238 research outputs found
Mechanisms of arsenic clustering in silicon
A model of arsenic clustering in silicon is proposed and analyzed. The main
feature of the proposed model is the assumption that negatively charged arsenic
complexes play a dominant role in the clustering process. To confirm this
assumption, electron density and concentration of impurity atoms incorporated
into the clusters are calculated as functions of the total arsenic
concentration. A number of the negatively charged clusters incorporating a
point defect and one or more arsenic atoms are investigated. It is shown that
for the doubly negatively charged clusters or for clusters incorporating more
than one arsenic atom the electron density reaches a maximum value and then
monotonically and slowly decreases as total arsenic concentration increases. In
the case of doubly negatively charged cluster incorporating two arsenic atoms,
the calculated electron density agrees well with the experimental data.
Agreement with the experiment confirms the conclusion that two arsenic atoms
participate in the cluster formation. Among all present models, the proposed
model of clustering by formation of doubly negatively charged cluster
incorporating two arsenic atoms gives the best fit to the experimental data and
can be used in simulation of high concentration arsenic diffusion.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. Revised and shortened version of the paper has
been published in Phys. Rev. B, Vol.74 (3), art. no. 035205 (2006
Values and value conflicts in snack providing of Dutch, Polish, Indonesian and Italian mothers
This study investigates which values play a role in the decision of mothers about snacks to offer to their young children with a focus on the value conflicts that might occur. The study explores whether national culture is reflected in mothers' values in snack choice for their young children and the related value conflicts. Semi-structured interviews with 67 mothers of 2–7 years old children divided over 4 national cultures (Dutch, Polish, Indonesian and Italian) were conducted. Questions were asked about their values and value conflicts when providing a snack to their young children. Four key themes could be distinguished to cluster the mentioned values. The health-related key theme includes all values that are associated with the healthiness of the product, the child-related key theme all values that connects to the child, the time-related key theme includes the value convenience and the product-related key theme includes all values that are associated with the product itself. Dutch and Polish mothers mostly valued health of the snack, whereas Indonesian and Italian mothers mostly valued the preference of their child. Data also shows specific prevalence between values and nationalities: convenience was very important for Dutch mothers, valuing organic food was typical for Polish mothers, religion played a role for Indonesian mothers, while Italian mothers placed more value on brand compared to the mothers of other cultures. In all cultures, the value conflicts mentioned were mainly related to health.</p
An intercontinental analysis of food safety culture in view of food safety governance and national values
Taking food safety culture into account is a promising way to improve food safety performance in the food industry. Food safety culture (FS-culture) research is expanding from an organisational perspective to include characteristics of the internal and external company environment. In this study, the prevailing food safety culture in 17 food companies from four countries on three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe) was assessed in view of food safety governance and national values. The internal environment characteristics, i.e. food safety vision, food safety program and food production system vulnerability, were also assessed. Statistical analysis revealed little variation in FS-culture scores between the companies within the same country. Overall the FS-culture for Greek and Zambian companies was scored proactive, while for Chinese and Tanzanian companies an active score was achieved. Both the internal and external company environment seemed to influence the prevailing FS-culture. Cluster analysis showed that Tanzanian and Zambian companies exhibited similarities in the implementation of food safety programs, and in their national values and food safety governance as compared to Greece and China. Food safety governance was reflected in the food safety programs and supportiveness of the organisation to food safety and hygiene. All cultural dimensions were correlated with risk perceptions, with masculinity and long-term orientation also significantly correlated with the enabling conditions and attitude. Understanding how national values and food safety governance approaches differently influence food safety culture is expected to enable formulation of best approaches tailored for companies operating in countries with different company environments, to improve food safety performance.</p
Field-driven femtosecond magnetization dynamics induced by ultrastrong coupling to THz transients
Controlling ultrafast magnetization dynamics by a femtosecond laser is
attracting interest both in fundamental science and industry because of the
potential to achieve magnetic domain switching at ever advanced speed. Here we
report experiments illustrating the ultrastrong and fully coherent light-matter
coupling of a high-field single-cycle THz transient to the magnetization vector
in a ferromagnetic thin film. We could visualize magnetization dynamics which
occur on a timescale of the THz laser cycle and two orders of magnitude faster
than the natural precession response of electrons to an external magnetic
field, given by the Larmor frequency. We show that for one particular
scattering geometry the strong coherent optical coupling can be described
within the framework of a renormalized Landau Lifshitz equation. In addition to
fundamentally new insights to ultrafast magnetization dynamics the coherent
interaction allows for retrieving the complex time-frequency magnetic
properties and points out new opportunities in data storage technology towards
significantly higher storage speed.Comment: 25 page
QMCPACK: Advances in the development, efficiency, and application of auxiliary field and real-space variational and diffusion Quantum Monte Carlo
We review recent advances in the capabilities of the open source ab initio
Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) package QMCPACK and the workflow tool Nexus used for
greater efficiency and reproducibility. The auxiliary field QMC (AFQMC)
implementation has been greatly expanded to include k-point symmetries,
tensor-hypercontraction, and accelerated graphical processing unit (GPU)
support. These scaling and memory reductions greatly increase the number of
orbitals that can practically be included in AFQMC calculations, increasing
accuracy. Advances in real space methods include techniques for accurate
computation of band gaps and for systematically improving the nodal surface of
ground state wavefunctions. Results of these calculations can be used to
validate application of more approximate electronic structure methods including
GW and density functional based techniques. To provide an improved foundation
for these calculations we utilize a new set of correlation-consistent effective
core potentials (pseudopotentials) that are more accurate than previous sets;
these can also be applied in quantum-chemical and other many-body applications,
not only QMC. These advances increase the efficiency, accuracy, and range of
properties that can be studied in both molecules and materials with QMC and
QMCPACK
Eureka and beyond: mining's impact on African urbanisation
This collection brings separate literatures on mining and urbanisation together at a time when both artisanal and large-scale mining are expanding in many African economies. While much has been written about contestation over land and mineral rights, the impact of mining on settlement, notably its catalytic and fluctuating effects on migration and urban growth, has been largely ignored. African nation-states’ urbanisation trends have shown considerable variation over the past half century. The current surge in ‘new’ mining countries and the slow-down in ‘old’ mining countries are generating some remarkable settlement patterns and welfare outcomes. Presently, the African continent is a laboratory of national mining experiences. This special issue on African mining and urbanisation encompasses a wide cross-section of country case studies: beginning with the historical experiences of mining in Southern Africa (South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe), followed by more recent mineralizing trends in comparatively new mineral-producing countries (Tanzania) and an established West African gold producer (Ghana), before turning to the influence of conflict minerals (Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone)
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God’s gifts: destiny, poverty, and temporality in the mines of Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, many artisanal miners share the view that every human act and every event is the realisation of an inscrutable divine plan. Even though notions of fate and destiny are part of the vocabulary of Krio, the country’s lingua franca, miners prefer to use expressions that evoke God and stress His immanent presence and influence in their everyday lives. In order to understand the religious vocabulary of contingency and the cosmology underlying the ways in which miners interpret, reproduce, and imaginatively prepare the conditions to change their lives, this article focuses on the ritual practices connected to artisanal diamond mining. It considers these rituals as attempts to resolve the ever-present temporal and moral tensions between actual conditions of suffering and poverty, and the realisation of the well-being that miners associate with their desired futures
Status of the SOLEIL femtosecond X-ray source
http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/AccelConf/FEL2012/papers/wepd04.pdfInternational audienceAn electron bunch slicing setup is presently under construction on the SOLEIL storage ring for delivering 100 fs (rms) long photon pulses to two undulator-based beamlines providing soft (TEMPO) and hard X-rays (CRISTAL). Thanks to the non-zero dispersion function present in all straight sections of the storage ring, the sliced bunches can be easily separated from the core bunches. The modulator is a wiggler composed of 20 periods of 164.4 mm. It produces a magnetic field of 1.8 T at a minimum gap of 14.5 mm. To modulate the kinetic energy of the electrons in the wiggler, a Ti:Sa laser will be used, which produces 50 fs pulses at 800 nm with a repetition rate of 2.5 kHz. The laser beam is splitted into two branches in order to provide 2 mJ to the modulator and 0.5 mJ as pump pulse for the CRISTAL and TEMPO end stations. Focusing optics and beam path, from the laser hutch to the inside of the storage ring tunnel are presently under finalization. In this paper, we will report on the specificities of the SOLEIL setup, the status of its installation and the expected performances
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