Real-time extraction of growth rates from rotating substrates during molecular-beam epitaxy

We present a method for measuring molecular‐beam epitaxy growth rates in near real‐time on rotating substrates. This is done by digitizing a video image of the reflection high‐energy electron diffraction screen, automatically tracking and measuring the specular spot width, and using numerical techniques to filter the resulting signal. The digitization and image and signal processing take approximately 0.4 s to accomplish, so this technique offers the molecular‐beam epitaxy grower the ability to actively adjust growth times in order to deposit a desired layer thickness. The measurement has a demonstrated precision of approximately 2%, which is sufficient to allow active control of epilayer thickness by counting monolayers as they are deposited. When postgrowth techniques, such as frequency domain analysis, are also used, the reflection high‐energy electron diffraction measurement of layer thickness on rotating substrates improves to a precision of better than 1%. Since all of the components in the system described are commercially available, duplication is straightforward

Not-For-Profit Hospitals and Managed Care Organizations: Why the 501c)(3) Tax-Exempt Status Should Be Revised

Healthcare organizations abuse the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status—reaping tax benefits but failing to give back to their local communities in return. Congress created the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status to benefit the poor and impoverished. Yet, not-for-profit hospitals and managed care organizations are neither required to offer services to the poor nor required to offer emergency care services to their local communities. Instead, they charge higher prices in their increasingly concentrated markets. Therefore, consumers subsidize the same not-for-profit healthcare systems that charge them higher prices. This Article analyzes government-placed incentives under the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, demonstrating how not-for-profit hospitals unfairly compete with for-profit hospitals. Studies show that not-for-profit hospitals have larger profit spreads than their for-profit counterparts. This Article will also demonstrate how the government encourages not-for-profit healthcare entities to increase their market power and extract rents from consumers. Today, the out-patient care business model fractionalizes the healthcare industry. Subsequently, not-for-profit healthcare entities can now acquire assets or firms in a piecemeal fashion, resulting in highly concentrated markets. The third-party payor system and the Affordable Care Act exacerbate the issue, destroying traditional market forces. The third-party payor system creates a disconnect between the true provider and true consumer of healthcare treatment. The Affordable Care Act imposed additional requirements on not-for-profit hospitals—intending to incentivize charitable giving. Instead, the Affordable Care Act’s additional requirements incentivize profit-maximizing behavior at the expense of charitable giving. Because the healthcare industry suffers from a misalignment of pecuniary incentives and public health needs, creating clout on who the actual winners and losers are, the tax-exempt status should be revisited

Automated transport and society. Identifying drawbacks, exploring possibilities

Automated Vehicles (AV) are those which are able to steer, break, accelerate, maintain speed, and perform a number of other operations without direct human interference. In the future, their level of automation is expected to move from simple driving to full automation. Recent research on AV tends to focus on how to make them a commercially viable technological reality and on their advantages. In this research, the merits of AV are presented in a very optimistic way while the drawbacks are either supressed or framed as ‘implementation barriers’. Furthermore the existing body of research look at AVs from a strictly legal and engineering perspective, therefore not taking into consideration the full range of potential outcomes of AV using a transdisciplinary approach. The additional contribution of this paper would be to enrich the existing body of research providing appropriate attention to the societal impacts of AVs adoption, using a holistic and transdisciplinary approach, and focusing in particular on the AVs impacts on the equity of distribution of benefits and costs to the different social groups. In more details this paper aims at providing (1) a contribution to fill this problematic research gap, through a critical multi-disciplinary analysis of the societal impacts of implementing AVs; (2) possible solutions to help solving these problems, when solutions can be envisioned. A mixed methodology approach is used. First, a web-based survey has been conducted among different stakeholders and second, a number of semi-structured expert interviews has been directed with leading figures from different areas of expertise

Random template banks and relaxed lattice coverings

Template-based searches for gravitational waves are often limited by the computational cost associated with searching large parameter spaces. The study of efficient template banks, in the sense of using the smallest number of templates, is therefore of great practical interest. The "traditional" approach to template-bank construction requires every point in parameter space to be covered by at least one template, which rapidly becomes inefficient at higher dimensions. Here we study an alternative approach, where any point in parameter space is covered only with a given probability < 1. We find that by giving up complete coverage in this way, large reductions in the number of templates are possible, especially at higher dimensions. The prime examples studied here are "random template banks", in which templates are placed randomly with uniform probability over the parameter space. In addition to its obvious simplicity, this method turns out to be surprisingly efficient. We analyze the statistical properties of such random template banks, and compare their efficiency to traditional lattice coverings. We further study "relaxed" lattice coverings (using Zn and An* lattices), which similarly cover any signal location only with probability < 1. The relaxed An* lattice is found to yield the most efficient template banks at low dimensions (n < 10), while random template banks increasingly outperform any other method at higher dimensions.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PR

Measuring walking accessibility to public transport for the elderly: the case of Naples

Demographic ageing represents an essential challenge for local authorities and public transport providers. Decision-makers should not ignore the speci c needs of this weak segment of the population and should implement appropriate policies. This paper develops a GIS-based method to analyse public transport accessibility of elderly people to support policies and planning strategies. To test the proposed method, we propose an application to the city of Naples in Italy. We selected this study case because it represents an example of high population density, complex urban structure and low level of quality of life, especially for the elderly. The application to the city of Naples showed that the urban accessibility changes dramatically for different age segments. Results also reveal patterns of public transport coverage that are signi cantly low particularly in suburban settings. The structure of this paper is organised into four sections: in the rst section, we introduce the main topic of mobility of elderly; in the second section, we describe and discuss the GIS-based method proposed; in the third section, we report on the application to the city of Naples; in the last section, we analyse the results and discuss future research developments

Kritinės pastabos apie Schmitto politinį realizmą

According to a widely accepted line of interpretation, Carl Schmitt’s political philosophy is a classic example of political realism. In this article I propose, starting with an analysis of some themes from the essay published in 1923&nbsp;Die geistesgeschichtliche Lage des heutigen Parlamentarismus, to challenge this interpretation. An in-depth analysis of Schmitt’s critique of parliamentarism and identitarian democracy may, in fact, suggest that his proposal is a normative theory of political enmity.Remiantis plačiai pripažįstama interpretacija, Carlo Schmitto politinė filosofija laikoma klasikiniu politinio realizmo pavyzdžiu. Šiame straipsnyje, pradėdamas nuo kai kurių temų, išdėstytų 1923 m. publikuotoje jo esė&nbsp;Die geistesgeschichtliche Lage des heutigen Parlamentarismus, siūlau užklausti šią interpretaciją. Nuodugni Schmitto parlamentarizmo ir identitarinės demokratijos kritikos analizė gali, tiesą sakant, rodyti, kad jis siūlo normatyvinę politinio priešiškumo teoriją

Analysis of food supplement with unusual raspberry ketone content

In recent years food supplement market increased constantly, including slimming products and against obesity. The case of rasberry ketone (RK) is here reported. HPTLC and HPLC-DAD analyses on a marketed product containing raspberry juice evidenced an abnormal quantity of RK, not in accordance with the juice natural content. The reported data confirm the need of adequate controls on marketed food supplements and the necessity of a complete adherence between labelling and real constitution of the product. Practical Applications: Determining the natural origin and assuring the consumers' safety for raspberry-based food supplement