Superconducting magnesium diboride films with Tc \approx 24K grown by pulsed laser deposition with in-situ anneal

Thin superconducting films of magnesium diboride (MgB2) with Tc \approx 24K were prepared on various oxide substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) followed by an in-situ anneal. A systematic study of the influence of various in-situ annealing parameters shows an optimum temperature of about 600C in a background of 0.7 atm. of Ar/4%H2 for layers consisting of a mixture of magnesium and boron. Contrary to ex-situ approaches (e.g. reacting boron films with magnesium vapor at 900C), these films are processed below the decomposition temperature of MgB2. This may prove enabling in the formation of multilayers, junctions, and epitaxial films in future work. Issues related to the improvement of these films and to the possible in-situ growth of MgB2 at elevated temperature are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Superconducting magnesium diboride films on Silicon with Tc0 about 24K grown via vacuum annealing from stoichiometric precursors

Superconducting magnesium diboride films with Tc0 ~ 24 K and sharp transition \~ 1 K were successfully prepared on silicon substrates by pulsed laser deposition from a stoichiometric MgB2 target. Contrary to previous reports, anneals at 630 degree and a background of 2x10^(-4) torr Ar/4%H2 were performed without the requirement of Mg vapor or an Mg cap layer. This integration of superconducting MgB2 films on silicon may thus prove enabling in superconductor-semiconductor device applications. Images of surface morphology and cross-section profiles by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) show that the films have a uniform surface morphology and thickness. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) reveals these films were contaminated with oxygen, originating either from the growth environment or from sample exposure to air. The oxygen contamination may account for the low Tc for those in-situ annealed films, while the use of Si as the substrate does not result in a decrease in Tc as compared to other substrates.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 15 references; due to file size limit, images were blure

Understanding Self-Injurious Behaviors: Treatment and Implications for School Counselors

This review examined the implications of dealing with students who self-harm and how school counselors can effectively cope with this ever prominent issue among adolescents. The current study examined the trend of school counselors who have adopted a school or district-wide policy which dictates whether parent contact was made when a student presents with self-injury. Eighty-five different schools throughout Western New York were surveyed as to the existence of a policy or procedure. The respondents were asked specifically whether parents or guardians were contacted whenever a student presents with self-injurious behavior or if each situation was examined individually. This information was then used to promote discussions regarding the implementation of a policy or procedure at the internship site. A resource manual was also constructed for the education and use of the counseling staff. Implications for further research and limitations of this study were also discussed

How Earmarking Government Revenue Affects Efficiency of Road Construction and Maintenance

It is common practice to assign revenue to accomplish specific governmental tasks in general, and to provide transport infrastructure in particular. However, neither the literature in public administration nor in public choice has reached a consensus about the effects that earmarking has on efficiency. Building on earlier public choice models, we argue that this mechanism prevents budget debates from occurring and reduces the incentives for ministers to monitor the colleagues whose budgets are financed by earmarked revenues. These latter tend to overuse public resources, thus increasing inefficiency. We used a stochastic frontier model fed with data from Swiss cantonal ministries of transport from 2000 to 2016 to test this hypothesis. Our results revealed a negative effect of earmarking on efficiency. For every 1,000 additional Swiss francs per capita financed out of an earmarked fund, the input requirement increases by 5.4 percent on average

Using Augmented Feedback to Decrease Patellofemoral Pain in Runners: A Pilot study

Objective: Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a common injury in running. The cause of patellofemoral pain is multifactorial in nature, which results varied treatment approaches for this disorder. Many studies have examined the effect of using strengthening protocols targeted at subjects’ hip and quadriceps strength. Although these studies have resulted in a reduction in short-term PFP for runners, many continue to experience PFP after undergoing these treatment strategies. A more recent theory regarding the treatment of PFP in runners involves the use of augmented verbal and visual feedback. This treatment strategy involves giving the runner scheduled visual feedback to adapt their running strategies in hopes of reducing their PFP. Much of this research has been done with experienced runners in the age range of 18-22 years old. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of augmented verbal and real-time visual feedback on patellofemoral pain. The hypothesis was that training with the use of auditory and visual feedback would improve patellofemoral pain in this runner. In clinical practice, auditory and visual feedback to change hip and knee mechanics while running may be used as a treatment strategy for patellofemoral pain. Design and Setting: The study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting and was an experimental design including a single-subject. Participants: The subject was a recreational female runner that was 22 years of age. The subject was recruited via a flyer distributed on campus. Once the individual agreed to participate, they were given a date to begin the study. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the institution. When the subject arrived at the first meeting, the informed consent was reviewed and signed by the subject. Intervention: At the first visit, the subject was given a PFP questionnaire to determine if they were eligible for the study. For this study, the subject was classified as having PFP if they had pre-patellar or retropatellar knee pain while running that was an insidious onset, and knee pain that has lasted for at least three months. The subject also needed these symptoms to occur during two of the following functional activities: ascending/descending stairs, squatting, kneeling, jumping, and long periods of sitting. Subjects were excluded from the study if they exhibited any type of neurological disorder, injury to the lower extremity, previous surgeries involving the lower extremity, rheumatoid arthritis, heart conditions, or any other knee pathologies including patellar instability, patellofemoral dysplasia, meniscal or ligament tears, osteoarthritis, or tendinopathies. Once the subject met the inclusion criteria, they completed a visual analog scale (VAS) and a lower extremity functional scale survey (LEFS) to assess their function. The subject completed 2 training sessions per week for a total of 8 training sessions on a treadmill. During the run, an iPad was used to capture an anterior view of the subject. This image was mirrored to a television monitor to provide the subject with real time visual feedback of their running. For each session, the subject was given a five-minute warm-up at their self-selected running speed and was then asked to move to a speed that they were comfortable with running 25 minutes. This speed was constant throughout the entire study. The augmented verbal and visual feedback was given based on a schedule of “on” times and “off” times. The “on” times for the feedback stayed at a constant one minute where the “off” times became progressively longer. Main Outcome Measurement: The VAS and the LEFS served as the dependent variables in this study. The subject completed these questionnaires at the first test session and after completion of the training protocol. Results: The subject completed a four-week, eight session, verbal and real-time visual feedback training. The subject demonstrated a small improvement in LEFS scores from a pre-test score of 68 points to a post-test score of 73 points. The subject demonstrated an improvement in VAS scores from 21 millimeters (mm) to 6 mm. Conclusion: The subject’s pre- and post- training VAS scores exceeded the 14 mm minimal clinically important difference (MCID) which is important for determining improvement with PFP. However, although the subject experienced an increase in their LEFS score, this change was below the threshold of the MCID. The results from this case study design support the use of verbal and real-time visual feedback to improve the short-term perceived symptoms from PFP in recreational runners. Further research should be conducted to determine if the effects of this type of training protocol promote long-term relief of PFP, or if the need for “retraining” is necessary. Additionally, including dependent variables that actually measure hip and knee kinematics before and after this type of training may be of interest. Key words: Patellofemoral pain, lower extremity functional scale, visual analog scale, augmented feedbac

Mechanisms regulating nutrition-dependent developmental plasticity through organ-specific effects in insects

Nutrition, via the insulin/insulin-like growth factor (IIS)/Target of Rapamycin (TOR) signaling pathway, can provide a strong molding force for determining animal size and shape. For instance, nutrition induces a disproportionate increase in the size of male horns in dung and rhinoceros beetles, or mandibles in staghorn or horned flour beetles, relative to body size. In these species, well-fed male larvae produce adults with greatly enlarged horns or mandibles, whereas males that are starved or poorly fed as larvae bear much more modest appendages. Changes in IIS/TOR signaling plays a key role in appendage development by regulating growth in the horn and mandible primordia. In contrast, changes in the IIS/TOR pathway produce minimal effects on the size of other adult structures, such as the male genitalia in fruit flies and dung beetles. The horn, mandible and genitalia illustrate that although all tissues are exposed to the same hormonal environment within the larval body, the extent to which insulin can induce growth is organ specific. In addition, the IIS/TOR pathway affects body size and shape by controlling production of metamorphic hormones important for regulating developmental timing, like the steroid molting hormone ecdysone and sesquiterpenoid hormone juvenile hormone. In this review, we discuss recent results from Drosophila and other insects that highlight mechanisms allowing tissues to differ in their sensitivity to IIS/TOR and the potential consequences of these differences on body size and shape.FCT fellowships, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Partial Densities of States, Scattering Matrices, and Green's Functions

The response of an arbitrary scattering problem to quasi-static perturbations in the scattering potential is naturally expressed in terms of a set of local partial densities of states and a set of sensitivities each associated with one element of the scattering matrix. We define the local partial densities of states and the sensitivities in terms of functional derivatives of the scattering matrix and discuss their relation to the Green's function. Certain combinations of the local partial densities of states represent the injectivity of a scattering channel into the system and the emissivity into a scattering channel. It is shown that the injectivities and emissivities are simply related to the absolute square of the scattering wave-function. We discuss also the connection of the partial densities of states and the sensitivities to characteristic times. We apply these concepts to a delta-barrier and to the local Larmor clock.Comment: 13 pages (revtex), 4 figure

On using oscillating time-dependent restraints in MD simulation

The use of time-dependent restraints in molecular simulation in order to generate a conformational ensemble for molecules that is in accordance with measured ensemble averages for particular observable quantities is investigated. Using a model system consisting of liquid butane and the cyclic peptide antamanide the reproduction of particular average (3)J-coupling constant values in a molecular dynamics simulation is analysed. It is shown that the multiple-valuedness and the sizeable gradients of the Karplus curve relating (3)J-coupling constants measured in NMR experiments to the corresponding torsional-angle values cause severe problems when trying to restrain a (3)J-coupling constant to a value close to the extrema of the Karplus curve. The introduction of a factor oscillating with time into the restraining penalty function alleviates this problem and enhances the restrained conformational sampling

Low frequency admittance of a quantum point contact

We present a current and charge conserving theory for the low frequency admittance of a quantum point contact. We derive expressions for the electrochemical capacitance and the displacement current. The latter is determined by the {\em emittance} which equals the capacitance only in the limit of vanishing transmission. With the opening of channels the capacitance and the emittance decrease in a step-like manner in synchronism with the conductance steps. For vanishing reflection, the capacitance vanishes and the emittance is negative.Comment: 11 pages, revtex file, 2 ps figure

Neural Smoke Stylization with Color Transfer

Artistically controlling fluid simulations requires a large amount of manual work by an artist. The recently presented transportbased neural style transfer approach simplifies workflows as it transfers the style of arbitrary input images onto 3D smoke simulations. However, the method only modifies the shape of the fluid but omits color information. In this work, we therefore extend the previous approach to obtain a complete pipeline for transferring shape and color information onto 2D and 3D smoke simulations with neural networks. Our results demonstrate that our method successfully transfers colored style features consistently in space and time to smoke data for different input textures.Comment: Submitted to Eurographics202