2,077 research outputs found

    Designing Polar and Magnetic Oxides: Zn2FeTaO6 - in Search of Multiferroics

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    Polar oxides are technically of great interest but difficult to prepare. Our recent discoveries predicted that polar oxides can be synthesized in the corundum-derivative A2BB′O6 family with unusually small cations at the A-site and a d0 electron configuration ion at B′-site. When magnetic transition-metal ions are incorporated more interesting polar magnetic oxides can form. In this work we experimentally verified this prediction and prepared LiNbO3 (LN)-type polar magnetic Zn2FeTaO6 via high pressure and temperature synthesis. The crystal structure analysis indicates highly distorted ZnO6 and (Fe/Ta)O6 octahedra, and an estimated spontaneous polarization (PS) of ∼50 μC/cm2 along the c-axis was obtained from point charge model calculations. Zn2Fe3+Ta5+O6 has a lower magnetic transition temperature (TN ∼ 22 K) than the Mn2FeTaO6 analogue but is less conductive. The dielectric and polarization measurements indicate a potentially switchable component

    Magnetostriction-polarization coupling in multiferroic Mn2MnWO6

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    Double corundum-related polar magnets are promising materials for multiferroic and magnetoelectric applications in spintronics. However, their design and synthesis is a challenge, and magnetoelectric coupling has only been observed in Ni3TeO6 among the known double corundum compounds to date. Here we address the high-pressure synthesis of a new polar and antiferromagnetic corundum derivative Mn2MnWO6, which adopts the Ni3TeO6-type structure with low temperature first-order field-induced metamagnetic phase transitions (T N = 58 K) and high spontaneous polarization (~ 63.3 μC·cm−2). The magnetostriction-polarization coupling in Mn2MnWO6 is evidenced by second harmonic generation effect, and corroborated by magnetic-field-dependent pyroresponse behavior, which together with the magnetic-field-dependent polarization and dielectric measurements, qualitatively indicate magnetoelectric coupling. Piezoresponse force microscopy imaging and spectroscopy studies on Mn2MnWO6 show switchable polarization, which motivates further exploration on magnetoelectric effect in single crystal/thin film specimens

    The \u3cem\u3eChlamydomonas\u3c/em\u3e Genome Reveals the Evolution of Key Animal and Plant Functions

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    Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a unicellular green alga whose lineage diverged from land plants over 1 billion years ago. It is a model system for studying chloroplast-based photosynthesis, as well as the structure, assembly, and function of eukaryotic flagella (cilia), which were inherited from the common ancestor of plants and animals, but lost in land plants. We sequenced the ∼120-megabase nuclear genome of Chlamydomonas and performed comparative phylogenomic analyses, identifying genes encoding uncharacterized proteins that are likely associated with the function and biogenesis of chloroplasts or eukaryotic flagella. Analyses of the Chlamydomonas genome advance our understanding of the ancestral eukaryotic cell, reveal previously unknown genes associated with photosynthetic and flagellar functions, and establish links between ciliopathy and the composition and function of flagella

    Costs analysis of the treatment of imported malaria

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To document the status of imported malaria infections and estimate the costs of treating of patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of imported malaria in the Slovak Republic during 2003 to 2008.</p> <p>Case study</p> <p>Calculating and comparing the direct and indirect costs of treatment of patients diagnosed with imported malaria (ICD-10: B50 - B54) who used and not used chemoprophylaxis. The target sample included 19 patients diagnosed with imported malaria from 2003 to 2008, with 11 whose treatment did not include chemoprophylaxis and eight whose treatment did.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean direct cost of malaria treatment for patients without chemoprophylaxis was 1,776.0 EUR, and the mean indirect cost 524.2 EUR. In patients with chemoprophylaxis the mean direct cost was 405.6 EUR, and the mean indirect cost 257.4 EUR.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The analysis confirmed statistically-significant differences between the direct and indirect costs of treatment with and without chemoprophylaxis for patients with imported malaria.</p

    Lipid Oxidation Inhibitory Effects and Phenolic Composition of Aqueous Extracts from Medicinal Plants of Colombian Amazonia

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    Diverse plants of ethnobotanic interest in Amazonia are commonly used in traditional medicine. We determined the antioxidant potential against lipid peroxidation, the antimicrobial activity, and the polyphenol composition of several Amazonian plants (Brownea rosademonte, Piper glandulosissimum, Piper krukoffii, Piper putumayoense, Solanum grandiflorum, and Vismia baccifera). Extracts from the plant leaf, bark, and stem were prepared as aqueous infusions, as used in folk medicine, and added to rat liver microsomes exposed to iron. The polyphenolic composition was detected by reverse-phase HPLC coupled to diode-array detector and MS/MS analysis. The antimicrobial activity was tested by the spot-on-a-lawn method against several indicator microorganisms. All the extracts inhibited lipid oxidation, except the P. glandulosissimum stem. The plant extracts exhibiting high antioxidant potential (V. baccifera and B. rosademonte) contained high levels of flavanols (particularly, catechin and epicatechin). By contrast, S. grandiflorum leaf, which exhibited very low antioxidant activity, was rich in hydroxycinnamic acids. None of the extracts showed antimicrobial activity. This study demonstrates for the first time the presence of bioactive polyphenolic compounds in several Amazonian plants, and highlights the importance of flavanols as major phenolic contributors to antioxidant activity

    Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    This paper presents measurements of the W+μ+νW^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu and WμνW^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13
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