Agenda Control in the Bundestag, 1980-2002

We find strong evidence of monopoly legislative agenda control by government parties in the Bundestag. First, the government parties have near-zero roll rates, while the opposition parties are often rolled over half the time. Second, only opposition parties’ (and not government parties’) roll rates increase with the distances of each party from the floor median. Third, almost all policy moves are towards the government coalition (the only exceptions occur during periods of divided government). Fourth, roll rates for government parties sky- rocket when they fall into the opposition and roll rates for opposition parties plummet when they enter government, while policy movements go from being nearly 100 per cent rightward when there is a rightist government to 100 per cent leftward under a leftist government

Retinal photoreceptor complement of paleognathous birds

Studies of the cone visual pigment complement from a wide range of representatives of the vertebrate classes have provided data on the origins and evolution of vertebrate colour vision. Tetrachromatic visual systems have been identified in many diurnal birds, as well as in some reptiles and fish. However, little data are available for the paleognathous birds, a group that represents the earliest offshoot of the main avian stem and may provide an important link between the visual system of reptiles and those of the neognathous birds. Microspectrophotometry (MSP) was used to determine the absorbance spectra of both rod and cone visual pigments and oil droplets from the retinae of the ostrich (Struthio camelus) and rhea (Rhea americana). Light and fluorescence microscopy of whole fresh tissue mounts was used to determine the relative numbers of oil droplets in the retinae. Both species possess rods, double cones and four classes of single cone identified by their oil droplets. The rods have [lambda]max at about 505-nm, whereas three cone pigments were recorded with [lambda]max at about 570, 505 and 445 nm. The 570-nm pigment is located in both members of the double cones and in a class of single cone containing a red (R-type) oil droplet with ?cut at about 560-nm. The 510-nm and 445-nm cone pigments were found in populations of single cones containing yellow (Y-type) and clear (C-type) oil droplets with ?cut at about 500 and 420-nm respectively. Double cones possess a pale (P-type) droplet in the principal member and a small droplet containing low concentrations of carotenoid (A-type) in the accessory member. The fourth class of single cone contains a transparent (T- type) droplet and in the ostrich a 405-nm pigment has been characterised. The complement of visual pigments and oil droplets, and the relative ratio of cone types in the ostrich and rhea are remarkably similar to that found in neognathous birds. Nucleotide sequences from opsin genes of both the ostrich and rhea have been identified. Comparison of these sequences with those from other avian species indicates that paleognathous opsins are highly homologous to the opsins found for neognathous avian species

LTE performance evaluation with realistic channel quality indicator feedback

In the context of mobile communications, the availability of new services and mobile applications along with the constant evolution in terminals run up the need of higher data rates. In order to fulfill such expectations, mobile operators are continually optimizing and upgrading their networks. The Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) seems to be the path to follow in a very short term. The objective of this project is to study the behaviour of the radio resource assignment in LTE under realistic conditions. The scheduling is a key process in the functioning of the radio interface. Thus, two types of schedulers can be identified, the opportunistic, where the scheduler considers the state of the radio channel to make the best allocation possible, and the non-opportunistic, where the allocation has no knowledge of the radio channel‘s state. As the opportunistic option adapts to the radio channel conditions it requires the transmission of a certain level of signalling from users informing about how the channel evolves along time. One of the objectives of this project is to evaluate the system performance under different degrees of feedback. To do this, different CQI reporting methods have been programmed and simulated. So, to achieve this objective it is obvious that a second one is necessary: program and simulate in a more realistic way the LTE radio channel. The followed methodology has been fundamentally the programming of different mathematical models and algorithms, as well as its simulation. In concrete, one of the main tasks in this work has been to extent a software platform of the research group Wicomtec to obtain more realistic results through dynamic simulations over a dynamic radio channel

Think Different: Applying the Old Macintosh Mantra to the Computability of the SUSY Auxiliary Field Problem

Starting with valise supermultiplets obtained from 0-branes plus field redefinitions, valise adinkra networks, and the "Garden Algebra," we discuss an architecture for algorithms that (starting from on-shell theories and, through a well-defined computation procedure), search for off-shell completions. We show in one dimension how to directly attack the notorious "off-shell auxiliary field" problem of supersymmetry with algorithms in the adinkra network-world formulation.Comment: 28 pages, 1 figur

Effects of quantized fields on the spacetime geometries of static spherically symmetric black holes

Analytic approximations for the stress-energy of quantized fields in the Hartle-Hawking state in static black hole spacetimes predict divergences on the event horizon of the black hole for a number of important cases. Such divergences, if real, could substantially alter the spacetime geometry near the event horizon, possibly preventing the black hole from existing. The results of three investigations of these types of effects are presented. The first involves a new analytic approximation for conformally invariant fields in Reissner-Nordstrom spacetimes which is finite on the horizon. The second focuses on the stress-energy of massless scalar fields in Schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes. The third focuses on the stress-energy of massless scalar fields in zero temperature black hole geometries that could be solutions to the semiclassical backreaction equations near the event horizon of the black hole.Comment: 5 pages. To appear in the "Proceedings of the Eleventh Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity", July 2006, Berlin, German

Financial Impact of Emergency Department Crowding

Objective: The economic benefits of reducing emergency department (ED) crowding are potentially substantial as they may decrease hospital length of stay. Hospital administrators and public officials may therefore be motivated to implement crowding protocols. We sought to identify a potential cost of ED crowding by evaluating the contribution of excess ED length of stay (LOS) to overall hospital length of stay. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of administrative data of adult patients from two urban hospitals (one county and one university) in Brooklyn, New York from 2006-2007. Data was provided by each facility. Extrapolating from prior research (Krochmal and Riley, 2005), we determined the increase in total hospital LOS due to extended ED lengths of stay, and applied cost and charge analyses for the two separate facilities. Results: We determined that 6,205 (5.0%) admitted adult patients from the county facility and 3,017 (3.4%) patients from the university facility were held in the ED greater than one day over a one-year period. From prior research, it has been estimated that each of these patient’s total hospital length of stay was increased on average by 11.7% (0.61 days at the county facility, and 0.71 days at the university facility). The increased charges over one year at the county facility due to the extended ED LOS was therefore approximately $9.8 million, while the increased costs at the university facility were approximately$3.9 million. Conclusion: Based on extrapolations from Krochmal and Riley applied to two New York urban hospitals, the county hospital could potentially save $9.8 million in charges and the university hospital$3.9 million in costs per year if they eliminate ED boarding of adult admitted patients by improving movement to the inpatient setting. [West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(2):192-197.

A synthetic sample of short-cadence solar-like oscillators for TESS

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has begun a two-year survey of most of the sky, which will include lightcurves for thousands of solar-like oscillators sampled at a cadence of two minutes. To prepare for this steady stream of data, we present a mock catalogue of lightcurves, designed to realistically mimic the properties of the TESS sample. In the process, we also present the first public release of the asteroFLAG Artificial Dataset Generator, which simulates lightcurves of solar-like oscillators based on input mode properties. The targets are drawn from a simulation of the Milky Way's populations and are selected in the same way as TESS's true Asteroseismic Target List. The lightcurves are produced by combining stellar models, pulsation calculations and semi-empirical models of solar-like oscillators. We describe the details of the catalogue and provide several examples. We provide pristine lightcurves to which noise can be added easily. This mock catalogue will be valuable in testing asteroseismology pipelines for TESS and our methods can be applied in preparation and planning for other observatories and observing campaigns.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJS. Archives containing the mock catalogue are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1470155 and the pipeline to produce it at https://github.com/warrickball/s4tess . The first public release of the asteroFLAG Artificial Dataset Generator v3 (AADG3) is described at https://warrickball.github.io/AADG3

The Province of Maine from the Best Authorities

The Province of Maine, from the best Authorities by Samuel Lewis, 1794. W. Barker, sculp. [Scale of] American Miles 69 1/2 to a Degree. Engraved for Carey\u27s American Edition of Guthrie\u27s Geography improved. Black and white, foldout map of northern Massachusetts showing the New Hampshire border and identifies the Line between the United States and the British Possessions by Treaty 1785 including Quebec and Nova Scotia. Map size: 36 x 24 cm. Scale 1:1,520,640. Engraved by W. Barker. Map is in stable condition but shows folds and creases.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainebicentennial/1014/thumbnail.jp