9,162 research outputs found
AN EXPERIMENT IN CONTINGENT VALUATION AND SOCIAL DESIRABILITY
Social desirability (SD) represents the problem of subjects responding with social norms rather than individual values. This paper briefly surveys the SD literature and considers its relevance for contingent valuation (CV) studies. In an empirical study, undergraduate students were administered the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, as well as CV questions. High SD scores were hypothesized to imply a greater likelihood of offering a protest reason for a zero bid and to increase bids for socially desirable commodities. While all hypotheses were not supported, the empirical results suggest that SD can influence CV responses and should not be dismissed prematurely.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,
The Role of Email Communications in Determining Response Rates and Mode of Participation in a Mixed-mode Design
This article is concerned with the extent to which the propensity to participate in a web-face-to-face sequential mixed-mode survey is influenced by the ability to communicate with sample members by email in addition to mail. Researchers may be able to collect email addresses for sample members and to use them subsequently to send survey invitations and reminders. However, there is little evidence regarding the value of doing so. This makes it difficult to decide what efforts should be made to collect such information and how to subsequently use it efficiently. Using evidence from a randomized experiment within a large mixed-mode national survey, we find that using a respondent-supplied email address to send additional survey invites and reminders does not affect survey response rate but is associated with an increased proportion of responses by web rather than face to face and, hence, lower survey costs
First-order nature of the ferromagnetic phase transition in (La-Ca)MnO_3 near optimal doping
Neutron scattering has been used to study the nature of the ferromagnetic
transition in single crystals of La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO_3 and La_0.8Ca_0.2MnO_3, and
polycrystalline samples of La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO_3 and La_5/8Ca_3/8MnO_3 where the
naturally occurring O-16 can be replaced with the O-18 isotope. Small angle
neutron scattering on the x=0.3 single crystal reveals a discontinuous change
in the scattering at the Curie temperature for wave vectors below ~0.065 A^-1.
Strong relaxation effects are observed for this domain scattering, for the
magnetic order parameter, and for the quasielastic scattering, demonstrating
that the transition is not continuous in nature. There is a large oxygen
isotope effect observed for the T_C in the polycrystalline samples. For the
optimally doped x=3/8 sample we observed T_C(O-16)=266.5 K and T_C(O-18)=261.5
K at 90% O-18 substitution. The temperature dependence of the spin-wave
stiffness is found to be identical for the two samples despite changes in T_C.
Hence, T_C is not solely determined by the magnetic subsystem, but instead the
ferromagnetic phase is truncated by the formation of polarons which cause an
abrupt transition to the paramagnetic, insulating state. Application of
uniaxial stress in the x=0.3 single crystal sharply enhances the polaron
scattering at room temperature. Measurements of the phonon density-of-states
show only modest differences above and below T_C and between the two different
isotopic samples.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
"Spin-Flop" Transition and Anisotropic Magnetoresistance in Pr_{1.3-x}La_{0.7}Ce_{x}CuO_{4}: Unexpectedly Strong Spin-Charge Coupling in Electron-Doped Cuprates
We use transport and neutron-scattering measurements to show that a
magnetic-field-induced transition from noncollinear to collinear spin
arrangement in adjacent CuO_{2} planes of lightly electron-doped
Pr_{1.3-x}La_{0.7}Ce_{x}CuO_{4} (x=0.01) crystals affects significantly both
the in-plane and out-of-plane resistivity. In the high-field collinear state,
the magnetoresistance (MR) does not saturate, but exhibits an intriguing
four-fold-symmetric angular dependence, oscillating from being positive at
B//[100] to being negative at B//[110]. The observed MR of more than 30% at low
temperatures induced by a modest modification of the spin structure indicates
an unexpectedly strong spin-charge coupling in electron-doped cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Lattice collapse and quenching of magnetism in CaFe2As2 under pressure: A single crystal neutron and x-ray diffraction investigation
Single crystal neutron and high-energy x-ray diffraction have identified the
phase lines corresponding to transitions between the ambient-pressure
tetragonal (T), the antiferromagnetic orthorhombic (O) and the non-magnetic
collapsed tetragonal (cT) phases of CaFe2As2. We find no evidence of additional
structures for pressures up to 2.5 GPa (at 300 K). Both the T-cT and O-cT
transitions exhibit significant hysteresis effects and we demonstrate that
coexistence of the O and cT phases can occur if a non-hydrostatic component of
pressure is present. Measurements of the magnetic diffraction peaks show no
change in the magnetic structure or ordered moment as a function of pressure in
the O phase and we find no evidence of magnetic ordering in the cT phase. Band
structure calculations show that the transition results in a strong decrease of
the iron 3d density of states at the Fermi energy, consistent with a loss of
the magnetic moment.Comment: List of authors in metadata and typos in labeling of inset in Fig.
1(a) corrected. One ref. added. No other change
Theoretical Evaluations of the Fission Cross Section of the 77 eV Isomer of 235-U
We have developed models of the fission barrier (barrier heights and
transition state spectra) that reproduce reasonably well the measured fission
cross section of U from neutron energy of 1 keV to 2 MeV. From these
models we have calculated the fission cross section of the 77 eV isomer of
U over the same energy range. We find that the ratio of the isomer
cross section to that of the ground state lies between about 0.45 and 0.55 at
low neutron energies. The cross sections become approximately equal above 1
MeV. The ratio of the neutron capture cross section to the fission cross
section for the isomer is predicted to be about a factor of 3 larger for the
isomer than for the ground state of U at keV neutron energies. We have
also calculated the cross section for the population of the isomer by inelastic
neutron scattering form the U ground state. We find that the isomer is
strongly populated, and for the cross section
leading to the population of the isomer is of the order of 0.5 barn. Thus,
neutron reaction network calculations involving the uranium isotopes in a high
neutron fluence are likely to be affected by the 77 eV isomer of U.
With these same models the fission cross sections of U and U
can be reproduced approximately using only minor adjustments to the barrier
heights. With the significant lowering of the outer barrier that is expected
for the outer barrier the general behavior of the fission cross section of
Pu can also be reproduced.Comment: 17 pages including 8 figure
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