Photon-added coherent states for shape invariant systems

This paper addresses a full characterization of photon-added coherent states for shape-invariant potentials. Main properties are investigated and discussed. A statistical computation of relevant physical quantities is performed, emphasizing the importance of using generalized hypergeometric functions $_pF_q$ and Meijer's $G$-functions for such a study

Contested Relations Between Resource Extraction and Alternatives to Development : The Case of Lithium Production in Bolivia

Tämä Pro Gradu-tutkielma tarkastelee ekstraktivismin ja Bolivialaisen vaihtoehdon kehitykselle välistä suhdetta Bolivian Salar de Uyunissa tapahtuvan litiumtuotannon kautta. Viimeisten kymmenen vuoden aikana presidentti Evo Moralesin hallinto on tuonut konseptin Vivir Bien, elää hyvin, Bolivian valtion virallisiin strategioihin ja korvannut sillä ainakin osittain ‘kehityksen’ käsitteen. Vivir Bien perustuu alkuperäiskansojen kosmologioihin, joissa sosiaalinen oikeudenmukaisuus, yhteisöllisyys ja luonnon ja ihmisen välinen yhteys ovat prioriteetteja eikä luontoa pitäisi redusoida taloudellisiksi resursseiksi, mutta käytännössä Bolivian taloudellinen riippuvaisuus luonnonvarojen käytöstä on vain pahentunut tänä aikana. Bolivian litiumvarannot ovat laajat, ja litiumilla on kasvavat markkinat. Sen käyttötarkoitukset liittyvät mm. hiiliperäisten energialähteiden korvaaviin ekologisesti kestävämpiin vaihtoehtoihin. Mutta litiumin tuottaminen vaatii teknistä osaamista, ja näin ollen sen teollistaminen verrattain köyhässä ja matalan koulutustason maassa on haastavaa. Tämän tutkielman pääasiallisena metodologiana on puolistrukturoitu kvalitatiivinen haastattelututkimus, jota täydennetään aiheeseen liittyvien poliittisten dokumenttien ja akateemisten tutkimusten kriittisellä analyysillä. Empiiriset löydökset tuovat ilmi ongelmia projektin suunnittelussa, läpinäkyvyydessä, päätöksenteon keskittyneisyydessä, sekä epämääräisyyksiä alueen ympäristön kannalta. Tutkielma kontribuoi akateemiseen kirjallisuuteen, jossa on osoitettu, että vaikka Vivir Bien on ideologisella tasolla lupaava ja mielenkiintoinen vaihtoehto kehitykselle, se on jäänyt sovelluksessa poliittiseen toimintaan pitkälti retoriseksi työkaluksi, ja Moralesin hallinnon käytännön toimet muistuttavat enemmän neo-ekstraktivista ihmiskeskeistä kehitystä. Lisäksi se tarjoaa lisänäyttöä neo-ekstraktivismin sisäsyntyisistä ongelmista talouspoliittisena strategiana. Löydökset myös korostavat resurssinationalismin merkitystä Bolivian politiikassa, ja tämä tutkimus argumentoi, että resurssinationalismi toimii siltana näennäisesti ristiriitaisten konseptien Vivir Bien ja ekstraktivismi välillä.This Master’s thesis examines the contested relations between extractivism and Bolivian endogenous view of ‘development’ through the case of lithium production in Bolivian Salar de Uyuni, Potosí. During the past ten years under president Evo Morales’s administration, Bolivia has introduced the concept of Vivir Bien, living well, in official state strategies replacing at least to an extent the concept of development. Vivir Bien is based on indigenous cosmologies that hold social justice, community and being one with the nature as priorities, and according to these ideals, nature should not be reduced to a commodity. But in practice dependency on extractions of natural resources in Bolivia has only increased in this time period. Lithium deposits in Bolivia are vast, and lithium is a growing industry that could be coupled with sustainable alternatives to hydrocarbon-based sources of energy. But industrialising a high-expertise raw material in a poor and fairly uneducated country such as Bolivia is a complicated endeavour. The principle methodology this research uses is semi-structured qualitative interviewing, which is complemented by critical analysis of policy documents and academic studies that connect with the topic. The empirical findings of the lithium production project unveil issues with planning, transparency and the centralisation of decision making, as well as dubiousness in regard to the environment of the area. The thesis contributes to the academic literature that has shown that while Vivir Bien is a promising and interesting alternative to development at an ideological level, in political practice it remains to a large part a rhetorical instrument and actual politics of the Morales administration can be described as neo-extractivist human development. Additionally, it offers further demonstration of the inherent contradictions within neo-extractivism as a political economic strategy. The findings also underline the significance of resource nationalism in Bolivian politics, which this research argues that functions as a bridge between seemingly incongruous Vivir Bien and extractivism

Average time until fixation of a mutant allele in a given population

One of the important problems in population genetics is how long it takes for a gene to go to fixation (become established). A mutant gene in a given population will eventually be lost or established. The particular interest of this research is to know the mean time for a mutant gene to become fixed in a population, and we will exclude the case when this gene is lost. A diploid population of N individuals will be considered with a forward and backward mutation of u and v respectively per basis. Using a set of nonlinear equations, we will first calculate the genotype frequencies which will allow us to find the equilibrium points for the infinite population. With the diffusion theory, we will approximate the time to fixation for finite populations. We will then proceed with a numerical approximation using C++ to see a close result for the problem.NS

Design of a class-F power amplifier with reconfigurable output harmonic termination in 0.13 µm CMOS

Next generation wireless communication technology requires mobile devices and base stations to support multiband multimode frequencies with higher data rate because of the type of enriched and enhanced features and services that are provided to the end user. The challenge for next generation PA designers is to provide high efficiency, output power and good linearity across multiple frequency bands, modulation standards and bandwidth. Current industry solution involves parallel PAs dedicated to a single band of operation. As more and more features are added, more and more PAs will be required with increasing cost, area and complexity. As a solution to this problem, one tunable fully integrated class-F power amplifier with reconfigurable output harmonic termination is proposed, designed, fabricated and tested with a commercially available 0.13µm CMOS process technology. By using the coupling between the primary and the secondary winding of an on chip transformer with a variable secondary termination capacitance, the second and third harmonic short and open circuit frequencies are dynamically tuned from 700 MHz to 1200 MHz and achieve high efficiency and output power. To overcome CMOS process low break down voltage, a series voltage combining approach is used for the power device to boost output power, by allowing the power supply to exceed process limits. The fabricated die was packaged and mounted to a printed circuit board for evaluation. Compared to previously publish fully integrated PAs, our design exhibits superior peak power added efficiency, 48.4%, and decent saturated output power and power gain of 24.6 dBm and 16.5 dB respectively with reconfigurability from 700 MHz to 1200 MHz

Association Between Socioeconomic and Behavioral Characteristics with Urinary Neonicotinoid Levels in the United States, 2015-2016

Neonicotinoids are a class of pesticides developed in the 1980s and widely used in agriculture and households. They are sources of health damage in mammals, as identified in experimental studies in rats. The health effects identified were acetamiprid: memory dysfunction, respiratory failure, and digestive troubles; imidacloprid: liver and brain cell necrosis through Nitric Oxide formation: Thiacloprid induces an increase of cytokine proinflammation and causes cell division disturbance and genotoxicity; thiamethoxam is incriminated in reproductive system toxicity and cardiotoxicity; clothianidin is found to be associated with fertility troubles affecting spermatozoids’ motility. They have been said to be associated with thyroid cancer as well. The source of exposure for humans to neonicotinoids is mainly through ingesting contaminated foods, and they are primarily eliminated via urine due to their hydrophilia. We conducted an analysis utilizing the 2015-2016 NHANES data to estimate covariate-adjusted associations between detectable neonicotinoids and socioeconomic and behavioral characteristics. Neonicotinoids were only quantified in a subset of the population within this cycle. Our analysis was restricted to participants aged 18 and older, with data on neonicotinoids, alcohol use, smoking, and pesticide use the week before urine collection. The sample size was 1510, with 52% females. The racial distribution was majority non-Hispanic Whites, 64.9%, and 21.4% were 65 years old or above. Neonicotinoids were detected in 46.8% of the cases. N-desmethyl-acetamiprid and 5-hydroxy-imidacloprid were the most detected, representing 68.3% and 21.7% of the total detection. The bivariate analysis showed an association between neonicotinoids detection and multiracial group OR = 1.49, 95%CI(1.01, 2.18). The final model, including socioeconomic variables, smoking, alcohol use, and pesticide use, showed the association between age 65 years and above, female gender, high school education, and neonicotinoid detection. OR were 1.86 (1.04, 3.32), 1.63 (1.11, 2.38), and 0.49 (0.26, 0.93), respectively. Fruit and vegetable consumption were the potential sources of exposure to neonicotinoids