Magnetoresistance, Micromagnetism and Domain Wall Effects in Epitaxial Fe and Co Structures with Stripe Domains

We review our recent magnetotransport and micromagnetic studies of lithographically defined epitaxial thin film structures of bcc Fe and hcp Co with stripe domains. Micromagnetic structure and resistivity anisotropy are shown to be the predominant sources of low field magnetoresistance (MR) in these microstructures, with domain wall (DW) effects smaller but observable (DW-MR $\lesssim 1$). In Fe, at low temperature, in a regime in which fields have a significant effect on electron trajectories, a novel negative DW contribution to the resistivity is observed. In hcp Co microstructures, temperature dependent transport measurements for current perpendicular and parallel to walls show that any additional resistivity due to DW scattering is very small.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Journal of Applied Physics 199

The malign vision in William Trevor’s fiction

This essay -assuming a Shakespearean allusion- could have been called “Domestic Malice”; or taking its cue respectively from soap opera or pulp fiction, “The Mischievous and the Malign” or “The Malign and the Malicious”. Trevor’s fiction, in fact, explores some of the same territory as popular novels do, though its landmarks are the ruined lives of tragedy. Trevor tells stories, offering fictional “realities” in a clear, matter-of-fact style. He does not burden the reader with philosophizing ..

The malign vision in William Trevor’s fiction

This essay -assuming a Shakespearean allusion- could have been called “Domestic Malice”; or taking its cue respectively from soap opera or pulp fiction, “The Mischievous and the Malign” or “The Malign and the Malicious”. Trevor’s fiction, in fact, explores some of the same territory as popular novels do, though its landmarks are the ruined lives of tragedy. Trevor tells stories, offering fictional “realities” in a clear, matter-of-fact style. He does not burden the reader with philosophizing ..

Driver tracking and posture detection using low-resolution infrared sensing

Intelligent sensors are playing an ever-increasing role in automotive safety. This paper describes the development of a low-resolution infrared (IR) imaging system for continuous tracking and identification of driver postures and movements. The resolution of the imager is unusually low at 16 x 16 pixels. An image processing technique has been developed using neural networks operating on a segmented thermographic image to categorize driver postures. The system is able reliably to identify 18 different driver positions, and results have been verified experimentally with 20 subjects driving in a car simulator. IR imaging offers several advantages over visual sensors; it will operate in any lighting conditions and is less intrusive in terms of the privacy of the occupants. Hardware costs for the low-resolution sensor are an order of magnitude lower than those of conventional IR imaging systems. The system has been shown to have the potential to play a significant role in future intelligent safety systems