Property Owning and Democracy-Do the Twain Ever Meet?

Starting from the Conservative assertion that home ownership fosters politically active and virtuous citizens, this paper examines two lines of argument in housing theory; (a) Jim Kemeny's thesis that owner occupation is closely linked to increasing privatism, i.e. a growth in lifestyles centred around the home and privacy rather than the workplace or the public affairs in a society, and (b) Peter Saunders' thesis that home owners will organise and mobilise politically in defence of their property interests if and when various government agencies threaten to remove their tax subsidies. To test these propositions empirically, data on the effects of the rapid and comprehensive dismantling of tax privileges to Swedish home owners in the 1980s and early 1990s are confronted with data on political interest, participation and knowledge as well as civic trust and responsibility from the Swedish election surveys of 1979, 1985 and 1991. Contrary to Conservative beliefs, home owners do not stand out as 'democratic examples'; with the exception of political knowledge and party membership, they are no more 'civil' or 'democratic' than other citizens. There is also not much to support Kemeny's 'privatism' or Saunders' 'reaction-to-threat' theses. Although home owners in Sweden saw their tax privileges diminishing rapidly during the 1980s and early 1990s, they do not show the distinctive patterns of change in democratic orientation and spirit predicted by these two housing theorists. To allow for an even more conclusive test of Kemeny's 'privatism' thesis, however, one must overcome the mismatch of income definitions in housing statistics and election survey data.     

Remarks on the mean square tracking error

The purpose of this paper is to extend recent results of Ljung and Priouret to a more general class of regressors.     

Performance analysis of the forgetting factor RLS algorithm

An analysis is given of the performance of the standard forgetting factor recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm when used for tracking time-varying linear regression models. Three basic results are obtained: (1) the ‘P-matrix’ in the algorithm remains bounded if and only if the (time-varying) covariance matrix of the regressors is uniformly non-singular; (2) if so, the parameter tracking error covariance matrix is of the order O(μ + γ²/μ), where μ = 1 - λ, λ is the forgetting factor and γ is a quantity reflecting the speed of the parameter variations; (3) this covariance matrix can be arbitrarily well approximated (for small enough μ) by an expression that is easy to compute.     

Long COVID: Association of Functional Autoantibodies against G-Protein-Coupled Receptors with an Impaired Retinal Microcirculation

Long COVID (LC) describes the clinical phenotype of symptoms after infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Diagnostic and therapeutic options are limited, as the pathomechanism of LC is elusive. As the number of acute SARS-CoV-2 infections was and is large, LC will be a challenge for the healthcare system. Previous studies revealed an impaired blood flow, the formation of microclots, and autoimmune mechanisms as potential factors in this complex interplay. Since functionally active autoantibodies against G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR-AAbs) were observed in patients after SARS-CoV-2 infection, this study aimed to correlate the appearance of GPCR-AAbs with capillary microcirculation. The seropositivity of GPCR-AAbs was measured by an established cardiomyocyte bioassay in 42 patients with LC and 6 controls. Retinal microcirculation was measured by OCT–angiography and quantified as macula and peripapillary vessel density (VD) by the Erlangen-Angio Tool. A statistical analysis yielded impaired VD in patients with LC compared to the controls, which was accentuated in female persons. A significant decrease in macula and peripapillary VD for AAbs targeting adrenergic β2-receptor, MAS-receptor angiotensin-II-type-1 receptor, and adrenergic α1-receptor were observed. The present study might suggest that a seropositivity of GPCR-AAbs can be linked to an impaired retinal capillary microcirculation, potentially mirroring the systemic microcirculation with consecutive clinical symptoms.     

Surprising effects of combined vapour and liquid mass transfer resistances when condensing a mixture outside tube banks

Detailed calculations are carried out for condensation of a binary zeotropic mixture outside a tube bank to investigate combined effects of mass transfer resistances in the liquid and vapour phases. The question is how a change in mass transfer resistance in the vapour phase can influence the heat flux. The surprising result is that a decrease in resistance in the vapour phase by reducing the tube pitch, and thus increasing the vapour velocity, reduces the heat flux between 20% and 50% for the conditions studied. This is due to a combination of mass transfer resistance, depletion of the heavy volatile component, and a reduction of the phase interface temperature.     

高效液相色谱法测定枸杞相关食品中枸杞酸和玉米黄质二棕榈酸酯的含量

目的 建立高效液相色谱法分析枸杞原料、提取物和相关配方产品中枸杞酸和玉米黄质二棕榈酸酯的含量。方法 采用Poroshell 120 HILIC柱,以乙腈-磷酸水（90:10, V:V）为流动相进行分离枸杞酸,在紫外检测波长235 nm下进行检测,外标法定量。用Dionex Acclaim C30柱,以甲醇-甲基叔丁基醚为流动相进行梯度分离玉米黄质二棕榈酸酯,在紫外检测波长452 nm下进行检测,外标法定量。结果 枸杞酸的检出限为10 mg/kg,定量限为30 mg/kg;在10～200 mg/L的浓度范围内线性良好,相关系数为0.9999;枸杞原料、提取物和相关配方产品中的加标回收率在84.3%～98.1%之间,相对标准偏差(relative standard deviation, RSD)在1.3%～4.7%之间;精密度的RSD在0.74%～1.2%之间;重复性的RSD分别为1.3%～3.1%之间。玉米黄质二棕榈酸酯的检出限为10 mg/kg,定量限为30 mg/kg;在0.5～10 mg/L的浓度范围内线性良好,相关系数为0.999;枸杞原料、提取物和相关配方产品中的加标回收率在88.6%～98.6%之间,RSD在1.5%～4.5%之间;精密度的RSD在1.2%～2.1%之间;重复性的RSD在2.0%～4.5%之间。结论 本方法操作简便,快速,分离度和准确度高,可用于枸杞原料、提取物和相关配方产品的质量控制。     

超高效液相色谱法测定山楂原料、提取物和相关食品中金丝桃苷和异槲皮苷的含量

目的 建立超高效液相色谱法测定山楂原料、提取物和相关食品中金丝桃苷和异槲皮苷的分析方法。方法 采用ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18柱, 以甲酸乙腈-甲酸水为流动相进行梯度洗脱分离金丝桃苷和异槲皮苷, 在紫外检测波长360 nm下进行检测, 外标法定量。结果 金丝桃苷和异槲皮苷的检出限(limit of detections, LODs, S/N=3)均为2 mg/kg, 定量限(limit of quantifications, LOQs, S/N=10)均为5 mg/kg; 在0.5~10.0 mg/L的浓度范围内线性关系良好, 相关系数均为0.999; 在原料、提取物和相关食品中, 金丝桃苷和异槲皮苷的平均回收率分别为83.0%~108.0%和86.2%~105.0%, 相对标准偏差(relative standard deviations, RSDs)分别为1.6%~5.7%和1.1%~3.9%。结论 本方法操作简便、快速、分离度和准确度高, 可用于山楂原料、提取物和相关食品的质量控制。