Second class citizens - A comparative analysis of LGBTQ quality of life

The following thesis explains the differences between the Quality of Life of LGBTQ individuals within the European Union and the United States of America. Looking at the specific Quality of Life index factors of employment and healthcare, this thesis focuses on four regions: Malta, Germany, California and Texas. Overall, the European Union was found to have a higher Quality of Life for LGBTQ individuals than the United States of America in the realms of employment and healthcare. This is due to Germany and Malta having inclusive laws and regulations put in place that protect LGBTQ individuals, whereas there is various amounts of divergence between U.S. states, including Texas and California

Mibe kerül a makroszintű korrupció?

Mibe kerül a gazdasági döntésekkel és a demokrácia politikai folyamataival kapcsolatos korrupció a fejlődő világban? Ahogy ez a kritikus kérdés a legutóbbi időben a nemzetközi figyelem középpontjába kerül, úgy hallunk híreket áttörésről a korrupciós gyakorlat visszaszorítása terén. Jó példa erre a latin-amerikai országok által legutóbb törvénybe iktatott és tanulmányunkban is idézett korrupcióellenes szabályzat, vagy az a tény, hogy egyre szélesebb körben foglalják szerződésbe a felek kötelezettségvállalását arra vonatkozóan, hogy megóvják a közbeszerzések tisztaságát. A CIPE legutóbb Brazíliában nemzetközi konferenciát tartott arról, hogy a megvesztegetés hogyan növeli a nagyobb kereskedelmi ügyletek költségeit. A konferencián számos törvényhozó, gazdasági vezető és a média sok képviselője vett részt. Az összejövetel alaphangját megadó egyik előadó, George Moody-Stuart tollából származik az alábbi cikk. Elemzése és a korrupció csökkentésére vonatkozó ajánlásai világszerte megszívlelendők

Assessing the performance limits of internal coronagraphs through end-to-end modeling: a NASA TDEM study

As part of the NASA ROSES Technology Development for Exoplanet Missions (TDEM) program, we are conducting a study of three internal coronagraphs (PIAA, vector vortex, hybrid bandlimited) to understand their behaviors in realistically-aberrated systems with wavefront control (deformable mirrors). This study consists of two milestones: (1) develop wavefront propagation codes appropriate for each coronagraph that are accurate to 1% or better (compared to a reference algorithm) but are also time and memory efficient, and (2) use these codes to determine the wavefront control limits of each architecture. We discuss the results from the study so far, with emphasis on representing the PIAA coronagraph and its wavefront control behavior

End-to-end simulations of different coronagraphic techniques

The NASA exoplanet exploration program is dedicated to developing technologies for detecting and characterizing extrasolar planets. In support of that program we have evaluated three different coronagraphic techniques (bandlimited Lyot, optical vortex, and phase-induced pupil apodization) using optical propagation simulations. These utilized a complete hypothetical telescope+coronagraph system with phase and amplitude aberrations. Wavefront control using dual sequential deformable mirrors was performed. We discuss the different computational techniques necessary to accurately simulate each coronagraph

ACCESS – A Concept Study for the Direct Imaging and Spectroscopy of Exoplanetary Systems

ACCESS is one of four medium-class mission concepts selected for study in 2008-9 by NASA's Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concepts Study program. ACCESS evaluates a space observatory designed for extreme high-contrast imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanetary systems. An actively-corrected coronagraph is used to suppress the glare of diffracted and scattered starlight to contrast levels required for exoplanet imaging. The ACCESS study considered the relative merits and readiness of four major coronagraph types, and modeled their performance with a NASA medium-class space telescope. The ACCESS study asks: What is the most capable medium-class coronagraphic mission that is possible with telescope, instrument, and spacecraft technologies available today? Using demonstrated high-TRL technologies, the ACCESS science program surveys the nearest 120+ AFGK stars for exoplanet systems, and surveys the majority of those for exozodiacal dust to the level of 1 zodi at 3 AU. Coronagraph technology developments in the coming year are expected to further enhance the science reach of the ACCESS mission concept

Ageing, old age and older adults: a social media analysis of dominant topics and discourses

Whilst representations of old age and older people in traditional media have been well documented, examinations of such representations within social media discourse are still scarce. This is an unfortunate omission because of the importance of social media for communication in contemporary society. In this study, we combine content analysis and discourse analysis to explore patterns of representation on Twitter around the terms ageing, old age, older people and elderly with a sample of 1,200 tweets. Our analysis shows that ‘personal concerns/views’ and ‘health and social care’ are the predominant overall topics, although some topics are clearly linked with specific keywords. The language often used in the tweets seems to reinforce negative discourses of age and ageing that locate older adults as a disempowered, vulnerable and homogeneous group; old age is deemed a problem and ageing is considered something that needs to be resisted, slowed or disguised. These topics and discursive patterns are indeed similar to those found in empirical studies of social perceptions and traditional media portrayal of old age, which indicates that social media and Twitter in particular appears to serve as an online platform that reproduces and reinforces existing ageist discourses in traditional media that feed into social perceptions of ageing and older people.Published onlin