Lorentz TEM imaging of stripe structures embedded in a soft magnetic matrix

N\'eel walls in soft magnetic NiFe/NiFeGa hybrid stripe structures surrounded by a NiFe film are investigated by high resolution Lorentz transmission electron microscopic imaging. An anti-parallel orientation of magnetization in 1000 nm wide neighboring unirradiated-irradiated stripes is observed by forming high angle domain walls during magnetization reversal. Upon downscaling the stripe structure size from 1000 nm to 200 nm a transition from a discrete domain pattern to an effective magnetic medium is observed for external magnetic field reversal. This transition is associated with vanishing ability of hosting high angle domain walls between adjacent stripes. The investigation also demonstrated the potentiality of Lorentz microscopy to image periodic stripe structures well under micron length-scale.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Endometriosis and ART outcome: a retrospective analysis

Background: Endometriosis affects up to 30-40% of women seeking fertility treatment and is known to reduce fecundity. There remains a debate on the effect of endometriosis on the IVF outcome, with live birth not reported in most studies. This study looks at the impact of endometriosis on live birth rates after IVF and compares the chances of success with those without endometriosis.Methods: Retrospective analysis of women who underwent IVF at our institution for 2 years were included. Multiple factor infertility, ovulation disorders and donor program were excluded. The outcomes were compared for 4 cohorts - women with endometriosis, male factor infertility, tubal factor infertility and unexplained infertility. The primary outcome was live birth rate. Other outcome measures were total dose of gonadotropins used, mean number of oocytes collected, M2 oocyte rate, fertilization rate, implantation rate, and clinical pregnancy rate.Results: Patients diagnosed with endometriosis had lower mean number of oocytes collected (6.86 vs 7.69, 7.94, 7.45) and lower mean number of M2 oocytes (5.31 vs 6.21, 6.44, 5.91) but was not statistically significant. Endometriosis patients required significantly higher dose of gonadotropins when compared to controls (5365.79 IU;  p-0.001). The per ET implantation rate (10.4% vs 17.8%, 22.5%, 19.2%), clinical pregnancy rate (8% vs 15%, 20%, 17%), live birth rate (7.92% vs 16.6%, 15.14%, 12%) and the cumulative live birth rate (27.9% vs 46.5%, 60%, 46.7%) were significantly less in women with endometriosis (p-0.039, p-0.021, p-0.001, p-0.039 respectively) and the effect is more pronounced with increasing disease severity.Conclusions: Endometriosis affects all aspects of IVF outcomes including folliculogenesis, embryo development and implantation. Though ovarian factor can be overruled by increasing the stimulation doses as in our study, methods to improve the implantation rates should be thought about in future.

Engineering magnetic domain-wall structure in permalloy nanowires

Using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy we investigate the behavior of domain walls pinned at non-topographic defects in Cr(3 nm)/Permalloy(10 nm)/Cr(5 nm) nanowires of width 500 nm. The pinning sites consist of linear defects where magnetic properties are modified by a Ga ion probe with diameter ~ 10 nm using a focused ion beam microscope. We study the detailed change of the modified region (which is on the scale of the focused ion spot) using electron energy loss spectroscopy and differential phase contrast imaging on an aberration (Cs) corrected scanning transmission electron microscope. The signal variation observed indicates that the region modified by the irradiation corresponds to ~ 40-50 nm despite the ion probe size of only 10 nm. Employing the Fresnel mode of Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, we show that it is possible to control the domain wall structure and its depinning strength not only via the irradiation dose but also the line orientation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Applie

Učinak 1-okten-3-ol kairomona preživača na ličinke krpelja iz porodice Ixodidae.

In vitro evaluations were made to evaluate the efficacy of 1-octen-3-ol on five ixodid larval stages using Petridish bioassay. The species of the ruminant ticks which are common in Indian sub continent including Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, Haemaphysalis bispinosa, Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides, Hyalomma marginatum and dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus were made use in the current study. Amongst the ruminant tick larvae tested with 1-octen-3-ol, maximum attraction of 72 per cent and 71 per cent was recorded for H. marginatum and R. microplus respectively while H. bispinosa and R. haemaphysaloides showed 52 and 50 per cent attraction respectively. 1-octen-3-ol being a compound found characteristically in bovine odour failed to evoke any response (questing / attraction) in the brown dog tick.U radu je istražena in vitro učinkovitost 1-okten-3-ola, sastojka karakterističnog mirisa goveda, na ličinke pet različitih vrsta krpelja preživača koji se javljaju u Indiji: Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, Haemaphysalisž bispinosa, Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides, Hyalomma marginatum, Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Među pretraženim krpeljima privlačnost u iznosu od 72% bila je dokazana za krpelja H. marginatum te 71% za krpelja R. microplus. Manja privlačnost zabilježena je za H. bispinosa i R. haemaphysaloides (52 i 50%). Isti sastojak uopće ne privlači krpelja R. sanguineus

Fabrication of high quality plan-view TEM specimens using the focused ion beam

We describe a technique using a focused ion beam instrument to fabricate high quality plan-view specimens for transmission electron microscopy studies. The technique is simple, site-specific and is capable of fabricating multiple large, >100 μm2 electron transparent windows within epitaxially-grown thin films. A film of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 is used to demonstrate the technique and its structural and functional properties are surveyed by high resolution imaging, electron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and Lorentz electron microscopy. The window is demonstrated to have good thickness uniformity and a low defect density that does not impair the film’s Curie temperature. The technique will enable the study of in–plane structural and functional properties of a variety of epitaxial thin film systems

Current Status of Solar Home Systems in Bangladesh

No abstract available

Performance studies of the Belle II Silicon Vertex Detector with data taken at the DESY test beam in April 2016

Belle II is a multipurpose detector currently under construction which will be operated at the next generation B-factory SuberKEKB in Japan. Its main devices for the vertex reconstruction are the Silicon Vertex Detector (SVD) and the Pixel Detector (PXD). In April 2016 a sector of the Belle II SVD and PXD have been tested in a beam of high energetic electrons at the test beam facility at DESY Hamburg (Germany). We report here the results for the hit efficiency estimation and the measurement of the resolution for the Belle II silicon vertex etector. We find that the hit efficiencies are on average above 99.5% and that the measured resolution is within the expectations