Unraveling Bulk and Grain Boundary Electrical Properties in La0.8Sr0.2Mn1-yO3 Thin Films

Grain boundaries in Sr-doped LaMnO3 thin films have been shown to strongly influence the electronic and oxygen mass transport properties, being able to profoundly modify the nature of the material. The unique behaviour of the grain boundaries can be correlated with substantial modifications of the cation concentration at the interfaces, which can be tuned by changing the overall cationic ratio in the films. In this work, we study the electronic properties of La0.8Sr0.2Mn1-yO3 thin films with variable Mn content. The influence of the cationic composition on the grain boundary and grain bulk electronic properties is elucidated by studying the manganese valence state evolution using spectroscopy techniques and by confronting the electronic properties of epitaxial and polycrystalline films. Substantial differences in the electronic conduction mechanism are found in the presence of grain boundaries and depending on the manganese content. Moreover, the unique defect chemistry of the nanomaterial is elucidated by measuring the electrical resistance of the thin films as a function of oxygen partial pressure, disclosing the importance of the cationic local non-stoichiometry on the thin films behavior

Potential for Physical Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise and Flooding

Social Vulnerability Panelists, moderated by Lynda Butler, will share their perspectives and analyses on the intersections among race, law, science and environmental justice in community vulnerability assessments

Chiral symmetry breaking from five dimensional spaces

Based on the AdS/CFT correspondence we study the breaking of the chiral symmetry in QCD using a simple five dimensional model. The model gives definite predictions for the spectrum of vector mesons, their decay constants and interactions as a function of one parameter related to the quark condensate. We calculate the coefficients $L_i$ of the low-energy QCD chiral lagrangian, as well as other physical quantities for the pions. All the predictions are shown to be in good agreement with the experimental data. We also show that they are robust under modifications of the 5D metric in the IR, and that some of them arise as a consequence of the higher-dimensional gauge symmetry. For example, at the tree-level, we find $M_\rho \simeq \sqrt{3} g_{\rho\pi\pi} F_\pi$, $F_\rho\simeq \sqrt{3} F_\pi$ and BR($a_1\to \pi\gamma)=0$.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

MAD water: integrating modular, adaptive, and decentralized approaches for water security in the climate change era

Centralized water infrastructure has, over the last century, brought safe and reliable drinking water to much of the world. But climate change, combined with aging and underfunded infrastructure, is increasingly testing the limits of—and reversing gains made by—this approach. To address these growing strains and gaps, we must assess and advance alternatives to centralized water provision and sanitation. The water literature is rife with examples of systems that are neither centralized nor networked, yet meet water needs of local communities in important ways, including: informal and hybrid water systems, decentralized water provision, community-based water management, small drinking water systems, point-of-use treatment, small-scale water vendors, and packaged water. Our work builds on these literatures by proposing a convergence approach that can integrate and explore the benefits and challenges of modular, adaptive, and decentralized (“MAD”) water provision and sanitation, often foregrounding important advances in engineering technology. We further provide frameworks to evaluate justice, economic feasibility, governance, human health, and environmental sustainability as key parameters of MAD water system performance

Soil biotic and abiotic effects on seedling growth exhibit context-dependent interactions: evidence from a multi-country experiment on Pinus contorta invasion

The success of invasive plants is influenced by many interacting factors, but evaluating multiple possible mechanisms of invasion success and elucidating the relative importance of abiotic and biotic drivers is challenging, and therefore rarely achieved.We used live, sterile or inoculated soil from different soil origins (native range and introduced range plantation; and invaded plots spanning three different countries) in a fully factorial design to simultaneously examine the influence of soil origin and soil abiotic and biotic factors on the growth of invasive Pinus contorta.Our results displayed significant context dependency in that certain soil abiotic conditions in the introduced ranges (soil nitrogen, phosphorus or carbon content) influenced responses to inoculation treatments.Our findings do not support the enemy release hypothesis or the enhanced mutualism hypothesis, as biota from native and plantation ranges promoted growth similarly. Instead, our results support the missed mutualism hypothesis, as biota from invasive ranges were the least beneficial for seedling growth. Our study provides a novel perspective on how variation in soil abiotic factors can influence plant-soil feedbacks for an invasive tree across broad biogeographical contexts

Defecting or not defecting: how to "read" human behavior during cooperative games by EEG measurements

Understanding the neural mechanisms responsible for human social interactions is difficult, since the brain activities of two or more individuals have to be examined simultaneously and correlated with the observed social patterns. We introduce the concept of hyper-brain network, a connectivity pattern representing at once the information flow among the cortical regions of a single brain as well as the relations among the areas of two distinct brains. Graph analysis of hyper-brain networks constructed from the EEG scanning of 26 couples of individuals playing the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma reveals the possibility to predict non-cooperative interactions during the decision-making phase. The hyper-brain networks of two-defector couples have significantly less inter-brain links and overall higher modularity - i.e. the tendency to form two separate subgraphs - than couples playing cooperative or tit-for-tat strategies. The decision to defect can be "read" in advance by evaluating the changes of connectivity pattern in the hyper-brain network

Safe, High Power / Voltage Battery Design Challenges

NASA seeks safe, high performing battery module designs that can deliver 3C discharge rates continuously, achieve 160 Wh/kg, and is passively propagation resistant to a single cell thermal runaway event. One solution is presented that uses a patented oscillating heat pipe technology for thermal management. Combined with light weight packaging and a new commercially available gas permeable vent port, all 5 preliminary safety tests results performed to date are showing ample margins

The Astropy Problem

The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots, self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the sustainability of general purpose astronomical software

Safety of coronary revascularization deferral based on fractional flow reserve and instantaneous wave-free ratio in patients with chronic kidney disease

Background: The safety of revascularization deferral according to pressure wire examination in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) has not been fully established. Methods: From a retrospective cohort of 439 patients in whom revascularization was deferred after physiological assessment, we examined the incidence of patient-oriented composite endpoint (POCE: all-cause death, myocardial infarction [MI] and unplanned revascularization) in patients with CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) and without it. Results: At 4 years of follow-up, the primary endpoint was met by 25.0% of patients with CKD and by 14.4% of patients without CKD (hazard ratio [HR] 1.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.96–2.53, p = 0.071). The incidence of POCE was even higher in patients with an eGFR < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2: 43.8% (HR 3.10, 95% CI 1.08–8.92, p = 0.036). However, no differences were observed in the incidence of MI (4.2% vs. 4.4% in non-CKD), target vessel revascularization (5.8% vs. 5.9%), and target vessel MI (0.8% vs. 4.6%). Conclusions: Patients with CKD in whom pressure-wire evaluation led to deferral of coronary revascularization develop more POCE in the long term, compared to patients with normal renal function. However, the increase in POCE in patients with CKD was seldom related to deferred vessels, thus suggesting an epiphenomenon of an intrinsically higher cardiovascular risk of CKD patients

Gene co-expression architecture in peripheral blood in a cohort of remitted first-episode schizophrenia patients

A better understanding of schizophrenia subtypes is necessary to stratify the patients according to clinical attributes. To explore the genomic architecture of schizophrenia symptomatology, we analyzed blood co-expression modules and their association with clinical data from patients in remission after a first episode of schizophrenia. In total, 91 participants of the 2EPS project were included. Gene expression was assessed using the Clariom S Human Array. Weighted-gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was applied to identify modules of co-expressed genes and to test its correlation with global functioning, clinical symptomatology, and premorbid adjustment. Among the 25 modules identified, six modules were significantly correlated with clinical data. These modules could be clustered in two groups according to their correlation with clinical data. Hub genes in each group showing overlap with risk genes for schizophrenia were enriched in biological processes related to metabolic processes, regulation of gene expression, cellular localization and protein transport, immune processes, and neurotrophin pathways. Our results indicate that modules with significant associations with clinical data showed overlap with gene sets previously identified in differential gene-expression analysis in brain, indicating that peripheral tissues could reveal pathogenic mechanisms. Hub genes involved in these modules revealed multiple signaling pathways previously related to schizophrenia, which may represent the complex interplay in the pathological mechanisms behind the disease. These genes could represent potential targets for the development of peripheral biomarkers underlying illness traits in clinical remission stages after a first episode of schizophrenia