The influence of magnetocrystalline anisotropy on the magnetocaloric effect: A case study on Co 2B

The influence of magnetocrystalline anisotropy on the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) was studied on single crystals of CoB and compared to measurements on polycrystalline samples. Large differences in adiabatic temperature change Δ T a d and magnetic entropy change Δ S M were found along the different crystallographic directions. The magnetocaloric effect differs by 40% in the case of Δ T a d in a field change of 1.9 T when applying the field along the hard axis and easy plane of magnetization. In the case of Δ S M, the values differ 50% and 35% from each other in field changes of 1 and 1.9 T, respectively. It was found that this anisotropy effect does not saturate in fields up to 4 T, which is higher than the anisotropy field of CoB ( ≈2 T). A simple model was developed to illustrate the possible effect on magnetocrystalline anisotropy, showing large differences especially in application relevant fields of about 1 T. The results strongly suggest that the MCE could be maximized when orienting single crystalline powders in an easy axis parallel to the applied field in active magnetocaloric regenerator structures, and therefore the overall device efficiency could be increased.Unión Europea FP7/2007-2013DRREAM No. 310748DAAD A/13/09434MINECO EU-FEDER MAT2013-45165-P MAT2016-77265-RNUST MISiS No. K4-2015-01

Magnetic properties of (Fe1−x_{1-x}Cox_x)2_2B alloys and the effect of doping by 5dd elements

We have explored, computationally and experimentally, the magnetic properties of \fecob{} alloys. Calculations provide a good agreement with experiment in terms of the saturation magnetization and the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy with some difficulty in describing Co$_2$B, for which it is found that both full potential effects and electron correlations treated within dynamical mean field theory are of importance for a correct description. The material exhibits a uniaxial magnetic anisotropy for a range of cobalt concentrations between $x=0.1$ and $x=0.5$. A simple model for the temperature dependence of magnetic anisotropy suggests that the complicated non-monotonous temperature behaviour is mainly due to variations in the band structure as the exchange splitting is reduced by temperature. Using density functional theory based calculations we have explored the effect of substitutional doping the transition metal sublattice by the whole range of 5$d$ transition metals and found that doping by Re or W elements should significantly enhance the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy. Experimentally, W doping did not succeed in enhancing the magnetic anisotropy due to formation of other phases. On the other hand, doping by Ir and Re was successful and resulted in magnetic anisotropies that are in agreement with theoretical predictions. In particular, doping by 2.5~at.\% of Re on the Fe/Co site shows a magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy which is increased by 50\% compared to its parent (Fe$_{0.7}$Co$_{0.3}$)$_2$B compound, making this system interesting, for example, in the context of permanent magnet replacement materials or in other areas where a large magnetic anisotropy is of importance.Comment: 15 pages 17 figure

Formation of pure τ-phase in Mn–Al–C by fast annealing using spark plasma sintering

Mn–Al–C is intended to be one of the ‘‘gap magnets’’ with magnetic performance in-between ferrites and Nd-Fe-B. These magnets are based on the metastable ferromagnetic τ-phase with L1₀ structure, which requires well controlled synthesis to prevent the formation of secondary phases, detrimental for magnetic properties. Here, we investigate the formation of τ-phase in Mn–Al–C using Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) and compare with conventional annealing. The effect of SPS parameters (pressure and electric current) on the phase formation is also studied. Single τ-phase is obtained for annealing 5 min at 500°C with SPS. In addition, we show that the initial grain size of the τ-phase is influencing the τ-phase transformation and fraction at a given annealing condition, independently of the annealing method used. A faster transformation was observed for smaller initial ϵ-grains. The samples obtained by SPS showed comparable magnetic properties with the conventional annealed ones, reaching coercivity of 0.18 T and saturation magnetization of 114 Am ²/kg in the optimized samples. The similarity in coercivity is related to the microstructure, as we reveal the presence of structure defects like twin boundaries and dislocations in both materials

Surveillance and control of meningococcal disease in the COVID-19 era: A Global Meningococcal Initiative review

RevisiónThis review article incorporates information from the 4th Global Meningococcal Initiative summit meeting. Since the introduction of stringent COVID-19 infection control and lockdown measures globally in 2020, there has been an impact on IMD prevalence, surveillance, and vaccination compliance. Incidence rates and associated mortality fell across various regions during 2020. A reduction in vaccine uptake during 2020 remains a concern globally. In addition, several Neisseria meningitidis clonal complexes, particularly CC4821 and CC11, continue to exhibit resistance to antibiotics, with resistance to ciprofloxacin or beta-lactams mainly linked to modifications of gyrA or penA alleles, respectively. Beta-lactamase acquisition was also reported through horizontal gene transfer (blaROB-1) involving other bacterial species. Despite the challenges over the past year, progress has also been made on meningococcal vaccine development, with several pentavalent (serogroups ABCWY and ACWYX) vaccines currently being studied in late-stage clinical trial programmes.Medical writing support was funded by Sanofi Pasteur.S

A serine-substituted P450 catalyzes highly efficient carbene transfer to olefins in vivo

Whole-cell catalysts for non-natural chemical reactions will open new routes to sustainable production of chemicals. We designed a cytochrome 'P411' with unique serine-heme ligation that catalyzes efficient and selective olefin cyclopropanation in intact Escherichia coli cells. The mutation C400S in cytochrome P450_(BM3) gives a signature ferrous CO Soret peak at 411 nm, abolishes monooxygenation activity, raises the resting-state FeIII-to-FeII reduction potential and substantially improves NAD(P)H-driven activity

Meningococcal disease in North America: Updates from the Global Meningococcal Initiative

This review summarizes the recent Global Meningococcal Initiative (GMI) regional meeting, which explored meningococcal disease in North America. Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) cases are documented through both passive and active surveillance networks. IMD appears to be decreasing in many areas, such as the Dominican Republic (2016: 18 cases; 2021: 2 cases) and Panama (2008: 1 case/100,000; 2021: <0.1 cases/100,000); however, there is notable regional and temporal variation. Outbreaks persist in at-risk subpopulations, such as people experiencing homelessness in the US and migrants in Mexico. The recent emergence of β-lactamase-positive and ciprofloxacin-resistant meningococci in the US is a major concern. While vaccination practices vary across North America, vaccine uptake remains relatively high. Monovalent and multivalent conjugate vaccines (which many countries in North America primarily use) can provide herd protection. However, there is no evidence that group B vaccines reduce meningococcal carriage. The coronavirus pandemic illustrates that following public health crises, enhanced surveillance of disease epidemiology and catch-up vaccine schedules is key. Whole genome sequencing is a key epidemiological tool for identifying IMD strain emergence and the evaluation of vaccine strain coverage. The Global Roadmap on Defeating Meningitis by 2030 remains a focus of the GMI.Medical writing support for the development of this manuscript, under the direction of the authors, was provided Matthew Gunther of Ashfield MedComms, an Inizio company. Medical writing support was funded by Sanofi Pasteur. All authors discussed and agreed to the objectives of this manuscript and con- tributed throughout its production. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.S