Prediction of vertical bearing capacity of waveform micropile

This study proposes a predictive equation for bearing capacity considering the behaviour characteristics of a waveform micropile that can enhance the bearing capacity of a conventional micropile. The bearing capacity of the waveform micropile was analysed by a three-dimensional numerical model with soil and pile conditions obtained from the field and centrifuge tests. The load-transfer mechanism of the waveform micropile was revealed by the numerical analyses, and a new predictive equation for the bearing capacity was proposed. The bearing capacities of the waveform micropile calculated by the new equation were comparable with those measured from the field and centrifuge tests. This validated a prediction potential of the new equation for bearing capacity of waveform micropiles

Unilateral vs. Bilateral Incentives: Evidence from the U.S. Pork Industry

The idea that individuals adapt their behaviors in response to changes in incentive systems is fundamental to most economic analysis. This paper incorporates the concept of price discovery costs into the incentive theory to offer a theoretical model and empirical evidence on the differential incentive effects of long-term contracts and spot markets. Using the US pork industry case where procuring intertemporally consistent weights of hogs have been critical to pork processors, we show why the effectiveness of unilaterally determined and posted incentive price for the hog quality by the pork packers on the intertemporal consistency erodes and why a bilateral incentive structure built through long-term hog procurement contracts is demanded, in the presence of volatile hog price and feed price movements. The MGARCH model analysis of USDA AMS data supported our hypotheses that long-term hog procurement contracts would help moderate the erosion relative to the spot markets, resulting greater intertemporal consistency of hog weights.long-term contracts, incentive effects, price discovery costs, MGARCH model, Livestock Production/Industries,

On the Penrose Inequality for general horizons

For asymptotically flat initial data of Einstein's equations satisfying an energy condition, we show that the Penrose inequality holds between the ADM mass and the area of an outermost apparent horizon, if the data are restricted suitably. We prove this by generalizing Geroch's proof of monotonicity of the Hawking mass under a smooth inverse mean curvature flow, for data with non-negative Ricci scalar. Unlike Geroch we need not confine ourselves to minimal surfaces as horizons. Modulo smoothness issues we also show that our restrictions on the data can locally be fulfilled by a suitable choice of the initial surface in a given spacetime.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, no figures. Some comments added. No essential changes. To be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Putative spin liquid in the triangle-based iridate Ba3_3IrTi2_2O9_9

We report on thermodynamic, magnetization, and muon spin relaxation measurements of the strong spin-orbit coupled iridate Ba$_3$IrTi$_2$O$_9$, which constitutes a new frustration motif made up a mixture of edge- and corner-sharing triangles. In spite of strong antiferromagnetic exchange interaction of the order of 100~K, we find no hint for long-range magnetic order down to 23 mK. The magnetic specific heat data unveil the $T$-linear and -squared dependences at low temperatures below 1~K. At the respective temperatures, the zero-field muon spin relaxation features a persistent spin dynamics, indicative of unconventional low-energy excitations. A comparison to the $4d$ isostructural compound Ba$_3$RuTi$_2$O$_9$ suggests that a concerted interplay of compass-like magnetic interactions and frustrated geometry promotes a dynamically fluctuating state in a triangle-based iridate.Comment: Physical Review B accepte

Magnetic Domain Patterns Depending on the Sweeping Rate of Magnetic Fields

The domain patterns in a thin ferromagnetic film are investigated in both experiments and numerical simulations. Magnetic domain patterns under a zero field are usually observed after an external magnetic field is removed. It is demonstrated that the characteristics of the domain patterns depend on the decreasing rate of the external field, although it can also depend on other factors. Our numerical simulations and experiments show the following properties of domain patterns: a sea-island structure appears when the field decreases rapidly from the saturating field to the zero field, while a labyrinth structure is observed for a slowly decreasing field. The mechanism of the dependence on the field sweeping rate is discussed in terms of the concepts of crystallization.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Double polarization hysteresis loop induced by the domain pinning by defect dipoles in HoMnO3 epitaxial thin films

We report on antiferroelectriclike double polarization hysteresis loops in multiferroic HoMnO3 thin films below the ferroelectric Curie temperature. This intriguing phenomenon is attributed to the domain pinning by defect dipoles which were introduced unintentionally during film growth process. Electron paramagnetic resonance suggests the existence of Fe1+ defects in thin films and first principles calculations reveal that the defect dipoles would be composed of oxygen vacancy and Fe1+ defect. We discuss migration of charged point defects during film growth process and formation of defect dipoles along ferroelectric polarization direction, based on the site preference of point defects. Due to a high-temperature low-symmetry structure of HoMnO3, aging is not required to form the defect dipoles in contrast to other ferroelectrics (e.g., BaTiO3).Comment: 4 figure

Effects of pressure on the ferromagnetic state of the CDW compound SmNiC2

We report the pressure response of charge-density-wave (CDW) and ferromagnetic (FM) phases of the rare-earth intermetallic SmNiC2 up to 5.5 GPa. The CDW transition temperature (T_{CDW}), which is reflected as a sharp inflection in the electrical resistivity, is almost independent of pressure up to 2.18 GPa but is strongly enhanced at higher pressures, increasing from 155.7 K at 2.2 GPa to 279.3 K at 5.5 GPa. Commensurate with the sharp increase in T_{CDW}, the first-order FM phase transition, which decreases with applied pressure, bifurcates into the upper (T_{M1}) and lower (T_c) phase transitions and the lower transition changes its nature to second order above 2.18 GPa. Enhancement both in the residual resistivity and the Fermi-liquid T^2 coefficient A near 3.8 GPa suggests abundant magnetic quantum fluctuations that arise from the possible presence of a FM quantum critical point.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

B -> Xs l_i^+ l_j^+ Decays with R-parity Violation

We derive the upper bounds on certain products of R-parity- and lepton-flavor-violating couplings from B \ra X_s {l_i}^+ {l_j}^- decays. These modes of B-meson decays can constrain the product combinations of the couplings with one or more heavy generation indices which are comparable with or stronger than the present bounds. From the studies of the invariant dilepton mass spectrum and the forward backward asymmetry of the emitted leptons we note the possibility of detecting R-parity-violating signals even when the total decay rate due to R-parity violating couplings is comparable with that in the standard model and discriminating two types of R-parity-violating signals. The general expectation of the enhancement of the forward backward asymmetry of the emitted leptons in the minimal supersymmetric standard model with R-parity may be corrupted by R-parity violation.Comment: 10 pages, Revtex, 1 table and 2 figure