1,082 research outputs found
Resolving the opal paradox in the glacial Eastern Equatorial Pacific: Implications for the biological pump of Carbon
Revealing the role of electrons and phonons in the ultrafast recovery of charge density wave correlations in 1-TiSe
Using time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with selective
near- and mid-infrared photon excitations, we investigate the femtosecond
dynamics of the charge density wave (CDW) phase in 1-TiSe, as well as
the dynamics of CDW fluctuations at 240 K. In the CDW phase, we observe the
coherent oscillation of the CDW amplitude mode. At 240 K, we single out an
ultrafast component in the recovery of the CDW correlations, which we explain
as the manifestation of electron-hole correlations. Our momentum-resolved study
of femtosecond electron dynamics supports a mechanism for the CDW phase
resulting from the cooperation between the interband Coulomb interaction, the
mechanism of excitonic insulator phase formation, and electron-phonon coupling.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Tracking primary thermalization events in graphene with photoemission at extreme timescales
Direct and inverse Auger scattering are amongst the primary processes that
mediate the thermalization of hot carriers in semiconductors. These two
processes involve the annihilation or generation of an electron-hole pair by
exchanging energy with a third carrier, which is either accelerated or
decelerated. Inverse Auger scattering is generally suppressed, as the
decelerated carriers must have excess energies higher than the band gap itself.
In graphene, which is gapless, inverse Auger scattering is instead predicted to
be dominant at the earliest time delays. Here, femtosecond
extreme-ultraviolet pulses are used to detect this imbalance, tracking both the
number of excited electrons and their kinetic energy with time- and
angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Over a time window of approximately
25 fs after absorption of the pump pulse, we observe an increase in conduction
band carrier density and a simultaneous decrease of the average carrier kinetic
energy, revealing that relaxation is in fact dominated by inverse Auger
scattering. Measurements of carrier scattering at extreme timescales by
photoemission will serve as a guide to ultrafast control of electronic
properties in solids for PetaHertz electronics.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
Population Inversion in Monolayer and Bilayer Graphene
The recent demonstration of saturable absorption and negative optical
conductivity in the Terahertz range in graphene has opened up new opportunities
for optoelectronic applications based on this and other low dimensional
materials. Recently, population inversion across the Dirac point has been
observed directly by time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
(tr-ARPES), revealing a relaxation time of only ~ 130 femtoseconds. This
severely limits the applicability of single layer graphene to, for example,
Terahertz light amplification. Here we use tr-ARPES to demonstrate long-lived
population inversion in bilayer graphene. The effect is attributed to the small
band gap found in this compound. We propose a microscopic model for these
observations and speculate that an enhancement of both the pump photon energy
and the pump fluence may further increase this lifetime.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure
Evidence of reduced surface electron-phonon scattering in the conduction band of Bi_{2}Se_{3} by non-equilibrium ARPES
The nature of the Dirac quasiparticles in topological insulators calls for a
direct investigation of the electron-phonon scattering at the \emph{surface}.
By comparing time-resolved ARPES measurements of the TI Bi_{2}Se_{3} with
different probing depths we show that the relaxation dynamics of the electronic
temperature of the conduction band is much slower at the surface than in the
bulk. This observation suggests that surface phonons are less effective in
cooling the electron gas in the conduction band.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Host association of cryptosporidium parvum populations infecting domestic ruminants in Spain
A stock of 148 Cryptosporidium parvum DNA extracts from lambs and goat kids selected from a previous study examining the occurrence of Cryptosporidium species and GP60 subtypes in diarrheic lambs and goat kids in northeastern Spain was further characterized by a multilocus fragment typing approach with six mini- and microsatellite loci. Various degrees of polymorphism were seen at all but the MS5 locus, although all markers exhibited two major alleles accounting for more than 75% of isolates. A total of 56 multilocus subtypes (MLTs) from lambs (48 MLTs) and goat kids (11 MLTs) were identified. Individual isolates with mixed MLTs were detected on more than 25% of the farms, but most MLTs (33) were distinctive for individual farms, revealing the endemicity of cryptosporidial infections on sheep and goat farms. Comparison with a previous study in calves in northern Spain using the same six-locus subtyping scheme showed the presence of host-associated alleles, differences in the identity of major alleles, and very little overlap in MLTs between C. parvum isolates from lambs and those from calves (1 MLT) or isolates from lambs and those from goat kids (3 MLTs). The Hunter-Gaston index of the multilocus technique was 0.976 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.970 to 0.982), which supports its high discriminatory power for strain typing and epidemiological tracking. Population analyses revealed the presence of two host-associated subpopulations showing epidemic clonality among the C. parvum isolates infecting calves and lambs/goat kids, respectively, although evidence of genetic flow between the two subpopulations was also detected
Occurrence and genetic diversity of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in urban wastewater treatment plants in north-eastern Spain
This study was designed to investigate the presence and removal efficiency of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in wastewater treatment plants at the 20 most populated towns in Aragón (north-eastern Spain). Samples of influent and effluent wastewater and dewatered sewage sludge were collected seasonally from 23 plants and processed according to USEPA Method 1623. All samples from raw and treated wastewater tested positive for Giardia, at an average concentration of 3247 ± 2039 cysts/l and 50 ± 28 cysts/l, respectively. Cryptosporidium was identified in most samples from both raw (85/92) and treated (78/92) wastewaters in a concentration significantly lower than Giardia, at both influent (96 ± 105 oocysts/l) and effluent samples (31 ± 70 oocysts/l) (P < 0.001). The (oo)cyst counts peaked in summer in most plants. The removal efficiency was higher for Giardia (1.06-log to 2.34-log) than Cryptosporidium (0.35-log to 1.8-log). Overall, high removal efficiency values were found for Giardia after secondary treatment based on activated sludge, while tertiary treatment (microfiltration, chlorination and/or ultraviolet irradiation) was needed to achieve the greatest removal or inactivation of Cryptosporidium. Most samples of treated sludge were positive for Giardia (92/92) and Cryptosporidium (45/92), at an average concentration of 20–593 cysts/g and 2–44 oocyst/g, respectively. The molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts were attempted at the SSU rRNA/GP60 and bg/tpi loci, respectively. G. duodenalis sub-assemblage AII was identified in all plants, with a large proportion of samples (15/47) harboring mixed assemblages (AII + B). Nine Cryptosporidium species and six subtypes were identified, with C. parvum IIaA15G2R1 being the most prevalent. The presence of significant numbers of (oo)cysts in samples of final effluents and treated sludge reveals the limited efficacy of conventional treatments in removing (oo)cysts and highlights the potential environmental impact and public health risks associated with disposal and reclamation of wastewater
Occurrence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in raw and finished drinking water in north-eastern Spain
This paper collects the first large-sample-size study on the presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts in drinking water plants at the 20 most populated towns in Aragón (north-eastern Spain). Samples of influent raw water and effluent finished water were collected from each plant during different seasons and processed according to USEPA Method 1623. Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts were detected in samples collected from 55% and 70% plants, respectively, with nine plants being positive for both protozoa and only four plants being negative over the study period. Both parasites were identified in the raw water throughout the year, with a lower frequency in autumn and a peak in winter, at a mean concentration of 67 ± 38 oocysts per 100 l and 125 ± 241 cysts per 100 l. The turbidity of raw water was not related to the presence or concentration of (oo)cysts, and the (oo)cyst removal efficiency was not related to the type of water treatment. One or both pathogens were identified in the finished water in 7 out of 11 plants with a conventional treatment process (coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection processes) compared to 4 out of 9 plants that did not apply one of the pre-chlorination treatment steps. Protozoa were detected in the finished water of positive plants at a mean concentration of 88 ± 55 oocysts per 100 l and 37 ± 41 cysts per 100 l, and most of them excluded propidium iodide so were considered potentially viable. The ubiquity of these parasites in the drinking water sources and the inefficiency of conventional water treatment in reducing/inactivating them may present a serious public health issue in this geographical area
Evolution of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural (F) in fortified wines submitted to overheating conditions
As furfural (F) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) are essentially formed from sugar dehydration, especially in food submitted to heat, they can be found in beverages, as well as fortified sweet wines. In order to assess the impact of temperature on Madeira winemaking, three traditional varieties of Madeira wines (Malvasia, Sercial and Tinta Negra Mole) were studied to evaluate the F and HMF contents. The wines were produced by two vinification processes, following traditional and modern methodologies, heated at standard conditions (30 °C and 45 °C, for 4 months) and compared with the same wines submitted to overheating conditions (55 °C, for 4 months). The RP-HPLC-DAD methodology used for the control of F and HMF during the process showed no significant changes in the wines maintained at 30 °C (canteiro) and a noticeable but controlled increase in the wines heated at 45 °C (estufagem) where values up to about 150 mg/L of HMF could be found in sweet wines. The strong relation of this compound with the sugar content and baking temperature stood out in the wines submitted to overheating conditions where values higher than 1 g/L could be found for sweeter wines, with HMF level being in general higher than F.
The results clearly suggest that the amount of HMF in these fortified wines can be easily controlled when submitted to adequate conditions of heating during estufagem and storage. Furthermore, different temperatures for the baking of sweet and dry wines may be considered
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