Vanishing Fe 3d orbital moments in single-crystalline magnetite

We show detailed magnetic absorption spectroscopy results of an in situ cleaved high quality single crystal of magnetite. In addition the experimental setup was carefully optimized to reduce drift, self absorption, and offset phenomena as far as possible. In strong contradiction to recently published data, our observed orbital moments are nearly vanishing and the spin moments are quite close to the integer values proposed by theory. This very important issue supports the half metallic full spin polarized picture of magnetite.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Saccharification of Starchy Grain Mashes for Ethonal Fermentation Use of Mold-Amylase Preparations

Ethyl alcohol has been listed by scientists as one of the six most useful substances; in fact it has been said that, next to water, ethanol is the most useful chemical compound known to mankind. At the present time approximately 85% of all industrial alcohol is made by fermentation, the balance by synthesis from ethylene derived from the cracking of petroleum. Of the fermentation alcohol about nine-tenths is produced from blackstrap molasses, one-tenth from grains. However, by-product molasses is limited in amount and there is at the present time virtually no surplus. This is shown by the statistics of molasses production (4) and by the fact that the price of molasses has recently risen from 5¢ to 7¢ per gallon. It is likely to rise still higher as alcohol production expands to meet the needs of defense industries. Hence, other raw materials will become increasingly important. Of these, corn is the only one now available in adequate quantities in the United States. The present price of molasses at 7¢ per gallon is equivalent to about 60¢ per bushel for corn as an alcohol source

Deriving a Provisional Tolerable Intake for Intravenous Exposure to Silver Nanoparticles Released from Medical Devices

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) are incorporated into medical devices for their anti-microbial characteristics. The potential exposure and toxicity of AgNPs is unknown due to varying physicochemical particle properties and lack of toxicological data. The aim of this safety assessment is to derive a provisional tolerable intake (pTI) value for AgNPs released from blood-contacting medical devices. A literature review of in vivo studies investigating critical health effects induced from intravenous (i. v.) exposure to AgNPs was evaluated by the Annapolis Accords principles and Toxicological Data Reliability Assessment Tool (ToxRTool). The point of departure (POD) was based on an i. v. 28-day repeated AgNP (20 nm) dose toxicity study reporting an increase in relative spleen weight in rats with a 5% lower confidence bound of the benchmark dose (BMDL05) of 0.14 mg/kg bw/day. The POD was extrapolated to humans by a modifying factor of 1,000 to account for intraspecies variability, interspecies differences and lack of long-term toxicity data. The pTI for long-term i. v. exposure to 20 nm AgNPs released from blood-contacting medical devices was 0.14 μg/kg bw/day. This pTI may not be appropriate for nanoparticles of other physicochemical properties or routes of administration. The methodology is appropriate for deriving pTIs for nanoparticles in general

Dual HLA B*42 and B*81-reactive T cell receptors recognize more diverse HIV-1 Gag escape variants

Closely related HLA alleles presenting similar HIV-1 epitopes can be associated with variable clinical outcome. Here the authors report their findings on CD8+ T cell responses to the HIV-1 Gag-p24 TL9 immunodominant epitope in the context of closely related protective and less protective HLA alleles, and their differential effect on viral contro

Strain and composition dependence of the orbital polarization in nickelate superlattices

A combined analysis of x-ray absorption and resonant reflectivity data was used to obtain the orbital polarization profiles of superlattices composed of four-unit-cell-thick layers of metallic LaNiO3 and layers of insulating RXO3 (R=La, Gd, Dy and X=Al, Ga, Sc), grown on substrates that impose either compressive or tensile strain. This superlattice geometry allowed us to partly separate the influence of epitaxial strain from interfacial effects controlled by the chemical composition of the insulating blocking layers. Our quantitative analysis reveal orbital polarizations up to 25%. We further show that strain is the most effective control parameter, whereas the influence of the chemical composition of the blocking layers is comparatively small.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Ferromagnetic behaviour of ZnO: The role of grain boundaries

The possibility to attain ferromagnetic properties in transparent semiconductor oxides such as ZnO is very promising for future spintronic applications. We demonstrate in this review that ferromagnetism is not an intrinsic property of the ZnO crystalline lattice but is that of ZnO/ZnO grain boundaries. If a ZnO polycrystal contains enough grain boundaries, it can transform into the ferromagnetic state even without doping with “magnetic atoms” such as Mn, Co, Fe or Ni. However, such doping facilitates the appearance of ferromagnetism in ZnO. It increases the saturation magnetisation and decreases the critical amount of grain boundaries needed for FM. A drastic increase of the total solubility of dopants in ZnO with decreasing grain size has been also observed. It is explained by the multilayer grain boundary segregation