683 research outputs found
Revealing puddles of electrons and holes in compensated topological insulators
Three-dimensional topological insulators harbour metallic surface states with
exotic properties. In transport or optics, these properties are typically
masked by defect-induced bulk carriers. Compensation of donors and acceptors
reduces the carrier density, but the bulk resistivity remains disappointingly
small. We show that measurements of the optical conductivity in BiSbTeSe
pinpoint the presence of electron-hole puddles in the bulk at low temperatures,
which is essential for understanding DC bulk transport. The puddles arise from
large fluctuations of the Coulomb potential of donors and acceptors, even in
the case of full compensation. Surprisingly, the number of carriers appearing
within puddles drops rapidly with increasing temperature and almost vanishes
around 40 K. Monte Carlo simulations show that a highly non-linear screening
effect arising from thermally activated carriers destroys the puddles at a
temperature scale set by the Coulomb interaction between neighbouring dopants,
explaining the experimental observation semi-quantitatively. This mechanism
remains valid if donors and acceptors do not compensate perfectly.Comment: 11 pages with 7 figures plus supplemental material (3 pages
Analyzing Wildfire Suppression Difficulty in Relation to Protection Demand
In recent years, the field of wildfire risk management has seen dramatic advances. One notable improvement is in the realm of pre-fire suppression response planning, in particular the expansion from the assessment of risks posed by fire to the assessment of opportunities to effectively manage fire. Such proactive assessment and planning is critical to ensure that suppression response strategies and tactics are more likely to be safe and efficient. In this paper we will review the state-of-the-art in wildfire suppression planning, and illustrate application of advanced planning tools on a fire-prone landscape in Colorado, USA. Specifically we will use geospatial tools to quantify a composite index of suppression difficulty, and map this layer in relation to two key protection priorities that often drive suppression response decisions: built structures, and high value watersheds. We will discuss how our assessment results can inform planning and prioritization efforts, and offer suggestions for future research
Investigation of equilibrium and dynamic performance of SrCl2-expanded graphite composite in chemisorption refrigeration system
This work experimentally investigated adsorption equilibrium and reaction kinetics of ammonia adsorption/desorption on the composite of strontium chloride (SrCl2) impregnated into expanded graphite, and also discussed the potential influence of the addition of expanded graphite on the SrCl2-NH3 reaction characteristics. The measured and analysed results can be very useful information to design the system and operating conditions using the similar chemisorption composites. Equilibrium concentration characteristics of ammonia within the studied composite were measured using the heat sources at 90 °C, 100 °C and 110 °C for the decomposition process, where the degree of conversion achieved 50%, 78% and 96% respectively. Therefore, the equilibrium equation reflecting the relationship between temperature, pressure and concentration was developed, and a pseudo-equilibrium zone was found, which should be useful information to setup the system operating condition for the desired global transformation. It was suspected that the addition of expanded graphite altered the reaction equilibrium due to the pore effect and the salt-confinement. The concept of two-stage kinetic model was proposed and kinetic parameters were determined by fitting experimental data. The developed kinetic equations can predict dynamic cyclic performance of a reactive bed in similar geometric structure with reasonable accuracy. Such a chemisorption cycle using the SrCl2-expnaded graphite (mass ratio 2:1) composite can be used for cooling application, and the maximum SCP value can be achieved as high as 656 W/kg at t = 2.5 min, and the COP can be 0.3 after one hour of synthesis process under the condition of Tev = 0 °C, Tcon = 20 °C, Theat = 110 °C
M\"{o}ssbauer study of the '11' iron-based superconductors parent compound Fe(1+x)Te
57Fe Moessbauer spectroscopy was applied to investigate the superconductor
parent compound Fe(1+x)Te for x=0.06, 0.10, 0.14, 0.18 within the temperature
range 4.2 K - 300 K. A spin density wave (SDW) within the iron atoms occupying
regular tetrahedral sites was observed with the square root of the mean square
amplitude at 4.2 K varying between 9.7 T and 15.7 T with increasing x. Three
additional magnetic spectral components appeared due to the interstitial iron
distributed over available sites between the Fe-Te layers. The excess iron
showed hyperfine fields at approximately 16 T, 21 T and 49 T for three
respective components at 4.2 K. The component with a large field of 49 T
indicated the presence of isolated iron atoms with large localized magnetic
moment in interstitial positions. Magnetic ordering of the interstitial iron
disappeared in accordance with the fallout of the SDW with the increasing
temperature
Notching early repolarization pattern in inferior leads increases risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmias in patients with acute myocardial infarction: a meta-analysis.
The aim of this of this meta-analysis was to examine the potential association between certain early repolarization (ER) characteristics and ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTAs) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We searched PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases for records published until December 2014. Of the 658 initially identified records, 7 studies with a total of 1,565 patients (299 with ER and 1,266 without ER) were finally analyzed. Overall, patients with ER displayed a higher risk of VTAs following AMI compared to patients without ER [odds ratio (OR): 3.75, 95% CI: 2.62-5.37, p \u3c 0.00001]. Subgroup analyses showed that the diagnosis of ER prior to AMI onset is a better predictor of VTAs (OR: 5.70, p \u3c 0.00001) compared to those diagnosed after AMI onset (OR: 2.60, p = 0.00001). Remarkably, a notching morphology was a significant predictor of VTAs compared to slurring morphology (OR: 3.85, p = 0.002). Finally, an inferior ER location (OR: 8.85, p \u3c 0.00001) was significantly associated with increased risk of VTAs in AMI patients. In conclusion, our meta-analysis suggests that ER pattern is associated with greater risk of VTAs in patients with AMI. A notched ER pattern located in inferior leads confers the highest risk for VTAs in AMI
Binomial coefficients, Catalan numbers and Lucas quotients
Let be an odd prime and let be integers with and . In this paper we determine
mod for ; for example,
where is the Jacobi symbol, and is the Lucas
sequence given by , and for
. As an application, we determine modulo for any integer , where denotes the
Catalan number . We also pose some related conjectures.Comment: 24 pages. Correct few typo
Dirhodium-catalyzed C-H arene amination using hydroxylamines
Primary and N-alkyl arylamine motifs are key functional groups in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and functional materials, as well as in bioactive natural products. However, there is a dearth of generally applicable methods for the direct replacement of aryl hydrogens with NH2/NH(alkyl) moieties. Here, we present a mild dirhodium-catalyzed C-H amination for conversion of structurally diverse monocyclic and fused aromatics to the corresponding primary and N-alkyl arylamines using NH2/NH(alkyl)-O-(sulfonyl)hydroxylamines as aminating agents; the relatively weak RSO2O-N bond functions as an internal oxidant. The methodology is operationally simple, scalable, and fast at or below ambient temperature, furnishing arylamines in moderate-to-good yields and with good regioselectivity. It can be readily extended to the synthesis of fused N-heterocycles
Modularization of multi-qubit controlled phase gate and its NMR implementation
Quantum circuit network is a set of circuits that implements a certain
computation task. Being at the center of the quantum circuit network, the
multi-qubit controlled phase shift is one of the most important quantum gates.
In this paper, we apply the method of modular structuring in classical computer
architecture to quantum computer and give a recursive realization of the
multi-qubit phase gate. This realization of the controlled phase shift gate is
convenient in realizing certain quantum algorithms. We have experimentally
implemented this modularized multi-qubit controlled phase gate in a three qubit
nuclear magnetic resonance quantum system. The network is demonstrated
experimentally using line selective pulses in nuclear magnetic resonance
technique. The procedure has the advantage of being simple and easy to
implement.Comment: to appear in Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optic
Influence of non-local damping on magnon properties of ferromagnets
We study the influence of non-local damping on magnon properties of Fe, Co,
Ni and FeCo () alloys. The Gilbert damping parameter
is typically considered as a local scalar both in experiment and in theoretical
modelling. However, recent works have revealed that Gilbert damping is a
non-local quantity that allows for energy dissipation between atomic sites.
With the Gilbert damping parameters calculated from a state-of-the-art
real-space electronic structure method, magnon lifetimes are evaluated from
spin dynamics and linear response, where a good agreement is found between
these two methods. It is found that non-local damping affects the magnon
lifetimes in different ways depending on the system. Specifically, we find that
in Fe, Co, and Ni the non-local damping decreases the magnon lifetimes, while
in and FeCo an opposite, non-local damping
effect is observed, and our data show that it is much stronger in the former
Circulating Vitamin D Concentrations and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation:A Mendelian Randomization Study Using Non-deficient Range Summary Statistics
Vitamin D deficiency is a common disorder and has been linked with atrial fibrillation (AF) in several observational studies, although the causal relationships remain unclear. We conducted a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to determine the causal association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations and AF. The analyses were performed using summary statistics obtained for single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified from large genome-wide association meta-analyses conducted on serum 25(OH)D ( = 79,366) and AF ( = 1,030,836). Six SNPs related to serum 25(OH)D were used as instrumental variables. The association between 25(OH)D and AF was estimated using both the fixed-effect and random-effects inverse variance weighted (IVW) method. The MR analyses found no evidence to support a causal association between circulating 25(OH)D level and risk of AF using random-effects IVW (odds ratio per unit increase in log 25(OH)D = 1.003, 95% CI, 0.841-1.196; = 0.976) or fixed-effect IVW method (OR = 1.003, 95% CI, 0.876-1.148; = 0.968). Sensitivity analyses yielded similar results. No heterogeneity and directional pleiotropy were detected. Using summary statistics, this MR study suggests that genetically predicted circulating vitamin D concentrations, especially for a non-deficient range, were not causally associated with AF in the general population. Future studies using non-linear design and focusing on the vitamin D deficiency population are needed to further evaluate the causal effect of vitamin D concentrations on AF
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