1,570 research outputs found
Mitochondrial DNA lineages of Italian Giara and Sarcidano horses
Giara and Sarcidano are 2 of the 15 extant native Italian horse breeds with limited dispersal capability that originated from a larger number of individuals. The 2 breeds live in two distinct isolated locations on the island of Sardinia. To determine the genetic structure and evolutionary history of these 2 Sardinian breeds, the first hypervariable segment of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was sequenced and analyzed in 40 Giara and Sarcidano horses and compared with publicly available mtDNA data from 43 Old World breeds. Four different analyses, including genetic distance, analysis of molecular variance, haplotype sharing, and clustering methods, were used to study the genetic relationships between the Sardinian and other horse breeds. The analyses yielded similar results, and the FST values indicated that a high percentage of the total genetic variation was explained by between-breed differences. Consistent with their distinct phenotypes and geographic isolation, the two Sardinian breeds were shown to consist of 2 distinct gene pools that had no gene flow between them. Giara horses were clearly separated from the other breeds examined and showed traces of ancient separation from horses of other breeds that share the same mitochondrial lineage. On the other hand, the data from the Sarcidano horses fit well with variation among breeds from the Iberian Peninsula and North-West Europe: genetic relationships among Sarcidano and the other breeds are consistent with the documented history of this breed
The spin-double refraction in two-dimensional electron gas
We briefly review the phenomenon of the spin-double refraction that
originates at an interface separating a two-dimensional electron gas with
Rashba spin-orbit coupling from a one without. We demonstrate how this
phenomenon in semiconductor heterostructures can produce and control a
spin-polarized current without ferromagnetic leads
Ohmic Behavior in Metal Contacts to n/p-Type Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides: Schottky versus Tunneling Barrier Trade-off
High contact resistance (RC) between 3D metallic conductors and single-layer 2D semiconductors poses major challenges toward their integration in nanoscale electronic devices. While in experiments the large RC values can be partly due to defects, ab initio simulations suggest that, even in defect-free structures, the interaction between metal and semiconductor orbitals can induce gap states that pin the Fermi level in the semiconductor band gap, increase the Schottky barrier height (SBH), and thus degrade the contact resistance. In this paper, we investigate, by using an in-house-developed ab initio transport methodology that combines density functional theory and nonequilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) transport calculations, the physical properties and electrical resistance of several options for n-type top metal contacts to monolayer MoS2, even in the presence of buffer layers, and for p-type contacts to monolayer WSe2. The delicate interplay between the SBH and tunneling barrier thickness is quantitatively analyzed, confirming the excellent properties of the Bi-MoS2 system as an n-type ohmic contact. Moreover, simulation results supported by literature experiments suggest that the Au-WSe2 system is a promising candidate for p-type ohmic contacts. Finally, our analysis also reveals that a small modulation of a few angstroms of the distance between the (semi)metal and the transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) leads to large variations of RC. This could help to explain the scattering of RC values experimentally reported in the literature because different metal deposition techniques can result in small changes of the metal-to-TMD distance besides affecting the density of possible defects
Local Density of States in Mesoscopic Samples from Scanning Gate Microscopy
We study the relationship between the local density of states (LDOS) and the
conductance variation in scanning-gate-microscopy experiments on
mesoscopic structures as a charged tip scans above the sample surface. We
present an analytical model showing that in the linear-response regime the
conductance shift is proportional to the Hilbert transform of the
LDOS and hence a generalized Kramers-Kronig relation holds between LDOS and
. We analyze the physical conditions for the validity of this
relationship both for one-dimensional and two-dimensional systems when several
channels contribute to the transport. We focus on realistic Aharonov-Bohm rings
including a random distribution of impurities and analyze the LDOS-
correspondence by means of exact numerical simulations, when localized states
or semi-classical orbits characterize the wavefunction of the system.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Spin-orbit coupling and phase-coherence in InAs nanowires
We investigated the magnetotransport of InAs nanowires grown by selective
area metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. In the temperature range between 0.5
and 30 K reproducible fluctuations in the conductance upon variation of the
magnetic field or the back-gate voltage are observed, which are attributed to
electron interference effects in small disordered conductors. From the
correlation field of the magnetoconductance fluctuations the phase-coherence
length l_phi is determined. At the lowest temperatures l_phi is found to be at
least 300 nm, while for temperatures exceeding 2 K a monotonous decrease of
l_phi with temperature is observed. A direct observation of the weak
antilocalization effect indicating the presence of spin-orbit coupling is
masked by the strong magnetoconductance fluctuations. However, by averaging the
magnetoconductance over a range of gate voltages a clear peak in the
magnetoconductance due to the weak antilocalization effect was resolved. By
comparison of the experimental data to simulations based on a recursive
two-dimensional Green's function approach a spin-orbit scattering length of
approximately 70 nm was extracted, indicating the presence of strong spin-orbit
coupling.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Transport inefficiency in branched-out mesoscopic networks: An analog of the Braess paradox
We present evidence for a counter-intuitive behavior of semiconductor
mesoscopic networks that is the analog of the Braess paradox encountered in
classical networks. A numerical simulation of quantum transport in a two-branch
mesoscopic network reveals that adding a third branch can paradoxically induce
transport inefficiency that manifests itself in a sizable conductance drop of
the network. A scanning-probe experiment using a biased tip to modulate the
transmission of one branch in the network reveals the occurrence of this
paradox by mapping the conductance variation as a function of the tip voltage
and position.Comment: 2nd version with minor stylistic corrections. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Lett.: Editorially approved for publication 6 January 201
Statistical model of dephasing in mesoscopic devices introduced in the scattering matrix formalism
We propose a phenomenological model of dephasing in mesoscopic transport,
based on the introduction of random phase fluctuations in the computation of
the scattering matrix of the system. A Monte Carlo averaging procedure allows
us to extract electrical and microscopic device properties. We show that, in
this picture, scattering matrix properties enforced by current conservation and
time reversal invariance still hold. In order to assess the validity of the
proposed approach, we present simulations of conductance and magnetoconductance
of Aharonov-Bohm rings that reproduce the behavior observed in experiments, in
particular as far as aspects related to decoherence are concerned.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
A review on diversity, conservation and nutrition of wild edible fruits
The United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration of September 2009 to improve the global living conditions through reducing poverty and hunger. However, considerable numbers of people are still living in utter penury and are deprived of a dignified living. In such tough circumstances nature’s free gift in the form of wild edible foods are benefiting the vulnerable and dependent communities. Wild edible plants (WEPs) are the species those are neither cultivated nor domesticated however are available in their wild natural habitat and used as sources of these plants have played a significant role in the development and civilization of human history throughout the ages and globe. These wild edible plants have played a significant role in supplying food and nutritional requirements of poor communities in many rural parts of the world. These wild edibles can be popularized only when they are comparedfor their nutritional and health benefits with major or widely used cultivated plants. The social, cultural, religious, and belief system of the rural communities are incomplete without these wild edible plants. Domestication of these wild edible plants can increase their use and their conservation as well. The present review paper has described the wild edible plants in context of their diversity, traditional knowledge, conservation practices and nutritional composition from the available secondary literature. Authors feel there is still scope to incorporate more contextual variables for explaining more variations embedded with local people’s perception on values and usage of these wild edible fruits
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