Fulde–Ferrell State in Spin–Orbit-Coupled Superconductor: Application to Dresselhaus SOC

We show that in the presence of magnetic field, two superconducting phases with the center-of-mass momentum of Cooper pair parallel to the magnetic field are induced in Dresselhaus spin–orbit-coupled superconductor. Specifically, at small magnetic field, the center-of-mass momentum is induced due to the energy-spectrum distortion and no unpairing region with vanishing singlet correlation appears. We refer to this superconducting state as the drift-BCS state. By further increasing the magnetic field, the superconducting state falls into the Fulde–Ferrell state with the emergence of the unpairing regions. The observed abrupt enhancement of the center-of-mass momenta and suppression on the order parameters during the transition indicate the occurrence of a first-order phase transition. Enhanced Pauli limit and hence enlarged magnetic-field regime of the Fulde–Ferrell state, due to the spin-flip terms of the spin–orbit coupling, are revealed. We also address the triplet correlations induced by the spin–orbit coupling, and show that the Cooper-pair spin polarizations, generated by the magnetic field and center-of-mass momentum with the triplet correlations exhibit totally different magnetic-field dependences between the drift-BCS and Fulde–Ferrell states.     

Semantic word shifts in a scientific domain

Understanding semantic word shifts in scientific domains is essential for facilitating interdisciplinary communication. Using a data set of published papers in the field of information retrieval (IR), this paper studies the semantic shifts of words in IR based on mining per-word topic distribution over time. We propose that semantic word shifts not only occur over time, but also over topics. The shifts are examined from two perspectives, the topic-level and the context-level. According to the over-time word-topic distribution, stable words and unstable words are recognized. The diverging and converging trends in the unstable type reveal characteristics of the topic evolution process. The context-level shifts are further detected by similarities between word vectors. Our work associates semantic word shifts with the evolving of topics, which facilitates a better understanding of semantic word shifts from both topics and contexts.     

Do funded papers attract more usage?

Research funding has been seen as one of the most important resource in the reward system of science. And usage of publications denotes an interesting perspective of user behavior in scientific communication. This study aims to address the relationship between funding and Usage Count, which is a new metrics item established on the platform of Web of Science. Full records of 300,010 articles published in 2013 were downloaded in October 2015, and divided into six disciplines, including information science library science, education educational research, economics, computer science, materials science, and chemistry. Seven indicators were proposed to measure the impact, including Funding rate, Citation per paper, Usage rate, Usage per paper, Citation difference, Usage difference, and Conversion rate. It concluded funding has impact on usage and citation, and funded papers attract more usage, but varying in different disciplines. Usage Count can be used in the extension of citation metrics but with limits. This study originally engages with usage metrics and detected that there is positive correlation between usage and funding.     

Alloy optimisation of bainitic steel for large plastic mould

Based on the phase transformation theories, especially the T₀ concept of bainite transformation, alloy optimisation of bainitic steel with carbides has been carried out aiming at the produce of plastic mould with large cross-section. The effect of manganese and silicon on proeutectoid ferrite and bainite transformation is explored by dilatometric analysis, XRD and different microscopy techniques. The results show that after the alloy optimisation, the transformation of proeutectoid ferrite is suppressed and when the cooling rate is lower than 0·1°C?s^??1, the new lower bainite transformation appears by decreasing carbon capacity of austenite and promoting carbide precipitation. Industrial production proves that the optimised alloy SDP1 can meet the demand for the plastic mould with the thickness of 1050?mm.     

Conveyer-belt accidents in mining and metallurgy

The dynamic interaction between the mechanical and electrical drive parameters when damage suddenly appears in the mechanical part of a conveyer belt is investigated. The possibility of using the change in the motor’s electrical parameters as a diagnostic signal is assessed. A model for investigating the dynamic processes in the system consisting of the grid, the induction motor, and the conveyer belt is proposed. The grid and induction motor are described by a model of fourth-order state space, whose output is the torque at the motor shaft. The moments of inertia and pliability of the links between the elements in the mechanical part of the conveyer belt are determined. By gradually identifying the elements with the minimum moment of inertia and distributing their moments of inertia and pliabilities among the adjacent elements, we obtain a three-mass system simulating the mechanical part of the conveyer belt. This dynamic model is solved by means of Matlab Simulink software. The energy characteristics of the drive are determined in dynamic processes following a mechanical accident.     

The reported point centromeres of Scheffersomyces stipitis are retrotransposon long terminal repeats

Point centromeres, found in some ascomycete yeasts such Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are very different in structure from the centromeres of other eukaryotes. They are tiny and nonrepetitive and contain only two short conserved sequence motifs. Until recently, point centromeres were thought to have a single evolutionary origin, in the budding yeast family Saccharomycetaceae. Most yeasts outside this family have centromeres that are many kilobases in size. Some have centromeres consisting of a large inverted repeat sequence, others have centromeric clusters of retrotransposons, and a third group including Candida albicans has centromeres with no conserved sequence features. It was recently reported that Scheffersomyces stipitis has point centromeres with a strongly conserved 125-bp core sequence, which is unexpected because S. stipitis is only distantly related to the known point-centromere species. We show here that the 125-bp core sequence is actually part of the long terminal repeat (LTR) of the Ty5-like retrotransposon Tps5, which forms a cluster in the centromeric region of each S. stipitis chromosome. Thus, the LTR of a centromere-associated retrotransposon confers centromere-like mitotic stability when cloned into a plasmid. The centromeric regions of S. stipitis contain three types of Tps5 element (Tps5a, Tps5b, and Tps5c) and a noncoding nonautonomous large retrotransposon derivative.     

Analysis of ventilation of working areas in thick gently dipping coalbeds

Advanced technologies and modern high-production machines for underground mining of thick gently dipping coal demand strict adherence to technological discipline, reduction in operational loss and selection of optimized ventilation modes. The authors analyze ventilation schemes used in working areas in thick gently dipping seams in order to reveal influence exerted by the schemes, methods and parameters of ventilation on distribution of air loss in mined-out areas.