Superlattice formation lifting degeneracy protected by non-symmorphic symmetry through a metal-insulator transition in RuAs

The single crystal of RuAs obtained by Bi-flux method shows obvious successive metal-insulator transitions at T_MI1~255 K and T_MI2~195$ K. The X-ray diffraction measurement reveals a formation of superlattice of 3x3x3 of the original unit cell below T_MI2, accompanied by a change of the crystal system from the orthorhombic structure to the monoclinic one. Simple dimerization of the Ru ions is nor seen in the ground state. The multiple As sites observed in nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spectrum also demonstrate the formation of the superlattice in the ground state, which is clarified to be nonmagnetic. The divergence in 1/T_1 at T_MI1 shows that a symmetry lowering by the metal-insulator transition is accompanied by strong critical fluctuations of some degrees of freedom. Using the structural parameters in the insulating state, the first principle calculation reproduces successfully the reasonable size of nuclear quadrupole frequencies for the multiple As sites, ensuring the high validity of the structural parameters. The calculation also gives a remarkable suppression in the density of states (DOS) near the Fermi level, although the gap opening is insufficient. A coupled modulation of the calculated Ru d electron numbers and the crystal structure proposes a formation of charge density wave (CDW) in RuAs. Some lacking factors remain, but it shows that a lifting of degeneracy protected by the non-symmorphic symmetry through the superlattice formation is a key ingredient for the metal-insulator transition in RuAs.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Data-dependent Learning of Symmetric/Antisymmetric Relations for Knowledge Base Completion

Embedding-based methods for knowledge base completion (KBC) learn representations of entities and relations in a vector space, along with the scoring function to estimate the likelihood of relations between entities. The learnable class of scoring functions is designed to be expressive enough to cover a variety of real-world relations, but this expressive comes at the cost of an increased number of parameters. In particular, parameters in these methods are superfluous for relations that are either symmetric or antisymmetric. To mitigate this problem, we propose a new L1 regularizer for Complex Embeddings, which is one of the state-of-the-art embedding-based methods for KBC. This regularizer promotes symmetry or antisymmetry of the scoring function on a relation-by-relation basis, in accordance with the observed data. Our empirical evaluation shows that the proposed method outperforms the original Complex Embeddings and other baseline methods on the FB15k dataset.Comment: In AAAI 201

Neotenic reproductives influence worker caste differentiation in the termite Reticulitermes speratus (Isoptera; Rhinotermitidae)

Division of labor among castes in social insect colonies increases ergonomic efficiency and colony-level fitness, and has played a key role in the ecological success of social insects. Knowledge of the factors that regulate castes is important for understanding adaptive social organization. Our previous study on the termite Reticulitermes speratus demonstrated that the presence of a pair of nymphoid reproductives during development affected offspring caste ratios. In the present study, we investigated further the influence of individual neotenics on offspring caste ratios. Parthenogenetically-produced offspring were reared in worker-tended experimental colonies with the addition of different forms (nymphoid or ergatoid) and numbers of neotenics, and compared the caste ratios of the offspring between the different experimental treatments. We found that all offspring in worker-only tended colonies became nymphs, while a proportion of offspring in colonies with a single neotenic (with the exception of male ergatoids) differentiated into workers. These results show offspring caste ratios are influenced by the presence of single female ergatoids, single female and male nymphoids, while they remain unaffected by the presence of male ergatoids

Analytical Evaluation for Seismic Behavior of Shore Structures on Liquefied Area During Earthquakes

In this paper, focusing on the caisson type quay wall, which is a typical gravity type of shore structures, the seismic behavior of the structures was discussed when the liquefaction occurs, by applying the dynamic response analysis and a simplified prediction method which was proposed by the authors. Firstly, a simplified and reasonable method for predicting the seismic behavior of shore structures during earthquakes was proposed. In the proposed analytical method, the structure is replaced by a simplified model, and the ground contacting the structure by subgrade springs. There are two types of subgrade springs employed as elasto-plastic spring and liquefied spring. Secondly, the seismic behavior of shore structures in liquefied areas was evaluated through case study by dynamic response analysis. As the result, it was elucidated that the residual horizontal displacement of structures depends on the maximum horizontal acceleration acting at the center of structures, and the duration of earthquake motion is closely related to the residual horizontal displacement. It is also confirmed that the residual horizontal displacement of irregular seismic wave is 1/3 to 2/3 times smaller than that of regular seismic wave. After then, in order to confirm the applicability of the proposed simplified prediction method, a case study was performed to compare the result of the simplified analysis with that of the dynamic response analysis. As the result, the relationships between the horizontal acceleration at ground surface and the residual horizontal displacement by both analyses without liquefaction showed a similar trend, while those with liquefaction showed different trends, which was due to the difference of evaluating the semi-liquefaction, It was confirmed that the proposed simplified prediction method was applicable to predicting the actual seismic behavior of shore structures with good accuracy by adequately adjusting the reduction ratio of liquefied spring in the semi-liquefaction condition

Differential scanning calorimetric study of solidification behavior of monoacylglycerols to investigate the cold-flow properties of biodiesel

Monoacylglycerols (MAG) are impurities present in biodiesel as a result of incomplete reactions. MAG often solidify in biodiesel even at room temperature because of their high melting points. This worsens the cold‐flow properties such as the cloud point and pour point. We hypothesized that several types of MAG solidify simultaneously; therefore, we performed differential scanning calorimetry of binary mixtures of MAG to elucidate their interactions during solidification. Three thermodynamic formulas were then applied to the experimental results: (1) non‐solid‐solution, (2) solid‐solution, and (3) compound formation models. Binary mixtures of MAG showed complicated liquidus curves with multiple upward convex shapes, with which only the compound formation model fitted well. This model was applied to multicomponent mixtures that consisted of MAG and fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) as surrogate biodiesel fuels. We confirmed that the model still worked well. The results show that the compound formation model has good potential for predicting the cold‐flow properties of biodiesel

Teleparallel Complex Gravity as Foundation for Noncommutative Gravity

We present a teleparallel complex gravity as the foundation for the formulation of noncommutative gravity theory. The negative energy ghosts in the conventional formulation with U(1,3) local Lorentz connection no longer exists, since the local Lorentz invariance is broken down to U(1,3) global Lorentz symmetry. As desired, our teleparallel complex gravity theory also passes the key classical test of perihelion advance of Mercury. Based on this result, we present a lagrangian for the noncommutative teleparallel gravity theory.Comment: 15 pages, latex. a new section 4 for classical test of perihelion advance is added, with other relatively minor rhetorical change

Heme oxygenase-1 induction in the brain during lipopolysaccharide-induced acute inflammation

Delirium occurs in 23% of sepsis patients, in which pro-inflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide are suggested to be involved. However, in animal experiments, even a subseptic dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection induces both pro-inflammatory cytokines and inducible nitric oxide synthase in the brain, suggesting that the brain oxidative reaction can be induced in the subseptic condition. Then, we evaluated the changes of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a sensitive oxidative marker, as well as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and inductible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA in the hypothalamus and hippocampus of rats using real-time PCR after peripheral injection of LPS (2.0 mg/kg). As a result, these four kinds of mRNAs were induced significantly in both areas after LPS injection. These results suggest that peripheral inflammation induces an oxidative reaction in the brain, even if the inflammation is not lethal. It is also considered that several pathways are involved in brain HO-1 induction

Life and How to Live It

The reaction of Mn^III salen-type complexes with di- and tetraanionic α-Keggin-type polyoxometalates (POMs) was performed, and three types of Coulombic aggregations containing Mn^III out-of-plane dimeric units (abbreviated as [Mn₂]²⁺) that are potentially single-molecule magnets (SMMs) with an <i>S</i>_T = 4 ground state were synthesized: [Mn₂(5-MeOsaltmen)₂(acetone)₂]­[SW₁₂O₄₀] (<b>1</b>), [Mn₂(salen)₂(H₂O)₂]₂[SiW₁₂O₄₀] (<b>2</b>), and [Mn­(5-Brsaltmen)­(H₂O)­(acetone)]₂[{Mn₂(5-Brsaltmen)₂}­(SiW₁₂O₄₀)] (<b>3</b>), where 5-Rsaltmen^2– = <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>′-(1,1,2,2-tetramethylethylene)­bis­(5-R-salicylideneiminate) with R = MeO (methoxy), Br (bromo) and salen^2– = <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>′-ethylenebis­(salicylideneiminate). Compound <b>1</b> with a dianionic POM, [SW₁₂O₄₀]^2–, is composed of a 1:1 aggregating set of [Mn₂]²⁺/POM, and <b>2</b>, with a tetraanionic POM, [SiW₁₂O₄₀]^4–, is a 2:1 set. Compound <b>3</b> with [SiW₁₂O₄₀]^4– forms a unique 1D coordinating chain with a [−{Mn₂}–POM−]^2– repeating unit, for which a hydrogen-bonded dimeric unit ([Mn­(5-Brsaltmen)­(H₂O)­(acetone)]₂²⁺) is present as a countercation. Independent of the formula ratio of [Mn₂]²⁺/POM, Mn^III dimers and POM units in <b>1</b>–<b>3</b> form respective segregated columns along a direction of the unit cell, which make an alternate packing to separate evenly identical species in a crystal. The nearest intermolecular Mn···Mn distance is found in the order <b>2</b> < <b>3</b> < <b>1</b>. The segregation of the [Mn₂]²⁺ dimer resulted in interdimer distances long enough to effectively reduce the intermolecular magnetic interaction, in particular in <b>1</b> and <b>3</b>. Consequently, an intrinsic property, SMM behavior, of Mn^III dimers has been characterized in this system, even though the interdimer interactions are still crucial in the case of <b>2</b>, where a long-range magnetic order competitively affects slow relaxation of the magnetization at low ac frequencies

Increased endothelial and epidermal thrombomodulin expression and plasma thrombomodulin level in progressive systemic sclerosis.

To clarify the relation between systemic and cutaneous vascular endothelial injury in progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS), we examined thrombomodulin (TM) expression in PSS skin lesions immuno-histopathologically and compared it with plasma soluble TM levels measured by specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The plasma soluble TM level in PSS patients was significantly higher than that of normal controls and was as high as the levels of SLE patients. In relation to disease activities, the plasma TM levels of sclerotic phase PSS patients were significantly higher than that of atrophic phase PSS patients. The plasma samples with anti-Scl-70 antibody showed a high TM level than samples with anti-centromere antibody or anti-RNP antibody. Barnett's types or systemic corticosteroid treatment did not affect the TM level. Histopathologically, the dermal endothelial TM expression significantly increased in the sclerotic skin and moderately increased in the non-sclerotic skin of PSS compared with that of normal control skin. In addition, immunoreactive TM expression in the epidermis also increased in PSS. Disease activity-dependent elevation of plasma TM levels and immuno-histopathological expression of TM suggested generalized endothelial and epidermal cell involvement in PSS, and compensation in part by overproduction of TM by endothelial cells.</p