202 research outputs found
Transverse instabilities of stripe domains in magnetic thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy
Stripe domains are narrow, elongated, reversed regions that exist in magnetic
materials with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Stripe domains appear as a
pair of domain walls that can exhibit topology with a nonzero chirality. Recent
experimental and numerical investigations identify an instability of stripe
domains in the long direction as a means of nucleating isolated magnetic
skyrmions. Here, the onset and nonlinear evolution of transverse instabilities
for a dynamic stripe domain known as the bion stripe are investigated. Both
non-topological and topological variants of the bion stripe are shown to
exhibit a long-wavelength transverse instability with different characteristic
features. In the former, small transverse variations in the stripe's width lead
to a neck instability that eventually pinches the non-topological stripe into a
chain of two-dimensional breathers composed of droplet soliton pairs. In the
latter case, small variations in the stripe's center results in a snake
instability whose topological structure leads to the nucleation of dynamic
magnetic skyrmions and antiskyrmions as well as perimeter-modulated droplets.
Quantitative, analytical predictions for both the early, linear evolution and
the long-time, nonlinear evolution are achieved using an averaged Lagrangian
approach that incorporates both exchange (dispersion) and anisotropy
(nonlinearity). The method of analysis is general and can be applied to other
filamentary structures.Comment: 8 figures, 13 page
Frequency modulation of spin torque oscillator pairs
The current controlled modulation of nano-contact based spin torque
oscillator (STO) pairs is studied in both the synchronized and non-synchronized
states. The synchronized state shows a well behaved modulation and demonstrates
robust mutual locking even under strong modulation. The power distribution of
the modulation sidebands can be quantitatively described by assuming a single
oscillator model. However, in the non-synchronized state, the modulation
sidebands are not well described by the model, indicating interactions between
the two individual nano-contact STOs. These findings are promising for
potential applications requiring the modulation of large synchronized STO
arrays
Evidence of extreme domain wall speeds under ultrafast optical excitation
Time-resolved ultrafast EUV magnetic scattering was used to test a recent
prediction of >10 km/s domain wall speeds by optically exciting a magnetic
sample with a nanoscale labyrinthine domain pattern. Ultrafast distortion of
the diffraction pattern was observed at markedly different timescales compared
to the magnetization quenching. The diffraction pattern distortion shows a
threshold-dependence with laser fluence, not seen for magnetization quenching,
consistent with a picture of domain wall motion with pinning sites. Supported
by simulations, we show that a speed of 66 km/s for highly curved
domain walls can explain the experimental data. While our data agree with the
prediction of extreme, non-equilibrium wall speeds locally, it differs from the
details of the theory, suggesting that additional mechanisms are required to
fully understand these effects.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; Supplemental Material: 8 pages, 9 figure
Neuroendocrine (Merkel cell) carcinoma of the retroperitoneum with no identifiable primary site
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neuroendocrine carcinoma is an aggressive neoplasm that mainly affects elderly Caucasians and typically arises in sun-exposed areas of the skin. The disease is rather rare and only a relatively few cases present with no apparent primary lesion.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of an 81-year-old Caucasian male with neuroendocrine carcinoma, which initially presented as a large retroperitoneal mass. Pathological and immunohistochemical analysis of the transabdominal CT-guided biopsy specimen revealed tissue consistent with neuroendocrine carcinoma. The patient underwent exploratory laparotomy and the mass was successfully excised along with an associated mesenteric lymph node.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>There are currently two possible explanations for what occurred in our patient. First, the retroperitoneal mass could be a massively enlarged lymph node where precursor cells became neoplastic. This would be consistent with a presumptive diagnosis of primary nodal disease. Alternatively, an initial skin lesion could have spontaneously regressed and the retroperitoneal mass represents a single site of metastasis. Since Merkel cell precursors have never been identified within lymph nodes, the latter theory seems more befitting. Moreover, metastasis to the retroperitoneal lymph nodes has been reported as relatively common when compared to other sites such as liver, bone, brain and skin.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Wide local excision of the primary tumor is the surgical treatment of choice for localized disease. We propose that further studies are needed to elucidate the true efficacy of chemotherapy in conventional as well as unconventional patients with neuroendocrine carcinoma.</p
Affordances, constraints and information flows as ‘leverage points’ in design for sustainable behaviour
Copyright @ 2012 Social Science Electronic PublishingTwo of Donella Meadows' 'leverage points' for intervening in systems (1999) seem particularly pertinent to design for sustainable behaviour, in the sense that designers may have the scope to implement them in (re-)designing everyday products and services. The 'rules of the system' -- interpreted here to refer to affordances and constraints -- and the structure of information flows both offer a range of opportunities for design interventions to in fluence behaviour change, and in this paper, some of the implications and possibilities are discussed with reference to parallel concepts from within design, HCI and relevant areas of psychology
Ultrafast domain dilation induced by optical pumping in ferromagnetic CoFe/Ni multilayers
Ultrafast optical pumping of systems with spatially nonuniform magnetic
textures is known to cause far-from-equilibrium spin transport effects, such as
the broadening of domain-walls. Here, we study the dynamics of labyrinth domain
networks in ferromagnetic CoFe/Ni multilayers subject to a femtosecond optical
pump and find an ultrafast domain dilation by 6% within 1.6 ps. This surprising
result is based on the unambiguous determination of a harmonically-related
shift of ultrafast magnetic X-ray diffraction for the first- and third-order
rings. Domain dilation is plausible from conservation of momentum arguments,
whereby inelastic scattering from a hot, quasi-ballistic, radial current
transfers momentum to the magnetic domains. Our results suggest a potentially
rich variety of unexpected physical phenomena associated with
far-from-equilibrium inelastic electron-magnon scattering processes in the
presence of spin textures
An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics
For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types
Profaning the sacred in leadership studies: A reading of Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase
The leadership literature is full of stories of heroic self-sacrifice. Sacrificial leadership behaviour, some scholars conclude, is to be recommended. In this article we follow Keith Grint's conceptualization of leadership as necessarily pertaining to the sacred, but-drawing on Giorgio Agamben's notion of profanation-we highlight the need for organization scholars to profane the sacralizations embedded in leadership thinking. One example of this, which guides us throughout the article, is the novel A Wild Sheep Chase, by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami. By means of a thematic reading of the novel, we discuss how it contributes to profaning particular notions of sacrifice and the sacred in leadership thinking. In the novel, self-sacrifice does not function as a way of establishing a leadership position, but as a way to avoid the dangers associated with leadership, and possibly redeem humans from their current collective urge to become leaders. Inspired by Murakami's fictional example, we call organization scholars to engage in profanation of leadership studies and, in doing so, open new vistas for leadership theory and practice. © The Author(s) 2012
Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas
Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN
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