29,503 research outputs found
Two-dimensional electron system in high magnetic fields: Wigner crystal vs. composite-fermion liquid
The two dimensional system of electrons in a high magnetic field offers an
opportunity to investigate a phase transition from a quantum liquid into a
Wigner solid. Recent experiments have revealed an incipient composite fermion
liquid in a parameter range where theory and many experiments had previously
suggested the Wigner crystal phase, thus calling into question our current
understanding. This Letter shows how very small quantitative corrections (< 1%)
in the energy due to the weak interaction between composite fermions can cause
a fundamental change in the nature of the ground state, thus providing insight
into the puzzling experimental results.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Development of thermally stable phosphonitrile elastomers for advanced aerospace structures
Both high and low molecular weight, curable poly(fluoroalkoxy phosphazene) terpolymers were prepared. These terpolymers resulted from reaction of (Cl2PNn) polymer with alkoxides derived from CF3CH2OH and C3F7CH2OH, and an alkoxide derived from CH3CH(OH)C2H4OH. The terpolymers were crosslinked with polyisocyanates at room temperature. High molecular weight materials were converted into isocyanate prepolymers which as films underwent moisture cures at room temperature. Prepolymer solutions were stable for several days, and showed good adhesion. Also the effects of polymerization of (Cl2PN)3 were studied. Purified octachlorophosphazene, thiocyanate salts, or hydrogen chloride were employed in attempts to decrease molecular weight. Hydrogen chloride was found to be a good agent for preparation of low molecular weight poly(dichloro phosphazene)
First Steps Toward Change in Teacher Preparation for Elementary Science
Unless introductory undergraduate science classes for prospective elementary teachers actively incorporate the philosophy of inquiry-based learning called for in K-l2 science education refom little will change in elementary science education. Thus, at James Madison University, we have developed a new integrated science core curriculum called Understanding our World [1]. This course sequence was not only designed to fulfill general education science requirements. but also to focus on content areas our students will need to know as teachers. The objectives of these courses are based on the National Science Education Standards and Virginia’s Science Standards of Learning, including earth and space science, chemistry, physics, life sciences, and environmental science [2,3]. As an integrated package, this course sequence addresses basic science content, calculation skills, the philosophy and history of science, the process of how science is done, the role of science in society, and applications of computers and technology in science. Keeping in mind that students tend to teach in the same way they were taught, Understanding our World core classes embrace the concepts associated with reform in elementary math and science
The Importance of Broad Emission-Line Widths in Single Epoch Black Hole Mass Estimates
Estimates of the mass of super-massive black holes (BHs) in distant active
galactic nuclei (AGNs) can be obtained efficiently only through single-epoch
spectra, using a combination of their broad emission-line widths and continuum
luminosities. Yet the reliability and accuracy of the method, and the resulting
mass estimates, M_BH, remain uncertain. A recent study by Croom using a sample
of SDSS, 2QZ and 2SLAQ quasars suggests that line widths contribute little
information about the BH mass in these single-epoch estimates and can be
replaced by a constant value without significant loss of accuracy. In this
Letter, we use a sample of nearby reverberation-mapped AGNs to show that this
conclusion is not universally applicable. We use the bulge luminosity (L_Bulge)
of these local objects to test how well the known M_BH - L_Bulge correlation is
recovered when using randomly assigned line widths instead of the measured ones
to estimate M_BH. We find that line widths provide significant information
about M_BH, and that for this sample, the line width information is just as
significant as that provided by the continuum luminosities. We discuss the
effects of observational biases upon the analysis of Croom and suggest that the
results can probably be explained as a bias of flux-limited, shallow quasar
samples.Comment: 10 text pages + 4 Figures + 1 Table. Accepted for publication in ApJ
Letter
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Information systems objectives: Perceptions of information systems developers of different cultures
An increasing number of corporations are developing and implementing information sys tems (IS) applications which cross national boundaries and span diverse cultures. As a result of the cultural differences, IS developers in different countries may have very different perceptions regarding the objectives of an IS. In the current study, developers from three countries - Japan, Taiwan, and the United States - rated the importance of eight objectives of a successful IS. The eight objectives are categorized by hierarchical levels, and also as short-term or long-term goals. The results indicated the IS developers viewed objectives at the system and organizational levels as more important than objectives at the user and strategic levels. Overall, the IS developers rated the short-term objectives as more important than the long-term objectives. There was no significant difference between the countries with respect to the perceived importance of the short-term/direct objectives. However, there were significant differences in the views of IS developers from the three countries regarding the perceived benefits of long-term/ indirect objectives of an IS
Nonuniversal power law scaling in the probability distribution of scientific citations
We develop a model for the distribution of scientific citations. The model
involves a dual mechanism: in the direct mechanism, the author of a new paper
finds an old paper A and cites it. In the indirect mechanism, the author of a
new paper finds an old paper A only via the reference list of a newer
intermediary paper B, which has previously cited A. By comparison to citation
databases, we find that papers having few citations are cited mainly by the
direct mechanism. Papers already having many citations ('classics') are cited
mainly by the indirect mechanism. The indirect mechanism gives a power-law
tail. The 'tipping point' at which a paper becomes a classic is about 21
citations for papers published in the Institute for Scientific Information
(ISI) Web of Science database in 1981, 29 for Physical Review D papers
published from 1975-1994, and 39 for all publications from a list of high
h-index chemists assembled in 2007. The power-law exponent is not universal.
Individuals who are highly cited have a systematically smaller exponent than
individuals who are less cited.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 table
Low Cost Dewatering of Waste Slurries
The U.S. Bureau of Mines has developed a technique for dewatering mineral waste slurries which utilizes polymer and a static screen. A variety of waste slurries from placer gold mines and crushed stone operations have been successfully treated using the system. Depending on the waste, a number of polymers have been used successfully with polymer costs ranging from 0.15 per 1,000 gal treated. The dewatering is accomplished using screens made from either ordinary window screen or wedge wire. The screens used are 8 ft wide and 8 ft long. The capacity of the screens varies from 3 to 7 gpm/sq. ft. The water produced is acceptable for recycling to the plant or for discharge to the environment. For example, a fine grain dolomite waste slurry produced from a crushed stone operation was dewatered from a nominal 2.5 pct solids to greater than 50 pct solids using 0.15 worth of polymer per 1,000 gal of slurry. The resulting waste water had a turbidity of less than 50 NTU and could be discharged or recycled. The paper describes field tests conducted using the polymer-screen dewatering system
Quantum Hall Phase Diagram of Second Landau-level Half-filled Bilayers: Abelian versus Non-Abelian States
The quantum Hall phase diagram of the half-filled bilayer system in the
second Landau level is studied as a function of tunneling and layer separation
using exact diagonalization. We make the striking prediction that bilayer
structures would manifest two distinct branches of incompressible fractional
quantum Hall effect (FQHE) corresponding to the Abelian 331 state (at moderate
to low tunneling and large layer separation) and the non-Abelian Pfaffian state
(at large tunneling and small layer separation). The observation of these two
FQHE branches and the quantum phase transition between them will be compelling
evidence supporting the existence of the non-Abelian Pfaffian state in the
second Landau level.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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