Influence of randomly distributed magnetic nanoparticles on surface superconductivity in Nb films

We report on combined resistance and magnetic measurements in a hybrid structure (HS) of randomly distributed anisotropic CoPt magnetic nanoparticles (MN) embedded in a 160 nm Nb thick film. Our resistance measurements exhibited a sharp increase at the magnetically determined bulk upper-critical fields Hc2(T). Above these points the resistance curves are rounded, attaining the normal state value at much higher fields identified as the surface superconductivity fields Hc3(T). When plotted in reduced temperature units, the characteristic field lines Hc3(T) of the HS and of a pure Nb film, prepared at exactly the same conditions, coincide for H10 kOe they strongly segregate. Interestingly, the characteristic value H=10 kOe is equal to the saturation field of the MN. The behavior mentioned above is observed only for the case where the field is normal to the HS, while is absent when the field is parallel to the film. Our experimental results suggest that the observed enhancement of surface superconductivity field Hc3(T) is possibly due to the not uniform local reduction of the external magnetic field by the dipolar fields of the MN.Comment: to be published in Phys. Rev.

Inflation convergence in the EMU

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Inflation convergence in the EMU journaltitle: Journal of Empirical Finance articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jempfin.2016.07.004 content_type: article copyright: © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Inflation convergence in the EMU journaltitle: Journal of Empirical Finance articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jempfin.2016.07.004 content_type: article copyright: © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V

Comparison of prognostic risk scores after successful primary percutaneous coronary intervention

Background The aim of this study was to compare the predictive ability of clinical risk scores (ACEF, EuroSCORE and EuroSCORE II) to angiographic (SYNTAX score) and combined risk scores (Global Risk Score and Clinical SXscore) towards cardiovascular death and/or major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI) managed with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). Methods A total of 685 patients successfully treated with pPCI were evaluated and the risk scores were calculated. The primary endpoint was the 2-year incidence of fatal cardiac events. Secondary end points were target lesion failure (TLF), repeat revascularization (RR) and MACE. Results Patients distributed in the highest tertile of EuroSCORE II presented increased rates of CV death (CVD), all-cause mortality and MACE (p < 0.001 for all). EuroSCORE II was associated with increased C-statistics (0.873, 95% CIs: 0.784–0.962 and 0.825, 95% CIs: 0.752–0.898 respectively) for predicting CVD and MACE over competing risk scores (p < 0.05). EuroSCORE II conferred incremental discrimination (Harrell's C, p < 0.05 for all, apart from CSS for predicting CVD) and reclassification value (Net Reclassification Index, p < 0.05 for all, apart from CSS for reclassifying MACE) over alternative risk scores for study's main endpoints. EuroSCORE II independently predicted CVD (HR = 1.06, 95% CIs: 1.03–1.09, p < 0.001) and MACE (HR = 1.07, 95% CIs: 1.04–1.10, p < 0.001). Conclusion EuroSCORE II has the best predictive ability of CVD and/or MACE after successful pPCI for the treatment of STEMI. © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Lt