Nomination Processes and Policy Outcomes

We provide a set of new models of three different processes by which political parties nominate candidates for a general election: nominations by party leaders,nominations by a vote of party members, and nominations by a spending competition among potential candidates. We show that more extreme outcomes can emerge from spending competition than from nominations by votes or by party leaders, and that non-median outcomes can result via any of these processes. When voters (and potential nominees) are free to switch political parties, then median outcomes ensue when nominations are decided by a vote but not when nominations are decided by spending competition

Tailoring strain in SrTiO3 compound by low energy He+ irradiation

The ability to generate a change of the lattice parameter in a near-surface layer of a controllable thickness by ion implantation of strontium titanate is reported here using low energy He+ ions. The induced strain follows a distribution within a typical near-surface layer of 200 nm as obtained from structural analysis. Due to clamping effect from the underlying layer, only perpendicular expansion is observed. Maximum distortions up to 5-7% are obtained with no evidence of amorphisation at fluences of 1E16 He+ ions/cm2 and ion energies in the range 10-30 keV.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter (http://iopscience.iop.org/0295-5075