2,570 research outputs found
Conceptualizing Democracy as Preparation for Teaching for Democracy
In this essay, a broad spectrum of the work of influential educational scholars was examined in order to identify crucial components of teaching for democracy. Synthesizing the literature with their experiences as middle level teachers and teacher educators, the authors determined those conceptions that would be most fruitful for moving in-service teachers to enact the more “muscular” concepts that foster civic participation and social justice. This collaboration resulted in the identification of four democratic practices as a foundation for designing a course on teaching for democracy. These included amplification of the voices of historically marginalized people, recognition that those in power must work to meet the needs of those without power, recognition of the advantages of diversity even at the potential expense of efficiency, and collaboration in order to teach for democracy
Contact resistance dependence of crossed Andreev reflection
We show experimentally that in nanometer scaled superconductor/normal metal
hybrid devices and in a small window of contact resistances, crossed Andreev
reflection (CAR) can dominate the nonlocal transport for all energies below the
superconducting gap. Besides CAR, elastic cotunneling (EC) and nonlocal charge
imbalance (CI) can be identified as competing subgap transport mechanisms in
temperature dependent four-terminal nonlocal measurements. We demonstrate a
systematic change of the nonlocal resistance vs. bias characteristics with
increasing contact resistances, which can be varied in the fabrication process.
For samples with higher contact resistances, CAR is weakened relative to EC in
the midgap regime, possibly due to dynamical Coulomb blockade. Gaining control
of CAR is an important step towards the realization of a solid state entangler.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Geometric criticality between plaquette phases in integer-spin kagome XXZ antiferromagnets
The phase diagram of the uniaxially anisotropic antiferromagnet on the
kagom\'e lattice includes a critical line exactly described by the classical
three-color model. This line is distinct from the standard geometric classical
criticality that appears in the classical limit () of the 2D XY
model; the geometric T=0 critical line separates two unconventional
plaquette-ordered phases that survive to nonzero temperature. The
experimentally important correlations at finite temperature and the nature of
the transitions into these ordered phases are obtained using the mapping to the
three-color model and a combination of perturbation theory and a variational
ansatz for the ordered phases. The ordered phases show sixfold symmetry
breaking and are similar to phases proposed for the honeycomb lattice dimer
model and model. The same mapping and phase transition can be
realized also for integer spins but then require strong on-site
anisotropy in the Hamiltonian.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
The polymerisation of oligo(ethylene glycol methyl ether) methacrylate from a multifunctional poly(ethylene imine) derived amide: a stabiliser for the synthesis and dispersion of magnetite nanoparticles
A facile synthetic route to poly(ethylene imine)-graft-poly(oligo(ethylene glycol methyl ether)) (PEI-graft-POEGMA) functionalised superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles is described. The polymerisation of OEGMA from a model molecular amide demonstrated the feasibility of POEGMA synthesis under mild ATRP conditions (20 °C in ethanol) albeit with low initiator efficiencies. DFT studies suggest that the amide functionality is intrinsically of lower activity than ester functional monomers and initiators for atom transfer polymerisation (ATRP) as a consequence of higher bond dissociation energies and bond dissociation free energies (BDFE). However these studies further highlighted that use of an appropriate solvent could reduce the free energy of dissociation thereby reducing the relative difference in BDFE between the ester and amide groups. A commercial branched PEI sample was functionalised by reaction with 2-bromo-2-methylpropanoyl bromide giving an amide macroinitiator suitable for the atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP) of oligo(ethylene glycol methyl ether) methacrylate. The resulting PEI-graft-POEGMA copolymers were characterised by SEC, FT-IR and 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. PEI-graft-POEGMA coated magnetite nanoparticles were synthesised by a basic aqueous co-precipitation method and were characterised by transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and vibrating sample magnetometry and dynamic light scattering. These copolymer coated magnetite nanoparticles were demonstrated to be effectively stabilised in an aqueous medium. Overall the particle sizes and magnetic and physical properties of the coated samples were similar to those of uncoated samples
Hypersomnia associated with bilateral posterior hypothalamic lesion - A polysomnographic case study
We examined an obese 58-year-old patient with a bilateral posterior hypothalamic lesion of unknown etiology. A 24-hour polysomnography revealed a markedly increased total sleep time (17.6 h). During daytime, only 3 continuous wake phases occurred. REM periods occurred only between 5 p.m. and 6 a.m. We conclude from our results that, similar to the results from animal experiments, the posterior hypothalamus in humans plays a critical role in the maintenance of wakefulness. Copyright (C) 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel
Spin Waves in Quantum Antiferromagnets
Using a self-consistent mean-field theory for the Heisenberg
antiferromagnet Kr\"uger and Schuck recently derived an analytic expression for
the dispersion. It is exact in one dimension () and agrees well with
numerical results in . With an expansion in powers of the inverse
coordination number () we investigate if this expression can be
{\em exact} for all . The projection method of Mori-Zwanzig is used for the
{\em dynamical} spin susceptibility. We find that the expression of Kr\"uger
and Schuck deviates in order from our rigorous result. Our method is
generalised to arbitrary spin and to models with easy-axis anisotropy \D.
It can be systematically improved to higher orders in . We clarify its
relation to the expansion.Comment: 8 pages, uuencoded compressed PS-file, accepted as Euro. Phys. Lette
The Effectiveness of Different Personal Protective Ensembles in Preventing Injury to the Thorax from Blast-Type Anti-Personnel Mines
It is well established from numerous documented cases of bomb blasts that, under certain conditions (determined by the amount and proximity of explosive), the transmitted shock wave and associated overpressure generated by the detonation of an explosive device can cause critical and fatal injuries to the thorax, e.g., “blast lung.” As such injuries tend to be internal and thus difficult to detect, there has been considerable debate in recent years on the significance of the blast overpressure injury in the context of demining/mine clearance compared to more visible injuries, such as, amputation of extremities, fragmentation wounds and blindness. A wide range of personal protective ensembles are currently deployed in the field, incorporating disparate stackings of materials over the thoracic region
Extended coherence time on the clock transition of optically trapped Rubidium
Optically trapped ensembles are of crucial importance for frequency
measurements and quantum memories, but generally suffer from strong dephasing
due to inhomogeneous density and light shifts. We demonstrate a drastic
increase of the coherence time to 21 s on the magnetic field insensitive clock
transition of Rb-87 by applying the recently discovered spin self-rephasing.
This result confirms the general nature of this new mechanism and thus shows
its applicability in atom clocks and quantum memories. A systematic
investigation of all relevant frequency shifts and noise contributions yields a
stability of 2.4E-11 x tau^(-1/2), where tau is the integration time in
seconds. Based on a set of technical improvements, the presented frequency
standard is predicted to rival the stability of microwave fountain clocks in a
potentially much more compact setup.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Diagnosis for ecological intensification of maize-based smallholder farming systems in the Costa Chica, Mexico
Enhanced utilization of ecological processes for food and feed production as part of the notion of ecological intensification starts from location-specific knowledge of production constraints. A diagnostic systems approach which combined social-economic and production ecological methods at farm and field level was developed and applied to diagnose extent and causes of the perceived low productivity of maize-based smallholder systems in two communities of the Costa Chica in South West Mexico. Social-economic and production ecological surveys were applied and complemented with model-based calculations. The results demonstrated that current nutrient management of crops has promoted nutrition imbalances, resulting in K- and, less surprisingly N-limited production conditions, reflected in low yields of the major crops maize and roselle and low resource use efficiencies. Production on moderate to steep slopes was estimated to result in considerable losses of soil and organic matter. Poor crop production, lack of specific animal fodder production systems and strong dependence on animal grazing within communal areas limited recycling of nutrients through manure. In combination with low prices for the roselle cash crop, farmers are caught in a vicious cycle of cash shortage and resource decline. The production ecological findings complemented farmers opinions by providing more insight in background and extent of livelihood constraints. Changing fertilizer subsidies and rethinking animal fodder production as well as use of communal lands requires targeting both formal and informal governance structures. The methodology has broader applicability in smallholder systems in view of its low demand on capital intensive resource
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