The Relative Importance of Search versus Credence Product Attributes: Organic and Locally Grown

Organic foods and local foods have come to the forefront of consumer issues, due to concerns about nutrition, health, sustainability, and food safety. A conjoint analysis experiment quantified the relative importance of, and trade-offs between, apple search and experience attributes (quality/blemishes, size, flavor), credence attributes (conventional vs. organic production method, local origin vs. product of USA vs. imported), and purchase price when buying apples. Quality is the most important apple attribute. Production method—organic versus conventional—had no significant impact on preferences.conjoint analysis, organic, locally grown, credence attributes, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

CONJOINT ANALYSIS OF THE MID-ATLANTIC FOOD-FISH MARKET FOR FARM-RAISED HYBRID STRIPED BASS

Conjoint analysis was used to examine buyer preferences toward farm-raised hybrid striped bass at the wholesale, retail, and restaurant levels. Low price and round form were found to be important attributes in the product preference rating for the wholesale and retail markets. The filleted form contributed the most to restaurants' preference rating. Following these, larger fish size was preferred by all markets.Agribusiness,

Hall effect in heavy-fermion metals

The heavy fermion systems present a unique platform in which strong electronic correlations give rise to a host of novel, and often competing, electronic and magnetic ground states. Amongst a number of potential experimental tools at our disposal, measurements of the Hall effect have emerged as a particularly important one in discerning the nature and evolution of the Fermi surfaces of these enigmatic metals. In this article, we present a comprehensive review of Hall effect measurements in the heavy-fermion materials, and examine the success it has had in contributing to our current understanding of strongly correlated matter. Particular emphasis is placed on its utility in the investigation of quantum critical phenomena which are thought to drive many of the exotic electronic ground states in these systems. This is achieved by the description of measurements of the Hall effect across the putative zero-temperature instability in the archetypal heavy-fermion metal YbRh$_2$Si$_2$. Using the Ce$M$In$_5$ (with $M =$ Co, Ir) family of systems as a paradigm, the influence of (antiferro-)magnetic fluctuations on the Hall effect is also illustrated. This is compared to prior Hall effect measurements in the cuprates and other strongly correlated systems to emphasize on the generality of the unusual magnetotransport in materials with non-Fermi liquid behavior.Comment: manuscript accepted in Adv. Phy

Comment to "Observation of the neutron radiative decay" by R.U. Khafizov et al., published in JETP Letters 83 (2006) 5 (Pis'ma v ZhETF 83 (2006) 7)

The commented manuscript was submitted for publication without informing at least four of the other authors, viz. N. Severijns, O. Zimmer, H.-F. Wirth and D. Rich. This violates our rights as collaborators. The analysis presented and the manuscript itself have not been discussed and have also not been approved by the entire collaboration prior to submission. Besides this formal incorrectness, we also criticise the content of the paper

Magnetotransport in the CeIrIn5{_5} system: The influence of antiferromagnetic fluctuations

We present an overview of magnetotransport measurements on the heavy-fermion superconductor CeIrIn$_5$. Sensitive measurements of the Hall effect and magnetoresistance (MR) are used to elucidate the low temperature phase diagram of this system. The normal-state magnetotransport is highly anomalous, and experimental signatures of a pseudogap-like precursor state to superconductivity as well as evidence for two distinct scattering times governing the Hall effect and the MR are observed. Our observations point out the influence of antiferromagnetic fluctuations on the magnetotransport in this class of materials. The implications of these findings, both in the context of unconventional superconductivity in heavy-fermion systems as well as in relation to the high temperature superconducting cuprates are discussed

Role of cross-shell excitations in the reaction 54Fe(d_pol,p)55Fe

The reaction 54Fe(d_pol,p)55Fe was studied at the Munich Q3D spectrograph with a 14 MeV polarized deuteron beam. Excitation energies, angular distributions and analyzing powers were measured for 39 states up to 4.5 MeV excitation energy. Spin and parity assignments were made and spectroscopic factors deduced by comparison to DWBA calculations. The results were compared to predictions by large scale shell model calculations in the full pf-shell and it was found that reasonable agreement for energies and spectroscopic factors below 2.5 MeV could only be obtained if up to 6 particles were allowed to be excited from the f_7/2 orbital into p_3/2, f_5/2, and p_1/2 orbitals across the N=28 gap. For levels above 2.5 MeV the experimental strength distribution was found to be significantly more fragmented than predicted by the shell model calculations.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables, submitted to European Physical Journal

Lifshitz transitions and quasiparticle de-renormalization in YbRh2_2Si2_2

We study the effect of magnetic fields up to 15 T on the heavy fermion state of YbRh$_2$Si$_2$ via Hall effect and magnetoresistance measurements down to 50 mK. Our data show anomalies at three different characteristic fields. We compare our data to renormalized band structure calculations through which we identify Lifshitz transitions associated with the heavy fermion bands. The Hall measurements indicate that the de-renormalization of the quasiparticles, {\it i.e} the destruction of the local Kondo singlets, occurs smoothly while the Lifshitz transitions occur within rather confined regions of the magnetic field.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Hybridization gap and Fano resonance in SmB6{_6}

We present results of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy (STS) measurements on the "Kondo insulator" SmB$_6$. The vast majority of surface areas investigated was reconstructed but, infrequently, also patches of varying size of non-reconstructed, Sm- or B-terminated surfaces were found. On the smallest patches, clear indications for the hybridization gap and inter-multiplet transitions were observed. On non-reconstructed surface areas large enough for coherent co-tunneling we were able to observe clear-cut Fano resonances. Our locally resolved STS indicated considerable finite conductance on all surfaces independent of their structure.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Vehicle test report: Electric Vehicle Associates electric conversion of an AMC Pacer

Tests were performed to characterize certain parameters of the EVA Pacer and to provide baseline data that can be used for the comparison of improved batteries that may be incorporated into the vehicle at a later time. The vehicle tests were concentrated on the electrical drive subsystem; i.e., the batteries, controller and motor. The tests included coastdowns to characterize the road load, and range evaluations for both cyclic and constant speed conditions. A qualitative evaluation of the vehicle's performance was made by comparing its constant speed range performance with other electric and hybrid vehicles. The Pacer performance was approximately equal to the majority of those vehicles assessed in 1977