This piece offers a thorough examination of the defence's sentencing memorandum for formerTheranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes. Using legal terminology and vocabulary, we examine Holmes's defence team's narrative to humanise her character, downplay her responsibility, and appeal for compassion. The Introduction covers the story in court documents and the well-known fraud case. Legal communication, persuasive rhetoric —encompassing ethos, pathos, and logos— and courtroom image rehabilitation are explored in the Literature Review. Our qualitative discourse-analytic study of Holmes's 82-page defence statement and 130 support letters is described in the Methodology. This Corpus Description explains how these texts were composed. We find four rhetorical devices: (1) bolstering Holmes's character through an altruistic personal history and letters attesting to her virtues, (2) minimising culpability by stressing her youth, inexperience, and victimisation, (3) appealing to empathy through her motherhood and personal struggles, and (4) reframing the offence as a well-intentioned entrepreneurial failure rather than deliberate fraud, including technical challenges to prosecutorial loss and victim calculations. Comparing these strategies to legal defence speech and sentence results, the Discussion investigates their effectiveness and morality. The Conclusion offers insights into legal linguistics and courtroom language studies, as well as an explanation of how this case study clarifies interesting legal narratives.
This paper presents a comprehensive study of the stability conditions of a rock mass surrounding a tunnel, using numerical modelling analysis of displacements induced by tunnel construction. The case study focuses on the Boukhadra iron ore mine in Algeria. This research employs empirical equations from literature based on geomechanical classifications to provide the most appropriate geotechnical input data for simulation. In addition to those equations, a novel correlation equation relating the rock mass ratio (RMR) and the rock quality index (Q) was developed. This equation gives a high regression coefficient, revealing a strong correlation (R2) of 0.878. It provides a better estimation of the rock mass characteristics: Young’s moduli (E), Poisson’s ratio (ν), cohesion (c), and friction angle (φ), compared to the existing literature-based correlation equations. The estimated parameters were used to pass from a discontinuous medium to a continuous equivalent, making numerical modelling using finite element method easier. Compared with intact rock and direct equations, the numerical simulation results based on the new equation fit well with the in-situ observations, with predicted displacements remaining within the same order of magnitude as observed deformations, providing more reliable understanding of rock mass behaviour. The new equation proposed in this paper provides a substantial evaluation of the rock mass parameters required for the design process of underground structures when used within their respect acceptable ranges.
In this paper, we investigate the interactions of the Dirac oscillator in the context of global monopoles, focusing on the effects of fermionic fields in curved space–time. By analyzing the Dirac equation and employing a partition function, we derive essential thermodynamic properties such as Helmholtz free energy, average energy, entropy and heat capacity. The results reveal that variations in the topological defect parameter and angular frequency significantly influence these properties, affecting both energy levels and information measures in position and momentum spaces. This research highlights the intricate relationship between thermodynamic behavior and quantum information, paving the way for further exploration in quantum computing applications.
Evaluating the residual mechanical properties of fire-damaged concrete is crucial for structural safety, yet the limitations of destructive testing (DT) have promoted the use of non-destructive tests (NDT), for effective in-situ assessment. This research explores the residual mechanical behavior of concrete and examines the predictive accuracy of NDT/DT in post-fire conditions. Concrete cylinders with consistent mix designs were subjected to temperatures ranging from 200 °C to 1000 °C, following a controlled natural fire curve applied via an electric furnace. After maintaining the target temperature for 90 minutes and allowing for natural cooling, DTs (compressive strength and stress-strength behavior) and NDTs (UPV and rebound hammer tests) were carried out. The static and dynamic elastic moduli were not directly tested but were derived using empirical correlations with UPV values. Temperature evolution inside the specimens was simulated using SAFIR software. The findings demonstrated a marked deterioration in mechanical performance beyond 400 °C, with compressive strength losses exceeding 80 % at 800 °C, both static and dynamic elastic moduli were reduced by nearly 98 %. Post-fire stress-strain behavior also indicated substantial losses in stiffness and ductility beyond 600 °C. UPV measurements correlated strongly with the decrease in residual strength. A regression model was developed to estimate residual compressive strength based on UPV results, validating the technique’s relevance for post-fire assessments. The combined application of DT and NDT methods yielded a detailed understanding of thermal degradation. Notably, UPV demonstrated high sensitivity in detecting internal damage and estimating residual stiffness in fire damaged concrete. It thus offers engineers a reliable tool for evaluating whether repair or replacement is necessary, especially in contexts where DTs are not feasible.
The chemical versatility of vanillin makes it an attractive candidate for the functionalization of aromatic compounds with potential applications in materials science and pharmaceuticals. This study highlights an unconventional reactivity pattern at a rarely explored site on vanillin's aromatic ring, driven by electronic effects of the hydroxyl and methoxy substituents. Within this context, we report in this work the synthesis of two novel vanillinderived compounds: 3-(5,6-dihydro-[1,3]dithiolo[4,5-b][1,4]dithiin-2-yl)-4-hydroxy-5-methoxybenzaldehyde (I) and 3-(4,5-bis(methylthio)-1,3-dithiol-2-yl)-4-hydroxy-5-methoxybenzaldehyde (II), through the reaction of vanillin with 4,5-ethylenedithio-1,3-dithiole-2-thione (A) and 4,5-bis(methylthio)-1,3-dithiole-2-thione (B). Focusing on an unconventional reactivity pattern near the phenolic hydroxyl group, computational studies using density functional theory (DFT) provided insights into the reaction mechanisms and effectively explained the experimental results. Structural characterization via single-crystal X-ray diffraction and Hirshfeld surface analyses revealed significant non-covalent interactions, including sulfur-sulfur (S & ctdot;S) contacts and hydrogen bonding, which contribute to the supramolecular architecture of these compounds. Preliminary biological assessments demonstrated promising antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities, highlighting the bioactive potential of the synthesized compounds. The combination of structural novelty and biological efficacy suggests that these vanillin derivatives could serve as functional materials in therapeutic and conductive applications. This work not only expands the scope of vanillin chemistry but also opens avenues for further exploration in both synthetic chemistry and bioactive material design.
