8,725 research outputs found
Taming the resistive switching in Fe/MgO/V/Fe magnetic tunnel junctions: An ab initio study
A possible mechanism for the resistive switching observed experimentally in
Fe/MgO/V/Fe junctions is presented. Ab initio total energy calculations within
the local density approximation and pseudopotential theory shows that by moving
the oxygen ions across the MgO/V interface one obtains a metastable state. It
is argued that this state can be reached by applying an electric field across
the interface. In addition, the ground state and the metastable state show
different electric conductances. The latter results are discussed in terms of
the changes of the density of states at the Fermi level and the charge transfer
at the interface due to the oxygen ion motion
Complications of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in dogs and cats receiving corticosteroid treatment
BACKGROUND: Corticosteroid treatment is commonly required in veterinary patients for treatment of inflammatory, immune‐mediated, neurologic, and neoplastic diseases, which also may require assisted enteral nutrition via percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate complications associated with PEG use in dogs and cats receiving corticosteroid treatment. ANIMALS: Forty‐two animals were included in the study: 12 dogs and 2 cats in the steroid group and 26 dogs and 2 cats in the control group. METHODS: Medical records, between January 2006 and March 2015, were reviewed. Patients were included if the PEG tube was in use for at least 24 hours and if complete medical records were available. Patients were assigned to the control group if they were not treated with corticosteroids during PEG use or to the steroid group if they had received corticosteroids during PEG tube use. Complications were classified as minor, moderate, and major in severity. Maximum severity complication rate was compared between groups. RESULTS: The general prevalence of complications was found to be similar between groups (P = .306), but in the steroid group, 43% of the cases developed a major severity complication compared with 18% of the control group (P = .054). CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Owners of dogs and cats receiving corticosteroids, in which PEG is planned, should be counseled about possible complications beyond those associated with PEG tube usage alone
Majorana bound states in open quasi-1D and 2D systems with transverse Rashba coupling
We study the formation of Majorana states in quasi-1D and 2D square lattices
with open boundary conditions, with general anisotropic Rashba coupling, in the
presence of an applied Zeeman field and in the proximity of a superconductor.
For systems in which the length of the system is very large (quasi-1D) we
calculate analytically the exact topological invariant, and we find a rich
phase diagram which is strongly dependent on the width of the system. We
compare our results with previous results based on a few-band approximation. We
also investigate numerically open 2D systems of finite length in both
directions. We use the recently introduced generalized Majorana polarization,
which can locally evaluate the Majorana character of a given state. We find
that the formation of Majoranas depends strongly on the geometry of the system
and if the length and the width are comparable no Majorana states can form,
however, one can show the formation of "quasi-Majorana" states that have a
local Majorana character, but no global Majorana symmetry.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure
Kondo effect in transport through molecules adsorbed on metal surfaces: from Fano dips to Kondo peaks
The Kondo effect observed in recent STM experiments on transport through CoPc
and TBrPP-Co molecules adsorbed on Au(111) and Cu(111) surfaces, respectively,
is discussed within the framework of a simple model (Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 97},
076806 (2006)). It is shown that, in the Kondo regime and by varying the
adequate model parameters, it is possible to produce a crossover from a
conductance Kondo peak (CoPc) to a conductance Fano dip (TBrPP-Co). In the case
of TBrPP-Co/Cu(111) we show that the model reproduces the changes in the shape
of the Fano dip, the raising of the Kondo temperature and shifting to higher
energies of the dip minimum when the number of nearest neighbors molecules is
lowered. These features are in line with experimental observations indicating
that our simple model contains the essential physics underlying the transport
properties of such complex molecules.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR
Initial value representation for the SU(n) semiclassical propagator
The semiclassical propagator in the representation of SU(n) coherent states
is characterized by isolated classical trajectories subjected to boundary
conditions in a doubled phase space. In this paper we recast this expression in
terms of an integral over a set of initial-valued trajectories. These
trajectories are monitored by a filter that collects only the appropriate
contributions to the semiclassical approximation. This framework is suitable
for the study of bosonic dynamics in n modes with fixed total number of
particles. We exemplify the method for a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a
triple-well potential, providing a detailed discussion on the accuracy and
efficiency of the procedure.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figure
Rutherford scattering with radiation damping
We study the effect of radiation damping on the classical scattering of
charged particles. Using a perturbation method based on the Runge-Lenz vector,
we calculate radiative corrections to the Rutherford cross section, and the
corresponding energy and angular momentum losses.Comment: Latex, 11 pages, 4 eps figure
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Remembering the forgotten child: the role of immune checkpoint inhibition in patients with human immunod eficiency virus and cancer.
Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have a high risk of developing virally-mediated cancers. These tumors have several features that could make them vulnerable to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) including, but not limited to, increased expression of the CTLA-4 and PD-1 checkpoints on their CD4+ T cells. Even so, HIV-positive patients are generally excluded from immunotherapy cancer clinical trials due to safety concerns. Hence, only case series have been published regarding HIV-positive patients with cancer who received ICIs, but these reports of individuals with a variety of malignancies demonstrate that ICIs have significant activity, exceeding a 65% objective response rate in Kaposi sarcoma. Furthermore, high-grade immune toxicities occurred in fewer than 10% of treated patients. The existing data suggest that the underlying biologic mechanisms that mediate development of cancer in HIV-infected patients should render them susceptible to ICI treatment. Preliminary, albeit limited, clinical experience indicates that checkpoint blockade is both safe and efficacious in this setting. Additional clinical trials that include HIV-positive patients with cancer are urgently needed
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