Enhanced magneto-electrical properties and room temperature magnetoresistance in lightly doped manganite thin films

We report the effect of compressive strain on magnetic and magneto-electrical properties of lightly doped manganite La_0.88Sr_0.12MnO₃ thin films. Films, having 5-60 nm thickness, were grown on (001) LaAlO₃ and (001) SrTiO₃ substrate by DC-magnetron sputtering. These films show a magnetoresistance as high as ∼65% at room temperature and insulator-metal transition temperature . Further, we demonstrate that a small variation in strain causes significant changes in their properties. We have discussed the possible origin of these features and compared with the reported literature.     

Semi-wet growth and characterization of multi-functional nano-engineered mixed metal oxides for industrial application

This review paper covers the low temperature wet growth of nano-engineered particles of ZnO-based mixed metal oxides, their growth mechanism, and characterization using X-ray diffraction, SEM, TEM and IR, UV–visible, and XPS spectral techniques. Main focus of this article is centered on low temperature semi-wet methods of synthesis that are suitable for large scale production of zinc oxide-based systems mixed with iron oxide, copper oxide, nickel oxide and cobalt oxide. These mixed metal oxides have broad industrial applications as catalyst, semiconductors, adsorbents, superconductors, electro-ceramics, and antifungal agents in addition to extensive applications in medicines. This paper discusses the low-cost and environment friendly synthesis of these mixed metal oxides, measurement of properties and applicability of these materials systems.     

Increasing softwood kraft pulp yield using sodium methyl mercaptide

Cellulose - The objective of this work was to determine the effect of sodium methyl mercaptide (SMM) on the minimization of peeling reactions of southern pine chips in the kraft pulping process....     

Energy design for protein-protein interactions

Proteins bind to other proteins efficiently and specifically to carry on many cell functions such as signaling, activation, transport, enzymatic reactions, and more. To determine the geometry and strength of binding of a protein pair, an energy function is required. An algorithm to design an optimal energy function, based on empirical data of protein complexes, is proposed and applied. Emphasis is made on negative design in which incorrect geometries are presented to the algorithm that learns to avoid them. For the docking problem the search for plausible geometries can be performed exhaustively. The possible geometries of the complex are generated on a grid with the help of a fast Fourier transform algorithm. A novel formulation of negative design makes it possible to investigate iteratively hundreds of millions of negative examples while monotonically improving the quality of the potential. Experimental structures for 640 protein complexes are used to generate positive and negative examples for learning parameters. The algorithm designed in this work finds the correct binding structure as the lowest energy minimum in 318 cases of the 640 examples. Further benchmarks on independent sets confirm the significant capacity of the scoring function to recognize correct modes of interactions.     

Dynamical study of nutrient-phytoplankton model with toxicity: Effect of diffusion and time delay

A harmful algal bloom is one of the significant concerns of marine biodiversity. The control of such algal bloom is required for the conservation of marine ecology. The proposed work discusses a model for interacting nutrient phytoplankton systems with the effect of toxic chemicals released by phytoplankton and time delay in toxin liberation. Our main aim is to provide a great insight into the impact of toxins and time delay on the dynamics of nutrient-phytoplankton. We investigate the stability of system dynamics, and the condition for the existence of Turing instability is obtained. The role of time delay is also investigated for the proposed system. The numerical simulation shows that toxin release rate, the diffusion coefficient of nutrients, and time delay significantly impact system dynamics. We observe that increasing values of toxin release results in the system dynamics show stable and oscillatory behavior without diffusion. The spatial and spatio-temporal patterns show that the higher value of the rate of toxin release lead to periodic and standing waves. Finally, we observe that the time delay in toxin distribution term stabilizes and destabilizes the system dynamics.     

Rapid Synthesis and Biological Activities of Some New Benzothiazol-2-Ylhexahydro-S- Triazine Derivatives

2,4,6-Substituted 1,3,5-tris(benzothiazolyl)hexahydro-1,3,5-triazine derivatives were synthesized by the condensation of substituted benzothiazoles with aldehydes by conventional as well as by microwave irradiation (solvent free and solid supported) methods. All compounds were tested for antibacterial and antifungal activities, and the results have been compared with standard drugs. Acaricidal and anti-feedant activities were also tested.

Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements to view the free supplemental file.     

Current transport through InP/InSb heterojunction: Effect of lattice mismatch

Semiconductor heterojunctions of MOCVD grown InP were fabricated on n-InSb to study some features of a current transport in strained heterojunctions. The MOCVD grown undoped InP samples on InP substrates were characterized by XRD and Hall measurements whereas the InP/InSb heterojunction was characterized by XRD, TEM and I-V measurements in the temperature range 160-305 K. On increasing the voltage, first the current through the heterojunction is found to increase linearly and then it gets saturate due to surface states saturation. When the misfit dislocation density was increased, overlapping in the depletion regions gave rise to a barrier to the current flow there by saturating the current.     

Structural, thermal and conductive properties of Bi4−xMxV2O11 (M = La, Gd; 0 x 0.4) compounds

Bi_4−xM_xV₂O₁₁ (M = La, Gd) was prepared by solid state reactions. The amount of La and Gd in the (Bi_4−xM_xV₂O₁₁) was varied in the range of (0 x 0.4). The addition of La and Gd to Bi₄V₂O₁₁ electrolyte was found to stabilize the β crystalline phase for x 0.3. In addition, the phase transition corresponding β- to γ-phases are evident in the ionic conductivity plots as well as in XRD, DSC profiles of x 0.3 samples. The highest ionic conductivity was observed in Bi_3.9La_0.1V₂O₁₁ and Bi_3.8Gd_0.2V₂O₁₁ samples in the range of 10⁻³–10⁻⁴ S/cm for 700–500 °C. These results were supported by impedance spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).