67 research outputs found
X-ray Absorption Linear Dichroism at the Ti K-edge of TiO2 anatase single crystal
Anatase TiO2 (a-TiO2) exhibits a strong X-ray absorption linear dichroism
with the X-ray incidence angle in the pre-edge, the XANES and the EXAFS at the
titanium K-edge. In the pre-edge region the behaviour of the A1-A3 and B peaks,
originating from the 1s-3d transitions, is due to the strong -orbital
polarization and strong orbital mixing. An unambiguous assignment of the
pre-edge peak transitions is made in the monoelectronic approximation with the
support of ab initio finite difference method calculations and spherical tensor
analysis in quantitative agreement with the experiment. It is found that A1 is
mostly an on-site 3d-4p hybridized transition, while peaks A3 and B are
non-local transitions, with A3 being mostly dipolar and influence by the 3d-4p
intersite hybridization, while B is due to interactions at longer range.
Finally, peak A2 which was previously assigned to a transition involving
pentacoordinated titanium atoms exhibits a quadrupolar angular evolution with
incidence angle. These results pave the way to the use of the pre-edge peaks at
the K-edge of a-TiO2 to characterize the electronic structure of related
materials and in the field of ultrafast XAS where the linear dichroism can be
used to compare the photophysics along different axes.Comment: 43 pages, 19 figure
Phonon spectra of pure and acceptor doped BaZrO3 investigated with visible and UV Raman spectroscopy
We report results from visible and UV Raman spectroscopy studies of the phonon spectra of a polycrystalline sample of the prototypical perovskite type oxide BaZrO3 and a 500 nm thick film of its Y-doped, proton conducting, counterpart BaZr0.8Y0.2O2.9. Analysis of the Raman spectra measured using different excitation energies (between 3.44 eV and 5.17 eV) reveals the activation of strong resonance Raman effects involving all lattice vibrational modes. Specifically, two characteristic energies were identified for BaZrO3, one around 5 eV and one at higher energy, respectively, and one for BaZr0.8Y0.2O2.9, above 5 eV. Apart from the large difference in spectral intensity between the non-resonant and resonant conditions, the spectra are overall similar to each other, suggesting that the vibrational spectra of the perovskites are stable when investigated using an UV laser as excitation source. These results encourage further use of UV Raman spectroscopy as a novel approach for the study of lattice vibrational dynamics and local structure in proton conducting perovskites, and open up for, e.g., time-resolved experiments on thin films targeted at understanding the role of lattice vibrations in proton transport in these kinds of materials
The Microcalorimeter Arrays for a Rhenium Experiment (MARE): a next-generation calorimetric neutrino mass experiment
Neutrino oscillation experiments have proved that neutrinos are massive
particles, but can't determine their absolute mass scale. Therefore the
neutrino mass is still an open question in elementary particle physics. An
international collaboration is growing around the project of Microcalorimeter
Arrays for a Rhenium Experiment (MARE) for directly measuring the neutrino mass
with a sensitivity of about 0.2eV/c2. Many groups are joining their experiences
and technical expertise in a common effort towards this challenging experiment.
We discuss the different scenarios and the impact of MARE as a complement of
KATRIN.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure Nucl. Instr. Meth. A, proceedings of LTD11
workshop, Tokyo 200
The CRESST Experiment: Recent Results and Prospects
The CRESST experiment seeks hypothetical WIMP particles that could account
for the bulk of dark matter in the Universe. The detectors are cryogenic
calorimeters in which WIMPs would scatter elastically on nuclei, releasing
phonons. The first phase of the experiment has successfully deployed several
262 g sapphire devices in the Gran Sasso underground laboratories. A main
source of background has been identified as microscopic mechanical fracturing
of the crystals, and has been eliminated, improving the background rate by up
to three orders of magnitude at low energies, leaving a rate close to one count
per day per kg and per keV above 10 keV recoil energy. This background now
appears to be dominated by radioactivity, and future CRESST scintillating
calorimeters which simultaneously measure light and phonons will allow
rejection of a great part of it.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the CAPP2000 Conference, Verbier,
Switzerland, July, 2000 (eds J. Garcia-Bellido, R. Durrer, and M.
Shaposhnikov
Effect of concomitant medications with immune-modulatory properties on the outcomes of patients with advanced cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: development and validation of a novel prognostic index
Background: Concomitant medications are known to impact on clinical outcomes of patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). We aimed weighing the role of different concomitant baseline medications to create a drug-based prognostic score. Methods: We evaluated concomitant baseline medications at immunotherapy initiation for their impact on objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in a single-institution cohort of patients with advanced cancer treated with ICIs (training cohort, N = 217), and a drug-based prognostic score with the drugs resulting significantly impacting the OS was computed. Secondly, we externally validated the score in a large multicenter external cohort (n = 1012). Results: In the training cohort (n = 217), the median age was 69 years (range: 32–89), and the primary tumours were non–small-cell lung cancer (70%), melanoma (14.7%), renal cell carcinoma (9.2%) and others (6%). Among baseline medications, corticosteroids (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.60–3.30), systemic antibiotics (HR = 2.07; 95% CI: 1.31–3.25) and proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) (HR = 1.57; 95% CI: 1.13–2.18) were significantly associated with OS. The prognostic score was calculated using these three drug classes, defining good, intermediate and poor prognosis patients. Within the training cohort, OS (p < 0.0001), PFS (p < 0.0001) and ORR (p = 0.0297) were significantly distinguished by the score stratification. The prognostic value of the score was also demonstrated in terms of OS (p < 0.0001), PFS (p < 0.0001) and ORR (p = 0.0006) within the external cohort. Conclusion: Cumulative exposure to corticosteroids, antibiotics and PPIs (three likely microbiota-modulating drugs) leads to progressively worse outcomes after ICI therapy. We propose a simple score that can help stratifying patients in routine practice and clinical trials of ICIs
Type 2 diabetes mellitus and efficacy outcomes from imune checkpoint blockade in patients with cancer
First-principles molecular dynamics simulations of proton diffusion in cubic BaZrO 3 perovskite under strain conditions
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