Study of the Electronic Structure of CaFeO₃

We have studied the charge disproportionation phenomenon in CaFeO3 using the local-spin density approximation with the on-site Coulomb interaction parameter U and exchange parameter J. The calculation reveals that the total number of the 3d electrons is about 5.1 for both Fe(1)(Fe5+) and Fe(2)(Fe3+) atoms, and that there are about 0.25 electron holes in the O-2p band. Therefore, the charge disproportionation can be more accurately described as 2d5L(Fe4+)=d5L2(Fe5+)+d5(Fe3+), where L denotes a hole in the oxygen 2p band, instead of 2d4(Fe4+)=d3(Fe5+)+d5(Fe3+). The hybridization between the Fe-3d and O-2p orbitals is stronger for Fe(1) than for Fe(2) due to the shorter Fe(1)-O bond. The hyperfine magnetic field contributed from conduction electron polarization is larger for Fe(2), resulting from a stronger s-d hybridization between the s orbital of Fe(2) and the d orbitals of its neighboring Fe(1) atoms. The on-site Coulomb repulsion and the exchange interaction increase the splitting between the occupied spin up and unoccupied spin down bands of Fe atoms. Fe-3d electrons become localized and the occupied d-band shifts to a lower energy range, even below the O-2p level. The calculated magnetic moments, hyperfine fields, and electron charge density agree well with the experimental data

Coupled Electrical and Magnetic Properties in (La,Sr)FeO\u3csub\u3e3-δ\u3c/sub\u3e

This article is aimed at studying the temperature dependence oxygen nonstoichiometry, magnetic moments, Fe3+ fraction, Néel temperature and conductivity of (La,Sr)FeO3-δ. It is found that the magnetic properties in La0.60 Sr0.40 Fe3-δ is determined by Fe3+ and its concentration, and the conductance is resulted from Fe4+ ions, which act as electron holes. Both of magnetic and electrical properties were directly governed by oxygen nonstoichiometry (δ). when δ=0.2, the compound has maximum Fe3+, the saturation magnetic moments and Néel temperature are 3.8 µB and 410 °C, both at the highest level, whereas the total carrier concentration is at the minimum

Structural and Magnetic Properties of La Mn₁₋ₓFeₓO₃ (0 \u3c x \u3c 1.0)

Electronic, structural, and magnetic properties of Mn-doped lanthanum ferrites were studied by neutron diffraction, superconducting quantum interference device, and impedance spectroscopy. Neutron diffraction refinements were performed with the constraint of full La occupancy, which showed the presence of excess oxygen when x \u3c 0.4. Mixed valent Mn cations and cation vacancies, therefore, exist in all the samples. The samples with x \u3e 0.7 are magnetically ordered at room temperature with orthorhombic symmetry (Pbnm). When x \u3c 0.3 the structure is rhombohedral and magnetically disordered above 16 K. The majority carriers, electron holes, correspond to high oxidation states of Mn. The carrier concentration is determined from the Seebeck coefficients, and is a function of temperature and Fe concentration. The measurements of conductivity and Seebeck coefficients show polaron hopping at elevated temperatures

Chronic typhoid infection and the risk of biliary tract cancer and stones in Shanghai, China

Previous studies have shown a positive association between chronic typhoid carriage and biliary cancers. We compared serum Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi antibody titers between biliary tract cancer cases, biliary stone cases without evidence of cancer, and healthy subjects in a large population-based case-control study in Shanghai, China

Integrative Taxonomy for Continental-Scale Terrestrial Insect Observations

Although 21st century ecology uses unprecedented technology at the largest spatio-temporal scales in history, the data remain reliant on sound taxonomic practices that derive from 18th century science. The importance of accurate species identifications has been assessed repeatedly and in instances where inappropriate assignments have been made there have been costly consequences. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will use a standardized system based upon an integrative taxonomic foundation to conduct observations of the focal terrestrial insect taxa, ground beetles and mosquitoes, at the continental scale for a 30 year monitoring program. The use of molecular data for continental-scale, multi-decadal research conducted by a geographically widely distributed set of researchers has not been evaluated until this point. The current paper addresses the development of a reference library for verifying species identifications at NEON and the key ways in which this resource will enhance a variety of user communities

Randomized trials of artemisinin-piperaquine, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine phosphate and artemether-lumefantrine for the treatment of multi-drug resistant falciparum malaria in Cambodia-Thailand border area

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Drug resistance of falciparum malaria is a global problem. Sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine-resistant and mefloquine-resistant strains of falciparum malaria have spread in Southeast Asia at lightning speed in 1980s-1990s, and the Cambodia-Thailand border is one of the malaria epidemic areas with the most severe forms of multi-drug resistant falciparum malaria.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Artemisinin-piperaquine (AP), dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine phosphate (DHP) and artemether-lumefantrine (AL) were used to treat 110, 55 and 55 uncomplicated malaria patients, respectively. The total dosage for adults is 1,750 mg (four tablets, twice over 24 hours) of AP, 2,880 mg (eight tablets, four times over two days) of DHP, and 3,360 mg (24 tablets, six times over three days) of AL. The 28-day cure rate, parasite clearance time, fever clearance time, and drug tolerance of patients to the three drugs were compared. All of the above methods were consistent with the current national guidelines.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean parasite clearance time was similar in all three groups (66.7 ± 21.9 hrs, 65.6 ± 27.3 hrs, 65.3 ± 22.5 hrs in AP, DHP and AL groups, respectively), and there was no remarkable difference between them; the fever clearance time was also similar (31.6 ± 17.7 hrs, 34.6 ± 21.8 hrs and 36.9 ± 15.4 hrs, respectively). After following up for 28-days, the cure rate was 95.1%(97/102), 98.2%(54/55) and 82.4%(42/51); and the recrudescence cases was 4.9%(5/102), 1.8%(1/55) and 17.6%(9/51), respectively. Therefore, the statistical data showed that 28-day cure rate in AP and DHP groups was superior to AL group obviously.</p> <p>The patients had good tolerance to all the three drugs, and some side effects (anoxia, nausea, vomiting, headache and dizziness) could be found in every group and they were self-limited; patients in control groups also had good tolerance to DHP and AL, there was no remarkable difference in the three groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>AP, DHP and AL all remained efficacious treatments for the treatment of falciparum malaria in Cambodia-Thailand border area. However, in this particular setting, the AP regimen turned out to be favourable in terms of efficacy and effectiveness, simplicity of administration, cost and compliance.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>The trial was registered at <it>Chinese Clinical Trial Register </it>under identifier 2005L01041.</p

Effect of Oxygen Vacancies on the Magnetic Structure of the La₀.₆Sr₀.₄FeO\u3csub\u3e3-δ\u3c/sub\u3e Perovskite: A Neutron Diffraction Study

Magnetic interactions in perovskite compounds of the type La1-xSrxMO3-δ (M=3d transition such as Mn and Fe) are presumed to arise through a super exchange between 3d electrons of the magnetic ions via oxygen orbitals. The magnetic structure of La0.6Sr0.4FeO3-δ has been studied with neutron diffraction. Oxygen vacancies were created by annealing samples under various gases including N2, air and mixtures of CO/CO2. All La0.6Sr0.4FeO3-δ compounds maintain the rhombohedral structure (space group R3̄c). The air- or oxygen-annealed samples have almost no oxygen vacancies while those made in the reducing atmosphere show 7%-11% oxygen vacancies. The rhombohedral distortion decreases in the reduced samples. All the samples exhibit antiferromagnetic ordering at room temperature, although a small ferromagnetic moment may also be present. The samples with little or no oxygen vacancies show a room temperature magnetic moment of 1.4μB at the Fe site while those having \u3e 7% oxygen vacancies show a moment of 4.0μB. Magnetization measurements reveal a much higher magnetic ordering temperature in samples with oxygen vacancies

Ion-Selective Electrodes with Colloid-Imprinted Mesoporous Carbon as Solid Contact

A new type of solid-contact ion-selective electrode (SC-ISE) has been developed that uses colloid-imprinted mesoporous (CIM) carbon with 24 nm diameter, interconnected mesopores as the intermediate layer between a gold electrode and an ionophore-doped ISE membrane. For a demonstration, valinomycin was used as K⁺ ionophore, and a good Nernstian response with a slope of 59.5 mV/decade in the range from 10^–5.2 to 10^–1.0 M was observed. The high purity, low content of redox-active surface functional groups and intrinsic hydrophobic characteristics of CIM carbon prepared from mesophase pitch lead to outstanding performance of these sensors, with excellent resistance to the formation of a water layer and no interference caused by light, O₂, and CO₂. When a redox couple is introduced as an internal reference species, calibration-free SC-ISEs can be made with a standard deviation of <i>E</i>° as low as 0.7 mV. Moreover, the interconnected mesopore structure of ISE membrane-infused CIM carbon facilitates both ion and electron conduction and provides a large interfacial area with good ion-to-electron transduction. Because of the large double layer capacitance of CIM carbon, CIM carbon-based SC-ISEs exhibit excellent potential stability, as shown by chronopotentiometry and continuous potentiometric measurements. The capacitance of these electrodes as determined by chronopotentiometry is 1.0 mF, and the emf drift over 70 h is as low as 1.3 μV/h, making these electrodes the most stable SC-ISEs reported so far