Effects of street traffic noise in the night

The relationship between automobile traffic noise and the degree of disturbance experience experienced at night was explored through a random sample survey of 1600 individuals in rural and urban areas. The data obtained were used to establish threshold values

Medical Tourism in the Caribbean: A Call for Cooperation

Numerous Caribbean countries have discussed plans for developing medical tourism activities as a means of tourism diversification and economic development. These plans have been encouraged and shaped by outside agencies whose influence might cause a race-to-the-bottom environment between countries competing for the same niche of tourists. This paper provides a call for cooperation between local health officials in the Caribbean region to coordinate plans for the development of a medical tourism industry that enhances regional access to specialized healthcare and facilitates the movement of patients and healthcare resources throughout the region to enhance health equity and health outcomes in the Caribbean

Flight test and evaluation of Omega navigation in a general aviation aircraft. Volume 2: Appendices

Detailed documentation for each flight of the Omega Flight Evaluation study is presented, including flight test description sheets and actual flight data plots. Computer programs used for data processing and flight planning are explained and the data formats utilized by the Custom Interface Unit are summarized

A Four-Unit-Cell Periodic Pattern of Quasiparticle States Surrounding Vortex Cores in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d

Scanning tunneling microscopy is used to image the additional quasiparticle states generated by quantized vortices in the high-Tc superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d. They exhibit a Cu-O bond oriented 'checkerboard' pattern, with four unit cell (4a0) periodicity and a ~30 angstrom decay length. These electronic modulations may be related to the magnetic field-induced, 8a0 periodic, spin density modulations of decay length ~70 angstroms recently discovered in La1.84Sr0.16CuO4. The proposed explanation is a spin density wave localized surrounding each vortex core. General theoretical principles predict that, in the cuprates, a localized spin modulation of wavelength L should be associated with a corresponding electronic modulation of wavelength L/2, in good agreement with our observations.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Reading instruction in first-grade classrooms: Do basals control teachers?

This study describes first-grade teachers beliefs and practices about reading instruction. Drawing from interview and observational data, 16 teachers from four districts were placed on a continuum from skills-based to literature-based in relationship to their use of the basal. Only 2 teachers were found to rely solely on the basal, while 3 teachers enhanced the basal with literature, and 4 teachers used only literature in their reading instruction. Six teachers enhanced their basal use with additional skills and 1 teacher relied on skills only in her reading instruction. This diversity\u27 of teaching beliefs and practices was corroborated by questionnaire data from a larger sample of teachers. Next, a framework developed by Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule (1986) was used to categorize teachers\u27 ways of knowing. The findings showed 1 teacher to be a silent knower, 6 were received knowers, 1 was a subjective knower, 7 were procedural knowers, and 1 was a connected knower. Results challenge Shannon\u27s (1987) hypothesis that basals deskill teachers while supporting Sosniak and Stodolskv\u27s (1993) view that teachers are more autonomous in their use of textbook materials

Ginzburg-Landau Like Theory for High Temperature Superconductivity in the Cuprates: Emergent d-wave Order

High temperature superconductivity in the cuprates remains one of the most widely investigated, constantly surprising, and poorly understood phenomena in physics. Here, we describe briefly a new phenomenological theory inspired by the celebrated description of superconductivity due to Ginzburg and Landau and believed to describe its essence. This posits a free energy functional for the superconductor in terms of a complex order parameter characterizing it. We propose, for superconducting cuprates, a similar functional of the complex, in plane, nearest neighbor spin singlet bond (or Cooper) pair amplitude psi_ij. A crucial part of it is a (short range) positive interaction between nearest neighbor bond pairs, of strength J'. Such an interaction leads to nonzero long wavelength phase stiffness or superconductive long range order, with the observed d-wave symmetry, below a temperature T_c\simzJ' where z is the number of nearest neighbours; it is thus an emergent, collective consequence. Using the functional, we calculate a large range of properties, e.g. the pseudogap transition temperature T* as a function of hole doping x, the transition curve T_c(x), the superfluid stiffness rho_s(x,T), the specific heat (without and with a magnetic field) due to the fluctuating pair degrees of freedom, and the zero temperature vortex structure. We find remarkable agreement with experiment. We also calculate the self energy of electrons hopping on the square cuprate lattice and coupled to electrons of nearly opposite momenta via inevitable long wavelength Cooper pair fluctuations formed of these electrons. The ensuing results for electron spectral density are successfully compared with recent ARPES experiments, and comprehensively explain strange features such as temperature dependent Fermi arcs above T_c and the 'bending' of the superconducting gap below T_c .Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, to appear in Int J Mod Phys

Josephson Coupling through a Quantum Dot

We derive, via fourth order perturbation theory, an expression for the Josephson current through a gated interacting quantum dot. We analyze our expression for two different models of the superconductor-dot-superconductor (SDS) system. When the matrix elements connecting dot and leads are featureless constants, we compute the Josephson coupling J_c as a function of the gate voltage and Coulomb interaction. In the diffusive dot limit, we compute the probability distribution P(J_c) of Josephson couplings. In both cases, pi junction behavior (J_c < 0) is possible, and is not simply dependent on the parity of the dot occupancy.Comment: 9 pages; 3 encapsulated PostScript figure

Highland Pond Utilization by Bats in the Ozark National Forest, Arkansas

During May through August 1996, wildlife ponds (man-made and/or naturally occurring) and road ruts on the Sylamore Ranger District, Ozark National Forest, Arkansas, were mist netted to determine extent of utilization by bats. Thirty-nine ponds and road ruts were netted one or more times during 53 nights. These water sources were originally constructed to support wildlife species such as deer, turkey, etc.. This study demonstrates that taxonomically and numerically diverse bat populations use these water sources. Seven hundred and seventy bats of nine species, including two endangered species, were netted. Bats were identified, and sex, reproductive status, forearm length, and weight were recorded. All bats were banded and released at the site of capture

Tailoring transport properties of phase-separated manganite films with ordered magnetic nanostructures

International audienceThe magnetotransport properties of thin manganite films (La 0.7 Ca 0.3 MnO 3) coupled with arrays of permalloy (Py) nanodots deposited on the surface of the film is studied as a function of temperature , magnetic field and size of the dots. In the presence of the magnetic dots, a reduction of the electrical resistivity is observed, especially at the insulator-to-metal transition, as well as a shift of the transition peak towards higher temperature. This indicates that, due to the local interface exchange coupling, highly conductive ferromagnetic domains are nucleated in the manganite film underneath the Py nanodots. The use of a simplified resistor network model allows us to estimate the size of the metallic regions induced by the exchange coupling. At low temperatures, these regions extend ∼ 70 nm beyond the edge of the nanodots, a lengthscale comparable to the correlation length of the ferromagnetic clusters in the phase-separated state of La 0.7 Ca 0.3 MnO 3