264 research outputs found
Metal-insulator Crossover Behavior at the Surface of NiS_2
We have performed a detailed high-resolution electron spectroscopic
investigation of NiS and related Se-substituted compounds
NiSSe, which are known to be gapped insulators in the bulk at all
temperatures. A large spectral weight at the Fermi energy of the room
temperature spectrum, in conjunction with the extreme surface sensitivity of
the experimental probe, however, suggests that the surface layer is metallic at
300 K. Interestingly, the evolution of the spectral function with decreasing
temperature is characterized by a continuous depletion of the single-particle
spectral weight at the Fermi energy and the development of a gap-like structure
below a characteristic temperature, providing evidence for a metal-insulator
crossover behavior at the surfaces of NiS and of related compounds. These
results provide a consistent description of the unusual transport properties
observed in these systems.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism study of Ca_1-xSr_xRuO_3 across the ferromagnetic quantum phase transition
Ca_1-xSr_xRuO_3, which is ferromagnetic for Sr concentration x > 0.3, has
been studied by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) in Ru 3p and O 1s
core-level x-ray absorption. XMCD signals appear at x ~ 0.3 and monotonically
increases with x in the ferromagnetic phase. While the monotonic increase of
the XMCD signals with x is of a typical Stoner-type, the absence of appreciable
change in the spectral line shapes of both the Ru 3p and O 1s XMCD spectra
indicate that the itinerant-electron ferromagnetism in Ca_1-xSr_xRuO_3 is
influenced by strong electron correlation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev. B 1 page, correct the 4th
affiliation 5 page, modifiy 9th referenc
Phase Separation and the Low-Field Bulk Magnetic Properties of Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3
We present a detailed magnetic study of the perovskite manganite
Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 at low temperatures including magnetization and a.c.
susceptibility measurements. The data appear to exclude a conventional spin
glass phase at low fields, suggesting instead the presence of correlated
ferromagnetic clusters embedded in a charge-ordered matrix. We examine the
growth of the ferromagnetic clusters with increasing magnetic field as they
expand to occupy almost the entire sample at H ~ 0.5 T. Since this is well
below the field required to induce a metallic state, our results point to the
existence of a field-induced ferromagnetic insulating state in this material.Comment: 15 pages with figures, submitted to Physical Review
Hysteresis loop signatures of phase transitions in a mean-field model of disordered Ising magnet
In accordance with recent experiments the mean-field type theories predict
the presence of numerous metastable minima (states) in the rugged free-energy
landscape of frustrated disordered magnets. This multiplicity of long-lived
states with lifetimes greater than makes the task to experimentally
determine which of them has the lowest free energy (and thus what thermodynamic
phase the sample is in) seem rather hopeless the more so as we do not know a
protocol (such as field-cooling or zero-field-cooling) leading to the
equilibrium state(s). Nevertheless here we show in the framework of Landau-type
phenomenological model that signatures of the mean-field equilibrium phase
transitions in such highly nonequilibrium systems may be found in the evolution
of the hysteresis loop form. Thus the sequence of transitions from spin-glass
to mixed phase and to ferromagnetic one results in the changes from inclined
hysteresis loop to that with the developing vertical sides and to one with the
perfectly vertical sides. Such relation between loop form and the location of
global minimum may hold beyond the mean-field approximation and can be useful
in the real experiments and Monte-Carlo simulations of the problems involving
rugged potential landscape. Also the very existence of the quasi-static loops
in spin glass and mixed phases implies that the known disorder-smoothing of the
first-order transition can be always accompanied by the emergence of multiple
metastable states.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; misprints corrected, slight deviations from
published version (abstract and references
Real spin glasses relax slowly in the shade of hierarchical trees
The Parisi solution of the mean-field spin glass has been widely accepted and
celebrated. Its marginal stability in 3d and its complexity however raised the
question of its relevance to real spin glasses. This paper gives a short
overview of the important experimental results which could be understood within
the mean-field solution. The existence of a true phase transition and the
particular behaviour of the susceptibility below the freezing temperature,
predicted by the theory, are clearly confirmed by the experimental results. The
behaviour of the complex order parameter and of the Fluctuation Dissipation
ratio are in good agreement with results of spontaneous noise measurements. The
very particular ultrametric symmetry, the key feature of the theory, provided
us with a simple description of the rejuvenation and memory effects observed in
experiment. Finally, going a step beyond mean-field, the paper shortly
discusses new analyses in terms of correlated domains characterized by their
length scales, as well as new experiments on superspin glasses which compare
well with recent theoretical simulations.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of "Wandering with Curiosity in Complex
Landscapes", a scientific conference in honour of Giorgio Parisi for his 60th
birthday, Roma, September 8-10 2008 (submitted for the special issue of the
Journal of Statistical Physics, 2009
Lithium intoxication related multiple temporary ecg changes: A case report
Lithium is a widely used mood stabilizer, which may cause cardiac side effects. In this article, we present the case of a 39-year-old woman who had presented with pre-syncope and developed multiple ECG abnormalities that are caused by lithium intoxication and are disappeared after hemodialysis
Chaotic, memory and cooling rate effects in spin glasses: Is the Edwards-Anderson model a good spin glass?
We investigate chaotic, memory and cooling rate effects in the three
dimensional Edwards-Anderson model by doing thermoremanent (TRM) and AC
susceptibility numerical experiments and making a detailed comparison with
laboratory experiments on spin glasses. In contrast to the experiments, the
Edwards-Anderson model does not show any trace of re-initialization processes
in temperature change experiments (TRM or AC). A detailed comparison with AC
relaxation experiments in the presence of DC magnetic field or coupling
distribution perturbations reveals that the absence of chaotic effects in the
Edwards-Anderson model is a consequence of the presence of strong cooling rate
effects. We discuss possible solutions to this discrepancy, in particular the
smallness of the time scales reached in numerical experiments, but we also
question the validity of the Edwards-Anderson model to reproduce the
experimental results.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures. The original version of the paper has been
split in two parts. The second part is now available as cond-mat/010224
Independent Component Analysis-motivated Approach to Classificatory Decomposition of Cortical Evoked Potentials
BACKGROUND: Independent Component Analysis (ICA) proves to be useful in the analysis of neural activity, as it allows for identification of distinct sources of activity. Applied to measurements registered in a controlled setting and under exposure to an external stimulus, it can facilitate analysis of the impact of the stimulus on those sources. The link between the stimulus and a given source can be verified by a classifier that is able to "predict" the condition a given signal was registered under, solely based on the components. However, the ICA's assumption about statistical independence of sources is often unrealistic and turns out to be insufficient to build an accurate classifier. Therefore, we propose to utilize a novel method, based on hybridization of ICA, multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEA), and rough sets (RS), that attempts to improve the effectiveness of signal decomposition techniques by providing them with "classification-awareness." RESULTS: The preliminary results described here are very promising and further investigation of other MOEAs and/or RS-based classification accuracy measures should be pursued. Even a quick visual analysis of those results can provide an interesting insight into the problem of neural activity analysis. CONCLUSION: We present a methodology of classificatory decomposition of signals. One of the main advantages of our approach is the fact that rather than solely relying on often unrealistic assumptions about statistical independence of sources, components are generated in the light of a underlying classification problem itself
Dimerization-driven interaction of hepatitis C virus core protein with NS3 helicase
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects over 130 million people causing a worldwide epidemic of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular-carcinoma. Because current HCV treatments are only partially effective, molecular mechanisms involved in HCV propagation are actively being pursued as possible drug targets. Here, we report on a new macromolecular interaction between the HCV capsid core protein and the helicase portion of HCV non-structural protein 3 (NS3h), confirmed by four different biochemical methods. The protease portion of NS3 is not required. Interaction between the two proteins could be disrupted by two types of specific inhibitors of core dimerization, the small molecule SL201 and core106, a C-terminally truncated core protein. Cross-linking experiments suggest that the physical interaction with NS3h is probably driven by core oligomerization. Moreover, SL201 blocks the production of infectious virus, but not the production of a subgenomic HCV replicon by hepatoma cells. Time-of-addition experiments confirm that SL201 has no effect on entry of the virus. These data underline the essential role of core as a key organizer of HCV particle assembly, confirm the importance of oligomerization, reveal the interaction with viral helicase and support a new molecular understanding of the formation of the viral particle at the level of the lipid droplets, before its migration to the site of release and budding
The Ratio and Concentration of Two Monoterpenes Mediate Fecundity of the Pinewood Nematode and Growth of Its Associated Fungi
The pinewood nematode (PWN) Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, vectored primarily by the sawyer beetle, Monochamus alternatus, is an important invasive pest and causal agent of pine wilt disease of Chinese Masson pine, Pinus massoniana. Previous work demonstrated that the ratios and concentrations of α-pinene∶β-pinene differed between healthy trees and those trees containing blue-stain fungus (and M. alternatus pupae). However, the potential influence of the altered monoterpene ratios and concentrations on PWN and associated fungi remained unknown. Our current results show that low concentrations of the monoterpenes within petri dishes reduced PWN propagation, whereas the highest concentration of the monoterpenes increased PWN propagation. The propagation rate of PWN treated with the monoterpene ratio representative of blue-stain infected pine (α-pinene∶β-pinene = 1∶0.8, 137.6 mg/ml) was significantly higher than that (α-pinene∶β-pinene = 1∶0.1, 137.6 mg/ml) representative of healthy pines or those damaged by M. alternatus feeding, but without blue stain. Furthermore, inhibition of mycelial growth of associated fungi increased with the concentration of the monoterpenes α-pinene and β-pinene. Additionally, higher levels of β-pinene (α-pinene∶β-pinene = 1∶0.8) resulted in greater inhibition of the growth of the associated fungi Sporothrix sp.2 and Ophiostoma ips strains, but had no significant effects on the growth of Sporothrix sp.1, which is the best food resource for PWN. These results suggest that host monoterpenes generally reduce the reproduction of PWN. However, PWN utilizes high monoterpene concentrations and native blue-stain fungus Sporothrix sp.1 to improve its own propagation and overcome host resistance, which may provide clues to understanding the ecological mechanisms of PWN's successful invasion
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