1,604 research outputs found
Unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance in ferromagnet/normal metal bilayers
Magnetoresistive effects are usually invariant upon inversion of the
magnetization direction. In noncentrosymmetric conductors, however, nonlinear
resistive terms can give rise to a current dependence that is quadratic in the
applied voltage and linear in the magnetization. Here we demonstrate that such
conditions are realized in simple bilayer metal films where the spin-orbit
interaction and spin-dependent scattering couple the current-induced spin
accumulation to the electrical conductivity. We show that the longitudinal
resistance of Ta|Co and Pt|Co bilayers changes when reversing the polarity of
the current or the sign of the magnetization. This unidirectional
magnetoresistance scales linearly with current density and has opposite sign in
Ta and Pt, which we associate with the modification of the interface scattering
potential induced by the spin Hall effect in these materials. Our results
suggest a route to control the resistance and detect magnetization switching in
spintronic devices using a two-terminal geometry, which applies also to
heterostructures including topological insulators
Green vs fossil-based energy vectors: A comparative techno-economic analysis of green ammonia and LNG value chains
This study conducts a comparative techno-economic assessment on the value chains of ammonia, as a green energy vector, and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), representing the benchmark energy vector, for long-distance energy transportation from Middle East to Europe. The value chain involves production from resources, conversion to an energy vector, storage and transport and reconversion of the energy vector to a suitable fuel. For comparison purposes, an electric power output of 400 MW is assumed to be produced by a power plant that utilizes either green or fossil fuels delivered to it. The adopted parameter for this comparison is the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE). Greenhouse gas emissions are economically penalized through the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC). Considering a SCC of 0.100 euro/kg, the LCoE of the LNG value chain is 59.19 euro/MWh, while that of ammonia is 231.71 euro/MWh. Since the cost of producing green hydrogen and purified natural gas strongly affects the results, a sensitivity analysis is performed to assess the impact of the assumed values. The SCC required to break even the LCoE of the two value chains is: 0.183 euro/MWh when considering the most favorable scenario for the green energy vector (low green hydrogen and high purified natural gas production costs) and 1.731 euro/kg when considering the most unfavorable one. This study highlights the cost-effectiveness of LNG in the current economic and regulatory landscape. However, the break-even range for the SCC indicates the potential for green ammonia to gain economic viability under higher carbon pricing scenarios
Promiscuous Roles of Autophagy and Proteasome in Neurodegenerative Proteinopathies.
Alterations in autophagy and the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) are commonly implicated in protein aggregation and toxicity which manifest in a number of neurological disorders. In fact, both UPS and autophagy alterations are bound to the aggregation, spreading and toxicity of the so-called prionoid proteins, including alpha synuclein (α-syn), amyloid-beta (Aβ), tau, huntingtin, superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD-1), TAR-DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP-43) and fused in sarcoma (FUS). Recent biochemical and morphological studies add to this scenario, focusing on the coordinated, either synergistic or compensatory, interplay that occurs between autophagy and the UPS. In fact, a number of biochemical pathways such as mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), transcription factor EB (TFEB), Bcl2-associated athanogene 1/3 (BAG3/1) and glycogen synthase kinase beta (GSk3β), which are widely explored as potential targets in neurodegenerative proteinopathies, operate at the crossroad between autophagy and UPS. These biochemical steps are key in orchestrating the specificity and magnitude of the two degradation systems for effective protein homeostasis, while intermingling with intracellular secretory/trafficking and inflammatory pathways. The findings discussed in the present manuscript are supposed to add novel viewpoints which may further enrich our insight on the complex interactions occurring between cell-clearing systems, protein misfolding and propagation. Discovering novel mechanisms enabling a cross-talk between the UPS and autophagy is expected to provide novel potential molecular targets in proteinopathies
Ambiguous Effects of Autophagy Activation Following Hypoperfusion/Ischemia
Autophagy primarily works to counteract nutrient deprivation that is strongly engaged during starvation and hypoxia, which happens in hypoperfusion. Nonetheless, autophagy is slightly active even in baseline conditions, when it is useful to remove aged proteins and organelles. This is critical when the mitochondria and/or proteins are damaged by toxic stimuli. In the present review, we discuss to that extent the recruitment of autophagy is beneficial in counteracting brain hypoperfusion or, vice-versa, its overactivity may per se be detrimental for cell survival. While analyzing these opposite effects, it turns out that the autophagy activity is likely not to be simply good or bad for cell survival, but its role varies depending on the timing and amount of autophagy activation. This calls for the need for an appropriate autophagy tuning to guarantee a beneficial effect on cell survival. Therefore, the present article draws a theoretical pattern of autophagy activation, which is hypothesized to define the appropriate timing and intensity, which should mirrors the duration and severity of brain hypoperfusion. The need for a fine tuning of the autophagy activation may explain why confounding outcomes occur when autophagy is studied using a rather simplistic approach
Bibliometric Evaluation vs. Informed Peer Review:Evidence from Italy
A relevant question for the organization of large scale research assessments is whether
bibliometric evaluation and informed peer review where reviewers know where the work was
published, yield similar results. It would suggest, for instance, that less costly bibliometric
evaluation might - at least partly - replace informed peer review, or that bibliometric
evaluation could reliably monitor research in between assessment exercises. We draw on our
experience of evaluating Italian research in Economics, Business and Statistics, where almost
12,000 publications dated 2004-2010 were assessed. A random sample from the available
population of journal articles shows that informed peer review and bibliometric analysis
produce similar evaluations of the same set of papers. Whether because of independent
convergence in assessment, or the influence of bibliometric information on the community of
reviewers, the implication for the organization of these exercises is that these two approaches
are substitutes
Bibliometric Evaluation vs. Informed Peer Review: Evidence from Italy
A relevant question for the organization of large scale research assessments is whether bibliometric evaluation and informed peer review where reviewers know where the work was published, yield similar results. It would suggest, for instance, that less costly bibliometric evaluation might - at least partly - replace informed peer review, or that bibliometric evaluation could reliably monitor research in between assessment exercises. We draw on our experience of evaluating Italian research in Economics, Business and Statistics, where almost 12,000 publications dated 2004-2010 were assessed. A random sample from the available population of journal articles shows that informed peer review and bibliometric analysis produce similar evaluations of the same set of papers. Whether because of independent convergence in assessment, or the influence of bibliometric information on the community of reviewers, the implication for the organization of these exercises is that these two approaches are substitutes
Element-resolved x-ray ferrimagnetic and ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy
We report on the measurement of element-specific magnetic resonance spectra
at gigahertz frequencies using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). We
investigate the ferrimagnetic precession of Gd and Fe ions in Gd-substituted
Yttrium Iron Garnet, showing that the resonant field and linewidth of Gd
precisely coincide with Fe up to the nonlinear regime of parametric
excitations. The opposite sign of the Gd x-ray magnetic resonance signal with
respect to Fe is consistent with dynamic antiferromagnetic alignment of the two
ionic species. Further, we investigate a bilayer metal film,
NiFe(5 nm)/Ni(50 nm), where the coupled resonance modes of Ni and
NiFe are separately resolved, revealing shifts in the resonance
fields of individual layers but no mutual driving effects. Energy-dependent
dynamic XMCD measurements are introduced, combining x-ray absorption and
magnetic resonance spectroscopies.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
An (MI)LP-based Primal Heuristic for 3-Architecture Connected Facility Location in Urban Access Network Design
We investigate the 3-architecture Connected Facility Location Problem arising
in the design of urban telecommunication access networks. We propose an
original optimization model for the problem that includes additional variables
and constraints to take into account wireless signal coverage. Since the
problem can prove challenging even for modern state-of-the art optimization
solvers, we propose to solve it by an original primal heuristic which combines
a probabilistic fixing procedure, guided by peculiar Linear Programming
relaxations, with an exact MIP heuristic, based on a very large neighborhood
search. Computational experiments on a set of realistic instances show that our
heuristic can find solutions associated with much lower optimality gaps than a
state-of-the-art solver.Comment: This is the authors' final version of the paper published in:
Squillero G., Burelli P. (eds), EvoApplications 2016: Applications of
Evolutionary Computation, LNCS 9597, pp. 283-298, 2016. DOI:
10.1007/978-3-319-31204-0_19. The final publication is available at Springer
via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31204-0_1
Growth and magnetism of self-organized arrays of Fe(110) wires formed by deposition on kinetically grooved W(110)
Homoepitaxy of W(110) and Mo(110) is performed in a kinetically-limited
regime to yield a nanotemplate in the form of a uniaxial array of hills and
grooves aligned along the [001] direction. The topography and organization of
the grooves were studied with RHEED and STM. The nanofacets, of type {210}, are
tilted 18° away from (110). The lateral period could be varied from 4 to
12nm by tuning the deposition temperature. Magnetic nanowires were formed in
the grooves by deposition of Fe at 150°C on such templates. Fe/W wires
display an easy axis along [001] and a mean blocking temperature Tb=100KComment: Proceedings of ECOSS 2006 (Paris
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