3,761 research outputs found
Fiscal autonomy for Scotland? A rejoinder
In their paper „A restatement of the case for fiscal autonomy‟ Hallwood and MacDonald (2006b) claim that Barnett is a formula for a rake‟s progress and that fiscal autonomy, as outlined in their previous paper „The economic case for Scottish fiscal autonomy: with or without independence‟ (Hallwood and MacDonald, 2006a), offers a superior financial settlement for Scotland. We here restate our continued disagreements with their argument. We start with corrections of their interpretation of our paper „Flaws and myths in the case for Scottish fiscal autonomy‟ (Ashcroft, Christie and Swales, 2006) before highlighting where we believe their latest paper fails to provide answers to important questions we posed
Devolution and the economy : a Scottish perspective
In their interesting and challenging chapter John Adams and Peter Robinson assess the consequences for economic development policy of the devolution measures enacted by the UK Labour government post 1997. Their chapter ranges widely over current UK regional disparities, the link between devolution and economic growth, the balance of responsibilities in policy between Whitehall and the devolved administrations, and finally, they raise questions about the developing "quasi-federal" role of Whitehall in regulating or coordinating the new devolved policy landscape. In response, we propose to focus on four issues that we believe are key to understanding the economic consequences of devolution both at the Scottish and UK levels. First, we argue that the view of Scotland's devolutionary experience in economic policy is partial and so does not fully capture the nature and extent of change post 1999. Secondly, we examine the role of devolution in regional economic performance. There is much in their paper on this topic with which we agree but we contend that there are significant omissions in the analysis, which are important for policy choice. Our third section highlights an area not discussed in depth by Adams and Robinson's paper: the funding of the devolution settlement. Here we consider some of the implications of funding arrangements for economic performance and the options for a new funding settlement. Finally, we deal with the difficult issue of co-ordination between the centre and the devolved regions. We contend that co-ordination is largely conspicuous by its absence. Moreover, where coordination is deployed it reflects an inadequate understanding of the extent to which the economies of the regions and devolved territories of the UK are linked
A superconductor to superfluid phase transition in liquid metallic hydrogen
Although hydrogen is the simplest of atoms, it does not form the simplest of
solids or liquids. Quantum effects in these phases are considerable (a
consequence of the light proton mass) and they have a demonstrable and often
puzzling influence on many physical properties, including spatial order. To
date, the structure of dense hydrogen remains experimentally elusive. Recent
studies of the melting curve of hydrogen indicate that at high (but
experimentally accessible) pressures, compressed hydrogen will adopt a liquid
state, even at low temperatures. In reaching this phase, hydrogen is also
projected to pass through an insulator-to-metal transition. This raises the
possibility of new state of matter: a near ground-state liquid metal, and its
ordered states in the quantum domain. Ordered quantum fluids are traditionally
categorized as superconductors or superfluids; these respective systems feature
dissipationless electrical currents or mass flow. Here we report an analysis
based on topological arguments of the projected phase of liquid metallic
hydrogen, finding that it may represent a new type of ordered quantum fluid.
Specifically, we show that liquid metallic hydrogen cannot be categorized
exclusively as a superconductor or superfluid. We predict that, in the presence
of a magnetic field, liquid metallic hydrogen will exhibit several phase
transitions to ordered states, ranging from superconductors to superfluids.Comment: for a related paper see cond-mat/0410425. A correction to the front
page caption appeared in Oct 14 issue of Nature:
http://www.nature.com/nature/links/041014/041014-11.htm
Evidence for a quantum phase transition in electron-doped PrCeCuO from Thermopower measurements
The evidence for a quantum phase transition under the superconducting dome in
the high- cuprates has been controversial. We report low temperature
normal state thermopower(S) measurements in electron-doped
PrCeCuO as a function of doping (x from 0.11 to
0.19). We find that at 2K both S and S/T increase dramatically from x=0.11 to
0.16 and then saturate in the overdoped region. This behavior has a remarkable
similarity to previous Hall effect results in
PrCeCuO . Our results are further evidence for an
antiferromagnetic to paramagnetic quantum phase transition in electron-doped
cuprates near x=0.16.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Effective mass in quasi two-dimensional systems
The effective mass of the quasiparticle excitations in quasi two-dimensional
systems is calculated analytically. It is shown that the effective mass
increases sharply when the density approaches the critical one of
metal-insulator transition. This suggests a Mott type of transition rather than
an Anderson like transition.Comment: 3 pages 3 figure
Break-junction experiments on the zero-bias anomaly of non-magnetic and ferromagnetically ordered metals
We have investigated break junctions of normal non-magnetic metals as well as
ferromagnets at low temperatures. The point contacts with radii 0.15 - 15 nm
showed zero-bias anomalies which can be attributed to Kondo scattering at a
single Kondo impurity at the contact or to the switching of a single conducting
channel. The Kondo temperatures derived from the width of the anomalies varied
between 10 and 1000 K. These results agree well with literature data on
atomic-size contacts of the ferromagnets as well as with spear-anvil type
contacts on a wide variety of metals.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Proceedings of the 26th Conference
on Low Temperature Physic
Theory of Diamagnetism in the Pseudogap Phase: Implications from the Self energy of Angle Resolved Photoemission
In this paper we apply the emerging- consensus understanding of the fermionic
self energy deduced from angle resolved photoemisssion spectroscopy (ARPES)
experiments to deduce the implications for orbital diamagnetism in the
underdoped cuprates. Many theories using many different starting points have
arrived at a broadened BCS-like form for the normal state self energy
associated with a d-wave excitation gap, as is compatible with ARPES data.
Establishing compatibility with the f-sum rules, we show how this self energy,
along with the constraint that there is no Meissner effect in the normal phase
are sufficient to deduce the orbital susceptibility. We conclude, moreover,
that diamagnetism is large for a d-wave pseudogap. Our results should apply
rather widely to many theories of the pseudogap, independent of the microscopic
details.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
A spiral curriculum for teaching resuscitation: the what, the why, the how
Background: More than fifty years ago, Jerome Bruner introduced the spiral curriculum based on constructivist ideas. Most fields of education adopted this concept which promises to enable the learner to develop their ability to transfer thinking processes from one context to another - also an essential skill for a medical doctor. Aim: By implementing the spiral curriculum model throughout our course, we aim to not only accelerate our students\u27 learning, we also seek to better prepare them to master situations that arise infrequently or urgently, such as the need for life support skills. Method: Based on the our MBBS entry requirement Possession of a First Aid Certificate , our clinical skills teaching revisits Basic Life Support (BLS) on several occasions throughout the four year degree, building cumulatively on already learnt content. We guide the students to acquire new psychomotor skills at the same time as applying already learnt concepts and facilitating their ongoing learning through inquiry. Equipped with these skills students participate then in our graded submersive, high-fidelity manikin-based simulation program with a focus on BLS and Advanced Life Support (ALS) scenarios. Results: Evaluation comments such as; CPR is vital for medical training , Great revision of BLS, Automated External Defibrillation (AED) and bagging or An excellent activity, reinforced lots of physiology and pharmacology while also refreshing BLS/ALS demonstrate the acceptance of the spiral teaching approach by the students and validates the effort and dedication of our staff
Length-dependent conductance and thermopower in single-molecule junctions of dithiolated oligophenylene derivatives
We study theoretically the length dependence of both conductance and
thermopower in metal-molecule-metal junctions made up of dithiolated
oligophenylenes contacted to gold electrodes. We find that while the
conductance decays exponentially with increasing molecular length, the
thermopower increases linearly as suggested by recent experiments. We also
analyze how these transport properties can be tuned with methyl side groups.
Our results can be explained by considering the level shifts due to their
electron-donating character as well as the tilt-angle dependence of conductance
and thermopower. Qualitative features of the substituent effects in our
density-functional calculations are explained using a tight-binding model. In
addition, we observe symmetry-related even-odd transmission channel
degeneracies as a function of molecular length.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.
Partly Occupied Wannier Functions
We introduce a scheme for constructing partly occupied, maximally localized
Wannier functions (WFs) for both molecular and periodic systems. Compared to
the traditional occupied WFs the partly occupied WFs posses improved symmetry
and localization properties achieved through a bonding-antibonding closing
procedure. We demonstrate the equivalence between bonding-antibonding closure
and the minimization of the average spread of the WFs in the case of a benzene
molecule and a linear chain of Pt atoms. The general applicability of the
method is demonstrated through the calculation of WFs for a metallic system
with an impurity: a Pt wire with a hydrogen molecular bridge.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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