Wide range and tunable linear TMR sensor using two exchange pinned electrodes

A magnetic tunnel junction sensor is proposed, with both the detection and the reference layers pinned by IrMn. Using the differences in the blocking temperatures of the IrMn films with different thicknesses, crossed anisotropies can be induced between the detection and the reference electrodes. The pinning of the sensing electrode ensures a linear and reversible output. It also allows tuning both the sensitivity and the linear range of the sensor. The authors show that the sensitivity varies linearly with the ferromagnetic thickness of the detection electrode. It is demonstrated that an increased thickness leads to a rise of sensitivity and a reduction of the operating range

A novel interpretation of measured and simulated PLP data

Figure 1 - Simulated ν dependency of the observed kp in vinyl acetate PLP at 323 K. Case 1 (♦): chain length independent head-to-tail prop., Case 2 (■): chain length dependent head-to-tail prop., Case 3 (●): chain length dependent head-to-tail, head-to-head, tail-to-tail, and tail-to-head prop., and Case 4 (▲): Case 3 with backbiting by head and tail radicals, and mid-chain prop. Pulsed laser polymerization (PLP) is an interesting technique to study individual reactions.1-4 In PLP, photoinitiator radical fragments are generated at laser pulses with a frequency ν (or dark time Δt = ν-1). Depending on the PLP conditions and the monomer type, the molar mass distribution (MMD) can possess specific characteristics, allowing the determination of intrinsic rate coefficients. Most known is that under well-chosen conditions a multimodal MMD with inflection points Lj (j = 1, 2, …) is obtained, allowing the determination of the propagation rate coefficient kp ([M]0: initial monomer concentration): (1) In this contribution, kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) modeling is applied to allow a further understanding and exploitation of PLP. For PLP of acrylates, regression analysis to low frequency inflection point data at various solvent volume fractions is proposed as an additional new method to estimate the backbiting rate coefficient kbb.5 Moreover, it is demonstrated that photodissociation, chain initiation and termination reactivities can be extracted from the complete PLP MMD.6 For the first time, the ratio of MMD peak heights has been used for the fast and reliable estimation of the photodissociation quantum yield,Φ.7 For PLP of vinyl acetate a unique combination of ab initio calculated rate coefficients and kMC simulations is considered to explain the experimental8 ν dependency of the observed kp (cf. Case 4 in Figure 1; Eq. (1) with kpobs). Via a stepwise extension of the kMC model (cf. 4 cases in Figure 1), the ν dependency is attributed to backbiting of tail radicals formed via head-to-head propagation.9 In contrast to acrylates, backbiting of head radicals is shown to be kinetically insignificant in VAc PLP, further highlighting the chemical difference between both vinyl monomer types. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

How increasingly powerful PRE modeling tools allow to unlock the full potential of FRP and RDRP in aqueous emulsion

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Consensus Paper: Cerebellum and Emotion

Over the past three decades, insights into the role of the cerebellum in emotional processing have substantially increased. Indeed, methodological refinements in cerebellar lesion studies and major technological advancements in the field of neuroscience are in particular responsible to an exponential growth of knowledge on the topic. It is timely to review the available data and to critically evaluate the current status of the role of the cerebellum in emotion and related domains. The main aim of this article is to present an overview of current facts and ongoing debates relating to clinical, neuroimaging, and neurophysiological findings on the role of the cerebellum in key aspects of emotion. Experts in the field of cerebellar research discuss the range of cerebellar contributions to emotion in nine topics. Topics include the role of the cerebellum in perception and recognition, forwarding and encoding of emotional information, and the experience and regulation of emotional states in relation to motor, cognitive, and social behaviors. In addition, perspectives including cerebellar involvement in emotional learning, pain, emotional aspects of speech, and neuropsychiatric aspects of the cerebellum in mood disorders are briefly discussed. Results of this consensus paper illustrate how theory and empirical research have converged to produce a composite picture of brain topography, physiology, and function that establishes the role of the cerebellum in many aspects of emotional processing

To pay or not to pay? Business owners’ tax morale:testing a neo-institutional framework in a transition environment

In order to understand how the environment influences business owner/managers’ attitudes towards tax morale, we build a theoretical model based on a neo-institutionalist framework. Our model combines three complementary perspectives on institutions—normative, cultural–cognitive and regulatory–instrumental. This enables a broader understanding of factors that influence business owner–managers’ attitudes towards tax evasion. We test the resulting hypotheses using regression analysis on survey data on business owner/managers in Latvia—a transition country, which has undergone massive institutional changes since it was part of the Soviet Union over 25 years ago. We find that legitimacy of the tax authorities and the government (normative dimension), feeling of belonging to the nation (cultural–cognitive dimension) and perceptions of the risk and severity of punishment (regulatory–instrumental dimension) are all associated with higher tax morale for business owners and managers

Predicting olfactory receptor neuron responses from odorant structure

Background Olfactory receptors work at the interface between the chemical world of volatile molecules and the perception of scent in the brain. Their main purpose is to translate chemical space into information that can be processed by neural circuits. Assuming that these receptors have evolved to cope with this task, the analysis of their coding strategy promises to yield valuable insight in how to encode chemical information in an efficient way. Results We mimicked olfactory coding by modeling responses of primary olfactory neurons to small molecules using a large set of physicochemical molecular descriptors and artificial neural networks. We then tested these models by recording in vivo receptor neuron responses to a new set of odorants and successfully predicted the responses of five out of seven receptor neurons. Correlation coefficients ranged from 0.66 to 0.85, demonstrating the applicability of our approach for the analysis of olfactory receptor activation data. The molecular descriptors that are best-suited for response prediction vary for different receptor neurons, implying that each receptor neuron detects a different aspect of chemical space. Finally, we demonstrate that receptor responses themselves can be used as descriptors in a predictive model of neuron activation. Conclusions The chemical meaning of molecular descriptors helps understand structure-response relationships for olfactory receptors and their 'receptive fields'. Moreover, it is possible to predict receptor neuron activation from chemical structure using machine-learning techniques, although this is still complicated by a lack of training data

The effect of mirodenafil on the penile erection and corpus cavernosum in the rat model of cavernosal nerve injury

Impotence is one of the common complications after the radical prostatectomy. One of the main reasons of this complication is due to the dysfunction of the veins in corpus cavernosum. Recent studies have shown that the erectile function is improved after the long-term therapy of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor among patients with post-prostatectomy erectile dysfunction. In this study, we evaluated the effects of mirodenafil on the penile erection and corpus cavernosum tissues in the rat model of cavernosal nerve injury. Rats were divided into four groups: (1) control group, (2) bilateral cavernosal nerve injury group, (3) mirodenafil 10 mg therapy group after the nerve injury and (4) mirodenafil 20 mg therapy group after the nerve injury. After we identified the nerve from the pelvic nerve complex on the lateral side of the prostate, the rats in the control group were sutured without causing any nerve injury and in other groups we damaged the nerve by compressing it with a vessel clamp. Then, 10 and 20 mg kg−1 of mirodenafil were orally administered to two experimental groups. After 8 weeks, the intracavernosal pressure (ICP) was recorded. The immunohistochemical staining and western blot were performed, and the effect of mirodenafil on the expression of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) was evaluated through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The ICP of nerve-injured group was decreased compared with the control group; however, the ICP of the mirodenafil-administered groups was improved compared with the nerve-injured group. The Masson's trichrome staining confirmed that the smooth muscle (SM) component was increased in the mirodenafil-administered groups. The nitric oxide synthase expression and cGMP of mirodenafil-administered groups was increased compared with the nerve-injured group. Long-term therapy of mirodenafil may improve the erectile function after the radical prostatectomy by preserving the SM content and inhibiting the fibrosis of the corpus cavernosum