Comparing Competing Theories on the Causes of Mandate Perceptions

The discussion of presidential mandates is as certain as a presidential election itself. Journalists inevitably discuss whether the president-elect has a popular mandate. Because they see elections as too complex to allow the public to send a unitary signal, political scientists are more skeptical of mandates. Mandates, however, have received new attention by scholars asking whether perceptions of mandate arise and lead representatives to act as if voters sent a policy directive. Two explanations have emerged to account for why elected officials might react to such perceptions. One focuses on the President’s strategic decision to declare a mandate, the second on how members of Congress read signals of changing preferences in the electorate from their own election results. We test these competing views to see which more accurately explains how members of Congress act in support of a perceived mandate. The results indicate that members respond more to messages about changing preferences than to the president’s mandate declaration

Portal technologies for patient-centred integrated care

Integrated care pathways (ICP) are increasingly used in clinical settings to provide more effective care to patients. ICPs form part of local working agreements to assist co-ordination of multi-disciplinary teams to deliver evidence-based care plans to individual patients. They also document the expected progress of specific patient groups as part of clinical records. To anticipate increased use of ICPs, we have developed Healthcare@Home, a research-phase demonstrator for improving integration of information along the patient path. Healthcare@Home includes support for at-home, in-clinic and mobile wireless sensor devices feeding patient-proximal data hubs, timeline-based physiological trend analysis, data aggregation/dashboarding and individualised risk stratification. These and other decision support tools are embedded in portal designs supporting 'end-to-end' workflows as focused by the composite needs of a National Service Framework (NSF) for patients with diabetes. Healthcare@Home thus represents a scaleable, extensible personalised healthcare information system driven directly from national policy on disease early detection and prevention. Individual portlets have been mapped to stages in the ICP. The portal technologies employed, running on PCs, mobile phones or TVs are capable of highly cost-effective 'end-to-end, anywhere-to-anywhere' information integration

Resist materials for 157-nm microlithography: an update

Fluorocarbon polymers and siloxane-based polymers have been identified as promising resist candidates for 157 nm material design because of their relatively high transparency at this wavelength. This paper reports our recent progress toward developing 157 nm resist materials based on the first of these two polymer systems. In addition to the 2-hydroxyhexafluoropropyl group, (alpha) -trifluoromethyl carboxylic acids have been identified as surprisingly transparent acidic functional groups. Polymers based on these groups have been prepared and preliminary imaging studies at 157 nm are described. 2-Trifluoromethyl-bicyclo[2,2,1] heptane-2-carboxylic acid methyl ester derived from methyl 2-(trifluoromethyl)acrylate was also prepared and gas-phase VUV measurements showed substantially improved transparency over norbornane. This appears to be a general characteristic of norbornane-bearing geminal electron-withdrawing substituents on the 2 carbon bridge. Unfortunately, neither the NiII nor PdII catalysts polymerize these transparent norbornene monomers by vinyl addition. However, several new approaches to incorporating these transparent monomers into functional polymers have been investigated. The first involved the synthesis of tricyclononene (TCN) monomers that move the bulky electron withdrawing groups further away from the site of addition. The hydrogenated geminally substituted TCN monomer still has far better transparency at 157 nm than norbornane. The second approach involved copolymerizing the norbornene monomers with carbon monoxide. The third approach involved free-radical polymerization of norbornene monomers with tetrafluoroethylene and/or other electron-deficient comonomers. All these approaches provided new materials with encouraging absorbance at 157 nm. The lithographic performance of some of these polymers is discussed

CalDAG-GEFI Deficiency Reduces Atherosclerotic Lesion Development in MiceSignificance

Platelets are important to the development and progression of atherosclerotic lesions. However, relatively little is known about the contribution of platelet signaling to this pathological process. Our recent work identified two independent, yet synergistic signaling pathways that lead to the activation of the small GTPase Rap1; one mediated by the guanine nucleotide exchange factor, CalDAG-GEFI (CDGI), the other by P2Y12, a platelet receptor for ADP and the target of anti-platelet drugs. In this study, we evaluated lesion formation in atherosclerosis-prone low-density lipoprotein receptor deficient (Ldlr−/−) mice lacking CDGI and/or P2Y12 in hematopoietic cells

Calibration of the modulation transfer function of surface profilometers with binary pseudo-random test standards: expanding the application range

A modulation transfer function (MTF) calibration method based on binary pseudo-random (BPR) gratings and arrays [Proc. SPIE 7077-7 (2007), Opt. Eng. 47, 073602 (2008)] has been proven to be an effective MTF calibration method for a number of interferometric microscopes and a scatterometer [Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A616, 172 (2010)]. Here we report on a further expansion of the application range of the method. We describe the MTF calibration of a 6 inch phase shifting Fizeau interferometer. Beyond providing a direct measurement of the interferometer's MTF, tests with a BPR array surface have revealed an asymmetry in the instrument's data processing algorithm that fundamentally limits its bandwidth. Moreover, the tests have illustrated the effects of the instrument's detrending and filtering procedures on power spectral density measurements. The details of the development of a BPR test sample suitable for calibration of scanning and transmission electron microscopes are also presented. Such a test sample is realized as a multilayer structure with the layer thicknesses of two materials corresponding to BPR sequence. The investigations confirm the universal character of the method that makes it applicable to a large variety of metrology instrumentation with spatial wavelength bandwidths from a few nanometers to hundreds of millimeters

Towards a Cosmological Hubble Diagram for Type II-P Supernovae

We present the first high-redshift Hubble diagram for Type II-P supernovae (SNe II-P) based upon five events at redshift up to z~0.3. This diagram was constructed using photometry from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Supernova Legacy Survey and absorption line spectroscopy from the Keck observatory. The method used to measure distances to these supernovae is based on recent work by Hamuy & Pinto (2002) and exploits a correlation between the absolute brightness of SNe II-P and the expansion velocities derived from the minimum of the Fe II 516.9 nm P-Cygni feature observed during the plateau phases. We present three refinements to this method which significantly improve the practicality of measuring the distances of SNe II-P at cosmologically interesting redshifts. These are an extinction correction measurement based on the V-I colors at day 50, a cross-correlation measurement for the expansion velocity and the ability to extrapolate such velocities accurately over almost the entire plateau phase. We apply this revised method to our dataset of high-redshift SNe II-P and find that the resulting Hubble diagram has a scatter of only 0.26 magnitudes, thus demonstrating the feasibility of measuring the expansion history, with present facilities, using a method independent of that based upon supernovae of Type Ia.Comment: 36 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Metal-Catalyzed Addition Polymers for 157 nm Resist Applications. Synthesis and Polymerization of Partially Fluorinated, Ester-Functionalized Tricyclo[4.2.1.0_(2,5)]non-7-enes

Fluorinated tricyclo[4.2.1.0^(2,5)]non-7-ene-3-carboxylic acid esters are shown to undergo metal-catalyzed addition polymerization. The resulting homopolymers are transparent at 157 nm and demonstrate the utility of these monomers in development of photoresists for 157 nm lithography. Fluorinated tricyclononene (TCN) structures with ester substituents exhibit up to 3 orders of magnitude more transparency at 157 nm than conventional ester-functionalized norbornene structures as determined by gas-phase vacuum-ultraviolet spectroscopy and variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry. Unlike their fluorinated norbornene counterparts, the fluorinated, ester-functionalized TCN monomers successfully undergo transition-metal-catalyzed addition polymerization to produce polymers with high glass transition temperatures and the etch resistance required for photolithographic resist materials applications. The potential use of fluorinated TCN structures for 157 nm photoresists is demonstrated through the synthesis and characterization of TCN monomers and polymers

The Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey: HerMES

The Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey, HerMES, is a legacy program designed to map a set of nested fields totalling ~380 deg^2. Fields range in size from 0.01 to ~20 deg^2, using Herschel-SPIRE (at 250, 350 and 500 \mu m), and Herschel-PACS (at 100 and 160 \mu m), with an additional wider component of 270 deg^2 with SPIRE alone. These bands cover the peak of the redshifted thermal spectral energy distribution from interstellar dust and thus capture the re-processed optical and ultra-violet radiation from star formation that has been absorbed by dust, and are critical for forming a complete multi-wavelength understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. The survey will detect of order 100,000 galaxies at 5\sigma in some of the best studied fields in the sky. Additionally, HerMES is closely coordinated with the PACS Evolutionary Probe survey. Making maximum use of the full spectrum of ancillary data, from radio to X-ray wavelengths, it is designed to: facilitate redshift determination; rapidly identify unusual objects; and understand the relationships between thermal emission from dust and other processes. Scientific questions HerMES will be used to answer include: the total infrared emission of galaxies; the evolution of the luminosity function; the clustering properties of dusty galaxies; and the properties of populations of galaxies which lie below the confusion limit through lensing and statistical techniques. This paper defines the survey observations and data products, outlines the primary scientific goals of the HerMES team, and reviews some of the early results.Comment: 23 pages, 17 figures, 9 Tables, MNRAS accepte