Superconductivity and magnetism on flux grown single crystals of NiBi3

We present resistivity, magnetization and specific heat measurements on flux grown single crystals of NiBi3. We find typical behavior of a type-II superconductor, with, however, a sizable magnetic signal in the superconducting phase. There is a hysteretic magnetization characteristic of a ferromagnetic compound. By following the magnetization as a function of temperature, we find a drop at temperatures corresponding to the Curie temperature of ferromagnetic amorphous Ni. Thus, we assign the magnetism in NiBi$_3$ crystals to amorphous Ni impurities

Role of the metal supply pathway on silicon patterning by oblique ion beam sputtering

The dynamics of the pattern induced on a silicon surface by oblique incidence of a 40 keV Fe ion beam is studied. The results are compared with those obtained for two reference systems, namely a noble gas ion beam either without or with Fe co-deposition. The techniques employed include Atomic Force Microscopy, Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry, Transmission Electron Microscopy, X-ray Photoelectron and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, as well as Superconducting Quantum Interference Device measurements. The Fe-induced pattern differs from those of both reference systems since a pattern displaying short hexagonal ordering develops, although it shares some features with them. In both Fe systems a chemical pattern, with iron silicide-rich and -poor regions, is formed upon prolonged irradiation. The metal pathway has a marked influence on the patterns’ morphological properties and on the spatial correlation between the chemical and morphological patterns. It also determines the iron silicide stoichiometry and the surface pattern magnetic properties that are better for the Fe-implanted system. These results show that in ion-beam-induced silicon surface patterning with reactive metals, the metal supply pathway is critical to determine not only the morphological pattern properties, but also the chemical and magnetic one

Structural Evidence of Amyloid Fibril Formation in the Putative Aggregation Domain of TDP-43

TDP-43 can form pathological proteinaceous aggregates linked to ALS and FTLD. Within the putative aggregation domain, engineered repeats of residues 341-366 can recruit endogenous TDP-43 into aggregates inside cells; however, the nature of these aggregates is a debatable issue. Recently, we showed that a coil to β-hairpin transition in a short peptide corresponding to TDP-43 residues 341-357 enables oligomerization. Here we provide definitive structural evidence for amyloid formation upon extensive characterization of TDP-43(341-357) via chromophore and antibody binding, electron microscopy (EM), solid-state NMR, and X-ray diffraction. On the basis of these findings, structural models for TDP-43(341-357) oligomers were constructed, refined, verified, and analyzed using docking, molecular dynamics, and semiempirical quantum mechanics methods. Interestingly, TDP-43(341-357) β-hairpins assemble into a novel parallel β-turn configuration showing cross-β spine, cooperative H-bonding, and tight side-chain packing. These results expand the amyloid foldome and could guide the development of future therapeutics to prevent this structural conversion.Peer Reviewe

Differential processing of anthropogenic carbon and nitrogen in benthic food webs of A Coruña (NW Spain) traced by stable isotopes

proyectos ANILE (CTM2009- 08396 and CTM2010-08804-E) del Plan Nacional de I+D+i y RADIALES del Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO). C.M. e I.G.V. disfrutaron de contratos FPI del IEO y del Ministerio de Economía y Competividad respectivamente.In this study the effect of inputs of organic matter and anthropogenic nitrogen at small spatial scales were investigated in the benthos of the Ria of A Coruña (NW Spain) using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. This ria is characteristically enriched in nutrients provided either by marine processes (as coastal upwelling) or by urban and agricultural waste. Stable isotope composition in trophic guilds of infaunal benthos revealed spatial differences related to their nutrient inputs. The main difference was the presence of an additional chemoautotrophic food web at the site with a large accumulation of organic matter. The enrichment in heavy nitrogen isotopes observed in most compartments suggests the influence of sewage-derived nitrogen, despite large inputs of marine nitrogen. Macroalgae (Fucus vesiculosus) resulted significantly enriched at the site influenced by estuarine waters. In contrast, no differences were found in mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis), thus suggesting a major dependence on marine nutrient sources for this species. However, the estimations of anthropogenic influence were largely dependent on assumptions required to model the different contributions of sources. The measurement of stable isotope signatures in various compartments revealed that, despite anthropogenic nutrients are readily incorporated into local food webs, a major influence of natural marine nutrient sources cannot be discarded.IEO, Plan nacional I+D+iPreprint2,277

Disorder induced phase segregation in La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 manganites

Neutron powder diffraction experiments on La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 over a broad temperature range above and below the metal-insulator transition have been analyzed beyond the Rietveld average approach by use of Reverse Monte Carlo modelling. This approach allows the calculation of atomic pair distribution functions and spin correlation functions constrained to describe the observed Bragg and diffuse nuclear and magnetic scattering. The results evidence phase separation within a paramagnetic matrix into ferro and antiferromagnetic domains correlated to anistropic lattice distortions in the vicinity of the metal-insulator transition.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. Figure 1 replace

Ventricular Fibrillation detection using time-frequency and the KNN classifier without parameter extraction

[ES] Este trabajo propone la detección de FV y su discriminación de TV y otros ritmos cardiacos basándose en la representación tiempo-frecuencia del ECG y su conversión en imágen como entrada a un clasificador de vecinos más cercanos (KNN) sin necesidad de extracción de parámetros adicionales. Tres variantes de datos de entrada al clasificador son evaluados. Los resultados clasifican la señal en cuatro clases diferentes: ’Normal’ para latidos con ritmo sinusal, ’FV’ para fibrilación ventricular, ’TV’ para taquicardia ventricular y ’Otros’ para el resto de ritmos. Los resultados para detección de FV mostraron 88,27% de sensibilidad y 98,22% de especificidad para la entrada de imágen equivalente reducida que es la más rápida computacionalmente a pesar de obtener resultados de clasificación ligeramente inferiores a las representaciones no reducidas. En el caso de TV, se alcanzó un 88,31% de sensibilidad y 98,80% de especificidad, un 98,14% de sensibilidad y 96,82% de especificidad para ritmo sinusal normal y 96,91% de sensibilidad con 99,06% de especificidad para la clase ’Otros’. Finalmente, se realiza una comparación con otros algoritmos.[EN] This work describes new techniques to improve VF detection and its separation from Ventricular Tachycarida (VT) and other rhythms. It is based on time-frequency representation of the ECG and its use as input in an automatic classifier (K-nearest neighbours - KNN) without any further signal parameter extraction or additional characteristics. For comparison purposes, three time-frequency variants are analysed: pseudo Wigner-Ville representation (RTF), grey-scale image obtained from RTF (IRTF), and reduced image from IRTF (reduced IRTF). Four types of rhythms (classes) are defined: ’Normal’ for sinus rhythm, ’VT’ for ventricular tachycardia, ’VF’ for ventricular fibrillation and ’Others’ for the rest of rhythms. Classification results for VF detection in case of reduced IRTF are 88.27% sensitivity and 98.22% specificity. In case of VT, 88.31% sensitivity and 98.80% specificity is obtained, 98.14% sensitivity and 96.82% specificity for normal rhythms, and 96.91% sensitivity and 99.06% specificity for other rhythms. Finally, results are compared with other authors.Mjahad, A.; Rosado Muñoz, A.; Bataller Mompeán, M.; Francés Víllora, JV.; Guerrero Martínez, JF. (2017). Detección de Fibrilación Ventricular Mediante Tiempo-Frecuencia y Clasificador KNN sin Extracción de Parámetros. Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informática industrial. 15(1):124-132. https://doi.org/10.4995/riai.2017.8833OJS124132151Classen, T. A. C. M., Mecklenbrauker, W. F. G., 1980. 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