3,608 research outputs found
Magnetocaloric effect in Gd/W thin film heterostructures
In an effort to understand the impact of nanostructuring on the
magnetocaloric effect, we have grown and studied gadolinium in MgO/W(50
)/[Gd(400 )/W(50 )]
heterostructures. The entropy change associated with the second order magnetic
phase transition was determined from the isothermal magnetization for numerous
temperatures and the appropriate Maxwell relation. The entropy change peaks at
a temperature of 284 K with a value of approximately 3.4 J/kg-K for a 0-30 kOe
field change; the full width at half max of the entropy change peak is about 70
K, which is significantly wider than that of bulk Gd under similar conditions.
The relative cooling power of this nanoscale system is about 240 J/kg, somewhat
lower than that of bulk Gd (410 J/kg). An iterative Kovel-Fisher method was
used to determine the critical exponents governing the phase transition to be
, and . Along with a suppressed Curie temperature
relative to the bulk, the fact that the convergent value of is that
predicted by the 2-D Ising model may suggest that finite size effects play an
important role in this system. Together, these observations suggest that
nanostructuring may be a promising route to tailoring the magnetocaloric
response of materials
Photovoice and photodocumentary for enhancing community partner engagement and student learning in a public health field school in Cape Town
Background: Field school research, which begins by considering community partners as pedagogues and thus exploring their perspectives on student learning, is uncommon. Photovoice is a method for self-expression of such marginalized voices. Purpose: Describe the photovoice to photodocumentary process and present results of its evaluation. Methodology/Approach: We employed photovoice with the local guides who accompany community health research field school students in Cape Town. Guides were prompted to take photographs of what students may not see or understand about their community. These were discussed at three workshops and developed into a photodocumentary for inclusion in the curriculum. Twenty-one students completed an open-ended questionnaire. These, and student/staff discussions, were thematically analyzed. Findings/Conclusion: Students reported learning about cultural practices which otherwise would not be visible to them. They felt greater connection to their guides who they saw in a new light, and became aware of how topic-specificity drew attention away from overarching characteristics of community life. Questions raised might be better explored through facilitated discussion rather than question-and-answer sessions alone. Implications: Field schools depend on academic–community partnerships. Photovoice can create space for community partner reflection on student learning and the co-creation of effective pedagogical tools valued by students
The origin of the red luminescence in Mg-doped GaN
Optically-detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) and positron annihilation
spectroscopy (PAS) experiments have been employed to study magnesium-doped GaN
layers grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. As the Mg doping level is
changed, the combined experiments reveal a strong correlation between the
vacancy concentrations and the intensity of the red photoluminescence band at
1.8 eV. The analysis provides strong evidence that the emission is due to
recombination in which electrons both from effective mass donors and from
deeper donors recombine with deep centers, the deep centers being
vacancy-related defects.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Distributed Order Derivatives and Relaxation Patterns
We consider equations of the form , ,
where , is a distributed order derivative, that is the
Caputo-Dzhrbashyan fractional derivative of order , integrated in
with respect to a positive measure . Such equations are
used for modeling anomalous, non-exponential relaxation processes. In this work
we study asymptotic behavior of solutions of the above equation, depending on
properties of the measure
Ba(OH)(2) - blast furnace slag composite binders for encapsulation of sulphate bearing nuclear waste
The present study investigated the feasibility of the immobilisation of sulphate bearing radioactive wastes in blast furnace slag (BFS) based binders. BaSO4–BFS composites were produced via two methods using Na2SO4 as a waste simulant, along with Ba(OH)2 to promote precipitation of BaSO4 in an insoluble sulphate form and the consequent activation of the BFS. BaSO4 was effectively formed by both methods, and solid wasteforms were successfully produced. Although both methods produced BaSO4 embedded in the cement-like composites, different reaction products including ettringite and witherite were produced, depending on the order Ba(OH)2 was mixed with the system. These results show that the immobilisation of soluble sulphate-bearing aqueous wastes is achievable in Na2SO4–Ba(OH)2–BFS composites
Communication: Non-monotonic supersaturation dependence of the nucleus size of crystals with anisotropically interacting molecules.
We study the nucleation of model two-dimensional crystals formed from anisotropically interacting molecules using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and the forward flux sampling algorithm. The growth probability P(n) of a cluster of n molecules is measured while the supersaturation s and interaction anisotropy of the molecules are varied, in order to gain insight into the nucleation mechanism. It is found that with increasing degree of interaction anisotropy the nucleus size (defined as the cluster size at which P(n) = 0.5) can increase with increasing s, with sharp jumps at certain s values. Analysis of the cluster shape reveals that nucleation in the system studied is of a non-standard form, in that it embodies elements of both the classical nucleation theory and the density functional theory frameworks
Brownian Motion in wedges, last passage time and the second arc-sine law
We consider a planar Brownian motion starting from at time and
stopped at and a set of semi-infinite
straight lines emanating from . Denoting by the last time when is
reached by the Brownian motion, we compute the probability law of . In
particular, we show that, for a symmetric and even values, this law can
be expressed as a sum of or functions. The original
result of Levy is recovered as the special case . A relation with the
problem of reaction-diffusion of a set of three particles in one dimension is
discussed
The magnetic properties of Hf and Hf in the strong coupling deformed model
This paper reports NMR measurements of the magnetic dipole moments of two
high-K isomers, the 37/2, 51.4 m, 2740 keV state in Hf and the
8, 5.5 h, 1142 keV state in Hf by the method of on-line nuclear
orientation. Also included are results on the angular distributions of gamma
transitions in the decay of the Hf isotope. These yield high
precision E2/M1 multipole mixing ratios for transitions in bands built on the
23/2, 1.1 s, isomer at 1315 keV and on the 9/2, 0.663 ns, isomer at 321
keV. The new results are discussed in the light of the recently reported
finding of systematic dependence of the behavior of the g parameter
upon the quasi-proton and quasi-neutron make up of high-K isomeric states in
this region.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
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