Dirac Fermion Confinement in Graphene

We study the problem of Dirac fermion confinement in graphene in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field B. We show, analytically and numerically, that confinement leads to anomalies in the electronic spectrum and to a magnetic field dependent crossover from \sqrt{B}, characteristic of Dirac-Landau level behavior, to linear in B behavior, characteristic of confinement. This crossover occurs when the radius of the Landau level becomes of the order of the width of the system. As a result, we show that the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations also change as a function of field, and lead to a singular Landau plot. We show that our theory is in excellent agreement with the experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Western Mediterranean precipitation over the last 300 years from instrumental observations

The paper reports the results of the analysis of the 14 longest precipitation instrumental series, covering the last 300 years, that have been recovered in six subareas of the Western Mediterranean basin, i.e., Portugal, Northern and Southern Spain, Southern France, Northern and Southern Italy. This study extends back by one century our knowledge about the instrumental precipitation over theWestern Mediterranean, and by two centuries in some specific subareas. All the time series show repeated swings. No specific trends have been found over the whole period, except in a few cases, but with modest time changes and sometimes having opposite tendency. The same can be said for the most recent decades although with some more marked departures from the average. The correlation between the various Mediterranean subareas is generally not significant, or almost uncorrelated. The Wavelet Spectral Analysis applied to the precipitation identifies only a minor 56-year cycle in autumn, i.e., the same return period that has been found in literature for the Sea Surface Temperature over North Atlantic. A comparison with a gridded dataset reconstruction based on mixed multiproxy and instrumental observations, shows that the grid reconstruction is in good agreement with the observed data for the period after 1900, less for the previous period

Sunflower yield: adjustement of data means by the combination of ANOVA and Regression models.

Sunflower is an important oilseed crop. Besides producing high quality edible oil for human consumption, it also produces meal for animal feeding, and is an alternative for biodiesel production as well. Sunflower is a crop well adapted to several environmental conditions and is tolerant to low temperatures and to relatively short periods of water stress. In Brazil, the sunflower cultivated area reaches 75,000 hectares and its yield averages 1,460 kg/ha (CONAB). Much effort has been spent on research work at management of sunflower and consequently higher yield. Research efforts are specifically directed to the control of diseases and pests, which can cause defoliation, damages to the roots, and yield losses. The need for macro- and micronutrient fertilizations is another research demanding aspect of the crop. Within this context, two extremely important aspects in solving these research demands are: the appropriate agronomical planning and the adequate experimental design. These procedures will allow decisions on selection of size and shape of plots, on experimental unit, on qualitative and quantitative factors, on experimental design, and on the choice of the variables that influence the response and the ways of choosing and distributing the treatments in the plots. The selection of the suitable statistical methods, which allow precise estimates of the treatments and the reduction of the residual variance, uncontrolled in the planning, is also essential. One of these methods is the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). This method combines the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the Regression Analysis, and besides controlling the experimental error, it adjusts the treatment means, thus helping the interpretation of the experimental results as well as the comparison of regressions among several groups of treatments. The model representing this combination is :Yij = ? + ? i + ? j + ? (xij - x.. ) +? ij , where: Yij is the observed value of the response variable; ? is the mean value of the response variable; i ? is the effect of treatment I, with i = 1, 2,?, I; j ? is the effect of the block j, with j = 1,2,?, J; ? is the effect of the combined linear regression Yij as related to x; ij x is the observed value of the co-variable; and ij ? is the experimental error associated toYij, with ?ij ?N (0,?2 ) . The covariate should not be influenced by the treatments initially tested, maintaining the independence among them. Therefore, the treatments were: one control (0), and the P2O5 dosages of 40 kg ha-1, 80 kg ha-1, 120 kg ha-1, and 160 kg ha-1, applied to the sunflower hybrid Aguara 4. The experiment was carried out as a randomized block design, with six replications and the variables studied were: yield (kg ha-1) and the number of achenes per sunflower plant. The descriptive analysis indicated consistency in the tests concerning normality and independence of errors, additivity of the model, and homogeneity of treatments variances. The F statistics presented significant response for the treatments, for the response variable and covariate (5.48 and 4.93), respectively. The highest sunflower yield, obtained with the dosage of 120 kg ha-1 P2O5, statistically differed only from the control (Tukey p? 0, 05). The ANCOVA, adjusted by the number of achenes, reduced the error variance from 49,768.84 to 32,887.40. An interesting fact is that after ANCOVA, the effect of treatments became non-significant (F = 2.62), even with the reduction of the error variance. The mean values adjusted by the Tukey-Kramer test were reduced when compared to the original means. The interaction of treatment with the covariable was not significant, indicating that the angular coefficients for the treatments were similar. We concluded that the analysis of covariance reduces the error variance and indicates the real significance of the treatment effects and of the angular coefficients for the non-homogeneous treatments

Infrared properties of Mg1−x_{1-x}Alx(_x(B1−y_{1-y}Cy_{y})2_2 single crystals in the normal and superconducting state

The reflectivity $R (\omega)$ of $ab$-oriented Mg$_{1-x}$Al$_x$(B$_{1-y }$C$_y$)$_2$ single crystals has been measured by means of infrared microspectroscopy for $1300<\omega<17000$ cm$^{-1}$. An increase with doping of the scattering rates in the $\pi$ and $\sigma$ bands is observed, being more pronounced in the C doped crystals. The $\sigma$-band plasma frequency also changes with doping due to the electron doping, while the $\pi$-band one is almost unchanged. Moreover, a $\sigma\to\sigma$ interband excitation, predicted by theory, is observed at $\omega_{IB} \simeq 0.47$ eV in the undoped sample, and shifts to lower energies with doping. By performing theoretical calculation of the doping dependence $\omega_{IB}$, the experimental observations can be explained with the increase with electron doping of the Fermi energy of the holes in the $\sigma$-band. On the other hand, the $\sigma$ band density of states seems not to change substantially. This points towards a $T_c$ reduction driven mainly by disorder, at least for the doping level studied here. The superconducting state has been also probed by infrared synchrotron radiation for $30<\omega<150$ cm$^{-1}$ in one pure and one C-doped sample. In the undoped sample ($T_c$ = 38.5 K) a signature of the $\pi$-gap only is observed. At $y$ = 0.08 ($T_c$ = 31.9 K), the presence of the contribution of the $\sigma$-gap indicates dirty-limit superconductivity in both bands.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

What Africa can do to accelerate and sustain progress against malaria

After a longstanding global presence, malaria is now largely non-existent or suppressed in most parts of the world. Today, cases and deaths are primarily concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. According to many experts, this persistence on the African continent reflects factors such as resistance to insecticides and drugs as well as insufficient access to essential commodities such as insecticide-treated nets and effective drugs. Crucially, however, this narrative ignores many central weaknesses in the fight against malaria and instead reinforces a narrow, commodity-driven vision of disease control. This paper therefore describes the core challenges hindering malaria programs in Africa and highlights key opportunities to rethink current strategies for sustainable control and elimination. The epidemiology of malaria in Africa presents far greater challenges than elsewhere and requires context-specific initiatives tailored to national and sub-national targets. To sustain progress, African countries must systematically address key weaknesses in its health systems, improve the quality and use of data for surveillance-responses, improve both technical and leadership competencies for malaria control, and gradually reduce overreliance on commodities while expanding multisectoral initiatives such as improved housing and environmental sanitation. They must also leverage increased funding from both domestic and international sources, and support pivotal research and development efforts locally. Effective vaccines and drugs, or other potentially transformative technologies such as genedrive modified mosquitoes, could further accelerate malaria control by complementing current tools. However, our underlying strategies remain insufficient and must be expanded to include more holistic and context-specific approaches critical to achieve and sustain effective malaria control

Spin-glasses in optical cavity

Recent advances in nanofabrication and optical control have garnered tremendous interest in multi-qubit-cavity systems. Here we analyze a spin-glass version of such a nanostructure, solving analytically for the phase diagrams in both the matter and radiation subsystems in the replica symmetric regime. Interestingly, the resulting phase transitions turn out to be tunable simply by varying the matter-radiation coupling strength

Probing the Electronic Structure of Bilayer Graphene by Raman Scattering

The electronic structure of bilayer graphene is investigated from a resonant Raman study using different laser excitation energies. The values of the parameters of the Slonczewski-Weiss-McClure model for graphite are measured experimentally and some of them differ significantly from those reported previously for graphite, specially that associated with the difference of the effective mass of electrons and holes. The splitting of the two TO phonon branches in bilayer graphene is also obtained from the experimental data. Our results have implications for bilayer graphene electronic devices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Rethinking human resources and capacity building needs for malaria control and elimination in Africa

Despite considerable success in controlling malaria worldwide, progress toward achieving malaria elimination has largely stalled. In particular, strategies to overcome roadblocks in malaria control and elimination in Africa are critical to achieving worldwide malaria elimination goals-this continent carries 94% of the global malaria case burden. To identify key areas for targeted efforts, we combined a comprehensive review of current literature with direct feedback gathered from frontline malaria workers, leaders, and scholars from Africa. Our analysis identified deficiencies in human resources, training, and capacity building at all levels, from research and development to community involvement. Addressing these needs will require active and coordinated engagement of stakeholders as well as implementation of effective strategies, with malaria-endemic countries owning the relevant processes. This paper reports those valuable identified needs and their concomitant opportunities to accelerate progress toward the goals of the World Health Organization's Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030. Ultimately, we underscore the critical need to re-think current approaches and expand concerted efforts toward increasing relevant human resources for health and capacity building at all levels if we are to develop the relevant competencies necessary to maintain current gains while accelerating momentum toward malaria control and elimination

Stability of insulating phase in the chiral Kondo lattice model

In this work, the stability of the insulating phase of the 1D chiral Kondo lattice model is studied at half-filling, within the framework of self-consistent variational theory. It is found that arbitrarily small interaction would drive the system from a conducting phase to an insulating phase, in spite of the chirality of the conducting band.Comment: 10 pages, IPT-EPFL preprint, submitted to PRB as a brief report for publicatio

Final-state interaction phase difference in J/ψ→ρηJ/\psi\to\rho\eta and ωη\omega\eta decays

It is shown that the study of the $\omega-\rho^0$ interference pattern in the $J/\psi\to (\rho^0+\omega)\eta\to\pi^+\pi^-\eta$ decay provides the evidence for the large (nearly $90^\circ$) relative phase between the one-photon and the three-gluon decay amplitudes.Comment: 5 pages, revtex, \tightenlines, a version published in Phys. Rev. D 61, 117504 (2000