860 research outputs found
Annealing effects on superconductivity in SrFe2-xNixAs2
Superconductivity has been explored in single crystals of the Ni-doped
FeAs-compound SrFe2-xNixAs2 grown by self-flux solution method. The
antiferromagnetic order associated with the magnetostructural transition of the
parent compound SrFe2As2 is gradually suppressed with increasing Ni
concentration x and bulk-phase superconductivity with full diamagnetic
screening is induced near the optimal doping of x = 0.15 with a maximum
transition temperature Tc ~9.8 K. An investigation of high-temperature
annealing on as-grown samples indicate that the heat treatment can enhance Tc
as much as ~50 %
Magnetic behavior of single crystalline HoPdSi
The magnetic behavior of single-crystal HoPdSi, crystallizing in an
AlB-derived hexagonal structure, is investigated by magnetic susceptibility
() and electrical resistivity () measurements along two directions.
There is no dramatic anisotropy in the high temperature Curie-Weiss parameter
or in the and isothermal magnetization data, though there is a
noticeable anisotropy in the magnitude of between two perpendicular
orientations. The degree of anisotropy is overall less prominent than in the Gd
(which is an S-state ion!) and Tb analogues. A point of emphasis is that this
compound undergoes long range magnetic ordering below 8 K as in the case of
analogous Gd and Dy compounds. Considering this fact for these compounds with
well-localised f-orbital, the spin glass freezing noted for isomorphous U
compounds in the recent literature could be attributed to the role of the
f-ligand hybridization, rather than just Pd-Si disorder.Comment: Physical Review B, in pres
Absence of static magnetic order in lightly-doped Ti1-xScxOCl down to 1.7 K
Impurity-induced magnetic order has been observed in many quasi-1D systems
including doped variants of the spin-Peierls system CuGeO3. TiOCl is another
quasi-1D quantum magnet with a spin-Peierls ground state, and the magnetic Ti
sites of this system can be doped with non-magnetic Sc. To investigate the role
of non-magnetic impurities in this system, we have performed both zero field
and longitudinal field muSR experiments on polycrystalline Ti1-xScxOCl samples
with x = 0, 0.01, and 0.03. We verified that TiOCl has a non-magnetic ground
state, and we found no evidence for spin freezing or magnetic ordering in the
lightly-doped Sc samples down to 1.7 K. Our results instead suggest that these
systems remain non-magnetic up to the x = 0.03 Sc doping level.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
A Model for the Stray Light Contamination of the UVCS Instrument on SOHO
We present a detailed model of stray-light suppression in the spectrometer
channels of the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) on the SOHO
spacecraft. The control of diffracted and scattered stray light from the bright
solar disk is one of the most important tasks of a coronagraph. We compute the
fractions of light that diffract past the UVCS external occulter and
non-specularly pass into the spectrometer slit. The diffracted component of the
stray light depends on the finite aperture of the primary mirror and on its
figure. The amount of non-specular scattering depends mainly on the
micro-roughness of the mirror. For reasonable choices of these quantities, the
modeled stray-light fraction agrees well with measurements of stray light made
both in the laboratory and during the UVCS mission. The models were constructed
for the bright H I Lyman alpha emission line, but they are applicable to other
spectral lines as well.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, Solar Physics, in pres
Effect of an extract of Centella asiatica on the biodistribution of sodium pertechnetate (Na<sup>99m</sup>TcO<sub>4</sub>) and on the fixation of radioactivity on blood constituents
This study evaluates the effects of an acute treatment with a Centella asiatica (CA) extract on the biodistribution of the radiopharmaceutical Na99mTcO4 and on the fixation of technetium-99m on blood constituents. Wistar rats were treated with CA extract and, 1 hour after, Na99mTcO4 was administered; organs/tissues were withdrawn and weighted. The radioactivity was counted to calculate the percentage of activity per gram (%ATI/g). Also, blood samples were withdrawn, plasma (P), blood cells (BC), insoluble fraction (IF) and soluble fractions of P and BC were isolated and the radioactivity was counted to calculate the percentage of activity (%ATI). Data indicated that the acute treatment with CA extract changed significantly (p99mTcO4 and the fixation of the technetium-99m on blood constituents in an acute treatment
Spin fluctuations in the quasi-two dimensional Heisenberg ferromagnet GdI_2 studied by Electron Spin Resonance
The spin dynamics of GdI_2 have been investigated by ESR spectroscopy. The
temperature dependences of the resonance field and ESR intensity are well
described by the model for the spin susceptibility proposed by Eremin et al.
[Phys. Rev. B 64, 064425 (2001)]. The temperature dependence of the resonance
linewidth shows a maximum similar to the electrical resistance and is discussed
in terms of scattering processes between conduction electrons and localized
spins.Comment: to be published in PR
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Review and assessment of latent and sensible heat flux accuracy over the global oceans
For over a decade, several research groups have been developing air-sea heat flux information over the global ocean, including latent (LHF) and sensible (SHF) heat fluxes over the global ocean. This paper aims to provide new insight into the quality and error characteristics of turbulent heat flux estimates at various spatial and temporal scales (from daily upwards). The study is performed within the European Space Agency (ESA) Ocean Heat Flux (OHF) project. One of the main objectives of the OHF project is to meet the recommendations and requirements expressed by various international programs such as the World Research Climate Program (WCRP) and Climate and Ocean Variability, Predictability, and Change (CLIVAR), recognizing the need for better characterization of existing flux errors with respect to the input bulk variables (e.g. surface wind, air and sea surface temperatures, air and surface specific humidities), and to the atmospheric and oceanic conditions (e.g. wind conditions and sea state). The analysis is based on the use of daily averaged LHF and SHF and the asso- ciated bulk variables derived from major satellite-based and atmospheric reanalysis products. Inter-comparisons of heat flux products indicate that all of them exhibit similar space and time patterns. However, they also reveal significant differences in magnitude in some specific regions such as the western ocean boundaries during the Northern Hemisphere winter season, and the high southern latitudes. The differences tend to be closely related to large differences in surface wind speed and/or specific air humidity (for LHF) and to air and sea temperature differences (for SHF). Further quality investigations are performed through comprehensive comparisons with daily-averaged LHF and SHF estimated from moorings. The resulting statistics are used to assess the error of each OHF product. Consideration of error correlation between products and observations (e.g., by their assimilation) is also given. This reveals generally high noise variance in all products and a weak signal in common with in situ observations, with some products only slightly better than others. The OHF LHF and SHF products, and their associated error characteristics, are used to compute daily OHF multiproduct-ensemble (OHF/MPE) estimates of LHF and SHF over the ice-free global ocean on a 0.25° × 0.25° grid. The accuracy of this heat multiproduct, determined from comparisons with mooring data, is greater than for any individual product. It is used as a reference for the anomaly characterization of each individual OHF product
Bianchi Type V Viscous Fluid Cosmological Models in Presence of Decaying Vacuum Energy
Bianchi type V viscous fluid cosmological model for barotropic fluid
distribution with varying cosmological term is investigated. We have
examined a cosmological scenario proposing a variation law for Hubble parameter
in the background of homogeneous, anisotropic Bianchi type V space-time.
The model isotropizes asymptotically and the presence of shear viscosity
accelerates the isotropization. The model describes a unified expansion history
of the universe indicating initial decelerating expansion and late time
accelerating phase. Cosmological consequences of the model are also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
The Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function at the Dawn of Gaia
The [O III] 5007 Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function (PNLF) is an excellent
extragalactic standard candle. In theory, the PNLF method should not work at
all, since the luminosities of the brightest planetary nebulae (PNe) should be
highly sensitive to the age of their host stellar population. Yet the method
appears robust, as it consistently produces < 10% distances to galaxies of all
Hubble types, from the earliest ellipticals to the latest-type spirals and
irregulars. It is therefore uniquely suited for cross-checking the results of
other techniques and finding small offsets between the Population I and
Population II distance ladders. We review the calibration of the method and
show that the zero points provided by Cepheids and the Tip of the Red Giant
Branch are in excellent agreement. We then compare the results of the PNLF with
those from Surface Brightness Fluctuation measurements, and show that, although
both techniques agree in a relative sense, the latter method yields distances
that are ~15% larger than those from the PNLF. We trace this discrepancy back
to the calibration galaxies and argue that, due to a small systematic error
associated with internal reddening, the true distance scale likely falls
between the extremes of the two methods. We also demonstrate how PNLF
measurements in the early-type galaxies that have hosted Type Ia supernovae can
help calibrate the SN Ia maximum magnitude-rate of decline relation. Finally,
we discuss how the results from space missions such as Kepler and Gaia can help
our understanding of the PNLF phenomenon and improve our knowledge of the
physics of local planetary nebulae.Comment: 12 pages, invited review at the conference "The Fundamental Cosmic
Distance Scale: State of the Art and Gaia Perspective", to appear in
Astrophysics and Space Scienc
The Sol Genomics Network (SGN)—from genotype to phenotype to breeding
The Sol Genomics Network (SGN, http://solgenomics.net) is a web portal with genomic and phenotypic data, and analysis tools for the Solanaceae family and close relatives. SGN hosts whole genome data for an increasing number of Solanaceae family members including tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant, tobacco and Nicotiana benthamiana. The database also stores loci and phenotype data, which researchers can upload and edit with user-friendly web interfaces. Tools such as BLAST, GBrowse and JBrowse for browsing genomes, expression and map data viewers, a locus community annotation system and a QTL analysis tools are available. A new tool was recently implemented to improve Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) constructs called the SGN VIGS tool. With the growing genomic and phenotypic data in the database, SGN is now advancing to develop new web-based breeding tools and implement the code and database structure for other species or clade-specific databases
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