Pair-breaking quantum phase transition in superconducting nanowires

A quantum phase transition (QPT) between distinct ground states of matter is a wide-spread phenomenon in nature, yet there are only a few experimentally accessible systems where the microscopic mechanism of the transition can be tested and understood. These cases are unique and form the experimentally established foundation for our understanding of quantum critical phenomena. Here we report the discovery that a magnetic-field-driven QPT in superconducting nanowires - a prototypical 1d-system - can be fully explained by the critical theory of pair-breaking transitions characterized by a correlation length exponent $\nu \approx 1$ and dynamic critical exponent $z \approx 2$. We find that in the quantum critical regime, the electrical conductivity is in agreement with a theoretically predicted scaling function and, moreover, that the theory quantitatively describes the dependence of conductivity on the critical temperature, field magnitude and orientation, nanowire cross sectional area, and microscopic parameters of the nanowire material. At the critical field, the conductivity follows a $T^{(d-2)/z}$ dependence predicted by phenomenological scaling theories and more recently obtained within a holographic framework. Our work uncovers the microscopic processes governing the transition: The pair-breaking effect of the magnetic field on interacting Cooper pairs overdamped by their coupling to electronic degrees of freedom. It also reveals the universal character of continuous quantum phase transitions.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

The comparison of attitudes of black and white high school students toward physical education

The purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes of Black and White ninth and tenth grade students in four high schools in Rockingham County, North Carolina, toward physical education. In order to measure and then compare these attitudes, the Edgington Attitude Scale was administered. The majority of all the 407 students tested had a favorable attitude toward physical education measured by the Edgington Attitude Scale. As a result of this study it was found: 1. There was a significant difference in the attitude of Black and White students toward physical education. White students' attitudes were significantly more positive than Black students' attitudes. 2. There was a significant difference in the attitudes of Black and White girls toward physical education with White girls scoring more positively. 3. There was a significant difference in the attitudes of Black and White boys, with White boys scoring more positively. 4. There was a significant difference in the attitudes of Black boys and White girls, with the White girls' attitudes more positive. 5. There was a significant difference in the attitudes of Black girls and White boys, with the White boys' attitude more positive

Family functioning and social isolation as moderators between stress and child abuse potential

Previous literature has implicated stress as a significant contributor to child physical maltreatment risk. Studied to a lesser extent, family dysfunction and inadequate social support have also been associated with physical child abuse potential. To date, little empirical support clarifies how such identified risk variables converge to influence physical abuse risk. The current study sought to explore whether the relation between stress and physical abuse risk was moderated by family functioning and social isolation. Questionnaires assessing parental subjective appraisal of stress, family functioning, adequacy of social support, and abuse risk (as measured by the CAPI Abuse Scale and AAPI-2 Total) were administered to 92 mother-child dyads from the community. Stress was hypothesized to strongly predict abuse risk. Further, mothers reporting stress and either family dysfunction or social isolation were expected to evidence greater abuse risk. As expected, stress contributed to the prediction of abuse risk, as measured by both the CAPI and AAPI Total scores. In terms of potential moderators, the current findings indicated that social support moderated the relation between stress and CAPI Abuse Scale scores, but family functioning did not (the interaction term trended toward significance). For AAPI Total scores, neither family functioning nor social isolation was a significant moderator. Overall, these findings validate stress and social isolation as important independent predictors of abuse risk

Personal and couple level risk factors: maternal vs paternal physical child abuse risk

Previous maltreatment literature examining child physical abuse potential relied heavily upon maternal only samples, limiting our understanding of paternal risk factors. Moreover, the extent to which relationship and individual factors interact to impact abuse risk is not well known. The current study examined whether couple level functioning (i.e., relationship quality and coparenting) moderated the relation between stress and measures of physical abuse risk for parents (i.e., spillover) and their partners (i.e., crossover). Questionnaires assessing parental subjective appraisal of stress, relationship quality, perceptions of a parenting team, and abuse risk were administered to 81 parents from the community. As expected, for both parents, higher stress strongly predicted elevated abuse potential (BCAPI) and more reactive parenting discipline styles (PS) and, for fathers only, negative parenting beliefs (AAPI), and more physically aggressive discipline strategies (CTSPC). More functional couple relationships (e.g., more satisfying and supportive coparenting) directly predicted elevated parental abuse potential. Maternal AAPI and CTSPC scores were predicted by demographic factors, while a novel analog measure of parental response to noncompliance (ReACCT) was not predicted by any factors considered in the present study. Overall, the findings partially supported the hypotheses and indicated that the extent to which strong and supportive relationships buffer stress in the prediction of abuse risk is inconsistent, if not limited. Future work discussed the need for disentangling distress from abuse risk measures and to identify the potential contribution of couple functioning, apart from reduced distress

Charley's aunt in summer repertory

This thesis is a record of a Summer Repertory production of Charley's Aunt, by Brandon Thomas. It is divided into a pre-production analysis of the play and the production conditions, a prompt book, and a critical evaluation. Part I pays special attention to the particular challenges of Repertory theatre, and establishes the production style. Part II records the details of the production performed in the Theatre of the W. Raymond Taylor Drama and Speech Building on June 27 and 29, and July 1, 7, 12, 15 and 19, 1973. It consists of a prompt book with the usual notations, supplemented by ground plans and production photographs. Part III analyzes strengths and weaknesses; it concludes that a novel approach can be remarkably successful

"Directing threds-- through the labyrinth" : the moral use of Platonic conventions and patterns of imagery in Sidney's Astrophil and Stella

Upon examination, the widely recognized stylistic discontinuity of Sidney's Astrophil and Stella resolves itself into a pattern. What some critics have seen as immaturity in many of the early sonnets proves to be conventionality, and many of the final sonnets exhibit the same trait. But while the conventionality of the early group (1-51) is enlivened by Sidney's wit and originality, that of the final group (87- 108) is often sterile and lifeless. Furthermore, the vigor of the middle sonnets (52-86) springs less from a break with convention than it does from a positive attack upon it; convention is constantly the measure. Actually there are two conventions—of literature and of love—and both are essentially Platonic. Although neither Platonism nor Neo-Platonism rejects the role of sexual love for purposes of procreation within the bounds of law or custom, Astrophil's love for a married woman can be morally and ethically justified only if it remains Platonic. As a Platonic lover, he must sublimate his passion and direct his own thoughts and those of his lady to the higher beauty. As a poet, his duty, as prescribed by Sidney in The Defence of Poesie, is similar. He must transform the "brasen world" of nature into the "golden world" of the Ideal

Connotations of color names among Negroes and Causasians : a replication and an extension

The primary purpose of this study was to replicate the work of Williams (1964) to determine if the connotation of color names, particularly Black and White, had changed since 1964 among Negro and Caucasian college students. The predicted changes in White-Black color connotation for the Negro subjects were hypothesized as being related to the black separatist movement and its reinforcement of subcultural conditioning toward racial awareness. Semantic differential rating scales on three factors (Evaluation, Activity, and Potency) for five "race-related" and five control colors were administered in a non-racial context to 208 Negro college students and compared with new data already collected on a population of 99 Caucasian college students. Data related to Ideological Commitment to Black Separatism also were collected from the Negro Ss and were compared with the color meaning scale values

A survey of weekday programs for preschool children in Southern Baptist Churches in North Carolina

The study was requested by the administrator of the Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina, Incorporated. There were three main objectives: (l) To locate services offered for preschool children in Southern Baptist Churches in North Carolina; (2) To obtain reasonably accurate knowledge of programs in the planning stages in the area of preschool services; (3) To gain insight into the need and demand for consulting services which might be offered to the churches by the Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina, Incorporated. Subjects were the pastors of all Southern Baptist churches in die State of North Carolina whose resident memberships numbered 500 or more. Of the 289 churches in this category, information was received from 234. This afforded an 81% return

The formative period of religion in Guilford County

The first settlers in Guilford County were the German, Scotch-Irish, and English Immigrants who came to the Piedmont of North Carolina in search of economic and religious freedom. These people represented the Lutheran, German Reformed, Quaker, Presbyterian, Baptist, and, at a later date, the Methodist denominations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the actions of the people in relation to their religious beliefs during the early period of settlement. The period of time in study ranges from the arrival of the first German settlers in the early 1700's to the climax of the Great Revival in North Carolina in 1805. During the intervening years, there were many problems which these people had to solve. Shortly after their arrival they were faced with economic and religious problems which culminated in the Regulator War. Soon after that conflict, there followed the American Revolutionary War, with its local and national problems. How the people and their religious denominations were affected by this struggle is examined in this thesis. It is also the intent of this paper to answer some similar questions: How did the people, in accordance with their religious beliefs, choose which side to support during the struggle? Why did some remain loyal while others supported the Whigs