299 research outputs found
Development of Natural Rubber-Fibrous Nano Clay Attapulgite Composites: The Effect of Chemical Treatment of Filler on Mechanical and Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Composites
AbstractCommon nano clay fillers have layered structure. Some nano clays like Attapulgite (AT), Sepiolite have rod like fibrous structure. Compared to layered structured clay fibrous clay AT can undergo better dispersion in polymer matrix leading to better improvement in composite properties. Chemical modifications of AT are done through amine treatment as well as by amine+silane treatment to get chemically modified fillers AAT and SAT respectively. In the present investigation, nano composites are prepared using natural rubber (NR) filled with AT, AAT and SAT. Three different loadings of each filler are used namely 2.5, 5, and 10 phr (parts per hundred of rubber). Mechanical properties like tensile strength, elongation at break increase with the increase in filler loading up to 5 phr there after these properties marginally fall when loading is increased to 10 phr due to problem of filler dispersion at higher loading. However, modulus at 300% elongation and tear strength increases with the increase in filler loading up to 10 phr. Very similar trend can also be observed for composites with chemically modified fillers, AAT and SAT. But the degree of reinforcement is higher in the case of AAT and SAT compared to that of unmodified filler AT for the same filler loading. This difference is mainly due to better polymer-filler interaction and filler dispersion in the case of chemically modified clays AAT and SAT compared to unmodified AT. Tear strength of composites increases remarkably with the addition of AT and which is further enhanced when chemically modified clays AAT and SAT are added. Dynamic-mechanical analyses of different clay composites give idea about the difference in the degree of polymerâfiller interaction due to chemical treatment of filler
Gutzwiller-Correlated Wave Functions: Application to Ferromagnetic Nickel
Ferromagnetic Nickel is the most celebrated iron group metal with pronounced
discrepancies between the experimental electronic properties and predictions of
density functional theories. In this work, we show in detail that the recently
developed multi-band Gutzwiller theory provides a very good description of the
quasi-particle band structure of nickel. We obtain the correct exchange
splittings and we reproduce the experimental Fermi-surface topology. The
correct (111)-direction of the magnetic easy axis and the right order of
magnitude of the magnetic anisotropy are found. Our theory also reproduces the
experimentally observed change of the Fermi-surface topology when the magnetic
moment is oriented along the (001)-axis. In addition to the numerical study, we
give an analytical derivation for a much larger class of variational
wave-functions than in previous investigations. In particular, we cover cases
of superconductivity in multi-band lattice systems.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figure
Evaluation of a novel real-time PCR for detecting Rasamsonia argillacea species complex in respiratory secretions from CF patients
Members of the recently introduced fungal genus Rasamsonia (formerly Geosmithia) have been described as emerging pathogens in immunosuppressed hosts or patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Rasamsonia species have often been misidentified as Penicillium or Paecilomyces because of similar morphological characteristics. We validated a commercially available real-time PCR assay for accurate detection of species from the Rasamsonia argillacea complex.
First we tested this assay with a collection of 74 reference strains and clinical isolates and then compared the PCR with cultures of 234 respiratory samples from 152 patients with CF from two University Hospitals in Germany and France. The assay reliably detected the three main species within the R. argillacea species complex (R. argillacea, R. piperina, R. aegroticola) which are typically encountered in CF patients. The limit of DNA detection was between 0.01 and 1 pg/ÎŒL. Analysis of the DNA extracts from respiratory specimens of CF patients revealed that four out of the 153 patients studied (2.6%) were colonised with R. argillacea species complex. Two species from the R. argillacea complex grew in the parallel cultures from the same patients. In one patient the PCR was positive five months prior to culture.
The real-time PCR assay is a sensitive and specific method for detecting the three most important species of the R. argillacea species complex encountered in the CF context. Detection of these emerging pathogens in respiratory secretions from CF patients by this novel assay may increase our understanding of the occurrence and epidemiology of R. argillacea species complex
Observation of Pseudoscalar and Axial Vector Resonances in pi- p -> K+ K- pi0 n at 18 GeV
A new measurement of the reaction pi- p -> K+ K- pi0 n has been made at a
beam energy of 18 GeV. A partial wave analysis of the K+ K- pi0 system shows
evidence for three pseudoscalar resonances, eta(1295), eta(1416), and
eta(1485), as well as two axial vectors, f1(1285), and f1(1420). Their observed
masses, widths and decay properties are reported. No signal was observed for
C(1480), an IG J{PC} = 1+ 1{--} state previously reported in phi pi0 decay.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figs, to be submitted to Phys. Let
Fast characterization of multiplexed single-electron pumps with machine learning
We present an efficient machine learning based automated framework for the fast tuning of single-electron pump devices into current quantization regimes. It uses a sparse measurement approach based on an iterative active learning algorithm to take targeted measurements in the gate voltage parameter space. When compared to conventional parameter scans, our automated framework allows us to decrease the number of measurement points by about an order of magnitude. This corresponds to an eight-fold decrease in the time required to determine quantization errors, which are estimated via an exponential extrapolation of the first current plateau embedded into the algorithm. We show the robustness of the framework by characterizing 28 individual devices arranged in a GaAs/AlGaAs multiplexer array, which we use to identify a subset of devices suitable for parallel operation at communal gate voltages. The method opens up the possibility to efficiently scale the characterization of such multiplexed devices to a large number of pumps
Effect of Sand and Wood-Shavings Bedding on the Behavior of Broiler Chickens
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of 2 different bedding types, sand and wood shavings, on the behavior of broiler chickens. In experiment 1, 6 pens were divided down the center and bedded half with sand and half with wood shavings. Male broilers (10/pen) were observed by scan sampling at 5- or 12-min intervals throughout the 6-wk growth period during the morning (between 0800 to 0900 h), afternoon (1200 to 1500 h), and night (2300 to 0600 h). There was a significant behavior x substrate x week interaction during the day (P \u3c 0.0001) and at night (P \u3c 0.0002). Drinking, dustbathing, preening, and sitting increased in frequency on the sand side but decreased on the wood shavings side during the day, as did resting at night. In general, broilers performed a greater proportion of their total behavioral time budget on the sand (P \u3c 0.0001) as they aged. Broilers used the divider between the 2 bedding types to perch; perching behavior peaked during wk 4. In experiment 2, male broilers were housed in 8 pens (50 birds/pen) bedded only in sand or wood shavings. Bedding type had no effect on behavioral time budgets (P = 0.8946), although there were age-related changes in behavior on both bedding types. These results indicate that when given a choice, broilers increasingly performed many of their behaviors on sand, but if only one bedding type was provided they performed those behaviors with similar frequency on sand or wood shavings
Efimov physics beyond universality
We provide an exact solution of the Efimov spectrum in ultracold gases within
the standard two-channel model for Feshbach resonances. It is shown that the
finite range in the Feshbach coupling makes the introduction of an adjustable
three-body parameter obsolete. The solution explains the empirical relation
between the scattering length a_- where the first Efimov state appears at the
atom threshold and the van der Waals length l_vdw for open channel dominated
resonances. There is a continuous crossover to the closed channel dominated
limit, where the scale in the energy level diagram as a function of the inverse
scattering length 1/a is set by the intrinsic length r* associated with the
Feshbach coupling. Our results provide a number of predictions for
non-universal ratios between energies and scattering lengths that can be tested
in future experiments.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; final versio
Proposed nomenclature for Pseudallescheria, Scedosporium and related genera
As a result of fundamental changes in the International Code of Nomenclature on the use of separate names for sexual and asexual stages of fungi, generic names of many groups should be reconsidered. Members of the ECMM/ISHAM working group on Pseudallescheria/Scedosporium infections herein advocate a novel nomenclature for genera and species in Pseudallescheria, Scedosporium and allied taxa. The generic names Parascedosporium, Lomentospora, Petriella, Petriellopsis, and Scedosporium are proposed for a lineage within Microascaceae with mostly Scedosporium anamorphs producing slimy, annellidic conidia. Considering that Scedosporium has priority over Pseudallescheria and that Scedosporium prolificans is phylogenetically distinct from the other Scedosporium species, some name changes are proposed. Pseudallescheria minutispora and Petriellidium desertorum are renamed as Scedosporium minutisporum and S. desertorum, respectively. Scedosporium prolificans is renamed as Lomentospora prolificans
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