The Meservey-Tedrov effect in FSF double tunneling junctions

Double tunneling junctions of ferromagnet-superconductor-ferromagnet electrodes (FSF) show a jump in the conductance when a parallel magnetic field reverses the magnetization of one of the ferromagnetic electrodes. This change is generally attributed to the spin-valve effect or to pair breaking in the superconductor because of spin accumulation. In this paper it is shown that the Meservey-Tedrov effect causes a similar change in the conductance since the magnetic field changes the energy spectrum of the quasi-particles in the superconductor. A reversal of the bias reverses the sign in the conductance jump

Measuring a coherent superposition

We propose a simple method for measuring the populations and the relative phase in a coherent superposition of two atomic states. The method is based on coupling the two states to a third common (excited) state by means of two laser pulses, and measuring the total fluorescence from the third state for several choices of the excitation pulses.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, twocolumn REVTe

The Gelfand map and symmetric products

If A is an algebra of functions on X, there are many cases when X can be regarded as included in Hom(A,C) as the set of ring homomorphisms. In this paper the corresponding results for the symmetric products of X are introduced. It is shown that the symmetric product Sym^n(X) is included in Hom(A,C) as the set of those functions that satisfy equations generalising f(xy)=f(x)f(y). These equations are related to formulae introduced by Frobenius and, for the relevant A, they characterise linear maps on A that are the sum of ring homomorphisms. The main theorem is proved using an identity satisfied by partitions of finite sets.Comment: 14 pages, Late

Revisiting and revitalizing political ecology in the American West

Political ecology, initially conceived to better understand the power relations implicit in management and distribution of natural resources in the developing world, came “home” to the American West in the 1990s and 2000s. This groundswell of research did much to problematize socio-environmental conflicts in the region, long typified by tensions over land and resources, identity and belonging, autonomy and authority. Since first touching down in the West, however, the “big tent” of political ecology has only grown bigger, incorporating new perspectives, epistemologies, and ontologies. At the same time, the nexus of environment and society is perhaps even more salient today, amid a regional conjuncture of populist revolt, climate change, and rapid political economic transformation. Here we reflect on three longstanding regional concerns – energy development, wolf reintroduction, and participatory governance – leveraging the pluralism of contemporary political ecology to better understand their contemporary incarnations. In so doing, we highlight the need to bring together insights from both “traditional” approaches and newer directions to better understand and engage contemporary challenges, with their heightened stakes and complexity. Such an approach demonstrates what we might learn about global processes in this place, as well as what insights regional praxis (often woefully provincial) might gain from elsewhere – new ways of seeing and doing political ecology. Our goal is to generate discussion among and between political ecologists and regional critical scholars, initiating new collaborative engagements that might serve the next wave of political ecology in the 21st century American West

Signals of R-parity violating supersymmetry in neutrino scattering at muon storage rings

Neutrino oscillation signals at muon storage rings can be faked by supersymmetric (SUSY) interactions in an R-parity violating scenario. We investigate the $\tau$-appearance signals for both long-baseline and near-site experiments, and conclude that the latter is of great use in distinguishing between oscillation and SUSY effects. On the other hand, SUSY can cause a manifold increase in the event rate for wrong-sign muons at a long-baseline setting, thereby providing us with signatures of new physics.Comment: 7 pages LaTeX, 4 ps figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Wearable and Implantable Sensors: The Patient's Perspective

There has been a rising interest in wearable and implantable biomedical sensors over the last decade. However, many technologies have not been integrated into clinical care, due to a limited understanding of user-centered design issues. Little information is available about these issues and there is a need to adopt more rigorous evidence standards for design features to allow important medical sensors to progress quicker into clinical care. Current trends in patient preferences need to be incorporated at an early stage into the design process of prospective clinical sensors. The first comprehensive patient data set, discussing mobile biomedical sensor technology, is presented in this paper. The study population mainly consisted of individuals suffering from arthritis. It was found that sensor systems needed to be small, discreet, unobtrusive and preferably incorporated into everyday objects. The upper extremity was seen as the favored position on the body for placement, while invasive placement yielded high levels of acceptance. Under these conditions most users were willing to wear the body-worn sensor for more than 20 h a day. This study is a first step to generate research based user-orientated design criteria’s for biomedical sensors