Exploring high temperature magnetic order in CeTi_1-xSc_xGe

Most of magnetic transitions related to Ce ordering are found below T_ord~12K. Among the few cases exceeding that temperature, two types of behaviors can be distinguished. One of them is related to the rare cases of Ce binary compounds formed in BCC structures, with a quartet ground state, whose degeneracy is reduced by undergoing different types of transitions mostly structural. The other group shows evidences of itinerant character with the outstanding example of CeRh_3B_2 showing the highest T_ord=115K. The second highest ordering temperature has been reported for CeScGe with T_ord=47K, but the nature of this magnetic state has not been investigated very deeply. In order to shed more light into this unusual high temperature ordering we studied the structural, magnetic, transport and thermal properties of CeTi_1-xSc_xGe alloys in the stability range of the CeScSi-type structure 0.25<x<1 This system presents a rich variety of magnetic behaviors along this concentration range, with the magnetic ordering growing from ferromagnetic (FM) T_C~7K up to an antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition at T_N=47K. The different regions show the following characteristics: i) on the Ti rich side (0.25<x<0.50) it exhibits a FM ground state (GS) with large saturation magnetization values M_sat up to ~1.15 mu_B. ii) Around x=0.60, the first crystal electric field excited doublet starts to contribute to the GS magnetic properties. Furthermore an AFM component with a connected metamagnetic transition appears. iii) At x=0.65 a clear change in the GS nature is associated to a critical point above which the GS properties can be described like for an itinerant system (with decreasing M_sat) and an effective GS degeneracy N_eff=4. iv) For x>0.65, the magnetic phase boundary splits into two transitions, with an intermediate phase presenting incommensurate spin density waves features.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

GENDER DYSPHORIA: A MEDICAL AND ETHICAL PERPLEXITY AS DISTINCT FROM REALITY AND THE RATIONAL APPROACH FOR MUSLIM YOUNG PEOPLE

Gender dysphoria (GD)-perceived gender identity and the biological sex has been a wholly enigma and a source of contention between experts of various disciplines since long. This is a narrative review of the medical literature utilizing PubMed, Scopus, and Web of science databases, on the social status of GD patients, their therapeutic options, as well as the medical and ethical debate on GD that are of especial interest to the Muslim readers. Gender dysphoric patients or transgender people have a long history of social discrimination, marginalization, abuse, and neglect all around the world. Currently, large scale social developments supporting of transgender rights are rapidly underway in the west. Clinical evidence-based guidelines have also been published and are available for the management of GD, albeit with some medical and ethical concerns. On the other hand, the transgender community is continued to suffer profoundly in the developing and majority of Muslim nations, due to generalized unawareness, neglect, cultural and religious boundaries on this issue. Currently, Muslim youth or young adults are showing passionate interest in GD and are actively seeking information to comprehend its complexities, but they face more dilemma on this matter than the people in the West. This article addresses and discusses key transgender issues and controversies and provides a logical explanation that demonstrates that GD is real medical condition needing attention and that its treatment guidelines are justified. We hope this article will stimulate a new and broader perspective in minds of young Muslims and will urge them to take pragmatic steps in alleviating the travails of long-suffering and neglected transgender community

Quark lepton complementarity and renormalization group effects

We consider a scenario for the Quark-Lepton Complementarity relations between mixing angles in which the bi-maximal mixing follows from the neutrino mass matrix. According to this scenario in the lowest order the angle \theta_{12} is \sim 1\sigma (1.5 - 2^\circ) above the best fit point coinciding practically with the tri-bimaximal mixing prediction. Realization of this scenario in the context of the seesaw type-I mechanism with leptonic Dirac mass matrices approximately equal to the quark mass matrices is studied. We calculate the renormalization group corrections to \theta_{12} as well as to \theta_{13} in the standard model (SM) and minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). We find that in large part of the parameter space corrections \Delta \theta_{12} are small or negligible. In the MSSM version of the scenario the correction \Delta \theta_{12} is in general positive. Small negative corrections appear in the case of an inverted mass hierarchy and opposite CP parities of \nu_1 and \nu_2 when leading contributions to \theta_{12} running are strongly suppressed. The corrections are negative in the SM version in a large part of the parameter space for values of the relative CP phase of \nu_1 and \nu_2: \phi > \pi/2.Comment: version as published in PRD, 14 pages, 12 figure

Optical study of archetypical valence-fluctuating Eu-systems

We have investigated the optical conductivity of the prominent valence fluctuating compounds EuIr2Si2 and EuNi2P2 in the infrared energy range to get new insights into the electronic properties of valence fluctuating systems. For both compounds we observe upon cooling the formation of a renormalized Drude response, a partial suppression of the optical conductivity below 100 meV and the appearance of a mid-infrared peak at 0.15 eV for EuIr2Si2 and at 0.13 eV for EuNi2P2. Most remarkably, our results show a strong similarity with the optical spectra reported for many Ce- or Yb-based heavy fermion metals and intermediate valence systems, although the phase diagrams and the temperature dependence of the valence differ strongly between Eu- and Ce-/Yb-systems. This suggests that the hybridization between 4f- and conduction electrons, which is responsible for the properties of Ce- and Yb-systems, plays an important role in valence fluctuating Eu-systems

Rapid data access: Key to integrated use of environmental characterization and monitoring information

Environmental investigations result in large quantities of data. The value of these data lies in their interpretation and use by project staff, management, and the regulatory community. Traditional modes of data access can be frustrating and time-consuming. Software tools that join networking technology of the World Wide Web with database access have decreased labor-intensive overhead in site characterization and monitoring, thus increasing the efficiency of the ground water restoration project at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Revisiting the T₂ spectrum imaging inverse problem: Bayesian regularized non-negative least squares.

Multi-echo T &lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; magnetic resonance images contain information about the distribution of T &lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; relaxation times of compartmentalized water, from which we can estimate relevant brain tissue properties such as the myelin water fraction (MWF). Regularized non-negative least squares (NNLS) is the tool of choice for estimating non-parametric T &lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; spectra. However, the estimation is ill-conditioned, sensitive to noise, and highly affected by the employed regularization weight. The purpose of this study is threefold: first, we want to underline that the apparently innocuous use of two alternative parameterizations for solving the inverse problem, which we called the standard and alternative regularization forms, leads to different solutions; second, to assess the performance of both parameterizations; and third, to propose a new Bayesian regularized NNLS method (BayesReg). The performance of BayesReg was compared with that of two conventional approaches (L-curve and Chi-square (X &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; ) fitting) using both regularization forms. We generated a large dataset of synthetic data, acquired in vivo human brain data in healthy participants for conducting a scan-rescan analysis, and correlated the myelin content derived from histology with the MWF estimated from ex vivo data. Results from synthetic data indicate that BayesReg provides accurate MWF estimates, comparable to those from L-curve and X &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; , and with better overall stability across a wider signal-to-noise range. Notably, we obtained superior results by using the alternative regularization form. The correlations reported in this study are higher than those reported in previous studies employing the same ex vivo and histological data. In human brain data, the estimated maps from L-curve and BayesReg were more reproducible. However, the T &lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; spectra produced by BayesReg were less affected by over-smoothing than those from L-curve. These findings suggest that BayesReg is a good alternative for estimating T &lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; distributions and MWF maps

FAST: FAST Analysis of Sequences Toolbox.

FAST (FAST Analysis of Sequences Toolbox) provides simple, powerful open source command-line tools to filter, transform, annotate and analyze biological sequence data. Modeled after the GNU (GNU's Not Unix) Textutils such as grep, cut, and tr, FAST tools such as fasgrep, fascut, and fastr make it easy to rapidly prototype expressive bioinformatic workflows in a compact and generic command vocabulary. Compact combinatorial encoding of data workflows with FAST commands can simplify the documentation and reproducibility of bioinformatic protocols, supporting better transparency in biological data science. Interface self-consistency and conformity with conventions of GNU, Matlab, Perl, BioPerl, R, and GenBank help make FAST easy and rewarding to learn. FAST automates numerical, taxonomic, and text-based sorting, selection and transformation of sequence records and alignment sites based on content, index ranges, descriptive tags, annotated features, and in-line calculated analytics, including composition and codon usage. Automated content- and feature-based extraction of sites and support for molecular population genetic statistics make FAST useful for molecular evolutionary analysis. FAST is portable, easy to install and secure thanks to the relative maturity of its Perl and BioPerl foundations, with stable releases posted to CPAN. Development as well as a publicly accessible Cookbook and Wiki are available on the FAST GitHub repository at https://github.com/tlawrence3/FAST. The default data exchange format in FAST is Multi-FastA (specifically, a restriction of BioPerl FastA format). Sanger and Illumina 1.8+ FastQ formatted files are also supported. FAST makes it easier for non-programmer biologists to interactively investigate and control biological data at the speed of thought

Developing an effective construction training program for Hispanic supervisors and craft workers

Hispanics make up a growing percentage of the craft workers entering the construction industry, and this has created several challenges for American construction companies. This study addresses the situation by investigating training needs for Hispanic construction craft workers and developing a training program for them within the industry. In order to evaluate current craft workers\u27 conditions within the construction industry, Iowa State University researchers conducted a survey, with 98 Hispanic craft workers as respondents from 10 construction companies, to determine current working conditions. The results confirm that the language barrier is an obstacle for both the Hispanic workers and the English-speaking employees involved in construction projects. As a part of this research, two training courses were designed to help both American construction companies and their Hispanic labor force to overcome the barriers that keep them from succeeding safely and productively. A training course titled, English as a Second Language Survival Course , was developed to facilitate basic communication between Hispanic workers and their American supervisors using construction-focused terminology. This course was delivered once as a trial run for a two-hour duration and twice for a full-length duration of eight hours. Important feedback was obtained from participants as part of the evaluations of the course. How much of the course contents will be useful in your working environment was asked; 40% of workers said all of it and 60% of workers said most of it. Another question was Was it worth taking the time to attend the course? to which 94% answered definitely and 6% answered yes. A second training course titled, Stepping Up to Supervisor Course for Hispanic Construction Workers , was also developed to provide an effective tool to help companies promote those Hispanic craft workers whose willingness and skills meet the requirements to advance to a supervisory position in an American construction company. This course will be offered in the spring of 2004