[en] Short communication

[en] The basic concepts and the main theoretical methods developed in the study of the domain walls in thin ferromagnetic films are given in this review. First, an insight into the origins and the classification criteria of the conceptually different wall structures is obtained by elementary considerations which are mainly based on the experimentally available data. Then, the more subtle aspect of the wall models dimensionality in soft ferromagnetic films is discussed. Finally, the various theoretical calculation methods of the wall parameters are summarized. (author)

[en] Formation kinetics in oxygen submonolayer films adsorbed at W(110) facet is studied using diffraction of slow electrons. Average size of domains reached during the experiment under different T, is estimated

[en] The form of physical-property tensors of rank, 0, 1 and 2 invariant under the 32 crystallographic point groups and their subgroups are tabulated. This constitutes the basis for the tensorial classification of domain pairs in ferroic crystals which is given via a group theoretical classification of the corresponding physical-property tensor pairs. We tabulate this classification of tensor pairs for all physical-property tensors of rank 0, 1 and 2, and domain point-group symmetry. (orig.)

[en] The human Kif7 motor domain structure provides insights into a kinesin of medical significance. Kif7, a member of the kinesin 4 superfamily, is implicated in a variety of diseases including Joubert, hydrolethalus and acrocallosal syndromes. It is also involved in primary cilium formation and the Hedgehog signalling pathway and may play a role in cancer. Its activity is crucial for embryonic development. Kif7 and Kif27, a closely related kinesin in the same subfamily, are orthologues of the Drosophila melano@@gaster kinesin-like protein Costal-2 (Cos2). In vertebrates, they work together to fulfil the role of the single Cos2 gene in Drosophila. Here, the high-resolution structure of the human Kif7 motor domain is reported and is compared with that of conventional kinesin, the founding member of the kinesin superfamily. These data are a first step towards structural characterization of a kinesin-4 family member and of this interesting molecular motor of medical significance

[en] The effect of torsion-induced acceleration of domain-wall motion has been discovered in magnetic glass-covered microwires. Torsion-stress application causes a step-change increase in domain-wall velocity. The threshold character of the observed effect is related to the successive stress-induced appearance of spiral and elliptical types of domain structures. The theoretical analysis allows us to associate the stress-induced domain-structure transformation with a change of the relationship between the inner core and the outer shell of the magnetic structure in microwires.

[en] We report a study of the domain structure and magnetoresistance of thermally deposited nickel films. For films thicker than 17 nm, we observe striped domains with period varying with film thickness as a power law with exponent 0.21±0.02 up to 120 nm thickness. There is a negative magnetoresistance for fields out of the plane

[en] We report micromagnetic modeling results of current induced domain wall (DW) motion in magnetic devices with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by solving the Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert equation including adiabatic and non-adiabatic terms. A nanostripe model system with dimensions of 500 nm (L)x25 nm (W)x5 nm (H) was selected for calculating the DW motion and its width, as a function of various parameters such as non-adiabatic contribution, anisotropy constant (K_u), saturation magnetization (M_s), and temperature (T). The DW velocity was found to increase when the values of K_u and T were increased and the M_s value decreased. In addition, a reduction of the domain wall width could be achieved by increasing K_u and lowering M_s values regardless of the non-adiabatic constant value.

[en] It would appear that one of Wyler's calculations of the fine-structure constant is based on an incorrect value of the coefficient of the Poisson kernel for Cartan's third (fourth) classical domain, and hence that the value of the fine-structure constant may not be derivable from Wyler's assumptions. (author)

[en] Several workers have established that the Larkin domains for two three-dimensional nonmetallic elastic solids in contact with each other at a disordered but atomically flat interface are enormously large, implying that there should be negligible static friction per unit area in the macroscopic solid limit. In contrast, the present Letter argues that when the Larkin domains are calculated for disorder on the multiasperity scale, they are much smaller than the interface size. This can account for the virtual universal occurrence of static friction