841 research outputs found
Investigating the probable consequences of super absorbent polymer and mycorrhizal fungi to reduce detrimental effects of lead on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
ArticleIn many parts of the world, agricultural use of soils is restricted due to heavy metal
contamination. Absorption of heavy metals, such as (Pb), in the tissue of plants increases the
plant’s metabolism and causes physiological disorders or even death. In order to study the
potential of super absorbent polymers (SAP) and mycorrhiza fungi application to mitigate adverse
effects of lead (Pb) on wheat, a greenhouse experiment was conducted. The experiment was setup
as a completely randomized design, with two treatments arranged in a factorial scheme with three
levels of lead (0, 100 and 200 mg per kg soil) and four levels of SAP and mycorrhiza fungi
application (without SAP and mycorrhiza fungi application, SAP application alone, mycorrhiza
fungi application alone, SAP and mycorrhiza fungi application combined). The results showed
that Pb significantly affected all parameters measured of wheat. The Pb-contamination caused a
significantly decreasing in plant height, total dry weight per plant and total chlorophyll contents.
And also, the results indicated that the combined use of superabsorbent and mycorrhiza reduced
the amount of superoxide dismutase enzyme. As well as, our results show that the application of
super absorbent polymer and mycorrhizal fungi seems to be a promising path to reduce
detrimental effects of heavy metal pollution of agricultural soils on plant performance.http://dx.doi.org/10.15159/ar.18.00
Electron-correlation effects in appearance-potential spectra of Ni
Spin-resolved and temperature-dependent appearance-potential spectra of
ferromagnetic Nickel are measured and analyzed theoretically. The Lander
self-convolution model which relates the line shape to the unoccupied part of
the local density of states turns out to be insufficient. Electron correlations
and orbitally resolved transition-matrix elements are shown to be essential for
a quantitative agreement between experiment and theory.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 2 eps figures included, Phys. Rev. B (in press
Evolution of Quantum Criticality in CeNi_{9-x}Cu_xGe_4
Crystal structure, specific heat, thermal expansion, magnetic susceptibility
and electrical resistivity studies of the heavy fermion system
CeNi_{9-x}Cu_xGe_4 (0 <= x <= 1) reveal a continuous tuning of the ground state
by Ni/Cu substitution from an effectively fourfold degenerate non-magnetic
Kondo ground state of CeNi_9Ge_4 (with pronounced non-Fermi-liquid features)
towards a magnetically ordered, effectively twofold degenerate ground state in
CeNi_8CuGe_4 with T_N = 175 +- 5 mK. Quantum critical behavior, C/T ~ \chi ~
-ln(T), is observed for x about 0.4. Hitherto, CeNi_{9-x}Cu_xGe_4 represents
the first system where a substitution-driven quantum phase transition is
connected not only with changes of the relative strength of Kondo effect and
RKKY interaction, but also with a reduction of the effective crystal field
ground state degeneracy.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure
The temperature dependent bandstructure of a ferromagnetic semiconductor film
The electronic quasiparticle spectrum of a ferromagnetic film is investigated
within the framework of the s-f model. Starting from the exact solvable case of
a single electron in an otherwise empty conduction band being exchange coupled
to a ferromagnetically saturated localized spin system we extend the theory to
finite temperatures. Our approach is a moment-conserving decoupling procedure
for suitable defined Green functions. The theory for finite temperatures
evolves continuously from the exact limiting case. The restriction to zero
conduction band occupation may be regarded as a proper model description for
ferromagnetic semiconductors like EuO and EuS. Evaluating the theory for a
simple cubic film cut parallel to the (100) crystal plane, we find some marked
correlation effects which depend on the spin of the test electron, on the
exchange coupling, and on the temperature of the local-moment system.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Kondo-lattice model: Application to the temperature-dependent electronic structure of EuO(100) films
We present calculations for the temperature-dependent electronic structure
and magnetic properties of thin ferromagnetic EuO films. The treatment is based
on a combination of a multiband-Kondo lattice model with first-principles
TB-LMTO band structure calculations. The method avoids the problem of
double-counting of relevant interactions and takes into account the correct
symmetry of the atomic orbitals. We discuss the temperature-dependent
electronic structures of EuO(100) films in terms of quasiparticle densities of
states and quasiparticle band structures. The Curie temperature T_C of the EuO
films turns out to be strongly thickness-dependent, starting from a very low
value = 15K for the monolayer and reaching the bulk value at about 25 layers
Spin dynamics in the diluted ferromagnetic Kondo lattice model
The interplay of disorder and competing interactions is investigated in the
carrier-induced ferromagnetic state of the Kondo lattice model within a
numerical finite-size study in which disorder is treated exactly. Competition
between impurity spin couplings, stability of the ferromagnetic state, and
magnetic transition temperature are quantitatively investigated in terms of
magnon properties for different models including dilution, disorder, and
weakly-coupled spins. A strong optimization is obtained for T_c at hole doping
p << x, highlighting the importance of compensation in diluted magnetic
semiconductors. The estimated T_c is in good agreement with experimental
results for Ga_{1-x}Mn_x As for corresponding impurity concentration, hole
bandwidth, and compensation. Finite-temperature spin dynamics is quantitatively
studied within a locally self-consistent magnon renormalization scheme, which
yields a substantial enhancement in T_c due to spin clustering, and highlights
the nearly-paramagnetic spin dynamics of weakly-coupled spins. The large
enhancement in density of low-energy magnetic excitations due to disorder and
competing interactions results in a strong thermal decay of magnetization,
which fits well with the Bloch form M_0(1-BT^{3/2}) at low temperature, with B
of same order of magnitude as obtained in recent squid magnetization
measurements on Ga_{1-x}Mn_x As samples.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure
Antiferromagnetism and Superconductivity in CeRhIn
We discuss recent results on the heavy fermion superconductor CeRhIn
which presents ideal conditions to study the strong coupling between the
suppression of antiferromagnetic order and the appearance of unconventional
superconductivity. The appearance of superconductivity as function of pressure
is strongly connected to the suppression of the magnetic order. Under magnetic
field, the re-entrance of magnetic order inside the superconducting state shows
that antiferromagnetism nucleates in the vortex cores. The suppression of
antiferromagnetism in CeRhIn by Sn doping is compared to that under
hydrostatic pressure.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Proc. Int. Conf. Heavy
Electrons (ICHE2010) J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 80 (2011
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
Phase behavior and material properties of hollow nanoparticles
Effective pair potentials for hollow nanoparticles like the ones made from
carbon (fullerenes) or metal dichalcogenides (inorganic fullerenes) consist of
a hard core repulsion and a deep, but short-ranged, van der Waals attraction.
We investigate them for single- and multi-walled nanoparticles and show that in
both cases, in the limit of large radii the interaction range scales inversely
with the radius, , while the well depth scales linearly with . We predict
the values of the radius and the wall thickness at which the gas-liquid
coexistence disappears from the phase diagram. We also discuss unusual material
properties of the solid, which include a large heat of sublimation and a small
surface energy.Comment: Revtex, 13 pages with 8 Postscript files included, submitted to Phys.
Rev.
Designing electronic collaborative learning environments
Electronic collaborative learning environments for learning and working are in vogue. Designers design them according to their own constructivist interpretations of what collaborative learning is and what it should achieve. Educators employ them with different educational approaches and in diverse situations to achieve different ends. Students use them, sometimes very enthusiastically, but often in a perfunctory way. Finally, researchers study them and—as is usually the case when apples and oranges are compared—find no conclusive evidence as to whether or not they work, where they do or do not work, when they do or do not work and, most importantly, why, they do or do not work. This contribution presents an affordance framework for such collaborative learning environments; an interaction design procedure for designing, developing, and implementing them; and an educational affordance approach to the use of tasks in those environments. It also presents the results of three projects dealing with these three issues
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