1,676 research outputs found

    Plasma plume effects on the conductivity of amorphous-LaAlO<sub>3</sub>/SrTiO<sub>3</sub> interfaces grown by pulsed laser deposition in O<sub>2</sub> and Ar

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    Amorphous LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces exhibit metallic conductivity similarto those found for the extensively studied crystalline-LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces. Here, we investigate the conductivity of the amorphous-LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces grown in different pressures of O2 and Ar background gases. During the deposition, the LaAlO3 ablation plume is also studied, in situ, by fast photography and space-resolved optical emission spectroscopy. An interesting correlation between interfacial conductivity and kinetic energy of the Al atoms in the plume is observed: to assure conducting interfaces of amorphous-LaAlO3/SrTiO3, the kinetic energy of Al should be higher than 1 eV. Our findings add further insights on mechanisms leading to interfacial conductivity in SrTiO3-based oxide heterostructures

    Critical influence of target-to-substrate distance on conductive properties of LaGaO3/SrTiO3 interfaces deposited at 10-1 mbar oxygen pressure

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    We investigate pulsed laser deposition of LaGaO3/SrTiO3 at 10-1 mbar oxygen background pressure, demonstrating the critical effect of the target-to-substrate distance, dTS, on the interface sheet resistance, Rs. The interface turns from insulating to metallic by progressively decreasing dTS. The analysis of the LaGaO3 plume evidences the important role of the plume propagation dynamics on the interface properties. These results demonstrate the growth of conducting interfaces at an oxygen pressure of 10-1 mbar, an experimental condition where a well-oxygenated heterostructures with a reduced content of oxygen defects is expected.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

    Ten (mostly) simple rules to future-proof trait data in ecological and evolutionary sciences

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    Abstract Traits have become a crucial part of ecological and evolutionary sciences, helping researchers understand the function of an organism's morphology, physiology, growth and life history, with effects on fitness, behaviour, interactions with the environment and ecosystem processes. However, measuring, compiling and analysing trait data comes with data‐scientific challenges. We offer 10 (mostly) simple rules, with some detailed extensions, as a guide in making critical decisions that consider the entire life cycle of trait data. This article is particularly motivated by its last rule, that is, to propagate good practice. It has the intention of bringing awareness of how data on the traits of organisms can be collected and managed for reuse by the research community. Trait observations are relevant to a broad interdisciplinary community of field biologists, synthesis ecologists, evolutionary biologists, computer scientists and database managers. We hope these basic guidelines can be useful as a starter for active communication in disseminating such integrative knowledge and in how to make trait data future‐proof. We invite the scientific community to participate in this effort at http://opentraits.org/best‐practices.html

    Some Like It Fat: Comparative Ultrastructure of the Embryo in Two Demosponges of the Genus Mycale (Order Poecilosclerida) from Antarctica and the Caribbean

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    0000-0002-7993-1523© 2015 Riesgo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [4.0], which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

    Testing the theory of immune selection in cancers that break the rules of transplantation

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    Modification of cancer cells likely to reduce their immunogenicity, including loss or down-regulation of MHC molecules, is now well documented and has become the main support for the concept of immune surveillance. The evidence that these modifications, in fact, result from selection by the immune system is less clear, since the possibility that they may result from reorganized metabolism associated with proliferation or from cell de-differentiation remains. Here, we (a) survey old and new transplantation experiments that test the possibility of selection and (b) survey how transmissible tumours of dogs and Tasmanian devils provide naturally evolved tests of immune surveillance

    Co-transplantation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-derived Neural Progenitors and Schwann Cells in a Rat Spinal Cord Contusion Injury Model Elicits a Distinct Neurogenesis and Functional Recovery

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    Co-transplantation of neural progenitors (NPs) with Schwann cells (SCs) might be a way to overcome low rate of neuronal differentiation of NPs following transplantation in spinal cord injury (SCI) and the improvement of locomotor recovery. In this study, we initially generated NPs from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and investigated their potential for neuronal differentiation and functional recovery when co-cultured with SCs in vitro and co-transplanted in a rat acute model of contused SCI. Co-cultivation results revealed that the presence of SCs provided a consistent status for hESC-NPs and recharged their neural differentiation toward a predominantly neuronal fate. Following transplantation, a significant functional recovery was observed in all engrafted groups (NPs, SCs, NPs+SCs) relative to the vehicle and control groups. We also observed that animals receiving co-transplants established a better state as assessed with the BBB functional test. Immunohistofluorescence evaluation five weeks after transplantation showed invigorated neuronal differentiation and limited proliferation in the co-transplanted group when compared to the individual hESC-NPs grafted group. These findings have demonstrated that the co-transplantation of SCs with hESC-NPs could offer a synergistic effect, promoting neuronal differentiation and functional recovery

    A Computational Clonal Analysis of the Developing Mouse Limb Bud

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    A comprehensive spatio-temporal description of the tissue movements underlying organogenesis would be an extremely useful resource to developmental biology. Clonal analysis and fate mappings are popular experiments to study tissue movement during morphogenesis. Such experiments allow cell populations to be labeled at an early stage of development and to follow their spatial evolution over time. However, disentangling the cumulative effects of the multiple events responsible for the expansion of the labeled cell population is not always straightforward. To overcome this problem, we develop a novel computational method that combines accurate quantification of 2D limb bud morphologies and growth modeling to analyze mouse clonal data of early limb development. Firstly, we explore various tissue movements that match experimental limb bud shape changes. Secondly, by comparing computational clones with newly generated mouse clonal data we are able to choose and characterize the tissue movement map that better matches experimental data. Our computational analysis produces for the first time a two dimensional model of limb growth based on experimental data that can be used to better characterize limb tissue movement in space and time. The model shows that the distribution and shapes of clones can be described as a combination of anisotropic growth with isotropic cell mixing, without the need for lineage compartmentalization along the AP and PD axis. Lastly, we show that this comprehensive description can be used to reassess spatio-temporal gene regulations taking tissue movement into account and to investigate PD patterning hypothesis
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