1,753 research outputs found
Spin Ice, Fractionalization and Topological Order
The spin ice compounds {\dys} and {\holm} are highly unusual magnets which
epitomize a set of concepts of great interest in modern condensed matter
physics: their low-energy physics exhibits an emergent gauge field and their
excitations are magnetic monopoles which arise from the fractionalization of
the microscopic magnetic spin degrees of freedom. In this review, we provide an
elementary introduction to these concepts and we survey the thermodynamics,
statics and dynamics---in and out of equilibrium---of spin ice from these
vantage points. Along the way, we touch on topics such as emergent Coulomb
plasmas, observable "Dirac strings", and irrational charges. We close with the
outlook for these unique materials.Comment: (15 pages, 9 figures) see
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-020911-125058
for the published versio
Multihospital System Affiliation as a Survival Strategy for Rural Hospitals Under the Prospective Payment System
The introduction of Medicare's Prospective Payment System (PPS) has disproportionately increased financial pressures on rural hospitals and posed challenges to the survival of these institutions. Increasingly, rural hospitals are seeking strategies that can enhance their chances for survival in a turbulent and hostile environment. This study examined the survival effects of one such strategy, multihospital system affiliation. Specifically, we assessed: (1) whether and how different types of system affiliation in the post-PPS era affect the likelihood of rural hospital survival; (2) whether particular structural, environmental and hospital performance characteristics moderate the effects of system affiliation on rural hospital survival; and (3) whether systematic selection by rural hospitals into multihospital systems potentially accounts for observed relationships between system affiliation and survival. Proportional hazards analyses indicate that system affiliation with investor-owned systems significantly reduces survival probabilities of rural hospitals. Affiliation with not-for-profit systems or system affiliation under contract management arrangements does not affect survival probabilities of rural hospitals. These general findings are moderated by the effects of hospital ownership and size at the time of affiliation. Finally, study findings indicated that systematic selection by poor performing rural hospitals into investor-owned systems has occurred in the post-PPS era. No evidence of selection into not-for-profit systems was discovered.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73618/1/j.1748-0361.1992.tb00334.x.pd
Quantifying the radiation belt seed population in the 17 March 2013 electron acceleration event
Abstract We present phase space density (PSD) observations using data from the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer instrument on the Van Allen Probes for the 17 March 2013 electron acceleration event. We confirm previous results and quantify how PSD gradients depend on the first adiabatic invariant. We find a systematic difference between the lower-energy electrons (1-MeV with a source region within the radiation belts. Our observations show that the source process begins with enhancements to the 10s-100s-keV energy seed population, followed by enhancements to the \u3e1-MeV population and eventually leading to enhancements in the multi-MeV electron population these observations provide the clearest evidence to date of the timing and nature of the radial transport of a 100s keV electron seed population into the heart of the outer belt and subsequent local acceleration of those electrons to higher radiation belt energies. Key Points Quantification of phase space density gradients inside geostationary orbit Clear differences between the source of low energy and relativistic electrons Clear observations of how the acceleration process evolves in energy
Electric field control of multiferroic domains in NiVO imaged by X-ray polarization enhanced topography
The magnetic structure of multiferroic NiVO has been investigated
using non-resonant X-ray magnetic scattering. Incident circularly polarized
X-rays combined with full polarization analysis of the scattered beam is shown
to yield high sensitivity to the components of the cycloidal magnetic order,
including their relative phases. New information on the magnetic structure in
the ferroelectric phase is obtained, where it is found that the magnetic
moments on the "cross-tie" sites are quenched relative to those on the "spine"
sites. This implies that the onset of ferroelectricity is associated mainly
with spine site magnetic order. We also demonstrate that our technique enables
the imaging of multiferroic domains through polarization enhanced topography.
This approach is used to image the domains as the sample is cycled by an
electric field through its hysteresis loop, revealing the gradual switching of
domains without nucleation.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Policy instruments in the Common Agricultural Policy
Policy changes in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) can be explained in terms of the exhaustion and long-term contradictions of policy instruments. Changes in policy instruments have reoriented the policy without any change in formal Treaty goals. The social and economic efficacy of instruments in terms of evidence-based policy analysis was a key factor in whether they were delegitimized. The original policy instruments were generally dysfunctional, but reframing the policy in terms of a multifunctionality paradigm permitted the development of more efficacious instruments. A dynamic interaction takes place between the instruments and policy informed by the predominant discourses
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