Electrons doped in cubic perovskite SrMnO3: isotropic metal versus chainlike ordering of Jahn-Teller polarons

Single crystals of electron-doped SrMnO3 with a cubic perovskite structure have been systematically investigated as the most canonical (orbital-degenerate) double-exchange system, whose ground states have been still theoretically controversial. With only 1-2% electron doping by Ce substitution for Sr, a G-type antiferromagnetic metal with a tiny spin canting in a cubic lattice shows up as the ground state, where the Jahn-Teller polarons with heavy mass are likely to form. Further electron doping above 4%, however, replaces this isotropic metal with an insulator with tetragonal lattice distortion, accompanied by a quasi-one-dimensional 3z^2-r^2 orbital ordering with the C-type antiferromagnetism. The self-organization of such dilute polarons may reflect the critical role of the cooperative Jahn-Teller effect that is most effective in the originally cubic system.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Diffusion-induced instability and chaos in random oscillator networks

We demonstrate that diffusively coupled limit-cycle oscillators on random networks can exhibit various complex dynamical patterns. Reducing the system to a network analog of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation, we argue that uniform oscillations can be linearly unstable with respect to spontaneous phase modulations due to diffusional coupling - the effect corresponding to the Benjamin-Feir instability in continuous media. Numerical investigations under this instability in random scale-free networks reveal a wealth of complex dynamical regimes, including partial amplitude death, clustering, and chaos. A dynamic mean-field theory explaining different kinds of nonlinear dynamics is constructed.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Method of producing nickel electrode

A large capacity nickel electrode is provided in which the charging efficiency and discharge utilization coefficient are improved in comparison to nickel electrodes which are produced by the conventional method. Nickel electrodes retaining nickel active material or nickel active material and cobalt compounds on a porous nickel substrate are immersed in a cobalt sulfate aqueous solution whose pH is adjusted in the range of 3.5 to 6.0, followed by crystallization of the hydroxide or oxide by pyrolysis or immersion in alkali, thereby coating the surface of the nickel active material with cobalt crystals and simultaneously promoting alloying of the nickel-cobalt

Effect of cation size variance on spin and orbital order in Eu1−x_{1-x}(La0.254_{0.254}Y0.746_{0.746})x_{x}VO3_3

We have investigated the $R$-ion ($R$ = rare earth or Y) size variance effect on spin/orbital order in Eu$_{1-x}$(La$_{0.254}$Y$_{0.746}$)$_{x}$VO$_3$. The size variance disturbs one-dimensional orbital correlation in $C$-type spin/$G$-type orbital ordered states and suppresses this spin/orbital order. In contrast, it stabilizes the other spin/orbital order. The results of neutron and resonant X-ray scattering denote that in the other ordered phase, the spin/orbital patterns are $G$-type/$C$-type, respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted to Rapid Communication in Physical Review

Peierls Mechanism of the Metal-Insulator Transition in Ferromagnetic Hollandite K2Cr8O16

Synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiment shows that the metal-insulator transition occurring in a ferromagnetic state of a hollandite K$_2$Cr$_8$O$_{16}$ is accompanied by a structural distortion from the tetragonal $I4/m$ to monoclinic $P112_{1}/a$ phase with a $\sqrt{2}\times\sqrt{2}\times 1$ supercell. Detailed electronic structure calculations demonstrate that the metal-insulator transition is caused by a Peierls instability in the quasi-one-dimensional column structure made of four coupled Cr-O chains running in the $c$-direction, leading to the formation of tetramers of Cr ions below the transition temperature. This furnishes a rare example of the Peierls transition of fully spin-polarized electron systems.Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett., in press, 5 pages, 3 figure

Noise-Induced Synchronization and Clustering in Ensembles of Uncoupled Limit-Cycle Oscillators

We study synchronization properties of general uncoupled limit-cycle oscillators driven by common and independent Gaussian white noises. Using phase reduction and averaging methods, we analytically derive the stationary distribution of the phase difference between oscillators for weak noise intensity. We demonstrate that in addition to synchronization, clustering, or more generally coherence, always results from arbitrary initial conditions, irrespective of the details of the oscillators.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Abnormal prothrombin (DES-y-Carboxy Prothrombin) in hepatocellular carcinoma

Des-γ-carboxy prothrombin (DCP), a protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) was measured by an enzyme immunoassay (E-1023) using anti-DCP monoclonal antibody in 92 patients with various hepatobiliary diseases. Thirty-six of the 38 patients (94.7%) with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) had abnormal DCP levels greater than 0.1 arbitrary unit (AU)/ml, but only 18 of the 35 patients (51.4%) had AFP greater than 100 ng/ml (suspicious levels for HCC). There was no correlation between plasma or serum DCP and serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels. Serum alpha fetoprotein was elevated (above 20 ng/ml) in 23 of the 35 patients (65.7%), and DCP was elevated in all of the remaining 12 patients with normal AFP. DCP levels returned to normal levels following curative hepatic resection or orthotopic liver transplantation for HCC. DCP is a useful tumor marker in the diagnosis and postoperative monitoring of patients with HCC