Apparent negative motion of vortex matter due to inhomogeneous pinning

We investigate the transport of vortices in superconductors with inhomgeneous pinning under a driving force. The inhomogeneity of pinning is simplified as strong-weak pinning regions. It is demonstrated that the interactions between the vortices captured by strong pinning potentials and the vortices in the weak pinning region cause absolute negative motion (ANM) of vortices: The vortices which are climbing toward the high barriers induced by the strong pinning with the help of driving force move toward the opposite direction of the force and back to their equilibrium positions in the weak pinning region as the force decreases or is withdrawn. Our simulations reveal that the hysteresis of ANM is determined by the competition between the speed of the negative motion which depends on the piining inhomogeneity in superconductors and the speed of the driving force. Under the conditions of either larger force scanning rate or higher pinning inhomogeneity, a marked ANM and a larger hysteretic speed-force loop could be observed. This indicates that the time window to observe the ANM should be chosen properly. Moreover, the V-1 characteristics of Ag-sheathed Bi=2223 tapes are measured, and experimental observations are qualitatively in agreement with the simulation

An Empirical Study of Online Consumer Review Spam: A Design Science Approach

Because of the sheer volume of consumer reviews posted to the Internet, a manual approach for the detection and analysis of fake reviews is not practical. However, automated detection of fake reviews is a very challenging research problem given the fact that fake reviews could just look like legitimate reviews. Guided by the design science research methodology, one of the main contributions of our research work is the development of a novel methodology and an instantiation which can effectively detect untruthful consumer reviews. The results of our experiment confirm that the proposed methodology outperforms other well-known baseline methods for detecting untruthful reviews collected from amazon.com. Above all, the designed artifacts enable us to conduct an econometric analysis to examine the impact of fake reviews on product sales. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study conducted to analyze the economic impact of fake consumer reviews

Metastable behavior of vortex matter in the electronic transport processes of homogenous superconductors

We study numerically the effect of vortex pinning on the hysteresis voltage-temperature (V-T) loop of vortex matter. It is found that different types of the V-T loops result from different densities of vortex pinning center. An anticlockwise V-T loop is observed for the vortex system with dense pinning centers, whereas a clockwise V-T loop is brought about for vortices with dilute pinning centers. It is shown that the size of the V-T loop becomes smaller for lower experimental speed, higher magnetic field, or weak pinning strength. Our numerical observation is in good agreement with experiments

Improved interfacial and electrical properties of GaAs metal-oxdiesemiconductor capacitors with HfTiON as gate dialectric and TaON as Passivation interlayer

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Study on Shrinkage Properties of Repairing Mortar Modified by Basalt Fiber

In order to study the shrinkage properties of modified repairing mortar, an orthogonal experiment with four factors and three levels were proceeded. Nine specimens with four factors, i.e., silica powder, sodium silicate, basalt fiber and a U-type expansive agent, were used to measure the length change ratio. The results show that the shrinkage value of modified repairing mortars have been greatly reduced. Compared with the control specimen without any additives, the shrinkage value of the modified repairing mortar with the silica powder of 3 %, the sodium silicate of 1.0 %, the basalt fiber of 0.2 % and the U-type expansive agent of 10 % at 60d drops by 42.5%. Based on experimental results, the shrinkage prediction model of modified repairing mortar has been established. The model can be used to predict the shrinkage value of the modified repairing mortar with similar compositions

Nonequilibrium dynamics in type-II superconductors with inhomogeneous vortex pinning

We study numerically the dynamics relating to negative vortex motion in inhomogeneous pinning systems. We show that this dynamical phenomenon results from the internal field effect produced by the growing local barriers with decreasing temperature. We find that the negative motion is characterized by a peak of negative voltage or resistance in resistance–temperature transport measurements. We also demonstrate that the time window to observe the negative motion is determined by the magnitude of driving force in addition to the temperature scanning rat

Pyrene Mineralization by Mycobacterium sp. Strain KMS in a Barley Rhizosphere

To determine whether the soil Mycobacterium isolate KMS would mineralize pyrene under rhizosphere conditions, a microcosm system was established to collect radioactive carbon dioxide released from the labeled polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. Microcosms were designed as sealed, flow-through systems that allowed the growth of plants. Experiments were conducted to evaluate mineralization of 14C-labeled pyrene in a sand amended with the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons degrading Mycobacterium isolate KMS, barley plants, or barley plants with roots colonized by isolate KMS. Mineralization was quantified by collecting the 14CO2 produced from 14C-labeled pyrene at intervals during the 10-d incubation period. Roots and foliar tissues were examined for 14C incorporation. Mass balances for microcosms were determined through combustion of sand samples and collection and quantification of 14CO2 evolved from radiolabeled pyrene. No pyrene mineralization was observed in the sterile control systems. Greater release of 14CO2 was observed in the system with barley colonized by KMS than in microcosms containing just the bacterium inoculum or sterile barley plants. These findings suggest that phytostimulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons mineralization could be applied in remediation schemes

In-Plane Magnetic Anisotropy In RF Sputtered Fe-N Thin Films

We have fabricated Fe(N) thin films with varied N2 partial pressure and studied the microstructure, morphology, magnetic properties and resistivity by using X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, vibrating-sample magnetometer and angle-resolved M-H hysteresis Loop tracer and standard four-point probe method. In the presence of low N2 partial pressure, Fe(N) films showed a basic bcc a-Fe structure with a preferred (110) texture. A variation of in-plane magnetic anisotropy of the Fe(N) films was observed with the changing of N component. The evolution of in-plane anisotropy in the films was attributed to the directional order mechanism. Nitrogen atoms play an important role in refining the a-Fe grains and inducing uniaxial anisotropy.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

A Month in the Life of Groupon

Groupon has become the latest Internet sensation, providing daily deals to customers in the form of discount offers for restaurants, ticketed events, appliances, services, and other items. We undertake a study of the economics of daily deals on the web, based on a dataset we compiled by monitoring Groupon over several weeks. We use our dataset to characterize Groupon deal purchases, and to glean insights about Groupon's operational strategy. Our focus is on purchase incentives. For the primary purchase incentive, price, our regression model indicates that demand for coupons is relatively inelastic, allowing room for price-based revenue optimization. More interestingly, mining our dataset, we find evidence that Groupon customers are sensitive to other, "soft", incentives, e.g., deal scheduling and duration, deal featuring, and limited inventory. Our analysis points to the importance of considering incentives other than price in optimizing deal sites and similar systems.Comment: 6 page