Coupled spin-charge-phonon fluctuation in the all-in/all-out antiferromagnet Cd2Os2O7

We report on a spin-charge fluctuation in the all-in/all-out pyrochlore magnet Cd2Os2O7, where the spin fluctuation is driven by the conduction of thermally excited electrons/holes and associated fluctuation of Os valence. The fluctuation exhibits an activation energy significantly greater than the spin-charge excitation gap and a peculiar frequency range of 10(6)-10(10) s(-1). These features are attributed to the hopping motion of carriers as small polarons in the insulating phase, where the polaron state is presumably induced by the magnetoelastic coupling via the strong spin-orbit interaction. Such a coupled spin-charge-phonon fluctuation manifests as a part of the metal-insulator transition that is extended over a wide temperature range due to the modest electron correlation comparable with other interactions characteristic for 5d-subshell systems

Scatter and bias in weak lensing selected clusters

We examine scatter and bias in weak lensing selected clusters, employing both an analytic model of dark matter haloes and numerical mock data of weak lensing cluster surveys. We pay special attention to effects of the diversity of dark matter distributions within clusters. We find that peak heights of the lensing convergence map correlates rather poorly with the virial mass of haloes. The correlation is tighter for the spherical overdensity mass with a higher mean interior density. We examine the dependence of the halo shape on the peak heights, and find that the rms scatter caused by the halo diversity scales linearly with the peak heights with the proportionality factor of 0.1-0.2. The noise originated from the halo shape is found to be comparable to the source galaxy shape noise and the cosmic shear noise. We find the significant halo orientation bias, i.e., weak lensing selected clusters on average have their major axes aligned with the line-of-sight direction. We compute the orientation bias using an analytic triaxial halo model and obtain results quite consistent with the ray-tracing results. We develop a prescription to analytically compute the number count of weak lensing peaks taking into account all the main sources of scatters in peak heights. We find that the improved analytic predictions agree well with the simulation results for high S/N peaks. We also compare the expected number count with our weak lensing analysis results for 4 sq deg of Subaru/Suprime-Cam observations and find a good agreement.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS; see http://th.nao.ac.jp/MEMBER/hamanatk/SCamWLPeaks/peakims.pdf for a supplementary material for weak lensing peaks located in Suprime-Cam dat

Psychological and weight-related characteristics of patients with anorexia nervosa-restricting type who later develop bulimia nervosa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients with anorexia nervosa-restricting type (AN-R) sometimes develop accompanying bulimic symptoms or the full syndrome of bulimia nervosa (BN). If clinicians could predict who might change into the bulimic sub-type or BN, preventative steps could be taken. Therefore, we investigated anthropometric and psychological factors possibly associated with such changes.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>All participants were from a study by the Japanese Genetic Research Group for Eating Disorders. Of 80 patients initially diagnosed with AN-R, 22 changed to the AN-Binge Eating/Purging Type (AN-BP) and 14 to BN for some period of time. The remaining 44 patients remained AN-R only from the onset to the investigation period. Variables compared by ANOVA included anthropometric measures, personality traits such as Multiple Perfectionism Scale scores and Temperament and Character Inventory scores, and Beck Depression Inventory-II scores.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In comparison with AN-R only patients, those who developed BN had significantly higher current BMI (p < 0.05) and maximum BMI in the past (p < 0.05). They also scored significantly higher for the psychological characteristic of parental criticism (p < 0.05) and lower in self-directedness (p < 0.05), which confirms previous reports, but these differences disappeared when the depression score was used as a co-variant. No significant differences were obtained for personality traits or depression among the AN-R only patients irrespective of their duration of illness.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present findings suggest a tendency toward obesity among patients who cross over from AN-R to BN. Low self-directedness and high parental criticism may be associated with the development of BN by patients with AN-R, although the differences may also be associated with depression.</p

Nodular Calcification in Saphenous Vein Graft Successfully Treated by Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Nodular calcification is sometimes detected in the native coronary artery. However, it is very rare to find in a saphenous vein graft (SVG). We herein report a rare case of stable angina pectoris (AP) due to nodular calcification. A 75-year-old man who had previously undergone coronary artery bypass grafting was admitted to our hospital due to stable AP. On angiography, significant stenosis was detected in the proximal SVG. Based on the findings of coronary angiography and optical coherence tomography, a red thrombus was suspected at the culprit lesion. However, nodular calcification was also suspected, as there were calcifications around the lesion. As intravascular ultrasound showed the protruding calcification, which we judged to be a nodular calcification, the calcified SVG lesion was successfully treated by percutaneous coronary intervention without any complications. Nodular calcification should be considered as a potential cause of AP, even when located in a SVG

Preparation and Various Characteristics of Epoxy/Alumina Nanocomposites

Epoxy/ alumina nanocomposites were newly prepared by dispersing 3, 5, 7, and 10 weight (wt) % boehmite alumina nanofillers in a bisphenol-A epoxy resin using a special two-stage direct mixing method. It was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy imaging that the nanofillers were homogeneously dispersed in the epoxy matrix. Dielectric, mechanical, and thermal properties were investigated. It was elucidated that nanofillers affects various characteristics of epoxy resins, when they are nanostructrued. Such nano-effects we obtained are summarized as follows. Partial discharge resistance increases as the filler content increases; e.g. 7 wt% nanofiller content creates a 60 % decrease in depth of PD-caused erosion. Weibull analysis shows that short-time electrical treeing breakdown time is prolonged to 265 % by 5 wt% addition of nanofillers. But there was more data scatter in nanocomposites than in pure epoxy. Permittivity tends to increase from 3.7 to 4.0 by 5 wt% nanofiller addition as opposed to what was newly found in the recent past. Glass transition temperature remains unchanged as 109 °C. Mechanical properties such as flexural strength and flexural modulus increase; e.g. flexural strength and flexural modulus are improved by 5 % and 8 % with 5 wt% content, respectively. Excess addition causes a reverse effect. It is concluded from permittivity and glass transition temperature characteristics that interfacial bonding seems to be more or less weak in the nanocomposite specimens prepared this time, even though mechanical strengths increase. There is a possibility that the nanocomposites specimens will be improved in interfacial quality