Tuning the critical magnetic field of the triplon Bose-Einstein condensation in Ba3−x_{3-x}Srx_xCr2_2O8_8

The structure and magnetic interactions of the triplon Bose-Einstein condensation candidates Ba$_3$Cr$_2$O$_8$ and Sr$_3$Cr$_2$O$_8$ have been studied thoroughly in the literature, but little is known about a possible triplon condensation in the corresponding solid solution Ba$_{3-x}$Sr$_x$Cr$_2$O$_8$. We have prepared various members of this solid solution and systematically examined their magnetic properties in high magnetic fields up to 60 T and at low temperatures down to 340 mK, by means of pulsed field and cantilever magnetometry. From these experiments for $x\in\{3,2.9,2.8,2.7,2.6,2.5\}$, we find that the critical fields of Ba$_{3-x}$Sr$_x$Cr$_2$O$_8$ decrease monotonically as a function of the Sr content $x$. This change is in good agreement with the earlier reported variation of the magnetic interactions in these compounds

Elektronenspinresonanz in Systemen mit ferromagnetischen Korrelationen

Die Arbeit befasst sich mit der Elektronenspinresonanz (ESR) stark korrelierter Elektronensysteme mit ferromagnetischen Wechselwirkungen. Es wurden dafür Messungen an den Kondogitter-Systemen CeRuPO und CeOsPO, der Dotierungsreihe CeFeAs1-xPxO, den niederdimensionalen frustrierten Quadratgittern AA’VO(PO4)2 sowie in dem schwach ferromagnetischen Metall Nb1-yFe2+y durchgeführt. Alle Verbindungen zeigen entweder eine ferromagnetische Ordnung oder befinden sich in der Nähe einer ferromagnetischen Instabilität, die die Eigenschaften des stark korrelierten Systems beeinflusst.:Abkürzungsverzeichnis xi Einleitung 1 1 Theoretische Modelle 5 1.1 Auswirkungen des Kristallfeldes 1.2 Phasenübergänge, Landau-Ginzburg Theorie und Quantenphasenübergänge 1.3 Physik Niederdimensionaler Spin-Systeme 1.3.1 Das zweidimensionale XY-Modell 1.3.2 Das J1-J2-Modell auf dem Quadratgitter 1.4 4f-Magnetismus, Kondoeffekt und Kondogitter 1.4.1 Vom freien Elektronengas zur Landau-Fermi-Flüssigkeit 1.4.2 Kondo-Effekt, RKKY-Wechselwirkung und Schwere Fermionen Systeme 1.4.3 Cer: 4f-Magnetismus 1.5 Schwach magnetische Metalle 1.5.1 Pauli-Suszeptibilität und spontan aufgespaltene Bänder 1.5.2 Spinfluktuationen in itineranten Magneten und marginale Fermiflüssigkeit 1.6 Dichtefunktionaltheorie 2 Grundlagen der Elektronenspinresonanz 31 2.1 Prinzip der magnetischen Resonanz und ESR Parameter 2.1.1 Linienform 2.1.2 Intensität 2.1.3 g-Faktor 2.1.4 Linienbreite und Spin-Relaxation 2.2 Experimenteller Aufbau 2.3 ESR in niederdimensionalen Systemen 2.4 ESR an Metallen und Kondogitter Systemen 2.4.1 Auswirkungen der Wechselwirkungen zwischen lokalen Momenten und Leitungselektronen auf die ESR 2.4.2 ESR in Kondogittersystemen 2.5 Leitungselektronenspinresonanz 2.5.1 Linienform in der LESR 2.5.2 Elliot-Yafet Theorie und ihre Verallgemeinerung 2.6 ESR an magnetischen Phasenübergängen 3 ESR in CeTPO (T=Ru, Os) und CeFeAs1-xPxO 59 3.1 Die Eigenschaften von CeTPO (T=Ru, Os) & CeFeAs1-xPxO 3.1.1 Das ferromagnetische Kondogitter CeRuPO 3.1.2 Das antiferromagnetische Kondogitter CeOsPO 3.1.3 Die Dotierungsreihe CeFeAs1-xPxO 3.2 CeRuPO und CeOsPO: Die Bedeutung FM Fluktuationen für die Beobachtbarkeit der ESR in Kondo-Gitter Systemen 3.3 ESR an CeRuPO Einkristallen 3.3.1 Anisotropie und Temperaturverhalten des g-Faktors 3.3.2 Anisotropie und Temperaturverhalten der Linienbreite 3.4 Entwicklung der ESR in der Dotierungsreihe CeFeAs1-xPxO 3.4.1 CeFeAs0.7P0.3O - Supraleitung und Ferromagnetismus 3.5 Zusammenfassung ESR in CeTPO und CeFeAs1-xPxO 4 ESR in den frustrierten Quadratgittern AA’VO(PO4)2 97 4.1 Struktur und magnetische Eigenschaften AA’VO(PO4)2 4.2 ESR an polykristallinen SrZnVO(PO4)2 & BaCdVO(PO4)2 4.2.1 SrZnVO(PO4)2 4.2.2 BaCdVO(PO4)2 4.3 ESR an Pb2VO(PO4)2-Einkristallen 4.3.1 Anisotropie der Resonanz 4.3.2 Temperaturabhängigkeit 4.4 Zusammenfassung der ESR in den frustrierten Quadratgittern 7 4.4.1 Analyse der Linienbreitendivergenz am Phasenübergang 5 Leitungselektronenspinresonanz in Nb1-yFe2+y 125 5.1 Das magnetische Phasendigramm von Nb1-yFe2+y 5.2 LESR in polykristallinen Nb1-yFe2+y 5.2.1 Proben mit ferromagnetischer Ordnung 5.2.2 Proben mit SDW-Ordnung 5.2.3 Zusammenfassung polykristalline Proben 5.3 Bandstruktur und verallgemeinerte Elliot-Yafet-Theorie in NbFe2 5.4 LESR in einkristallinen Proben von Nb1-yFe2+y 5.4.1 Fe-reicher Einkristall: y=0.016 5.4.2 Stöchiometrischer Einkristall: NbFe2 5.4.3 Nb-reicher Einkristall: y=-0.008 5.5 Zusammenfassung LESR in Nb1-yFe2+y 6 Zusammenfassung und Ausblick Anhang A.1 Das zweite Moment der Dipol-Dipol-Wechselwirkung A.2 Untersuchte CeFeAs1-xPxO-Proben Literaturverzeichni

Challenges in UAS-Based TIR Imagery Processing: Image Alignment and Uncertainty Quantification

DFG, 357874777, FOR 2694: Large-Scale and High-Resolution Mapping of Soil Moisture on Field and Catchment Scales - Boosted by Cosmic-Ray NeutronsDFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2019 - 2020 / Technische Universität Berli

Mapping the fractional coverage of the invasive shrub Ulex europaeus with multi-temporal Sentinel-2 imagery utilizing UAV orthoimages and a new spatial optimization approach

Mapping the occurrence patterns of invasive plant species and understanding their invasion dynamics is a crucial requirement for preventing further spread to so far unaffected regions. An established approach to map invasive species across large areas is based on the combination of satellite or aerial remote sensing data with ground truth data from fieldwork. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV, also referred to as unmanned aerial systems (UAS)) may represent an interesting and low-cost alternative to labor-intensive fieldwork. Despite the increasing use of UAVs in the field of remote sensing in the last years, operational methods to combine UAV and satellite data are still sparse. Here, we present a new methodological framework to estimate the fractional coverage (FC%) of the invasive shrub species Ulex europaeus (common gorse) on Chilo´e Island (south-central Chile), based on ultrahigh- resolution UAV images and a medium resolution intra-annual time-series of Sentinel-2. Our framework is based on three steps: 1) Land cover classification of the UAV orthoimages, 2) reduce the spatial shift between UAV-based land cover classification maps and Sentinel-2 imagery and 3) identify optimal satellite acquisition dates for estimating the actual distribution of Ulex europaeus. In Step 2 we translate the challenging co-registration task between two datasets with very different spatial resolutions into an (machine learning) optimization problem where the UAV-based land cover classification maps obtained in Step 1 are systematically shifted against the satellite images. Based on several Random Forest (RF) models, an optimal fit between varying land cover fractions and the spectral information of Sentinel-2 is identified to correct the spatial offset between both datasets. Considering the spatial shifts of the UAV orthoimages and using optimally timed Sentinel-2 acquisitions led to a significant improvement for the estimation of the current distribution of Ulex europaeus. Furthermore, we found that the Sentinel-2 acquisition from November (flowering time of Ulex europaeus) was particularly important in distinguishing Ulex europaeus from other plant species. Our mapping results could support local efforts in controlling Ulex europaeus. Furthermore, the proposed workflow should be transferable to other use cases where individual target species that are visually detectable in UAV imagery are considered. These findings confirm and underline the great potential of UAV-based groundtruth data for detecting invasive species

Combining remote sensing, habitat suitability models and cellular automata to model the spread of the invasive shrub Ulex europaeus

Modeling the past or future spread patterns of invasive plant species is challenging and in an ideal case requires multi-temporal and spatially explicit data on the occurrences of the target species as well as information on the habitat suitability of the areas at risk of being invaded. Most studies either focus on modeling the habitat suitability of a given area for an invasive species or try to model the spreading behavior of an invasive species based on temporally or spatially limited occurrence data and some environmental variables. Here we suggest a workflow that combines habitat suitability maps, occurrence data from multiple time steps collected from remote sensing data, and cellular automata models to first reconstruct the spreading patterns of the invasive shrub Ulex europaeus on the island Chiloé in Chile and then make predictions for the future spread of the species. First, U. europaeus occurrences are derived for four time steps between 1988 and 2020 using remote sensing data and a supervised classification. The resulting occurrence data is combined with occurrence data of the native range of U. europaeus from the GBIF database and selected environmental variables to derive habitat suitability maps using Maxent. Then, cellular automata models are calibrated using the occurrence estimates of the four time steps, the suitability map, and some additional geo-layer containing information about soils and human infrastructure. Finally, a set of calibrated cellular automata models are used to predict the potential spread of U. europaeus for the years 2070 and 2100 using climate scenarios. All individual steps of the workflow where reference data was available led to sufficient results (supervised classifications Overall Accuracy > 0.97; Maxent AUC > 0.85; cellular automata Balanced Accuracy > 0.91) and the spatial patterns of the derived maps matched the experiences collected during the field surveys. Our model predictions suggest a continuous expansion of the maximal potential range of U. europaeus, particularly in the Eastern and Northern part of Chiloé Island. We deem the suggested workflow to be a good solution to combine the static habitat suitability information—representing the environmental constraints—with a temporally and spatially dynamic model representing the actual spreading behavior of the invasive species. The obtained understanding of spreading patterns and the information on areas identified to have a high invasion probability in the future can support land managers to plan prevention and mitigation measures

Including RNA secondary structures improves accuracy and robustness in reconstruction of phylogenetic trees

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In several studies, secondary structures of ribosomal genes have been used to improve the quality of phylogenetic reconstructions. An extensive evaluation of the benefits of secondary structure, however, is lacking.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This is the first study to counter this deficiency. We inspected the accuracy and robustness of phylogenetics with individual secondary structures by simulation experiments for artificial tree topologies with up to 18 taxa and for divergency levels in the range of typical phylogenetic studies. We chose the internal transcribed spacer 2 of the ribosomal cistron as an exemplary marker region. Simulation integrated the coevolution process of sequences with secondary structures. Additionally, the phylogenetic power of marker size duplication was investigated and compared with sequence and sequence-structure reconstruction methods. The results clearly show that accuracy and robustness of Neighbor Joining trees are largely improved by structural information in contrast to sequence only data, whereas a doubled marker size only accounts for robustness.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Individual secondary structures of ribosomal RNA sequences provide a valuable gain of information content that is useful for phylogenetics. Thus, the usage of ITS2 sequence together with secondary structure for taxonomic inferences is recommended. Other reconstruction methods as maximum likelihood, bayesian inference or maximum parsimony may equally profit from secondary structure inclusion.</p> <p>Reviewers</p> <p>This article was reviewed by Shamil Sunyaev, Andrea Tanzer (nominated by Frank Eisenhaber) and Eugene V. Koonin.</p> <p>Open peer review</p> <p>Reviewed by Shamil Sunyaev, Andrea Tanzer (nominated by Frank Eisenhaber) and Eugene V. Koonin. For the full reviews, please go to the Reviewers' comments section.</p

ITS2 data corroborate a monophyletic chlorophycean DO-group (Sphaeropleales)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Within Chlorophyceae the ITS2 secondary structure shows an unbranched helix I, except for the '<it>Hydrodictyon</it>' and the '<it>Scenedesmus</it>' clade having a ramified first helix. The latter two are classified within the Sphaeropleales, characterised by directly opposed basal bodies in their flagellar apparatuses (DO-group). Previous studies could not resolve the taxonomic position of the '<it>Sphaeroplea</it>' clade within the Chlorophyceae without ambiguity and two pivotal questions remain open: (1) Is the DO-group monophyletic and (2) is a branched helix I an apomorphic feature of the DO-group? In the present study we analysed the secondary structure of three newly obtained ITS2 sequences classified within the '<it>Sphaeroplea</it>' clade and resolved sphaeroplealean relationships by applying different phylogenetic approaches based on a combined sequence-structure alignment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The newly obtained ITS2 sequences of <it>Ankyra judayi, Atractomorpha porcata </it>and <it>Sphaeroplea annulina </it>of the '<it>Sphaeroplea</it>' clade do not show any branching in the secondary structure of their helix I. All applied phylogenetic methods highly support the '<it>Sphaeroplea</it>' clade as a sister group to the 'core Sphaeropleales'. Thus, the DO-group is monophyletic. Furthermore, based on characteristics in the sequence-structure alignment one is able to distinguish distinct lineages within the green algae.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In green algae, a branched helix I in the secondary structure of the ITS2 evolves past the '<it>Sphaeroplea</it>' clade. A branched helix I is an apomorph characteristic within the monophyletic DO-group. Our results corroborate the fundamental relevance of including the secondary structure in sequence analysis and phylogenetics.</p

Spectroscopic study of the magnetic ground state of Nb1−y_{1-y}Fe2+y_{2+y}

We have investigated single crystals and polycrystals from the series Nb$_{1-y}$Fe$_{2+y}$, $-0.004 \leq y \leq 0.018$ by electron spin resonance, muon spin relaxation and M\"ossbauer spectroscopy. Our data establish that at lowest temperatures all samples exhibit bulk magnetic order. Slight Fe-excess induces low-moment ferromagnetism, consistent with bulk magnetometry ($\simeq 0.06 ~\mu_B/{\rm Fe}$), Nb--rich and stoichiometric NbFe$_2$ display spin density wave order with small magnetic moment amplitudes of the order $\sim 0.001 - 0.01 ~\mu_B/{\rm Fe}$. This provides microscopic evidence for a modulated magnetic state on the border of ferromagnetism in NbFe$_2$.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure

Plasmonic Library Based on Substrate-Supported Gradiential Plasmonic Arrays

We present a versatile approach to produce macroscopic, substrate-supported arrays of plasmonic nanoparticles with well-defined interparticle spacing and a continuous particle size gradient. The arrays thus present a “plasmonic library” of locally noncoupling plasmonic particles of different sizes, which can serve as a platform for future combinatorial screening of size effects. The structures were prepared by substrate assembly of gold-core/poly(<i>N</i>-isopropylacrylamide)-shell particles and subsequent post-modification. Coupling of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) could be avoided since the polymer shell separates the encapsulated gold cores. To produce a particle array with a broad range of well-defined but laterally distinguishable particle sizes, the substrate was dip-coated in a growth solution, which resulted in an overgrowth of the gold cores controlled by the local exposure time. The kinetics was quantitatively analyzed and found to be diffusion rate controlled, allowing for precise tuning of particle size by adjusting the withdrawal speed. We determined the kinetics of the overgrowth process, investigated the LSPRs along the gradient by UV–vis extinction spectroscopy, and compared the spectroscopic results to the predictions from Mie theory, indicating the absence of local interparticle coupling. We finally discuss potential applications of these substrate-supported plasmonic particle libraries and perspectives toward extending the concept from size to composition variation and screening of plasmonic coupling effects

CC Chemokine Receptor 7–dependent and –independent Pathways for Lymphocyte Homing: Modulation by FTY720

Cognate interaction of chemokine receptor CCR7 on lymphocytes with its ligands CCL19 and CCL21 expressed on high endothelial venules (HEVs) is essential for effective migration of T and B cells across HEVs into secondary lymphoid organs. Plt mice, which lack expression of CCL19 and CCL21-ser, both ligands for CCR7 on HEVs, as well as CCR7-deficient mice, have a defective cell migration and reduced homing of lymphocytes. FTY720, a novel immunosuppressant, causes a reduction of lymphocytes in peripheral blood and tissues and their sequestration into lymphoid tissues. In this study we demonstrate that FTY720 rescues the homing defect in both CCR7−/− mice and plt mice. After FTY720 treatment, the number of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells as well as B cells in peripheral blood is reduced while pertussis toxin–sensitive homing into peripheral lymph nodes, mesenteric lymph node, and Peyer's patches is increased. Immunohistology demonstrates that FTY720 enables these cells to enter lymphoid tissue through HEVs. Thus, our data suggest an alternative G-αi-dependent, CCR7-CCL19/CCL21-independent mechanism for lymphocyte homing through HEVs which is strongly augmented in the presence of FTY720