923 research outputs found
The effect of salinity on the acute toxicity of copper and cadmium in European sea bass <i>Dicentrarchus labrax</i> L.
Electrical Spin Injection in a Ferromagnetic / Tunnel Barrier/ Semiconductor Heterostructure
We demonstrate experimentally the electrical ballistic electron spin
injection from a ferromagnetic metal / tunnel barrier contact into a
semiconductor III-V heterostructure. We introduce the Oblique Hanle Effect
technique for reliable optical measurement of the degree of injected spin
polarization. In a CoFe / Al2O3 / GaAs / (Al,Ga)As heterostructure we observed
injected spin polarization in excess of 8 % at 80K.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Highly efficient room temperature spin injection in a metal-insulator-semiconductor light emitting diode
We demonstrate highly efficient spin injection at low and room temperature in
an AlGaAs/GaAs semiconductor heterostructure from a CoFe/AlOx tunnel spin
injector. We use a double-step oxide deposition for the fabrication of a
pinhole-free AlOx tunnel barrier. The measurements of the circular polarization
of the electroluminescence in the Oblique Hanle Effect geometry reveal injected
spin polarizations of at least 24% at 80K and 12% at room temperature
Structural and magnetic properties of the (001) and (111) surfaces of the half-metal NiMnSb
Using the full potential linearised augmented planewave method we study the
electronic and magnetic properties of the (001) and (111) surfaces of the
half-metallic Heusler alloy NiMnSb from first-principles. We take into account
all possible surface terminations including relaxations of these surfaces.
Special attention is paid to the spin-polarization at the Fermi level which
governs the spin-injection from such a metal into a semiconductor. In general,
these surfaces lose the half-metallic character of the bulk NiMnSb, but for the
(111) surfaces this loss is more pronounced. Although structural optimization
does not change these features qualitatively, specifically for the (111)
surfaces relaxations can compensate much of the spin-polarization at the Fermi
surface that has been lost upon formation of the surface.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure
Kinematics of mouthbrooding in <i>Oreochromis niloticus</i> (Cichlidae)
Many species from several different families of fishes perform mouthbrooding, where one of the sexes protects and ventilates the eggs inside the mouth cavity. This ventilation behaviour differs from gill ventilation outside the brooding period, as the normal, small-amplitude suction-pump respiration cycles are alternated with actions including near-simultaneous closed-mouth protrusions and high-amplitude depressions of the hyoid. The latter is called churning, referring to its hypothetical function in moving around and repositioning the eggs by a presumed hydrodynamic effect of the marked shifts in volume along the mouth cavity. We tested the hypothesis that churning causes the eggs located posteriorly in the mouth cavity to move anteriorly away from the gill entrance. This would prevent or clear accumulations of brood at the branchial basket, which would otherwise hinder breathing by the parent. Dual-view videos of female Nile tilapias (Oreochromis niloticus) during mouthbrooding showed that churning involves a posterior-to-anterior wave of expansion and compression of the head volume. Flow visualisation with polyethylene microspheres revealed a significant inflow of water entering the gill slits at the zone above the pectoral fin base, followed by a predominantly ventral outflow passing the ventrolaterally flapping branchiostegal membranes. X-ray videos indicated that particularly the brood located close to the gills is moved anteriorly during churning. These data suggest that, in addition to mixing of the brood to aid its oxygenation, an important function of the anterior flow through the gills and buccal cavity during churning is to prevent clogging of the eggs near the gills
Effects of climate warming and declining species richness in grassland model ecosystems: acclimation of CO2 fluxes
To study the effects of warming and declining species richness on the carbon balance of grassland communities, model ecosystems containing one, three or nine species were exposed to ambient and elevated (ambient +3°C) air temperature. In this paper, we analyze measured ecosystem CO2 fluxes to test whether ecosystem photosynthesis and respiration had acclimated to warming after 28 months of continuous heating, and whether the degree of acclimation depended on species richness. In order to test whether acclimation occurred, short term temperature response curves were established for all communities in both treatments. At similar temperatures, lower flux rates in the heated communities as compared to the unheated communities would indicate thermal acclimation. Because plant cover was significantly higher in the heated treatment, we normalized the data for plant cover. Subsequently, down-regulation of both photosynthesis and respiration was observed. Although CO2 fluxes were larger in communities with higher species richness, species richness did not affect the degree of acclimation to warming. These results imply that models need to take thermal acclimation into account to simulate photosynthesis and respiration in a warmer world.This research was funded by the Fund for
Scientific Research – Flanders (Belgium) as project “effects of biodiversity loss and climate warming on carbon sequestration
mechanisms in terrestrial ecosystems”, contract #G.0434.03N. H. J. De Boeck holds a grant from the Institute for the Promotion
of Innovation by science and Technology in Flanders. P. Serrano-Ortiz benefits from a pre-doctoral grant from the Junta
de AndalucĂa
Experimental Separation of Rashba and Dresselhaus Spin-Splittings in Semiconductor Quantum Wells
The relative strengths of Rashba and Dresselhaus terms describing the
spin-orbit coupling in semiconductor quantum well (QW) structures are extracted
from photocurrent measurements on n-type InAs QWs containing a two-dimensional
electron gas (2DEG). This novel technique makes use of the angular distribution
of the spin-galvanic effect at certain directions of spin orientation in the
plane of a QW. The ratio of the relevant Rashba and Dresselhaus coefficients
can be deduced directly from experiment and does not relay on theoretically
obtained quantities. Thus our experiments open a new way to determine the
different contributions to spin-orbit coupling
Spatial structure of an individual Mn acceptor in GaAs
The wave function of a hole bound to an individual Mn acceptor in GaAs is
spatially mapped by scanning tunneling microscopy at room temperature and an
anisotropic, cross-like shape is observed. The spatial structure is compared
with that from an envelope-function, effective mass model, and from a
tight-binding model. This demonstrates that anisotropy arising from the cubic
symmetry of the GaAs crystal produces the cross-like shape for the hole
wave-function. Thus the coupling between Mn dopants in GaMnAs mediated by such
holes will be highly anisotropic.Comment: 3 figures, submitted to PR
Metal accumulation and metallothionein induction in the spotted dogfish <i>Scyliorhinus canicula</i>
Recent studies indicate that elasmobranch fish respond differently to metal exposure than marine teleosts. Accumulation rates can be high, which despite the fact that normal background levels for metals in the marine environment are low, is worrying due to the long life span and late fecundity of most shark. The goals of the present study were to examine differences in accumulation rates and toxicity of a range of metals at equimolar concentrations (10 mu M) in the Mediterranean or spotted dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula. For this purpose, we exposed the dogfish to Ni (587 mu g/L), Cd (1124 mu g/L), Pb (2072 mu g/L), Cu (635 mu g/L), and Ag (1079 mu g/L and two additional exposures at 10 mu g/L and 1 mu g/L) for one week and measured total metal accumulation, metallothionein induction, and parameters related to osmoregulation. Our study confirms the high toxicity and accumulation rates of Ag for elasmobranch fish, even at levels 100 to 1000 times lower than exposure levels of other metals. Also Pb accumulated readily in all organs, but did not cause any osmoregulatory disturbance at the exposure levels used. Ni and Cd seem to accumulate primarily in the kidney while Cu mainly accumulated in liver. In contrast to Ni and Cd, the three other metals Ag, Cu and Pb accumulated in the rectal gland, an important organ for osmoregulation and possible target organ for metal toxicity. Only Cu succeeded in initiating a protective response by inducing MT synthesis in liver and gills
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