Switching of both local ferroelectric and magnetic domains in multiferroic Bi0.9La0.1FeO3 thin film by mechanical force

Cross-coupling of ordering parameters in multiferroic materials by multiple external stimuli other than electric field and magnetic field is highly desirable from both practical application and fundamental study points of view. Recently, mechanical force has attracted great attention in switching of ferroic ordering parameters via electro-elastic coupling in ferroelectric materials. In this work, mechanical force induced polarization and magnetization switching were investigated in a polycrystalline multiferroic Bi0.9La0.1FeO3 thin film using a scanning probe microscopy system. The piezoresponse force microscopy and magnetic force microscopy responses suggest that both the ferroelectric domains and the magnetic domains in Bi0.9La0.1FeO3 film could be switched by mechanical force as well as electric field. High strain gradient created by mechanical force is demonstrated as able to induce ferroelastic switching and thus induce both ferroelectric dipole and magnetic spin flipping in our thin film, as a consequence of electro-elastic coupling and magneto-electric coupling. The demonstration of mechanical force control of both the ferroelectric and the magnetic domains at room temperature provides a new freedom for manipulation of multiferroics and could result in devices with novel functionalities

Quantum Private Comparison: A Review

As an important branch of quantum secure multiparty computation, quantum private comparison (QPC) has attracted more and more attention recently. In this paper, according to the quantum implementation mechanism that these protocols used, we divide these protocols into three categories: The quantum cryptography QPC, the superdense coding QPC, and the entanglement swapping QPC. And then, a more in-depth analysis on the research progress, design idea, and substantive characteristics of corresponding QPC categories is carried out, respectively. Finally, the applications of QPC and quantum secure multi-party computation issues are discussed and, in addition, three possible research mainstream directions are pointed out

Being Watched in an Investment Game Setting: Behavioral Changes when Making Risky Decisions

We design a laboratory experiment to test for behavioral differences due to observation within a novel arena: investment games. We find that fund managers are more risk-averse when investors can observe their investment allocations. This effect is more pronounced when investors, in addition to observing the allocations, can also observe the investment outcomes. Interestingly, allowing investors to observe how their investment is allocated does not impact how much they invest. Last, when the outcome of the risky investment is public knowledge, disclosing managers’ allocations leads them to return more tokens to investors and to expropriate fewer tokens for themselves at the end of the game, ceteris paribus. We discuss potential causes of these effects

Effect of Plateau Pika (\u3cem\u3eOchotonacurzionae\u3c/em\u3e) Disturbance on Soil Microelements Content in Alpine Meadow

The plateau pika (Ochotonacurzoniae) creates the extensive disturbance on alpine meadow ecosystem in the QinghaiTibetan Plateau (Smith and Foggin, 1999, Delibes-Mateos et al., 2011), especially on soil nutrient (Davidson et al., 2012). Previous studies show that intermediate active burrows of plateau pika improved soil macro-element (organic matter, total nitrogen and total phosphorus) in alpine meadow (Guo et al., 2012). However, there is little knowledge about the underlying contribution of plateau pika disturbance in determining soil microelement in alpine meadow. The density of active burrow entrances is used to divide the disturbances levels of plateau pika to determine the effect of various disturbance levels of plateau pika on soil microelement content of alpine meadow in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in this study

Effects of Alternate Furrow Irrigation on the Forage Quality of Alfalfa (\u3cem\u3eMedicago sativa\u3c/em\u3e)

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is widely used to establish pasture to sustain animal production because of its high nutritional quality for livestock (Bouton, 2012). Therefore improving quality of alfalfa pasture is the main goal for establishing pasture throughout the world. Irrigation is an important approach for achieving high qualities of alfalfa pasture, however, the scarcity of water threatens the sustainability of world alfalfa production, requiring us to force on using water more efficiently (Liu and Guo, 2013). Alternate furrow irrigation has been proved as a water-saving technique to promote fruit quality of tomatoes and grapevines and the seed quality of cotton (Kirda et al., 2004, Dos Santos et al., 2003, Tang et al., 2005). But these studies only focus on harvesting the seed, fruits and tubers, while neglecting the vegetative mass. In this study, we investigated the effects of alternate furrow irrigation with different irrigation volumes on the quality of alfalfa

Pharmacokinetic comparisons of S-oxiracetam and R-oxiracetam in beagle dogs

A pharmacokinetic comparison and conformational stability study of S-oxiracetam (S-ORT) and R-oxiracetam (R-ORT) in beagle dogs was used to investigate the possible mechanism of different effects of two oxiracetam enantiomers through a random crossover design. After drug administration to beagle dogs, blood samples were collected at different time points for pharmacokinetic analysis using the UPLC-ESI-MS/MS method. Parts of plasma samples were used for conformation transformation studies using a normal phase high performance liquid chromatographic (NP HPLC) method. The study showed that oxiracetam enantiomers maintained their original conformation when administered orally to beagle dogs. Concentrations of S-ORT were significantly higher than R-ORT 1.5 and 2 h after administration; the AUC0-∞ of S-ORT after oral administration tended to be higher than that of R-ORT, which showed that the different effects between S-ORT and R-ORT may be partly associated with their distinctive absorption at least