292 research outputs found
X-ray magneto-optics of lanthanide materials: principles and applications
Lanthanide metals are a particular class of magnetic materials in which the
magnetic moments are carried mainly by the localized electrons of the 4f shell.
They are frequently found in technically relevant systems, to achieve, e.g.,
high magnetic anisotropy. Magneto-optical methods in the x-ray range are well
suited to study complex magnetic materials in an element-specific way. In this
work, we report on recent progress on the quantitative determination of
magneto-optical constants of several lanthanides in the soft x-ray region and
we show some examples of applications of magneto-optics to hard-magnetic
interfaces and exchange-coupled layered structures containing lanthanide
elements.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, invited contribution to the Symposium "X-ray
magneto-optics" of the Spring Meeting of the German Physical Society held in
Regensburg, Germany, 8-12 March 2004. Revised version, minor change
Optical phonons, crystal-field transitions, and europium luminescence-excitation processes in Eu2BaCoO5: Experiment and theory
The Europium compound Eu2BaCoO5 has been studied by means of Raman and x-ray-absorption spectroscopies. The eigenfunctions and frequencies of the optical normal modes have been calculated from an adequate potential showing good accordance with the observed phonons. In addition to Raman-allowed normal modes, several infrared and luminescence bands are observed between 10 and 300 K. The temperature dependence of these processes has allowed us to determine the complex interrelation between these two kinds of elementary excitations. A broad luminescence band (at 2.3 eV) is tentatively attributed to electronic transitions between Co2+ 3d crystal-field levels in the gap of the material. The mixing of these quasiatomic levels with apical oxygen orbitals, along the very short Co-O(2) bonds in the chains, can be the reason for the simultaneous enhancement of the intensities of the luminescence band and of the apical oxygen infrared modes through a resonant electron-phonon coupling. From the dependence of the phonon frequencies and the analysis of the extended x-ray-absorption fine structure spectra with the temperature it can be concluded that on decreasing the temperature the a axis becomes shorter, while the other two axes remain nearly unchanged. The emission spectrum in the visible range has been observed and interpreted in the frame of the crystal-field theory. We have studied the dependence of the intensity of the electronic transitions between 4f levels of the europium ions with the temperature and the energy of the exciting light. From the behavior of the Eu3+ luminescence peaks it has been possible to determine the processes of excitation and emission, which are shown to involve lattice phonons. The crystal-field parameters of the Eu3+ ions have been calculated from the energies of the lower terms of the ionComisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología PB 92, 114- C04-04 y MAT93-79
Ideal cardiovascular health, handgrip strength, and muscle mass among college students: The fuprecol adults study
The American Heart Association established the 2020 Strategic Impact Goals to define the concept of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) and the metrics needed to monitor it across populations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between handgrip strength, muscle mass, and ideal CVH among Colombian college students. Data from 1,835 college students were analyzed (1,128 female). Muscular strength was estimated using a hand-held dynamometer and normalized to body mass (normalized grip strength [NGS]). The percentage of body fat was determined for bioelectrical impedance analysis using tetrapolar whole-body impedance. Ideal CVH was defined as meeting the ideal levels of 4 behaviors (smoking, body mass index, physical activity, and diet adherence) and 3 factors (total cholesterol, fasting glucose, and blood pressure). Higher levels of NGS and muscle mass (relative to body mass) were associated with a higher number of ideal CVH metrics in both sexes (p for trend less than 0.001). For the total ideal CVH metrics scored on a continuous scale from 0 (all 7 poor) to 7 (all 7 ideal), a 1-metric increase was associated with reduced odds of weak NGS (33 and 36%) and low-medium muscle mass (28 and 34%) mass in men and women, respectively (all p less than 0.001). This study indicates that in Colombian college students, both handgrip strength and muscle mass are positively associated with the ideal CVH metrics. To reduce the possible future public health burden of muscular weakness, health professionals need to encourage the public to optimize lifestyle-related risk factors during the young adult stage. © 2019 National Strength and Conditioning Association
Detection of Gravitational Redshift on the Solar Disk by Using Iodine-Cell Technique
With an aim to examine whether the predicted solar gravitational redshift can
be observationally confirmed under the influence of the convective Doppler
shift due to granular motions, we attempted measuring the absolute spectral
line-shifts on a large number of points over the solar disk based on an
extensive set of 5188-5212A region spectra taken through an iodine-cell with
the Solar Domeless Telescope at Hida Observatory. The resulting heliocentric
line shifts at the meridian line (where no rotational shift exists), which were
derived by finding the best-fit parameterized model spectrum with the observed
spectrum and corrected for the earth's motion, turned out to be weakly
position-dependent as ~ +400 m/s near the disk center and increasing toward the
limb up to ~ +600 m/s (both with a standard deviation of sigma ~ 100 m/s).
Interestingly, this trend tends to disappear when the convectiveshift due to
granular motions (~-300 m/s at the disk center and increasing toward the limb;
simulated based on the two-component model along with the empirical
center-to-limb variation) is subtracted, finally resulting in the averaged
shift of 698 m/s (sigma = 113 m/s). Considering the ambiguities involved in the
absolute wavelength calibration or in the correction due to convective Doppler
shifts (at least several tens m/s, or more likely up to <~100 m/s), we may
regard that this value is well consistent with the expected gravitational
redshift of 633 m/s.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures, electronic materials as ancillary data (table3,
table 4, ReadMe); accepted for publication in Solar Physic
Self-assembly of quantum dots: effect of neighbor islands on the wetting in coherent Stranski-Krastanov growth
The wetting of the homogeneously strained wetting layer by dislocation-free
three-dimensional islands belonging to an array has been studied. The array has
been simulated as a chain of islands in 1+1 dimensions. It is found that the
wetting depends on the density of the array, the size distribution and the
shape of the neighbor islands. Implications for the self-assembly of quantum
dots grown in the coherent Stranski-Krastanov mode are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, accepted version, minor change
Prediction of huge X-ray Faraday rotation at the Gd N_4,5 threshold
X-ray absorption spectra in a wide energy range around the 4d-4f excitation
threshold of Gd were recorded by total electron yield from in-plane magnetized
Gd metal films. Matching the experimental spectra to tabulated absorption data
reveals unprecedented short light absorption lengths down to 3 nm. The
associated real parts of the refractive index for circularly polarized light
propagating parallel or antiparallel to the Gd magnetization, determined
through the Kramers-Kronig transformation, correspond to a magneto-optical
Faraday rotation of 0.7 degrees per atomic layer. This finding shall allow the
study of magnetic structure and magnetization dynamics of lanthanide elements
in nanosize systems and dilute alloys.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, final version resubmitted to Phys. Rev. B, Brief
Reports. Minor change
Muscle mass to visceral fat ratio is an important predictor of the metabolic syndrome in college students
This study aimed to evaluate the associations between the muscle mass to visceral fat (MVF) ratio and cardiometabolic risk factors in a large population of college students in Colombia and to propose cut-off points of this index for the metabolic syndrome (MetS). A total of 1464 young adults recruited from the FUPRECOL (Asociación de la Fuerza Prensil con Manifestaciones Tempranas de Riesgo Cardiovascular en Jóvenes y Adultos Colombianos) study were categorised into four groups based on their MVF ratio. Muscle mass and visceral fat level of the participants were measured using a bioelectrical impedance analysis. Cardiometabolic risk factors including lifestyle characteristics, anthropometry, blood pressure and biochemical parameters were assessed. The prevalence of moderate to severe obesity, hypertension and the MetS was higher in subjects in quartile (Q)1 (lower MVF ratio) (P less than 0·001). ANCOVA revealed that the subjects in Q1 had higher cardiometabolic disturbances, including altered anthropometry, blood pressure, muscle strength and biochemical parameters after adjusting for age and sex compared with young adults in higher MVF ratio quartiles (P less than 0·001). Muscular mass and physical activity levels were significantly lower in subjects with a lower MVF ratio (P less than 0·001). The receiver operating characteristic curve analyses indicated that in men the best MVF ratio cut-off point for detecting the MetS was 18·0 (AUC 0·83, sensitivity 78 % and specificity 77 %) and for women, the MVF ratio cut-off point was 13·7 (AUC 0·85, sensitivity 76 % and specificity 87 %). A lower MVF ratio is associated with a higher risk cardiometabolic profile in early adulthood, supporting that the MVF ratio could be used as a complementary screening tool that may help clinicians identify young adults at high cardiometabolic risk. © The Authors 2018
FTO gene: Historic background and its relationship with chronic-degenerative diseases
Indexación: Scopus; Latindex.Alteraciones en el desarrollo de la atención
y la organización conductual pueden
configurar cuadros clínicos como
el trastorno déficit de atención (TDA) que puede estar
acompañado o no de hiperactividad (TDAH), este último
parece tener una relación directa con otros diagnósticos
de tipo endocrino como la obesidad. El objetivo del estudio
es analizar la relación que existe entre el TDAH y la
obesidad. Es por ello que se realiza una revisión sistemática
de estudios científicos revelando relaciones y diferencias
entre ambos trastornos desde una mirada fisiológica,
cognoscitiva y comportamental. Se concluye que la relación
entre el TDAH y la obesidad se da por factores genéticos,
por variaciones dopaminérgicas, cambios en patrones
de sueño, desajustes emocionales y por alteraciones en la
regulación de la conducta; igualmente influyen factores
sociales relacionados con el cuidado en el embarazo y la
alimentación de las mujeres antes y durante la gestación.http://www.revhipertension.com/rlh_2_2018/5_fto_gene.pd
Proximity induced metal/insulator transition in superlattices
The far-infrared dielectric response of superlattices (SL) composed of
superconducting YBaCuO (YBCO) and ferromagnetic La%
CaMnO (LCMO) has been investigated by ellipsometry. A drastic
decrease of the free carrier response is observed which involves an unusually
large length scale of d20 nm in YBCO and d10
nm in LCMO. A corresponding suppression of metallicity is not observed in SLs
where LCMO is replaced by the paramagnetic metal LaNiO. Our data suggest
that either a long range charge transfer from the YBCO to the LCMO layers or
alternatively a strong coupling of the charge carriers to the different and
competitive kind of magnetic correlations in the LCMO and YBCO layers are at
the heart of the observed metal/insulator transition. The low free carrier
response observed in the far-infrared dielectric response of the magnetic
superconductor RuSrGdCuO is possibly related to this effect
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