Magnetic properties of spin-orbital polarons in lightly doped cobaltates

We present a numerical treatment of a spin-orbital polaron model for Na_xCoO_2 at small hole concentration (0.7 < x < 1). We demonstrate how the polarons account for the peculiar magnetic properties of this layered compound: They explain the large susceptibility; their internal degrees of freedom lead both to a negative Curie-Weiss temperature and yet to a ferromagnetic intra-layer interaction, thereby resolving a puzzling contradiction between these observations. We make specific predictions on the momentum and energy location of excitations resulting from the internal degrees of freedom of the polaron, and discuss their impact on spin-wave damping.Comment: 4+ pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

High-pressure droplet combustion studies

This is a joint research program, pursued by investigators at the University of Tokyo, UCSD, and NASA Lewis Research Center. The focus is on high-pressure combustion of miscible binary fuel droplets. It involves construction of an experimental apparatus in Tokyo, mating of the apparatus to a NASA-Lewis 2.2-second drop-tower frame in San Diego, and performing experiments in the 2.2-second tower in Cleveland, with experimental results analyzed jointly by the Tokyo, UCSD, and NASA investigators. The project was initiated in December, 1990 and has now involved three periods of drop-tower testing by Mikami at Lewis. The research accomplished thus far concerns the combustion of individual fiber-supported droplets of mixtures of n-heptane and n-hexadecane, initially about 1 mm diameter, under free-fall microgravity conditions. Ambient pressures ranged up to 3.0 MPa, extending above the critical pressures of both pure fuels, in room-temperature nitrogen-oxygen atmospheres having oxygen mole fractions X of 0.12 and 0.13. The general objective is to study near-critical and super-critical combustion of these droplets and to see whether three-stage burning, observed at normal gravity, persists at high pressures in microgravity. Results of these investigations will be summarized here; a more complete account soon will be published

Mitochondrial haplogroups associated with elite Japanese athlete status

Purpose It has been hypothesised that certain mitochondrial haplogroups, which are defined by the presence of a characteristic cluster of tightly linked mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms, would be associated with elite Japanese athlete status. To examine this hypothesis, the frequencies of mitochondrial haplogroups found in elite Japanese athletes were compared with those in the general Japanese population. Methods Subjects comprised 139 Olympic athletes (79 endurance/middle-power athletes (EMA), 60 sprint/power athletes (SPA)) and 672 controls (CON). Two mitochondrial DNA fragments containing the hypervariable sequence I (m16024-m16383) of the major non-coding region and the polymorphic site at m. 5178C&gt;A within the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene were sequenced, and subjects were classified into 12 major mitochondrial haplogroups (ie, F, B, A, N9a, N9b, M7a, M7b, M*, G2, G1, D5 or D4). The mitochondrial haplogroup frequency differences among EMA, SPA and CON were then examined. Results EMA showed an excess of haplogroup G1 (OR 2.52, 95% CI 1.05 to 6.02, p=0.032), with 8.9% compared with 3.7% in CON, whereas SPA displayed a greater proportion of haplogroup F (OR 2.79, 95% CI 1.28 to 6.07, p=0.007), with 15.0% compared with 6.0% in CON. Conclusions The results suggest that mitochondrial haplogroups G1 and F are associated with elite EMA and SPA status in Japanese athletes, respectivel

Universal charge transport of the Mn oxides in the high temperature limit

We have found that various Mn oxides have the universal resistivity and thermopower in the high temperature limit. The resistivities and thermopowers of all the samples go toward constant values of 7$\pm$1 m$\Omega$cm and $-79\pm$3 $\mu$V/K, which are independent of carrier density and crystal structures. We propose that the electric conduction occurs in a highly localized way in the high temperature limit, where the exchange of entropy and charge occurs in the neighboring Mn$^{3+}$ and Mn$^{4+}$ ions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figures, to be published in J. Appl. Phy

Mitochondrial Genome Polymorphism in Lolium perenne

The restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) were investigated to elucidate the genetic relatedness among the 128 cultivars including diploid and tetraploid. Many patterns of RFLPs were observed and allowed assigning of the cultivars into the main eight haplotypes of mitochondrial genome relatedness. The American cultivars were classified into haplotype I and VIII which were remote at the mitochondrial genome from each other, the European ones were distributed to all haplotypes and the tetraploid ones were mostly assigned into the haplotype V. The assessment of mtDNA RFLPs may be a valuable method in analyzing a cytoplasmic differentiation among the perennial ryegrass cultivars. Further investigations are required to elucidate mtDNA diversity in relation with the maternal effects on the agronomic traits of perennial ryegrass

Characterizing regional-scale temporal evolution of air dose rates after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

In this study, we quantify the temporal changes of air dose rates in the regional scale around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, and predict the spatial distribution of air dose rates in the future. We first apply the Bayesian geostatistical method developed by Wainwright et al. (2017) to integrate multiscale datasets including ground-based walk and car surveys, and airborne surveys, all of which have different scales, resolutions, spatial coverage, and accuracy. This method is based on geostatistics to represent spatial heterogeneous structures, and also on Bayesian hierarchical models to integrate multiscale, multi-type datasets in a consistent manner. We apply this method to the datasets from three years: 2014 to 2016. The temporal changes among the three integrated maps enables us to characterize the spatiotemporal dynamics of radiation air dose rates. The data-driven ecological decay model is then coupled with the integrated map to predict future dose rates. Results show that the air dose rates are decreasing consistently across the region. While slower in the forested region, the decrease is particularly significant in the town area. The decontamination has contributed to significant reduction of air dose rates. By 2026, the air dose rates will continue to decrease, and the area above 3.8 μSv/h will be almost fully contained within the non-residential forested zone

The drag force in two-fluid models of gas-solid flows

Currently, the two most widespread methods for modelling the particulate phase in numerical simulations of gas-solid flows are discrete particle simulation (see, e.g., Mikami, Kamiya, & Horio, 1998), and the two-fluid approach, e.g., kinetic theory models (see, e.g., Louge, Mastorakos, & Jenkins, 1991). In both approaches the gas phase is described by a locally averaged Navier-Stokes equation and the two phases are usually coupled by a drag force. Due to the large density difference between the particles and the gas, inter-phase forces other than the drag force are usually neglected, so it plays a significant role in characterising the gas-solid flow. Yasuna, Moyer, Elliott, and Sinclair (1995) have shown that the solution of their model is sensitive to the drag coefficient. In general, the performance of most current models depends critically on the accuracy of the drag force formulation