863 research outputs found
Negative refraction in natural ferromagnetic metals
It is generally believed that Veselago's criterion for negative refraction
cannot be fulfilled in natural materials. However, considering imaginary parts
of the permittivity ({\epsilon}) and permeability ({\mu}) and for metals at not
too high frequencies the general condition for negative refraction becomes
extremely simple: Re({\mu}) Re(n) < 0. Here we demonstrate
experimentally that in such natural metals as pure Co and FeCo alloy the
negative values of the refractive index are achieved close to the frequency of
the ferromagnetic resonance. Large values of the negative refraction can be
obtained at room temperature and they can easily be tuned in moderate magnetic
fields
Sodium reduction regulations in South Africa – the consumer perspective
The prevalence of adult hypertension has increased at an alarming rate in recent years in South Africa. Salt reduction legislation is considered a cost-effective way to reduce this burden, as salt is a driver of hypertension. This cross-sectional, descriptive study aimed to determine consumers’ awareness of, and perceptions towards, the salt legislation, and their salt consumption habits. An interviewer-administered survey was used to gather data from literate adult consumers (N=583) at four randomly selected shopping malls in the Tygerberg Health sub-district, City of Cape Town. More than half (56.9%) of all participants tried to consume less salt because they thought it was healthier (38.3%) yet processed foods were a major source of salt in their diets (50.4%). Only 16.5% of participants were aware of the national salt legislation. Almost half of participants (47.9%) thought the legislation would affect the taste of food negatively, yet 80.9% have not noticed a change after implementation of the first phase of the legislation. To conclude, regulating manufacturers of food products could facilitate a reduction in population salt intake. An integrative strategy and collaboration between all stakeholders with regards to legislation, labelling and health education is needed in order to achieve health targets for population salt reduction
Pairing collectivity in medium-mass neutron-rich nuclei near drip-line
We look for collective excitations originating from the strong surface
pairing in unstable nuclei near the neutron drip-line. The soft dipole
excitation is such a pairing mode as it exhibits a character of
core-vs-dineutron motion. Possibility of the hydrodynamic phonon mode (the
Anderson-Bogoliubov mode) is also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, a talk presented at Collective Motion in Nuclei under
Extreme Conditions (COMEX2), June 20-23, 2006, St. Goar, German
The decay of photoexcited quantum systems: a description within the statistical scattering model
The decay of photoexcited quantum systems (examples are photodissociation of
molecules and autoionization of atoms) can be viewed as a half-collision
process (an incoming photon excites the system which subsequently decays by
dissociation or autoionization). For this reason, the standard statistical
approach to quantum scattering, originally developed to describe nuclear
compound reactions, is not directly applicable. Using an alternative approach,
correlations and fluctuations of observables characterizing this process were
first derived in [Fyodorov YV and Alhassid Y 1998 Phys. Rev. A 58, R3375]. Here
we show how the results cited above, and more recent results incorporating
direct decay processes, can be obtained from the standard statistical
scattering approach by introducing one additional channel.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
Pulmonary Histoplasmosis Mimicking Metastatic Lung Cancer: A Case Report.
Histoplasmosis is a well-known endemic fungal infection but experience in non-endemic regions is often limited, which may lead to delayed diagnosis and extensive testing. The diagnosis can be especially challenging, typically when the disease first presents with pulmonary nodules accompanied by hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy, suggesting a much more common malignant disease. In this situation, a greater FDG uptake in draining lymph nodes in comparison with the associated lung nodule seen in [ <sup>18</sup> F]FDG-PET/CT, the so-called "flip-flop fungus" sign, can help to orientate further diagnostic measures. We report a case of a 56-year-old woman living in Switzerland, a non-endemic region, whose diagnosis of imported histoplasmosis was delayed since the findings had been initially misinterpreted as pulmonary malignancy. Further, histological workup was inconclusive due to lack of specific fungal staining, leading to ineffective treatment and non-resolving disease. This paper intends to highlight the pitfalls in diagnosing Histoplasma capsulatum and presents images of particularities of fungal infections in [ <sup>18</sup> F]FDG-PET/CT, which in our case showed a "flip-flop fungus" sign
On the Fulde-Ferrell State in Spatially Isotropic Superconductors
Effects of superconducting fluctuations on the Fulde-Ferrell (FF) state are
discussed in a spatially isotropic three-dimensional superconductor under a
magnetic field. For this system, Shimahara recently showed that within the
phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory, the long-range order of the FF state
is suppressed by the phase fluctuation of the superconducting order parameter.
[H. Shimahara: J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. {\bf 67} (1998) 1872, Physica B {\bf 259-261}
(1999) 492] In this letter, we investigate this instability of the FF state
against superconducting fluctuations from the microscopic viewpoint, employing
the theory developed by Nozi\'eres and Schmitt-Rink in the BCS-BEC crossover
field. Besides the absence of the second-order phase transition associated with
the FF state, we show that even if the pairing interaction is weak, the shift
of the chemical potential from the Fermi energy due to the fluctuations is
crucial near the critical magnetic field of the FF state obtained within the
mean-field theory.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
Density-induced BCS to Bose-Einstein crossover
We investigate the zero-temperature BCS to Bose-Einstein crossover at the
mean-field level, by driving it with the attractive potential and the particle
density.We emphasize specifically the role played by the particle density in
this crossover.Three different interparticle potentials are considered for the
continuum model in three spatial dimensions, while both s- and d-wave solutions
are analyzed for the attractive (extended) Hubbard model on a two-dimensional
square lattice. For this model the peculiar behavior of the crossover for the
d-wave solution is discussed.In particular, in the strong-coupling limit when
approaching half filling we evidence the occurrence of strong correlations
among antiparallel-spin fermions belonging to different composite bosons, which
give rise to a quasi-long-range antiferromagnetic order in this limit.Comment: 10 pages, 5 enclosed figure
Deaf, Dumb, and Chatting Robots, Enabling Distributed Computation and Fault-Tolerance Among Stigmergic Robot
We investigate ways for the exchange of information (explicit communication)
among deaf and dumb mobile robots scattered in the plane. We introduce the use
of movement-signals (analogously to flight signals and bees waggle) as a mean
to transfer messages, enabling the use of distributed algorithms among the
robots. We propose one-to-one deterministic movement protocols that implement
explicit communication. We first present protocols for synchronous robots. We
begin with a very simple coding protocol for two robots. Based on on this
protocol, we provide one-to-one communication for any system of n \geq 2 robots
equipped with observable IDs that agree on a common direction (sense of
direction). We then propose two solutions enabling one-to-one communication
among anonymous robots. Since the robots are devoid of observable IDs, both
protocols build recognition mechanisms using the (weak) capabilities offered to
the robots. The first protocol assumes that the robots agree on a common
direction and a common handedness (chirality), while the second protocol
assumes chirality only. Next, we show how the movements of robots can provide
implicit acknowledgments in asynchronous systems. We use this result to design
asynchronous one-to-one communication with two robots only. Finally, we combine
this solution with the schemes developed in synchronous settings to fit the
general case of asynchronous one-to-one communication among any number of
robots. Our protocols enable the use of distributing algorithms based on
message exchanges among swarms of Stigmergic robots. Furthermore, they provides
robots equipped with means of communication to overcome faults of their
communication device
Ferromagnetism in the two dimensional t-t' Hubbard model at the Van Hove density
Using an improved version of the projection quantum Monte Carlo technique, we
study the square-lattice Hubbard model with nearest-neighbor hopping t and
next-nearest-neighbor hopping t', by simulation of lattices with up to 20 X 20
sites. For a given R=2t'/t, we consider that filling which leads to a singular
density of states of the noninteracting problem. For repulsive interactions, we
find an itinerant ferromagnet (antiferromagnet) for R=0.94 (R=0.2). This is
consistent with the prediction of the T-matrix approximation, which sums the
most singular set of diagrams.Comment: 10 pages, RevTeX 3.0 + a single postscript file with all figure
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