578 research outputs found
Electronic shell effects and the stability of alkali nanowires
Experimental conductance histograms for Na nanowires are analyzed in detail
and compared to recent theoretical results on the stability of cylindrical and
elliptical nanowires, using the free-electron model. We find a one-to-one
correspondence between the peaks in the histograms and the most stable nanowire
geometries, indicating that several of the commonly observed nanowires have
elliptical cross sections
Effective action and interaction energy of coupled quantum dots
We obtain the effective action of tunnel-coupled quantum dots, by modeling
the system as a Luttinger liquid with multiple barriers. For a double dot
system, we find that the resonance conditions for perfect conductance form a
hexagon in the plane of the two gate voltages controlling the density of
electrons in each dot. We also explicitly obtain the functional dependence of
the interaction energy and peak-splitting on the gate voltage controlling
tunneling between the dots and their charging energies. Our results are in good
agreement with recent experimental results, from which we obtain the Luttinger
interaction parameter .Comment: 5 pgs,latex,3 figs,revised version to be publshed in Phys.Rev.
Entangled Electronic States in Multiple Quantum-Dot Systems
We present an analytically solvable model of colinear, two-dimensional
quantum dots, each containing two electrons. Inter-dot coupling via the
electron-electron interaction gives rise to sets of entangled ground states.
These ground states have crystal-like inter-plane correlations and arise
discontinously with increasing magnetic field. Their ranges and stabilities are
found to depend on dot size ratios, and to increase with .Comment: To appear in Physical Review B (in press). RevTeX file. Figures
available from [email protected]
Transport in Coupled Quantum Dots: Kondo Effect Versus Anti-Ferromagnetic Correlation
The interplay between the Kondo effect and the inter-dot magnetic interaction
in a coupled-dot system is studied. An exact result for the transport
properties at zero temperature is obtained by diagonalizing a cluster, composed
by the double-dot and its vicinity, which is connected to leads. It is shown
that the system goes continuously from the Kondo regime to an
anti-ferromagnetic state as the inter-dot interaction is increased. The
conductance, the charge at the dots and the spin-spin correlation are obtained
as a function of the gate potential.Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figures. Submitted to PR
The importance of animal welfare science and ethics to veterinary students in Australia and New Zealand
The study of animal welfare and ethics (AWE) as part of veterinary education is important due to increasing community concerns and expectations about this topic, global pressures regarding food security, and the requirements of veterinary accreditation, especially with respect to Day One Competences. To address several key questions regarding the attitudes to AWE of veterinary students in Australia and New Zealand (NZ), the authors surveyed the 2014 cohort of these students. The survey aimed (1) to reveal what AWE topics veterinary students in Australia and NZ consider important as Day One Competences, and (2) to ascertain how these priorities align with existing research on how concern for AWE relates to gender and stage of study. Students identified triage and professional ethics as the most important Day One Competences in AWE. Students ranked an understanding of triage as increasingly important as they progressed through their program. Professional ethics was rated more important by early and mid-stage students than by senior students. Understanding the development of animal welfare science and perspectives on animal welfare were rated as being of little importance to veterinary graduates as Day One Competences, and an understanding of âwhy animal welfare mattersâ declined as the students progressed through the program. Combined, these findings suggest that veterinary students consider it more important to have the necessary practical skills and knowledge to function as a veterinarian on their first day in practic
Coulomb Blockade of Tunneling Through a Double Quantum Dot
We study the Coulomb blockade of tunneling through a double quantum dot. The
temperature dependence of the linear conductance is strongly affected by the
inter-dot tunneling. As the tunneling grows, a crossover from
temperature-independent peak conductance to a power-law suppression of
conductance at low temperatures is predicted. This suppression is a
manifestation of the Anderson orthogonality catastrophe associated with the
charge re-distribution between the dots, which accompanies the tunneling of an
electron into a dot. We find analytically the shapes of the Coulomb blockade
peaks in conductance as a function of gate voltage.Comment: 11 pages, revtex3.0 and multicols.sty, 4 figures uuencode
Energetics, forces, and quantized conductance in jellium modeled metallic nanowires
Energetics and quantized conductance in jellium modeled nanowires are
investigated using the local density functional based shell correction method,
extending our previous study of uniform in shape wires [C. Yannouleas and U.
Landman, J. Phys. Chem. B 101, 5780 (1997)] to wires containing a variable
shaped constricted region. The energetics of the wire (sodium) as a function of
the length of the volume conserving, adiabatically shaped constriction leads to
formation of self selecting magic wire configurations. The variations in the
energy result in oscillations in the force required to elongate the wire and
are directly correlated with the stepwise variations of the conductance of the
nanowire in units of 2e^2/h. The oscillatory patterns in the energetics and
forces, and the correlated stepwise variation in the conductance are shown,
numerically and through a semiclassical analysis, to be dominated by the
quantized spectrum of the transverse states at the narrowmost part of the
constriction in the wire.Comment: Latex/Revtex, 11 pages with 5 Postscript figure
Pentagonal nanowires: a first-principles study of atomic and electronic structure
We performed an extensive first-principles study of nanowires in various
pentagonal structures by using pseudopotential plane wave method within the
density functional theory. Our results show that nanowires of different types
of elements, such as alkali, simple, transition and noble metals and inert gas
atoms, have a stable structure made from staggered pentagons with a linear
chain perpendicular to the planes of the pentagons and passing through their
centers. This structure exhibits bond angles close to those in the icosahedral
structure. However, silicon is found to be energetically more favorable in the
eclipsed pentagonal structure. These quasi one dimensional pentagonal nanowires
have higher cohesive energies than many other one dimensional structures and
hence may be realized experimentally. The effect of magnetic state are examined
by spin-polarized calculations. The origin of the stability are discussed by
examining optimized structural parameters, charge density and electronic band
structure, and by using analysis based on the empirical Lennard-Jones type
interaction. Electronic band structure of pentagonal wires of different
elements are discussed and their effects on quantum ballistic conductance are
mentioned. It is found that the pentagonal wire of silicon exhibits metallic
band structure.Comment: 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Fertility, Living Arrangements, Care and Mobility
There are four main interconnecting themes around which the contributions in this book are based. This introductory chapter aims to establish the broad context for the chapters that follow by discussing each of the themes. It does so by setting these themes within the overarching demographic challenge of the twenty-first century â demographic ageing. Each chapter is introduced in the context of the specific theme to which it primarily relates and there is a summary of the data sets used by the contributors to illustrate the wide range of cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysed
Physical capability and subsequent positive mental wellbeing in older people: Findings from five HALCyon cohorts
Objective measures of physical capability are being used in a growing number of studies as biomarkers of healthy ageing. However, very little research has been done to assess the impact of physical capability on subsequent positive mental wellbeing, the maintenance of which is widely considered to be an essential component of healthy ageing. We aimed to test the associations of grip strength and walking, timed get up and go and chair rise speeds (assessed at ages 53 to 82 years) with positive mental wellbeing assessed using the WarwickâEdinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) 5 to 10 years later. Data were drawn from five British cohorts participating in the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course research collaboration. Data from each study were analysed separately and then combined using random-effects meta-analyses. Higher levels of physical capability were consistently associated with higher subsequent levels of wellbeing; for example, a 1SD increase in grip strength was associated with an age and sex-adjusted mean difference in WEMWBS score of 0.81 (0.25, 1.37), equivalent to 10 % of a standard deviation (three studies, Nâ=â3,096). When adjusted for body size, health status, living alone, socioeconomic position and neuroticism the associations remained albeit attenuated. The finding of these consistent modest associations across five studies, spanning early and later old age, highlights the importance of maintaining physical capability in later life and provides additional justification for using objective measures of physical capability as markers of healthy ageing
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