Anomalous Anisotropic Magnetoresistance in Heavy-Fermion PrFe4P12

We have investigated the anisotropy of the magnetoresistance in the Pr-based HF compound PrFe4P12. The large anisotropy of effective mass and its strong field dependence have been confirmed by resistivity measurements. Particularly for H||[111], where the effective mass is most strongly enhanced, the non-Fermi liquid behavior has been observed. Also, we have found the angular dependence of the magnetoresistance sharply enhanced at H||[111], which is evidently correlated with both the non-Fermi liquid behavior and the high-field ordered state (B-phase).Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol.77, No.8, in pres

Homogenization induced by chaotic mixing and diffusion in an oscillatory chemical reaction

A model for an imperfectly mixed batch reactor with the chlorine dioxide-iodine-malonic acid (CDIMA) reaction, with the mixing being modelled by chaotic advection, is considered. The reactor is assumed to be operating in oscillatory mode and the way in which an initial spatial perturbation becomes homogenized is examined. When the kinetics are such that the only stable homogeneous state is oscillatory then the perturbation is always entrained into these oscillations. The rate at which this occurs is relatively insensitive to the chemical effects, measured by the Damkohler number, and is comparable to the rate of homogenization of a passive contaminant. When both steady and oscillatory states are stable, spatially homogeneous states, two possibilities can occur. For the smaller Damkohler numbers, a localized perturbation at the steady state is homogenized within the background oscillations. For larger Damkohler numbers, regions of both oscillatory and steady behavior can co-exist for relatively long times before the system collapses to having the steady state everywhere. An interpretation of this behavior is provided by the one-dimensional Lagrangian filament model, which is analyzed in detail

Precise half-life measurement of 110Sn and 109In isotopes

The half-lives of 110Sn and 109In isotopes have been measured with high precision. The results are T1/2 =4.173 +- 0.023 h for 110Sn and T1/2 = 4.167 +-0.018 h for 109In. The precision of the half-lives has been increased by a factor of 5 with respect to the literature values which makes results of the recently measured 106Cd(alpha,gamma)110Sn and 106Cd(alpha,p)109In cross sections more reliable.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev C as brief repor

Effectiveness of Helminth Therapy in the Prevention of Allograft Rejection: A Systematic Review of Allogeneic Transplantation.

Background: The unique immunomodulatory capacity of helminth parasites has been investigated as a novel strategy in the prevention of allograft rejection after transplantation. This review was conducted to fully evaluate the specific effects of helminth therapy on allograft survival reported in published studies of animal models of allogeneic transplantation. Method: Following PRISMA protocol guidelines, a literature search was conducted using PubMed, MEDLINE via OvidSP, along with additional manual searches of selected reference lists. Publications describing helminth intervention within allograft transplantation models were screened for relevance to eligibility criteria. Primary and secondary outcomes were extracted using standardized data collection tables. The SYRCLE risk of bias assessment tool was used for quality assessment. Due to heterogeneity of study designs, meta-analysis could not be performed; rather outcomes are presented as a narrative synthesis with concept mapping. This review was registered in PROSPERO with ID: CRD42018097175. Results: The literature search generated 1,443 publications, which after screening for relevance to the eligibility criteria yielded 15 publications for qualitative analysis. All 15 publications reported improvement to allograft survival as a result of helminth therapy. This prolonged allograft survival was not significantly different when helminth-derived products were used compared to live infection. However, the extent of positive impact on allograft survival was noted to be dependent on study design factors, such as the chronicity of the live helminth infection, allograft type and the species/genus of helminth selected. Conclusion: Both live and product-based helminth therapy have potential applications as novel immune regulators or adjuncts for the prevention of allograft rejection. However, there were differences in efficacy between different worms and preparations of worm-derived products. Therefore, further studies are required to determine the most appropriate worm for a specific allograft, to elucidate the optimal dose and route of administration, and to better understand the modulation of immune responses that can mediate tolerance

Momentum dependence of the energy gap in the superconducting state of optimally doped Bi2(Sr,R)2CuOy (R=La and Eu)

The energy gap of optimally doped Bi2(Sr,R)2CuOy (R=La and Eu) was probed by angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) using a vacuum ultraviolet laser (photon energy 6.994 eV) or He I resonance line (21.218 eV) as photon source. The results show that the gap around the node at sufficiently low temperatures can be well described by a monotonic d-wave gap function for both samples and the gap of the R=La sample is larger reflecting the higher Tc. However, an abrupt deviation from the d-wave gap function and an opposite R dependence for the gap size were observed around the antinode, which represent a clear disentanglement between the antinodal pseudogap and the nodal superconducting gap.Comment: Submitted as the proceedings of LT2

CEA Bolometer Arrays: the First Year in Space

The CEA/LETI and CEA/SAp started the development of far-infrared filled bolometer arrays for space applications over a decade ago. The unique design of these detectors makes possible the assembling of large focal planes comprising thousands of bolometers running at 300 mK with very low power dissipation. Ten arrays of 16x16 pixels were thoroughly tested on the ground, and integrated in the Herschel/PACS instrument before launch in May 2009. These detectors have been successfully commissioned and are now operating in their nominal environment at the second Lagrangian point of the Earth-Sun system. In this paper we briefly explain the functioning of CEA bolometer arrays, and we present the properties of the detectors focusing on their noise characteristics, the effect of cosmic rays on the signal, the repeatability of the measurements, and the stability of the system