Reversal Modes of Simulated Iron Nanopillars in an Obliquely Oriented Field

Stochastic micromagnetic simulations are employed to study switching in three-dimensional magnetic nanopillars exposed to highly misaligned fields. The switching appears to proceed through two different decay modes, characterized by very different average lifetimes and different average values of the transverse magnetization components.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure

Investigating the Magnitude and Range of the Urban Heat Island within Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Cities experience UHIs due to the thermal properties (albedo, thermal emittance, radiative flux, and heat capacity) of human-made substances and urban geometry. This study investigated the existence of an urban heat island (UHI) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The goal of this project was to assess whether a small-scale city like Gettysburg demonstrates an UHI effect and, if present, the extent and magnitude of the UHI. We hypothesized that (1) temperatures within the city are significantly higher than the surrounding area, (2) the magnitude of the UHI will diminish as distance from the city center increases, and (3) the UHI will not extend further than 0.5 miles outside the city center. Air temperatures were collected using digital thermometers over four weeks along two different transects that each extended one mile from the center square of Gettysburg. Our results show that Gettysburg, despite its small size, has an UHI. A linear regression model shows that there is a strong correlation between temperature and distance from the center square. The magnitude of the UHI lessens with increasing distance from the center of town. The first two hypotheses were supported while the hypothesis that the UHI will be localized was not. Statistically analyses show that the temperature change remains significant past 0.5 miles. The results of this study demonstrate that even a small-scale city like Gettysburg create a UHI

Are Mock Jurors Influenced by the Defendants Gender, Socio-Economic Status and Emotional State in Forensic Medicine?

The aim of this study was to investigate whether mock jurors’ decisions were affected by the defendant’s gender, socio-economic status and emotional state in mock cases. The implications are far reaching, especially in trials that involve forensic medicine. An experimental design was used where a total of 24 participants from Bournemouth University took part, and were assigned to one of four groups. In these groups, the three independent variables were manipulated. Participants were presented with two murder/manslaughter cases. The results suggest male defendants received harsher judgements than female defendants. More female defendants were found not guilty than male defendants. Male defendants from a high socio-economic background received harsher judgements than male defendants from a low socio-economic background. Female defendants from a low socio-economic background received harsher judgements than female defendants from a high socio-economic background. Female defendants were found to be more trustworthy than male defendants. These findings are discussed are discussed in the context of the jury’s verdict, sentence length and personal opinion of the defendant

SCUBA observations of the Horsehead Nebula - what did the horse swallow?

We present observations taken with SCUBA on the JCMT of the Horsehead Nebula in Orion (B33), at wavelengths of 450 and 850 \mum. We see bright emission from that part of the cloud associated with the photon-dominated region (PDR) at the `top' of the horse's head, which we label B33-SMM1. We characterise the physical parameters of the extended dust responsible for this emission, and find that B33-SMM1 contains a more dense core than was previously suspected. We compare the SCUBA data with data from the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and find that the emission at 6.75-\mum is offset towards the west, indicating that the mid-infrared emission is tracing the PDR while the submillimetre emission comes from the molecular cloud core behind the PDR. We calculate the virial balance of this core and find that it is not gravitationally bound but is being confined by the external pressure from the HII region IC434, and that it will either be destroyed by the ionising radiation, or else may undergo triggered star formation. Furthermore we find evidence for a lozenge-shaped clump in the `throat' of the horse, which is not seen in emission at shorter wavelengths. We label this source B33-SMM2 and find that it is brighter at submillimetre wavelengths than B33-SMM1. SMM2 is seen in absorption in the 6.75-\mum ISO data, from which we obtain an independent estimate of the column density in excellent agreement with that calculated from the submillimetre emission. We calculate the stability of this core against collapse and find that it is in approximate gravitational virial equilibrium. This is consistent with it being a pre-existing core in B33, possibly pre-stellar in nature, but that it may also eventually undergo collapse under the effects of the HII region.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted by MNRA

Atmospheric muon background in the ANTARES detector

An evaluation of the background due to atmospheric muons in the ANTARES high energy neutrino telescope is presented. Two different codes for atmospheric shower simulation have been used. Results from comparisons between these codes at sea level and detector level are presented. The first results on the capability of ANTARES to reject this class of background are given.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, To appear in Proceedings of the 29th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2005), Pune, India, 3 - 10 Aug 200

Carbonate Formation in Non-Aqueous Environments by Solid-Gas Carbonation of Silicates

We have produced synthetic analogues of cosmic silicates using the Sol Gel method, producing amorphous silicates of composition Mg(x)Ca(1-x)SiO3. Using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction on Beamline I11 at the Diamond Light Source, together with a newly-commissioned gas cell, real-time powder diffraction scans have been taken of a range of silicates exposed to CO2 under non-ambient conditions. The SXPD is complemented by other techniques including Raman and Infrared Spectroscopy and SEM imaging.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Contribution to the Proceedings of the First European Conference on Laboratory Astrophysics (ECLA

Compressive and Noncompressive Power Spectral Density Estimation from Periodic Nonuniform Samples

This paper presents a novel power spectral density estimation technique for band-limited, wide-sense stationary signals from sub-Nyquist sampled data. The technique employs multi-coset sampling and incorporates the advantages of compressed sensing (CS) when the power spectrum is sparse, but applies to sparse and nonsparse power spectra alike. The estimates are consistent piecewise constant approximations whose resolutions (width of the piecewise constant segments) are controlled by the periodicity of the multi-coset sampling. We show that compressive estimates exhibit better tradeoffs among the estimator's resolution, system complexity, and average sampling rate compared to their noncompressive counterparts. For suitable sampling patterns, noncompressive estimates are obtained as least squares solutions. Because of the non-negativity of power spectra, compressive estimates can be computed by seeking non-negative least squares solutions (provided appropriate sampling patterns exist) instead of using standard CS recovery algorithms. This flexibility suggests a reduction in computational overhead for systems estimating both sparse and nonsparse power spectra because one algorithm can be used to compute both compressive and noncompressive estimates.Comment: 26 pages, single spaced, 9 figure