c-Axis correlated extended defects and critical current in YBa2Cu3Ox films grown on Au and Ag-nano dot decorated substrates

We report measurements of critical current in YBa₂Cu₃O_x films deposited on SrTiO₃ substrates decorated with silver and gold nanodots. An increase in critical current in these films, in comparison with the films deposited on non-decorated substrates, has been achieved. We argue that this increase comes from the c-axis correlated extended defects formed in the films and originated from the nanodots. Additionally to creating extended defects, the nanodots pin them and prevent their exit from the sample during the film growth, thus keeping a high density of defects and providing a lower rate of decrease of the critical current with the thickness of the films. The best pinning is achieved in the samples with silver nanodots by optimising their deposition temperature. The nanodots grown at a temperature of a few hundred °C have a small diameter of a few nanometres and a high surface density of 10¹¹–10¹² particles/cm². We give evidence of c-axis correlated extended defects in YBa₂Cu₃O_x films by planar and cross-sectional atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and angle-dependent transport measurements of critical current.     

Gaussian mixture modeling and model-based clustering under measurement inconsistency

Advances in Data Analysis and Classification - Finite mixtures present a powerful tool for modeling complex heterogeneous data. One of their most important applications is model-based clustering....     

A numerical study on a nonlinear conservation law model pertaining to manufacturing system

This paper deals with a numerical scheme applied to a conservation law model of manufacturing system incorporating yield loss. Yield loss involving a singular term has been considered. Even though an explicit form of the material density in a production system can be obtained under certain assumptions, in general, it is difficult to get an explicit form of the material density. On the other hand, the singular term in a conservation law model imposes severe challenges for the numerical approximations on regular grids. Moreover, an approximate solution often converges to a wrong weak solution. A finite volume type numerical scheme has been studied. The convergence of the numerical solution towards entropy solution (in the Kruzkov sense) is proved. Numerical experiments are presented to get the overview of density distribution and outflux of the system.     

Characterizations of symmetrized polydisc

Let Γ_n, n ≥ 2, denote the symmetrized polydisc in ?ⁿ, and Γ₁ be the closed unit disc in ?. We provide some characterizations of elements in Γ_n. In particular, an element (s₁,..., s_n?1, p) ∈ ?ⁿ is in Γ_n if and only if \({s_j} = {\beta _j} + \overline {{\beta _{n - j}}}p\), j = 1,..., n ? 1, for some (β₁,..., β_n?1) ∈ Γ_n?1, and |p| ≤ 1.     

Asymptotic Properties of Sums of Upper Records

Arnold and Villaseñor (1999) raised several questions for upper records, including characterizing all limit distributions of normalized partial sums of upper records. We provide some answers in the case when the distribution from which the samples are drawn is bounded above. When the distribution is not bounded above, we give sufficient conditions on the distribution for the properly normalized partial sums to converge to a standard normal distribution. We show that our conditions are general enough so that the examples provided by Arnold and Villaseñor (1999) are covered by our results.     

Information Thermodynamics and Reducibility of Large Gene Networks

Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) control biological processes like pluripotency, differentiation, and apoptosis. Omics methods can identify a large number of putative network components (on the order of hundreds or thousands) but it is possible that in many cases a small subset of genes control the state of GRNs. Here, we explore how the topology of the interactions between network components may indicate whether the effective state of a GRN can be represented by a small subset of genes. We use methods from information theory to model the regulatory interactions in GRNs as cascading and superposing information channels. We propose an information loss function that enables identification of the conditions by which a small set of genes can represent the state of all the other genes in the network. This information-theoretic analysis extends to a measure of free energy change due to communication within the network, which provides a new perspective on the reducibility of GRNs. Both the information loss and relative free energy depend on the density of interactions and edge communication error in a network. Therefore, this work indicates that a loss in mutual information between genes in a GRN is directly coupled to a thermodynamic cost, i.e., a reduction of relative free energy, of the system.     

Cosmic-ray electron flux measured by the PAMELA experiment between 1 and 625 GeV

Precision measurements of the electron component in the cosmic radiation provide important information about the origin and propagation of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. Here we present new results regarding negatively charged electrons between 1 and 625 GeV performed by the satellite-borne experiment PAMELA. This is the first time that cosmic-ray e? have been identified above 50 GeV. The electron spectrum can be described with a single power-law energy dependence with spectral index -3.18 ± 0.05 above the energy region influenced by the solar wind (> 30 GeV). No significant spectral features are observed and the data can be interpreted in terms of conventional diffusive propagation models. However, the data are also consistent with models including new cosmic-ray sources that could explain the rise in the positron fraction.     

A hybrid technique for spectroscopic imaging with reduced truncation artifact

Traditionally, Fourier spectroscopic imaging is associated with a small k-space coverage which leads to truncation artifacts such as "bleeding" and ringing in the resultant image. Because substantial truncation artifacts mainly arise from regions having intense signals, such as the subcutaneous lipid in the head, effective reduction of truncation artifacts can be achieved by obtaining an extended k-space coverage for these regions. In this paper, a hybrid technique which employs phase-encoded spectroscopic imaging (SI) to cover the central portion of the k-space and echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) to measure the peripheral portion of the k-space is developed. EPSI, despite its inherently low SNR characteristics, provides a sufficient SNR for outer high-spatial frequency components of the aforementioned high signal regions and supplies an extended k-space coverage of these regions for the reduction of truncation artifacts. The data processing includes steps designed to remove inconsistency between the two types of data and a previously described technique for selectively retaining only outer k-space information for the high signal regions during the reconstruction. Experimental studies, in both phantoms and normal volunteers, demonstrate that the hybrid technique provides significant reduction in truncation artifacts.     

Electronic charge transport through ZnO nanoribbons

I–V characteristics of ZnO nanoribbons (NRs) have been investigated using density functional theory coupled to non-equilibrium Green’s Function. The current through the NRs drops with the increasing NR width, leveling off to 1.66 and 0.42 µA in zig-zag and arm-chair NRs respectively for widths ~20 Å at 3 V of electrical bias. The transconductance as well as the current flowing through the arm-chair NRs decays exponentially with NR width for both odd and even number of dimer lines traversed. The current through the zig-zag NRs falls off exponentially with NR width, being insensitive to the odd or even numbers of zig-zag lines appearing along the normal to the charge transport direction.     

Selective fluorescence resonance energy transfer from serum albumins to a bio-active 3-pyrazolyl-2-pyrazoline derivative: A spectroscopic analysis

A novel fluorescent probe and pharmaceutically significant: 3-pyrazolyl-2-pyrazoline derivative (PYZ) has been selected as an acceptor molecule for fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) interaction with serum albumins. Steady state and time resolved fluorescence techniques were applied to elucidate the nature of interaction of PYZ with serum albumins (BSA and HSA). Negligible FRET mediated emission occurred in the case of HSA but an efficient FRET mediated emission resulted in case of BSA. To gain further insight into the FRET selectivity of PYZ with the proteins, FRET from L-tryptophan (donor; native tryptophan) to PYZ (acceptor) was performed with the aim of getting an idea about the steric restrictions imposed on PYZ by the other groups present in BSA and HSA. The studies revealed that the surface bound Trp-134 in BSA allows an efficient FRET process with PYZ while the buried Trp-214 in HSA does not. The unusual selectivity for FRET in case of PYZ and the serum albumins has also been attributed to the complex structure of PYZ due to the presence of bulkier phenyl moieties in it. The complex nature of the excited state photophysics of tryptophan (Trp) in proteins also accounts for this FRET selectivity of PYZ with BSA and HSA.