Magnetic field induced Coulomb blockade in small disordered delta-doped heterostructures

At low densities, electrons confined to two dimensions in a delta-doped heterostructure can arrange themselves into self-consistent droplets due to disorder and screening effects. We use this observation to show that at low temperatures, there should be resistance oscillations in low density two dimensional electron gases as a function of the gate voltage, that are greatly enhanced in a magnetic field. These oscillations are intrinsic to small samples and give way to variable range hopping resistivity at low temperatures in larger samples. We place our analysis in the context of recent experiments where similar physical effects have been discussed from the point of view of a Wigner crystal or charge density wave picture.Comment: 6 pages RevTeX, 2 figures, published versio

Magnetotransport in disordered delta-doped heterostructures

We discuss theoretically how electrons confined to two dimensions in a delta-doped heterostructure can arrange themselves in a droplet-like spatial distribution due to disorder and screening effects when their density is low. We apply this droplet picture to magnetotransport and derive the expected dependence on electron density of several quantities relevant to this transport, in the regimes of weak and moderate magnetic fields. We find good qualitative and quantitative agreement between our calculations and recent experiments on delta-doped heterostructures.Comment: 10 pages RevTeX, 2 figures, uses psfrag; published versio

Structural and transport properties of GaAs/delta<Mn>/GaAs/InxGa1-xAs/GaAs quantum wells

We report results of investigations of structural and transport properties of GaAs/Ga(1-x)In(x)As/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) having a 0.5-1.8 ML thick Mn layer, separated from the QW by a 3 nm thick spacer. The structure has hole mobility of about 2000 cm2/(V*s) being by several orders of magnitude higher than in known ferromagnetic two-dimensional structures. The analysis of the electro-physical properties of these systems is based on detailed study of their structure by means of high-resolution X-ray diffractometry and glancing-incidence reflection, which allow us to restore the depth profiles of structural characteristics of the QWs and thin Mn containing layers. These investigations show absence of Mn atoms inside the QWs. The quality of the structures was also characterized by photoluminescence spectra from the QWs. Transport properties reveal features inherent to ferromagnetic systems: a specific maximum in the temperature dependence of the resistance and the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) observed in samples with both "metallic" and activated types of conductivity up to ~100 K. AHE is most pronounced in the temperature range where the resistance maximum is observed, and decreases with decreasing temperature. The results are discussed in terms of interaction of 2D-holes and magnetic Mn ions in presence of large-scale potential fluctuations related to random distribution of Mn atoms. The AHE values are compared with calculations taking into account its "intrinsic" mechanism in ferromagnetic systems.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Collapse of Spin-Splitting in the Quantum Hall Effect

It is known experimentally that at not very large filling factors $\nu$ the quantum Hall conductivity peaks corresponding to the same Landau level number $N$ and two different spin orientations are well separated. These peaks occur at half-integer filling factors $\nu = 2 N + 1/2$ and $\nu = 2 N + 3/2$ so that the distance between them $\delta\nu$ is unity. As $\nu$ increases $\delta\nu$ shrinks. Near certain $N = N_c$ two peaks abruptly merge into a single peak at $\nu = 2N + 1$. We argue that this collapse of the spin-splitting at low magnetic fields is attributed to the disorder-induced destruction of the exchange enhancement of the electron $g$-factor. We use the mean-field approach to show that in the limit of zero Zeeman energy $\delta\nu$ experiences a second-order phase transition as a function of the magnetic field. We give explicit expressions for $N_c$ in terms of a sample's parameters. For example, we predict that for high-mobility heterostructures $N_c = 0.9 d n^{5/6} n_i^{-1/3},$ where $d$ is the spacer width, $n$ is the density of the two-dimensional electron gas, and $n_i$ is the two-dimensional density of randomly situated remote donors.Comment: 14 pages, compressed Postscript fil

Chaotic memristor

We suggest and experimentally demonstrate a chaotic memory resistor (memristor). The core of our approach is to use a resistive system whose equations of motion for its internal state variables are similar to those describing a particle in a multi-well potential. Using a memristor emulator, the chaotic memristor is realized and its chaotic properties are measured. A Poincar\'{e} plot showing chaos is presented for a simple nonautonomous circuit involving only a voltage source directly connected in series to a memristor and a standard resistor. We also explore theoretically some details of this system, plotting the attractor and calculating Lyapunov exponents. The multi-well potential used resembles that of many nanoscale memristive devices, suggesting the possibility of chaotic dynamics in other existing memristive systems.Comment: Applied Physics A (in press

A meta-review of literature reviews assessing the capacity of patients with severe mental disorders to make decisions about their healthcare.

Background: Determining the mental capacity of psychiatric patients for making healthcare related decisions is crucial in clinical practice. This meta-review of review articles comprehensively examines the current evidence on the capacity of patients with a mental illness to make medical care decisions. Methods: Systematic review of review articles following PRISMA recommendations. PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL and PsycInfo were electronically searched up to 31 January 2020. Free text searches and medical subject headings were combined to identify literature reviews and meta-analyses published in English, and summarising studies on the capacity of patients with serious mental illnesses to make healthcare and treatment related decisions, conducted in any clinical setting and with a quantitative synthesis of results. Publications were selected as per inclusion and exclusion criteria. The AMSTAR II tool was used to assess the quality of reviews. Results: Eleven publications were reviewed. Variability on methods across studies makes it difficult to precisely estimate the prevalence of decision-making capacity in patients with mental disorders. Nonetheless, up to three-quarters of psychiatric patients, including individuals with serious illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder may have capacity to make medical decisions in the context of their illness. Most evidence comes from studies conducted in the hospital setting; much less information exists on the healthcare decision making capacity of mental disorder patients while in the community. Stable psychiatric and non-psychiatric patients may have a similar capacity to make healthcare related decisions. Patients with a mental illness have capacity to judge risk-reward situations and to adequately decide about the important treatment outcomes. Different symptoms may impair different domains of the decisional capacity of psychotic patients. Decisional capacity impairments in psychotic patients are temporal, identifiable, and responsive to interventions directed towards simplifying information, encouraging training and shared decision making. The publications complied satisfactorily with the AMSTAR II critical domains. Conclusions: Whilst impairments in decision-making capacity may exist, most patients with a severe mental disorder, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are able to make rational decisions about their healthcare. Best practice strategies should incorporate interventions to help mentally ill patients grow into the voluntary and safe use of medications

Evaluation of potential habitat with an integrated analysis of a spatial conservation strategy for David’s deer, Elaphurus davidians

How to assess the potential habitat integrating landscape dynamics and population research, and how to reintroduce animals to potential habitats in environments highly human disturbed are still questions to be answered in conservation biology. According to behavioral research on Elaphurus davidians, we have developed a suitability index and a risk index to evaluate the potential habitats for the deer. With these indices, we conducted two transect assessments to evaluate the gradient change of the target region. Then, taking rivers as border lines, we tabulated the forest areas, high grassland area and total area and then compared the forest and high grassland area in each subregion. Furthermore, we computed the land use transfer matrix for the whole Yancheng coast during 1987–2000. We also computed human modified index (HMI) in six subregions. Lastly with a geographical information system support we obtained the spatial distribution of the indices and evaluation of the whole potential habitats from a neighborhood analysis. The transect assessment showed that the suitability of the coastal area was higher than that of the inland area for the deer, while the southern area was higher than the northern. Landscape metrics and HMI analysis showed that different landscape patterns and different anthropogenic disturbance existed within the region, and the increasing human disturbance was the key factor causing the pattern dynamics. The evaluation of potential habitats showed that there was an estimated carrying capacity of no more than 10,000 for David’s deer reintroduction into the natural area. Also the reintroduction strategy was discussed. This integrated approach linked the population research and the landscape metrics, and the dataset with different scale; thus, it is an approach likely to be useful for the protection of other large animal in a landscape highly disturbed by humans

Status and Prospects of ZnO-Based Resistive Switching Memory Devices

In the advancement of the semiconductor device technology, ZnO could be a prospective alternative than the other metal oxides for its versatility and huge applications in different aspects. In this review, a thorough overview on ZnO for the application of resistive switching memory (RRAM) devices has been conducted. Various efforts that have been made to investigate and modulate the switching characteristics of ZnO-based switching memory devices are discussed. The use of ZnO layer in different structure, the different types of filament formation, and the different types of switching including complementary switching are reported. By considering the huge interest of transparent devices, this review gives the concrete overview of the present status and prospects of transparent RRAM devices based on ZnO. ZnO-based RRAM can be used for flexible memory devices, which is also covered here. Another challenge in ZnO-based RRAM is that the realization of ultra-thin and low power devices. Nevertheless, ZnO not only offers decent memory properties but also has a unique potential to be used as multifunctional nonvolatile memory devices. The impact of electrode materials, metal doping, stack structures, transparency, and flexibility on resistive switching properties and switching parameters of ZnO-based resistive switching memory devices are briefly compared. This review also covers the different nanostructured-based emerging resistive switching memory devices for low power scalable devices. It may give a valuable insight on developing ZnO-based RRAM and also should encourage researchers to overcome the challenges

Habitat Assessment of Non-Wadeable Rivers in Michigan

Habitat evaluation of wadeable streams based on accepted protocols provides a rapid and widely used adjunct to biological assessment. However, little effort has been devoted to habitat evaluation in non-wadeable rivers, where it is likely that protocols will differ and field logistics will be more challenging. We developed and tested a non-wadeable habitat index (NWHI) for rivers of Michigan, where non-wadeable rivers were defined as those of order ≥5, drainage area ≥1600 km 2 , mainstem lengths ≥100 km, and mean annual discharge ≥15 m 3 /s. This identified 22 candidate rivers that ranged in length from 103 to 825 km and in drainage area from 1620 to 16,860 km 2 . We measured 171 individual habitat variables over 2-km reaches at 35 locations on 14 rivers during 2000–2002, where mean wetted width was found to range from 32 to 185 m and mean thalweg depth from 0.8 to 8.3 m. We used correlation and principal components analysis to reduce the number of variables, and examined the spatial pattern of retained variables to exclude any that appeared to reflect spatial location rather than reach condition, resulting in 12 variables to be considered in the habitat index. The proposed NWHI included seven variables: riparian width, large woody debris, aquatic vegetation, bottom deposition, bank stability, thalweg substrate, and off-channel habitat. These variables were included because of their statistical association with independently derived measures of human disturbance in the riparian zone and the catchment, and because they are considered important in other habitat protocols or to the ecology of large rivers. Five variables were excluded because they were primarily related to river size rather than anthropogenic disturbance. This index correlated strongly with indices of disturbance based on the riparian (adjusted R 2 = 0.62) and the catchment (adjusted R 2 = 0.50), and distinguished the 35 river reaches into the categories of poor (2), fair (19), good (13), and excellent (1). Habitat variables retained in the NWHI differ from several used in wadeable streams, and place greater emphasis on known characteristic features of larger rivers.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41269/1/267_2004_Article_141.pd