Electron-Polarization Coupling in Superconductor-Ferroelectric Superlattices

We present a phenomenological model of periodic ferroelectric-superconductor (FE-S) heterostructures containing two alternating ferroelectric and superconducting layers. The interaction at the FE-S contacts is described as a coupling of the local carrier density of the superconductor with the spontaneous ferroelectric polarization near the FE-S interface. We obtain a stable symmetric domain-type phase exhibiting a contact-induced polarization and the ferroelectric domain structure at temperatures above the bulk ferroelectric transition temperature. With an increasing coupling energy, we find the appearance of the ferroelectric phase coexisting with the suppressed superconductivity in the S-film. The system is analyzed for different thicknesses of the FE- and S-films demonstrating the dramatic change of the topology of the phase diagrams with a variation of the layers thickness. The results are expected to shed light on the processes occurring in high-temperature superconducting films grown on perovskite alloy-substrates exhibiting ferroelectric properties at lower temperatures.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Work function of a quasicrystal surface: Icosahedral Al–Pd–Mn

The work function of a surface is one of its most basic and influential features. It has long been recognized that work function controls thermionic and field emission. The work function of a solid surface affects charge transfer to or from an adsorbate. It influences the electron tunneling probability between surfaces. It plays a role in quantization of electron states parallel to the surface in metal-supported metallic nanoislands. There is also evidence linking the work function of a metal surface to its friction coefficient

Media justice: Madeleine McCann, intermediatization and "trial by media" in the British press

Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared on 3 May 2007 from a holiday apartment in Portugal. Over five years and multiple investigations that failed to solve this abducted child case, Madeleine and her parents were subject to a process of relentless ‘intermediatization’. Across 24–7 news coverage, websites, documentaries, films, YouTube videos, books, magazines, music and artworks, Madeleine was a mediagenic image of innocence and a lucrative story. In contrast to Madeleine’s media sacralization, the representation of her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, fluctuated between periods of vociferous support and prolonged and libellous ‘trial by media’. This article analyses how the global intermediatization of the ‘Maddie Mystery’ fed into and fuelled the ‘trial by media’ of Kate and Gerry McCann in the UK press. Our theorization of ‘trial by media’ is developed and refined through considering its legal limitations in an era of ‘attack journalism’ and unprecedented official UK inquiries into press misconduct and criminality

How to humiliate and shame: A reporter's guide to the power of the mugshot

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Social Semiotics, 24(1), 56-87, 2014, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/The judicial photograph – the “mugshot” – is a ubiquitous and instantly recognisable form, appearing in the news media, on the internet, on book covers, law enforcement noticeboards and in many other mediums. This essay attempts to situate the mugshot in a historical and theoretical context to explain the explicit and implicit meaning of the genre as it has developed, focussing in particular on their use in the UK media in late modernity. The analysis is based on the author's reflexive practice as a journalist covering crime in the national news media for 30 years and who has used mugshots to illustrate stories for their explicit and specific content. The author argues that the visual limitations of the standardised “head and shoulders” format of the mugshot make it a robust subject for analysing the changing meaning of images over time. With little variation in the image format, arguments for certain accreted layers of signification are easier to make. Within a few years of the first appearance of the mugshot form in the mid-19th century, it was adopted and adapted as a research tool by scientists and criminologists. While the positivist scientists claimed empirical objectivity we can now see that mugshots played a part in the construction of subjective notions of “the other”, “the lesser” or “sub-human” on the grounds of class, race and religion. These dehumanising ideas later informed the theorists and bureaucrats of National Socialist ideology from the 1920s to 1940s. The author concludes that once again the mugshot has become, in certain parts of the media, a signifier widely used to exclude or deride certain groups. In late modernity, the part of the media that most use mugshots – the tabloid press and increasingly tabloid TV – is part of a neo-liberal process that, in a conscious commercial appeal to the paying audience, seeks to separate rather than unify wider society

The discursive construction of childhood and youth in AIDS interventions in Lesotho's education sector: Beyond global-local dichotomies

This is the post-print version of this article. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and Planning D,Society and Space 28(5) 791 – 810, 2010, available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 Pion.In southern Africa interventions to halt the spread of AIDS and address its social impacts are commonly targeted at young people, in many cases through the education sector. In Lesotho, education-sector responses to AIDS are the product of negotiation between a range of ‘local’ and ‘global’ actors. Although many interventions are put forward as government policy and implemented by teachers in schools, funding is often provided by bilateral and multilateral donors, and the international ‘AIDS industry’—in the form of UN agencies and international NGOs—sets agendas and makes prescriptions. This paper analyses interviews conducted with policy makers and practitioners in Lesotho and a variety of documents, critically examining the discourses of childhood and youth that are mobilised in producing changes in education policy and practice to address AIDS. Focusing on bursary schemes, life-skills education, and rights-based approaches, the paper concludes that, although dominant ‘global’ discourses are readily identified, they are not simply imported wholesale from the West, but rather are transformed through the organisations and personnel involved in designing and implementing interventions. Nonetheless, the connections through which these discourses are made, and children are subjectified, are central to the power dynamics of neoliberal globalisation. Although the representations of childhood and youth produced through the interventions are hybrid products of local and global discourses, the power relations underlying them are such that they, often unintentionally, serve a neoliberal agenda by depicting young people as individuals in need of saving, of developing personal autonomy, or of exercising individual rights.RGS-IB

Antipredatory Defense of Neonatal Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) by Yearling Male Pronghorn in Southwestern South Dakota

Antipredatory defense of pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) neonates (≤1 month old) by adult females (\u3e18 months old) is well documented throughout the geographic range of this species. However, reports of male pronghorn defending neonates against predators are limited to a single study in northwestern Wyoming where occurrences were documented of adult males assisting female pronghorn in defending neonates against coyotes (Canis latrans). To our knowledge, defense of neonatal pronghorn by yearling males (12–18 months old) has not been reported previously for this species. We report occurrences of antipredatory defense of neonatal pronghorn by yearling males in southwestern South Dakot

Anti-Nirvana: crime, culture and instrumentalism in the age of insecurity

‘Anti-Nirvana’ explores the relationship between consumer culture, media and criminal motivations. It has appeared consistently on the list of the top-ten most-read articles in this award-winning international journal, and it mounts a serious neo-Freudian challenge to the predominant naturalistic notion of ‘resistance’ at the heart of liberal criminology and media studies. It is also cited in the Oxford Handbook of Criminology and other criminology texts as a persuasive argument in support of the theory that criminality amongst young people is strongly linked to the acquisitive values of consumerism and the images of possessive individualism that dominate mass media

The Prairie Naturalist Manuscript Submission Guidelines

These guidelines present The Prairie Naturalist (PNAT) policies and procedures for submitting scientific manuscripts for consideration for publication. In January 2009, a change in Editorial staff occurred and these guidelines address the ongoing transition and update the online Suggestions for Contributors guidelines provided on the PNAT website (http://www.fhsu.edu/biology/pn/prairienat.htm); these instructions supersede all previous guidelines. Tables and appendices are included for common word expressions with superfluous wording, examples of correct format and style guidelines for tables accompanying manuscripts, guidance in properly preparing Research Articles and Notes, citing literature, and mandatory abbreviations for tables, figures and parenthetical expressions

Three New Species of \u3cem\u3eLepidocyrtus\u3c/em\u3e Bourlet (Collembola: Entomobryidae) from Florida, USA, and Descriptive Notes on \u3cem\u3eLepidocyrtus floridensis\u3c/em\u3e Snider

Abstract In North America, the genus Lepidocyrtus Bourlet (Collembola: Entomobryidae) is represented by 18 species, but only three (L. floridensis Snider, L. millsi Snider, and L. pallidus Reuter) have been reported from Florida. We investigated species diversity in leaf litter samples from counties in the north-central and southern part of the state, as the reportedly low species diversity in Florida may be due to under-sampling. As a result, in this contribution we describe three species of Lepidocyrtus new to science: L. bobwoodruffi Soto-Adames, Jenks and Daly, new species, L. brambilae Soto-Adames, Jenks and Daly, new species and L. mikethomasi Soto-Adames, Jenks and Daly, new species. In addition, we provide notes to complement the description of L. floridensis. Resumen En America del Norte, el genero Lepidocyrtus Bourlet esta representado por 18 especies. Aunque el estado de Florida alberga una vasta diversidad de habitats, solo tres especies de Lepidocyrtus (L. floridensis Snider, L. millsi Snider y L. pallidus Reuter) han sido reportadas para la region. Asumiendo que la deficiencia en la diversidad de especies reportadas de Florida es debido a la falta de muestreo adecuado, examinamos colecciones aleatorias de condados en la region norcentral y sur del Estado. Como resultado, en la presente contribucion describimos tres especies nuevas para la ciencia: L. bobwoodruffi Soto-Adames, Jenks y Daly, nueva especie, L. brambilae Soto-Adames, Jenks y Daly, nueva especie, y L. mikethomasi Soto-Adames, Jenks y Daly, nueva especie. En adicion, proveemos notas que complementan la descripcion original de L. floridensis