Сomparative study of arc-to-glow transition efficiency when use multilayer condensed materials in electric contacts

The paper presents and discusses results of the study of arc to glow transformation at breaking of DC inductive load of a low power (less than 10 J) and low voltage (about 250 V). The ratio in duration of arcing and glowing is investigated in dependence on circuit parameters, gas quenching medium and its pressure and in particular on contact material. The transition, to complete the study, was analyzed also by means of fast photography and radiation spectra measurements. On the basis of the results the conclusions on possibility of control of the arc to glow transformation, for practical use in low power contact switching devices, are formulated.Представлено і обговорено результати дослідження дуги, що горить, при відключенні постійного струму з індуктивним навантаженням малої потужності (менше 10 Дж) і низької напруги (біля 250 В). Відношення тривалості горіння дуги і жевріючого розряду досліджується в залежності від параметрів ланцюга, виду гасильного газу та його тиску і, головним чином, від контактного матеріалу. Для повноти дослідження змінення типу розряду аналізували також за допомогою швидкісної зйомки і вимірювання спектрів випромінювання. На основі одержаних результатів сформульовано висновки про можливість практичного застосування контролю переходу дуги в жевріючий розряд в малопотужних контактах комутуючих пристроїв.Представлены и обсуждены результаты исследования дуги, горящей при отключении постоянного тока с индуктивной нагрузкой малой мощности (менее 10 Дж) и низкого напряжения (около 250 В). Отношение продолжительности горения дуги и тлеющего разряда исследовано в зависимости от параметров цепи, вида гасящего газа и его давления и, главным образом, от контактного материала. Для полноты исследования смену типа разряда анализировали также с помощью скоростной съемки и измерения спектров излучения. На основании полученных результатов сформулированы выводы о возможности практического использования контроля перехода дуги в тлеющий разряд в маломощных контактах коммутирующих устройств

Strong magnetic pair breaking in Mn substituted MgB_2 single crystals

Magnetic ions (Mn) were substituted in MgB_2 single crystals resulting in a strong pair-breaking effect. The superconducting transition temperature, T_c, in Mg_{1-x}Mn_xB_2 has been found to be rapidly suppressed at an initial rate of 10 K/%Mn, leading to a complete suppression of superconductivity at about 2% Mn substitution. This reflects the strong coupling between the conduction electrons and the 3d local moments, predominantly of magnetic character, since the nonmagnetic ion substitutions, e.g. with Al or C, suppress T_c much less effectively (e.g. 0.5 K/%Al). The magnitude of the magnetic moment, derived from normal state susceptibility measurements, uniquely identifies the Mn ions to be divalent, and to be in the low-spin state (S = 1/2). This has been found also in X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements. Isovalent Mn^{2+} substitution for Mg^{2+} mainly affects superconductivity through spin-flip scattering reducing T_c rapidly and lowering the upper critical field anisotropy H_{c2}^{ab}/H_{c2}^c at T = 0 from 6 to 3.3 (x = 0.88% Mn), while leaving the initial slope dH_{c2}/dT near T_c unchanged for both field orientations.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Growth conditions, structure, and superconductivity of pure and metal-doped FeTe1-xSex single crystals

Superconducting single crystals of pure FeTe1 xSex and FeTe0.65Se0.35 doped with Co, Ni, Cu, Mn, Zn, Mo, Cd, In, Pb, Hg, V, Ga, Mg, Al, Ti, Cr, Sr or Nd into Fe ions site have been grown applying Bridgman's method. It has been found that the sharpness of transition to the superconducting state in FeTe1 xSex is evidently inversely correlated with crystallographic quality of the crystals. Among all of the studied dopants only Co, Ni and Cu substitute Fe ions in FeTe0.65Se0.35 crystals. The remaining examined ions do not incorporate into the crystal structure. Nevertheless, they form inclusions together with selenium, tellurium and/or iron, what changes the chemical composition of host matrix and therefore influences Tc value. Small disorder introduced into magnetic sublattice, by partial replacement of Fe ions by slight amount of nonmagnetic ions of Cu (~ 1.5 at%) or by magnetic ions of Ni (~ 2 at%) and Co (~5 at%) with spin value different than that of Fe ion, completely suppresses superconductivity in FeTe1 xSex system. This indicates that even if superconductivity is observed in the system containing magnetic ions it can not survive when the disorder in magnetic ions sublattice is introduced, most likely because of magnetic scattering of Cooper pairs.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, 3 table

Nitric Oxide Resistance in Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis Involves Regulation of Glucose Consumption, Glutathione Metabolism and Abundance of Pentose Phosphate Pathway Enzymes

In American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis production of cytokines, reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide (NO) by host macrophages normally lead to parasite death. However, some Leishmania braziliensis strains exhibit natural NO resistance. NO-resistant strains cause more lesions and are frequently more resistant to antimonial treatment than NO-susceptible ones, suggesting that NO-resistant parasites are endowed with specific mechanisms of survival and persistence. To tests this, we analyzed the effect of pro- and antioxidant molecules on the infectivity in vitro of L. braziliensis strains exhibiting polar phenotypes of resistance or susceptibility to NO. In addition, we conducted a comprehensive quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomics analysis of those parasites. NO-resistant parasites were more infective to peritoneal macrophages, even in the presence of high levels of reactive species. Principal component analysis of protein concentration values clearly differentiated NO-resistant from NO-susceptible parasites, suggesting that there are natural intrinsic differences at molecular level among those strains. Upon NO exposure, NO-resistant parasites rapidly modulated their proteome, increasing their total protein content and glutathione (GSH) metabolism. Furthermore, NO-resistant parasites showed increased glucose analogue uptake, and increased abundance of phosphotransferase and G6PDH after nitrosative challenge, which can contribute to NADPH pool maintenance and fuel the reducing conditions for the recovery of GSH upon NO exposure. Thus, increased glucose consumption and GSH-mediated redox capability may explain the natural resistance of L. braziliensis against NO

Einstein black holes, free scalars and AdS/CFT correspondence

We investigate AdS/CFT correspondence for two families of Einstein black holes in d > 3 dimensions, modelling the boundary CFT by a free conformal scalar field and evaluating the boundary two-point function in the bulk geodesic approximation. For the d > 3 counterpart of the nonrotating BTZ hole and for its Z_2 quotient, the boundary state is thermal in the expected sense, and its stress-energy reflects the properties of the bulk geometry and suggests a novel definition for the mass of the hole. For the generalised Schwarzschild-AdS hole with a flat horizon of topology R^{d-2}, the boundary stress-energy has a thermal form with energy density proportional to the hole ADM mass, but stress-energy corrections from compactified horizon dimensions cannot be consistently included at least for d=5.Comment: 32 pages. LaTeX with amsfonts, amsmath, amssymb. (v2: References added. v3: Geodesic horizon-crossing clarified in section 2; comparison with quasilocal energy-momentum included in section 4.

In-depth quantitative proteomics uncovers specie-specific metabolic programs in Leishmania (Viannia) species

Author summary Leishmania braziliensis,L.panamensis, andL.guyanensisare responsible for most of the cases of tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL) in the Americas. These species are associated with a variety of clinical manifestations of TL ranging from self-healing localized cutaneous lesions to disseminated and mucocutaneous presentations that may result in severe oropharyngeal mutilation. Here, we report a comprehensive quantitative comparison of the proteome of those species. Assessment of absolute titers of similar to 7000 proteins revealed a very clear differentiation among them. Significant differences in energy metabolism, membrane proteins, transporters, and lipids are contributing for species-specific traits and provide rich substrate for exploring new molecules for diagnosing purposes. Leishmaniaspecies are responsible for a broad spectrum of diseases, denominated Leishmaniasis, affecting over 12 million people worldwide. During the last decade, there have been impressive efforts for sequencing the genome of most of the pathogenicLeishmaniaspp. as well as hundreds of strains, but large-scale proteomics analyses did not follow these achievements and theLeishmaniaproteome remained mostly uncharacterized. Here, we report a comprehensive comparative study of the proteomes of strains representingL.braziliensis,L.panamensisandL.guyanensisspecies. Proteins extracted by SDS-mediated lysis were processed following the multi-enzyme digestion-filter aided sample preparation (FASP) procedure and analysed by high accuracy mass spectrometry. "Total Protein Approach" and "Proteomic Ruler" were applied for absolute quantification of proteins. Principal component analysis demonstrated very high reproducibility among biological replicates and a very clear differentiation of the three species. Our dataset comprises near 7000 proteins, representing the most completeLeishmaniaproteome yet known, and provides a comprehensive quantitative picture of the proteomes of the three species in terms of protein concentration and copy numbers. Analysis of the abundance of proteins from the major energy metabolic processes allow us to highlight remarkably differences among the species and suggest that these parasites depend on distinct energy substrates to obtain ATP. WhereasL.braziliensisrelies the more on glycolysis,L.panamensisandL.guyanensisseem to depend mainly on mitochondrial respiration. These results were confirmed by biochemical assays showing opposite profiles for glucose uptake and O(2)consumption in these species. In addition, we provide quantitative data about different membrane proteins, transporters, and lipids, all of which contribute for significant species-specific differences and provide rich substrate for explore new molecules for diagnosing purposes. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD017696

Rational curves and bounds on the Picard number of Fano manifolds

We prove that Generalized Mukai Conjecture holds for Fano manifolds $X$ of pseudoindex $i_X \ge (\dim X +3)/3$. We also give different proofs of the conjecture for Fano fourfolds and fivefolds.Comment: Modified the proof of the main theorem and eliminated a statement about the cone of curves. To appear in Geometriae Dedicat

Sideward flow of K+ mesons in Ru+Ru and Ni+Ni reactions near threshold

Experimental data on K+ meson and proton sideward flow measured with the FOPI detector at SIS/GSI in the reactions Ru+Ru at 1.69 AGeV and Ni+Ni at 1.93 AGeV are presented. The K+ sideward flow is found to be anti-correlated (correlated) with the one of protons at low (high) transverse momenta. When compared to the predictions of a transport model, the data favour the existence of an in-medium repulsive K+ nucleon potential.Comment: 16 pages Revtex, 3 ps-figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Conductance spectra of (Nb, Pb, In)/NbP -- superconductor/Weyl semimetal junctions

The possibility of inducing superconductivity in type-I Weyl semimetal through coupling its surface to a superconductor was investigated. A single crystal of NbP, grown by chemical vapor transport method, was carefully characterized by XRD, EDX, SEM, ARPES techniques and by electron transport measurements. The mobility spectrum of the carriers was determined. For the studies of interface transmission, the (001) surface of the crystal was covered by several hundred nm thick metallic layers of either Pb, or Nb, or In. DC current-voltage characteristics and AC differential conductance through the interfaces as a function of the DC bias were investigated. When the metals become superconducting, all three types of junctions show conductance increase, pointing out the Andreev reflection as a prevalent contribution to the subgap conductance. In the case of Pb-NbP and Nb-NbP junctions, the effect is satisfactorily described by modified Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk model. The absolute value of the conductance is much smaller than that for the bulk crystal, indicating that the transmission occurs through only a small part of the contact area. An opposite situation occurs in In-NbP junction, where the conductance at the peak reaches the bulk value indicating that almost whole contact area is transmitting and, additionally, a superconducting proximity phase is formed in the material. We interpret this as a result of indium diffusion into NbP, where the metal atoms penetrate the surface barrier and form very transparent superconductor-Weyl semimetal contact inside. However, further diffusion occurring already at room temperature leads to degradation of the effect, so it is observed only in the pristine structures. Despite of this, our observation directly demonstrates possibility of inducing superconductivity in a type-I Weyl semimetal.Comment: Accepted for Phys. Rev. B. 13 pages, 12 figures. Second version with major revisions. The title was changed. One author R. Jakiela added. New inset to Fig. 8(A). New fits in Fig. 8 (B) and Fig. 10 (B). Added figures 12 (C)-(E). Added Fig. 12 (F) with SIMS data. Rewritten chapters III-C-2 and III-C-3. Reference no. 38 removed, 11 new references: 9, 21, 22, 40-44, 46-49 were adde

Simple model of adsorption on external surface of carbon nanotubes: a new analytical approach basing on molecular simulation data

Nitrogen adsorption on carbon nanotubes is wide- ly studied because nitrogen adsorption isotherm measurement is a standard method applied for porosity characterization. A further reason is that carbon nanotubes are potential adsorbents for separation of nitrogen from oxygen in air. The study presented here describes the results of GCMC simulations of nitrogen (three site model) adsorption on single and multi walled closed nanotubes. The results obtained are described by a new adsorption isotherm model proposed in this study. The model can be treated as the tube analogue of the GAB isotherm taking into account the lateral adsorbate-adsorbate interactions. We show that the model describes the simulated data satisfactorily. Next this new approach is applied for a description of experimental data measured on different commercially available (and characterized using HRTEM) carbon nanotubes. We show that generally a quite good fit is observed and therefore it is suggested that the observed mechanism of adsorption in the studied materials is mainly determined by adsorption on tubes separated at large distances, so the tubes behave almost independently