On pairwise comparison matrices that can be made consistent by the modification of a few elements

Pairwise comparison matrices are often used in Multi-attribute Decision Making forweighting the attributes or for the evaluation of the alternatives with respect to a criteria. Matrices provided by the decision makers are rarely consistent and it is important to index the degree of inconsistency. In the paper, the minimal number of matrix elements by the modification of which the pairwise comparison matrix can be made consistent is examined. From practical point of view, the modification of 1, 2, or, for larger matrices, 3 elements seems to be relevant. These cases are characterized by using the graph representation of the matrices. Empirical examples illustrate that pairwise comparison matrices that can be made consistent by the modification of a few elements are present in the applications

Increasing stripe-type fluctuations in AAFe2_{2}As2_{2} (AA = K, Rb, Cs) superconductors probed by 75^{75}As NMR spectroscopy

We report $^{75}$As nuclear magnetic resonance measurements on single crystals of RbFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ and CsFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$. Taking previously reported results for KFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ into account, we find that the anisotropic electronic correlations evolve towards a magnetic instability in the $A$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ series (with $A$ = K, Rb, Cs). Upon isovalent substitution with larger alkali ions, a drastic enhancement of the anisotropic nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate and decreasing Knight shift reveal the formation of pronounced spin fluctuations with stripe-type modulation. Furthermore, a decreasing power-law exponent of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $(1/T_{1})_{H\parallel{ab}}$, probing the in-plane spin fluctuations, evidences an emergent deviation from Fermi-liquid behavior. All these findings clearly indicate that the expansion of the lattice in the $A$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ series tunes the electronic correlations towards a quantum critical point at the transition to a yet unobserved, ordered phase.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Tunable dipolar magnetism in high-spin molecular clusters

We report on the Fe17 high-spin molecular cluster and show that this system is an exemplification of nanostructured dipolar magnetism. Each Fe17 molecule, with spin S=35/2 and axial anisotropy as small as D=-0.02K, is the magnetic unit that can be chemically arranged in different packing crystals whilst preserving both spin ground-state and anisotropy. For every configuration, molecular spins are correlated only by dipolar interactions. The ensuing interplay between dipolar energy and anisotropy gives rise to macroscopic behaviors ranging from superparamagnetism to long-range magnetic order at temperatures below 1K.Comment: Replaced with version accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Compositional analysis of InAs-GaAs-GaSb heterostructures by low-loss electron energy loss spectroscopy

As an alternative to Core-Loss Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy, Low-Loss EELS is suitable for compositional analysis of complex heterostructures, such as the InAs-GaAs-GaSb system, since in this energy range the edges corresponding to these elements are better defined than in Core-Loss. Furthermore, the analysis of the bulk plasmon peak, which is present in this energy range, also provides information about the composition. In this work, compositional information in an InAs-GaAs-GaSb heterostructure has been obtained from Low-Loss EEL spectra

Ba2YIrO6: A cubic double perovskite material with Ir5+ ions

Materials with a 5d4 electronic configuration are generally considered to have a nonmagnetic ground state (J=0). Interestingly, Sr2YIrO6 (Ir5+ having 5d4 electronic configuration) was recently reported to exhibit long-range magnetic order at low temperature and the distorted IrO6 octahedra were discussed to cause the magnetism in this material. Hence, a comparison of structurally distorted Sr2YIrO6 with cubic Ba2YIrO6 may shed light on the source of magnetism in such Ir5+ materials with 5d4 configuration. Besides, Ir5+ materials having 5d4 are also interesting in the context of recently predicted excitonic types of magnetism. Here we report a single-crystal-based analysis of the structural, magnetic, and thermodynamic properties of Ba2YIrO6. We observe that in Ba2YIrO6 for temperatures down to 0.4 K, long-range magnetic order is absent but at the same time correlated magnetic moments are present. We show that these moments are absent in fully relativistic ab initio band-structure calculations; hence, their origin is presently unclear.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Massive Schwinger model and its confining aspects on curved space-time

Using a covariant method to regularize the composite operators, we obtain the bosonized action of the massive Schwinger model on a classical curved background. Using the solution of the bosonic effective action, the energy of two static external charges with finite and large distance separation on a static curved space-time is obtained. The confining behavior of this model is also explicitly discussed.Comment: A disscussion about the infrared regularization and also two references are added. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D (2001

Circle talks as situated experiential learning: Context, identity, and knowledgeability in \u27learning from reflection\u27

This article presents research that used ethnographic and sociolinguistic methods to study ways participants learn through reflection when carried out as a “circle talk.” The data indicate that participants in the event (a) invoked different contextual frames that (b) implicated them in various identity positions, which (c) affected how they could express their knowledge. These features worked together to generate socially shared meanings that enabled participants to jointly achieve conceptualization—the ideational role “reflection” is presumed to play in the experiential learning process. The analysis supports the claim that participants generate new knowledge in reflection, but challenges individualistic and cognitive assumptions regarding how this occurs. The article builds on situated views of experiential learning by showing how knowledge can be understood as socially shared and how learning and identity formation are mutually entailing processes

A system to measure 3-directional relative displacements for a biomedical application

A micro system for measuring the relative displacements between a bone and an implant in a prosthetic hip of a human being has been realized. Novel are the small dimensions of the system combined with the possibility to measure relative displacements in three directions. The system consists of a microsensor body, a mechanical transducer element made by precision mechanics, electronics, and the final package. The realization and test results of a prototype system are presented. Typical ranges for these prototypes are ±500 μm for lateral directions and ±50 μm in axial direction

Polyhedral Analysis using Parametric Objectives

The abstract domain of polyhedra lies at the heart of many program analysis techniques. However, its operations can be expensive, precluding their application to polyhedra that involve many variables. This paper describes a new approach to computing polyhedral domain operations. The core of this approach is an algorithm to calculate variable elimination (projection) based on parametric linear programming. The algorithm enumerates only non-redundant inequalities of the projection space, hence permits anytime approximation of the output