Cities in fiction: Perambulations with John Berger

This paper explores selected novels by John Berger in which cities play a central role. These cities are places, partially real and partially imagined, where memory, hope, and despair intersect. My reading of the novels enables me to trace important themes in recent discourses on the nature of contemporary capitalism, including notions of resistance and universality. I also show how Berger?s work points to a writing that can break free from the curious capacity of capitalism to absorb and feed of its critique

The Impact Of Tax Benefit Systems On Low Income Households In The Benelux Countries. A Simulation Approach Using Synthetic Datasets

Computing the tax-benefit position of similar typical households across countries is a method widely used in comparative fiscal- and social policy research. These calculations provide convenient summary pictures of certain aspects of tax-benefit systems. They can, however, be seriously misleading because they reduce very complex systems to single point estimates. Using an integrated European tax-benefit model (EUROMOD), we substitute the typical household by a synthetic dataset, which can be used across countries. By varying certain important household characteristics (notably income), this dataset captures a much larger range of household situations. The calculations performed on this range of households not only show the tax-benefit position of many individual households but also demonstrate which household characteristics determine taxes and benefits in each country. Hypothetical calculations such as those presented here do not exploit the ability of EUROMOD to determine the impact of social and fiscal policies on actual populations. Nevertheless, they can be a valuable contribution to understanding tax-benefit systems since they allow us to separate the effects of tax-benefit rules from those of the population structure. We compute and compare disposable incomes for a large range of pre-tax-and-benefit income (so called budget constraints) of households in the Benelux countries. Disposable incomes are then decomposed to separately show the effects of each simulated tax and transfer payment. Based on these results, we illustrate the performance of the three tax-benefit systems in terms of ensuring a minimum level of household income.European Union, Microsimulation, Poverty, Benelux, Average Production Worker

Dynamics of isolated magnetic bright points derived from Hinode/SOT G-band observations

Small-scale magnetic fields in the solar photosphere can be identified in high-resolution magnetograms or in the G-band as magnetic bright points (MBPs). Rapid motions of these fields can cause magneto-hydrodynamical waves and can also lead to nanoflares by magnetic field braiding and twisting. The MBP velocity distribution is a crucial parameter for estimating the amplitudes of those waves and the amount of energy they can contribute to coronal heating. The velocity and lifetime distributions of MBPs are derived from solar G-band images of a quiet sun region acquired by the Hinode/SOT instrument with different temporal and spatial sampling rates. We developed an automatic segmentation, identification and tracking algorithm to analyse G-Band image sequences to obtain the lifetime and velocity distributions of MBPs. The influence of temporal/spatial sampling rates on these distributions is studied and used to correct the obtained lifetimes and velocity distributions for these digitalisation effects. After the correction of algorithm effects, we obtained a mean MBP lifetime of (2.50 +- 0.05) min and mean MBP velocities, depending on smoothing processes, in the range of (1 - 2) km/s. Corrected for temporal sampling effects, we obtained for the effective velocity distribution a Rayleigh function with a coefficient of (1.62 +- 0.05) km/s. The x- and y- components of the velocity distributions are Gaussians. The lifetime distribution can be fitted by an exponential function.Comment: Astronomy and Astrophysics (in press

Abstract involutions of algebraic groups and of Kac-Moody groups

Based on the second author's thesis in this article we provide a uniform treatment of abstract involutions of algebraic groups and of Kac-Moody groups using twin buildings, RGD systems, and twisted involutions of Coxeter groups. Notably we simultaneously generalize the double coset decompositions established by Springer and by Helminck-Wang for algebraic groups and by Kac-Wang for certain Kac-Moody groups, we analyze the filtration studied by Devillers-Muhlherr in the context of arbitrary involutions, and we answer a structural question on the combinatorics of involutions of twin buildings raised by Bennett-Gramlich-Hoffman-Shpectorov

Epigraphene : epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide

This article presents a review of epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide, from fabrication to properties, put in the context of other forms of graphene.Comment: 46 pages, 322 references, 35 figures. Submitted December 201

Resource Leverage, Resource Depletion:A Multilevel Perspective on Multiple Team Membership

Multiple team membership (MTM) is a complex phenomenon that poses significant challenges for organizational research and practice. In this article, we delve into the multilevel nature of MTM, which has not received adequate research attention to date. We develop a resource-based framework that advances our understanding of the antecedents and productivity consequences of firm MTM, and the synergistic effects of individual MTM and firm MTM on an individual’s emotional exhaustion. Using a sample of 19,803 employees from 145 German organizations, our analyses reveal that MTM is most prevalent in knowledge-intensive and understaffed firms, and that firm MTM has an inverted U-shaped (rather than a positive linear) relationship with subsequent firm productivity. In addition, we find that individual MTM and firm MTM interactively shape individual stress perceptions, such that positive linkages between individual MTM and emotional exhaustion are significant only in firms with higher (but not lower) firm MTM. Together, these findings suggest that MTM has the potential to lead to firm-level productivity gains but, at the same time, may take a toll on individual employees’ well-being

Homoclinic chaos in the dynamics of a general Bianchi IX model

The dynamics of a general Bianchi IX model with three scale factors is examined. The matter content of the model is assumed to be comoving dust plus a positive cosmological constant. The model presents a critical point of saddle-center-center type in the finite region of phase space. This critical point engenders in the phase space dynamics the topology of stable and unstable four dimensional tubes $R \times S^3$, where $R$ is a saddle direction and $S^3$ is the manifold of unstable periodic orbits in the center-center sector. A general characteristic of the dynamical flow is an oscillatory mode about orbits of an invariant plane of the dynamics which contains the critical point and a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) singularity. We show that a pair of tubes (one stable, one unstable) emerging from the neighborhood of the critical point towards the FRW singularity have homoclinic transversal crossings. The homoclinic intersection manifold has topology $R \times S^2$ and is constituted of homoclinic orbits which are bi-asymptotic to the $S^3$ center-center manifold. This is an invariant signature of chaos in the model, and produces chaotic sets in phase space. The model also presents an asymptotic DeSitter attractor at infinity and initial conditions sets are shown to have fractal basin boundaries connected to the escape into the DeSitter configuration (escape into inflation), characterizing the critical point as a chaotic scatterer.Comment: 11 pages, 6 ps figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Microscopic correlation between chemical and electronic states in epitaxial graphene on SiC(000-1)

We present energy filtered electron emission spectromicroscopy with spatial and wave-vector resolution on few layer epitaxial graphene on SiC$(000-1) grown by furnace annealing. Low energy electron microscopy shows that more than 80% of the sample is covered by 2-3 graphene layers. C1s spectromicroscopy provides an independent measurement of the graphene thickness distribution map. The work function, measured by photoelectron emission microscopy (PEEM), varies across the surface from 4.34 to 4.50eV according to both the graphene thickness and the graphene-SiC interface chemical state. At least two SiC surface chemical states (i.e., two different SiC surface structures) are present at the graphene/SiC interface. Charge transfer occurs at each graphene/SiC interface. K-space PEEM gives 3D maps of the k_|| pi - pi* band dispersion in micron scale regions show that the Dirac point shifts as a function of graphene thickness. Novel Bragg diffraction of the Dirac cones via the superlattice formed by the commensurately rotated graphene sheets is observed. The experiments underline the importance of lateral and spectroscopic resolution on the scale of future electronic devices in order to precisely characterize the transport properties and band alignments

Acute dehydrating gastro-enteritis undernourished infants

In 80 undernourished infants with acute dehydrating gastro-enteritis a pattern of electr.olyte and metabolic disturbances was found, including acidosis, hyponatraemia and hypokalaemia. Clinical assessment of acidosis and dehydration was reliable in most cases, but electrolyte disturbances, including hypernatraemia, could not be accurately diagnosed. In the majority of infants presenting with dehydrating gastro-enteritis, electrolyte and acid-base investigations are not obligatory. The use of half-strength Oarrow's solution in 2;5% dextrose water, with supplementary intravenous sodium bicarbonate and oral potassium, rapidly corrected the electrolyte and acid-base disturbances. No significant difference resulted when this regimen was modified by variations in the rate, volume or type of intravenous fluid given.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 1563 (1974

Highly-ordered graphene for two dimensional electronics

With expanding interest in graphene-based electronics, it is crucial that high quality graphene films be grown. Sublimation of Si from the 4H-SiC(0001) Si-terminated) surface in ultrahigh vacuum is a demonstrated method to produce epitaxial graphene sheets on a semiconductor. In this paper we show that graphene grown from the SiC$(000\bar{1})$ (C-terminated) surface are of higher quality than those previously grown on SiC(0001). Graphene grown on the C-face can have structural domain sizes more than three times larger than those grown on the Si-face while at the same time reducing SiC substrate disorder from sublimation by an order of magnitude.Comment: Submitted to Appl. Phys. Let