1,407 research outputs found
Superconductivity up to 29 K in SrFe2As2 and BaFe2As2 at high pressures
We report the discovery of superconductivity at high pressure in SrFe2As2 and
BaFe2As2. The superconducting transition temperatures are up to 27 K in
SrFe2As2 and 29 K in BaFe2As2, making these the highest pressure-induced
superconducting materials discovered thus far.Comment: Accepted in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte
The effects of a magnetic barrier and a nonmagnetic spacer in tunnel structures
The spin-polarized transport is investigated in a new type of magnetic tunnel
junction which consists of two ferromagnetic electrodes separated by a magnetic
barrier and a nonmagnetic metallic spacer. Based on the transfer matrix method
and the nearly-free-electron-approximation the dependence of the tunnel
magnetoresistance (TMR) and electron-spin polarization on the nonmagnetic layer
thickness and the applied bias voltage are studied theoretically. The TMR and
spin polarization show an oscillatory behavior as a function of the spacer
thickness and the bias voltage. The oscillations originate from the quantum
well states in the spacer, while the existence of the magnetic barrier gives
rise to a strong spin polarization and high values of the TMR. Our results may
be useful for the development of spin electronic devices based on coherent
transport.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
Chemical Pressure and Physical Pressure in BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_{x})_2
Measurements of the superconducting transition temperature, T_c, under
hydrostatic pressure via bulk AC susceptibility were carried out on several
concentrations of phosphorous substitution in BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2. The
pressure dependence of unsubstituted BaFe_2As_2, phosphorous concentration
dependence of BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2, as well as the pressure dependence of
BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2 all point towards an identical maximum T_c of 31 K. This
demonstrates that phosphorous substitution and physical pressure result in
similar superconducting phase diagrams, and that phosphorous substitution does
not induce substantial impurity scattering.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Journal of the Physical
Society of Japa
TRPV4 differentially controls inflammatory cytokine networks during static and dynamic compression of the intervertebral disc
BACKGROUND: The ion channel transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) critically transduces mechanical forces in the IVD, and its inhibition can prevent IVD degeneration due to static overloading. However, it remains unknown whether different modes of loading signals through TRPV4 to regulate the expression of inflammatory cytokines. We hypothesized that TRPV4 signaling is essential during static and dynamic loading to mediate homeostasis and mechanotransduction.
METHODS: Mouse functional spine units were isolated and either cyclically compressed for 5 days (1 Hz, 1 h, 10% strain) or statically compressed (24 h, 0.2 MPa). Conditioned media were monitored at 6 h, 24 h, 2 days, and 5 days, with and without TRPV4 inhibition. Effects of TRPV4 activation was also evaluated without loading. The media was analyzed for a panel of 44 cytokines using a microbead array and then a correlative network was constructed to explore the regulatory relationships during loading and TRPV4 inhibition. After the loading regimen, the IVDs were evaluated histologically for degeneration.
RESULTS: Activation of TRPV4 led to an increase interleukin-6 (IL-6) family of cytokines (IL-6, IL-11, IL-16, and leukemia inhibitory factor [LIF]) and decreased the T-cell (CCL3, CCL4, CCL17, CCL20, CCL22, and CXCL10) and monocyte (CCL2 and CCL12) recruiting chemokines by the IVD. Dynamic and static loading each provoked unique chemokine correlation networks. The inhibition of TRPV4 during dynamic loading dysregulated the relationship between LIF and other cytokines, while the inhibition of TRPV4 during static loading disrupted the connectivity of IL-16 and VEGFA.
CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that TRPV4 critically mediates the cytokine production following dynamic and static loading. The activation of TRPV4 upregulated a diverse set of cytokines that may suppress the chemotaxis of T-cells and monocytes, implicating the role of TRPV4 in maintaining the immune privilege of healthy IVD
Unusual microwave response and bulk conductivity of very thin fese0.3te0.7 films as a function of temperature
Results of X-band microwave surface impedance measurements of FeSe1-xTex very
thin film are reported. The effective surface resistance shows appearance of
peak at T less and near Tc when plotted as function of temperature. The authors
suggests that the most well-reasoned explanation can be based on the idea of
the changing orientation of the microwave magnetic field at a SN phase
transition near the surface of a very thin film. The magnetic penetration depth
exhibits a power-law behavior of delta lambda proportional to T with an
exponent n = 2.4 at low temperatures, which is noticeably higher than in the
published results on FeSe1-xTexsingle crystal. However the temperature
dependence of the superfluid conductivity remains very different from the
behavior described by the BCS theory. Experimental results are fitted very well
by a two-gap model with delta1/kTc=0.43 and delta2/kTc=1.22,thus supporting
s(+-)- wave symmetry. The rapid increase of the quasiparticle scattering time
is obtained from the microwave impedance measurements.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure
Anomalous He-Gas High-Pressure Studies on Superconducting LaO1-xFxFeAs
AC susceptibility measurements have been carried out on superconducting
LaO1-xFxFeAs for x=0.07 and 0.14 under He-gas pressures to about 0.8 GPa. Not
only do the measured values of dTc/dP differ substantially from those obtained
in previous studies using other pressure media, but the Tc(P) dependences
observed depend on the detailed pressure/temperature history of the sample. A
sizeable sensitivity of Tc(P) to shear stresses provides a possible
explanation
Development of an extrudable paste to build mycelium-bound composites
Mycelium-bound composites are promising materials for sustainable packaging, insulation, fashion, and architecture. However, moulding is the main fabrication process explored to date, strongly limiting the ability to design the complex shapes that could widen the range of applications. Extrusion is a facile and low energy-cost process that has not yet been explored for mycelium-bound composites with design freedom and structural properties. In this study, we combine cheap, easily and commonly available agricultural waste materials, bamboo microfibres, chitosan, and mycelium from Ganodermalucidum, to establish a composite mixture that is workable, extrudable and buildable. We study the impact of bamboo fibre size, chitosan concentration, pH and weight ratio of bamboo to chitosan to determine the optimum growth condition for the mycelium as well as high mechanical stiffness. The resulting materials have thus low energy costs, are sustainable and can be shaped easily. The developed composition is promising to further explore the use of mycelium-bound materials for structural applications using agricultural waste
Exact Histogram Specification Optimized for Structural Similarity
An exact histogram specification (EHS) method modifies its input image to
have a specified histogram. Applications of EHS include image (contrast)
enhancement (e.g., by histogram equalization) and histogram watermarking.
Performing EHS on an image, however, reduces its visual quality. Starting from
the output of a generic EHS method, we maximize the structural similarity index
(SSIM) between the original image (before EHS) and the result of EHS
iteratively. Essential in this process is the computationally simple and
accurate formula we derive for SSIM gradient. As it is based on gradient
ascent, the proposed EHS always converges. Experimental results confirm that
while obtaining the histogram exactly as specified, the proposed method
invariably outperforms the existing methods in terms of visual quality of the
result. The computational complexity of the proposed method is shown to be of
the same order as that of the existing methods.
Index terms: histogram modification, histogram equalization, optimization for
perceptual visual quality, structural similarity gradient ascent, histogram
watermarking, contrast enhancement
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