A rhetorical criticism of the campaign speeches of Adlai E. Stevenson

The 1952 Presidential campaign ushered into national prominence the Democratic nominee, Adlai Ewing Stevenson. His sudden and dramatic emergence as an important factor in world politics was due in part to his unique oratory. Dynamic in style and content, his speeches commanded the rapt attention of the American people for three intense months during which he delivered over two hundred and fifty. Of interest and importance is the new insight into national problems that he gave to the American voter as a result of these orations. The problem is to analyze, through his public addresses before and during the 1952 campaign, the power of his oratory with respect to the enforcement of ideas, and to more fully understand his personality and philosophy

Grassland management affects vegetation structure, bats and their beetle prey

Agricultural grasslands provide vital habitats for many species. Yet despite representing a significant proportion of European land use, they are disproportionately understudied compared to arable systems. Increases in productivity and intensification have led to changes in management practices, which are likely to affect grassland habitats and the ecological communities that they support. This study simultaneously monitored three trophic levels to assess the impacts of permanent versus temporary pasture (leys) on vegetation composition, carabid and dung beetle abundance, and the activity of beetle-feeding bats. Leys had lower abundances of soil-inhabiting dung beetles, which may be explained by the more recent exposure to tilling compared with permanent pasture. Beetle-feeding bat activity was also greater in leys, with positive relationships between E. serotinus activity and Onthophagus abundance across both pasture types. However, the lack of any positive relationships between beetle-feeding bat activity and Aphodius, a well-known prey genus, suggests that other key prey orders (Lepidoptera) may be of more influence on bat activity. As well as the management of pasture, differences in cattle management between pasture types can have a significant impact on vegetation and soil structure, which influence invertebrate communities and potentially dictate habitat suitability for bats

How Well-Targeted Are Payroll Tax Cuts as a Response to COVID-19? Evidence from China

Numerous countries cut payroll taxes in response to economic downturns caused by COVID-19. This includes China, which completely exempted most firms from making social insurance (SI) contributions, resulting in an average tax cut of 21 percentage points on formal labor costs and approximately 20% of total tax remittances made by firms. We use novel data on 900,000 firms in one Chinese province to document new facts about the structure of SI in China and evaluate payroll tax cuts as a COVID-19 relief measure. We calculate that labor informality causes 54% of tax-registered firms---representing 24% of aggregate economic activity---to receive no benefits. Labor formality also increases with firm size, further skewing the benefit of payroll tax cuts towards large firms. But despite the mistargeting that results from these facts, the benefit of the tax cuts relative to firms\u27 operating costs and liquidity is likely larger both for smaller firms and in industries most affected by the COVID-19 shock because these firms and industries are more labor-intensive

Some remarks on the notions of general covariance and background independence

In the first part of this paper I review some of the difficulties that seem to obstruct generally valid definitions of "general covariance" and/or "background independence" The second and more historical part deals with a rather strange argument that Einstein put forward in his 1913 "Entwurf paper" with M. Grossmann to discredit scalar theories of gravity in order to promote general covariance.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures. Contribution to ``An assessment of current paradigms in the physics of fundamental interactions'', edited by I.O. Stamatescu (Springer Verlag, to appear

Transparent Patch Antenna on a-Si Thin Film Glass Solar Module

An optically transparent microstrip patch mounted on the surface of a commercially available solar module is proposed. The patch comprises a thin sheet of clear polyester with a conductive coating. The amorphous silicon solar cells in the module are used as both photovoltaic generator and antenna ground plane. The proposed structure provides a peak gain of 3.96 dBi in the 3.4-3.8 GHz range without significantly compromising the light transmission in the module. A comparison between copper and transparent conductors is made in terms of antenna and solar performance. The proposed technique is considerably simpler that previous integration approaches

Novel Techniques for the Integration of Antennas and Photovoltaic Cells

Various novel approaches to the integration of antenna and photovoltaic technologies are proposed. These include the use of polycrystalline solar cells as groundplane for microstrip patch antennas as well as for reflectors of half-wave dipole antennas. Transparent materials were also evaluated as antenna radiating elements, allowing greater solar efficiency. A novel technique illustrating how emitter-wrap-through rear contact solar cells can be used as a folded-dipole antenna, which is located in the focal line of a parabolic solar concentrator, to provide high solar efficiency as well as high antenna gain, is presented

On Surface Currents in a Polycrystalline Solar Cell Acting as Ground Plane for Microstrip Patch Antennas

The integration of communication devices with photovoltaic (PV) technology leads to the development of autonomous communication systems distinguished by immunity to grid breakdowns and eco-friendliness

Influence of Solar Heating on the Performance of Integrated Solar Cell Microstrip Patch Antennas

The integration of microstrip patch antennas with photovoltaics has been proposed for applications in autonomous wireless communication systems located on building façades. Full integration was achieved using polycrystalline silicon solar cells as both antenna ground plane and direct current power generation in the same device. An overview of the proposed photovoltaic antenna designs is provided and the variation characterised of the electromagnetic properties of the device with temperature and solar radiation. Measurements for both copper and solar antennas are reported on three different commercial laminates with contrasting values for thermal coefficient of the dielectric constant

MEMS practice, from the lab to the telescope

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology can provide for deformable mirrors (DMs) with excellent performance within a favorable economy of scale. Large MEMS-based astronomical adaptive optics (AO) systems such as the Gemini Planet Imager are coming on-line soon. As MEMS DM end-users, we discuss our decade of practice with the micromirrors, from inspecting and characterizing devices to evaluating their performance in the lab. We also show MEMS wavefront correction on-sky with the "Villages" AO system on a 1-m telescope, including open-loop control and visible-light imaging. Our work demonstrates the maturity of MEMS technology for astronomical adaptive optics.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures, Invited Paper, SPIE Photonics West 201

Using Bayesian state-space models with Age-At-Harvest data to estimate black bear abundance and demographic parameters.

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