402 research outputs found
Copper cable theft: revisiting the price–theft hypothesis
Objectives: To test the commonly espoused but little examined hypothesis that fluctuations in the price of metal are associated with changes in the volume of metal theft. Specifically, we analyze the relationship between the price of copper and the number of police recorded 'live’ copper cable thefts from the British railway network (2006 to 2012)
Evidence for enhanced learning of a socially transmitted food preference in rats interacting in large groups
Socially Transmitted Food Preferences (STFP) are typically assessed in laboratory rats by allowing a single Observer to interact with a Demonstrator fed a distinctly flavored food. Social learning is gauged by the Observer rat's subsequent preference for the Demonstrator's diet to equally palatable alternatives. This thesis tested the hypothesis that modifying the design of conventional protocols to better match the conditions that would underlie STFP in a rat's natural habitat will enhance laboratory-assessed social learning. In Experiment 1, the ability for multiple Observers interacting simultaneously with a single Demonstrator to acquire a food preference was assessed. Rats were reared for 10 weeks in enriched housing conditions and tested under conventional (CL) or group-learning (GL) approaches. The results revealed a greater tendency for GL rats to consume their respective Demonstrators' diets than CL rats. Observers tested under CL failed to display a food preference. In Experiment 1B, the influence of impoverished rearing conditions on STFP was assessed. Rats were reared under standardized housing conditions and tested using CL. Impoverished rats acquired a more robust preference when rearing conditions and learning conditions were more similar. In Experiment 2, the role of the hippocampus in the acquisition and retention of STFP under GL was assessed at 10 min following the learning phase. Rats receiving hippocampal lesions performed similarly to sham lesion rats and consumed more of the diet eaten by their respective Demonstrators. In sum, these results provide support for enhanced learning of food preferences under semi-naturalistic conditions
Temperature dependence of the resonance and low energy spin excitations in superconducting FeTeSe
We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the temperature dependence of
the low-energy spin excitations in single crystals of superconducting
FeTeSe ( K). In the low-temperature superconducting
state, the imaginary part of the dynamic susceptibility at the electron and
hole Fermi surfaces nesting wave vector ,
, has a small spin gap, a two-dimensional
neutron spin resonance above the spin gap, and increases linearly with
increasing for energies above the resonance. While the intensity
of the resonance decreases like an order parameter with increasing temperature
and disappears at temperature slightly above , the energy of the mode is
weakly temperature dependent and vanishes concurrently above . This
suggests that in spite of its similarities with the resonance in electron-doped
superconducting BaFe(Co,Ni)As, the mode in
FeTeSe is not directly associated with the superconducting
electronic gap.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Directions for research practice in decolonising methodologies: Contending with paradox
The complex nature of colonisation presents with the potential for paradoxes in decolonising approaches, hence, fixed conventions and methods are discouraged. In this way, decolonising methodologies concerns interrogating dominant conventions in research that have typically excluded alternative ways of knowing from academia. This raises concern about the issue of breaking conventions, when it is potentially difficult to realise that one is depending upon them. An incremental approach to the research process and subsequent knowledge generated provides opportunity to challenge the conventions that typically dictate research praxis. In addition, fostering epistemological transformation and pluralism presents a solution to problems derived from dominant cultural assumptions and practices. My aim for this article is to extend upon the literature pertaining to decolonising methodologies, with this contribution of focusing on the research process as a means to avoid paradox in the decolonial intention. Accordingly, a process imperative that focuses on how researchers do research, over the tendency to focus on outcomes, emerges as a strategy to identify and contend with paradoxes within decolonial work. A questioning convention is posited as a means for mining the assumptions and biases of the dominant culture that would otherwise ensnare ones thinking. Consequently, research may be better liberated from oppressive colonising practices that are tacit within research and academic conventions. Narratives are provided throughout for illustrative example, and to better explore the concepts named
Nodal Landau Fermi-Liquid Quasiparticles in Overdoped LaSrCuO
Nodal angle resolved photoemission spectra taken on overdoped
LaSrCuO are presented and analyzed. It is proven that the
low-energy excitations are true Landau Fermi-liquid quasiparticles. We show
that momentum and energy distribution curves can be analyzed self-consistently
without quantitative knowledge of the bare band dispersion. Finally, by
imposing Kramers-Kronig consistency on the self-energy , insight into
the quasiparticle residue is gained. We conclude by comparing our results to
quasiparticle properties extracted from thermodynamic, magneto-resistance, and
high-field quantum oscillation experiments on overdoped
TlBaCuO.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Self-gravitating clouds of generalized Chaplygin and modified anti-Chaplygin Gases
The Chaplygin gas has been proposed as a possible dark energy, dark matter
candidate. As a working fluid in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe, it
exhibits early behavior reminiscent of dark matter, but at later times is more
akin to a cosmological constant. In any such universe, however, one can expect
local perturbations to form. Here we obtain the general equations for a
self-gravitating relativistic Chaplygin gas. We solve these equations and
obtain the mass-radius relationship for such structures, showing that only in
the phantom regime is the mass-radius relationship large enough to be a serious
candidate for highly compact massive objects at the galaxy core. In addition,
we study the cosmology of a modified anti-Chaplygin gas. A self-gravitating
cloud of this matter is an exact solution to Einstein's equations.Comment: 16 page
Adverse cardiovascular events during treatment with pioglitazone and rosiglitazone: population based cohort study
Objective To compare the risk of acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and death in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with rosiglitazone and pioglitazone
Spin density wave induced disordering of the vortex lattice in superconducting LaSrCuO
We use small angle neutron scattering to study the superconducting vortex
lattice in LaSrCuO as a function of doping and magnetic field.
We show that near optimally doping the vortex lattice coordination and the
superconducting coherence length are controlled by a van-Hove singularity
crossing the Fermi level near the Brillouin zone boundary. The vortex lattice
properties change dramatically as a spin-density-wave instability is approached
upon underdoping. The Bragg glass paradigm provides a good description of this
regime and suggests that SDW order acts as a novel source of disorder on the
vortex lattice.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev.
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