405 research outputs found
Study of intercalation and deintercalation of Na_xCoO_2 yH_2O single crystals
Single crystals of NaxCoO2 with beta-phase (x=0.55, 0.60 and 0.65),
alpha'-phase (x=0.75) and alpha-phase (x=0.9, 1.0) have been grown by the
floating zone technique. The Na-extraction and hydration were carried out for
the alpha'-sample to get superconducting phase of NaxCoO2.yH2O (x~0.3, y~1.3).
Hydrated single crystals exhibit cracked layers perpendicular to the c-axis due
to a large expansion when the water is inserted into the structure. A study of
intercalation/deintercalation was performed to determine the stability of the
hydrated phase and effects of hydration on the structure of the compound. X-ray
diffraction and Thermogravimetric experiments are used to monitor the process
of water molecules accommodated in and removed from the crystal lattice. The
initial intercalation process takes place with two-water molecules
corresponding to y=0.6) inserted in a formula unit, followed by a group of four
(y=1.3) to form a cluster of Na(H2O)4. Thermogravimetric analysis suggests that
the deintercalation occurs with the removal of the water molecules one by one
from the hydrated cluster at elevated temperatures of approximately 50, 100,
200 and 300 C, respectively. Our investigations reveal that the hydration
process is dynamic and that water molecule inter- and deintercalation follow
different reaction paths in an irreversible way.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, figures with higher resolution by email request
from the corresponding autho
Probing Topcolor-Assisted Technicolor from Top-Charm Associated Production at LHC
We propose to probe the topcolor-assisted technicolor (TC2) model from the
top-charm associated productions at the LHC, which are highly suppressed in the
Standard Model. Due to the flavor-changing couplings of the top quark with the
scalars (top-pions and top-Higgs) in TC2 model, the top-charm associated
productions can occur via both the s-channel and t-channel parton processes by
exchanging a scalar field at the LHC. We examined these processes through Monte
Carlo simulation and found that they can reach the observable level at the LHC
in quite a large part of the parameter space of the TC2 model.Comment: Version to appear in PRD (Rapid Communication
Multiple superconducting gap and anisotropic spin fluctuations in iron arsenides: Comparison with nickel analog
We present extensive 75As NMR and NQR data on the superconducting arsenides
PrFeAs0.89F0.11 (Tc=45 K), LaFeAsO0.92F0.08 (Tc=27 K), LiFeAs (Tc = 17 K) and
Ba0.72K0.28Fe2As2 (Tc = 31.5 K) single crystal, and compare with the nickel
analog LaNiAsO0.9F0.1 (Tc=4.0 K) . In contrast to LaNiAsO0.9F0.1 where the
superconducting gap is shown to be isotropic, the spin lattice relaxation rate
1/T1 in the Fe-arsenides decreases below Tc with no coherence peak and shows a
step-wise variation at low temperatures. The Knight shift decreases below Tc
and shows a step-wise T variation as well. These results indicate spinsinglet
superconductivity with multiple gaps in the Fe-arsenides. The Fe
antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations are anisotropic and weaker compared to
underdoped copper-oxides or cobalt-oxide superconductors, while there is no
significant electron correlations in LaNiAsO0.9F0.1. We will discuss the
implications of these results and highlight the importance of the Fermi surface
topology.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figure
How to Create an Innovation Accelerator
Too many policy failures are fundamentally failures of knowledge. This has
become particularly apparent during the recent financial and economic crisis,
which is questioning the validity of mainstream scholarly paradigms. We propose
to pursue a multi-disciplinary approach and to establish new institutional
settings which remove or reduce obstacles impeding efficient knowledge
creation. We provided suggestions on (i) how to modernize and improve the
academic publication system, and (ii) how to support scientific coordination,
communication, and co-creation in large-scale multi-disciplinary projects. Both
constitute important elements of what we envision to be a novel ICT
infrastructure called "Innovation Accelerator" or "Knowledge Accelerator".Comment: 32 pages, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c
Supersymmetric effects in top quark decay into polarized W-boson
We investigate the one-loop supersymmetric QCD (SUSY-QCD) and electroweak
(SUSY-EW) corrections to the top quark decay into a b-quark and a longitudinal
or transverse W-boson. The corrections are presented in terms of the
longitudinal ratio \Gamma(t-->W_L b)/\Gamma(t--> W b) and the transverse ratio
\Gamma(t-->W_- b)/\Gamma(t--> W b). In most of the parameter space, both
SUSY-QCD and SUSY-EW corrections to these ratios are found to be less than 1%
in magnitude and they tend to have opposite signs. The corrections to the total
width \Gamma(t-->W b) are also presented for comparison with the existing
results in the literature. We find that our SUSY-EW corrections to the total
width differ significantly from previous studies: the previous studies give a
large correction of more than 10% in magnitude for a large part of the
parameter space while our results reach only few percent at most.Comment: Version in PRD (explanation and refs added
Speeding-Up Expensive Evaluations in High-Level Synthesis Using Solution Modeling and Fitness Inheritance
High-Level Synthesis (HLS) is the process of developing digital circuits from behavioral specifications. It involves three interdependent and NP-complete optimization problems: (i) the operation scheduling, (ii) the resource allocation, and (iii) the controller synthesis. Evolutionary Algorithms have been already effectively applied to HLS to find good solution in presence of conflicting design objectives. In this paper, we present an evolutionary approach to HLS that extends previous works in three respects: (i) we exploit the NSGA-II, a multi-objective genetic algorithm, to fully automate the design space exploration without the need of any human intervention, (ii) we replace the expensive evaluation process of candidate solutions with a quite accurate regression model, and (iii) we reduce the number of evaluations with a fitness inheritance scheme. We tested our approach on several benchmark problems. Our results suggest that all the enhancements introduced improve the overall performance of the evolutionary search
The association of AGTR2 polymorphisms with preeclampsia and uterine artery bilateral notching is modulated by maternal BMI
On behalf of the SCOPE consortiumIntroductionThis study aimed to determine the association of AGTR1 and AGTR2 polymorphisms with preeclampsia and whether these are affected by environmental factors and fetal sex.MethodsOverall 3234 healthy nulliparous women, their partners and babies were recruited prospectively to the SCOPE study in Adelaide and Auckland. Data analyses were confined to 2121 Caucasian parent-infant trios, among whom 123 had preeclamptic pregnancies. 1185 uncomplicated pregnancies served as controls. DNA was extracted from buffy coats and genotyped by utilizing the Sequenom MassARRAY system. Doppler sonography on the uterine arteries was performed at 20 weeks' gestation.ResultsFour polymorphisms in AGTR1 and AGTR2 genes, including AGTR1 A1166C, AGTR2 C4599A, AGTR2 A1675G and AGTR2 T1134C, were selected and significant associations were predominately observed for AGTR2 C4599A. When the cohort was stratified by maternal BMI, in women with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m(2), the AGTR2 C4599A AA genotype in mothers and neonates was associated with an increased risk for preeclampsia compared with the CC genotype [adjusted OR 2.1 (95% CI 1.0-4.2) and adjusted OR 3.0 (95% CI 1.4-6.4), respectively]. In the same subset of women, paternal AGTR2 C4599A A allele was associated with an increased risk for preeclampsia and uterine artery bilateral notching at 20 weeks' gestation compared with the C allele [adjusted OR 1.9 (95% CI 1.1-3.3) and adjusted OR 2.1 (95% CI 1.3-3.4), respectively].ConclusionAGTR2 C4599A in mothers, fathers and babies was associated with preeclampsia and this association was only apparent in pregnancies in which the women had a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m(2), suggesting a gene-environment interaction.A. Zhou, G.A. Dekker, E.R. Lumbers, S.Y. Lee, S.D. Thompson, L.M.E. McCowan, C.T. Robert
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