1,601 research outputs found
Simulation of structural and electronic properties of amorphous tungsten oxycarbides
Electron beam induced deposition with tungsten hexacarbonyl W(CO)6 as
precursors leads to granular deposits with varying compositions of tungsten,
carbon and oxygen. Depending on the deposition conditions, the deposits are
insulating or metallic. We employ an evolutionary algorithm to predict the
crystal structures starting from a series of chemical compositions that were
determined experimentally. We show that this method leads to better structures
than structural relaxation based on guessed initial structures. We approximate
the expected amorphous structures by reasonably large unit cells that can
accommodate local structural environments that resemble the true amorphous
structure. Our predicted structures show an insulator to metal transition close
to the experimental composition at which this transition is actually observed.
Our predicted structures also allow comparison to experimental electron
diffraction patterns.Comment: 17 Pages, 11 figure
N-glycans of human amniotic fluid transferrin stimulate progesterone production in human first trimester trophoblast cells in vitro
Aims: During pregnancy, the placenta produces a variety of steroid hormones and proteins. Several of these substances have been shown to exert immunomodulatory effects. Progesterone is thought to mediate some of these effects by regulating uterine responsiveness. The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of amniotic fluid transferrin and its N-glycans on the release of progesterone by first trimester trophoblast cells in vitro. Methods: Cytotrophoblast cells were prepared from human first trimester placentae by trypsin-DNAse dispersion of villous tissue followed by a percoll gradient centrifugation and depletion of CD45 positive cells by magnetic cell sorting. Trophoblasts were incubated with varying concentrations (50-300 mug/ml) of transferrin from human amniotic fluid and serum as well as with N-glycans obtained from amniotic fluid transferrin. Culture supernatants were assayed for progesterone by enzyme-immunometric methods. Results: The release of progesterone increased in amniotic fluid transferrin- and N-glycan-treated trophoblast cell cultures compared to untreated trophoblast cells. There was no stimulating effect of serum transferrin on the progesterone production of trophoblast cells. Conclusions: The results suggest that amnion-transferrin and especially its N-glycans modulate the endocrine function of trophoblasts in culture by up regulating progesterone secretion
Field-induced nematic-like magnetic transition in an iron pnictide superconductor, Ca(PtAs)((FePt)As)
We report a high magnetic field study up to 55 T of the nearly optimally
doped iron-pnictide superconductor Ca(PtAs)
((FePt)As) (x=0.078(6)) with a Tc 10 K using
magnetic torque, tunnel diode oscillator technique and transport measurements.
We determine the superconducting phase diagram, revealing an anisotropy of the
irreversibility field up to a factor of 10 near Tc and signatures of multiband
superconductivity. Unexpectedly, we find a spin-flop like anomaly in magnetic
torque at 22 T, when the magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the ab
planes, which becomes significantly more pronounced as the temperature is
lowered to 0.33 K. As our superconducting sample lies well outside the
antiferromagnetic region of the phase diagram, the observed field-induced
transition in torque indicates a spin-flop transition not of long-range ordered
moments, but of nematic-like antiferromagnetic fluctuations.Comment: Latex, 4 figure
A vision for global monitoring of biological invasions
Managing biological invasions relies on good global coverage of species distributions. Accurate information on alien species distributions, obtained from international policy and cross-border co-operation, is required to evaluate trans-boundary and trading partnership risks. However, a standardized approach for systematically monitoring alien species and tracking biological invasions is still lacking. This Perspective presents a vision for global observation and monitoring of biological invasions. We show how the architecture for tracking biological invasions is provided by a minimum information set of Essential Variables, global collaboration on data sharing and infrastructure, and strategic contributions by countries. We show how this novel, synthetic approach to an observation system for alien species provides a tangible and attainable solution to delivering the information needed to slow the rate of new incursions and reduce the impacts of invaders. We identify three Essential Variables for Invasion Monitoring; alien species occurrence, species alien status and alien species impact. We outline how delivery of this minimum information set by joint, complementary contributions from countries and global community initiatives is possible. Country contributions are made feasible using a modular approach where all countries are able to participate and strategically build their contributions to a global information set over time. The vision we outline will deliver wide-ranging benefits to countries and international efforts to slow the rate of biological invasions and minimize their environmental impacts. These benefits will accrue over time as global coverage and information on alien species increases
The monoclinic crystal structure of -RuCl and the zigzag antiferromagnetic ground state
The layered honeycomb magnet alpha-RuCl3 has been proposed as a candidate to
realize a Kitaev spin model with strongly frustrated, bond-dependent,
anisotropic interactions between spin-orbit entangled jeff=1/2 Ru4+ magnetic
moments. Here we report a detailed study of the three-dimensional crystal
structure using x-ray diffraction on untwinned crystals combined with
structural relaxation calculations. We consider several models for the stacking
of honeycomb layers and find evidence for a crystal structure with a monoclinic
unit cell corresponding to a stacking of layers with a unidirectional in-plane
offset, with occasional in-plane sliding stacking faults, in contrast with the
currently-assumed trigonal 3-layer stacking periodicity. We report electronic
band structure calculations for the monoclinic structure, which find support
for the applicability of the jeff=1/2 picture once spin orbit coupling and
electron correlations are included. We propose that differences in the
magnitude of anisotropic exchange along symmetry inequivalent bonds in the
monoclinic cell could provide a natural mechanism to explain the spin gap
observed in powder inelastic neutron scattering, in contrast to spin models
based on the three-fold symmetric trigonal structure, which predict a gapless
spectrum within linear spin wave theory. Our susceptibility measurements on
both powders and stacked crystals, as well as neutron powder diffraction show a
single magnetic transition at TN ~ 13K. The analysis of the neutron data
provides evidence for zigzag magnetic order in the honeycomb layers with an
antiferromagnetic stacking between layers. Magnetization measurements on
stacked single crystals in pulsed field up to 60T show a single transition
around 8T for in-plane fields followed by a gradual, asymptotic approach to
magnetization saturation, as characteristic of strongly anisotropic exchange
interactions.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, published in Physical Review
So much for glucosinolates: A generalist does survive and develop on Brassicas, but at what cost?
While plants produce complex cocktails of chemical defences with different targets and efficacies, the biochemical effects of phytotoxin ingestion are often poorly understood. Here, we examine the physiological and metabolic effects of the ingestion of glucosinolates (GSLs), the frontline chemical defenses of brassicas (crucifers), on the generalist herbivore Helicoverpa armigera. We focus on kale and cabbage, two crops with similar foliar GSL concentrations but strikingly different GSL compositions. We observed that larval growth and development were well correlated with the nutritional properties of the insect diets, with low protein contents appearing to exacerbate the negative effects of GSLs on growth, pupation and adult eclosion, parameters that were all delayed upon exposure to GSLs. The different GSLs were metabolized similarly by the insect, indicating that the costs of detoxification via conjugation to glutathione (GSH) were similar on the two plant diets. Nevertheless, larval GSH contents, as well as some major nutritional markers (larval protein, free amino acids, and fat), were differentially affected by the different GSL profiles in the two crops. Therefore, the interplay between GSL and the nitrogen/sulfur nutritional availability of different brassicas strongly influences the effectiveness of these chemical defenses against this generalist herbivore
Cyclotron resonance photoconductivity of a two-dimensional electron gas in HgTe quantum wells
Far-infrared cyclotron resonance photoconductivity (CRP) is investigated in
HgTe quantum wells (QWs) of various widths grown on (013) oriented GaAs
substrates. It is shown that CRP is caused by the heating of two-dimensional
electron gas (2DEG). From the resonance magnetic field strength effective
masses and their dependence on the carrier concentration is obtained. We found
that the effective mass in each sample slightly increases from the value
(0.0260 \pm 0.0005)m_0 at N_s = 2.2x10^11 cm^(-2) to (0.0335 \pm 0.0005)m_0 at
N_s = 9.6x10^11 cm^(-2). Compared to determination of effective masses by the
temperature dependence of magnitudes of the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH)
oscillations used so far in this material our measurements demonstrate that the
CRP provides a more accurate (about few percents) tool. Combining optical
methods with transport measurements we found that the transport time
substantially exceeds the cyclotron resonance lifetime as well as the quantum
lifetime which is the shortest.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure
Theory for the ultrafast ablation of graphite films
The physical mechanisms for damage formation in graphite films induced by
femtosecond laser pulses are analyzed using a microscopic electronic theory. We
describe the nonequilibrium dynamics of electrons and lattice by performing
molecular dynamics simulations on time-dependent potential energy surfaces. We
show that graphite has the unique property of exhibiting two distinct laser
induced structural instabilities. For high absorbed energies (> 3.3 eV/atom) we
find nonequilibrium melting followed by fast evaporation. For low intensities
above the damage threshold (> 2.0 eV/atom) ablation occurs via removal of
intact graphite sheets.Comment: 5 pages RevTeX, 3 PostScript figures, submitted to Phys. Re
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