A search for ferromagnetism in transition-metal-doped piezoelectric ZnO

We present the results of a computational study of ZnO in the presence of Co and Mn substitutional impurities. The goal of our work is to identify potential ferromagnetic ground states within the (Zn,Co)O or (Zn,Mn)O material systems that are also good candidates for piezoelectricity. We find that, in contrast to previous results, robust ferromagnetism is not obtained by substitution of Co or Mn on the Zn site, unless additional carriers (holes) are also incorporated. We propose a practical scheme for achieving such $p$-type doping in ZnO

Agro-materials : a bibliographic review

Facing the problems of plastic recycling and fossil resources exhaustion, the use of biomass to conceive new materials appears like a reasonable solution. Two axes of research are nowadays developed : on the one hand the synthesis of biodegradable plastics, whichever the methods may be, on the other hand the utilization of raw biopolymers, which is the object of this paper. From this perspective, the “plastic” properties of natural polymers, the caracteristics of the different classes of polymers, the use of charge in vegetable matrix and the possible means of improving the durability of these agro-materials are reviewed

Actin Cytoskeleton and Golgi Involvement in Barley stripe mosaic virus Movement and Cell Wall Localization of Triple Gene Block Proteins

Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) induces massive actin filament thickening at the infection front of infected Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. To determine the mechanisms leading to actin remodeling, fluorescent protein fusions of the BSMV triple gene block (TGB) proteins were coexpressed in cells with the actin marker DsRed: Talin. TGB ectopic expression experiments revealed that TGB3 is a major elicitor of filament thickening, that TGB2 resulted in formation of intermediate DsRed:Talin filaments, and that TGB1 alone had no obvious effects on actin filament structure. Latrunculin B (LatB) treatments retarded BSMV cell-to-cell movement, disrupted actin filament organization, and dramatically decreased the proportion of paired TGB3 foci appearing at the cell wall (CW). BSMV infection of transgenic plants tagged with GFP-KDEL exhibited membrane proliferation and vesicle formation that were especially evident around the nucleus. Similar membrane proliferation occurred in plants expressing TGB2 and/or TGB3, and DsRed: Talin fluorescence in these plants colocalized with the ER vesicles. TGB3 also associated with the Golgi apparatus and overlapped with cortical vesicles appearing at the cell periphery. Brefeldin A treatments disrupted Golgi and also altered vesicles at the CW, but failed to interfere with TGB CW localization. Our results indicate that actin cytoskeleton interactions are important in BSMV cell-to-cell movement and for CW localization of TGB3

Cosmological structure formation with clustering quintessence

We study large-scale structure formation in the presence of a quintessence component with zero speed of sound in the framework of Eulerian Perturbation Theory. Due to the absence of pressure gradients, quintessence and dark matter are comoving and can be studied as a unique fluid in terms of the total energy density contrast and the common velocity. In this description the clustering of quintessence enhances the linear term proportional to the velocity divergence in the continuity equation by a factor (1+w) Omega_Q / Omega_m. This is responsible for a rapid evolution of the growth rate at low redshifts, and modifies the standard relation between the velocity divergence and the growth factor. For the total fluid, the solutions for the linear growth function and growth rate can be written in integral forms and admit simple fitting formulae, as in the LambdaCDM case. At second order in perturbation theory, we derive an explicit expression for the kernels F_2 and G_2. They receive modifications of the order of the ratio between quintessence and total energy density perturbations, which affect the corresponding tree-level bispectra. We finally compute the cumulative signal-to-noise in the power spectrum, bispectrum and reduced bispectrum, expected for departures from a LambdaCDM cosmology both in the clustering and smooth quintessence scenarios. The reduced bispectrum, in particular, receives sensible modifications only in the clustering case and can potentially be used to detect or rule out the model.Comment: 36 pages, 11 figures. Replaced to match published version. Two figures added and minor revision

Evidence for muon neutrino oscillation in an accelerator-based experiment

We present results for muon neutrino oscillation in the KEK to Kamioka (K2K) long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. K2K uses an accelerator-produced muon neutrino beam with a mean energy of 1.3 GeV directed at the Super-Kamiokande detector. We observed the energy dependent disappearance of muon neutrino, which we presume have oscillated to tau neutrino. The probability that we would observe these results if there is no neutrino oscillation is 0.0050% (4.0 sigma).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Probing exotic phenomena at the interface of nuclear and particle physics with the electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms: A unique window to hadronic and semi-leptonic CP violation

The current status of electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms which involves the synergy between atomic experiments and three different theoretical areas -- particle, nuclear and atomic is reviewed. Various models of particle physics that predict CP violation, which is necessary for the existence of such electric dipole moments, are presented. These include the standard model of particle physics and various extensions of it. Effective hadron level combined charge conjugation (C) and parity (P) symmetry violating interactions are derived taking into consideration different ways in which a nucleon interacts with other nucleons as well as with electrons. Nuclear structure calculations of the CP-odd nuclear Schiff moment are discussed using the shell model and other theoretical approaches. Results of the calculations of atomic electric dipole moments due to the interaction of the nuclear Schiff moment with the electrons and the P and time-reversal (T) symmetry violating tensor-pseudotensor electron-nucleus are elucidated using different relativistic many-body theories. The principles of the measurement of the electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms are outlined. Upper limits for the nuclear Schiff moment and tensor-pseudotensor coupling constant are obtained combining the results of atomic experiments and relativistic many-body theories. The coefficients for the different sources of CP violation have been estimated at the elementary particle level for all the diamagnetic atoms of current experimental interest and their implications for physics beyond the standard model is discussed. Possible improvements of the current results of the measurements as well as quantum chromodynamics, nuclear and atomic calculations are suggested.Comment: 46 pages, 19 tables and 16 figures. A review article accepted for EPJ

Search for sterile neutrino oscillation using RENO and NEOS data

We present a reactor model independent search for sterile neutrino oscillation using 2\,509\,days of RENO near detector data and 180 days of NEOS data. The reactor related systematic uncertainties are significantly suppressed as both detectors are located at the same reactor complex of Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant. The search is performed by electron antineutrino\,($\overline{\nu}_e$) disappearance between six reactors and two detectors with baselines of 294\,m\,(RENO) and 24\,m\,(NEOS). A spectral comparison of the NEOS prompt-energy spectrum with a no-oscillation prediction from the RENO measurement can explore reactor $\overline{\nu}_e$ oscillations to sterile neutrino. Based on the comparison, we obtain a 95\% C.L. excluded region of $0.1<|\Delta m_{41}^2|<7$\,eV$^2$. We also obtain a 68\% C.L. allowed region with the best fit of $|\Delta m_{41}^2|=2.41\,\pm\,0.03\,$\,eV$^2$ and $\sin^2 2\theta_{14}$=0.08$\,\pm\,$0.03 with a p-value of 8.2\%. Comparisons of obtained reactor antineutrino spectra at reactor sources are made among RENO, NEOS, and Daya Bay to find a possible spectral variation.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures: This manuscript has been significantly revised by the joint reanalysis by RENO and NEOS Collaborations. (In the previous edition, the RENO collaboration used publicly available NEOS data to evaluate the expected neutrino spectrum at NEOS.

Germline mutations in mitochondrial complex I reveal genetic and targetable vulnerability in IDH1-mutant acute myeloid leukaemia

The interaction of germline variation and somatic cancer driver mutations is underinvestigated. Here we describe the genomic mitochondrial landscape in adult acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and show that rare variants affecting the nuclear- and mitochondriallyencoded complex I genes show near-mutual exclusivity with somatic driver mutations affecting isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), but not IDH2 suggesting a unique epistatic relationship. Whereas AML cells with rare complex I variants or mutations in IDH1 or IDH2 all display attenuated mitochondrial respiration, heightened sensitivity to complex I inhibitors including the clinical-grade inhibitor, IACS-010759, is observed only for IDH1-mutant AML. Furthermore, IDH1 mutant blasts that are resistant to the IDH1-mutant inhibitor, ivosidenib, retain sensitivity to complex I inhibition. We propose that the IDH1 mutation limits the flexibility for citrate utilization in the presence of impaired complex I activity to a degree that is not apparent in IDH2 mutant cells, exposing a mutation-specific metabolic vulnerability. This reduced metabolic plasticity explains the epistatic relationship between the germline complex I variants and oncogenic IDH1 mutation underscoring the utility of genomic data in revealing metabolic vulnerabilities with implications for therapy.Mahmoud A. Bassal, Saumya E. Samaraweera, Kelly Lim, Brooks A. Bernard, Sheree Bailey, Satinder Kaur, Paul Leo, John Toubia, Chloe Thompson-Peach, Tran Nguyen, Kyaw Ze Ya Maung, Debora A. Casolari, Diana G. Iarossi, Ilaria S. Pagani, Jason Powell, Stuart Pitson, Siria Natera, Ute Roessner, Ian D. Lewis, Anna L. Brown, Daniel G. Tenen, Nirmal Robinson, David M. Ross, Ravindra Majeti, Thomas J. Gonda, Daniel Thomas, Richard J. D, Andre

Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for leptophobic Z ' bosons decaying into four-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe