text:
Be Like Mike
6 minute read · Issue Number 16 · May 15th, 2020
Welcome to another weekly edition of the Sports-Tech Biz Mag, where every week, we learn about intriguing topics related to sports, business, and technology. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, click on the following button to sign up to the newsletter:
Hi everyone, happy Friday!
In the previous edition, I wrote about the history and architecture of sports facilities, and I explained why society needs them. I was happy to see that it intrigued lots of readers, and I will most certainly create a continuation of the topic in the future!
For the last month, ESPN has been releasing a 10-piece documentary series called "The Last Dance". The well-rated documentary relates the story of Michael Jordan and the 1990's Chicago Bulls.
Jordan is considered one, if not the greatest athlete of all time, and the 90's Bulls are considered as one of the most notable dynasties in sports history.
In a world with no live sports, the documentary has been on top of my social feed for a month and has created tons of buzz in sports media around the world.
Whether you're a basketball fan or not, I strongly recommend you to watch it, as it offers different perspectives to learn from, from sports culture in society to team leadership and winning mentality.
The series finale will be streamed this Sunday, so I decided to ride the hot-trend by writing this edition of the magazine about MJ!
Michael Jordan is easily described as a legendary player on the basketball court. However, today we'll study Michael as a brand and as a businessman, to complement his story from a different –and maybe more intriguing– perspective.
The Jordan brand, also known as "Air Jordan" was created back in 1984 when Nike signed MJ during his rookie season in the NBA.
The brand began selling shoes and later added sports apparel and fashion.
Today it is known for being the elite brand of Nike and it brings 10% of Nike's annual revenues, selling over 3 billion USD annually.
Such a powerful brand is a product of MJ's image, excellent marketing, and positive brand effects.
Athletes carry brands embedded in their names. In branding, Michael Jordan equals Air Jordan.
Certain elements help us study the source of the brand effects, which then shaped Air Jordan's brand equity value:
Identity: a collection of associations surrounding the athlete's personality
Awareness: the level of attention such athlete attracts
Perceived quality: judgment of the ability of the athlete as a competitive player
Loyalty: the emotional connection derived from the first 3 factors.
Firstly noticed by his coaches and teammates, then by the entire world, Jordan was known for having a winners mentality. Everyone knew he wanted to be the best, and he had to work harder than everyone else to achieve it.
His work ethic, passion for the game, and devotion to compete were immediately associated with the brand.
Every person that identifies her/himself with those associations would be attracted to the brand.
As an example, the positive effects of these personality associations resulted in overwhelming unexpected Air Jordan shoe sales in his first year for winning rookie of the year.
By continuously being a champion, an all-star, an MVP, a winner… he attracted tons of attention from the media and the fans.
Everyone wanted to "Be Like Mike".
Michael retired from the NBA almost 20 years ago, and the snowball of awareness he founded continues rolling today. I don't think there's someone in the western world that has never heard about Michael Jordan.
The Last Dance documentary is all about awareness. Creating buzz and making the media talk about MJ just complements his brand further, and now suddenly everyone wants to buy his jersey or shoes.
Perceived Quality
Jordan's explosive athleticism and technical abilities have been studied by the best players and coaches around the league for decades.
Many argue that MJ changed the basketball game as a whole, from a physical to a more technical game. The level to which Jordan's game raised the bar demanded from teams around the league to change and reshape their strategies.
Changing the way a game is played, demands an extreme level of quality, and Jordan is one of few athletes in history that have achieved that.
The Air Jordan Brand was built upon the greatness of the athlete, and such greatness was successfully transmitted into the merchandise.
The Air Jordan apparel is considered quite pricy, with shoes now regularly selling for $200 or more per pair while certain models are sold for thousands of dollars when they're released in low supplies.
Also, the brand only endorses and sponsors very few specific elite athletes across multiple sports that match the personality of MJ and the brand. They aim for "winning mentality", "technical superiority", "legendary potential". Can you see the pattern? Good.
These factors generate massive brand effects such as signaling and status, which in turn generate consumer loyalty, making it then a very "sexy" product to buy.
More than a player…
During MJ's full career as a basketball player, he made a total of 86 million USD from his contracts. However, thanks to the success behind the Air Jordan brand, he's made over 1.3 billion USD from Nike.
He also has longtime endorsements with Gatorade, Hanes, and Upper Deck. Furthermore, Jordan bought a majority stake of the Charlotte Hornets and owns multiple restaurants and a car dealership.
MJ will always be recognized for his success inside the basketball court, but his success outside the court complements perfectly to the person he truly is.
The way he transitioned his character into the Air Jordan brand and his career as a businessman, is a lesson for life.
I want to be like mike!
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text:
\section{Introduction and Motivation}
\indent Non-linear excitations play important role for
understanding several properties of physical systems. For
instance, a number of phase transitions observed in Cosmology,
High Energy, and Condensed Matter Physics are accompanied by such
kind of excitations. Particularly, in low dimensional magnetic
materials, such excitations develop important roles. This is the
case for two-dimensional spin models with planar symmetry, where a
topological phase transition takes place due to vortex-antivortex
dissociation \cite{B,KT}. Actually, such a transition
(Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition) is expected to occur
in a variety of systems  such as films of superfluid helium,
superconducting materials, Josephson-junctions as well as certain
magnetic, gaseous and liquid-crystal systems. Whether a similar
scenario would take place in other surface backgrounds (say,
curved support) remains still an open question. Of course, a first
step in this direction is to know how vortices behave in
non-Euclidian spaces. Concerning this, we should emphasize that magnetic materials structured in
curved
geometry have attracted a great deal of efforts in the last years.
Such an interest partially lies on the fact that magnetic samples
can be currently manipulated at very small scales (around some
dozens of nanometers or even smaller) and/or several
shapes\cite{spin-shapes}. The knowledge of their magnetic
properties is important for many potential applications, like
devices for data recording and logic gates\cite{spin-mag-aplic}.
Therefore, a number of works has been devoted to study curved
magnetic surfaces like cylinders, spheres, cones, and so forth.
Several results that emerge from the interplay between magnetic
and geometric effects have been obtained. For example, on the
surface of a magnetic cylinder, solitons appear to be
sine-Gordon-like excitations\cite{spin-cylinder}, which tend to
deform the cylindrical surface in order to relieve the geometrical
frustration brought about by nonconstant curvature, anisotropies,
Zeeman effect, etc\cite{spin-cylinder2}. Now, on a conical support
their energy gets lower as long as cone is narrowed, indicating
that such surfaces could be thought as pinning defects for
solitons\cite{spin-cone} (see, however\cite{SD-cone}). In addition,
transition from {\em flower} to {\em vortex-like} magnetization
has been experimentally observed in ferromagnetic nanosized cones
\cite{Ross-nanocone,Rossetal}. Therefore, investigation of the basic properties of such excitations in conical support is important not only from a fundamental point of view, it is also appealing from applied physical grounds. Moreover, it should be emphasized
that even `more exotic' manifolds, like those with negative
curvature (hyperbolic spaces) have been quite recently studied in
connection
with Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics \cite{shima}.\\

Here, our attention is focused on vortex-like excitations lying on
a circular conical surface covered by an anisotropic classical
Heisenberg magnet. Our initial motivation for considering such a
problem was to analyze how lattice defects (here a deficit angle)
affect excitations whose solution is angle-like dependent. Such
spatial defect is particularly interesting because it makes the
space locally Euclidian while it presents nontrivial global
curvature effects (due to the boundary conditions which identify
opposite points of the wedge cut out of space, as shown in Figure
\ref{cone}). Indeed, conic space can be described by a spatial
metric with a Riemann-Christoffel curvature tensor which vanishes
everywhere, except in one point, where there is a conical
singularity characterized by a deficit angle\cite{lowerdgravity}.
In a planar magnetic material, such a (area) deficit could be artificially
built without cutting out any part of the space, rather it could be obtained substituting the magnetic atoms by nonmagnetic sites in the large
region covered by the deficit angle. In addition, the spins placed at
opposite sites of the wedge should be identified. While this complex
construction should be a very difficult task nowadays (mainly
because of the nontrivial boundary conditions), this physical
system could be exactly reproduced in a simpler manner: a conical
support with appropriate magnetic coating. We shall see in what
follows that, by virtue of the deficit angle, vortex excitations
present lower energy than their counterpart
on a standard flat plane. Actually, energy diverges
logarithmically as sample conic area blows up, but decreases
linearly as cone aperture angle, $2\alpha$, is lowered. Here, we distinguish between two types of
vortices: {\em in-cone} and {\em out-of-cone}. The main difference between them lies in
the fact that the latter has a core where spins present components out of the surface. We also
relate the appearance of each type with conical aperture and location on the cone. Such issues will
be the subject of Section 2. Results from this section open the possibility of
a geometrical controlling of the vortex-like excitations energy on
actual finite-size samples and of pinning them around conically
shaped structures. Indeed, we shall realize that the magnetic
vortex tends to nucleate around the conical apex [Section 3].\\

We also address the problem of two vortices on the conical magnet.
This shall be done in Section 4. Similarly to the usual flat plane
case, a vortex pair on the conical surface presents finite energy,
whose value appears to increase logarithmically with the
separation of the vortices while decreasing linearly as the cone
is narrowed. An interesting result emerging from this section is the possibility of vortices with
the same charge, then mutually repealing, of nucleating around the apex. This is carried out for
two distinct arrangements of the excitations and for both cases we determine the suitable conical
apertures supporting the nucleation.
Following, we analyze possible consequences of the curvature on
the problem of depairing of vortices, namely, how critical temperature is
sensitive to geometrical parameters. The conical surface is,
perhaps, the first step in this direction since it is locally
Euclidian and, therefore, its geometry keeps some similarities
with the standard and well studied flat plane. Finally, we close
this work by pointing out our conclusions and prospects for
future investigation.

\section{The model and vortex-like solutions}
Let us consider an anisotropic Heisenberg-like model for
nearest-neighbors interacting spins on a two-dimensional lattice,
like below: \begin{eqnarray} H_{1}=-\frac{J}{2}\,\sum_{<i,j>} {\cal
H}_{i\,,j}=-\frac{J}{2}\,\sum_{<i,j>}
(S^x_iS^x_j+S^y_iS^y_j+\lambda \, S^z_iS^z_j)\,, \label{Hlattice}
\end{eqnarray} where $J>0$ is the ferromagnetic exchange coupling between
neighbor spins and ${\vec{S}}_i=(S^x_i,S^y_i,S^z_i)$ is the spin
operator at site $i$. Parameter $\lambda$ answers for the
anisotropy between spin couplings: for $\lambda>1$ spins tend to
align along the $z$-axis (easy-axis regime); for $\lambda=1$ we
have the isotropic case; while for $0<\lambda<1$ one gets the
easy-plane regime. Finally, $\lambda=0$ leads to the so-called
$XY$ model.

Whenever dealing with a general surface, we could also take into
account another model which incorporates possible anisotropy due
to the alignment of spins along the normal of this surface, like
follows:
\begin{equation}
H_{2}=-\frac{J}{2}\,\sum_{<i,j>}
{\cal{H}}_{i\,,j}+\frac{J\delta}{2}\,\sum_i \,
(\vec{S}_i\cdot\hat{n}_i)^2, \label{Hlattice2}
\end{equation}
where $\hat{n}_i$ is a unity vector normal to the surface at each
site, $i$. Thus, for $\delta >0$ the spins tend to be locally
parallel to the surface (we shall take $\delta\ge0$, hereafter). This may be particularly
important for
taking into account, for instance, magnetostatic energy associated
with topological excitations lying on a finite and non-planar
background. In fact, $\delta$-term works like a single-ion
anisotropy parameter in a general surface, so that as long as we
are dealing with a flat one, say, $xy$-plane, then such a term
recover the usual single-ion anisotropy, $\delta \,(S^z_i)^2$.
Results concerning such an issue and vortex stability in (flat)
square, hexagonal and triangular lattices are available in the
works of Refs. \cite{Wysinprb54,Wysinpla1998}.\\

In the continuum approach of spatial and spin variables,
which is valid at sufficiently low temperature and long-wavelength limit,
Hamiltonian above may be expanded to yields:
\begin{equation}
 H=E_0-\frac{J}{2}\int\int_\Omega {\cal H}_{\rm
cont}d\Omega=E_0+\frac{J}{2}\int\int_\Omega \left[ ({\bf
D}\,\vec{S})^2 + \frac{\delta}{a^2} (\vec{S}\cdot\hat{n})^2\right]
\,d\Omega\,, \label{Hcont}
\end{equation}
where $E_0$ is the ground state energy, $a$ is the lattice spacing parameter, and we have used, for
simplicity $\lambda=1$. In turn, the classical spin state is taken
to be $\vec{S}=(\sin\theta\cos\Phi, \,\sin\theta\sin\Phi,\,\cos
\theta)$, with $\theta=\theta(\vec{x},t)$ and
$\Phi=\Phi(\vec{x},t)$. Here, $\hat{n}$ is an unity vector field
normal to the surface at each point. Therefore, the
$S^2$-parametrization of $\vec{S}$ is such that, at each point of
the physical surface, $\theta$ is the angle between $\vec{S}$ and
$\hat{n}$, $\vec{S}\cdot\hat{n}=\cos(\theta)\equiv\,m$, while
$\Phi$  is the local polar angle. In turn, the integral is taken
over an arbitrary surface, $\Omega$, while ${\bf D}=\sum_i
\hat{e}^i D_i$ represents the covariant derivative on such a
space. Recalling that $\vec{S}^2=1$, the term $\int\int_\Omega
({\bf D}\,\vec{S})^2 d \Omega$ in Hamiltonian above is the
nonlinear $\sigma$ model in a curved space background. Therefore,
Hamiltonian (\ref{Hcont}) describes a kind of anisotropic
nonlinear $\sigma$ model on a curved surface.

As it is well-known, the main ingredient to obtain a vortex solution is a field
equation that reduces in some limit to a Laplacian yielding the
energy density $(\vec{\nabla}\Phi)^{2}$, where $\Phi$ is the
phase. Such a limit is implicit in our system as one can easily
see below. First, due to the local Euclidian nature of the conical
surface, it is convenient to use local flat coordinates
\cite{spin-cone,lowerdgravity} defined as
$\vec{\rho}=(\rho,\tau)=(r^{\beta}/\beta,\,\beta \phi)$, where
$\vec{r}=(r,\phi)$ are assumed to be the usual polar coordinates. Thus we
can rewrite Hamiltonian (\ref{Hcont}) as follows:
\begin{equation}
H=\frac{J}{2}\int_{0}^{\infty}\int_{0}^{2\pi
\beta}\left[\frac{(\vec{\nabla}_{\vec{\rho}}\,
m)^{2}}{1-m^{2}}+(1-m^{2})(\vec{\nabla}_{\vec{\rho}}\, \Phi)^{2}+
\frac{\delta}{a^{2/\beta}_\rho} \beta^{-2}\, \rho^{\frac{2-2\beta}{\beta}} \, m^{2}
\right] \rho d\rho d\tau ,\label{HCont2}
\end{equation}
where $\vec{\nabla}_{\vec{\rho}}$ is the gradient written in terms
of coordinates $(\rho,\tau)$ and $a_\rho=a^\beta /\beta$ is
the analog of the actual lattice spacing parameter $a$, written in $(\rho,\tau)$ coordinates. Note
that a spin
lying on this geometry experiences an effective anisotropy
$\Delta=\delta \,\beta^{-2} \,\rho^{\frac{2-2\beta}{\beta}}$ that depends
on its position (site) $\rho$ on the surface as well as the cone
aperture, measured by the parameter $\beta=\sin(\alpha)$, $\alpha$ being the cone half-angle (see Figure \ref{cone}).\\
\begin{figure}[!h]
\centering \hskip 1cm
\fbox{\includegraphics[width=15cm,height=7cm]{Figure1.eps}} \vskip
-0.0cm \caption{{\protect\small Here, it is shown cut and removal of a
wedge-type area equal to $2\pi\gamma\,r^2$ from the original disc
area, $2\pi\,r^2$. Removing magnetic sites, now as $\phi$ goes
from $0$ to $\pm 2\pi(1-\gamma)=\pm2\pi\beta$ the identification of lines {\bf u} and {\bf v}
geometrically forces the spins to take a complete round. Note that $\beta=\sin(\alpha)\,\in (0,1)$, for usual cones. [For improving visualization, arrows
representing spins are not depicted on the cone].}} \label{cone}
\end{figure}
The second step for getting the vortex solutions
is to obtain the equations of motion on this support. Their static counterparts can be found from eq. (\ref{HCont2}), and read like follows:
\begin{eqnarray}
& & \nabla_{\vec{\rho}}^{2}\, m+
\frac{m(\vec{\nabla}_{\vec{\rho}}\, m)^{2}}{1-m^{2}}+m(1-m^{2})\left[(\vec{
\nabla}_{\vec{\rho}}\, \Phi)^{2}-\frac{\Delta}{a_\rho^{2/\beta}}\right]=0
,\label{EMotion1}\\
& & \nabla_{\vec{\rho}}^{2}\Phi -\frac{2m(\vec{\nabla}_{\vec{\rho}}
m)\cdot (\vec{\nabla}_{\vec{\rho}} \Phi)}{1-m^{2}}=0
,\label{EMotion2}
\end{eqnarray}
whose solutions must obey the auxiliary conditions $m(0)=m(2 \pi
\beta)$ and $\Phi(0)=\Phi(2\pi \beta)$ due to the global curvature
effects. This global effect, i.e., the identification of
opposite points of the wedge is fundamental for the existence of
vortices in this geometry. With these conditions, one can see that Hamiltonian (\ref{Hcont}) and
the equations of motion (\ref{EMotion1}) and (\ref{EMotion2}) now have all necessary
ingredients to produce a vortex solution. A static vortex (for a
while assumed to be centralized at the conical apex) is the pair
of functions
$(m,\Phi)=(\,f(\rho\,\sqrt{\Delta}),\,
Q g(\vec{\rho}))$ that satisfy Eqs. (\ref{EMotion1}) and
(\ref{EMotion2}). Here $Q=\pm1,\pm2,\ldots$ is the topological charge, positive for
vortices and negative for antivortices. Away from the vortex
center the field $g(\vec{\rho})$ is proportional to the angle
$\tau$ and has the form $g=\tau$ (or $\Phi=Q\tau$). The field $m(\rho)$ must regularize the vortex
at the core, but it has a strong dependence on the anisotropy, $\delta$, and on the cone aperture,
$\beta$, as well. In the usual flat
space, this field can be obtained only numerically and the
analysis leads to two different types of vortices known as
in-plane and out-of-plane vortices, depending on whether the static
vortex has zero or nonzero out-of-plane spin components \cite{Wysinpla1998},
respectively. In this case, the out-of-plane
region is restricted to a small core region (of size
$l_{0}=a/\sqrt{\delta}$) at the vortex center. Here, in contrast
to the standard flat space case, spins placed at sites with
different values of $\rho$ experience different anisotropies. We should stress that such a feature
is not characteristic of the material itself, once $\delta$ was assumed to be the same at all
sites, rather it is related to the underlying geometry of the magnet.
Indeed, for any $\delta$ and $\beta\neq 1$, the effective
anisotropy vanishes in the limit $\rho\rightarrow 0$, and
therefore, the spin system behaves like an (almost) isotropic
magnetic material around the conical apex. Hence, independently of
the values of $\delta$, ``out-of-cone" spin components could also
develop around the tip of the cone. On the other hand, as $\rho$
increases, the effective anisotropy grows considerably so that
the spins are expected to be confined at the conic surface. Thus, out-of-cone fluctuations are
not expected to be observed far away from the tip.\\

Nevertheless, based on the above discussion and
on the results for soliton configurations on the conical surface
(see Ref.\cite{spin-cone}), we also expect two types of vortex
solutions, which will be referred to as `in-cone` and `out-of-cone`
vortices. Of course, it would be energetically favorable for
out-of-cone vortices to nucleate preferentially around the cone
apex, while, in contrast, in-cone vortices would prefer to
nucleate away from this region. For the
particular case of a vortex centered at the cone apex, results of
Ref.\cite{spin-cone}, concerning the problem of an isotropic
magnetic system on a cone, suggest that $m(0)=\pm 1$, while the
term $\Delta=\delta \,\beta^{-2}\, \rho^{\frac{2-2\beta}{\beta}}$ should
imply $m(\rho)\rightarrow 0$ for $\rho \rightarrow \infty $.
Really, the term $\int (\Delta m^{2})\rho d\rho$ in Hamiltonian
(\ref{Hcont}) diverges if $ m\neq 0$ at $\rho \rightarrow
\infty$. Consequently, the configuration of an out-of-cone vortex,
which may nucleate only around the cone tip, can be summarized as follows: $\Phi=Q\tau$, $m(0)=p$,
$m(\rho)\rightarrow
0$ for $\rho\rightarrow \infty$, where $p=\pm 1$ is the so-called
polarity of the vortex. The size of the out-of-cone region can be
estimated, in analogy to $l_0=a/\sqrt{\delta}$, if we take $l_{\rho}(\beta,\delta)=e^\beta\,a_\rho \,\beta^{\beta/(1-\beta)}/\sqrt{\delta}$. For
a fixed $\delta$, $l_\rho$ grows
considerably whenever $\beta$ is decreased. Then, out-of-cone magnetic interactions play
important roles as the conical apex becomes sharper. However, it is reasonable to assume that such interactions can be
neglected when the surface is nearly planar and/or
the values of $\delta$ are sufficiently large. In contrast to
``out-of-cone" vortices, the ``in-cone" vortices, characterized by
a core with spins confined at the conical surface, have more
chance of nucleating away from the cone tip, i.e., their centers
may not be found at $\rho =0$ (unless, of course, $\delta >>0$
and/or $\beta \approx 1$). Besides, it is also interesting to note
that such excitations can have relatively strong out-of-cone spin
fluctuations around the conical apex.\\

\indent Here, we shall firstly specialize to cylindrically
symmetric solutions on the surface of a circular cone, say,  $m=m(\rho)$ and $\Phi=\Phi(\tau)$ with
 unity topological charge, $Q=\pm1$. In this case, asymptotic
solutions for out-of-cone vortices can be obtained. The region
defined by $\rho<l_{\rho}(\beta,\delta)$ is nearly
isotropic and the $\Delta$-term can be neglected. Hence,
based on results of Ref.\cite{spin-cone} one can easily find the
out-of-cone vortex configuration for $\rho << l_{\rho}(\beta,\delta)$
\begin{equation}
m_{oc}\cong -p
\left(1-\frac{\rho^{2}}{l_{\rho}^{2}}\right),  \qquad
\Phi_{oc}=\tau. \label{outcone1}
\end{equation}
For the outer region $\rho >> l_{\rho}(\beta,\delta)$, one has
$m_{oc}=0$ and $\Phi_{oc}=\tau$. The exchange energy of such a solution may be estimated, using eq. (\ref{HCont2}), to be:
\begin{eqnarray}
E_{\rm oc}\approxeq
\pi\,J\,\beta\,\ln\left(\frac{L}{l_c}\right)+2\pi\beta{J}\left[\frac34
+2\ln(2) +\frac{\beta\delta}{(\beta+1)(2\beta+1)}\frac{l^2_c}{a^2}\right]\,,\label{Eoc}
\end{eqnarray}
where $L$ and $l_c$ ($l_c=(\beta\,l_\rho)^{1/\beta}=(e\,a\,\beta^{1/(1-\beta)}/\delta^{1/2\beta}$)
represent the cone size and the out-of-cone core region size, respectively (in units of the actual
lattice
spacing,$a$).  Clearly, in the limit of an infinite cone, the first term blows up; the second one,
taking into account the contribution from the core, is finite. Notice also that, the cone geometry
plays an
important role in the energy behavior, so that it linearly decreases with conical aperture,
vanishing in the limit $\beta\to0$, even if $L\to\infty$. For arbitrary $Q$ energy above
is proportional to $Q^2$.\\

On the other hand, whenever $l_{c}(\beta,\delta)\rightarrow 0$ (strong anisotropy
and $\beta$ large enough), in-cone vortex solutions given by
($m_{ic}=0, \Phi_{ic}=\tau$) must become stable, even at the tip. In this case, the in-cone vortex
energy reads:
\begin{eqnarray}
E_{\rm ic}=\pi\,JQ^2\beta\ln(L/a_0)\,,\label{Eic}
\end{eqnarray}
where $a_0$ is a cutoff introduced to prevent spurious divergences associated to the continuum
approach and also to provide a
correct value for the exchange energy. For example, for an in-plane vortex on a planar square
lattice we have that $a_0\approx 0.24a$\cite{Wysinprb54}. Similarly to the out-of-cone solution,
also here energy linearly decreases with $\beta$-parameter, while diverging like $\ln(L)$. A
detailed study of how the
field $m$ depends on the vortex position and how vortex stability
depends on the anisotropy and curvature is more involved and we
plan to do this in the near future. In addition, note that since the energies (\ref{Eoc}) and (\ref{Eic}) differ by a finite term, then results obtained for one kind of vortex could be, at some extent, applied to the another.\\

The main conclusion is the following: whenever lying on the
surface of a cone, a vortex-like excitation presents lower
exchange energy than its flat plane counterpart. Moreover, as cone
is narrowed, such an energy linearly decrease. We may
understand this in a simple geometric way, like follows: a cone with a narrower
opening angle corresponds to a smaller magnet, which therefore has
less magnetic energy. \\

It should be noticed that Belavin-Polyakov-like solitons present a
similar characteristic whenever defined on a conical
support\cite{spin-cone}, say, their energy also linearly decreases
with $\beta$ parameter (see, however, Ref.\cite{SD-cone}, where is
considered another solution, on a truncated cone, whose energy does not depend on the
conical aperture angle). Furthermore, we shall see, in the next
section, that vortex energy is lower whenever it nucleate around
conical apex, a fact that could be interpreted as a geometrical
pinning of magnetic vortex.

\section{The geometrical pinning of magnetic vortices on a conical support}

In the preceding section, our analysis was performed for a vortex
centered on the conical apex, where we obtained the energies of the two possible solutions. We may wonder whether these are the
unique possible cases. Actually, as we shall show below
these are the most energetically favorable configurations but not the
unique ones. As we have seen, outside the apex region spins tend to be encountered lying on the
surface. Therefore, we shall explicitly deal hereafter with the in-cone excitations. In order to
see this, let us consider
an in-cone magnetic vortex whose center
is apart $D$ from that point which, after identification of lines,
${\bf u}={\bf v}$, will play the role of the conical apex.
Furthermore, it should be emphasized that the cylindrical symmetry
of the vortex must be verified according to ${\bf n}$-vector. Such
a configuration centralized at the point $(x_{0},y_{0})$ on the
plane with a wedge, reads (up to a constant),
$\Phi_{D}=\arctan[(y-y_0)/(x-x_0)]$, whose energy may be
explicitly calculated to be:
\begin{equation}
E(D,\beta)=Q^2\int^{D+{a}_{0}} _{{a}_{0}}\int^{2\pi}_{0}\,
\frac{dr}{r}\,d\varphi + \int^L_{D+a_0}\int^{2\pi\beta}_{0}\,
\frac{dr}{r}\,d\varphi=\pi Q^2\,J\ln\left[
\frac{L^\beta\,(D+a_0)^{(1-\beta)}}{a_0}\right]\,. \label{EnergyD}
\end{equation}
where $\varphi$ measures the relative angle of the spins relative to an axis joining the
point $\vec{P}$ and the origin. Essentially, as illustrated in Figure \ref{cone2}, all the spins inside a disc of radius $D$, centered at $P$, are kept after identification of lines, so that no angle deficit effect is experienced by this term. However, a number of the outer sites should be removed from energy considerations, what gives rise to the factor $2\pi\beta$ in the angular integration of the second term, above. [The vortex core radius, $a_0$, is introduced to avoid spurious divergence in the calculation].\\
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering \hskip 0cm
\fbox{\includegraphics[width=15cm,height=8cm]{Figure1b.eps}} \vskip
-0.0cm \caption{{\protect\small Similar to the preceding Figure.
Here, however, vortex is centered at a point $P$ which is apart a
distance $D$ from the conical apex. Then, note that the energy may be split in two terms, like eq. (\ref{EnergyD}), so that the term associated to the disc of radius $D$ experiences no angle deficit. [On the cone, arrows
representing spins are not depicted to improve visualization].}} \label{cone2}
\end{figure}
Some limits are in order: first, note that as long as $\beta\to1$
then $E(D,\beta=1)=\pi\,J\ln({L/a_0})$ recovering its flat
counterpart. On the other hand, whenever $\beta\to0$ then $D$ is
meaningless and vanishes, so that $E(\beta=0)=0$. Now, if we set
$D=0$ we recover equation (\ref{Eic}), as expected. However,
as long as $D$ becomes very large, $D\to\,L\to\infty$, vortex
energy is unaffected by conical geometry, say,
$E(D\to\infty,\beta)=\pi\,J\ln({L/a_0})$. The last result may be
easily understood if we remember that the vortex energy density is
proportional to $r^{-2}$, so that, quite apart from the vortex core,
it is very small and so practically not sensitive to area deficit.
This is also the reason why its total energy is increased as long as
its center is moved away from the conical apex (Figure \ref{figure2}).

\begin{figure}[!h]
\centering \hskip 0c
\fbox{\includegraphics[width=14cm,height=7cm]{Figure2.eps}}
\vskip -0.0cm \caption{{\protect\small The energy of a single vortex on a cone as function of its center distance from the tip, $D(a)$. We have taken $J,Q$ and $a_0$ equal to the unity while $L=50a_0$.}}
\label{figure2}
\end{figure}

Thus, we may understand that apex attracts magnetic
in-cone vortex according to
\begin{equation}
V_{\rm apex}(D,\beta)= E(D,\beta)-E_{\rm ic}=\pi
Q^2\,J(1-\beta)\ln\left[1+\frac{D}{a_0}\right]\label{Vapex}\,,
\end{equation}
so that in the limit $D/a_0 <<1$ we get a linearly confining
potential, $\pi\,J (1-\beta) D/a_0$. It should be emphasized that,
although $a_0$ is the smallest cutoff length scale of the model, the
limit $D/a_0 <<1$ simply states that whenever the vortex is pinned
to the apex cone, a strong attractive potential appears against
dislocations of its center from that point (Figure \ref{figure3}). This is to say that, if
the vortex center could develop small oscillations around the apex,
it would experience the linear confining potential
presented above. For the sake of comparison, a similar small
oscillation of a vortex around spin vacancies was predicted for
diluted easy-plane magnets \cite{PereiraJFK05}. Here, such a
scenario resembles quark confinement, where a linear potential
provided by gluons keeps quarks together. In addition, in the limit
$\beta\to0$ such a potential is not continuous since a naive
calculation gives $V_{\rm apex}(D,\beta=0)=\pi\,J\ln(1+D/a_0)\neq0$.
However, as stated above, $D=0$ as long as $\beta=0$, so that this
potential must vanish in this case. Therefore, expression
(\ref{Vapex}) is explicitly valid only for non-degenerate cone, say,
$0<\beta\le1$. Such a defect in the space may also cause important
effects in the spin dynamics and configurations. Really, it is
expected that the spins in the neighborhood of the cone apex, which
is a singularity, must have larger fluctuations than the distant
spins. Then, it is conceivable that an in-cone vortex reaching the tip should change to an
out-of-cone excitation, unless $\delta$ be strong enough to keep them on the cone surface. Furthermore, the translational symmetry is broken on this surface since
there is a preferential position for the nucleation of these excitations.  \\
\begin{figure}[!h]
\centering \hskip 0c
\fbox{\includegraphics[width=14cm,height=7cm]{Figure3.eps}}
\vskip -0.0cm \caption{{\protect\small The effective potential of the apex on a in-cone vortex as function of its center distance from the tip, $D(a)$. We have taken $J,Q$ and $a_0$ equal to the unity while $L=50a_0$.}}
\label{figure3}
\end{figure}

Because apex nucleated magnetic vortices appear to be stable states, we may
wonder whether this could be thought as a mechanism for magnetic
recording and logic gates, for example, in the lines put forward
in Refs. \cite{Ross-nanocone,Rossetal,Rahmetal}. Furthermore,
following ideas of Refs.\cite{Rahmetal}, we may wonder whether
conical shaped defects could not be incorporated into submicron
magnetic particles so that vortices would appear nucleated around
conical apices instead of hole-pinned vortices metastable states.
Besides, there is a similarity between the system studied here and
magnetic force microscope tips, where it is well known that a
highly pointed tip implies in localization of a strong
magnetic field there. Also in this line, we could combine tips and nonmagnetic impurities, which has also been shown to attract topological objects\cite{vacancy-th,Molprb66,AfranioPiresJMMM,AfranioJFprb68,Wysin2005q2,AfranioJMMM279,Wysinetal2005,vacancy-ex,Afranio2005nano}. Then, a scenario with more than one kind of attracting point may give rise to externally controllable multistable states of vortices nucleated around tips or impurities.\\

\section{Two vortices on the cone}
At some extent, a vortex is similar to an elementary charge in
electrostatics, even in a conical surface. Indeed, the self-energy of both objects blows up at
both $\rho\rightarrow 0$ and $\rho \rightarrow
\infty$ limits, like in the usual flat plane system. Actually, the
singularity at $\rho =0$ may be regularized by an additional
short-range field ($m(\rho)$) to form a finite vortex core, but for a
strong enough anisotropy, the spins tend to lie on the surface even
in the region of the vortex core (around a plaquette). However, the
logarithmic divergence for large $\rho$ remains so that a single
vortex energy blows up in an infinite system (here, an infinite
cone). Therefore, other vortices must be present. For instance, if a
vortex appears together with an antivortex (to form the equivalent
of a dipole) then the pair energy is finite. Thus, a natural
question to be answered is how vortices interact on the conical
surface. For that, let us consider the case of two vortices, with
charges $Q_1$ and $Q_2$, on the cone. Here, we shall assume that $\delta>>1$, so that only in-cone vortices are expected to be found (see Section 2). [The scenario with transition to out-of-cone profiles very close to the apex could be considered, at principle, in the same lines]. We use $x-y$
coordinates of a plane with a deficit angle (we take the origin to
be at conical apex). Their profile reads like follows: \begin{eqnarray} \Phi_{\rm
Q_{1}Q_{2}}=Q_1 \arctan\left(\frac{y-y_v}{x-x_v} \right)+Q_2
\arctan\left(\frac{y-y_{\tilde{v}}}{x-x_{\tilde{v}}}
\right)\,,\label{vortex-pair} \end{eqnarray} whose energy may be analytically
carried out and reads:
\begin{eqnarray}
E_{Q_{1}Q_{2}}(D,\beta)=\pi^2\beta\,J(Q^2_1+ Q^2_2)/2+\pi\beta\,
J(Q_1+Q_2)^2\ln(L/a)+V{\rm eff}\,,\label{Epaircone}
\end{eqnarray}
Here, the first term is the energy formation of vortices while the second answers for their
energies according to the sample
size, $L$. In addition, the effective potential,
$V_{\rm eff}$, is given by:
\begin{eqnarray}
V{\rm eff}(Q_i,D,\beta)=-2\pi\beta\,
J\,Q_1Q_2\ln({\cal D}/a)+\sum_i
\pi\,J(1-\beta)Q^2_i\ln\left(1+\frac{|\vec{D}_i|}{a_0}
\right)\label{Veff2qapex}\,,
\end{eqnarray}
where $\vec{D}_i$ ($i=1,2$)
localize the vortices separated by ${\cal D}$ (the less path joining
the two vortices, generally appearing to be an arc segment on the
cone). [Note that, as long as $\beta\to1$ usual plane-like results
are recovered]. Clearly, the first term in eq. (\ref{Veff2qapex}) appears to be repulsive
(attractive) if the vortices present charges of the same (opposite)
signals, like usually (but depending on
$\beta$-parameter). Thus, a vortex and an
antivortex attract each other while two vortices (or antivortices)
mutually repeal. The second term is traced back to the attractive
effect of the conical tip on a vortex (or antivortex). Therefore, we
have two cases depending upon the signals of the topological
charges.\\

First, if vortices have opposite charges, then they are
expected to be attracted to the apex. This fact is illustrated in
Figure \ref{E-pair-conefig} which displays how energy of a
vortex-antivortex pair with unity charges, $Q_1=-Q_2=+1$, behaves
as function of distance vortex-apex, $D(a)$, for some values of $\beta$ parameter (the antivortex
is ${\cal D}=a$ apart from the vortex, $Q_1$). Notice
that as long as cone is narrowed the pair
energy appears to get lower values. In addition, note also that
the potential well provided by the apex gets deeper, say, the stable
states for the pair correspond to one of the vortices pinned
to the tip. Analogously to the single vortex case, a geometrical
pinning of magnetic vortex is also observed
here.\\

\begin{figure}[!h]
\centering \hskip 0c
\fbox{\includegraphics[width=14cm,height=7cm]{Figure4.eps}}
\vskip -0.0cm \caption{{\protect\small Shows how the vortex-antivortex pair energy behaves
as function of $D(a)$. Clearly, the pair is expected to nucleate around conical apex, $D=0$ [we
have taken ${\cal D}=a$, $J=1$].}}
\label{E-pair-conefig}
\end{figure}

On the other hand, whenever both vortices carry the same signal
charges, for simplicity, we take $Q_1=Q_2=+1$, then $V_{\rm eff}$,
(\ref{Veff2qapex}), consist of competing potentials: vortices
repealing each other while the apex working to keep them together,
near the tip. Actually, on the conical surface the apex attraction
can dominate mutual repulsion so that a system with two vortices
with the same charge may, at principle, nucleate around the tip. In
order to investigate such a possibility in more details, let us fix
some configurations for the vortices on the cone. First,
let us take both of the two vortices at
the same distance from the apex, $|\vec{D}_1|=|\vec{D}_2|\equiv D$,
but centered at diametrically opposite points (thus, separated by
${\cal D}=2D$ if $\beta> 2/\pi$ or ${\cal D}=\beta\pi D$ whenever
$\beta\le 2/\pi$). For this configuration, the minimum of $V_{\rm
eff}$, eq. (\ref{Veff2qapex}), will occur, for a given $\beta$, at:
\begin{eqnarray} D_{\rm
min_{1}}=\frac{a_0\beta}{(1-2\beta)}\,,\label{Dmin1}
\end{eqnarray}
which states that a finite value take place only for $\beta<1/2$ (cone
aperture half-angle $\alpha<30^o$). In words, given a $\beta<1/2$
there exists a distance from the apex, $D_{\rm
min_{1}}$, which supports a stable state of the two vortices bounded to the apex.\\

Indeed, for $\beta\lessapprox 1/(2+a_0)\approx0.447\equiv{\beta}_{\rm cr_{1}}$ ($\alpha\lessapprox
26.55^o$)
stability demands $D<a$. [From the result above for ${\beta}_{\rm cr_{1}}$ we clearly realize
that vortices-apex nucleation possibility is also intimately related to the finite size of the
vortex core, $a_0$]. In this case, we would have effectively both vortices at the tip (in the
discrete scenario). Energetics could, in this case, favors the formation of an unique $Q=2$
excitation instead of two $Q=1$ vortices. In this line, we should mention the work of
Ref.\cite{Wysin2005q2}, in which doubled charged vortices appear nucleated around spin vacancies
in the standard plane,
as demonstrated by simulations, by virtue of the attractive effect of such impurities. [Although
our
results cannot be extrapolated to short range, say $D\lesssim{a}$, it would be interesting to
simulate a similar system on the conical surface]. On the other hand, whenever $\beta\gtrapprox
0.447$, the two vortices nucleate around the tip with $D\geqq a$. This could be viewed as a
vortices-tip bound state, since the effective potential presents a global minimum at $D_{\rm
min_{1}}$. Let us recall that such a possibility is ruled out from usual planar-like systems.
Figure
\ref{2vortices} displays how the effective potential behaves as function of $D(a)$ for some
values of $\beta$. As may be clearly realized, as long as
$\beta$ increases from ${\beta}_{\rm cr_{1}}$ to $1/2$ then $D_{\rm min_{1}}$ shifts to higher
values.

\begin{figure}[!h]
\centering \hskip 0c
\fbox{\includegraphics[width=14cm,height=7cm]{Figure5.eps}}
\vskip -0.0cm \caption{{\protect\small Shows how $V_{\rm eff}/J$ behaves
as function of $D(a)$ for the case $Q_1=Q_2=+1$. Note that, in despite of the vortices have the
same charge, energetics tends to keep them tied near the conical tip. [The values for $D_{\rm
min_{1}}$ read around $0.88a$, $1.38a$ and $2.88a$ for $\beta$ equals to $0.44$, $0.46$ and $0.48$,
respectively].}}
\label{2vortices}
\end{figure}

Another possible configuration is that in which one vortex is already centered at the apex while
the another is apart $D$. In this case, one of the terms presented in the sum of eq.
(\ref{Veff2qapex}) identically vanishes. The remaining potential is minimized at:
\begin{eqnarray}
D_{\rm min_{2}}=\frac{2a_0\beta}{(1-3\beta)}\,.\label{Dmin2}
\end{eqnarray}
Now, stability is possible only for narrower cones, say $\beta<1/3$ ($\alpha\lessapprox 19.47^o$).
However, according to the relation above, vortices-apex stable states with $D\ge{a}$ demands
$\beta\lessapprox 0.287\equiv\beta_{\rm cr_{2}}$. In summary, we conclude that the nucleation of
two vortices (or antivortices, as well) around the conical tip is possible for some narrow
apertures. If the two objects are separated from the apex of $D=D_{\rm min_{1}}\ge{a}$, then cone
aperture half-angle $\alpha\equiv\alpha_1\in(26.55^o,30^o)$. However, if one object is already
nucleated at the tip and the another is $D=D_{\rm min_{2}}\ge{a}$ apart, a narrower cone is
demanded, say $\alpha_2\in(16.68^o,19.47^o)$, approximately.\\

\indent Let us now consider the problem of vortex-pair dissociation in this background. Our estimative will consider only in-cone vortices. First of all, let us emphasize that it is nowadays well-established that the critical temperature, of vortex-antivortex depairing, is $\approx
0.284 \pi J/k_B$\cite{Olsson9495}, within the planar rotator, while for the XY-model, where spins can have out-of-plane fluctuations, it reads $\approx 0.22\pi J/k_B$
(see Ref. \cite{XYTBKT} for
details). However, it has been recently raised the question of how vacancies affect this transition (see, for example,
\cite{AfranioJFprb68,Wysin2005q2,Wysinetal2005,Leonel03} and related
references therein). Actually, several simulations have shown that
vacancies tend to diminish the transition temperature, so that at
vacancy concentrations $\varrho$ equal or above the percolation
threshold $\varrho_{pt} \approx 0.41$, the topological transition
is ruled out at any finite temperature\cite{Wysinetal2005}.\\

As we have noted in the introduction, the deficit
angle can be viewed as a region with nonmagnetic impurities
grouped in a cluster with a wedge shape (see Figure \ref{cone}).
In this case, the impurity concentration would be proportional to
$2\pi\gamma$, i.e., proportional to the deficit angle (the problem
with this interpretation is the boundary conditions required at
the edges of the wedge). To
estimate the critical temperature for the conical surface we use
the same argument of energy-entropy as Kosterlitz-Thouless performed for
the standard plane\cite{KT}. Here, the system area is given by $\beta L^2$
and then, the entropy may be estimated to be\footnote{Since the apex is more energetically
favorable than other points, we have a nonuniform probability distribution over the surface.
Thus, our estimative is good if a small area around the tip is not considered. Therefore, our
analysis is strictly valid only for in-cone excitations, whose centers are expected to be moved
away from the apex.} $S_{\rm cone}=k_B
\ln(\beta{L}^2/\beta{a}^2)=2k_B\ln(L/a)$, like in the usual planar
case. Therefore, a rough analysis gives the following range for
depairing temperature of vortex-antivortex excitations in the $XY$
model defined on a conical geometry
\begin{equation}
\pi{\beta}J\,<k_B\,T_{\rm cr-cone}< \pi
J\,\label{TBKT-cone}.
\end{equation}
Actually, if we could extrapolate results of Ref. \cite{XYTBKT} to
the present geometry, we would get
$0.22\,\pi{\beta}J < k_B\,T_{\rm cr-cone} < 0.22\,\pi J$. Therefore, the critical temperature $T_{c}$ of the system have a linear
dependence on the geometrical parameter $\beta$.

\section{Conclusions and Prospects}
In the present work we have considered vortex-like excitations of
$XY$-like model on a circular conical support. Such a space is locally
Euclidian, since a conical singularity is created after removing a
wedge of the usual plane and gluing its edges. Vortex solutions and
configurations depend on vortex position and deficit angle in a
nontrivial way so that our analysis of this problem has not been
rigorous. Nevertheless, the results presented here may be of
interest for many condensed matter systems (2D electrons gas on the cone) and field theories on
manifolds with nontrivial geometry as well as for lower dimensional
gravity, in which the anisotropic nonlinear $\sigma$ model
and its associated vortex-like solutions are coupled to the Einstein field. We have seen
that whenever lying on a cone, vortex (or antivortex) energy appears
to linearly decrease with conical aperture angle, so that as cone is
extremely tightened ($\beta\to0$), its energy vanishes like sample
size does. We have studied in-cone and out-of-cone vortex excitations. For suitable ranges of the
anisotropy, the first type appear to be found far away from the tip while the second ones tend to
be centered at the apex. In addition, we have seen that it is energetically
favorable for a magnetic vortex to nucleate around the conical
apex. Thus, an in-cone could become an out-of-cone vortex as long as it is trapped by the tip.
Therefore, we could think conic-like magnets as pinning
defects for such excitations.\\

Going further, we have taken two vortices on the cone. Analogously
to the former case, even though its energy has a logarithmic
dependency on their distances, it also depends linearly on $\beta$
parameter. In the case of a vortex-antivortex pair
($Q_1=-Q_2=+1$), our results show that it is energetically
favorable for nucleation around the apex, like in the single
vortex case. An
intriguing result emerges as long as we take $Q_1=Q_2$.
Although repealing each to other, like in the usual planar-like
case, conical apex tends to attract and keep them around the tip.
Actually, we have realized that for conical aperture smaller than
a critical value, apex potential dominates repulsion, which leads
to the nucleation of the vortices. As a final result, connecting geometrical aspects with
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition related issues, on a
cone, such a transition is expected to takes place at lower
temperatures.

As Prospects for future investigation we may quote, for example:
i) simulations of spin models in order to confirm the assertions
and results presented here; ii) study the ``out-of-cone vortices"
and possible other deformed solution such as spiral vortices
\cite{Borisov05}, which could be present in non-circular cones;
iii) consider the spin dynamic in curved spaces and/or in surfaces
containing defects\cite{PereiraJFK05}; iv) study of
magnetostatic energy on the cone surface, mainly in connection with nanosized magnets. \\

Finally, our present study could be also useful for some related systems, like superconducting vortices, dislocations, and so forth, whenever they lie in conic-like geometries.
\vskip 1cm
\centerline{\large\bf Acknowledgements} \vskip .3cm
The authors thank CAPES, CNPq and FAPEMIG for financial support. WAM-M
also thanks DCB/UFVJM where part of this work was done.\\ \vskip 1cm

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(1995) 10221; H.G. Evertz and D.P. Landau, Phys. Rev. {\bf B54},
12302 (1996).

\bibitem{Leonel03} S.A. Leonel, P.Z. Coura, A.R. Pereira, L.A.S.
M\'{o}l, and B.V. Costa, Phys. Rev. B \textbf{67}, 104426 (2003).

\bibitem{Borisov05} A.B. Borisov, I.G. Bostrem, and A.S.
Ovchinnikov, Phys. Rev. B \textbf{72}, 134423 (2005).

\end{document}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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Нюрнбергская городская колбаса () — сорт немецкой колбасы, популярный во франконской кухне и в частности в Нюрнберге. Представляет собой варёную колбасу с крупными включениями кубиками нежирной и нежилистой свинины, похожую на немецкую охотничью колбасу. Нюрнбергская городская колбаса бывает разных видов: обычная «розовая», «тёмно-красная» домашняя, некопчёная «белая» и подкопчёная «чёрная». По одной из версий названия, свой рецепт «городской колбасы» был у каждого франконского города.

Колбасный фарш для нюрнбергской городской колбасы приправляют типичными чёрным перцем, кориандром, мацисом, имбирём и майораном. Для розового цвета в фарш добавляют нитритно-посолочную смесь. Нюрнбергскую городскую колбасу шприцуют в натуральную и искусственную оболочку калибром 40/50 и отваривают в течение 45 минут или обрабатывают паром. В заключение колбасные батоны в течение 30 минут подвергают горячему копчению. Колбаса готова к употреблению после охлаждения. По похожему рецепту готовят силезскую городскую колбасу.

Нюрнбергскую городскую колбасу добавляют в нюрнбергский гверх или сервируют «с музыкой»: очищенную от шкурки колбасу нарезают тонкими ломтиками и маринуют в уксусе с растительным маслом и подают с порезанным колечками или рубленым репчатым луком. Нюрнбергскую городскую колбасу подают также с картофельным салатом или картофельным пюре и квашеной капустой на гарнир.

Примечания

Литература
 Hermann Koch, Martin Fuchs: Die Fabrikation feiner Fleisch- und Wurstwaren. 22., erweiterte Auflage. Deutscher Fachverlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-86641-187-6.
 Deutsches Lebensmittelbuch, Leitsätze für Fleisch und Fleischerzeugnisse, LS: 2.223.2 ff.

Ссылки
 Рецепт салата с городской колбасой

Немецкие колбасы
Варёные колбасы
Культура Нюрнберга
Франконская кухня

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Научно-исследовательская база
Международная научно-техническая конференция «Материаловедение и инженерные науки: современные тенденции и актуальные проблемы»
International scientific conference «Actual problems of the theory and history of regional architecture»
International Scientific аnd Technical Conference "Material science and Engineering: Current Trends and Actual Problems"
Международная научная конференция «Актуальные проблемы теории и истории региональной архитектуры»
Paper templates
The international scientific conference "Actual problems of the theory and history of regional architecture" is a new project of the Pacific National University aimed at developing interuniversity and international relations and testing key results of scientific research conducted by leading and young Russian and foreign scientists in the Russian Federation and abroad.
The architecture of individual regions is an integral part of global architecture, but at the same time, it has its own unique specific features and distinctive well-recognized features. In this regard, a comparison of the architecture of different countries and regions will contribute to a better understanding of the general development processes of regional and mainstream architecture in the context of globalization.
The event involves an open discussion of pressing issues in the theory and history of architecture of individual regions of Russia, Europe and Asia related to the search for national identity and intercultural interaction.
The international scientific conference involves an open academic discussion in the following areas:
Modern problems of the theory of architecture and urban planning
In search of regional identity. Architectural aspect
The architects. Masters and architectural schools
Conference languages: Russian and English.
October 1, 2020 - the deadline for submission of registration forms and full papers;
October 15, 2020 - the deadline for submission of full papers;
November 1, 2020 - notice of inclusion of reports in the program;
November 10-12, 2020 – conference dates.
Pacific National University, 136 Tihookeanskaya st., Khabarovsk, Russia
Pacific National University
Web site: http://pnu.edu.ru/ru/science/events/science_events/culture-en/
E-mail: 007626@pnu.edu.ru
The event is held with the financial support of the RFBR. Project No 20-012-22010.
Conference Proceeding скачать (25.7 МБ)
Conference Program and Organizing Committee
Chairman:
Nikolay P. Kradin – Dr. of Architecture, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Building Sciences, Honored Architect of Russia, Professor of the Architecture and Urbanistic Department
Deputy Chairman:
Mikhail E. Bazilevich – PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor of the Architecture and Urbanistic Department of Pacific National University, Member of the Union of Designers of Russia and ICSID, IFI, ICOGRADA
Program committee members:
Sergey N. Ivanchenko – President of Pacific National University, Dr. of Engineering, Professor
Igor N. Pugachev – Vice-President of Pacific National University, Dr. of Engineering, Professor
Vera I. Luchkova – Scientific Head of the Institute of Architecture and Design, PhD in Architecture, Professor, Architecture and Urbanistic Department, Pacific National University, Khabarovsk, Russia
Evgenia M. Samsonova – Director of the Institute of Architecture and Design, Ph.D. in Sociology, Associate Professor, Pacific National University, Khabarovsk, Russia
Gianfranco Guaragna – PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor, University of Trieste, Triest, Italy
Simonetta Rossetti – PhD in Architecture, ICAR 14, University of Trieste, Triest, Italy
Elena K. Blinova – Dr. of Art History, Professor, Department of Drawing, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Associate Professor, Department of History and Theory of Architecture, St. Petersburg State Academic Institute Paintings, Sculptures and Architecture named I. E. Repin, St. Petersburg, Russia
Svetlana S. Levoshko – Leading Researcher, Department of the History of Architecture and Urban Planning of the New Age, Scientific Research Institute of Theory and History of Architecture and Urban Planning, PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor, Advisor of Russian Academy of Architecture and Building Sciences, Honorary Architect of Russia, Member of the Union of Architects of Russia, Associate Professor of the Department of Urban Planning, St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, St. Petersburg, Russia
Alina P. Ivanova – PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor of the Design of Architectural Environment Department, Pacific National University, Khabarovsk, Russia
Lyudmila V. Zadvernyuk – PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor of the Architecture and Urbanistic Department, Pacific National University, Khabarovsk, Russia
Larisa E. Baklyskaya – Associate Professor of the Design of Architectural Environment Department, Member of the Union of Architects of Russia, Pacific National University, Khabarovsk, Russia
Ekaterina Y. Vityuk – PhD in Architecture, Head of Research Department, Ural State University of Architecture and Arts, Yekaterinburg, Russia
Anton E. Gashenko – PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor, Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture Department, Novosibirsk State University of Architecture, Design and Arts, Novosibirsk, Russia
Giuseppe d'Ambra – Architect, Avolare srl, Treviso, Italy
Elena V. Nikiforova- d'Ambra – PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor, Avolare srl, Treviso, Italy
Haoying Han – PhD in Architecture, Professor, Director of the Institute of Urban and Rural Planning Theories and Technologies, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, PRC
Tatyana A. Gildina – PhD in Art History, Senior Lecturer, Department of Art Education and Decorative Arts, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia
Marco Marchesi – Architect, design studio "MM + Interni e Architetture", Iuav University of Venice, Venice, Italy
Alessandro Zerbo – Architect, Design - architectural studio «Zerbo Alessandro», Trieste, Italy
Janice C. Wong – PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, PRC
Larisa I. Ivanova-Veen - Director of the MARCHI Museum, PhD in Architecture, Professor, Department of Soviet and Contemporary Foreign Architecture, Moscow Institute of Architecture (State Academy)
Alina P. Ivanova – PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor of the Design of Architectural Environment Department, Pacific National University
Organising committee members:
Dmitry A. Zhevtun – Head of the Department of Scientific Work, PhD in Engineering, Pacific National University
Anastasia F. Garnaga – Senior Lecturer of the Architecture and Urbanistic Department of Pacific National University
Anton A. Kim – Senior Lecturer of the Architecture and Urbanistic Department of Pacific National University, Khabarovsk, Russia
Dmitry S. Tseluyko – Senior Lecturer of the Architecture and Urbanistic Department of Pacific National University
For registration you should fill out and send an application form to the organizing committee 007626@pnu.edu.ru
The full paper should be submitted to the organizing committee by October 15, 2020.
We accept scientific articles that strictly correspond to the conference topics and reflect the specific results of theoretical and practical research of the authors.
The article must have relevance and scientific novelty, presentation materials and texts reflecting the current state of affairs are not accepted for publication.
Only original materials that do not violate the copyrights of others are considered. It is not allowed to send previously published articles or texts sent for publication to other publications.
The article should be clearly structured and contain the following sections: introduction, relevance, literature review, task / problem statement, methodology, results, conclusions (sections may vary depending on the topic of the article).
Articles should contain:
title;
information about the authors (surname, initials; place of work, city, country; email address);
an annotation in the amount of 100 to 250 words;
a list of keywords or phrases in the amount of not more than 7;
bibliography.
The volume of the article: 2-4 full pages.
Articles are accepted in Russian and English, typed in a template
International scientific conference "Actual problems of the theory and history of regional architecture"
Section 1. "In search of regional identity. Architectural heritage and modern urban planning in Russia and China "
Within the framework of this section, it is planned to consider topical problems existing in the study of the history of the theory of architecture and urban planning in Russia and China, including the issues of shaping, planning organization of buildings of various typologies, the development of architectural styles and social aspects of architectural activity.
Section 2. "System of architecture and arts education within the framework of research grants"
The section includes a block of reports dedicated to the development of architectural and art education in Russia, the formation of architectural, as well as creative and professional activities of architects who worked in the central part of the country and in the regions.
Section 3. "The cultural landscape of the city. Old and new "
The section examines the problems of finding national identity in architecture in the context of globalization, the integration of modern architecture into the already established architectural landscape, as well as the specifics of the development of vernacular architecture in different
Section 4.. "Regional architecture. Study problems "
The section brings together reports devoted to the peculiarities of the development and the specifics of the architecture of different regions of Russia, Europe and Asia, formed under the influence of various historical, geopolitical, economic and other objective factors, as well as topical problems of the theory and history of regional architecture.
Conference program скачать (244.4 КБ)
The main platform for the conference is Pacific National University (Khabarovsk). However, the venue of the conference is not limited to this. The conference is held in conjunction with universities-partner that provide additional sites for organizing the work of the conference. At the same time, all audiences are connected by a tele-bridge that functions throughout the work of the entire conference. Thanks to this technical innovation, conference participants have the opportunity to communicate remotely with each other in on-line mode. In the course of the work of jointly organized sections, the speakers alternately perform with each of the sites. Those present at the conference have the opportunity to ask questions to each other wherever they are. In addition, the webcast of the work of the conference sections is also organized online. Anyone can become a conference attendee from anywhere in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkrGABmu0oRRoTxdKOGiz4ohOHgfWcGa_
Mail venue address: 680035, 136 Tihookeanskaya st., Khabarovsk, Russia
All scientific sections will be held online on the Zoom platform.
Connection link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81949276734?pwd=dXJ0eGlYWlk1R0lJaDdNWTE4aXN0dz09
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81949276734?pwd=dXJ0eGlYWlk1R0lJaDdNWTE4aXN0dz09#success
Conference ID: 819 4927 6734
Access code: 522700
Mailing address: 680035, 136 Tihookeanskaya st., Khabarovsk, Russia
Contact phone: 7 (4212) 76-02-59, 7 (4212) 30-50-18

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text:
Identification of a novel DMD duplication identified by a combination of MLPA and targeted exome sequencing
Beibei Wu1,
Liying Wang2,
Ting Dong1,
Jiahui Jin1,
Yili Lu1,
Huiping Wu1,
Yue Luo1 &
Xiaoou Shan1
Molecular Cytogenetics volume 10, Article number: 8 (2017) Cite this article
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked recessive muscle-wasting disease caused by a mutation in the DMD gene. The aim of this study was to identify a de novo mutation of the DMD gene in the family of a 9-month-old Chinese male patient, as well as to describe the phenotypic characteristics of this patient.
The patient was suspected to suffer from DMD according to physical examination, biochemical analyses, and electromyogram. We identified a duplication of exons 4–42 in DMD gene with targeted exome sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). In addition, the patient's mother was a carrier of the same mutation.
We identified a de novo duplication of exons 4–42 in a patient with early stage DMD. The discovery of this mutation may provide insights into future investigations.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), an X-linked recessive muscle-wasting disease, is caused by a mutation in the DMD gene that encodes the dystrophin protein [1, 2]. As the most common muscle disease in children, the incidence of DMD is 1 in 3500 live male births [3]. DMD is a progressive neuromuscular disease characterized by pseudohypertrophy in the calf muscle and the Gowers' sign [4]. Patients with DMD are usually first diagnosed before 5 years of age and many pass away due to respiratory or cardiac failure at around 20 years of age [5, 6].
DMD is the largest known human gene encompassing 2.2 Mb of nucleotides that contain 79 exons [6]. The large size of the gene increases its susceptibility to mutations as evidenced by the one-third of de novo mutations identified in DMD [4]. Furthermore, intragenic deletions represent 65–70% of all mutations, while duplications are found in 7% of patients and the remaining mutations are either point mutations or small deletions/insertions [4].
Diagnosis of the DMD mainly depends on the genetics of the patient [4]. Recent studies showed that targeted exome sequencing is a powerful tool for diagnosis of Mendelian diseases [7], This is especially true for patients who are at the early stage of a disease and show no obvious clinical manifestation. Targeted exome sequencing can screen for mutations in a panel of many genes that are implicated in various inherited diseases, making it a tremendously useful technique for identification of disease associated mutations.
However, targeted exome sequencing is relatively less powerful in testing large intragenic rearrangements. In the case of DMD, deletions found in most patients are followed by duplications, therefore, multiplex PCR, which can detect up to 98% of deletion, was considered as the standard diagnostic method [8]. Nevertheless, multiplex PCR is not the ideal technique for identifying duplications and female carriers due to the presence of a normal copy of the DMD gene [3]. Fortunately, the introduction of a dosimetry method based on multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) has improved the discovery of large intragenic rearrangements [8].
In this study, we implemented a combination of MLPA with targeted exome sequencing to comprehensively screen for large fragment duplications in the DMD gene in a 9-month-old Chinese male patient. Using this method, we were able to identify a novel duplication of exons 4–42 in the DMD gene.
This study was in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. A 9-month-old male patient was referred to our hospital in 2015. Written informed consent was obtained from his statutory guardian. Patients' initial symptoms and complaints was diarrhea. The patient received a comprehensive examination including physical examination, biochemical analyses and electromyogram. Detailed family history was obtained from the patient, and peripheral blood samples were collected.
MLPA
MLPA analysis was performed using SALSA MLPA kit P034/P035 (MRC-Holland, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) kit according to manufacturer's instructions. The MLPA samples consisted of approximately 100 ng of genomic DNA. Denaturation, hybridization, ligation and amplification were performed with ABI 2720 PCR thermal cycler. The PCR amplification was performed under the following conditions: 33 cycles of 95 °C for 30 s, 60 °C for 30 s and 72 °C for 60 and a final extension step at 72 °C for 20 min to allow for adequate probe hybridization with the two sets of probes. Results were analyzed using Coffalyser 9.4 (MRC Holland).
Targeted exome sequencing
Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples using a DNA Extraction kit (TIANGEN, Beijing) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The coding exons of 131 genes related to inherited diseases were selected and captured with a GenCap custom enrichment kit (MyGenostics, Beijing) as previously described [9]. Genomic DNA was fragmented and mixed with GenCap probe (MyGenostics, Beijing) for PCR amplification and hybridization. After washing with MyOne beads (Life Technology), the sample was resuspended in binding buffer, transferred along with MyOne beads, and rotated for 1 h. Then, DNA was eluted with Buffer Elute, followed by amplification in post-capture. The enriched libraries were sequenced on a IlluminaSolexaHiSeq 2000 sequencer. After removing PCR duplicates with Picard program, the clean reads were aligned with SOAP aligner program [10] according to human genome parameters (hg19). Then, we identified SNPs using the SOAPsnp program, realigned the reads by BWA, and determined the deletions or insertions (InDels) with the GATK software [11]. After annotation of the identified InDels and SNPs using the Exome-assistant program (http://122.228.158106/exomeassistant), candidate SNPs, InDels and the short read alignments were viewed by Magic Viewer [12] To determine pathogenicity, four algorithms, PolyPhen, SIFT, Mutationtaster and PMut were used to evaluated nonsynonymous variant. Sequencing data were deposited in to NIH Short Read Archive (SRP033329).
The 9-month-old male patient was diagnosed with DMD. The patient was an only child of his healthy parents. There was no medical history of note (Fig. 1). The main complaint of the patient was diarrhea. Physical examination revealed no obvious signs or symptoms. Biochemical analyses showed an increased level of creatine phosphokinase (CPK), which indicated that the patient suffered from muscle damage. Increased alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) suggested liver dysfunction. In addition, elevated LDH revealed tissue damage (Table 1). We also performed electromyogram on the patient, which revealed that rectus femoris and bicep muscles were showed mix type when at maximum average unit width (Table 2). Result of electromyogram suggested myogenic damage.
Pedigree analysis. The patient is demarcated in black. The patient was homozygous for the mutation and his mother who had the same genotype was a carrier of DMD
Table 1 Results of patient biochemical test
Table 2 Results of patient electromyogram
We used a panel of 131 inherited disease-causing genes to screen for mutations. Our targeted exome sequencing reached an average mean depth of 168X with greater than 97.8% coverage of the targeted regions. After alignment and bioinformatics analyses, single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and insertions/deletions (Indels) were annotated to the exome database, among which those with MAF >0.005 or homozygosity of >1 were filtered out. The missense variants were discarded based on tolerant prediction using in silico tools. Although we failed to detect any point mutation, our results indicated a potential large duplication in the DMD gene (Fig. 2).
Target exome sequencing of the proband. The results indicated there was a potential large duplication in the DMD gene
In order to identify the precise mutation site, we performed MLPA to detect complex rearrangements in the patient. Results from MLPA analysis showed a novel duplication involving exons 4–42 in the DMD gene (Fig. 3). Since DMD is an X-linked recessive muscle-wasting disease, pedigree analysis further indicated that the mother is a carrier of this mutation (Fig. 1). We, then, performed MLPA analysis on the mother of the patient and identified that the she does, in fact, have duplication of exons 4–42, the same genotype as the patient (Fig. 4). This mutated rearrangement has not been previously reported in the Leiden database (www.dmd.nl), and therefore, the genotype-phenotype correlation remained unknown.
MPLA results of the proband. a Normal control. b MPLA identified the patient duplication of exons 4–42, which marked as arrows is a a de novo mutation
MPLA results of the patient's mother. a Normal control. b The identified mutations in the mother of patient was duplication of exons 4–42, which were marked as arrows. The patient's mother was a carrier who had the same mutation
In this study, we described a DMD family with a de novo duplication of exons 4–42, first suggested by targeted exome sequencing and subsequently detected by MLPA analysis. The patient was a 9-month-old male that did not show any typical characteristics of DMD, such as calf muscle pseudohypertrophy, Gowers' sign. Biochemistry tests showed sharply increased CPK and electromyogram suggested myogenic damage, which led us to speculate that the patient suffers from DMD. However, clinical evidence was not sufficient for a formal diagnosis of DMD. In addition, increased level of ALT, AST and LDH suggested liver damage. Therefore, differential diagnosis of diseases that could lead to liver damage, such as viral hepatitis and Wilson's disease, should be investigated. We, therefore, performed a viral hepatitis serology screen and tested for ceruloplasmin in serum of the patient. The results of viral hepatitis serology screen were negative, which ruled out viral hepatitis. In addition, the level of ceruloplasmin was normal, which did not support a diagnosis of Wilson's disease.
Genetic testing is the mainstay of diagnosis for DMD [4]. Despite that MLPA is now the most widely used technique for identifying duplication in DMD [8], targeted exome sequencing is prefered when evidence for a diagnosis of DMD is insufficient and when other metabolic diseases have not been ruled out. Furthermore, targeted exome sequencing is capable of detecting subtle mutations in the 79 exons that cannot be detected by MPLA [3]. In our patient, results from targeted exome sequencing were suggestive of a potential duplication in the DMD gene. We then confirmed this finding using MLPA. A combination of MLPA with targeted exome sequencing can therefore, be a valuable method for identifying DMD gene defects.
Dystrophin, as encoded by the DMD gene, is predominantly expressed in skeletal and cardiac muscles [6]. As a significant component of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC), dystrophin, plays a key role in the contraction of sarcomeres [13]. Dystrophin is a structural protein of 427-kD, consisting of a N-terminal actin binding domain (ABD1), a central rod region, a cysteine-rich (CR) globular domain, and a C-terminal tail (CT) [13]. The C-terminus is associated with glycoproteins and the N-terminus is associated with actin or actin-like proteins [1]. Previous study suggested that dystrophinis is a cytoskeletal protein that is potentially involved in linking the extracellular matrix to the interior of muscle fibers. Mutations in the DMD gene, therefore, may disrupt such linkage and ultimately lead to DMD as a result of sarcolemma instability [1]. As the disease progresses, DMD patient may lose the ability to walk without assistance and may eventually die from respiratory or cardiac failure as a result of relative muscle damage [14].
The only pharmacologic agent proven to be effective for treating DMD is corticosteroids. Long-term studies indicated that long-term daily administration of corticosteroids reduces the decline of cardiorespiratory function, lowers the risk of progressive scoliosis, prolongs ambulation by up to 3 years, and improves life expectancy of DMD patients [15–18]. In addition, novel therapies for DMD, such as stem cell therapy, gene therapy (e.g. viral vectors), and dystrophin restoration approach, have recently been developed [4]. In this study, we demonstrated that a combination of targeted exome sequencing and MLPA is a valuable diagnostic method for detecting DMD at the early stage of the disease, which is critical for early intervention and can ultimately lead to better prognosis of DMD patients. If a patient with rapid increase of CPK, even though does not show any typical characteristics of DMD, such as calf muscle pseudohypertrophy, Gowers' sign, we should suspect DMD and consider to perform Targeted exome sequencing and MLPA.
In summary, our study identified a de novo duplication of exons 4–42 in the DMD gene in a 9-month-old male Chinese patient using a combination of targeted exome sequencing and MLPA. The discovery of this novel mutation may provide important insights for future investigations.
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The authors appreciate the participation of the patient and his family in the present study. The present study was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (no. Y2100530, awarded to X.S.).
The study was part of a project funded by the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (no. Y2100530, awarded to X.S.).
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
BBW and LYW analysed the results and wrote the paper; TD, JHJ, YLL, HPW collected clinical data and perform the experiments; YL and XOS revised the paper. All authors reviewed and approved the submitted version of the manuscript.
Competing interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interest with the contents of this article.
Consent to participate for publication
Written informed consent was obtained from the parents of the patient for publication of this paper. A copy of the written consent form is available.
This study was in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. Written informed consent was obtained.
Department of Pediatrics, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, 109 West Xueyuan Road, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, 325027, People's Republic of China
Beibei Wu
, Ting Dong
, Jiahui Jin
, Yili Lu
, Huiping Wu
, Yue Luo
& Xiaoou Shan
Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China
Liying Wang
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Correspondence to Yue Luo or Xiaoou Shan.
Wu, B., Wang, L., Dong, T. et al. Identification of a novel DMD duplication identified by a combination of MLPA and targeted exome sequencing. Mol Cytogenet 10, 8 (2017) doi:10.1186/s13039-017-0301-0
Accepted: 04 January 2017
Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Dystrophin


The following story is an update of an article originally published on E-Learn Magazine on May. 17, 2016. Click here for the Spanish version.
To be the global expert in educating women for their own empowerment and leadership: this vision couldn't be more contemporary, yet it belongs to an institution founded more than 100 years ago. Since 1899, the University has been offering a pioneering liberal arts education for undergraduate women, integrated with professional work experience.
Today, the institution also offers a wide range of graduate programs, including the only MBA program designed specifically for women. Simmons currently enrolls 7,800 graduate and undergraduate students in their Boston campus and online programs. Every year, the institution is featured on widely-acclaimed lists of the best universities in America, such as The Princeton Review.
The university's focus on women's education began with founder John Simmons' belief that women should be able to earn independent livelihoods and lead meaningful lives. To achieve this goal, Simmons University considers education technology to be a powerful way to improve the learning experience and to promote social change.
Online education is one of the university's key endeavors, as diverse teams work together to support academic technology efforts. Some staff work on the academic systems software and infrastructure, while others assist instructors in the classroom. There is also a Help Desk for students and instructors in need of assistance with their technology, classroom hardware and/or software issues.
Additionally, there is the Enterprises Applications Unit, where Manager of Academic Systems Drew Mirque provides the teaching and learning community with various forms of training, user support, and technical administration for a number of learning or academic technology software, including Simmons' digital learning environment, based on Blackboard's Open LMS product.
With more than 20 years of experience in e-learning, Mirque faces daily challenges to improve the quality of online education at the institution.
"My job is to not only ensure that all applications are accessible, updated, and widely available, but also support and train users in the appropriate use of the various technologies. That includes meeting with instructors and encouraging their familiarity with the various academic systems as well as authoring help documentation and participating in various face-to-face sessions such as faculty orientations," says Mirque.
Simmons became a university in September 2018. "Simmons not only changed the name from College to University, but more importantly, we underwent a radical academic redesign, going from five schools to four colleges. The academic redesign to four colleges allows each college to underscore signature Simmons strengths, combining distinct disciplinary preparation with interdisciplinary emphases, inter-professional approaches, and attention to rapidly evolving fields of study and practice," Mirque explains.
Undergraduate and graduate students throughout the university use Blackboard Open LMS, which Mirque administers and supports.
"The whole university uses the platform, but in different ways. The School of Nursing and Health Sciences, for example, is highly dependent on the platform for its assessment tool and the discussion forums. Nursing instructors also record lectures there and deliver them using the Tegrity plugin, so that all students can access critical lecture material online and at their convenience," says Mirque.
The Journal is another tool recently added to the digital learning environment, and both the School of Management and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences have begun using it. Mirque is currently working with the schools on using the Journal plugin as instructors wanted students to keep a journal of weekly reflections, or to share weekly project updates, but didn't want students to be able to see what their peers wrote. The Journal plugin has been the perfect fit for this need.
The Manager of Academic Systems envisions a Faculty Success Center where various components of the departments at Simmons work in a collaborative way to ensure faculty is supported at every corner of their tenure.
Mirque affirms that he would recommend Blackboard solutions to other institutions. "The ability to integrate directly into the LMS without onerous technical overhead is critical for a small support team, as we are," he says.


An inverse method for estimating the distributions of the nonlinear elastic properties of inhomogeneous and anisotropic membranes is investigated. The material description of the membrane is based on a versatile constitutive model, including four material parameters: two initial stiffness values pertaining to the principal directions of the material, the angle between these principal directions and a reference coordinate system and a parameter related to the level of nonlinearity of the material. The estimation procedure consists of the following three steps: (i) perform experiments on the membranous structure whose properties are to be determined, (ii) define a corresponding finite-element (FE) model and (iii) minimise an error function (with respect to the unknown parameters) that quantifies the deviation between the numerical predictions and the experimental data. For this finite deformation problem, an FE framework for membranous structures exposed to a pressure boundary loading is outlined: the principle of virtual work, its linearisation and the related spatial discretisation. To achieve a robust parameter estimation, an element partition method is employed. In numerical examples, the proposed procedure is assessed by attempting to reproduce given random reference distributions of material fields in a reference membrane. The deviations between the estimated material parameter distributions and the related reference fields are within a few percent in most cases. The standard deviation for the resulting maximum principal stress was consistently below 1%.


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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Authorities say three construction workers were killed and two others were hurt when scaffolding collapsed in an industrial accident at a job site in Charlotte, North Carolina. WBTV reports that the collapse happened Monday morning at a construction site on East Morehead Street just outside of uptown Charlotte. Fire Capt. Jackie Gilmore said during a brief news conference that several of the workers fell about 70 feet. He said the two injured workers were taken to a hospital to be evaluated. He said all work at the site has been suspended while the incident is being investigated.
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Three construction workers were killed and two others were hurt on Monday when scaffolding collapsed in an industrial accident at a job site in Charlotte, North Carolina, authorities said.
The scaffolding collapsed just after 9 a.m. at a construction site on East Morehead Street, sending several construction workers falling about 70 feet (21 meters), Fire Capt. Jackie Gilmore said during a news conference. Gilmore said the two injured workers were taken to a hospital to be evaluated.
He said all work at the site has been suspended while the incident is investigated by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.