Temperature effect on (2+1) experimental Kardar-Parisi-Zhang growth

We report on the effect of substrate temperature (T) on both local structure and long-wavelength fluctuations of polycrystalline CdTe thin films deposited on Si(001). A strong T-dependent mound evolution is observed and explained in terms of the energy barrier to inter-grain diffusion at grain boundaries, as corroborated by Monte Carlo simulations. This leads to transitions from uncorrelated growth to a crossover from random-to-correlated growth and transient anomalous scaling as T increases. Due to these finite-time effects, we were not able to determine the universality class of the system through the critical exponents. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that this can be circumvented by analyzing height, roughness and maximal height distributions, which allow us to prove that CdTe grows asymptotically according to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation in a broad range of T. More important, one finds positive (negative) velocity excess in the growth at low (high) T, indicating that it is possible to control the KPZ non-linearity by adjusting the temperature.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Fate of the Quasi-condensed State for Bias-driven Hard-Core Bosons in one Dimension

Bosons in one dimension display a phenomenon called quasi-condensation, where correlations decay in a powerlaw fashion. We study the fate of quasi-condensation in the non-equilibrium steady-state of a chain of hard-core bosons coupled to macroscopic leads which are held at different chemical potentials. It is found that a finite bias destroys the quasi-condensed state and the critical scaling function of the quasi-condensed fraction, near the zero bias transition, is determined. Associated critical exponents are determined and numerically verified. Away from equilibrium, the system exhibits exponentially decaying correlations that are characterized by a bias-dependent correlation length that diverges in equilibrium. In addition, power-law corrections are found, which are characterized by an exponent that depends on the chain-leads coupling and is non-analytic at zero bias. This exactly-solvable nonequilibrium strongly-interacting system has the remarkable property that, the near-equilibrium state at infinitesimal bias, cannot be obtained within linear response. These results aid in unraveling the intricate properties spawned by strong interactions once liberated from equilibrium constraints.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Radiation exposure awareness from patients undergoing nuclear medicine diagnostic 99mTc-MDP bone scans and 2-deoxy-2-(18F) fluoro-D-glucose PET/computed tomography scans

INTRODUCTION: Medical imaging is on average the largest source of artificial radiation exposure worldwide. This study seeks to understand patient's awareness of radiation exposure derived from nuclear medicine diagnostic scans and assess if current information provided by leaflets is adequate. METHODS: Single-centre cross-sectional questionnaire study applied to bone scan and FDG PET/computed tomography patients, at a nuclear medicine and PET/computed tomography department over a 15-week period in 2018. Questionnaires on dose comparators were designed in collaboration with patients, public, and experts in radiation exposure. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis and quantitative data using SPSS (V. 24). RESULTS: A total of 102 questionnaires were completed (bone scan = 50; FDG PET/computed tomography = 52). Across both groups, 33/102 (32.4%) patients reported having a reasonable understanding of nuclear medicine and 21/102 (20.6%) reported a reasonable knowledge of ionising radiations. When asked to compare the exposure dose of respective scans with common comparators 8/50 (16%) of bone scan patients and 11/52 (21.2%) FDG PET/computed tomography answered correctly. On leaflet information, 15/85 (17.6%) patients reported the leaflets do not provide enough information on radiation exposure and of these 10/15 (66.7%) commented the leaflets should incorporate more information on radiation exposure dose. CONCLUSION: More observational and qualitative studies in collaboration with patients are warranted to evaluate patients' understanding and preferences in communication of radiation exposure from nuclear medicine imaging. This will ensure communication tools and guidelines developed to comply with ionising radiation (medical exposure) regulation 2017 are according to patients needs and preferences

Disorder effects at low temperatures in La_{0.7-x}Y_{x}Ca_{0.3}MnO_{3} manganites

With the aim of probing the effect of magnetic disorder in the low-temperature excitations of manganites, specific-heat measurements were performed in zero field, and in magnetic fields up to 9 T in polycrystalline samples of La_{0.7-x}Y_{x}Ca_{0.3}MnO_{3}, with Y concentrations x=0, 0.10, and 0.15. Yttrium doping yielded the appearance of a cluster-glass state, giving rise to unusual low-temperature behavior of the specific-heat. The main feature observed in the results is a strong enhancement of the specific-heat linear term, which is interpreted as a direct consequence of magnetic disorder. The analysis was further corroborated by resistivity measurements in the same compounds.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Caracterização morfológica da flor do camucamuzeiro.

Trabalhos feitos sobre a biologia floral da flor do camucamuzeiro consideraram a espécie com alogamia facultativa, não obrigatória, aceitando a geitonogamia, podendo ainda ser polinizada pelo vento. Estudos de morfologia floral são utilizados em pesquisas para ajudar na compreensão da relação entre estruturas reprodutivas e os polinizadores, além da diferenciação entre genótipos da mesma espécie. O trabalho teve como objetivo realizar a caracterização morfométrica em flores de camucamuzeiro, visando o estabelecimento de descritores morfológicos para a espécie. O estudo foi realizado em flores de dez progênies estabelecidas no BAG Camu-camu. Foram caracterizadas as seguintes estruturas: número de estames, comprimento do estilete e o comprimento do pedicelo. Houve variação em todas as estruturas florais avaliadas, com destaque para o número de estames. As progênies apresentaram flores com média de 126,8 estames. As matrizes CPATU-05 e CPATU-21 diferiram das demais com 163,1 e 162,1 estames, respectivamente. Para o comprimento do estilete, a progênie CPATU-5 teve a maior média, (1,16 cm). Com relação ao tamanho do pedicelo, a progênie CPATU-20 apresentou flores com a maior média (0,38 cm). A caracterização morfométrica das flores de camucamuzeiro permite a identificação de ampla variabilidade genética entre as progênies estabelecidas no BAG- Camu-camu. O número de estame e o comprimento do estilete podem ser utilizados como descritores morfológicos visando à diferenciação entre acessos de camucamuzeiro.PIBIC-2011

Morfometria de fruto em progênies estabelecidas no BAG-CAMU-CAMU.

O camucamuzeiro é espécie frutífera nativa da Amazônia e sua importância econômica é comprovada pelo fato do fruto conter elevado teor de ácido ascórbico. O trabalho teve como objetivo realizar a morfometria de frutos em 15 progênies de camucamuzeiro estabelecidas no BAG-camucamu. A morfometria foi efetuada com base na amostra de 50 frutos de cada progênie, os quais foram individualmente analisados quanto às seguintes características: massa, comprimento, diâmetro, espessura da casca, número de sementes por fruto, além da porcentagem de polpa, casca e sementes. Os resultados obtidos evidenciaram que os frutos de camu-camu das progênies avaliadas apresentaram massa de 7,37±1,64 g, com mínimo de 4,58 g e máximo de 10,19 g. A progênie CPATU-51 foi a que se destacou em relação ao tamanho dos frutos, com frutos pesando acima de 10 gramas. As médias para o comprimento e diâmetro dos frutos foram de 2,17±0,18 cm e 2,32±0,19 cm, respectivamente. A espessura de casca variou de 0,25 a 0,56 mm com média de 0,34 mm. A caracterização física e composição centesimal dos frutos permitem a identificação de ampla variabilidade genética entre as progênies de Myrciaria dubia estabelecidas no BAG ? Camu-camu.PIBIC-2011