Computing the Margin of Victory in Preferential Parliamentary Elections

We show how to use automated computation of election margins to assess the number of votes that would need to change in order to alter a parliamentary outcome for single-member preferential electorates. In the context of increasing automation of Australian electoral processes, and accusations of deliberate interference in elections in Europe and the USA, this work forms the basis of a rigorous statistical audit of the parliamentary election outcome. Our example is the New South Wales Legislative Council election of 2015, but the same process could be used for any similar parliament for which data was available, such as the Australian House of Representatives given the proposed automatic scanning of ballots

The Power of Whispers: A Theory of Rumor, Communication, and Revolution

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Experiments in the position detection of linear switched reluctance motor

Author name used in this publication: S. W. ZhaoAuthor name used in this publication: N. C. CheungAuthor name used in this publication: W. C. GanAuthor name used in this publication: J. M. YangVersion of RecordPublishe

Thermodynamics of carrier distribution within localized electronic states with a broad Gaussian energy distribution and its effect on luminescence behavior of localized states

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Human face recognition using a spatially weighted Hausdorff distance

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Compact metallic RFID tag antennas with a loop-fed method

Several compact, low profile and metal-attachable RFID tag antennas with a loop-fed method are proposed for UHF RFID systems. The structure of the proposed antennas comprise of two parts: (1) The radiator part consists of two shorted patches, which can be treated as two quarter-wave patch antennas or a cavity. (2) A small loop printed on the paper serves as the feeding structure. The small loop provides the needed inductance for the tag and is connected to the RFID chip. The input impedance of the antenna can be easily adjusted by changing loop dimensions. The antenna has the compact size of 80 mm × 25 mm × 3.5 mm, and the realized gain about -3.6 dB. The measured results show that these antennas have good performance when attached onto metallic surfaces. © 2011 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Thermal redistribution of localized excitons and its effect on the luminescence band in InGaN ternary alloys

Temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements have been carried out in zinc-blende InGaN epilayers grown on GaAs substrates by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy. An anomalous temperature dependence of the peak position of the luminescence band was observed. Considering thermal activation and the transfer of excitons localized at different potential minima, we employed a model to explain the observed behavior. A good agreement between the theory and the experiment is achieved. At high temperatures, the model can be approximated to the band-tail-state emission model proposed by Eliseev et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 71, 569 (1997)]. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Social Determinants of Community Health Services Utilization among the Users in China: A 4-Year Cross-Sectional Study

Background To identify social factors determining the frequency of community health service (CHS) utilization among CHS users in China. Methods Nationwide cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. A total of 86,116 CHS visitors selected from 35 cities were interviewed. Descriptive analysis and multinomial logistic regression analysis were employed to analyze characteristics of CHS users, frequency of CHS utilization, and the socio-demographic and socio-economic factors influencing frequency of CHS utilization. Results Female and senior CHS clients were more likely to make 3–5 and ≥6 CHS visits (as opposed to 1–2 visits) than male and young clients, respectively. CHS clients with higher education were less frequent users than individuals with primary education or less in 2008 and 2009; in later surveys, CHS clients with higher education were the more frequent users. The association between frequent CHS visits and family income has changed significantly between 2008 and 2011. In 2011, income status did not have a discernible effect on the likelihood of making ≥6 CHS visits, and it only had a slight effect on making 3–5 CHS visits. Conclusion CHS may play an important role in providing primary health care to meet the demands of vulnerable populations in China. Over time, individuals with higher education are increasingly likely to make frequent CHS visits than individuals with primary school education or below. The gap in frequency of CHS utilization among different economic income groups decreased from 2008 to 2011

Fingerprint oxygen redox reactions in batteries through high-efficiency mapping of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering

Realizing reversible reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions of lattice oxygen in batteries is a promising way to improve the energy and power density. However, conventional oxygen absorption spectroscopy fails to distinguish the critical oxygen chemistry in oxide-based battery electrodes. Therefore, high-efficiency full-range mapping of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (mRIXS) has been developed as a reliable probe of oxygen redox reactions. Here, based on mRIXS results collected from a series of Li Ni Co Mn O electrodes at different electrochemical states and its comparison with peroxides, we provide a comprehensive analysis of five components observed in the mRIXS results. While all the five components evolve upon electrochemical cycling, only two of them correspond to the critical states associated with oxygen redox reactions. One is a specific feature at 531.0 eV excitation and 523.7 eV emission energy, the other is a low-energy loss feature. We show that both features evolve with electrochemical cycling of Li Ni Co Mn O electrodes, and could be used for characterizing oxidized oxygen states in the lattice of battery electrodes. This work provides an important benchmark for a complete assignment of all mRIXS features collected from battery materials, which sets a general foundation for future studies in characterization, analysis, and theoretical calculation for probing and understanding oxygen redox reactions. 1.17 0.21 0.08 0.54 2 1.17 0.21 0.08 0.54

Performance of the VITEK MS matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry system for rapid bacterial identification in two diagnostic centres in China

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) MS systems was not officially launched for diagnostic use in clinical microbiology laboratories in China until 2012. Here, we report the findings from the first large-scale evaluation study of VITEK MS for routine bacterial identification in two major diagnostic centres in Beijing and Hong Kong. A total of 2266 unique isolates representing 56 genera and 127 species were analysed, and results were compared to those obtained by VITEK 2. Any discrepancies were resolved by 16S rRNA sequencing. Overall, VITEK MS provided correct identification for 2246 (99.1%) isolates, including 2193 (96.8%) with correct species-level identifications and 53 (2.3%) matched at the genus level only. VITEK MS surpassed VITEK 2 consistently in species-level identification of important pathogens, including non-Enterobacteriaceae Gram-negative bacilli (94.7 versus 92%), staphylococci (99.7 versus 92.4%), streptococci (92.6 versus 79.4%), enterococci (98.8 versus 92.6%) and Clostridium spp. (97.3 versus 55.5%). The findings demonstrated that VITEK MS is highly accurate and reliable for routine bacterial identification in clinical settings in China. © 2015 The Authors.postprin