What\u27s in a name: Obamacare v. the Affordable Care Act in the 2016 election

While Obamacare and Affordable Care Act refer to the same essential policy, the social implications of each term varies greatly. In this work I present these terms as naming strategies, a class of referentially synonymous terms differing only in their form and social/political meaning. Specifically, I conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the distribution of Obamacare and Affordable Care Act in the 2016 presidential debates and platforms. Considering the form, history and connotations of each term, I explain the motivations behind their distributional differences. I find that Obamacare is the more frequent term overall, likely due to it\u27s short and memorable nature. In debates, Republicans unanimously opt for Obamacare, in large part because it relates the legislation back to one of their political opponents, thus extending the negative attitude associated with Obama to the legislation. Affordable Care Act was the preferred term of Democrats, in part in an effort to resist the anti-Obama connotations of Obamacare and in part to preserve the official name of the Democratic policy. Obamacare was also used more frequently by journalists and moderators, likely motivated by the term\u27s higher general frequency and therefore name recognition. Attitudes about the legislation varied by speaker group, with Republicans always attributing negative evaluativity to the legislation, while moderators typically index it neutrally and Democrats positively. There were exceptions to these general trends, which upon investigation were found to be largely motivated by contextual incentives

Migration of germline progenitor cells is directed by sphingosine-1-phosphate signalling in a basal chordate.

The colonial ascidian Botryllus schlosseri continuously regenerates entire bodies in an asexual budding process. The germ line of the newly developing bodies is derived from migrating germ cell precursors, but the signals governing this homing process are unknown. Here we show that germ cell precursors can be prospectively isolated based on expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase and integrin alpha-6, and that these cells express germ cell markers such as vasa, pumilio and piwi, as well as sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor. In vitro, sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) stimulates migration of germ cells, which depends on integrin alpha-6 activity. In vivo, S1P signalling is essential for homing of germ cells to newly developing bodies. S1P is generated by sphingosine kinase in the developing germ cell niche and degraded by lipid phosphate phosphatase in somatic tissues. These results demonstrate a previously unknown role of the S1P signalling pathway in germ cell migration in the ascidian Botryllus schlosseri

Towards a strategy for workplace learning: Report to HEFCE by CHERI and KPMG

The study, undertaken between March and November 2005 aimed to inform HEFCE thinking on developing a strategy for workplace learning by: exploring the nature, purposes and outcomes of workplace learning; considering workplace learning within the broader relationships between the worlds of work and learning; exploring emerging changes in higher education which may impact on workplace learning in the future; identifying structural issues that currently enable or inhibit workplace learning, and identify future opportunities

Reduction of Fertilizer Use in South China-Impacts and Implications on Smallholder Rice Farmers

Despite the overuse of fertilizer in China, yields have stagnated while environmental pollution has risen. To increase sustainable production, the "Three Controls" Technology (3CT) was adopted in Guangdong Province as an agricultural best management practice for rice production. Its goal is to reduce the fertilizer use of farmers while decreasing the number of unproductive tillers and controlling pests and diseases. The objective of this study was to determine the farmers' perception of 3CT focusing on three different impact factors: economic, social, and environmental. Using a digital survey questionnaire application, 142 farmers from six villages in Guangdong Province were interviewed to evaluate perceived changes in their farming and livelihood since adopting 3CT. Results showed that the farmers were highly satisfied with 3CT. They perceived positive livelihood changes and increased agronomic performance with reduced fertilizer use. Farmers who had adopted 3CT for the longest perceived significantly higher levels of change, more benefits, and improved agricultural efficiency. The study showed that 3CT is highly appreciated by farmers due to its effectiveness, ease of use, and compatibility. Our model highlighted the relevance of including social and environmental impact analysis for sustainability research in agriculture. Ultimately, 3CT has the potential of being implemented in other regions of China

ArQTiC: A full-stack software package for simulating materials on quantum computers

ArQTiC is an open-source, full-stack software package built for the simulations of materials on quantum computers. It currently can simulate materials that can be modeled by any Hamiltonian derived from a generic, one-dimensional, time-dependent Heisenberg Hamiltonain. ArQTiC includes modules for generating quantum programs for real- and imaginary-time evolution, quantum circuit optimization, connection to various quantum backends via the cloud, and post-processing of quantum results. By enabling users to seamlessly perform and analyze materials simulations on quantum computers by simply providing a minimal input text file, ArQTiC opens this field to a broader community of scientists from a wider range of scientific domains.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Acoustics in water: synergies with marine biology

This paper presents some of the bioacoustics related analysis that was performed on the ANTARES data, focussing on the year 2014. The data was processed for sperm whale, dolphin and shipping presence and grouped by hour of the day. It seemed that dolphins were more socially active during the day and foraging during the night. Sperm whales were mostly foraging during the day, but they may have been moving to other areas during the night. The most intense shipping noise came from a ferry that passed the platform twice a day. Although beaked whales were expected to be present in the area, so far their biosonar signal has not been conclusively found.Postprint (published version

Self-aligned silicidation of surround gate vertical MOSFETs for low cost RF applications

We report for the first time a CMOS-compatible silicidation technology for surround-gate vertical MOSFETs. The technology uses a double spacer comprising a polysilicon spacer for the surround gate and a nitride spacer for silicidation and is successfully integrated with a Fillet Local OXidation (FILOX) process, which thereby delivers low overlap capacitance and high drive-current vertical devices. Silicided 80-nm vertical n-channel devices fabricated using 0.5-?m lithography are compared with nonsilicided devices. A source–drain (S/D) activation anneal of 30 s at 1100 ?C is shown to deliver a channel length of 80 nm, and the silicidation gives a 60% improvement in drive current in comparison with nonsilicided devices. The silicided devices exhibit a subthreshold slope (S) of 87 mV/dec and a drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL) of 80 mV/V, compared with 86 mV/dec and 60 mV/V for nonsilicided devices. S-parameter measurements on the 80-nm vertical nMOS devices give an fT of 20 GHz, which is approximately two times higher than expected for comparable lateral MOSFETs fabricated using the same 0.5-?m lithography. Issues associated with silicidation down the pillar sidewall are investigated by reducing the activation anneal time to bring the silicided region closer to the p-n junction at the top of the pillar. In this situation, nonlinear transistor turn-on is observed in drain-on-top operation and dramatically degraded drive current in source-on-top operation. This behavior is interpreted using mixed-mode simulations, which show that a Schottky contact is formed around the perimeter of the pillar when the silicided contact penetrates too close to the top S/D junction down the side of the pillar

GEMS: Goals, Expectations, Measurements and Strategies for Critical Thinking and Decision-Making

GEMS are sparkling stones that are very attractive and precious. Its attractiveness and spackles are derived from the meticulous precision of the way the stones were cut. It takes a perfect design, planning and execution to achieve such results. GEMS is also an acronym that represents leadership excellence. GEMS stands for Goals, Expectations, Measurements, and Strategies. The team concluded that a leadership handbook for the 21st century must be simple but forward looking in addressing the issues of today and the immediate future. The handbook is broken down into sections that are easy to follow. It is design for leaders to think critically in all aspects of the business. Effective leaders must know and understand clearly the goals or mission of the company. The handbook provides a detailed but simple way on how to formulate company’s goals. Shared goals are more effective than top down goals as it gives all employees or participants of the company ownership which translates to empowerment and accountability. Expectations are standards developed by each company and are designed to maintain its competitive advantage. Critical thinking is an expectation that organizations look for from the employees. This handbook laid out the techniques leaders need to know to achieve such goals. As goals and expectations are clearly defined and preached to the leader’s constituency another important element of GEMS is Measurement. Once goals are set and agreed with by all stakeholders the next important step is the development of a measuring tool. The company’s success is dependent upon the effective execution of each processes or tasks of each and every employees in the organization. The handbook covered the key role that Human Resources played in ensuring its success. Finally, the last element of GEMS is strategy. It outlined in detail how a global leader can be consistently successful in this dynamic business environment. The important topics discussed were goal setting, resources required, timeline, and actual execution of the strategy. A successful implementation of a leadership handbook will only be achieved if the organizational leadership accepts and understands the necessity of thinking outside the box. This handbook is intentionally design to force global leaders to think beyond the norm of doing business. It forces all employees and senior leadership to be self-critical and accept changes as the new normal in doing business. We all hope that you enjoy the fruits of this excellent leadership handbook