13,659 research outputs found
Enhancement of optical absorption in multiferroic (1-x)PZT-xPFN thin films: Experiments and first-principles analysis
Multiferroic compounds have gained research attention in the field of
ferroelectric photovoltaics due to the presence of transition-metal d states
from magnetic ions, which tend to reduce the bandgap value. In this work,
0.5Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 - 0.5Pb(Fe0.5Nb0.5)O3 PZTFN0.5 thin films were
synthesized using a sol-gel route to investigate the effect of iron doping on
optical and multiferroic properties. For comparative analysis, the end-member
compositions, Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT) and Pb(Fe0.5Nb0.5)O3 (PFN), were also
synthesized under identical conditions. Our results revealed that the presence
of Fe ions, besides inducing multiferroic behavior, effectively enhances the
optical absorption of the material in the visible light region. Optical
transitions at 3.0 eV (2.4 eV) and 2.7 eV (2.2 eV) for the direct (indirect)
bandgap were determined for PZTFN0.5 and PFN, respectively, indicating that the
absorption edges of the iron-containing films result more promising than PZT
(Eg 3.6eV) for photovoltaic applications. Both PZTFN0.5 and PFN thin films
exhibit multiferroic behavior at room temperature, with different electric and
magnetic properties. While PZTFN0.5 presents saturated hysteresis loops with
remanent polarization values around 10 uC/cm2 and magnetization of 1.6 emu/cm2,
PFN displays significantly larger remanence (31 emu/cm2) but poorer
ferroelectric properties due to the presence of leakage. Microscopic insights
into the structural and electronic properties of the PZTFN0.5 solid solution
were provided from first-principles calculations
Quantification of habitat fragmentation reveals extinction risk in terrestrial mammals
Although habitat fragmentation is often assumed to be a primary driver of extinction, global patterns of fragmentation and its relationship to extinction risk have not been consistently quantified for any major animal taxon. We developed high-resolution habitat fragmentation models and used phylogenetic comparative methods to quantify the effects of habitat fragmentation on the world's terrestrial mammals, including 4,018 species across 26 taxonomic Orders. Results demonstrate that species with more fragmentation are at greater risk of extinction, even after accounting for the effects of key macroecological predictors, such as body size and geographic range size. Species with higher fragmentation had smaller ranges and a lower proportion of high-suitability habitat within their range, andmost high-suitability habitat occurred outside of protected areas, further elevating extinction risk. Our models provide a quantitative evaluation of extinction risk assessments for species, allow for identification of emerging threats in species not classified as threatened, and provide maps of global hotspots of fragmentation for the world's terrestrial mammals. Quantification of habitat fragmentation will help guide threat assessment and strategic priorities for global mammal conservation
Microscopic origin of Heisenberg and non-Heisenberg exchange interactions in ferromagnetic bcc Fe
By means of first principles calculations we investigate the nature of
exchange coupling in ferromagnetic bcc Fe on a microscopic level. Analyzing the
basic electronic structure reveals a drastic difference between the
orbitals of and symmetries. The latter ones define the shape of
the Fermi surface, while the former ones form weakly-interacting impurity
levels. We demonstrate that, as a result of this, in Fe the orbitals
participate in exchange interactions, which are only weakly dependent on the
configuration of the spin moments and thus can be classified as
Heisenberg-like. These couplings are shown to be driven by Fermi surface
nesting. In contrast, for the states the Heisenberg picture breaks down,
since the corresponding contribution to the exchange interactions is shown to
strongly depend on the reference state they are extracted from. Our analysis of
the nearest-neighbour coupling indicates that the interactions among
states are mainly proportional to the corresponding hopping integral and thus
can be attributed to be of double-exchange origin.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Sol-gel synthesis and multiferroic properties of pyrochlore-free Pb(Fe0.5Nb0.5)O3 thin films
Lead iron niobate (PbFe0.5Nb0.5O3 - PFN) thin films were synthesized by a
modified sol-gel route, which offers the advantage of a rapid, simple and
non-toxic reaction method. Polycrystalline perovskite-structured PFN thin films
without pyrochlore phases were obtained on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates after
sintering by rapid thermal annealing at 650 {\deg}C. TEM and AFM images
confirmed the excellent quality of the sintered film, while EDS spectroscopy
revealed the presence of oxygen vacancies near the film/substrate interface.
Electric measurements show good dielectric properties and ferroelectric
behavior, characterized by typical C-V curves and well-defined P-E
ferroelectric loops at 1 kHz, with remanent polarization values of ~12 uC/cm2.
The polarization, however, increases with decreasing frequency, indicating the
presence of leakage currents. I-V measurements show a significant increase in
DC-conduction at relatively low fields (around 100 kV/cm). The films display
ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature, with magnetic remanence around 30
emu/cm3 and a coercive field of 1 kOe. These values are significantly higher
than those obtained for PFN powders fabricated by the same sol-gel route, as
well as the magnetization values reported in the literature for epitaxial
films.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure
Saffron: A multitask neuroprotective agent for retinal degenerative diseases
Both age related macular degeneration (AMD) and light induced retinal damage share the common major role played by oxidative stress in the induction/progression of degenerative events. Light damaged (LD) rats have been widely used as a convenient model to gain insight into the mechanisms of degenerative disease, to enucleate relevant steps and to test neuroprotectants. Among them, saffron has been shown to ameliorate degenerative processes and to regulate many genes and protective pathways. Saffron has been also tested in AMD patients. We extended our analysis to a possible additional effect regulated by saffron and compared in AMD patients a pure antioxidant treatment (Lutein/zeaxanthin) with saffron treatment. Methods: Animal model. Sprague-Dawley (SD) adult rats, raised at 5 lux, were exposed to 1000 lux for 24 h and then either immediately sacrificed or placed back at 5 lux for 7 days recovery period. A group of animals was treated with saffron. We performed in the animal model: (1) SDS-PAGE analysis; (2) Western Blotting (3) Enzyme activity assay (4) Immunolabelling; in AMD patients: a longitudinal open-label study 29 (+/- 5) months in two groups of patients: lutein/zeaxanthin (19) and saffron (23) treated. Visual function was tested every 8 months by ERG recordings in addition to clinical examination. Results: Enzymatic activity of MMP-3 is reduced in LD saffron treated retinas and is comparable to control as it is MMP-3 expression. LD treated retinas do not present "rosettes" and microglia activation and migration is highly reduced. Visual function remains stable in saffron treated AMD patients while deteriorates in the lutein/zeaxanthin group. Conclusion: Our results provide evidence of an additional way of action of saffron treatment confirming the complex nature of neuroprotective activities of its chemical components. Accordingly, long term follow-up in AMD patients reveals an added value of saffron supplementation treatment compared to classical antioxidant protocol
Gravitational diffraction radiation
We show that if the visible universe is a membrane embedded in a
higher-dimensional space, particles in uniform motion radiate gravitational
waves because of spacetime lumpiness. This phenomenon is analogous to the
electromagnetic diffraction radiation of a charge moving near to a metallic
grating. In the gravitational case, the role of the metallic grating is played
by the inhomogeneities of the extra-dimensional space, such as a hidden brane.
We derive a general formula for gravitational diffraction radiation and apply
it to a higher-dimensional scenario with flat compact extra dimensions.
Gravitational diffraction radiation may carry away a significant portion of the
particle's initial energy. This allows to set stringent limits on the scale of
brane perturbations. Physical effects of gravitational diffraction radiation
are briefly discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX4. v2: References added. Version to appear
in Phys. Rev.
Phylogenetic Analysis of isolates from new cases of HBV infection in Southern Italy.
The level of endemicity of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections in Italy is low and genotype D infections predominant. New HBV strains may however be introduced as a result of movements of people from regions of high endemicity. The aim of the present study was to determine whether strains from new cases of acute hepatitis B detected in southern Italy were due to endemic or new HBV strains. We studied 34 isolates from patients with acute hepatitis B infection, and 35 from chronic hepatitis B patients. A phylogenetic analysis of preS/S region was done by comparing the sequences from the acute and chronic cases with references sequences. The study showed that 44% of strain from acute hepatitis B patients were of genotype A, 53% of genotype D, and 3% of genotype E. The molecular analysis of isolates from acute hepatitis B patients from Sicily showed a change in the local epidemiology of this infection, with an increase in HBV/A infections and a clustering effect for HBV D2, possibly correlated to immigration. The introduction of new genotypes , could have an effect on HBV-correlated diseases due to the different association between genotype, liver disease and response to antiviral therapy
Anatomy of the AGN in NGC 5548: V. A clear view of the X-ray narrow emission lines
Context. Our consortium performed an extensive multi-wavelength campaign of
the nearby Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 in 2013-14. The source appeared unusually
heavily absorbed in the soft X-rays, and signatures of outflowing absorption
were also present in the UV. He-like triplets of neon, oxygen and nitrogen, and
radiative recombination continuum (RRC) features were found to dominate the
soft X-ray spectrum due to the low continuum flux.
Aims. Here we focus on characterising these narrow emission features using
data obtained from the XMM-Newton RGS (770 ks stacked spectrum).
Methods. We use SPEX for our initial analysis of these features.
Self-consistent photoionisation models from Cloudy are then compared with the
data to characterise the physical conditions of the emitting region.
Results. Outflow velocity discrepancies within the O VII triplet lines can be
explained if the X-ray narrow-line region (NLR) in NGC 5548 is absorbed by at
least one of the six warm absorber components found by previous analyses. The
RRCs allow us to directly calculate a temperature of the emitting gas of a few
eV ( K), favouring photoionised conditions. We fit the data with a
Cloudy model of log erg cm s, log cm and log v km s for the emitting
gas; this is the first time the X-ray NLR gas in this source has been modelled
so comprehensively. This allows us to estimate the distance from the central
source to the illuminated face of the emitting clouds as pc,
consistent with previous work.Comment: Accepted by A&A, 15 pages, 6 figure
Two novel amino acid substitutions in highly conserved regions of prion protein (PrP) and a high frequency of a scrapie protective variant in native Ethiopian goats
BackgroundPolymorphisms of the prion protein gene may influence scrapie susceptibility in small ruminants through modified protein conformation. At least 47 amino acid substitutions and 19 silent polymorphisms have been described in goat PRNP reported from several countries. The objective of this study was to investigate PRNP polymorphisms of native Ethiopian goat breeds and compare the results with other goat breeds.ResultsThe analysis of the prion protein gene PRNP in 229 goats belonging to three of the main Ethiopian native goat breeds showed a remarkably high frequency (>34.6%) of p.(Asn146Ser) in these breeds, a variant involved in scrapie resistance in Cyprus. In addition, two novel amino-acid substitutions p.(Gly127Ala) and p.(Thr193Ile), with frequencies ranging from 1.5 to 7.3% were detected. Both amino acids are well conserved in prion proteins (PrP) of most species and these changes have never been reported before in goats worldwide. Residue 127 is within the N-terminal domain of PrP and is probably involved in the recruitment of neural cell adhesion molecules (NCAM). Residue 193 is within the highly conserved string of 4 threonines that plays a role in determining the efficiency of prion protein conversion towards its pathological form.ConclusionTwo novel coding polymorphisms and a high frequency of a scrapie protective variant indicate a high level of genetic diversity in PRNP of Ethiopian goats. This finding increases the interest in exploring PRNP polymorphisms of native goat breeds in areas where cross breeding with foreign goats has rarely occurred
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