439 research outputs found
Packing Fractions and Maximum Angles of Stability of Granular Materials
In two-dimensional rotating drum experiments, we find two separate influences
of the packing fraction of a granular heap on its stability. For a fixed grain
shape, the stability increases with packing fraction. However, in determining
the relative stability of different grain shapes, those with the lowest average
packing fractions tend to form the most stable heaps. We also show that only
the configuration close to the surface of the pile figures prominently.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The effect of social media communication on consumer perceptions of brands
Researchers and brand managers have limited understanding of the effects social media communication has on how consumers perceive brands. We investigated 504 Facebook users in order to observe the impact of firm-created and user-generated social media communication on brand equity, brand attitude and purchase intention by using a standardized online survey throughout Poland. To test the conceptual model, we analyzed 60 brands across three different industries: non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and mobile network operators. When analyzing the data, we applied the structural equation modeling technique to both investigate the interplay of firm-created and user-generated social media communication and examine industry-specific differences. The results of the empirical studies showed that user-generated social media communication had a positive influence on both brand equity and brand attitude, whereas firm-created social media communication affected only brand attitude. Both brand equity and brand attitude were shown to have a positive influence on purchase intention. In addition, we assessed measurement invariance using a multi-group structural modeling equation. The findings revealed that the proposed measurement model was invariant across the researched industries. However, structural path differences were detected across the models
Two-phase behavior in strained thin films of hole-doped manganites
We present a study of the effect of biaxial strain on the electrical and
magnetic properties of thin films of manganites. We observe that manganite
films grown under biaxial compressive strain exhibit island growth morphology
which leads to a non-uniform distribution of the strain. Transport and magnetic
properties of these films suggest the coexistence of two different phases, a
metallic ferromagnet and an insulating antiferromagnet. We suggest that the
high strain regions are insulating while the low strain regions are metallic.
In such non-uniformly strained samples, we observe a large magnetoresistance
and a field-induced insulator to metal transition.Comment: 5 pages ReVTeX, 5 figures included, Figures 3, 4 and 5 low
resolution, high resolution figures available on request from authors,
submitted to Phys. Rev.
On the exciton binding energy in a quantum well
We consider a model describing the one-dimensional confinement of an exciton
in a symmetrical, rectangular quantum-well structure and derive upper and lower
bounds for the binding energy of the exciton. Based on these bounds, we
study the dependence of on the width of the confining potential with a
higher accuracy than previous reports. For an infinitely deep potential the
binding energy varies as expected from at large widths to at
small widths. For a finite potential, but without consideration of a mass
mismatch or a dielectric mismatch, we substantiate earlier results that the
binding energy approaches the value for both small and large widths,
having a characteristic peak for some intermediate size of the slab. Taking the
mismatch into account, this result will in general no longer be true. For the
specific case of a quantum-well
structure, however, and in contrast to previous findings, the peak structure is
shown to survive.Comment: 32 pages, ReVTeX, including 9 figure
Age of the Universe: Influence of the Inhomogeneities on the global Expansion-Factor
For the first time we calculate quantitatively the influence of
inhomogeneities on the global expansion factor by averaging the Friedmann
equation. In the framework of the relativistic second-order
Zel'dovich-approximation scheme for irrotational dust we use observational
results in form of the normalisation constant fixed by the COBE results and we
check different power spectra, namely for adiabatic CDM, isocurvature CDM, HDM,
WDM, Strings and Textures. We find that the influence of the inhomogeneities on
the global expansion factor is very small. So the error in determining the age
of the universe using the Hubble constant in the usual way is negligible. This
does not imply that the effect is negligible for local astronomical
measurements of the Hubble constant. Locally the determination of the
redshift-distance relation can be strongly influenced by the peculiar velocity
fields due to inhomogeneities. Our calculation does not consider such effects,
but is contrained to comparing globally homogeneous and averaged inhomogeneous
matter distributions. In addition we relate our work to previous treatments.Comment: 10 pages, version accepted by Phys. Rev.
Formation and stability of self-assembled coherent islands in highly mismatched heteroepitaxy
We study the energetics of island formation in Stranski-Krastanow growth
within a parameter-free approach. It is shown that an optimum island size
exists for a given coverage and island density if changes in the wetting layer
morphology after the 3D transition are properly taken into account. Our
approach reproduces well the experimental island size dependence on coverage,
and indicates that the critical layer thickness depends on growth conditions.
The present study provides a new explanation for the (frequently found) rather
narrow size distribution of self-assembled coherent islands.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, In print, Phys. Rev. Lett. Other related
publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm
A New Method of Generating Exact Inflationary Solutions
The mechanism of the initial inflation of the universe is based on
gravitationally coupled scalar fields . Various scenarios are
distinguished by the choice of an {\it effective self--interaction potential}
which simulates a {\it temporarily} non--vanishing {\em cosmological
term}. Using the Hubble expansion parameter as a new ``time" coordinate, we
can formally derive the {\it general} Robertson--Walker metric for a {\em
spatially flat} cosmos. Our new method provides a classification of allowed
inflationary potentials and is broad enough to embody all known {\it exact}
solutions involving one scalar field as special cases. Moreover, we present new
inflationary and deflationary exact solutions and can easily predict the
influence of the form of on density perturbations.Comment: 32 pages, REVTeX, 9 postscript figures (or hardcopy) available upon
request, Cologne-thp-1994-H
Self-assembly of quantum dots: effect of neighbor islands on the wetting in coherent Stranski-Krastanov growth
The wetting of the homogeneously strained wetting layer by dislocation-free
three-dimensional islands belonging to an array has been studied. The array has
been simulated as a chain of islands in 1+1 dimensions. It is found that the
wetting depends on the density of the array, the size distribution and the
shape of the neighbor islands. Implications for the self-assembly of quantum
dots grown in the coherent Stranski-Krastanov mode are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, accepted version, minor change
Effect of strain on surface diffusion in semiconductor heteroepitaxy
We present a first-principles analysis of the strain renormalization of the
cation diffusivity on the GaAs(001) surface. For the example of
In/GaAs(001)-c(4x4) it is shown that the binding of In is increased when the
substrate lattice is expanded. The diffusion barrier \Delta E(e) has a
non-monotonic strain dependence with a maximum at compressive strain values (e
0) studied.
We discuss the consequences of spatial variations of both the binding energy
and the diffusion barrier of an adatom caused by the strain field around a
heteroepitaxial island. For a simplified geometry, we evaluate the speed of
growth of two coherently strained islands on the GaAs(001) surface and identify
a growth regime where island sizes tend to equalize during growth due to the
strain dependence of surface diffusion.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX2e, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (2001). Other
related publications can be found at
http://www.rz-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm
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