An intracloud discharge caused by extensive atmospheric shower

The observational evidence of RB-EAS discharge in a thunderstorm atmosphere is presented. After RB-EAS discharge we name a discharge of a special type developing due to the runaway breakdown (RB) mechanism while an extensive atmosphere shower (EAS) passes through a thundercloud electric field. The observations were fulfilled at the Tien-Shan Mountain Cosmic Ray Station. The widely spread system of oscillation detectors, the special EAS trigger array and the HF radio interferometer were used for measurements.     

Measuring and Modeling the U.S. Regulatory Ecosystem

Over the last 23 years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has required over 34,000 companies to file over 165,000 annual reports. These reports, the so-called “Form 10-Ks,” contain a characterization of a company’s financial performance and its risks, including the regulatory environment in which a company operates. In this paper, we analyze over 4.5 million references to U.S. Federal Acts and Agencies contained within these reports to measure the regulatory ecosystem, in which companies are organisms inhabiting a regulatory environment. While individuals across the political, economic, and academic world frequently refer to trends in this regulatory ecosystem, far less attention has been paid to supporting such claims with large-scale, longitudinal data. In this paper, in addition to positing a model of regulatory ecosystems, we document an increase in the regulatory energy per filing, i.e., a warming “temperature.” We also find that the diversity of the regulatory ecosystem has been increasing over the past two decades. These findings support the claim that regulatory activity and complexity are increasing, and this framework contributes an important step towards improving academic and policy discussions around legal complexity and regulation.     

One-dimensional coherent four-wave mixing as a way to image the spatial distribution of atoms in a laser-produced plasma

An experimental technique based on coherent one-dimensional hyper-Raman-resonant four-wave mixing in broad cylindrically focused light beams has been developed for line-by-line imaging of spatial distribution of excited atoms in a low-temperature plasma of optical breakdown. The technique was applied to map excited lead atoms in a low-temperature laser-produced plasma.     

Relativistic particle dynamics in external gravitational fields

Using the Riemann metric for event space, which leads to Newtonian mechanics at nonrelativistic velocities and not necessarily weak gravitational fields, the dynamics of relativistic particles in external gravitational fields are considered. Trajectories, laws of motion, and equations of light rays are found in homogeneous and Newtonian fields.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 10, pp. 56–61, October, 1977.In conclusion the authors thank Yu. G. Pavlenko for his evaluation of the results and valuable advice.     

Phase separation and anisotropy in the electrical properties of weakly doped lanthanum manganites

Variations in the thermopower, electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance, thermal expansion coefficients, and their anisotropy with temperature were detected near room temperature in single crystals of weakly doped lanthanum manganites La_1?xA_xMnO₃ (A = Ca, Sr; x = 0.07–0.125) with orthorhombic structure. The results obtained are discussed in terms of a model of phase separation related to polaron anisotropy. Due to a gain in exchange and elastic energies in the lattice, small-radius magnetic polarons can merge to form polarons of a larger size, which would contain now not one but rather a few electrons (equal in number to the polarons in the cluster). As a result, short-range order in a cluster and phase separation set in at a temperature T_ps ≈ 250–300 K, which is approximately equal to the Curie temperature T_C of conducting manganites with x ≈ 0.2–0.3.     

Luminescence and Electrical Properties of CdS Films Doped with Potassium and Sodium

CdS films, both pure and doped with the alkali metals Na and K, with Cl and without it, obtained by the aerosol pyrolysis method from thiourea coordination compounds at a temperature of 250 to 500°C are investigated. The photoluminescence spectra and the dependence of the luminescence intensity on the duration of exposure of samples to a high-power UV radiation have been obtained. The doping of samples results in a tenfold increase in the intensity of the luminescence band in the visible spectrum range (650–850 nm) as compared to pure samples of CdS. Upon irradiation of samples by high-power UV radiation for 1 h, no noticeable change in the intensity of luminescence of CdS films was observed. This is indicative of the stability of the films under study against the action of UV radiation. The luminescent properties of the films, obtained pyrolytically using thiourea coordination complexes, are determined by the synthesis conditions as well as by the chemical nature of the original substances. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 72, No. 4, pp. 509–513, July–August, 2005.     

Spontaneous polarization in one-dimensional Pb(ZrTi)O3 nanowires

Formation of spontaneous polarization in one-dimensional (1D) structures is a key phenomenon that reveals collective behaviors in systems of reduced dimensions, but has remained unsolved for decades. Here we report ab initio studies on finite-temperature structural properties of infinite-length nanowires of Pb(Zr0.5Ti0.5)O3 solid solution. Whereas existing studies have ruled out the possibility of phase transition in 1D chains, our atomistic simulations demonstrate a different conclusion, characterized by the occurrence of a ferroelectric polarization and critical behaviors of dielectric and piezoelectric responses. The difference is accounted for by the use of depolarizing effects associated with finite thickness of wires. Our results suggest no fundamental constraint that limits the use of ferroelectric nanowires and nanotubes arising from the absence of spontaneous ordering.