Health economic assessment tools (HEAT) for walking and for cycling

Physical inactivity is a significant public health problem in most regions of the world, which is unlikely to be solved by classical health promotion approaches alone. The promotion of active transport (cycling and walking) for everyday physical activity is a win-win approach; it not only promotes health but can also lead to positive environmental effects, especially if cycling and walking replace short car trips. Cycling and walking can also be more readily integrated into people’s busy schedules than, for example, leisure-time exercise. These forms of physical activity are also more practicable for groups of the population for which sport is either not feasible because of physical limitations or is not an accessible leisure activity for economic, social or cultural reasons. There is a large potential for active travel in European urban transport, as many trips are short and would be amenable to being undertaken on foot or by bicycle. This, however, requires effective partnerships with the transport and urban planning sectors, whose policies are key driving forces in providing appropriate conditions for such behavioural changes to take place. This has been recognized by a number of international policy frameworks, such as the Action Plan for implementation of the European Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2012–2016, adopted by the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (1). The strategy identifies the promotion of active mobility as one of the supporting interventions endorsed by WHO Member States to address this highpriority topic in the European Region, as do other international policy frameworks such as the Toronto Charter for Physical Activity launched in May 2010 as a global call for action (2)

Strain Induced Vortex Core Switching in Planar Magnetostrictive Nanostructures

The dynamics of magnetic vortex cores is of great interest because the gyrotropic mode has applications in spin torque driven magnetic microwave oscillators, and also provides a means to flip the direction of the core for use in magnetic storage devices. Here, we propose a new means of stimulating magnetization reversal of the vortex core by applying a time-varying strain gradient to planar structures of the magnetostrictive material Fe81Ga19 (Galfenol), coupled to an underlying piezoelectric layer. Using micromagnetic simulations we have shown that the vortex core state can be deterministically reversed by electric field control of the time-dependent strain-induced anisotropy

Chromium nanostructures formed by dewetting of heteroepitaxial films on W(100)

In this paper, we report the surprising formation of square-based facetted islands with linear dimension of the order of 500 nm upon dewetting of a Cr multilayer onW(100).We show that these square islands are composed of inclined facets surrounding a depressed center such that the facet slopes inward with the outer edges of the islands thicker than the centers. The islands’ shapes do not represent traditional equilibrium crystal shapes as expected for a Wulf construction. In situ UV and x-ray photoelectron emission microscopy allied to spatially resolved spectroscopy throws considerable light on the nature of the dewetting and shows that the metal surface between the islands remains covered by a thin pseudomorphic wetting layer of ∼1 ML. Low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopies allow quantification of facet slopes, and we identify a predominance of tilted Cr(100) facets ±5◦ off of the substrate normal bound by (210) planes at ∼26◦. The epitaxial Cr islands adopt the bulk Cr lattice constant but are tilted with respect to the surface normal.We suggest that the Cr crystallite tilting creates a vicinal-like interface structure that determines the island morpholog

Enhanced magnetoelectric effect in M-type hexaferrites by Co substitution into trigonal bi-pyramidal sites

The magnetoelectric effect in M-type Ti-Co doped strontium hexaferrite has been studied using a combination of magnetometry and element specific soft X-ray spectroscopies. A large increase (>×30) in the magnetoelectric coefficient is found when Co2+ enters the trigonal bi-pyramidal site. The 5-fold trigonal bi-pyramidal site has been shown to provide an unusual mechanism for electric polarization based on the displacement of magnetic transition metal (TM) ions. For Co entering this site, an off-centre displacement of the cation may induce a large local electric dipole as well as providing an increased magnetostriction enhancing the magnetoelectric effect

Enhanced magnetoelectric effect in M-type hexaferrites by Co substitution into trigonal bi-pyramidal sites

The magnetoelectric effect in M-type Ti-Co doped strontium hexaferrite has been studied using a combination of magnetometry and element specific soft X-ray spectroscopies. A large increase (>×30) in the magnetoelectric coefficient is found when Co2+ enters the trigonal bi-pyramidal site. The 5-fold trigonal bi-pyramidal site has been shown to provide an unusual mechanism for electric polarization based on the displacement of magnetic transition metal (TM) ions. For Co entering this site, an off-centre displacement of the cation may induce a large local electric dipole as well as providing an increased magnetostriction enhancing the magnetoelectric effect