STRUCTURAL AND ELECTROOPTIC PROPERTIES OF LASER ABLATED BI4TI3O12 THIN-FILMS ON SRTIO3(100) AND SRTIO3(110)

Bi4Ti3O12 thin films have been grown by laser ablation on SrTiO3(100) and SrTiO3(110) substrates. Substrate surface orientation is found to be an important growth parameter which determines crystal axis orientation, grain growth behavior, and electro-optic properties of the Bi4Ti3O12 thin films. The films grown on SrTiO3(110) shows a ferroelectric phase transition near 720-degrees-C and a large quadratic electro-optic effect with the effective coefficient 1.1 X 10(-16) m2/v 2.open1135sciescopu

Profiles of physical, emotional and psychosocial wellbeing in the Lothian birth cohort 1936

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Physical, emotional, and psychosocial wellbeing are important domains of function. The aims of this study were to explore the existence of separable groups among 70-year olds with scores representing physical function, perceived quality of life, and emotional wellbeing, and to characterise any resulting groups using demographic, personality, cognition, health and lifestyle variables.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify possible groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results suggested there were 5 groups. These included High (n = 515, 47.2% of the sample), Average (n = 417, 38.3%), and Poor Wellbeing (n = 37, 3.4%) groups. The two other groups had contrasting patterns of wellbeing: one group scored relatively well on physical function, but low on emotional wellbeing (Good Fitness/ Low Spirits,n = 60, 5.5%), whereas the other group showed low physical function but relatively well emotional wellbeing (Low Fitness/Good Spirits, n = 62, 5.7%). Salient characteristics that distinguished all the groups included smoking and drinking behaviours, personality, and illness.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Despite there being some evidence of these groups, the results also support a largely one-dimensional construct of wellbeing in old age—for the domains assessed here—though with some evidence that some individuals have uneven profiles.</p

The yeast P5 type ATPase, Spf1, regulates manganese transport into the endoplasmic reticulum

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a large, multifunctional and essential organelle. Despite intense research, the function of more than a third of ER proteins remains unknown even in the well-studied model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. One such protein is Spf1, which is a highly conserved, ER localized, putative P-type ATPase. Deletion of SPF1 causes a wide variety of phenotypes including severe ER stress suggesting that this protein is essential for the normal function of the ER. The closest homologue of Spf1 is the vacuolar P-type ATPase Ypk9 that influences Mn2+ homeostasis. However in vitro reconstitution assays with Spf1 have not yielded insight into its transport specificity. Here we took an in vivo approach to detect the direct and indirect effects of deleting SPF1. We found a specific reduction in the luminal concentration of Mn2+ in ∆spf1 cells and an increase following it’s overexpression. In agreement with the observed loss of luminal Mn2+ we could observe concurrent reduction in many Mn2+-related process in the ER lumen. Conversely, cytosolic Mn2+-dependent processes were increased. Together, these data support a role for Spf1p in Mn2+ transport in the cell. We also demonstrate that the human sequence homologue, ATP13A1, is a functionally conserved orthologue. Since ATP13A1 is highly expressed in developing neuronal tissues and in the brain, this should help in the study of Mn2+-dependent neurological disorders

Investigation of Possible Antidotal Effects of Activated Charcoal, Sodium Bicarbonate, Hydrogen Peroxide and Potassium Permanganate in Zinc Phosphide Poisoning

Zinc phosphide, a commonly used rat poison in Kenya was mixed with maize flour in a concentration of 0.15 % w/w and fed to a group of 60 experimental mice for 3 hours. The mice were then randomly divided into 5 equal groups, A, B, C, D and E. To group A, B, C and D was administered 1 ml of activated charcoal (3 % w/v), sodium bicarbonate (10 % w/v), hydrogen peroxide (0.5 % v/v) and potassium permanganate (1:5000), respectively. Group E was given 1 ml distilled water and used as control. All five groups were observed for symptoms of toxicity, often culminating in death. The observations were continued over a period of 36 hours. Results of the experiment showed that all 4 test substances minimized the lethal effect of zinc phosphide. Although no attempt was made to quantify the antidotal effect of the 4 substances, activated charcoal appeared to have a higher effect than the others, while potassium permanganate had a low rating. Key Words: Zinc phosphide, rat poison, antidote East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol.5(2) 2002: 38-4

Chiral U(1) flavor models and flavored Higgs doublets: the top FB asymmetry and the Wjj

We present U(1) flavor models for leptophobic Z' with flavor dependent couplings to the right-handed up-type quarks in the Standard Model, which can accommodate the recent data on the top forward-backward (FB) asymmetry and the dijet resonance associated with a W boson reported by CDF Collaboration. Such flavor-dependent leptophobic charge assignments generally require extra chiral fermions for anomaly cancellation. Also the chiral nature of U(1)' flavor symmetry calls for new U(1)'-charged Higgs doublets in order for the SM fermions to have realistic renormalizable Yukawa couplings. The stringent constraints from the top FB asymmetry at the Tevatron and the same sign top pair production at the LHC can be evaded due to contributions of the extra Higgs doublets. We also show that the extension could realize cold dark matter candidates.Comment: 40 pages, 10 figures, added 1 figure and extended discussion, accepted for publication in JHE

How much do school teachers know about childhood asthma in Ilesa, Nigeria?

Background: Childhood asthma is affected by events and conditions of the school environment. Teachers as de-facto caregivers of children with asthma have a major role to play in ensuring good asthma control in school. This study set out to determine the level of knowledge of school teacher about childhood asthma and factors influencing this knowledge.Methods: Four secondary schools (two private and two public) in Ilesa, South West Nigeria were selected by multistage sampling method. All the teachers in these schools were required to fill a self -administered questionnaire incorporating a validated 40-item asthma knowledge questions. Factors associated with the level of knowledge were determined appropriately.Results: A total of 132 teacher (M: F = 1:2) participated in the study with 85 (64.4%) from private school. The mean (SD) age of the teachers was 38.0 (9.1) years and median (IQR) years in teaching service was 7.0 (5.0 to 15.0) years. Majority (56.1%) of the teachers had university education while only 7 (5.3%) had a post graduate degree. The mean (SD) score of the 40 item questions was 21.5 (7.2) and majority (51.5%) had poor asthma knowledge (score &lt; 22). Poorer knowledge was observed in questions related to the nature and management of childhood asthma than triggers and manifestations. No significant correlation was found between knowledge and age, teaching experience and qualifications (p &gt; 0.05). However, teachers with previous training about childhood asthma had relatively good knowledge about the condition. (p &lt;0.05)Conclusion: The level of knowledge about childhood asthma among school teachers in Ilesa is poor particularly as regards to nature and management of the disease. We advocate for training of school teachers about common childhood conditions including asthma to ensure optimal symptoms control in school.Keywords: Childhood asthma, Knowledge, School teacher

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Ratio of the Isolated Photon Cross Sections at \sqrt{s} = 630 and 1800 GeV

The inclusive cross section for production of isolated photons has been measured in \pbarp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 630$ GeV with the \D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The photons span a transverse energy ($E_T$) range from 7-49 GeV and have pseudorapidity $|\eta| < 2.5$. This measurement is combined with to previous \D0 result at $\sqrt{s} = 1800$ GeV to form a ratio of the cross sections. Comparison of next-to-leading order QCD with the measured cross section at 630 GeV and ratio of cross sections show satisfactory agreement in most of the $E_T$ range.Comment: 7 pages. Published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 251805, (2001

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT