The giant effect of magnetic ordering on a sound velocity in a sigma-Fe55Cr45 alloy

We studied atomic dynamics of sigma-Fe(100-x)Cr(x) (x=45 and 49.5) alloys using nuclear inelastic scattering of synchrotron radiation. For the sigma-Fe55Cr45 alloy, the derived reduced iron-partial density of phonon states reveal a huge difference in the low-energy region between magnetic and paramagnetic states. The latter implies a ca.36% increase of the sound velocity in the magnetic phase, which testifies to a magnetically-induced hardening of the lattice.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 17 reference

Evaluation of the Debye temperature for iron cores in human liver ferritin and its pharmaceutical analogue Ferrum Lek using Mossbauer spectroscopy

An iron polymaltose complex Ferrum Lek used as antianemic drug and considered as a ferritin analogue and human liver ferritin were investigated in the temperature range from 295K to 90K by means of 57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy with a high velocity resolution i.e. in 4096 channels. The Debye temperatures equal to 502K for Ferrum Lek and to 461K for human liver ferritin were determined from the temperature dependence of the center shift obtained using two different fitting procedures.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Magnetic properties of σ\sigma-FeCr alloy as calculated with the charge and spin self-consistent KKR(CPA) method

Magnetic properties of a $\sigma-$Fe$_{16}$Cr$_{14}$ alloy calculated with the charge and spin self- consistent Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (KKR) and combined with coherent potential approximation (KKR-CPA) methods are reported. Non-magnetic state as well as various magnetic orderings were considered, i.e. ferromagnetic (FM) and more complex anti-parallel (called APM) arrangements for selected sublattices, as follows from the symmetry analysis. It has been shown that the Stoner criterion applied to non-magnetic density of states at the Fermi energy, $E_F$ is satisfied for Fe atoms situated on all five lattice sites, while it is not fulfilled for all Cr atoms. In FM and APM states, the values of magnetic moments on Fe atoms occupying various sites are dispersed between 0 and 2.5 $\mu_B$, and they are proportional to the number of Fe atoms in the nearest-neighbor shell. Magnetic moments of Cr atoms havin much smaller values were found to be coupled antiparallel to those of Fe atoms. The average value of the magnetic moment per atom was found to be $=0.55 \mu_B$ that is by a factor of 4 larger than the experimental value found for a $\sigma-$Fe$_{0.538}$Cr$_{0.462}$ sample. Conversely, admitting an anti- parallel ordering (APM model) on atoms situated on C and D sites, according to the group theory and symmetry analysis results, yielded a substantial reduction of to 0.20 $\mu_B$. Further diminution of to 0.15 $\mu_B$, which is very close to the experimental value of 0.14 $\mu_B$, has been achieved with the KKR-CPA calculations by considering a chemical disorder on sites B, C and D

Conservation of the COP9/signalosome in budding yeast

BACKGROUND: The COP9/signalosome (CSN), a multiprotein complex consisting of eight subunits, is implicated in a wide variety of regulatory processes including cell cycle control, signal transduction, transcriptional activation, and plant photomorphogenesis. Some of these functions have been linked to CSN-associated enzymes, including kinases and an activity that removes the ubiquitin-like protein NEDD8/Rub1p from the cullin subunit of E3 ligases. CSN is highly conserved across species from fission yeast to humans, but sequence comparison has failed to identify the complex in budding yeast, except for a putative CSN5 subunit called Rri1p. RESULTS: We show that disruption of four budding yeast genes, PCI8 and three previously uncharacterized ORFs, which encode proteins interacting with Rrr1p/Csn5p, each results in the accumulation of the cullin Cdc53p exclusively in the Rub1p-modified state. This phenotype, which resembles that of fission yeast csn mutants, is due to a biochemical defect in deneddylation that is complemented by wild-type cell lysate and by purified human CSN in vitro. Although three of the four genes encode proteins with PCI domains conserved in metazoan CSN proteins, their disruption does not confer the DNA damage sensitivity described in some fission yeast csn mutants. CONCLUSIONS: Our studies present unexpected evidence for the conservation of a functional homologue of the metazoan CSN, which mediates control of cullin neddylation in budding yeast

Laser-Induced, Polarization Dependent Shape Transformation of Au/Ag Nanoparticles in Glass

Bimetallic, initially spherical Ag/Au nanoparticles in glass prepared by ion implantation have been irradiated with intense femtosecond laser pulses at intensities still below the damage threshold of the material surface. This high-intensity laser processing produces dichroism in the irradiated region, which can be assigned to the observed anisotropic nanoparticle shapes with preferential orientation of the longer particle axis along the direction of laser polarization. In addition, the particle sizes have considerably been increased upon processing

Affective Behaviour Analysis of On-line User Interactions: Are On-line Support Groups more Therapeutic than Twitter?

The increase in the prevalence of mental health problems has coincided with a growing popularity of health related social networking sites. Regardless of their therapeutic potential, On-line Support Groups (OSGs) can also have negative effects on patients. In this work we propose a novel methodology to automatically verify the presence of therapeutic factors in social networking websites by using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques. The methodology is evaluated on On-line asynchronous multi-party conversations collected from an OSG and Twitter. The results of the analysis indicate that therapeutic factors occur more frequently in OSG conversations than in Twitter conversations. Moreover, the analysis of OSG conversations reveals that the users of that platform are supportive, and interactions are likely to lead to the improvement of their emotional state. We believe that our method provides a stepping stone towards automatic analysis of emotional states of users of online platforms. Possible applications of the method include provision of guidelines that highlight potential implications of using such platforms on users' mental health, and/or support in the analysis of their impact on specific individuals

Let’s Talk it through, anew: Promises and Pitfalls of Customisable Conversational Reflection Support

As modern lifestyles are becoming increasingly stressful and ever more hectic with multiple stimuli constantly competing for our attention, Affective Disorders (ADs) such as anxiety and depression are on the rise. Consequently, due to the burgeoning demand for counseling and therapeutic services, many people who suffer from ADs are struggling to timely access the professional support that they require. To address this problem, voice-enabled Conversational Agents (CAs) have been recently proposed as tools for supporting self-reflection and providing assistance in managing a range of ADs through synthetic voices. However, despite their therapeutic potential, CAs offer a very limited choice when it comes to selection and personalisation of synthetic voices used. The goal of this paper is two-fold: (1) it discusses the potential benefits that a CA’s voice customisation can bring to enhance user engagement and promote long term self-reflection, and (2) it offers reflection on the corresponding challenges associated to this approach