498 research outputs found
Molecular Beam Epitaxy and p-type Doping of ZnMgSTe Quaternary Alloys
ZnS-based ZnMgSTe quaternary alloy layers have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The bandgap of ZnMgSTe has been estimated from the reflectance spectra, and it was found that it increases with increasing Mg content, while it decreases with increasing Te content. Nitrogen acceptor doping to Zn1−xMgxS1−yTey layers has also been investigated. The layers with Te content y>0.1 were found to be p-type, and the layer with the larger Te content exhibited lower resistivity. From these results, it seems that the ZnMgSTe quaternary alloy with appropriate composition possesses both a wide bandgap and p-type conductivity
Natural attenuation of Fukushima-derived radiocesium in soils due to its vertical and lateral migration
Processes of vertical and lateral migration lead to gradual reduction in contamination of catchment soil, particularly its top layer. The reduction can be considered as natural attenuation. This, in turn, results in a gradual decrease of radiocesium activity concentrations in the surface runoff and river water, in both dissolved and particulate forms. The purpose of this research is to study the dynamics of Fukushima-derived radiocesium in undisturbed soils and floodplain deposits exposed to erosion and sedimentation during floods. Combined observations of radiocesium vertical distribution in soil and sediment deposition on artificial lawn-grass mats on the Niida River floodplain allowed us to estimate both annual mean sediment accumulation rates and maximum sedimentation rates corresponding to an extreme flood event during Tropical Storm Etau, 6-11 September 2015. Dose rates were reduced considerably for floodplain sections with high sedimentation because the top soil layer with high radionuclide contamination was eroded and/or buried under cleaner fresh sediments produced mostly due to bank erosion and sediments movements. Rate constants of natural attenuation on the sites of the Takase River and floodplain of Niida River was found to be in range 0.2-0.4 year-1. For the site in the lower reach of the Niida River, collimated shield dose readings from soil surfaces slightly increased during the period of observation from February to July 2016. Generally, due to more precipitation, steeper slopes, higher temperatures and increased biological activities in soils, self-purification of radioactive contamination in Fukushima associated with vertical and lateral radionuclide migration is faster than in Chernobyl. In many cases, monitored natural attenuation along with appropriate restrictions seems to be optimal option for water remediation in Fukushima contaminated areas
Theory of Metal-Insulator Transition in PrRu4P12 and PrFe4P12
All symmetry allowed couplings between the 4f^2-electron ground state doublet
of trivalent praseodymium in PrRu4P12 and PrFe4P12 and displacements of the
phosphorus, iron or ruthenium ions are considered. Two types of displacements
can change the crystal lattice from body-centred cubic to simple orthorhombic
or to simple cubic. The first type lowers the point group symmetry from
tetrahedral to orthorhombic, while the second type leaves it unchanged, with
corresponding space group reductions Im3 --> Pmmm and Im3 --> Pm3 respectively.
In former case, the lower point-group symmetry splits the degeneracy of the
4f^2 doublet into states with opposite quadrupole moment, which then leads to
anti-quadrupolar ordering, as in PrFe4P12. Either kind of displacement may
conspire with nesting of the Fermi surface to cause the metal-insulator or
partial metal-insulator transition observed in PrFe4P12 and PrRu4P12. We
investigate this scenario using band-structure calculations, and it is found
that displacements of the phosphorus ions in PrRu4P12 (with space group
reduction Im3 --> Pm3) open a gap everywhere on the Fermi surface.Comment: 6 page
Metal-insulator transition in PrRuP and SmRuP investigated by optical spectroscopy
Electronic structures of the filled-skutterudite compounds PrRuP
and SmRuP, which undergo a metal-insulator transition (MIT) at
= 60 K and 16 K, respectively, have been studied by means of
optical spectroscopy. Their optical conductivity spectra develop an energy gap
of 10 meV below . The observed characteristics of the energy
gap are qualitatively different from those of the Kondo semiconductors. In
addition, optical phonon peaks in the spectra show anomalies upon the MIT,
including broadening and shifts at and an appearance of new peaks
below . These results are discussed in terms of density waves or
orbital ordering previously predicted for these compounds.Comment: 4pages, 4figures, submitted to Physical Review
Expression of the beta-hexosaminidase alpha subunit gene with the four-base insertion of infantile Jewish Tay-Sachs disease.
One of the two mutations responsible for the classical infantile Jewish form of Tay-Sachs disease is a four-base insertion in exon 11 of the beta-hexosaminidase alpha subunit gene. The gene is known to be transcribed normally, but the mRNA is essentially undetectable. It is not clear why such a relatively minor abnormality results in complete failure to generate stable mRNA. The four-base insertion was introduced into the normal beta-hexosaminidase cDNA by site-directed mutagenesis. When COS-1 cells were transfected with the resultant mutant cDNA, it generated stable mRNA and a truncated, relatively stable but catalytically inactive enzyme protein. The mutant enzyme protein was not processed nor released into the culture medium. The mutant cDNA also generated the truncated enzyme protein in an in vitro translation system with rabbit reticulocyte lysate. COS-1 cells transfected with a 3' end of the gene segment, from intron 8 through the 3' terminus, generated processed RNA of approximately 2 kilobases, the size expected from normal splicing, irrespective of presence or absence of the four-base insertion in exon 11. These results indicate that the four-base insertion does not destabilize properly spliced mRNA, nor does it interfere with normal splicing of the transcript, at least in the expression system utilized. If the four-base insertion is responsible for the undetectable mRNA in the mutant cells, it must interfere with some other steps in the processing/splicing/transport of the primary transcript yet to be examined. On the other hand, the possibility cannot be excluded definitively that another still unidentified abnormality in the same allele might be responsible for the nearly complete absence of mRNA
The energy gap of intermediate-valent SmB6 studied by point-contact spectroscopy
We have investigated the intermediate valence narrow-gap semiconductor SmB6
at low temperatures using both conventional spear-anvil type point contacts as
well as mechanically controllable break junctions. The zero-bias conductance
varied between less than 0.01 mikrosiemens and up to 1 mS. The position of the
spectral anomalies, which are related to the different activation energies and
band gaps of SmB6, did not depend on the the contact size. Two different
regimes of charge transport could be distinguished: Contacts with large zero -
bias conductance are in the diffusive Maxwell regime. They had spectra with
only small non-linearities. Contacts with small zero - bias conductance are in
the tunnelling regime. They had larger anomalies, but still indicating a finite
45 % residual quasiparticle density of states at the Fermi level at low
temperatures of T = 0.1 K. The density of states derived from the tunelling
spectra can be decomposed into two energy-dependent parts with Eg = 21 meV and
Ed = 4.5 meV wide gaps, respectively.Comment: 9 pages incl. 13 figure
酸化物ガラスの塩基度と XPS による O1s 化学シフトの相関に関する考察
O1s binding energy measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is candidate as a new tool to determine a new scale of Lewis basicity of oxide ions in glass. Some mathematical expressions for the basicity or XPS chemical shift, such as charge parameter and optical basicity, were compared with the experimental O1s binding energy in binary alkali oxide glasses. The expressions so far in use needed some modification in parameters. A new empirical expression introduced in this paper gives a new concept and universal scale of basicity
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