18 research outputs found
Comparative study on the thermoelectric effect of parent oxypnictides LaAsO ( = Fe, Ni)
The thermopower and Nernst effect were investigated for undoped parent
compounds LaFeAsO and LaNiAsO. Both thermopower and Nernst signal in iron-based
LaFeAsO are significantly larger than those in nickel-based LaNiAsO.
Furthermore, abrupt changes in both thermopower and Nernst effect are observed
below the structural phase transition temperature and spin-density wave (SDW)
type antiferromagnetic (AFM) order temperature in Fe-based LaFeAsO. On the
other hand, Nernst effect is very small in the Ni-based LaNiAsO and it is
weakly temperature-dependent, reminiscent of the case in normal metals. We
suggest that the effect of SDW order on the spin scattering rate should play an
important role in the anomalous temperature dependence of Hall effect and
Nernst effect in LaFeAsO. The contrast behavior between the LaFeAsO and LaNiAsO
systems implies that the LaFeAsO system is fundamentally different from the
LaNiAsO system and this may provide clues to the mechanism of high
superconductivity in the Fe-based systems.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Anticipating and Managing Future Trade-offs and Complementarities between Ecosystem Services
This paper shows how, with the aid of computer models developed in close collaboration with decision makers and other stakeholders, it is possible to quantify and map how policy decisions are likely to affect multiple ecosystem services in future. In this way, potential trade-offs and complementarities between different ecosystem services can be identified, so that policies can be designed to avoid the worst trade-offs, and where possible, enhance multiple services. The paper brings together evidence from across the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme’s Sustainable Uplands project for the first time, with previously unpublished model outputs relating to runoff, agricultural suitability, biomass, heather cover, age, and utility for Red Grouse (Lagopus scotica), grass cover, and accompanying scenario narratives and video. Two contrasting scenarios, based on policies to extensify or intensify land management up to 2030, were developed through a combination of interviews and discussions during site visits with stakeholders, literature review, conceptual modeling, and process-based computer models, using the Dark Peak of the Peak District National Park in the UK as a case study. Where extensification leads to a significant reduction in managed burning and grazing or land abandonment, changes in vegetation type and structure could compromise a range of species that are important for conservation, while compromising provisioning services, amenity value, and increasing wildfire risk. However, where extensification leads to the restoration of peatlands damaged by former intensive management, there would be an increase in carbon sequestration and storage, with a number of cobenefits, which could counter the loss of habitats and species elsewhere in the landscape. In the second scenario, land use and management was significantly intensified to boost UK self-sufficiency in food. This would benefit certain provisioning services but would have negative consequences for carbon storage and water quality and would lead to a reduction in the abundance of certain species of conservation concern. The paper emphasizes the need for spatially explicit models that can track how ecosystem services might change over time, in response to policy or environmental drivers, and in response to the changing demands and preferences of society, which are far harder to anticipate. By developing such models in close collaboration with decision makers and other stakeholders, it is possible to depict scenarios of real concern to those who need to use the research findings. By engaging these collaborators with the research findings through film, it was possible to discuss adaptive options to minimize trade-offs and enhance the provision of multiple ecosystem services under the very different future conditions depicted by each scenario. By preparing for as wide a range of futures as possible in this way, it may be possible for decision makers to act rapidly and effectively to protect and enhance the provision of ecosystem services in the face of unpredictable future change.Additional co-authors: Nanlin Jin, Brian J Irvine, Mike J Kirkby, William E Kunin, Christina Prell, Claire H Quinn, Bill Slee, Sigrid Stagl, Mette Termansen, Simon Thorp, and Fred Worral
Expression of CIAPIN1 in human colorectal cancer and its correlation with prognosis
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The cytokine-induced anti-apoptotic molecule (CIAPIN1) had been found to be a differentially-expressed gene involved in a variety of cancers, and it was also considered as a candidate tumour suppressor gene in gastric cancer, renal cancer and liver cancer. However, studies on the role of CIAPIN1 in colorectal cancer were still unavailable. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic impact of CIAPIN1 in 273 colorectal cancer (CRC) samples and to investigate the CIAPIN1 expression in CRC cell lines after inducing differentiation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Immunohistochemical analysis was performed to detect the expression of CIAPIN1 in CRC samples from 273 patients. The relationship between CIAPIN1 expression and patients' characteristics (gender, age, location of cancer, UICC stage, local recurrence and tumour grade factors) was evaluated. In addition, these patients were followed up for five consecutive years to investigate the relationship between CIAPIN1 expression and the prognosis of CRC. We induced the differentiation of the CRC cell lines HT29 and SW480, in order to detect the expression of CIAPIN1 in the process of CRC cells differentiation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results indicated that CIAPIN1 was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm and nucleus, and that its expression level in cancer samples was significantly lower than in normal tissues. The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test showed a significant difference in the differential expression of CIAPIN1 in patients with different T and UICC stages, and tumour grade (<it>P </it>= 0.0393, 0.0297 and 0.0397, respectively). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that the survival time of CRC patients with high expression of CIAPIN1 was longer than those with low expression during the 5-year follow up period (<it>P </it>= 0.0002). COX regression analysis indicated that low expression of CIAPIN1, cancer stage of > pT1, distant organ metastasis (pM<sub>1</sub>), regional lymph node metastasis (> pN<sub>1</sub>) and local recurrence (yes) were independent, poor prognostic factors of CRC (<it>P </it>= 0.012, <it>P </it>= 0.032, <it>P <</it>0.001, <it>P <</it>0.001, <it>P <</it>0.001 respectively). Both Western blotting and RT-PCR showed that CIAPIN1 expression was increased with the degree of differentiation of HT29 and SW480 cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CIAPIN1 played an important role in the differentiation of CRC cells, and the differential expression of CIAPIN1 in CRC was closely related to prognosis.</p
Fano interference of the Higgs mode in cuprate high-Tc superconductors
Despite decades of search for the pairing boson in cuprate high-Tc
superconductors, its identity still remains debated to date. For this reason,
spectroscopic signatures of electron-boson interactions in cuprates have always
been a center of attention. For example, the kinks in the quasiparticle
dispersion observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES)
studies have motivated a decade-long investigation of electron-phonon as well
as electron-paramagnon interactions in cuprates. On the other hand, the overlap
between the charge-order correlations and the pseudogap in the cuprate phase
diagram has also generated discussions about the potential link between them.
In the present study, we provide a fresh perspective on these intertwined
interactions using the novel approach of Higgs spectroscopy, i.e. an
investigation of the amplitude oscillations of the superconducting order
parameter driven by a terahertz radiation. Uniquely for cuprates, we observe a
Fano interference of its dynamically driven Higgs mode with another collective
mode, which we reveal to be charge density wave fluctuations from an extensive
doping- and magnetic field-dependent study. This finding is further
corroborated by a mean field model in which we describe the microscopic
mechanism underlying the interaction between the two orders. Our work
demonstrates Higgs spectroscopy as a novel and powerful technique for
investigating intertwined orders and microscopic processes in unconventional
superconductors
Narrow Band Gap Lead Sulfide Hole Transport Layers for Quantum Dot Photovoltaics
The band structure
of colloidal quantum dot (CQD) bilayer heterojunction solar cells
is optimized using a combination of ligand modification and QD band
gap control. Solar cells with power conversion efficiencies of up
to 9.33 ± 0.50% are demonstrated by aligning the absorber and
hole transport layers (HTL). Key to achieving high efficiencies is
optimizing the relative position of both the valence band and Fermi
energy at the CQD bilayer interface. By comparing different band gap
CQDs with different ligands, we find that a smaller band gap CQD HTL
in combination with a more p-type-inducing CQD ligand is found to
enhance hole extraction and hence device performance. We postulate
that the efficiency improvements observed are largely due to the synergistic
effects of narrower band gap QDs, causing an upshift of valence band
position due to 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT) ligands and a lowering
of the Fermi level due to oxidation
Modelling the coupled dynamics of moorland management and upland vegetation
1 It is widely appreciated that management shapes the dynamics of many ecological systems, but ecologists rarely consider the reverse interaction, that is, the ecological influences on management decisions. Reciprocal feedback between management and ecology can cause complex system behaviour. Therefore, better predictions about how external policy-drivers or climate change will affect semi-natural ecosystems may be made when both the ecological and human dimensions are considered. 2 We develop a spatially-explicit model of moorland vegetation dynamics and management decisions about sheep grazing and heather burning in the Peak District National Park, UK. Competition between dwarf shrubs, bracken and graminoids is mediated by grazing, dwarf shrub age (determined by burning rotation) and environmental gradients. Management decisions depend on vegetation cover in a model parameterized through interviews with upland managers. 3 Current management regimes are designed to reverse historical dwarf shrub losses, and simulations suggest that this reversal should occur in the future. After equilibration, grazing densities fall and dwarf shrubs have expanded from their current distribution, mainly at the expense of graminoids. This causes more land to come under managed burning, but current intensities are maintained. 4 Enforcing winter or summer grazing densities influences model vegetation cover and causes other aspects of the management strategy to adapt. For example, when summer grazing is banned, dwarf shrub cover increases and there is a shift towards grouse moor management. 5 Simulations with warmer temperatures indicate that climate change may increase bracken invasion of the moorland and prevent re-vegetation of bare peat. This is associated with a reduction in managed burning that causes the dwarf shrub community to become dominated by the older, degenerate growth phase. 6 Synthesis and applications. Our model suggests that current management paradigms could achieve their aim of restoring historically degraded moorland over the coming century, but that climate change may prevent this from occurring. One application of the model would be to try to design management paradigms that are robust to this. As such, models of coupled human?natural systems can provide a valuable tool for assessing the impacts of policy decisions and climate change on semi-natural ecosystems at landscape scales
Poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) as a Hole Transport Layer for Colloidal Quantum Dot Solar Cells
Lead sulfide colloidal quantum dot
(CQD) solar cells demonstrate extremely high short-circuit currents
(<i>J</i><sub>sc</sub>) and are making decent progress in
power conversion efficiencies. However, the low fill factors (FF)
and open-circuit voltages have to be addressed with urgency to prevent
the stalling of efficiency improvements. This paper highlights the
importance of improving hole extraction, which received much less
attention as compared to the electron-accepting component of the device
architecture (e.g., TiO<sub>2</sub> or ZnO). Here, we show the use
of semiconducting polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) to create
efficient CQD devices by improving hole transport, removing interfacial
barriers, and minimizing shunt pathways, thus resulting in an overall
improvement in device performance stemming from better <i>J</i><sub>sc</sub> and FF