275 research outputs found
Transport and magnetic properties in YBaCo2O5.45: Focus on the high-temperature transition
The electronic transport properties and the magnetic susceptibility were
measured in detail in . Close to the so-called metal-insulator
transition, strong effects of resistance relaxation, a clear thermal hysteresis
and a sudden increase of the resistance noise are observed. This is likely due
to the first order character of the transition and to the underlying phases
coexistence. Despite these out of equilibrium features, a positive and linear
magneto-resistance is also observed, possibly linked to the heterogeneity of
the state. From a magnetic point of view, the paramagnetic to ordered magnetic
state transition is observed using non linear susceptibilty. This transition
shows the characteristics of a continuous transition, and time dependent
effects can be linked with the dynamics of magnetic domains in presence of
disorder. Thus, when focusing on the order of the transitions, the electronic
one and the magnetic one can not be directly associated.Comment: accepted for publication in PR
Facile one-pot synthesis of CuO nanospheres: Sensitive electrochemical determination of hydrazine in water effluents
Hydrazine (HZ) is massively used in several industrial applications. Adsorption of HZ through human skin creates carcinogenicity by disturbing the human organ system and thus, the quantification of HZ levels in environmental water samples is highly needed. The present work describes the short-term development of copper oxide nanospheres (CuO NS) by one-step wet chemical approach and their implementation on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for the sensitive and selective quantification of the environmentally hazardous HZ. The CuO NS formation was identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV-visible spectroscopy. SEM images exhibited the uniform CuO NS with an average size of 85 nm. The linker-free CuO NS modified GCE offered high electrocatalytic activity against HZ determination by showing the linear range determination in the range of 0.5 to 500 µM, with the detection limit of 63 nM (S/N=3), and sensitivity of 894.28 µA mM-1 cm-2. Further, the developed HZ sensor displayed excellent repeatability and reproducibility and was successfully exploited for the determination of HZ in real environmental samples, implying that GCE/CuO-NS is a confident and low-cost electrochemical platform for HZ determination
Magnetic enhancement of CoZnFeO spinel oxide by mechanical milling
We report the magnetic properties of mechanically milled
CoZnFeO spinel oxide. After 24 hours milling of the
bulk sample, the XRD spectra show nanostructure with average particle size
20 nm. The as milled sample shows an enhancement in magnetization and
ordering temperature compared to the bulk sample. If the as milled sample is
annealed at different temperatures for the same duration, recrystallization
process occurs and approaches to the bulk structure on increasing the annealing
temperatures. The magnetization of the annealed samples first increases and
then decreases. At higher annealing temperature ( 1000C) the system
shows two coexisting magnetic phases {\it i.e.}, spin glass state and
ferrimagnetic state, similar to the as prepared bulk sample. The room
temperature M\"{o}ssbauer spectra of the as milled sample, annealed at
300C for different durations (upto 575 hours), suggest that the observed
change in magnetic behaviour is strongly related with cations redistribution
between tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (O) sites in the spinel structure. Apart
from the cation redistribution, we suggest that the enhancement of
magnetization and ordering temperature is related with the reduction of B site
spin canting and increase of strain induced anisotropic energy during
mechanical milling.Comment: 14 pages LaTeX, 10 ps figure
Cationic exchange in nanosized ZnFe2O4 spinel revealed by experimental and simulated near-edge absorption structure
The non-equilibrium cation site occupancy in nanosized zinc ferrites (6-13
nm) with different degree of inversion (0.2 to 0.4) was investigated using Fe
and Zn K-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy XANES and EXAFS, and magnetic
measurements. The very good agreement between experimental and ab-initio
calculations on the Zn K-edge XANES region clearly show the large
Zn2+(A)--Zn2+[B] transference that takes place in addition to the
well-identified Fe3+[B]--Fe3+(A) one, without altering the long-range
structural order. XANES spectra features as a function of the spinel inversion
were shown to depend on the configuration of the ligand shells surrounding the
absorbing atom. This XANES approach provides a direct way to sense cationic
inversion in these spinel compounds. We also demonstrated that a mechanical
crystallization takes place on nanocrystalline spinel that causes an increase
of both grain and magnetic sizes and, simultaneously, generates a significant
augment of the inversion.Comment: 5 pages, 5 eps figures, uses revtex4, corrected table
Crystallographically oriented magnetic ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles synthesized by Fe implantation into ZnO
In this paper, a correlation between structural and magnetic properties of Fe
implanted ZnO is presented. High fluence Fe^+ implantation into ZnO leads to
the formation of superparamagnetic alpha-Fe nanoparticles. High vacuum
annealing at 823 K results in the growth of alpha-Fe particles, but the
annealing at 1073 K oxidized the majority of the Fe nanoparticles. After a long
term annealing at 1073 K, crystallographically oriented ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles
were formed inside ZnO with the orientation relationship of
ZnFe2O4(111)[110]//ZnO(0001)[1120]. These ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles show a
hysteretic behavior upon magnetization reversal at 5 K.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, accepted by J. Phys. D: Appl. Phy
Size dependent magnetic properties and cation inversion in chemically synthesized MnFe2O4 nanoparticles
MnFe2O4nanoparticles with diameters ranging from about 4to50nm were synthesized using a modified coprecipitation method. X-ray diffractograms revealed a pure phase spinel ferrite structure for all samples. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the particles consist of a mixture of both spherical (smaller) and cubic (larger) particles dictated by the reaction kinetics. The Néel temperatures (TN) of MnFe2O4 for various particle sizes were determined by using high temperature magnetometry. The ∼4nm MnFe2O4 particles showed a TN of about 320°C whereas the ∼50nm particles had a TN of about 400°C. The high Néel temperature, compared with the bulk MnFe2O4 TN of 300°C, is due to a change in cation distribution between the tetrahedral and octahedral sites of the spinel lattice. Results of extended x-ray absorption fine structure measurements indicate a systematic change in the cation distribution dependent on processing conditions
High coercivity cobalt carbide nanoparticles processed via polyol reaction: A new permanent magnet material
Cobalt carbide nanoparticles were processed using polyol reduction chemistry
that offers high product yields in a cost effective single-step process.
Particles are shown to be acicular in morphology and typically assembled as
clusters with room temperature coercivities greater than 4 kOe and maximum
energy products greater than 20 KJ/m3. Consisting of Co3C and Co2C phases, the
ratio of phase volume, particle size, and particle morphology all play
important roles in determining permanent magnet properties. Further, the
acicular particle shape provides an enhancement to the coercivity via dipolar
anisotropy energy as well as offering potential for particle alignment in
nanocomposite cores. While Curie temperatures are near 510K at temperatures
approaching 700 K the carbide powders experience an irreversible dissociation
to metallic cobalt and carbon thus limiting operational temperatures to near
room temperature.Comment: Total 28 pages, 10 figures, and 1 tabl
Changes in daily mental health service use and mortality at the commencement and lifting of COVID-19 'lockdown' policy in 10 UK sites: a regression discontinuity in time design.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate changes in daily mental health (MH) service use and mortality in response to the introduction and the lifting of the COVID-19 'lockdown' policy in Spring 2020. DESIGN: A regression discontinuity in time (RDiT) analysis of daily service-level activity. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Mental healthcare data were extracted from 10 UK providers. OUTCOME MEASURES: Daily (weekly for one site) deaths from all causes, referrals and discharges, inpatient care (admissions, discharges, caseloads) and community services (face-to-face (f2f)/non-f2f contacts, caseloads): Adult, older adult and child/adolescent mental health; early intervention in psychosis; home treatment teams and liaison/Accident and Emergency (A&E). Data were extracted from 1 Jan 2019 to 31 May 2020 for all sites, supplemented to 31 July 2020 for four sites. Changes around the commencement and lifting of COVID-19 'lockdown' policy (23 March and 10 May, respectively) were estimated using a RDiT design with a difference-in-difference approach generating incidence rate ratios (IRRs), meta-analysed across sites. RESULTS: Pooled estimates for the lockdown transition showed increased daily deaths (IRR 2.31, 95% CI 1.86 to 2.87), reduced referrals (IRR 0.62, 95% CI 0.55 to 0.70) and reduced inpatient admissions (IRR 0.75, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.83) and caseloads (IRR 0.85, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.91) compared with the pre lockdown period. All community services saw shifts from f2f to non-f2f contacts, but varied in caseload changes. Lift of lockdown was associated with reduced deaths (IRR 0.42, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.66), increased referrals (IRR 1.36, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.60) and increased inpatient admissions (IRR 1.21, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.42) and caseloads (IRR 1.06, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.12) compared with the lockdown period. Site-wide activity, inpatient care and community services did not return to pre lockdown levels after lift of lockdown, while number of deaths did. Between-site heterogeneity most often indicated variation in size rather than direction of effect. CONCLUSIONS: MH service delivery underwent sizeable changes during the first national lockdown, with as-yet unknown and unevaluated consequences
Modeling Initiation of Ewing Sarcoma in Human Neural Crest Cells
Ewing sarcoma family tumors (ESFT) are aggressive bone and soft tissue tumors that express EWS-ETS fusion genes as driver mutations. Although the histogenesis of ESFT is controversial, mesenchymal (MSC) and/or neural crest (NCSC) stem cells have been implicated as cells of origin. For the current study we evaluated the consequences of EWS-FLI1 expression in human embryonic stem cell-derived NCSC (hNCSC). Ectopic expression of EWS-FLI1 in undifferentiated hNCSC and their neuro-mesenchymal stem cell (hNC-MSC) progeny was readily tolerated and led to altered expression of both well established as well as novel EWS-FLI1 target genes. Importantly, whole genome expression profiling studies revealed that the molecular signature of established ESFT is more similar to hNCSC than any other normal tissue, including MSC, indicating that maintenance or reactivation of the NCSC program is a feature of ESFT pathogenesis. Consistent with this hypothesis, EWS-FLI1 induced hNCSC genes as well as the polycomb proteins BMI-1 and EZH2 in hNC-MSC. In addition, up-regulation of BMI-1 was associated with avoidance of cellular senescence and reversible silencing of p16. Together these studies confirm that, unlike terminally differentiated cells but consistent with bone marrow-derived MSC, NCSC tolerate expression of EWS-FLI1 and ectopic expression of the oncogene initiates transition to an ESFT-like state. In addition, to our knowledge this is the first demonstration that EWS-FLI1-mediated induction of BMI-1 and epigenetic silencing of p16 might be critical early initiating events in ESFT tumorigenesis
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