Suppression of the commensurate spin-Peierls state in Sc-doped TiOCl

We have performed x-ray scattering measurements on single crystals of the doped spin-Peierls compound Ti(1-x)Sc(x)OCl (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03). These measurements reveal that the presence of non-magnetic dopants has a profound effect on the unconventional spin-Peierls behavior of this system, even at concentrations as low as 1%. Sc-doping suppresses commensurate fluctuations in the pseudogap and incommensurate spin-Peierls phases of TiOCl, and prevents the formation of a long-range ordered spin-Peierls state. Broad incommensurate scattering develops in the doped compounds near Tc2 ~ 93 K, and persists down to base temperature (~ 7 K) with no evidence of a lock-in transition. The width of the incommensurate dimerization peaks indicates short correlation lengths on the order of ~ 12 angstroms below Tc2. The intensity of the incommensurate scattering is significantly reduced at higher Sc concentrations, indicating that the size of the associated lattice displacement decreases rapidly as a function of doping.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Magnetic field-induced phase transitions in a weakly coupled s = 1/2 quantum spin dimer system Ba3_{3}Cr2_{2}O8_{8}

By using bulk magnetization, electron spin resonance (ESR), heat capacity, and neutron scattering techniques, we characterize the thermodynamic and quantum phase diagrams of Ba$_3$Cr$_2$O$_8$. Our ESR measurements indicate that the low field paramagnetic ground state is a mixed state of the singlet and the S$_z$ = 0 triplet for $H \perp c$. This suggests the presence of an intra-dimer Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM) interaction with a DM vector perpendicular to the c-axis

Magnetic soft modes in the locally distorted triangular antiferromagnet alpha-CaCr2O4

In this paper we explore the phase diagram and excitations of a distorted triangular lattice antiferromagnet. The unique two-dimensional distortion considered here is very different from the 'isosceles'-type distortion that has been extensively investigated. We show that it is able to stabilize a 120{\deg} spin structure for a large range of exchange interaction values, while new structures are found for extreme distortions. A physical realization of this model is \alpha-CaCr2O4 which has 120{\deg} structure but lies very close to the phase boundary. This is verified by inelastic neutron scattering which reveals unusual roton-like minima at reciprocal space points different from those corresponding to the magnetic order.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures and lots of spin-wave

Instability of Magnons in Two-dimensional Antiferromagnet at High Magnetic Fields

Spin dynamics of the square lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet, \BaMnGeO, is studied by a combination of bulk measurements, neutron diffraction, and inelastic neutron scattering techniques. Easy plane type antiferromagnetic order is identified at $T \le 4.0$ K. The exchange interactions are estimated as $J_1$ = 27.8(3)${\mu}$eV and $J_2$ = 1.0(1) ${\mu}$eV, and the saturation field $H_{\rm C}$ is 9.75 T. Magnetic excitation measurements with high experimental resolution setup by triple axis neutron spectrometer reveals the instability of one magnon excitation in the field range of $0.7H_{\rm C} \lesssim H \lesssim 0.85H_{\rm C}$.Comment: 5 pgase, 5 figuers, to be published in PRB R

Speciation and fate of copper in sewage treatment works with and without tertiary treatment: The effect of return flows

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2013 Taylor & Francis.The removal of metals from wastewaters is becoming an important issue, with new environmental quality standards putting increased regulatory pressure on operators of sewage treatment works. The use of additional processes (tertiary treatment) following two-stage biological treatment is frequently seen as a way of improving effluent quality for nutrients and suspended solids, and this study investigates the impact of how back washes from these tertiary processes may impact the removal of copper during primary sedimentation. Seven sites were studied, three conventional two-stage biological treatment, and four with tertiary processes. It was apparent that fluxes of copper in traditional return flows made a significant contribution to the load to the primary treatment tanks, and that<1% of this was in the dissolved phase. Where tertiary processes were used, back wash liquors were also returned to the primary tanks. These return flows had an impact on copper removal in the primary tanks, probably due to their aerobic nature. Returning such aerobic back wash flows to the main process stream after primary treatment may therefore be worth consideration. The opportunity to treat consolidated liquor and sludge flows in side-stream processes to remove toxic elements, as they are relatively concentrated, low volume flow streams, should also be evaluated

Critical Phenomena at the Antiferromagnetic Phase Transition of Azurite

We report on high-resolution acoustic, specific-heat and thermal expansion measurements in the vicinity of the antiferromagnetic phase transition at T_N = 1.88 K on a high-quality single crystal of the natural mineral azurite. A detailed investigation of the critical contribution to the various quantities at T_N is presented. The set of critical exponents and amplitude ratios of the singular contributions above and below the transition indicate that the system can be reasonably well described by a three-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of ICM 2012, JKP

Asymmetric Thermal Lineshape Broadening in a Gapped 3-Dimensional Antiferromagnet - Evidence for Strong Correlations at Finite Temperature

It is widely believed that magnetic excitations become increasingly incoherent as temperature is raised due to random collisions which limit their lifetime. This picture is based on spin-wave calculations for gapless magnets in 2 and 3 dimensions and is observed experimentally as a symmetric Lorentzian broadening in energy. Here, we investigate a three-dimensional dimer antiferromagnet and find unexpectedly that the broadening is asymmetric - indicating that far from thermal decoherence, the excitations behave collectively like a strongly correlated gas. This result suggests that a temperature activated coherent state of quasi-particles is not confined to special cases like the highly dimerized spin-1/2 chain but is found generally in dimerized antiferromagnets of all dimensionalities and perhaps gapped magnets in general

Neutron and X-ray Scattering Studies of the Lightly-Doped Spin-Peierls System Cu(1-x)Cd(x)GeO3

Single crystals of the lightly-doped spin-Peierls system Cu(1-x)Cd(x)GeO3 have been studied using bulk susceptibility, x-ray diffraction, and inelastic neutron scattering techniques. We investigate the triplet gap in the magnetic excitation spectrum of this quasi-one dimensional quantum antiferromagnet, and its relation to the spin-Peierls dimerisation order parameter. We employ two different theoretical forms to model the inelastic neutron scattering cross section and chi''(Q,omega), and show the sensitivity of the gap energy to the choice of chi''(Q,omega). We find that a finite gap exists at the spin-Peierls phase transition.Comment: 15 Pages, 7 Figures, Submitted to J. Phys. :Condensed Matte

Azacitidine for treating acute myeloid leukaemia with more than 30% bone marrow blasts: A Single Technology Appraisal

Report commissioned by the NIHR HTA ProgrammeThis report was commissioned by the NIHR HTA Programme as project number 15/64/10

A Limousin Specific Myostatin Allele Affects Longissimus Muscle Area and Fatty Acid Profiles in a Wagyu-Limousin F2 Population

A microsatellite-based genome scan of a Wagyu x Limousin F(2) cross population previously demonstrated QTL affecting LM area and fatty acid composition were present in regions near the centromere of BTA2. In this study, we used 70 SNP markers to examine the centromeric 24 megabases (Mb) of BTA2, including the Limousin-specific F94L myostatin allele (AB076403.1; 415C \u3e A) located at approximately 6 Mb on the draft genome sequence of BTA2. A significant effect of the F94L marker was observed (F = 60.17) for LM area, which indicated that myostatin is most likely responsible for the effect. This is consistent with previous reports that the substitution of Leu for Phe at AA 94 of myostatin (caused by the 415C \u3e A transversion) is associated with increased muscle growth. Surprisingly, several fatty acid trait QTL, which affected the amount of unsaturated fats, also mapped to or very near the myostatin marker, including the ratio of C16:1 MUFA to C16:0 saturated fat (F = 16.72), C18:1 to C18:0 (F = 18.88), and total content of MUFA (F = 17.12). In addition, QTL for extent of marbling (F = 14.73) approached significance (P = 0.05), and CLA concentration (F = 9.22) was marginally significant (P = 0.18). We also observed associations of SNP located at 16.3 Mb with KPH (F = 15.00) and for the amount of SFA (F = 12.01). These results provide insight into genetic differences between the Wagyu and Limousin breeds and may lead to a better tasting and healthier product for consumers through improved selection for lipid content of beef