An International Perspective on Political Scandals

This comparative study of political scandals in Italy, France, Spain, Japan, Russia and the United States led to the development of a sociology-based generalized stage model that is an initial step in explaining why scandals arise and how they are worked through and resolved. A crucial phase is the conflict phase between elites and masses, where potential scandals may die while others accelerate. The question of which events evolve to scandal and which do not is also likely to be worked through in this phase. The norm of reciprocity between officials and the public played a significant role in both scandal acceleration and scandal delimitation.economics and politics of scandals; comparative study; stage model of scandals; multi-theoretical approach

Ferrogels cross-linked by magnetic particles: Field-driven deformation and elasticity studied using computer simulations

Ferrogels, i.e. swollen polymer networks into which magnetic particles are immersed, can be considered as "smart materials" since their shape and elasticity can be controlled by an external magnetic field. Using molecular dynamics simulations on the coarse-grained level we study a ferrogel in which the magnetic particles act as the cross-linkers of the polymer network. In a homogeneous external magnetic field the direct coupling between the orientation of the magnetic moments and the polymers by means of covalent bonds gives rise to a deformation of the gel, independent of the interparticle dipole-dipole interaction. In this paper we report quantitative measurements of this deformation, the gel's elastic moduli and its magnetic response. Our results demonstrate that these properties depend significantly on the topology of the polymer network

Hydrodynamic interactions in active colloidal crystal microrheology

In dense colloids it is commonly assumed that hydrodynamic interactions do not play a role. However, a found theoretical quantification is often missing. We present computer simulations that are motivated by experiments where a large colloidal particle is dragged through a colloidal crystal. To qualify the influence of long-ranged hydrodynamics, we model the setup by conventional Langevin dynamics simulations and by an improved scheme with limited hydrodynamic interactions. This scheme significantly improves our results and allows to show that hydrodynamics strongly impacts on the development of defects, the crystal regeneration as well as on the jamming behavior.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Molecular dynamics studies of the bonding properties of amorphous silicon nitride coatings on crystalline silicon

In this paper we present molecular dynamics simulations of silicon nitride, both in bulk and as an interface to crystalline silicon. We investigate, in particular, the bonding structure of the silicon nitride and analyze the simulations to search for de- fective geometries which have been identified as potential charge carrier traps when silicon nitride forms an interface with silicon semiconductors. The simulations reveal how the bonding patterns in silicon nitride are dependent upon the stoichiometry of the system. Furthermore we demonstrate how having an “interphase”, where the nitrogen content in silicon gradually reduces towards pure silicon across a boundary region, as opposed to an interface where there is an abrupt drop in nitrogen con- centration at the boundary, can result in significantly different numbers of certain important carrier tra

Belonging and Understanding: Disability Identity Grounded in Community

Produced by The Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai'i, The Frank Sawyer School of Management, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts and The School of Social Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas for The Society for Disability Studies

The Fourth Amendment\u27s Prohibition of Unreasonable Search and Seizure Does Not Prevent the Police from Implementing a Traffic Roadblock for the Purpose of Soliciting Information Related to a Specific Crime: \u3cem\u3eIllinois v. Lidster\u3c/em\u3e

The United States Supreme Court held that traffic roadblocks are reasonable if they are set up by the police in order to obtain information from the drivers about a specific crime, and therefore they do not violate the Fourth Amendment\u27s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. Illinois v. Lidster, 124 S. Ct. 885, 888 (2004)