closed loop DVTS system. DVTS algorithm shows 46.3% power savings using in-situ power monitor.

Fabrication and evaluation of 450 F electrochemical redox supercapacitors using inexpensive and high-performance, polyaniline coated, stainless-steel electrodes

Redox supercapacitors using polyaniline (PANI) coated. stainless-steel (SS) electrodes have been assembled and characterized. PANI has been deposited on SS substrate by a potentiodynamic method from an acidic electrolyte which contains aniline monomer. By employing stacks of electrodes, each with a geometrical area of 24 cm(2), in acidic perchlorate electrolyte, a capacitance value of about 450 F has been obtained over a long cycle-life. Characterization studies have been carried out by galvanostatic charge-discharge cycling of the capacitors singly, as well as in series and parallel configurations. Various electrical parameters have been evaluated. Use of the capacitors in parallel with a battery for pulse-power loads. and also working of a toy fan connected to the charged capacitors have been demonstrated. A specific capacitance value of about 1300 F g(-1) of PANI has been obtained at a discharge power of about 0.5 kW kg(-1). This value is several times higher than those reported in the literature for PANI and is, perhaps, the highest value known for a capacitor material. The inexpensive SS substrate and the high-capacitance PANI are favorable factors for commercial exploitation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The promise of fuel cell-based automobiles

Fuel cell-based automobiles have gained attention in the last few years due to growing public concern about urban air pollution and consequent environmental problems. From an analysis of the power and energy requirements of a modern car, it is estimated that a base sustainable power of ca. 50 kW supplemented with short bursts up to 80 kW will suffice in most driving requirements. The energy demand depends greatly on driving characteristics but under normal usage is expected to be 200 Wh/km. The advantages and disadvantages of candidate fuel-cell systems and various fuels are considered together with the issue of whether the fuel should be converted directly in the fuel cell or should be reformed to hydrogen onboard the vehicle. For fuel cell vehicles to compete successfully with conventional internal-combustion engine vehicles, it appears that direct conversion fuel cells using probably hydrogen, but possibly methanol, are the only realistic contenders for road transportation applications. Among the available fuel cell technologies, polymer-electrolyte fuel cells directly fueled with hydrogen appear to be the best option for powering fuel cell vehicles as there is every prospect that these will exceed the performance of the internal-combustion engine vehicles but for their first cost. A target cost of $ 50/kW would be mandatory to make polymer-electrolyte fuel cells competitive with the internal combustion engines and can only be achieved with design changes that would substantially reduce the quantity of materials used. At present, prominent car manufacturers are deploying important research and development efforts to develop fuel cell vehicles and are projecting to start production by 2005.

Maximum Rate of Unitary-Weight, Single-Symbol Decodable STBCs

It is well known that the space-time block codes (STBCs) from complex orthogonal designs (CODs) are single-symbol decodable/symbol-by-symbol decodable (SSD). The weight matrices of the square CODs are all unitary and obtainable from the unitary matrix representations of Clifford Algebras when the number of transmit antennas n is a power of 2. The rate of the square CODs for n = 2(a) has been shown to be a+1/2(a) complex symbols per channel use. However, SSD codes having unitary-weight matrices need not be CODs, an example being the minimum-decoding-complexity STBCs from quasi-orthogonal designs. In this paper, an achievable upper bound on the rate of any unitary-weight SSD code is derived to be a/2(a)-1 complex symbols per channel use for 2(a) antennas, and this upper bound is larger than that of the CODs. By way of code construction, the interrelationship between the weight matrices of unitary-weight SSD codes is studied. Also, the coding gain of all unitary-weight SSD codes is proved to be the same for QAM constellations and conditions that are necessary for unitary-weight SSD codes to achieve full transmit diversity and optimum coding gain are presented.

Association rule mining activity : A general formalism

Mining association rules from a large collection of databases is based on two main tasks. One is generation of large itemsets; and the other is finding associations between the discovered large itemsets. Existing formalism for association rules are based on a single transaction database which is not sufficient to describe the association rules based on multiple database environment. In this paper, we give a general characterization of association rules and also give a framework for knowledge-based mining of multiple databases for association rules.

Optimization of vibrating structures to reduce radiated noise

In this work, we propose an approach for reducing radiated noise from `light' fluid-loaded structures, such as, for example, vibrating structures in air. In this approach, we optimize the structure so as to minimize the dynamic compliance (defined as the input power) of the structure. We show that minimizing the dynamic compliance results in substantial reductions in the radiated sound power from the structure. The main advantage of this approach is that the redesign to minimize the dynamic compliance moves the natural frequencies of the structure away from the driving frequency thereby reducing the vibration levels of the structure, which in turn results in a reduction in the radiated sound power as an indirect benefit. Thus, the need for an acoustic and the associated sensitivity analysis is completely bypassed (although, in this work, we do carry out an acoustic analysis to demonstrate the reduction in sound power levels), making the strategy efficient compared to existing strategies in the literature which try to minimize some measure of noise directly. We show the effectiveness of the proposed approach by means of several examples involving both topology and stiffener optimization, for vibrating beam, plate and shell-type structures.

Dielectric properties of DC reactive magnetron sputtered Al2O3 thin films

Alumina (Al2O3) thin films were sputter deposited over well-cleaned glass and Si < 100 > substrates by DC reactive magnetron sputtering under various oxygen gas pressures and sputtering powers. The composition of the films was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and an optimal O/Al atomic ratio of 1.59 was obtained at a reactive gas pressure of 0.03 Pa and sputtering power of 70 W. X-ray diffraction results revealed that the films were amorphous until 550 degrees C. The surface morphology of the films was studied using scanning electron microscopy and the as-deposited films were found to be smooth. The topography of the as-deposited and annealed films was analyzed by atomic force microscopy and a progressive increase in the rms roughness of the films from 3.2 nm to 4.53 nm was also observed with increase in the annealing temperature. Al-Al2O3-Al thin film capacitors were then fabricated on glass substrates to study the effect of temperature and frequency on the dielectric property of the films. Temperature coefficient of capacitance. AC conductivity and activation energy were determined and the results are discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.