9,038 research outputs found
Explaining the rising concentration of banking assets in the 1990s
In recent years, the nation's largest bank holding companies have sharply increased their market share of assets. Have these institutions achieved their dominance by expanding their existing subsidiaries or by merging with other bank holding companies? A study of industry data for 1990-99 suggests that the increased market share of the largest companies is attributable almost entirely to external growth through mergers and acquisitions.Bank assets ; Bank holding companies ; Bank mergers
Sources of Unreliable Testimony from Children
We distilled research findings on sources of unreliable testimony from children into four principles that capture how the field of forensic developmental psychology conceptualizes this topic. The studies selected to illustrate these principles address three major questions: (a) how do young children perform in eyewitness studies, (b) why are some children less accurate than others, and (c) what phenomena generate unreliable testimony? Throughout our research, our focus is on factors other than lying that produce inaccurate or seemingly inconsistent autobiographical reports.Collectively, this research has shown that (a) children’s eyewitness accuracy is highly dependent on context, (b) neurological immaturity makes children vulnerable to errors under some circumstances, and (c) some children are more swayed by external influences than others. Finally, the diversity of factors that can influence the reliability of children’s testimony dictates that (d) analyzing children’s testimony as if they were adults (i.e., with adult abilities, sensibilities, and motivations) will lead to frequent misunderstandings. It takes considerable knowledge of development—including information about developmental psycholinguistics, memory development, and the gradual emergence of cognitive control—to work with child witnesses and to analyze cases as there are many sources of unreliable testimony
First critical field measurements of superconducting films by third harmonic analysis
The temperature behaviour of the first critical field () of
superconducting thin film samples can be determined with high accuracy using an
inductive and contactless method. Driving a sinusoidal current in a single coil
placed in front of the sample, a non zero third harmonic voltage is
induced in it when Abrikosov vortices enter the sample. Conditions to be
satisfied for the quantitative evaluation of using this technique are
detailed. As validation test, different type II superconductors (Nb, NbN,
MgB and YBaCuO under the form of thin films)
have been measured. The comparison between experimental results, data presented
in literature and theoretical predictions is presented and discussed.Comment: to be published in Journal of Applied Physic
Guidelines for fabrication of hybrid microcircuits
Document is summary of approaches that may be taken in designing hybrid microcircuits similar to those for aerospace application
Intrinsic and structural isotope effects in Fe-based superconductors
The currently available results of the isotope effect on the superconducting
transition temperature T_c in Fe-based high-temperature superconductors (HTS)
are highly controversial. The values of the Fe isotope effect (Fe-IE) exponent
\alpha_Fe for various families of Fe-based HTS were found to be as well
positive, as negative, or even be exceedingly larger than the BCS value
\alpha_BCS=0.5. Here we demonstrate that the Fe isotope substitution causes
small structural modifications which, in turn, affect T_c. Upon correcting the
isotope effect exponent for these structural effects, an almost unique value of
\alpha~0.35-0.4 is observed for at least three different families of Fe-based
HTS.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Few-electron quantum dots in III-V ternary alloys: role of fluctuations
We study experimentally the electron transport properties of gated quantum
dots formed in InGaAs/InP and InAsP/InP quantum well structures grown by
chemical-beam epitaxy. For the case of the InGaAs quantum well, quantum dots
form directly underneath narrow gate electrodes due to potential fluctuations.
We measure the Coulomb-blockade diamonds in the few-electron regime of a single
quantum dot and observe photon-assisted tunneling peaks under microwave
irradiation. A singlet-triplet transition at high magnetic field and
Coulomb-blockade effects in the quantum Hall regime are also observed. For the
InAsP quantum well, an incidental triple quantum dot forms also due to
potential fluctuations within a single dot layout. Tunable quadruple points are
observed via transport measurements.Comment: 3.3 pages, 3 figures. Added two new subfigures, new references, and
improved the tex
Structure and diffusion in amorphous aluminium silicate: A molecular dynamics computer simulation
The amorphous aluminium silicate (Al2O3)2(SiO2) [AS2] is investigated by
means of large scale molecular dynamics computer simulations. We consider fully
equilibrated melts in the temperature range 6100K >= T >= 2300K as well as
glass configurations that were obtained from cooling runs from T=2300K to 300K
with a cooling rate of about 10^12K/s. Already at temperatures as high as
4000K, most of the Al and Si atoms are four-fold coordinated by oxygen atoms.
Thus, the structure of AS2 is that of a disordered tetrahedral network. The
packing of AlO4 tetrahedra is very different from that of SiO4 tetrahedra in
that Al is involved with a relatively high probability in small-membered rings
and in triclusters in which an O atom is surrounded by four cations. We find as
typical configurations two-membered rings with two Al atoms in which the shared
O atoms form a tricluster. On larger length scales, the system shows a
microphase separation in which the Al-rich network structure percolates through
the SiO2 network. The latter structure gives rise to a prepeak in the static
structure factor at a wavenumber q=0.5\AA^{-1}. The comparison of experimental
X-ray data with the results from the simulation shows a good agreement for the
structure function. The diffusion dynamics in AS2 is found to be much faster
than in SiO2. We show that the self-diffusion constants for O and Al are very
similar and that they are by a factor of 2-3 larger than the one for Si.Comment: 30 pages of Latex, 13 figure
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