1,120 research outputs found
Hysteretic ac losses in a superconductor strip between flat magnetic shields
Hysteretic ac losses in a thin, current-carrying superconductor strip located
between two flat magnetic shields of infinite permeability are calculated using
Bean's model of the critical state. For the shields oriented parallel to the
plane of the strip, penetration of the self-induced magnetic field is enhanced,
and the current dependence of the ac loss resembles that in an isolated
superconductor slab, whereas for the shields oriented perpendicular to the
plane of the strip, penetration of the self-induced magnetic field is impaired,
and the current dependence of the ac loss is similar to that in a
superconductor strip flanked by two parallel superconducting shields. Thus,
hysteretic ac losses can strongly augment or, respectively, wane when the
shields approach the strip.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR
Direct detection and characterization of foot-and-mouth disease virus in East Africa using a field-ready real-time PCR platform
Effective control and monitoring of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) relies upon rapid and accurate disease confirmation. Currently, clinical samples are usually tested in reference laboratories using standardized assays recommended by The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). However, the requirements for prompt and serotype-specific diagnosis during FMD outbreaks, and the need to establish robust laboratory testing capacity in FMD-endemic countries have motivated the development of simple diagnostic platforms to support local decision-making. Using a portable thermocycler, the T-COR™ 8, this study describes the laboratory and field evaluation of a commercially available, lyophilized pan-serotype-specific real-time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) assay and a newly available FMD virus (FMDV) typing assay (East Africa-specific for serotypes: O, A, Southern African Territories [SAT] 1 and 2). Analytical sensitivity, diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the pan-serotype-specific lyophilized assay were comparable to that of an OIE-recommended laboratory-based rRT-PCR (determined using a panel of 57 FMDV-positive samples and six non-FMDV vesicular disease samples for differential diagnosis). The FMDV-typing assay was able to correctly identify the serotype of 33/36 FMDV-positive samples (no cross-reactivity between serotypes was evident). Furthermore, the assays were able to accurately detect and type FMDV RNA in multiple sample types, including epithelial tissue suspensions, serum, oesophageal–pharyngeal (OP) fluid and oral swabs, both with and without the use of nucleic acid extraction. When deployed in laboratory and field settings in Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia, both assays reliably detected and serotyped FMDV RNA in samples (n = 144) collected from pre-clinical, clinical and clinically recovered cattle. These data support the use of field-ready rRT-PCR platforms in endemic settings for simple, highly sensitive and rapid detection and/or characterization of FMDV
Effect of doping-- and field--induced charge carrier density on the electron transport in nanocrystalline ZnO
Charge transport properties of thin films of sol--gel processed undoped and
Al-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles with variable doping level between 0.8 at%
and 10 at% were investigated. The X-ray diffraction studies revealed a decrease
of the average crystallite sizes in highly doped samples. We provide estimates
of the conductivity and the resulting charge carrier densities with respect to
the doping level. The increase of charge carrier density due to extrinsic
doping were compared to the accumulation of charge carriers in field effect
transistor structures. This allowed to assess the scattering effects due to
extrinsic doping on the electron mobility. The latter decreases from 4.6*10^-3
cm^2/Vs to 4.5*10^-4 cm^2/Vs with increasing doping density. In contrast, the
accumulation leads to an increasing mobility up to 1.5*10^-2 cm^2/Vs. The
potential barrier heights related to grain boundaries between the crystallites
were derived from temperature dependent mobility measurements. The extrinsic
doping initially leads to a grain boundary barrier height lowering, followed by
an increase due to doping-induced structural defects. We conclude that the
conductivity of sol--gel processed nanocrystalline ZnO:Al is governed by an
interplay of the enhanced charge carrier density and the doping-induced charge
carrier scattering effects, achieving a maximum at 0.8 at% in our case.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Structural and dielectric properties of SrTiO from first principles
We have investigated the structural and dielectric properties of
SrTiO,the first member of the SrTiO
Ruddlesden-Popper series, within density functional theory. Motivated by recent
work in which thin films of SrTiO were grown by molecular beam
epitaxy (MBE) on SrTiO substrates, the in-plane lattice parameter was
fixed to the theoretically optimized lattice constant of cubic SrTiO
(n=), while the out-of-plane lattice parameter and the internal
structural parameters were relaxed. The fully relaxed structure was also
investigated. Density functional perturbation theory was used to calculate the
zone-center phonon frequencies, Born effective charges, and the electronic
dielectric permittivity tensor. A detailed study of the contribution of
individual infrared-active modes to the static dielectric permittivity tensor
was performed. The calculated Raman and infrared phonon frequencies were found
to be in agreement with experiment where available. Comparisons of the
calculated static dielectric permittivity with experiments on both ceramic
powders and epitaxial thin films are discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, 8 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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