971 research outputs found
Engaging postgraduate students and supporting higher education to enhance the 21st century student experience:Final Report
Pressure-induced superconductivity in the giant Rashba system BiTeI
At ambient pressure, BiTeI is the first material found to exhibit a giant
Rashba splitting of the bulk electronic bands. At low pressures, BiTeI
undergoes a transition from trivial insulator to topological insulator. At
still higher pressures, two structural transitions are known to occur. We have
carried out a series of electrical resistivity and AC magnetic susceptibility
measurements on BiTeI at pressure up to ~40 GPa in an effort to characterize
the properties of the high-pressure phases. A previous calculation found that
the high-pressure orthorhombic P4/nmm structure BiTeI is a metal. We find that
this structure is superconducting with Tc values as high as 6 K. AC magnetic
susceptibility measurements support the bulk nature of the superconductivity.
Using electronic structure and phonon calculations, we compute Tc and find that
our data is consistent with phonon-mediated superconductivity.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
Alternative route to charge density wave formation in multiband systems
Charge and spin density waves, periodic modulations of the electron and
magnetization densities, respectively, are among the most abundant and
non-trivial low-temperature ordered phases in condensed matter. The ordering
direction is widely believed to result from the Fermi surface topology.
However, several recent studies indicate that this common view needs to be
supplemented. Here, we show how an enhanced electron-lattice interaction can
contribute to or even determine the selection of the ordering vector in the
model charge density wave system ErTe3. Our joint experimental and theoretical
study allows us to establish a relation between the selection rules of the
electronic light scattering spectra and the enhanced electron-phonon coupling
in the vicinity of band degeneracy points. This alternative proposal for charge
density wave formation may be of general relevance for driving phase
transitions into other broken-symmetry ground states, particularly in multiband
systems such as the iron based superconductors
Studies on the Weak Itinerant Ferromagnet SrRuO3 under High Pressure to 34 GPa
The dependence of the Curie temperature Tc on nearly hydrostatic pressure has
been determined to 17.2 GPa for the weak itinerant ferromagnetic SrRuO3 in both
polycrystalline and single-crystalline form. Tc is found to decrease under
pressure from 162 K to 42.7 K at 17.2 GPa in nearly linear fashion at the rate
dTc/dP = -6.8 K/GPa. No superconductivity was found above 4 K in the pressure
range 17 to 34 GPa. Room-temperature X-ray diffraction studies to 25.3 GPa
reveal no structural phase transition but indicate that the average Ru-O-Ru
bond angle passes through a minimum near 15 GPa. The bulk modulus and its
pressure derivative were determined to be B =192(3) GPa and B' = 5.0(3),
respectively. Parallel ac susceptibility studies on polycrystalline CaRuO3 at 6
and 8 GPa pressure found no evidence for either ferromagnetism or
superconductivity above 4 K
Delphi with feedback of rationales: how large can a Delphi group be such that participants are not overloaded, de-motivated, or disengaged?
In this paper, we investigate the effect of Delphi group size and opinion diversity on group members’ information load as well as on their overall experience of the Delphi process - in terms of task involvement (enjoyment and interest) and in terms of group sway (the influence and helpfulness of others’ rationales). For Delphi applications involving the exchange of rationales between participants, we found no evidence that group sizes of up to 19 participants cause information overload or de-motivation and disengagement of participants
High-pressure, transport, and thermodynamic properties of CeTe3
We have performed high-pressure, electrical resistivity, and specific heat
measurements on CeTe3 single crystals. Two magnetic phases with nonparallel
magnetic easy axes were detected in electrical resistivity and specific heat at
low temperatures. We also observed the emergence of an additional phase at high
pressures and low temperatures and a possible structural phase transition
detected at room temperature and at 45 kbar, which can possibly be related with
the lowering of the charge-density wave transition temperature known for this
compound.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Systematic Study on Fluorine-doping Dependence of Superconducting and Normal State Properties in LaFePO1-xFx
We have investigated the fluorine-doping dependence of lattice constants,
transports and specific heat for polycrystalline LaFePO1-xFx. F doping slightly
and monotonically decreases the in-plane lattice parameter. In the normal
state, electrical resistivity at low temperature is proportional to the square
of temperature and the electronic specific heat coefficient has large value,
indicating the existence of moderate electron-electron correlation in this
system. Hall coefficient has large magnitude, and shows large temperature
dependence, indicating the low carrier density and multiple carriers in this
system. Temperature dependence of the upper critical field suggests that the
system is a two gap superconductor. The F-doping dependence of these properties
in this system are very weak, while in the FeAs system (LaFeAsO), the F doping
induces the large changes in electronic properties. This difference is probably
due to the different F-doping dependence of the lattice in these two systems.
It has been revealed that a pure effect of electron doping on electronic
properties is very weak in this Fe pnictide compound.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. Soc. Jp
High intensity interval training in a real world setting: A randomized controlled feasibility study in overweight inactive adults, measuring change in maximal oxygen uptake
Background
In research clinic settings, overweight adults undertaking HIIT (high intensity interval training) improve their fitness as effectively as those undertaking conventional walking programs but can do so within a shorter time spent exercising. We undertook a randomized controlled feasibility (pilot) study aimed at extending HIIT into a real world setting by recruiting overweight/obese, inactive adults into a group based activity program, held in a community park.
Methods
Participants were allocated into one of three groups. The two interventions, aerobic interval training and maximal volitional interval training, were compared with an active control group undertaking walking based exercise. Supervised group sessions (36 per intervention) were held outdoors. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured using VO2max (maximal oxygen uptake, results expressed in ml/min/kg), before and after the 12 week interventions.
Results
On ITT (intention to treat) analyses, baseline (N = 49) and exit (N = 39) O2 was 25.3±4.5 and 25.3±3.9, respectively. Participant allocation and baseline/exit VO2max by group was as follows: Aerobic interval training N =  16, 24.2±4.8/25.6±4.8; maximal volitional interval training N = 16, 25.0±2.8/25.2±3.4; walking N = 17, 26.5±5.3/25.2±3.6. The post intervention change in VO2max was +1.01 in the aerobic interval training, −0.06 in the maximal volitional interval training and −1.03 in the walking subgroups. The aerobic interval training subgroup increased VO2max compared to walking (p = 0.03). The actual (observed, rather than prescribed) time spent exercising (minutes per week, ITT analysis) was 74 for aerobic interval training, 45 for maximal volitional interval training and 116 for walking (p =  0.001). On descriptive analysis, the walking subgroup had the fewest adverse events.
Conclusions
In contrast to earlier studies, the improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness in a cohort of overweight/obese participants undertaking aerobic interval training in a real world setting was modest. The most likely reason for this finding relates to reduced adherence to the exercise program, when moving beyond the research clinic setting
Comparison of the pressure dependences of Tc in the trivalent d-electron superconductors
Whereas dhcp La superconducts at ambient pressure with Tc = 5 K, the other
trivalent d-electron metals Sc, Y, and Lu only superconduct if high pressures
are applied. Earlier measurements of the pressure dependence of Tc for Sc and
Lu metal are here extended to much higher pressures. Whereas Tc for Lu
increases monotonically with pressure to 12.4 K at 174 GPa (1.74 Mbar). Tc for
Sc reaches 19.6 K at 107 GPa, the 2nd highest value observed for any elemental
superconductor. At higher pressures a phase transition occurs whereupon Tc
drops to 8.31 K at 111 GPa. The Tc(P) dependences for Sc and Lu are compared to
those of Y and La. An interesting correlation is pointed out between the value
of Tc and the fractional free volume available to the conduction electrons
outside the ion cores, a quantity which is directly related to the number of d
electrons in the conduction band
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