1,676 research outputs found
Non-Nominal Value of the Dynamical Effective Charge in Alkaline-Earth Oxides
We calculate ab-initio the electronic states and the Born dynamical charge Z*
of the alkaline-earth oxides in the local-density approximation. We investigate
the trend of increasing Z* values through the series, using band-by-band
decompositions and computational experiments performed on fake materials with
artificially-modified covalence. The deviations of Z* from the nominal value 2
are due to the increasing interaction between O 2p orbitals and unoccupied
cation d states. We also explain the variations, along the series, of the
individual contributions to Z* arising from the occupied band manifolds.Comment: 12 pages Latex, plus 2 Postscript figure
Microscopic calculation of the phonon dynamics of SrRuO compared with LaCuO
The phonon dynamics of the low-temperature superconductor SrRuO
is calculated quantitatively in linear response theory and compared with the
structurally isomorphic high-temperature superconductor LaCuO. Our
calculation corrects for a typical deficit of LDA-based calculations which
always predict a too large electronic -dispersion insufficient to
describe the c-axis response in the real materials. With a more realistic
computation of the electronic band structure the frequency and wavevector
dependent irreducible polarization part of the density response function is
determined and used for adiabatic and nonadiabatic phonon calculations. Our
analysis for SrRuO reveals important differences from the lattice
dynamics of - and -doped cuprates. Consistent with experimental evidence
from inelastic neutron scattering the anomalous doping related softening of the
strongly coupling high-frequency oxygen bond-stretching modes (OBSM) which is
generic for the cuprate superconductors is largely suppressed or completely
absent, respectively, depending on the actual value of the on-site Coulomb
repulsion of the Ru4d orbitals. Also the presence of a characteristic
-mode with a very steep dispersion coupling strongly with the
electrons is missing in SrRuO. Moreover, we evaluate the
possibility of a phonon-plasmon scenario for SrRuO which has been
shown recently to be realistic for LaCuO. In contrast to
LaCuO in SrRuO the very low lying plasmons are
overdamped along the c-axis.Comment: 30 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables, 33 reference
High sensitivity of 17O NMR to p-d hybridization in transition metal perovskites: first principles calculations of large anisotropic chemical shielding
A first principles embedded cluster approach is used to calculate O chemical
shielding tensors, sigma, in prototypical transition metal oxide ABO_3
perovskite crystals. Our principal findings are 1) a large anisotropy of sigma
between deshielded sigma_x ~ sigma_y and shielded sigma_z components (z along
the Ti-O bond); 2) a nearly linear variation, across all the systems studied,
of the isotropic sigma_iso and uniaxial sigma_ax components, as a function of
the B-O-B bond asymmetry. We show that the anisotropy and linear variation
arise from large paramagnetic contributions to sigma_x and sigma_y due to
virtual transitions between O(2p) and unoccupied B(nd) states. The calculated
isotropic delta_iso and uniaxial delta_ax chemical shifts are in good agreement
with recent BaTiO_3 and SrTiO_3 single crystal 17O NMR measurements. In PbTiO_3
and PbZrO_3, calculated delta_iso are also in good agreement with NMR powder
spectrum measurements. In PbZrO_3, delta_iso calculations of the five
chemically distinct sites indicate a correction of the experimental
assignments. The strong dependence of sigma on covalent O(2p)-B(nd)
interactions seen in our calculations indicates that 17O NMR spectroscopy,
coupled with first principles calculations, can be an especially useful tool to
study the local structure in complex perovskite alloys.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, and 3 Table
Modeling of the electronic state of the High-Temperature Superconductor LaCuO: Phonon dynamics and charge response
A modeling of the normal state of the p-doped high-temperature
superconductors (HTSC's) is presented. This is achieved starting from a more
conventional metallic phase for optimal- and overdoping and passing via the
underdoped to the insulating state by consecutive orbital selective
compressibility-incompressibility transitions in terms of sum rules for the
charge response. The modeling is substantiated by corresponding phonon
calculations. Extending investigations of the full dispersion and in particular
of the strongly doping dependent anomalous phonon modes in LaCuO, which so far
underpin our treatment of the density response of the electrons in the p-doped
HTSC's, gives additional support for the modeling of the electronic state,
compares well with recent experimental data and predicts the dispersion for the
overdoped regime. Moreover, phonon densities of states have been calculated and
compared for the insulating, underdoped, optimally doped and overdoped state of
LaCuO. From our modeling of the normal state a consistent picture of the
superconducting phase also can be extracted qualitatively pointing in the
underdoped regime to a phase ordering transition. On the other hand, the
modeling of the optimal and overdoped state is consistent with a quasi-particle
picture with a well defined Fermi surface. Thus, in the latter case a Fermi
surface instability with an evolution of pairs of well defined quasiparticles
is possible and can lead to a BCS-type ordering. So, it is tempting to
speculate that optimal in the HTSC's marks a crossover region between
these two forms of ordering.Comment: 18 RevTex pages, 10 figures, revised version, references updated,
accepted for publication in Physical Review
Experimental chronic noise is related to elevated fecal corticosteroid metabolites in lekking male greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus).
There is increasing evidence that individuals in many species avoid areas exposed to chronic anthropogenic noise, but the impact of noise on those who remain in these habitats is unclear. One potential impact is chronic physiological stress, which can affect disease resistance, survival and reproductive success. Previous studies have found evidence of elevated stress-related hormones (glucocorticoids) in wildlife exposed to human activities, but the impacts of noise alone are difficult to separate from confounding factors. Here we used an experimental playback study to isolate the impacts of noise from industrial activity (natural gas drilling and road noise) on glucocorticoid levels in greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), a species of conservation concern. We non-invasively measured immunoreactive corticosterone metabolites from fecal samples (FCMs) of males on both noise-treated and control leks (display grounds) in two breeding seasons. We found strong support for an impact of noise playback on stress levels, with 16.7% higher mean FCM levels in samples from noise leks compared with samples from paired control leks. Taken together with results from a previous study finding declines in male lek attendance in response to noise playbacks, these results suggest that chronic noise pollution can cause greater sage-grouse to avoid otherwise suitable habitat, and can cause elevated stress levels in the birds who remain in noisy areas
Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulations of Crystal Growth in Ferroelectric Alloys
The growth rates and chemical ordering of ferroelectric alloys are studied
with kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations using an electrostatic model with
long-range Coulomb interactions, as a function of temperature, chemical
composition, and substrate orientation. Crystal growth is characterized by
thermodynamic processes involving adsorption and evaporation, with
solid-on-solid restrictions and excluding diffusion. A KMC algorithm is
formulated to simulate this model efficiently in the presence of long-range
interactions. Simulations were carried out on Ba(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})O_3 (BMN)
type materials. Compared to the simple rocksalt ordered structures, ordered BMN
grows only at very low temperatures and only under finely tuned conditions. For
materials with tetravalent compositions, such as (1-x)Ba(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})O_3 +
xBaZrO_3 (BMN-BZ), the model does not incorporate tetravalent ions at
low-temperature, exhibiting a phase-separated ground state instead. At higher
temperatures, tetravalent ions can be incorporated, but the resulting crystals
show no chemical ordering in the absence of diffusive mechanisms.Comment: 13 pages, 16 postscript figures, submitted to Physics Review B
Journa
d_{x^2-y^2} Symmetry and the Pairing Mechanism
An important question is if the gap in the high temperature cuprates has
d_{x^2-y^2} symmetry, what does that tell us about the underlying interaction
responsible for pairing. Here we explore this by determining how three
different types of electron-phonon interactions affect the d_{x^2-y^2} pairing
found within an RPA treatment of the 2D Hubbard model. These results imply that
interactions which become more positive as the momentum transfer increases
favor d_{x^2-y^2} pairing in a nearly half-filled band.Comment: 9 pages and 2 eps figs, uses revtex with epsf, in press, PR
Adverse Effects of Systemic Immunosuppression in Keratolimbal Allograft
Purpose. Keratolimbal allograft (KLAL) is a treatment for limbal stem cell deficiency. One disadvantage is systemic immunosuppression to avoid rejection. Our purpose was to examine the adverse effects of systemic immunosuppression in KLAL. Methods. A retrospective case review of 16 patients with KLAL who received systemic immunosuppression consisting of a corticosteroid, an antimetabolite, and/or a calcineurin inhibitor was performed. Patients were monitored for signs, symptoms, or laboratory evidence of toxicity. Results. Eleven of 16 patients (68%) experienced an adverse effect. The average age of those with adverse effects was 43.5 years and without was 31.4 years. Ten of 11 patients (91%) had resolution during mean followup of 16.4 months. No serious adverse effects occurred. The most common included anemia, hyperglycemia, elevated creatinine, and elevated liver function tests. Prednisone and tacrolimus were responsible for the most adverse effects. Patients with comorbidities were more likely to experience an adverse effect (82% versus 20%, P = 0.036). Conclusions. KLAL requires prolonged systemic immunosuppression. Our data demonstrated that systemic immunosuppression did not result in serious adverse effects in our population and is relatively safe with monitoring for toxicity. In addition, we demonstrated that adverse effects are more likely in older patients with comorbidities
Non-equilibrium phase transitions in biomolecular signal transduction
We study a mechanism for reliable switching in biomolecular
signal-transduction cascades. Steady bistable states are created by system-size
cooperative effects in populations of proteins, in spite of the fact that the
phosphorylation-state transitions of any molecule, by means of which the switch
is implemented, are highly stochastic. The emergence of switching is a
nonequilibrium phase transition in an energetically driven, dissipative system
described by a master equation. We use operator and functional integral methods
from reaction-diffusion theory to solve for the phase structure, noise
spectrum, and escape trajectories and first-passage times of a class of minimal
models of switches, showing how all critical properties for switch behavior can
be computed within a unified framework
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