10,726 research outputs found
Improved precision in aerial application equipment
There are no author-identified significant results in this report
Study, selection, and preparation of solid cationic conductors
Crystal chemical principles and transport theory have been used to predict structures and specific compounds which might find application as solid electrolytes in rechargeable high energy and high power density batteries operating at temperatures less than 200 C. Structures with 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensional channels were synthesized and screened by nuclear magnetic resonance, dielectric loss, and conductivity. There is significant conductivity at room temperature in some of the materials but none attain a level that is comparable to beta-alumina. Microwave and fast pulse methods were developed to measure conductivity in powders and in small crystals
Investigation for improved precision in aerial application equipment
Equipment and operating techniques to facilitate rapid field measurement and evaluation of spray distribution patterns from agricultural aircraft were developed
Evolution of magnetic states in frustrated diamond lattice antiferromagnetic Co(Al1-xCox)2O4 spinels
Using neutron powder diffraction and Monte-Carlo simulations we show that a
spin-liquid regime emerges at $all compositions in the diamond-lattice
antiferromagnets Co(Al1-xCox)2O4. This spin-liquid regime induced by
frustration due to the second-neighbour exchange coupling J2, is gradually
superseded by antiferromagnetic collinear long-range order (k=0) at low
temperatures. Upon substitution of Al3+ by Co3+ in the octahedral B-site the
temperature range occupied by the spin-liquid regime narrows and TN increases.
To explain the experimental observations we considered magnetic anisotropy D or
third-neighbour exchange coupling J3 as degeneracy-breaking perturbations. We
conclude that Co(Al1-xCox)2O4 is below the theoretical critical point
J2/J1=1/8, and that magnetic anisotropy assists in selecting a collinear
long-range ordered ground state, which becomes more stable with increasing x
due to a higher efficiency of O-Co3+-O as an interaction path compared to
O-Al3+-O
Group Strategyproof Pareto-Stable Marriage with Indifferences via the Generalized Assignment Game
We study the variant of the stable marriage problem in which the preferences
of the agents are allowed to include indifferences. We present a mechanism for
producing Pareto-stable matchings in stable marriage markets with indifferences
that is group strategyproof for one side of the market. Our key technique
involves modeling the stable marriage market as a generalized assignment game.
We also show that our mechanism can be implemented efficiently. These results
can be extended to the college admissions problem with indifferences
Quantum oscillations and decoherence due to electron-electron interaction in metallic networks and hollow cylinders
We have studied the quantum oscillations of the conductance for arrays of
connected mesoscopic metallic rings, in the presence of an external magnetic
field. Several geometries have been considered: a linear array of rings
connected with short or long wires compared to the phase coherence length,
square networks and hollow cylinders. Compared to the well-known case of the
isolated ring, we show that for connected rings, the winding of the Brownian
trajectories around the rings is modified, leading to a different harmonics
content of the quantum oscillations. We relate this harmonics content to the
distribution of winding numbers. We consider the limits where coherence length
is small or large compared to the perimeter of each ring
constituting the network. In the latter case, the coherent diffusive
trajectories explore a region larger than , whence a network dependent
harmonics content. Our analysis is based on the calculation of the spectral
determinant of the diffusion equation for which we have a simple expression on
any network. It is also based on the hypothesis that the time dependence of the
dephasing between diffusive trajectories can be described by an exponential
decay with a single characteristic time (model A) .
At low temperature, decoherence is limited by electron-electron interaction,
and can be modelled in a one-electron picture by the fluctuating electric field
created by other electrons (model B). It is described by a functional of the
trajectories and thus the dependence on geometry is crucial. Expressions for
the magnetoconductance oscillations are derived within this model and compared
to the results of model A. It is shown that they involve several
temperature-dependent length scales.Comment: 35 pages, revtex4, 25 figures (34 pdf files
A 340 kDa hyaluronic acid secreted by human vascular smooth muscle cells regulates their proliferation and migration
The formation of atherosclerotic lesions is characterized by invasion of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) into the tunica intima of the arterial wall and subsequently by increased proliferation of VSMC, a process apparently restricted to the intimal layer of blood vessels. Both events are preceded by the pathological overexpression of several growth factors, such as platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) which is a potent mitogen for VSMC and can induce their chemotaxis. PDGF is generally not expressed in the normal artery but it is upregulated in atherosclerotic lesions. We have previously shown that PDGF-BB specifically stimulates proliferating VSMC to secrete a 340 kDa hyaluronic acid (HA-340). Here, we present evidence regarding the biological functions of this glycan. We observed that HA-340 inhibited the PDGF-induced proliferation of human VSMC in a dosedependent manner and enhanced the PDGF-dependent invasion of VSMC through a basement membrane barrier. These effects were abolished following treatment of HA-340 with hyaluronidase. The effect of HA-340 on the PDGF-dependent invasion of VSMC coincided with increased secretion of the 72-kDa type IV collagenase by VSMC and was completely blocked by GM6001, a hydroxamic acid inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases. HA-340 did not exert any chemotactic potency, nor did it affect chemotaxis of VSMC along a PDGF gradient. In human atheromatic aortas, we found that HA-340 is expressed with a negative concentration gradient from the tunica media to the tunica intima and the atheromatic plaque. Our findings suggest that HA-340 may be linked to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, by modulating VSMC proliferation and invasio
How chemistry controls electron localization in 3d1 perovskites: A Wannier-function study
In the series of 3d1 t2g perovskites, SrVO3--CaVO3--LaTiO3--YTiO3 the
transition-metal d electron becomes increasingly localized and undergoes a Mott
transition between CaVO3 and LaTiO3. By defining a low-energy Hubbard
Hamiltonian in the basis of Wannier functions for the t2g LDA band and solving
it in the single-site DMFT approximation, it was recently shown[1] that
simultaneously with the Mott transition there occurs a strong suppression of
orbital fluctuations due to splitting of the t2g levels. The present paper
reviews and expands this work, in particular in the direction of exposing the
underlying chemical mechanisms by means of ab initio LDA Wannier functions
generated with the NMTO method. The Wannier functions for the t2g band exhibit
covalency between the transition-metal t2g, the large cation-d, and the
oxygen-p states; this covalency, which increases along the series, turns out to
be responsible not only for the splittings of the t2g levels, but also for
non-cubic perturbations of the hopping integrals, both of which are decisive
for the Mott transition. We find good agreement with the optical and
photoemission spectra, with the crystal-field splittings and orbital
polarizations recently measured for the titanates, and with the metallization
volume for LaTiO3. The metallization volume for YTiO3 is predicted. Using
super-exchange theory, we reproduce the observed magnetic orders in LaTiO3 and
YTiO3, but the results are sensitive to detail, in particular for YTiO3 which,
without the Jahn-Teller distortion, would be AFM C- or A-type, rather than FM.
Finally, we show that it possible to unfold the orthorhombic t2g LDA
bandstructure to a pseudocubic zone. In this zone, the lowest band is separated
from the two others by a direct gap and has a width, W_I, which is
significantly smaller than that, W, of the entire t2g band. The progressive
GdFeO3-type distortion favours electron localization by decreasing W, by
increasing the splitting of the t2g levels and by decreasing W_I. Our
conclusions concerning the roles of GdFeO3-type and JT distortions agree with
those of Mochizuki and Imada [2].Comment: Published version, final. For high resolution figures see
http://www.fkf.mpg.de/andersen/docs/pub/abstract2004+/pavarini_02.pd
- …