2,342 research outputs found
Drought influence over radial growth of Mexican conifers inhabiting mesic and xeric sites
Drought is a major constraint of forest productivity and tree growth across diverse habitat types. In this study, we investigated the drought responses of four conifer species growing within two locations of differing elevation and climatic conditions in northern Mexico. Two species were selected at a mesic site (Cupressus lusitanica Mill., Abies durangensis Martínez) and the other two species were sampled at a xeric site (Pinus engelmannii Carr., Pinus cembroides Zucc.). Using a dendrochronological approach, we correlated the radial-growth series of each species and the climatic variables. All study species positively responded to wet-cool conditions during winter and spring. Despite the close proximity of species at a mesic site, A. durangensis had high responsiveness to hydroclimatic variability, but C. lusitanica was not responsive. At the xeric site, P. engelmannii and P. cembroides were very responsive to drought severity, differentiated only by the longer time scale of the response to accumulated drought of P. engelmannii. The responsiveness to hydroclimate and drought of these tree species seems to be modulated by site conditions, or by the functional features of each species that are still little explored. These findings indicate that differentiating between mesic and xeric habitats is a too coarse approach in diverse forests with a high topographic heterogeneity.Fil: Pompa García, Marín. Universidad Juárez; MéxicoFil: González Cásares, Marcos. Universidad Juárez; MéxicoFil: Acosta Hernández, Andrea C.. Universidad Juárez; MéxicoFil: Camarero, Jesús Julio. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología; EspañaFil: Rodriguez Catón, Milagros Rocío. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentin
Tailoring magnetic anisotropy in epitaxial half metallic La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films
We present a detailed study on the magnetic properties, including anisotropy,
reversal fields, and magnetization reversal processes, of well characterized
half-metallic epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) thin films grown onto SrTiO3
(STO) substrates with three different surface orientations, i.e. (001), (110)
and (1-18). The latter shows step edges oriented parallel to the [110]
(in-plane) crystallographic direction. Room temperature high resolution
vectorial Kerr magnetometry measurements have been performed at different
applied magnetic field directions in the whole angular range. In general, the
magnetic properties of the LSMO films can be interpreted with just the uniaxial
term with the anisotropy axis given by the film morphology, whereas the
strength of this anisotropy depends on both structure and film thickness. In
particular, LSMO films grown on nominally flat (110)-oriented STO substrates
presents a well defined uniaxial anisotropy originated from the existence of
elongated in-plane [001]-oriented structures, whereas LSMO films grown on
nominally flat (001)-oriented STO substrates show a weak uniaxial magnetic
anisotropy with the easy axis direction aligned parallel to residual substrate
step edges. Elongated structures are also found for LSMO films grown on vicinal
STO(001) substrates. These films present a well-defined uniaxial magnetic
anisotropy with the easy axis lying along the step edges and its strength
increases with the LSMO thickness. It is remarkable that this step-induced
uniaxial anisotropy has been found for LSMO films up to 120 nm thickness. Our
results are promising for engineering novel half-metallic magnetic devices that
exploit tailored magnetic anisotropy.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 1 tabl
Surfactant effect in heteroepitaxial growth. The Pb - Co/Cu(111) case
A MonteCarlo simulations study has been performed in order to study the
effect of Pb as surfactant on the initial growth stage of Co/Cu(111). The main
characteristics of Co growing over Cu(111) face, i.e. the decorated double
layer steps, the multiple layer islands and the pools of vacancies, disappear
with the pre-evaporation of a Pb monolayer. Through MC simulations, a full
picture of these complex processes is obtained. Co quickly diffuses through the
Pb monolayer exchanging place with Cu atoms at the substrate. The exchange
process diffusion inhibits the formation of pure Co islands, reducing the
surface stress and then the formation of multilayer islands and the pools of
vacancies. On the other hand, the random exchange also suppress the nucleation
preferential sites generated by Co atoms at Cu steps, responsible of the step
decoration.Comment: 4 pages, latex, 2 figures embedded in the tex
Additive manufactured, highly resilient, elastic, and biodegradable poly(ester)urethane scaffolds with chondroinductive properties for cartilage tissue engineering
Articular cartilage was thought to be one of the first tissues to be successfully engineered. Despite the avascular and non-innervated nature of the tissue, the cells within articular cartilage - chondrocytes - account for a complex phenotype that is difficult to be maintained in vitro. The use of bone marrow-derived stromal cells (BMSCs) has emerged as a potential solution to this issue. Differentiation of BMSCs toward stable and non-hypertrophic chondrogenic phenotypes has also proved to be challenging. Moreover, hyaline cartilage presents a set of mechanical properties - relatively high Young's modulus, elasticity, and resilience - that are difficult to reproduce. Here, we report on the use of additive manufactured biodegradable poly(ester)urethane (PEU) scaffolds of two different structures (500 mu m pore size and 90 degrees or 60 degrees deposition angle) that can support the loads applied onto the knee while being highly resilient, with a permanent deformation lower than 1% after 10 compression-relaxation cycles. Moreover, these scaffolds appear to promote BMSC differentiation, as shown by the deposition of glycosaminoglycans and collagens (in particular collagen II). At gene level, BMSCs showed an upregulation of chondrogenic markers, such as collagen II and the Sox trio, to higher or similar levels than that of traditional pellet cultures, with a collagen II/collagen I relative expression of 2-3, depending on the structure of the scaffold. Moreover, scaffolds with different pore architectures influenced the differentiation process and the final BMSC phenotype. These data suggest that additive manufactured PEU scaffolds could be good candidates for cartilage tissue regeneration in combination with microfracture interventions.</p
Interplay between magnetic anisotropy and interlayer coupling in nanosecond magnetization reversal of spin-valve trilayers
The influence of magnetic anisotropy on nanosecond magnetization reversal in
coupled FeNi/Cu/Co trilayers was studied using a photoelectron emission
microscope combined with x-ray magnetic circular dicroism. In quasi-isotropic
samples the reversal of the soft FeNi layer is determined by domain wall
pinning that leads to the formation of small and irregular domains. In samples
with uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, the domains are larger and the influence of
local interlayer coupling dominates the domain structure and the reversal of
the FeNi layer
Surfactant induced smooth and symmetric interfaces in Cu/Co multilayers
In this work we studied Ag surfactant induced growth of Cu/Co multilayers.
The Cu/Co multilayers were deposited using Ag surfactant by ion beam sputtering
technique. It was found that Ag surfactant balances the asymmetry between the
surface free energy of Cu and Co. As a result, the Co-on-Cu and Cu-on-Co
interfaces become sharp and symmetric and thereby improve the thermal stability
of the multilayer. On the basis of obtained results, a mechanism leading to
symmetric and stable interfaces in Cu/Co multilayers is discussed.Comment: 7 Pages, 7 Figure
The internationalisation of the Spanish SME sector
As part of a wider research program, we analysed the theoretical framework and the recent developments of the process of internationalisation (transnationalisation) of the small- and medium-sized enterprises in Spain. The paper highlights the main trends and barriers of this internationalisation process. Methodology included document analyses, interviews, and the analyses of statistical databases
Plant height and hydraulic vulnerability to drought and cold
Understanding how plants survive drought and cold is increasingly important as plants worldwide experience dieback with drought in moist places and grow taller with warming in cold ones. Crucial in plant climate adaptation are the diameters of water-transporting conduits. Sampling 537 species across climate zones dominated by angiosperms, we find that plant size is unambiguously the main driver of conduit diameter variation. And because taller plants have wider conduits, and wider conduits within species are more vulnerable to conduction-blocking embolisms, taller conspecifics should be more vulnerable than shorter ones, a prediction we confirm with a plantation experiment. As a result, maximum plant size should be short under drought and cold, which cause embolism, or increase if these pressures relax. That conduit diameter and embolism vulnerability are inseparably related to plant size helps explain why factors that interact with conduit diameter, such as drought or warming, are altering plant heights worldwide
Earlywood and Latewood Widths of Picea chihuahuana Show Contrasting Sensitivity to Seasonal Climate
The existence of endangered tree species in Mexico necessitates an understanding of their vulnerability to the predicted climate changes (warming and drying trends). In this study, the sensitivity to climate of earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW) widths of the threatened Picea chihuahuana was determined. The response of EW and LW to climate variables (maximum temperature, minimum temperature, precipitation, evaporation, and a drought index) was analyzed by means of correlation analysis using dendrochronology over the period of 1950–2015. EW and LW production were enhanced by cool and wet conditions during winter prior to the start of growing season. During the growing season, EW and LW production increased in response to cool spring and summer conditions, respectively; temperatures and year-round evaporation, excluding summer and the previous drought in the period prior to the growing season. EW was sensitive to seasonal drought, which is a concern considering the predicted aridification trends for the study area. These results provide further knowledge on the dendroecological potential of Picea chihuahuana.Funding was provided by CONACYT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología) through
the CB-2013/222522 project. Many thanks to the community-based site known as “Ejido el Brillante”, and we
also thank the forester responsible for the area (Javier Bretado) for supporting the data gathering. We thank the
Dirección General de Vida Silvestre, SEMARNAT (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales), Mexico,
for providing technical facilities. Gabriel Sagüesa contributed with sample processing. The authors are grateful to
the editors and anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)
Substrate-induced magnetic anisotropy in La0.7Sr 0.3MnO3 epitaxial thin films grown onto (110) and (118) SrTiO3 substrates
We show a detailed magneto-optical Kerr study at room temperature of well characterized epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) thin films grown onto (110) and (118) SrTiO3 substrates. The films present a well-defined uniaxial (two-fold) magnetic anisotropy ascribed to substrate-induced anisotropy. In particular, the in-plane uniaxial anisotropy in the(110)-oriented LSMO films originates from the existence of elongated in-plane [001]-oriented structures. Similar elongated structures, parallel to the [110] crystallographic direction, are found for LSMO films grown on (118) STO surfaces. In all films, such a uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is characterized by an easy axis lying along the elongated structures. Furthermore, the vectorial-resolved hysteresis loops as a function of the in-plane applied field direction are interpreted in terms of rotation and propagation and nucleation of magnetic domains processes. Our results demonstrate the tailoring of magnetic anisotropy by exploiting the substrate-induced anisotropy in epitaxial thin filmsThis work was supported in part by the Spanish MICINN through Project No. CSD2007-00010 and by the Comunidad de Madrid through Project No. S2009/MAT-1726. P.P. thanks the European Science Foundation (ESF) through the activity entitled ’Thin Films for Novel Oxide Devices’ (http://www.ims.tnw.utwente.nl/thiox/) for partial financial support through exchange grant
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