The sequence of Compton dominance in blazars based on data from WISE and Fermi/LAT

The two-component broad-band spectral energy distributions of blazars were suggested to form a sequence in which (1) the peak frequency of the low-energy (synchrotron) component nu_syn is anticorrelated with the synchrotron luminosity L_syn, and (2) the luminosity ratio of the high-energy (inverse Compton) to synchrotron components q = L_IC / L_syn (Compton dominance) increases with L_syn from the BL Lac objects (BL Lacs) to the flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs). The Compton dominance parameter is an important probe of plasma magnetisation in the blazar zones within relativistic jets. We investigate a sample of blazars detected by WISE in the mid-infrared (MIR) band and by Fermi/LAT in the GeV gamma-ray band, with the focus on the distribution of luminosities and photon indices. Our findings are the following: (1) the MIR photon index Gamma_W12 is a useful probe of the blazar sequence, with the exception of low-luminosity BL Lacs that are most likely contaminated by their host galaxies (L_W1 ~ 10^44 erg/s and Gamma_W12 < 1); (2) Gamma_W12 is correlated with the gamma-ray photon index Gamma_1-100GeV, with the MIR luminosity L_W1, and with the Fermi/WISE Compton dominance q_FW = L_1GeV/L_W1; (3) a clean separation between FSRQs and BL Lacs can be seen in the parameter space of Gamma_W12 and q_FW; (4) the observed distribution of MIR luminosity L_W1 vs. Compton dominance q_FW for the entire sample of blazars can be modeled as a sequence of lepto-magnetic jet powers in the range (log_10 P_eB) in [42:45] with the preference for sub-equipartition magnetic fields P_B/P_e in [0.05:1], assuming fixed bulk Lorentz factor Gamma_j = 15, fixed jet opening angle Gamma_j Theta_j = 0.3, fixed radiative efficiency of jet electrons epsilon_em = 50%, and that external radiation luminosity scales like L_ext propto (P_eB)^(1.6) (parameter degeneracies are discussed).Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to A&

International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL): Promoting Science and Technology Librarianship in the Changing Library Landscape

International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL) has been in the forefront of providing leadership to information professionals and promoting science and Technology librarianship in today's changing library landscape. The present article is an attempt to comprehend the present status of IATUL and analyze the activities and contribution it has made to overcome the range of challenges facing by tertiary level Technological libraries throughout the world. The SWOT analysis method is used to assess the achievements of IATUL, failures and ascertain constraints being faced in this internet age. The author relied on web sites as well as ephemeral material such as minutes, annu- al reports, newsletters, and memoranda to construct this article. Meeting and Interview with IATUL present and past presidents and other office bearers of the associations provided useful sources of information. It is also attempted to pro- vide relevant information for those interested to join IATUL for professional development

Gender folding and pre-teen kissing

Are ‘homonormative’ narratives, full of labels for identities, becoming as rigid as heteronormative narratives? Maitrayee Basu questions the need for naming relations and argues that the fluidity of desires and identities leads to a better expression of self. This article has been published collaboratively by LSE Equality and Diversity and LSE Engenderings blogs to mark LGBT History Month

Design For Optimizing Food waste

Having a sustainable food system, which compliments the food production today is a global need. This paper aims to answer what can be done to make the system and products, not just sustainable but how to create a behavioral change towards a sustainable lifestyle and conscious consumption. This paper was initiated to research a solution for food waste in the current system. At the beginning itself, it shows how elaborate the problem is, and needs to be narrowed down. Thus it has been focused on an American household of young adults. By understanding their behavior, habit, and lifestyle, it leads to the core of the problem. This research work explores how kitchen appliances can be sustainable not just from a materials and manufacturing point of view but from a usability stand as well. The human-centered design process of a product can lead to behavioral changes and thus developing an unconscious habit formation in users. The resulting service and product address the problem of food waste by making the user aware of their food consumption behavior and generating a sustainable lifestyle

Calculation in the pirate bazaars

Recent debates in economic sociology have focused on the question of long-term calculation specific to capitalism. With a renewed interest in Max Weber’s work, particularly his seminal essay, The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, scholars such as Arjun Appadurai and Jens Beckert have analysed calculative devices intrinsic to long-term accounting. Appadurai highlights the charismatic figure of the financial player who speculates on uncertainty, the same realm of uncertainty that in Beckert’s work becomes intelligible through the creation of market fictions. In this paper, I instead explore calculation as it unfolds in bazaars selling contraband and pirated electronic goods. Based on an ethnographic account of Delhi’s Lajpat Rai market, Palika Bazaar, and Nehru Place, I argue that calculation in the pirate bazaars is of a short-term nature and oriented to an embedded economic rationality that is closely entangled with the longue durée of everyday life. Rather than future-oriented fictions, small-scale traders employ moral stories and piracy-related discourses to meet day-to-day survival needs

Analysis of the EU and US Legal Frameworks of Anti-Competitive Practices in Merger and Acquisitions Where Patents Remain Unutilized

The legal fields of Mergers and Acquisitions, Competition Law, and Intellectual Property are all well-researched areas with a long history of case law as well. However, at the intersection of these legal fields, there are some important areas that are studied less extensively, although they impose a significant practical effect on the economical and scientific progress of society. One such area lies at an intersection of Mergers and Acquisitions, Antitrust Laws on anti-competitive practices, and Patents, specifically the case when important patents remain unutilized by the companies after the merger or acquisition happens. This scenario may occur for many reasons, from negligence or inability to thoroughly consider the potential of each item in the patent portfolio of all companies involved in the merger and acquisition, all the way to deliberate action taken to acquire companies solely for their patent portfolios, because they are perceived to pose a future risk to the acquiring company’s current business lines. In this dissertation, I will attempt to prove that even though the scenarios where patents remain unutilized after the merger or acquisition happens are not desirable for the economy and society, as many national and international legal frameworks on anti-competitive behavior clearly state, the current national and international organizations do not currently have effective operative measures in place to prevent such scenarios, identify the companies involved and hold them accountable. I will first examine the three different legal fields, their definitions, the objectives of the legislator, some of their most important practical implications in the fields where they intersect from the perspective of our study: Mergers and Acquisitions, Antitrust Laws and Patents. I will pay attention that I describe not only the theory but the practice of these legal fields as well, by investigating the current laws, treaties and case law. Understanding that these legal fields each present a wide topic, I will focus my investigation on the European Union and United States laws and practices, with occasionally some other international examples as well. In the following chapters, I will investigate the practical implications of the scenario where patents remain unutilized after certain mergers and acquisitions, to be able to show the magnitude of the issue by interpolating the relatively scarce economic data available on this subject. The scarcity of data is understandable if we think about the fact that it will not be in the interest of the companies involved to publish such data, and since the problem has not yet been recognized as a major study subject, there are not enough secondary sources where this data could be gathered either. However, for the purposes of my argument, it is enough to prove the existence of the problem, prove that it is not covered by effective measures of the EU and US institutions to prevent these scenarios, identify the companies involved and hold them accountable. This will already show that the objectives of the legislator are not met in the scenarios when patents remain unutilized after certain mergers and acquisitions. My attempts to illustrate the magnitude of the problem will only serve as an emphasizing factor that it needs urgent and operative action from national and international policymakers. In order to make my dissertation as practical as possible, I have decided to include a detailed case study from the European merger control case law where a patent with great importance was left unutilized after a merger. The patent in question was about Gallium Nitride RF Power Transistors, and - as we will discuss - it was fundamental in the development of today’s 4G and 5G telecom network infrastructure. In fact, in this case, the competition authority’s sole focus on market concentration may have been the cause of the acquiring company’s decision to leave the patent unutilized. The fact that development in this area hasn’t stalled was entirely due to other companies taking over and developing their own patents, own technology, and own production facilities. I will also establish an operational framework for a new office of national or international competition authorities, which I am calling the Innovation Protection Office. The proposed operational framework is intended to establish some practical solutions to protect customer access to the officially recognized innovative advantage of patents and ensuring their utilization. I will review the current legal framework for applicable laws and procedures by which this goal can be achieved. There could be many other operational guidelines, processes, or organizational structures that would achieve the same result. Therefore, my main goal in establishing and describing this operational framework is to offer future legislators interested in the problem and the solution some useful tools to govern public policy

ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION, AND IDENTIFICATION OF BACTERIA FROM INDUSTRIAL AND MARKET WASTE AREAS

A study was conducted to isolate and examine the bacterial strains from litter areas. Two soil samples were collected from waste disposal sites, namely, industrial waste sites of Nilon’s pickle industry in Dalgaon and market waste sites of Balugaon vegetable market of Kharupetia in Darrang district (Assam). A total of nine bacterial strains were identified at industrial waste dumps, namely Leclercia adecarboxylata, two strains of Pseudomonas putidia, Ralstonia pickettii, three strains of Serratia marcescens and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and at market waste dumps, four out of five bacterial isolates were identified, namely two strains of Enterococcus cloacae, Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus coagulans using the Vitek-MS MALDI TOF system. For both soil samples, morphological, biochemical, physicochemical tests were carried out against all bacterial strains to identify a beneficial bacterial strain