135 research outputs found

    Comparisons Across Countries: Public Policy and the Performing Arts in the 1980\u27s

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    State involvement in the performing arts has led a varied life at different times in different countries, but rarely has it existed without controversy o£ some kind. The present time is no exception. The 1980\u27s have witnessed a serious attack on public funding of the performing arts. While the previous two decades can be characterized as periods of growth and expansion both in the public sector and the world economy, the 1980\u27s have been characterized as a period of economic austerity and, restraint in the public sector. Concerning the actual amount of money involved, the arts seem to generate a disproportionate amount of political controversy. President Carter\u27s comment that he was spending as much time choosing a new Chairman for the National Endowment for the Arts as on the SALT talks is illustrative. Changes in public policy toward the performing arts often reflect a great deal about the government involved and the present political context. The arts can function as an important symbol for the state, as a symbol of national identity or of a “cultured,” high-minded state. More importantly, the almost marginal situation of the arts within the scope of state activity make it a kind of meter to the political culture within a particular country. This paper asks many questions. It is descriptive: What can we understand about the nature of arts policy in general? What are the existing policy structures for the performing arts? It is exploratory: What has occurred in the realm of public policy toward the performing arts in the 1980\u27s? Perhaps most importantly, however, it is explanatory: Why have these changes occurred in the specific and different ways that they have? What has been the impact of these changes upon the performing arts? What is the likely impact upon the future? It seeks to identify the major elements in arts policy that influence and determine policy changes and to find a more general understanding of how these elements interact within the policy framework and within the constantly changing policy environments. I do not intend to completely account for public policy toward the performing arts, the nature of which would be unending. I intend rather to discuss what I perceive as the major elements affecting changes and important to an understanding of public policy in the 1980’s

    Influence of Resonances on the Noise Performance of SQUID Susceptometers

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    Scanning Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) Susceptometry simultaneously images the local magnetic fields and susceptibilities above a sample with sub-micron spatial resolution. Further development of this technique requires a thorough understanding of the current, voltage, and flux ( IVΦ ) characteristics of scanning SQUID susceptometers. These sensors often have striking anomalies in their current–voltage characteristics, which we believe to be due to electromagnetic resonances. The effect of these resonances on the performance of these SQUIDs is unknown. To explore the origin and impact of the resonances, we develop a model that qualitatively reproduces the experimentally-determined IVΦ characteristics of our scanning SQUID susceptometers. We use this model to calculate the noise characteristics of SQUIDs of different designs. We find that the calculated ultimate flux noise is better in susceptometers with damping resistors that diminish the resonances than in susceptometers without damping resistors. Such calculations will enable the optimization of the signal-to-noise characteristics of scanning SQUID susceptometers

    Meissner response of a bulk superconductor with an embedded sheet of reduced penetration depth

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    We calculate the change in susceptibility resulting from a thin sheet with reduced penetration depth embedded perpendicular to the surface of an isotropic superconductor, in a geometry applicable to scanning Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) microscopy, by numerically solving Maxwell's and London's equations using the finite element method. The predicted stripes in susceptibility agree well in shape with the observations of Kalisky et al. of enhanced susceptibility above twin planes in the underdoped pnictide superconductor Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 (Ba-122). By comparing the predicted stripe amplitudes with experiment and using the London relation between penetration depth and superfluid density, we estimate the enhanced Cooper pair density on the twin planes, and the barrier force for a vortex to cross a twin plane. Fits to the observed temperature dependence of the stripe amplitude suggest that the twin planes have a higher critical temperature than the bulk, although stripes are not observed above the bulk critical temperature.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure

    Probing the order parameter symmetry in the cuprate high temperature superconductors by SQUID microscopy

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    The orbital component of the order parameter in the cuprate high-Tc cuprate superconductors is now well established, in large part because of phase sensitive tests. Although it would be desirable to use such tests on other unconventional superconductors, there are a number of favorable factors associated with the properties of the cuprates, and a number of technical advances, that were required for these tests to be successful. In this review I will describe the development of phase sensitive pairing symmetry tests using SQUID microscopy, underlining the factors favoring these experiments in the cuprates and the technical advances that had to be made.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure, invited review to be published in Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences (Comptes Rendus Physique

    Average-passage flow model development

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    A 3-D model was developed for simulating multistage turbomachinery flows using supercomputers. This average passage flow model described the time averaged flow field within a typical passage of a bladed wheel within a multistage configuration. To date, a number of inviscid simulations were executed to assess the resolution capabilities of the model. Recently, the viscous terms associated with the average passage model were incorporated into the inviscid computer code along with an algebraic turbulence model. A simulation of a stage-and-one-half, low speed turbine was executed. The results of this simulation, including a comparison with experimental data, is discussed

    Spatially modulated magnetic structure of EuS due to the tetragonal domain structure of SrTiO3_3

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    The combination of ferromagnets with topological superconductors or insulators allows for new phases of matter that support excitations such as chiral edge modes and Majorana fermions. EuS, a wide-band-gap ferromagnetic insulator with a Curie temperature around 16 K, and SrTiO3_3 (STO), an important substrate for engineering heterostructures, may support these phases. We present scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) measurements of EuS grown epitaxially on STO that reveal micron-scale variations in ferromagnetism and paramagnetism. These variations are oriented along the STO crystal axes and only change their configuration upon thermal cycling above the STO cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition temperature at 105 K, indicating that the observed magnetic features are due to coupling between EuS and the STO tetragonal structure. We speculate that the STO tetragonal distortions may strain the EuS, altering the magnetic anisotropy on a micron-scale. This result demonstrates that local variation in the induced magnetic order from EuS grown on STO needs to be considered when engineering new phases of matter that require spatially homogeneous exchange

    Observation of high-Tc superconductivity in inhomogeneous combinatorial ceramics

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    A single-sample synthesis concept based on multi-element ceramic samples can produce a variety of local products. When applied to cuprate superconductors (SC), statistical modelling predicts the occurrence of possible compounds in a concentration range of about 50 ppm. In samples with such low concentrations, determining which compositions are superconducting is a challenging task and requires local probes or separation techniques. Here, we report results from samples with seven components: BaO2, CaCO3, SrCO3, La2O3, PbCO3, ZrO2 and CuO oxides and carbonates, starting from different grain sizes. The reacted ceramics show different phases, particular grain growth, as well as variations in homogeneity and superconducting properties. High-Tc superconductivity up to 118 K was found. Powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) in combination with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) can assign Pb1223 and (Sr,Ca,Ba)0.7-1.0CuO2 phases in inhomogeneous samples milled with 10 mm ball sizes. Rather uniform samples featuring strong grain growth were obtained with 3 mm ball sizes, resulting in Tc =70 K superconductivity of the La(Ba,Ca)2Cu3Ox based phase. Scanning SQUID microscopy (SSM) establishes locally formed superconducting areas at a level of a few microns in inhomogeneous superconducting particles captured by a magnetic separation technique. The present results demonstrate a new synthetic approach for attaining high-Tc superconductivity in compounds without Bi, Tl, Hg, or the need for high-pressure synthesis
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