Analytical investigation of magnetic field distributions around superconducting strips on ferromagnetic substrates

The complex-field approach is developed to derive analytical expressions of the magnetic field distributions around superconducting strips on ferromagnetic substrates (SC/FM strips). We consider the ferromagnetic substrates as ideal soft magnets with an infinite magnetic permeability, neglecting the ferromagnetic hysteresis. On the basis of the critical state model for a superconducting strip, the ac susceptibility $\chi_1'+i\chi_1''$ of a SC/FM strip exposed to a perpendicular ac magnetic field is theoretically investigated, and the results are compared with those for superconducting strips on nonmagnetic substrates (SC/NM strips). The real part $\chi_1'$ for $H_0/j_cd_s\to 0$ (where $H_0$ is the amplitude of the ac magnetic field, $j_c$ is the critical current density, and $d_s$ is the thickness of the superconducting strip) of a SC/FM strip is 3/4 of that of a SC/NM strip. The imaginary part $\chi_1''$ (or ac loss $Q$) for $H_0/j_cd_s<0.14$ of a SC/FM strip is larger than that of a SC/NM strip, even when the ferromagnetic hysteresis is neglected, and this enhancement of $\chi_1''$ (or $Q$) is due to the edge effect of the ferromagnetic substrate.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Can Health Care Services Attract Retirees And Contribute to the Economic Sustainability of Rural Places?

The search for engines to power rural economic growth has gone beyond the traditional boundaries of the food and fiber sector to industries such as tourism and to schemes such as attracting metropolitan workers to commuter communities with rural amenities. A group that has been somewhat overlooked is retirees, who may wish to trade in urban or suburban life-styles for a more peaceful rural retirement. An industry that has been neglected is the health care industry, which is the most rapidly growing industry nationally and of particular interest to retirees and aging populations. This paper examines the importance of rural health care services in attracting migrants age 65+ to rural counties in Michigan. Results indicate that the number of health care workers has a positive effect on net in-migration, and that this effect is large and statistically significant for the 70+ age group. Implications for rural development strategies are discussed.elder migration, health care, rural development, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

High Field Anomalies of Equilibrium and Ultrafast Magnetism in Rare-Earth-Transition Metal Ferrimagnets

Magneto-optical spectroscopy in fields up to 30 Tesla reveals anomalies in the equilibrium and ultrafast magnetic properties of the ferrimagnetic rare-earth-transition metal alloy TbFeCo. In particular, in the vicinity of the magnetization compensation temperature, each of the magnetizations of the antiferromagnetically coupled Tb and FeCo sublattices show triple hysteresis loops. Contrary to state-of-the-art theory, which explains such loops by sample inhomogeneities, here we show that they are an intrinsic property of the rare-earth ferrimagnets. Assuming that the rare-earth ions are paramagnetic and have a non-zero orbital momentum in the ground state and, therefore, a large magnetic anisotropy, we are able to reproduce the experimentally observed behavior in equilibrium. The same theory is also able to describe the experimentally observed critical slowdown of the spin dynamics in the vicinity of the magnetization compensation temperature, emphasizing the role played by the orbital momentum in static and ultrafast magnetism of ferrimagnets

The \u3cem\u3edapE\u3c/em\u3e-encoded \u3cem\u3eN\u3c/em\u3e-Succinyl-l,l-Diaminopimelic Acid Desuccinylase from \u3cem\u3eHaemophilus influenzae\u3c/em\u3e Is a Dinuclear Metallohydrolase

The Zn K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectra, of the dapE-encoded N-succinyl-l,l-diaminopimelic acid desuccinylase (DapE) from Haemophilus influenzae have been recorded in the presence of one or two equivalents of Zn(II) (i.e. [Zn_(DapE)] and [ZnZn(DapE)]). The Fourier transforms of the Zn EXAFS are dominated by a peak at ca. 2.0 Å, which can be fit for both [Zn_(DapE)] and [ZnZn(DapE)], assuming ca. 5 (N,O) scatterers at 1.96 and 1.98 Å, respectively. A second-shell feature at ca. 3.34 Å appears in the [ZnZn(DapE)] EXAFS spectrum but is significantly diminished in [Zn_(DapE)]. These data show that DapE contains a dinuclear Zn(II) active site. Since no X-ray crystallographic data are available for any DapE enzyme, these data provide the first glimpse at the active site of DapE enzymes. In addition, the EXAFS data for DapE incubated with two competitive inhibitors, 2-carboxyethylphosphonic acid and 5-mercaptopentanoic acid, are also presented

The spin-incoherent Luttinger liquid

In contrast to the well known Fermi liquid theory of three dimensions, interacting one-dimensional and quasi one-dimensional systems of fermions are described at low energy by an effective theory known as Luttinger liquid theory. This theory is expressed in terms of collective many-body excitations that show exotic behavior such as spin-charge separation. Luttinger liquid theory is commonly applied on the premise that "low energy" describes both the spin and charge sectors. However, when the interactions in the system are very strong, as they typically are at low particle densities, the ratio of spin to charge energy may become exponentially small. It is then possible at very low temperatures for the energy to be low compared to the characteristic charge energy, but still high compared to the characteristic spin energy. This energy window of near ground-state charge degrees of freedom, but highly thermally excited spin degrees of freedom is called a spin-incoherent Luttinger liquid. The spin-incoherent Luttinger liquid exhibits a higher degree universality than the Luttinger liquid and its properties are qualitatively distinct. In this colloquium I detail some of the recent theoretical developments in the field and describe experimental indications of such a regime in gated semiconductor quantum wires.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures. Updated references, corrected typo in Eq.(20) in journal versio

Rescue with an anti-inflammatory peptide of chickens infected H5N1 avian flu

Chickens suffering from avian flu caused by H5N1 influenza virus are destined to die within 2 days due to a systemic inflammatory response. Since HVJ infection (1,2) and influenza virus infection (3,4) cause infected cells to activate homologous serum complement, the systemic inflammatory response elicited could be attributed to the unlimited generation of C5a anaphylatoxin of the complement system, which is a causative peptide of serious inflammation. In monkeys inoculated with a lethal dose of LPS (4 mg/kg body weight), inhibition of C5a by an inhibitory peptide termed AcPepA (5) rescued these animals from serious septic shock which would have resulted in death within a day (6). Therefore, we tested whether AcPepA could also have a beneficial effect on chickens with bird flu. On another front, enhanced production of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and the activation of mast cells (MCs) have been implicated in granulocyte sequestration (7). An endothelin receptor derived antisense homology box peptide (8) designated ETR-P1/fl was shown to antagonize endothelin A receptor (ET-A receptor) (9) and reduce such inflammatory responses as endotoxin-shock (10) and hemorrhagic shock (11), thereby suppressing histamine release in the circulation (12). Thus, we also administered ETR-P1/fl to bird flu chickens expecting suppression of a systemic inflammatory response

Magnetic Excitations in the Spin-1 Anisotropic Heisenberg Antiferromagnetic Chain System NiCl2_2-4SC(NH2_2)2_2

NiCl$_2$-4SC(NH$_2$)$_2$ (DTN) is a quantum S=1 chain system with strong easy-pane anisotropy and a new candidate for the Bose-Einstein condensation of the spin degrees of freedom. ESR studies of magnetic excitations in DTN in fields up to 25 T are presented. Based on analysis of the single-magnon excitation mode in the high-field spin-polarized phase and previous experimental results [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 077204 (2006)], a revised set of spin-Hamiltonian parameters is obtained. Our results yield $D=8.9$ K, $J_c=2.2$ K, and $J_{a,b}=0.18$ K for the anisotropy, intrachain, and interchain exchange interactions, respectively. These values are used to calculate the antiferromagnetic phase boundary, magnetization and the frequency-field dependence of two-magnon bound-state excitations predicted by theory and observed in DTN for the first time. Excellent quantitative agreement with experimental data is obtained