Aw investigation of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy in some of the heavy rare earth metals

The magnetocrystalline anisotroples of gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium and holmium have been investigated using a torque method. Measurements were made on single crystal oblate spheroids, the major planes of which contained either the hexagonal axis or the basal plane of the crystals. The torque magnetometer used automatically balanced the torque produced in the specimen by applying a current through a small coil suspended in a galvanometer magnet, the servoraechanism being provided by a light beam and photo cell amplifier system. Fourier analysis of the torque curves by computer provided values for the appropriate anisotropy constants. Torque measurements were made in the temperature range from 55 K to room temperature, and in applied magnetic field strengths up to 12.5 k0e. Because of the comparatively small field strengths available it was not possible to obtain any appreciable movement of the magnetisation from the basal plane in the cases of ferromagnetic Tb, Dy and Ho, and therefore no values could be assigned to the anisotropy constants. In the paramagnetic and antiferromagnetic temperature ranges the torque curves were described completely by one anisotropy constant K(_11), although the presence of strain In the specimen could greatly distort the curve. The anisotropy constant in the basal plane, K(_4), was measured for Gd, Tb and Dy. The easy directions in the basal plane were the a-axls for Gd, and the o-axls for Tb and Dy, although changes of easy direction were observed in Dy at temperatures where the anlsotropy was small. A torque measurement made in the basal plane of holmium just above the critical field showed twelvefold symmetry in the anisotropy energy, but the main energy minimum occurred at the b-axis. Comparison of the temperature variation of K(_4) with the prediction of Zener's theory was satisfactory only in the case of Gd. For torque measurements in the (lOIO) plane for antiferromagnetic Dy, the occurrence of ferromagnetism as a magnetic field larger than the critical value was rotated across the basal plane enabled the temperature variation of the critical field to be determined. The variation was found to be in agreement with other workers. Determinations of Ho showed a change of easy axis from the basal plane to the o-axis in the antiferromagnetic region, and back to the basal plane when the system became ferromagnetic. This behaviour contradicted neutron-diffraction measurements but is confirmed by magnetisation measurements. In the paramagnetic region a variation of K(_1) as H(^2)/(T-0)(^2) was established

Designing electronic collaborative learning environments

Electronic collaborative learning environments for learning and working are in vogue. Designers design them according to their own constructivist interpretations of what collaborative learning is and what it should achieve. Educators employ them with different educational approaches and in diverse situations to achieve different ends. Students use them, sometimes very enthusiastically, but often in a perfunctory way. Finally, researchers study them and—as is usually the case when apples and oranges are compared—find no conclusive evidence as to whether or not they work, where they do or do not work, when they do or do not work and, most importantly, why, they do or do not work. This contribution presents an affordance framework for such collaborative learning environments; an interaction design procedure for designing, developing, and implementing them; and an educational affordance approach to the use of tasks in those environments. It also presents the results of three projects dealing with these three issues

"Author! Author!" : Shakespeare and biography

Original article can be found at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t714579626~db=all Copyright Informa / Taylor & Francis Group. DOI: 10.1080/17450910902764454Since 1996, not a year has passed without the publication of at least one Shakespeare biography. Yet for many years the place of the author in the practice of understanding literary works has been problematized, and even on occasions eliminated. Criticism reads the “works”, and may or may not refer to an author whose “life” contributed to their meaning. Biography seeks the author in the works, the personality that precedes the works and gives them their characteristic shape and meaning. But the form of literary biography addresses the unusual kind of “life” that puts itself into “works”, and this is particularly challenging where the “works” predominate massively over the salient facts of the “life”. This essay surveys the current terrain of Shakespeare biography, and considers the key questions raised by the medium: can we know anything of Shakespeare's “personality” from the facts of his life and the survival of his works? What is the status of the kind of speculation that inevitably plays a part in biographical reconstruction? Are biographers in the end telling us as much about themselves as they tell us about Shakespeare?Peer reviewe

New methodology for optimizing transit priority at the network level

A new methodology for optimizing transit road space priority at the network level is proposed. Transit vehicles carry large numbers of passengers within congested road space efficiently. This aids justification of transit priority. Almost all studies that have investigated transit priority lanes focus at a link or an arterial road level, and no study has investigated road space allocation for priority from a network perspective. The aim of the proposed approach is to find the optimum combination of exclusive lanes in an existing operational transport network. Mode share is assumed variable, and an assignment is performed for both private and transit traffic. The problem is formulated by using bilevel programming, which minimizes the total travel time. The approach is applied to an example network and the results are discussed. The approach can identify the optimal combination of transit priority lanes and achieve the global optimum of the objective function. Areas for further development are discussed

A blind detection of a large, complex, Sunyaev--Zel'dovich structure

We present an interesting Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) detection in the first of the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) 'blind', degree-square fields to have been observed down to our target sensitivity of 100{\mu}Jy/beam. In follow-up deep pointed observations the SZ effect is detected with a maximum peak decrement greater than 8 \times the thermal noise. No corresponding emission is visible in the ROSAT all-sky X-ray survey and no cluster is evident in the Palomar all-sky optical survey. Compared with existing SZ images of distant clusters, the extent is large (\approx 10') and complex; our analysis favours a model containing two clusters rather than a single cluster. Our Bayesian analysis is currently limited to modelling each cluster with an ellipsoidal or spherical beta-model, which do not do justice to this decrement. Fitting an ellipsoid to the deeper candidate we find the following. (a) Assuming that the Evrard et al. (2002) approximation to Press & Schechter (1974) correctly gives the number density of clusters as a function of mass and redshift, then, in the search area, the formal Bayesian probability ratio of the AMI detection of this cluster is 7.9 \times 10^4:1; alternatively assuming Jenkins et al. (2001) as the true prior, the formal Bayesian probability ratio of detection is 2.1 \times 10^5:1. (b) The cluster mass is MT,200 = 5.5+1.2\times 10^14h-1M\odot. (c) Abandoning a physical model with num- -1.3 70 ber density prior and instead simply modelling the SZ decrement using a phenomenological {\beta}-model of temperature decrement as a function of angular distance, we find a central SZ temperature decrement of -295+36 {\mu}K - this allows for CMB primary anisotropies, receiver -15 noise and radio sources. We are unsure if the cluster system we observe is a merging system or two separate clusters.Comment: accepted MNRAS. 12 pages, 9 figure

Deprived children or deprived neighbourhoods? A public health approach to the investigation of links between deprivation and injury risk with specific reference to child road safety in Devon County, UK

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, injuries from road traffic collisions are a rapidly growing problem in terms of morbidity and mortality. The UK has amongst the worst records in Europe with regard to child pedestrian safety. A traditional view holds that resources should be directed towards training child pedestrians. In order to reduce socio-economic differentials in child pedestrian casualty rates it is suggested that these should be directed at deprived children. This paper seeks to question whether analysis of extant routinely collected data supports this view. METHODS: Routine administrative data on road collisions has been used. A deprivation measure has been assigned to the location where a collision was reported, and the home postcode of the casualty. Aggregate data was analysed using a number of epidemiological models, concentrating on the Generalised Linear Mixed Model. RESULTS: This study confirms evidence suggesting a link between increasing deprivation and increasing casualty involvement of child pedestrians. However, suggestions are made that it may be necessary to control for the urban nature of an area where collisions occur. More importantly, the question is raised as to whether the casualty rate is more closely associated with deprivation measures of the ward in which the collision occurred than with the deprivation measures of the home address of the child. CONCLUSION: Conclusions have to be drawn with great caution. Limitations in the utility of the officially collected data are apparent, but the implication is that the deprivation measures of the area around the collision is a more important determinant of socio-economic differentials in casualty rates than the deprivation measures of the casualties' home location. Whilst this result must be treated with caution, if confirmed by individual level case-controlled studies this would have a strong implication for the most appropriate interventions