1,251 research outputs found
How to assist probationers with debt problems during supervision?:A qualitative study into the experiences of both probation officers and clients
Little research exists on what works in the supervision of offenders with debt problems. This qualitative study aims to provide insight into the barriers probation officers and clients experience during supervision regarding debt
and the support that clients need. Interviews were conducted with 33 Dutch probation officers and 16 clients. The results show that debt often negatively influences clients’ lives and hinders their resocialization. Probation officers lack effective methods to support clients with debt problems. To adequately help clients with debt problems, probation officers should obtain more knowledge about effective interventions and collaborate more closely with debt specialists from the probation supervision outset
Ferromagnetic Domain Structure of La0.78Ca0.22MnO3 Single Crystals
The magneto-optical technique has been employed to observe spontaneous
ferromagnetic domain structures in La0.78Ca0.22MnO3 single crystals. The
magnetic domain topology was found to be correlated with the intrinsic twin
structure of the investigated crystals. With decreasing temperature the regular
network of ferromagnetic domains undergoes significant changes resulting in
apparent rotation of the domain walls in the temperature range of 70-150 K. The
apparent rotation of the domain walls can be understood in terms of the
Jahn-Teller deformation of the orthorhombic unit cell, accompanied by
additional twinning.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to be published in PR
Ferromagnetic domain structure of La0.78Ca0.22MnO3 single crystals
The magneto-optical technique has been employed to observe spontaneous ferromagnetic domain structures in La0.78Ca0.22MnO3 single crystals. The magnetic domain topology was found to be correlated with the intrinsic twin structure of the investigated crystals. With decreasing temperature the regular network of ferromagnetic domains undergoes significant changes resulting in apparent rotation of the domain walls in the temperature range of 70–150 K. The apparent rotation of the domain walls can be understood in terms of the Jahn-Teller deformation of the orthorhombic unit cell, accompanied by additional twinning
Defect-unbinding and the Bose-glass transition in layered superconductors
The low-field Bose-glass transition temperature in heavy-ion irradiated
Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8+d increases progressively with increasing density of
irradiation-induced columnar defects, but saturates for densities in excess of
1.5 x10^9 cm^-2. The maximum Bose-glass temperature corresponds to that above
which diffusion of two-dimensional pancake vortices between different vortex
lines becomes possible, and above which the ``line-like'' character of vortices
is lost. We develop a description of the Bose-glass line that is in excellent
quantitative agreement with the experimental line obtained for widely different
values of track density and material parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Experimental and numerical investigation of backward erosion piping in heterogeneous sands
Backward erosion piping is a relevant failure mechanism for water–retaining structures that determines uncertainty in residual flooding hazard and risk mapping. The occurrence of piping can be predicted using the Sellmeijer model, which is developed and validated for homogeneous granular layers. However, the subsurface encountered below levees can be far from homogeneous. Previous laboratory tests indicated a substantial increase of piping resistance in sand samples with variation of properties in the path of the pipe. In the research described in this paper the process of backward erosion piping in heterogeneous sands was investigated by means of small–scale experiments to study the influence of micro–scale and macro–scale heterogeneity. Numerical simulations of piping experiments with macro–scale heterogeneity were performed using a 2D groundwater flow model extended with a piping module and a 3D groundwater flow model
Suppression of surface barrier in superconductors by columnar defects
We investigate the influence of columnar defects in layered superconductors
on the thermally activated penetration of pancake vortices through the surface
barrier. Columnar defects, located near the surface, facilitate penetration of
vortices through the surface barrier, by creating ``weak spots'', through which
pancakes can penetrate into the superconductor. Penetration of a pancake
mediated by an isolated column, located near the surface, is a two-stage
process involving hopping from the surface to the column and the detachment
from the column into the bulk; each stage is controlled by its own activation
barrier. The resulting effective energy is equal to the maximum of those two
barriers. For a given external field there exists an optimum location of the
column for which the barriers for the both processes are equal and the
reduction of the effective penetration barrier is maximal. At high fields the
effective penetration field is approximately two times smaller than in
unirradiated samples. We also estimate the suppression of the effective
penetration field by column clusters. This mechanism provides further reduction
of the penetration field at low temperatures.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Thermal Suppression of Strong Pinning
We study vortex pinning in layered type-II superconductors in the presence of
uncorrelated disorder for decoupled layers. Introducing the new concept of
variable-range thermal smoothing, we describe the interplay between strong
pinning and thermal fluctuations. We discuss the appearance and analyze the
evolution in temperature of two distinct non-linear features in the
current-voltage characteristics. We show how the combination of layering and
electromagnetic interactions leads to a sharp jump in the critical current for
the onset of glassy response as a function of temperature.Comment: LaTeX 2.09, 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Supercooling of the disordered vortex lattice in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8+d
Time-resolved local induction measurements near to the vortex lattice
order-disorder transition in optimally doped
BiSrCaCuO single crystals shows that the
high-field, disordered phase can be quenched to fields as low as half the
transition field. Over an important range of fields, the electrodynamical
behavior of the vortex system is governed by the co-existence of the two phases
in the sample. We interpret the results in terms of supercooling of the
high-field phase and the possible first order nature of the order-disorder
transition at the ``second peak''.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Nature, July 10th, 1999; Rejected
August 8th for lack of broad interest Submitted to Physical Review Letters
September 10th, 199
Strong Pinning in High Temperature Superconductors
Detailed measurements of the critical current density jc of YBa2Cu3O7 films
grown by pulsed laser deposition reveal the increase of jc as function of the
filmthickness. Both this thickness dependence and the field dependence of the
critical current are consistently described using a generalization of the
theory of strong pinning of Ovchinnikov and Ivlev [Phys. Rev. B 43, 8024
(1991)]. From the model, we deduce values of the defect density (10^21 m^-3)
and the elementary pinning force, which are in good agreement with the
generally accepted values for Y2O3-inclusions. In the absence of clear evidence
that the critical current is determined by linear defects or modulations of the
film thickness, our model provides an alternative explanation for the rather
universal field dependence of the critical current density found in YBa2Cu3O7
films deposited by different methods.Comment: 11 pages; 8 Figures; Published Phys. Rev. B 66, 024523 (2002
Collective pinning of a frozen vortex liquid in ultrathin superconducting YBa_2Cu_3O_7 films
The linear dynamic response of the two-dimensional (2D) vortex medium in
ultrathin YBa_2Cu_3O_7 films was studied by measuring their ac sheet impedance
Z over a broad range of frequencies \omega. With decreasing temperature the
dissipative component of Z exhibits, at a temperature T*(\omega) well above the
melting temperature of a 2D vortex crystal, a crossover from a thermally
activated regime involving single vortices to a regime where the response has
features consistent with a description in terms of a collectively pinned vortex
manifold. This suggests the idea of a vortex liquid which, below T*(\omega),
appears to be frozen at the time scales 1/\omega of the experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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