890 research outputs found
Thermal expansion and atomic displacement parameters of cubic KMgF3 perovskite determined by high-resolution neutron powder diffraction
The structure of KMgF3 has been determined by high-resolution neutron powder diffraction at 4.2 K, room temperature and at 10 K intervals from 373 K to 1223 K. The material remains cubic at all temperatures. The average volumetric coefficient of thermal expansion in the range 373-1223 K was found to be 7.11 (3) × 10-5 K-1. For temperatures between 4.2 and 1223 K, a second-order Grüneisen approximation to the zero-pressure equation of state, with the internal energy calculated via a Debye model, was found to fit well, with the following parameters: θD = 536 (9) K, Vo = 62.876 (6) Å3, Ko' = 6.5 (1) and (VoKo/Y') = 3.40 (2) × 10-18 J, where θD is the Debye temperature, Vo is the volume at T = 0, Ko' is the first derivative with respect to pressure of the incompressibility (Ko) and Y' is a Grüneisen parameter. The atomic displacement parameters were found to increase smoothly with T and could be fitted using Debye models with θD in the range 305-581 K. At 1223 K, the displacement of the F ions was found to be much less anisotropic than that in NaMgF3 at this temperature
Thermal expansion and crystal structure of cementite, Fe3C, between 4 and 600K determined by time-of-flight neutron powder diffraction
The cementite phase of Fe3C has been studied by high-resolution neutron powder diffraction at 4.2 K and at 20 K intervals between 20 and 600 K. The crystal structure remains orthorhombic (Pnma) throughout, with the fractional coordinates of all atoms varying only slightly (the magnetic structure of the ferromagnetic phase could not be determined). The ferromagnetic phase transition, with Tc 480 K, greatly affects the thermal expansion coefficient of the material. The average volumetric coefficient of thermal expansion above Tc was found to be 4.1 (1) × 10-5 K-1; below Tc it is considerably lower (< 1.8 × 10-5 K-1) and varies greatly with temperature. The behaviour of the volume over the full temperature range of the experiment may be modelled by a third-order Grüneisen approximation to the zero-pressure equation of state, combined with a magnetostrictive correction based on mean-field theory
Viral antibody dynamics in a chiropteran host
1. Bats host many viruses that are significant for human and domestic animal health, but the dynamics of these infections in their natural reservoir hosts remain poorly elucidated.<p></p>
2. In these, and other, systems, there is evidence that seasonal life-cycle events drive infection dynamics, directly impacting the risk of exposure to spillover hosts. Understanding these dynamics improves our ability to predict zoonotic spillover from the reservoir hosts.<p></p>
3. To this end, we followed henipavirus antibody levels of >100 individual E. helvum in a closed, captive, breeding population over a 30-month period, using a powerful novel antibody quantitation method.<p></p>
4. We demonstrate the presence of maternal antibodies in this system and accurately determine their longevity. We also present evidence of population-level persistence of viral infection and demonstrate periods of increased horizontal virus transmission associated with the pregnancy/lactation period.<p></p>
5.The novel findings of infection persistence and the effect of pregnancy on viral transmission, as well as an accurate quantitation of chiropteran maternal antiviral antibody half-life, provide fundamental baseline data for the continued study of viral infections in these important reservoir hosts
Modelling the future of the Hawaiian honeycreeper : an ecological and epidemiological problem
The Hawaiian honeycreeper (Drepanididae) faces the threat of extinction; this is believed to be due primarily to predation from alien animals, endemic avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum) and climate change. A deterministic SI modelling approach is developed, incorporating these three factors and a metapopulation approach in conjunction with a quasi-equilibrium assumption to simplify the vector populations. This enables the qualitative study of the behaviour of the system. Numerical results suggest that although (partial) resistance to avian malaria may be advantageous for individual birds, allowing them to survive infection, this allows them to become carriers of infection and hence greatly increases the spread of this disease. Predation obviously reduces the life-expectancy of honeycreepers, but in turn this reduces the spread of infection from resistant carriers; therefore the population-level impact of predation is reduced. Various control strategies proposed in the literature are also considered and it is shown that predation control could either help or hinter, depending upon resistance of the honeycreeper species. Captive propagation or habitat restoration may be the best feasible solution to the loss of both heterogeneity within the population and the loss of the species as a whole
Implications of a charged-current anomaly at HERA
We demonstrate that in the presence of mixing between different scalar
leptoquark multiplets it is possible to simultaneously account for the HERA
high- neutral current anomaly, and produce a charged current anomaly of
comparable magnitude. The reduced branching ratio to electrons and jets of the
lightest leptoquark state results in a significant weakening of the CDF/D0
limits on scalar leptoquarks; masses consistent with the HERA neutral current
excess are comfortably within the allowed range. We show that the possibilities
for such a successful mixed leptoquark scenario are quite limited, and we
investigate some aspects of their phenomenology.Comment: 10 pages Latex. Corrected 3-body decay width
The Z-Z' Mass Hierarchy in a Supersymmetric Model with a Secluded U(1)'-Breaking Sector
We consider the Z'/Z mass hierarchy in a supersymmetric model in which the
U(1)' is broken in a secluded sector coupled to the ordinary sector only by
gauge and possibly soft terms. A large mass hierarchy can be achieved while
maintaining the normal sparticle spectra if there is a direction in which the
tree level potential becomes flat when a particular Yukawa coupling vanishes.
We describe the conditions needed for the desired breaking pattern, to avoid
unwanted global symmetries, and for an acceptable effective mu parameter. The
electroweak breaking is dominated by A terms rather than scalar masses, leading
to tan beta ~ 1. The spectrum of the symmetry breaking sector is displayed.
There is significant mixing between the MSSM particles and new standard model
singlets, for both the Higgs scalars and the neutralinos. A larger Yukawa
coupling for the effective mu parameter is allowed than in the NMSSM because of
the U(1)' contribution to the running from a high scale. The upper bound on the
tree-level mass of the lightest CP even Higgs doublet mass is about c x 174
GeV, where c is of order unity, but the actual mass eigenvalues are generally
smaller because of singlet mixing.Comment: Latex, 12 Tables, 22 page
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