Magnetic avalanche-like behavior in disordered manganite (Eu0.4La0.1)(Sr0.4Ca0.1)MnO3

The half-doped manganite, (Eu0.4La0.1)(Sr0.4Ca0.1)MnO3, has been found to exhibit sharp step-like metamagnetic transitions below 5 K. The number of magnetic steps increases with decreasing temperature and this number suddenly rises from 3 at 2 K to ~50 at 1.7 K. The self-similar character of the multiple magnetic steps at reduced temperature identifies these steps as avalanche-like transitions. The occurrence of a multitude of magnetic steps at low temperatures, the decreasing effect of magnetic field sweep rate on the step-like metamagnetism, and the decreasing irreversibility of transition in the specific heat suggest that reduced spin-lattice coupling facilitates the transformation of antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic state via an avalanche-like behavior.Comment: 13 pages, 5 Figure

Direct correlation between 1/f magnetonoise and magnetoresistance in La<SUB>0.7</SUB>Sr<SUB>0.3</SUB>MnO<SUB>3</SUB> and (La<SUB>0.5</SUB>Pr<SUB>0.2</SUB>)Ba<SUB>0.3</SUB>MnO<SUB>3</SUB> manganites

Temperature- and magnetic-field-dependent electrical noise and electrical resistivity measurements were carried out on epitaxial thin films of a large bandwidth La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 and a disordered intermediate bandwidth (La0.5Pr0.2)Ba0.3MnO3 manganite system. The power spectral density was dominated by 1/f noise. This 1/f noise was observed to follow the overall temperature dependence of the resistivity. Moreover, in these compounds the magnetonoise effect was found to be of nearly the same magnitude as the magnetoresistance. This direct correlation between magnetonoise and magnetoresistance suggests that the enhanced 1/f noise has its origin in intrinsic charge-carrier density fluctuations

Research Notes : India : Genetic variability, interrelationships and path-coefficient analysis of seed technological traits in soybean under different cropping systems

Soybean is generally cultivated in India as a sole or monoculture crop. However, its intercropping with maize is a common practice in some hilly areas of northern India. The practice aims at (1) insuring against total crop fail-ures under abnormal weather conditions, (2) increasing total productivity for unit land area, and (3) equitable and judicious utilization of land resources and farming inputs

Study of Dissipative Collisions of 20^{20}Ne (∼\sim7-11 MeV/nucleon) + 27^{27}Al

The inclusive energy distributions of complex fragments (3 $\leq$Z $\leq$ 9) emitted in the reactions $^{20}$Ne (145, 158, 200, 218 MeV) + $^{27}$Al have been measured in the angular range 10$^{o}$ - 50$^{o}$. The fusion-fission and the deep-inelastic components of the fragment yield have been extracted using multiple Gaussian functions from the experimental fragment energy spectra. The elemental yields of the fusion-fission component have been found to be fairly well exlained in the framework of standard statistical model. It is found that there is strong competition between the fusion-fission and the deep-inelastic processes at these energies. The time scale of the deep-inelastic process was estimated to be typically in the range of $\sim$ 10$^{-21}$ - 10$^{-22}$ sec., and it was found to decrease with increasing fragment mass. The angular momentum dissipations in fully energy damped deep-inelastic process have been estimated from the average energies of the deep-inelastic components of the fragment energy spectra. It has been found that, the estimated angular momentum dissipations, for lighter fragments in particular, are more than those predicted by the empirical sticking limit.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure

Cancer of the penis: case report

Two patients with penile carcinoma are presented after management at a district hospital in Kenya. Both had undergone ritual circumcision as teenagers and presented late. HR was a 73 year old who presented with a fungating penile mass for which a partial penectomy was performed after wedge biopsy confirmed malignancy. He thereafter declined to have the surgical specimen sent for histology and took the amputated stump for burial in his compound to avoid bad omen. GK was 25 years old and presented with a fungating mass and underwent partial penectomy after a histological diagnosis was made. He absconded from follow-up after being informed of the need for further surgery due to tumour infiltration of the surgical margins. The history and clinical images are presented and we discuss the difficulties of cancer management at a rural district hospital

Research Notes : Consistency of heritability estimates over environments and crop-ping systems for different groups of traits in soybean

Introduction : Though numerous reports are available on heritability estimates from individual environment, yet information on consistency of heritability over environments is meager (Byth et al., 1969). An attempt has been made in the present communication to understand the influence of en-vironments and cropping system on the heritability estimates in soybean. Materials and methods : The materials and experimental design were same as reported by Gupta et al. (1981)

AC/DC conductivity and dielectric relaxation behavior of aqueous solutions of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride

The complex relative dielectric function ɛ*(f) = ɛ' - jɛ" of aqueous solutions of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride [BMiM][Cl] of varying concentrations, has been measured using precision LCR meter in the frequency range 20 Hz to 2 MHz at four different temperatures 293.15, 303.15, 313.15 and 323.15 K. Complex ac conductivity σ*(f) of the liquid samples have been determined from the measured ɛ*(f). DC conductivity σdc of the samples have also been determined. Values of σdc at different concentrations have been fitted to the empirical Casteel-Amis (CA) equation. The influence of concentration and temperature variation on the complex permittivity and electrical conductivity of the solutions of [BMiM][Cl] in distilled water has been discussed. The molar conductivities and the infinite dilution conductance of these ionic liquids have also been determined. Orientational relaxation behavior of the aqueous solutions of [BMiM][Cl] has also been studied by measuring complex permittivity in the frequency range 1 GHz to 20 GHz using vector network analyzer. Various processes contributed to the electrical/dielectric properties of the solutions of [BMiM][Cl] in distilled water have been explored

Research Notes: Variation for seed yield, its quality and nutritional traits in soybeans

To bring about genetic improvement for any economic trait in economic plants, the foremost prerequisite is the presence of sufficient amount of genetic variability for the trait under improvement in the organism t o be improved. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to get the information on nature and magnitude of variability for various seed quality traits along with seed yield traits in the soybean germplasm maintained at the Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur. Materials and methods: The material for the present study consisted of 250 diverse genotypes of soybeans of both indigenous and exotic origin , and 5 standard checks