31,995 research outputs found
Work Function of Single-wall Silicon Carbide Nanotube
Using first-principles calculations, we study the work function of single
wall silicon carbide nanotube (SiCNT). The work function is found to be highly
dependent on the tube chirality and diameter. It increases with decreasing the
tube diameter. The work function of zigzag SiCNT is always larger than that of
armchair SiCNT. We reveal that the difference between the work function of
zigzag and armchair SiCNT comes from their different intrinsic electronic
structures, for which the singly degenerate energy band above the Fermi level
of zigzag SiCNT is specifically responsible. Our finding offers potential
usages of SiCNT in field-emission devices.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
Critical Current Density and Resistivity of MgB2 Films
The high resistivity of many bulk and film samples of MgB2 is most readily
explained by the suggestion that only a fraction of the cross-sectional area of
the samples is effectively carrying current. Hence the supercurrent (Jc) in
such samples will be limited by the same area factor, arising for example from
porosity or from insulating oxides present at the grain boundaries. We suggest
that a correlation should exist, Jc ~ 1/{Rho(300K) - Rho(50K)}, where Rho(300K)
- Rho(50K) is the change in the apparent resistivity from 300 K to 50 K. We
report measurements of Rho(T) and Jc for a number of films made by hybrid
physical-chemical vapor deposition which demonstrate this correlation, although
the "reduced effective area" argument alone is not sufficient. We suggest that
this argument can also apply to many polycrystalline bulk and wire samples of
MgB2.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Clerocidin selectively modifies the gyrase-DNA gate to induce irreversible and reversible DNA damage
Clerocidin (CL), a microbial diterpenoid, reacts with DNA via its epoxide group and stimulates DNA cleavage by type II DNA topoisomerases. The molecular basis of CL action is poorly understood. We establish by genetic means that CL targets DNA gyrase in the gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, and promotes gyrase-dependent single- and double-stranded DNA cleavage in vitro. CL-stimulated DNA breakage exhibited a strong preference for guanine preceding the scission site (-1 position). Mutagenesis of -1 guanines to A, C or T abrogated CL cleavage at a strong pBR322 site. Surprisingly, for double-strand breaks, scission on one strand consistently involved a modified (piperidine-labile) guanine and was not reversed by heat, salt or EDTA, whereas complementary strand scission occurred at a piperidine-stable -1 nt and was reversed by EDTA. CL did not induce cleavage by a mutant gyrase (GyrA G79A) identified here in CL-resistant pneumococci. Indeed, mutations at G79 and at the neighbouring S81 residue in the GyrA breakage-reunion domain discriminated poisoning by CL from that of antibacterial quinolones. The results suggest a novel mechanism of enzyme inhibition in which the -1 nt at the gyrase-DNA gate exhibit different CL reactivities to produce both irreversible and reversible DNA damage
Various Correlations in Anisotropic Heisenberg XYZ Model with Dzyaloshinski-Moriya Interaction
Various thermal correlations as well as the effect of intrinsic decoherence
on the correlations are studied in a two-qubit Heisenberg XYZ spin chain with
the Dzyaloshinski--Moriya (DM) interaction along the z direction, i.e. Dz. It
is found that tunable parameter Dz may play a constructive role on the
concurrence (C), classical correlation (CC) and quantum discord (QD) in thermal
equilibrium while it plays a destructive role on the correlations in the
intrinsic decoherence case. The entanglement and quantum discord exhibit
collapse and revival under the phase decoherence. With a proper combination of
the system parameters, the correlations can effectively be kept at high steady
state values despite the intrinsic decoherence.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The characterization and effects of stoichiometric reductants in ferrochromium production from 1200oC to 1550oC
Abstract: Ferrochrome alloy is mainly produced in submerged-arc furnaces. The reductants used in ferrochrome production include coke, anthracite and char. During ferrochrome production reductants are primarily added for reduction to take place. However it is still questionable as to what happens during times when the carbon charged is not enough, is stoichiometric or excess than the required amount. This work investigated phase formation and phase changes at different reducing temperatures with stoichiometric amount of reductants with stoichiometric amount of reductant. Experiments were conducted at 1200oC, 1300oC and 1550oC. Anthracite and coke were used in this investigation. A comparison of reaction steps, the extent of reactions as well as the mechanisms at the same temperature and soaking time, when coke and anthracite were used are discussed. The characterization was conducted using different analytical techniques to identify the changes in morphologies of the raw materials against the temperature as well as the phases that formed
Superconductivity, critical current density, and flux pinning in MgB_{2-x}(SiC)_{x/2} superconductor after SiC nanoparticle doping
We investigated the effect of SiC nano-particle doping on the crystal lattice
structure, critical temperature T_c, critical current density J_c, and flux
pinning in MgB_2 superconductor. A series of MgB_{2-x}(SiC)_{x/2} samples with
x = 0 to 1.0 were fabricated using in-situ reaction process. The contraction of
the lattice and depression of T_c with increasing SiC doping level remained
rather small due to the counter-balanced effect of Si and C co-doping. The high
level Si and C co-doping allowed the creation of intra-grain defects and highly
dispersed nano-inclusions within the grains which can act as effective pinning
centers for vortices, improving J_c behavior as a function of the applied
magnetic field. The enhanced pinning is mainly attributable to the
substitution-induced defects and a local structure fluctuations within grains.
A pinning mechanism is proposed to account for different contributions of
different defects in MgB_{2-x}(SiC)_{x/2} superconductors.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
WxN1–x alloys as diffusion barriers between Al and Si
Reactively sputtered tungsten nitride (WxN1–x) layers are investigated as diffusion barriers between Al overlayers and Si shallow n + -p junctions. Both amorphous W80 N20 and polycrystalline W60 N40 films were found to be very effective in preserving the integrity of the n + -p diodes for 30-min vacuum annealing up to 575 °C. Diode failure at higher temperatures is caused by localized penetration of Al into through the WxN1–x barriers. The effectiveness of the barrier decreases for polycrystalline W90 N10 and is worse for pure W
Hysteresis in the quantum Hall regimes in electron double quantum well structures
We present in this paper experimental results on the transport hysteresis in
electron double quantum well structures. Exploring the measurement technique of
fixing the magnetic field and sweeping a front gate voltage (Vg), we are able
to study the hysteresis by varying the top layer Landau level fillings while
maintaining a relatively constant filling factor in the bottom layer, allowing
us to tackle the question of the sign of Rxx(up)-Rxx(down), where Rxx(up) is
the magnetoresistance when Vg is swept up and Rxx(down) when Vg swept down.
Furthermore, we observe that hysteresis is generally stronger in the even
integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) regime than in the odd-IQHE regime. This, we
argue, is due to a larger energy gap for an even-IQHE state, determined by the
Landau level separation, than that for an odd-IQHE state, determined by the
Zeeman splitting
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