Evaluation of Spin-Triplet Superconductivity in Sr2RuO4

This review presents a summary and evaluations of the superconducting properties of the layered ruthenate Sr2RuO4 as they are known in the autumn of 2011. This paper appends the main progress that has been made since the preceding review by Mackenzie and Maeno was published in 2003. Here, special focus is placed on the critical evaluation of the spin-triplet, odd-parity pairing scenario applied to Sr2RuO4. After an introduction to superconductors with possible odd-parity pairing, accumulated evidence for the pairing symmetry of Sr2RuO4 is examined. Then, significant recent progress on the theoretical approaches to the superconducting pairing by Coulomb repulsion is reviewed. A section is devoted to some experimental properties of Sr2RuO4 that seem to defy simple explanations in terms of currently available spin-triplet scenario. The next section deals with some new developments using eutectic boundaries and micro-crystals, which reveals novel superconducting phenomena related to chiral edge states, odd-frequency pairing states, and half-fluxoid states. Some of these properties are intimately connected with the properties as a topological superconductor. The article concludes with a summary of knowledge emerged from the study of Sr2RuO4 that are now more widely applied to understand the physics of other unconventional superconductors, as well as with a brief discussion of relatively unexplored but promising areas of ongoing and future studies of Sr2RuO4.Comment: 31 pages, 35 figures, published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. as a review article of Special Topic

Spatial Analysis for Detecting Recent Work Accidents in Agriculture in Italy

Work safety has been recently considered a growing topic in multi-disciplinary research across different working sectors, e.g. in open-field activities in agriculture. Precise guidelines and policy strategies are stimulated with the aim of providing a greater safety for operators and a more preliminary awareness of the potential risks. Computing work accidents is regularly achieved using classical approaches. However, it is difficult to quantify potential accidents or fatalities considering several factors (e.g. age of operators, their training experience but also environmental or geo-morphological characters). The paper focuses on recent work accidents (2012–2017) that occurred in the Italian agricultural sector. It classifies the accidents at work according to their severity (e.g. fatal, with/without permanent disabilities) and the way of occurrence (e.g. overturning of the tractor). One of the approaches used was based on the spatial analysis determining numerous suggestions, such as where and when injuries happened more often, the socio-demographic profile of the involved people (e.g. gender, age, nationality) and additional agricultural practices (e.g. mechanization processes applied). Revealing inherent patterns of safe (or unsafe) working conditions at the provincial scale (NUTS level 3 as designed by EUROSTAT), results showed that training or educational programs should be planned in specific areas with the purpose of increasing awareness toward risky events in agriculture. Future scenarios can be discovered based on explicit evidences dealing with risk factors and functioning conditions at various working sites with the final goal to launch appropriate technical, legislative and operational procedures to decrease work accidents