[en] Sixteen patients who had a nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who were treated with radiation therapy were followed up after a median duration of 5.5 years and given a battery of neuropsychological tests. Results were compared with a comparable group of newly diagnosed NPC patients awaiting radiation therapy. The irradiated group was significantly poorer in overall IQ, non-verbal memory recall, and reported a substantially greater number of memory related complaints. These results contrast with the complacent general assumption that radiation therapy has a negligible effect on adult functioning. (author)

[en] We report the crystal growth of NaBaR(BO₃)₂ (R = Dy, Ho, Er and Tm) by the flux method. In the rhombohedral crystal structures, [RO₆] octahedra and planar [BO₃] units connect by bridging O atoms, forming triangular layers in the ab plane that are evenly spaced along c. Two perfectly triangular rare earth layers of identical dimension are found. Anisotropic magnetic susceptibility is observed for all; NaBaEr(BO₃)₂ is nearly isotropic while NaBaTm(BO₃)₂ is the most anisotropic. Heat capacity measurements reveal no long-range magnetic ordering down to 0.35 K for R = Dy or Er, while the Ho material displays a significant entropy loss. All the magnetic entropy appears to be absent in the Tm case by low temperature, suggesting that a singlet ground state may have formed. (paper)

[en] Recently, some studies showed that the GeV gamma-ray excess signal from the central Milky Way can be explained by the annihilation of ∼ 40 GeV dark matter through the bb̄ channel. Based on the morphology of the gamma-ray flux, the best-fit inner slope of the dark matter density profile is γ = 1.26. However, recent analyses of the Milky Way dark matter profile favor γ = 0.6 – 0.8. In this article, we show that the GeV gamma-ray excess can also be explained by the Sommerfeld-enhanced dark matter annihilation through the bb̄ channel with γ = 0.85 – 1.05. We constrain the parameters of the Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation by using data from Fermi-LAT. We also show that the predicted gamma-ray fluxes emitted from dwarf galaxies generally satisfy recent upper limits on gamma-ray fluxes detected by Fermi-LAT. (paper)

[en] Ba₄NbMn₃O₁₂ is reported, synthesized by a solid state method in air. The crystal structure, determined by performing refinements on room temperature powder x-ray diffraction data by the Rietveld method, consists of Mn₃O₁₂ trimers in the configuration of three face-sharing MnO₆ octahedra, with the trimers arranged in triangular planes. An effective moment of 4.82 μ _B/f.u is observed and competing antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interactions between Mn ions are inferred from the Weiss temperature of −4 K and the ferrimagnetic ordering transition of approximately 42 K. Ba₄NbMn₃O₁₂ is a semiconductor with a transport activation energy of 0.37 eV. (paper)

[en] Recently, a very strong correlation between the central surface density of stars and dynamical mass in 135 disk galaxies has been obtained. It has been shown that this central-surface-densities relation agrees very well with Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). In this article, we show that if we assume the baryons have an isothermal distribution and dark matter exists, then it is possible to derive by means of the Jeans equation an analytic central-surface-densities relation connecting dark matter and baryons that agrees with the observed relation. We find that the observed central-surface-densities relation can also be accommodated in the context of dark matter provided the latter is described by an isothermal profile. Therefore, the observed relation is consistent with not only MOND. (paper)

[en] Highlights: • TmMgGaO₄ crystallizes in the R-3m space group with the YbFe₂O₄ structure. • TmMgGaO₄ exhibits geometric magnetic frustration with no ordering down to 1.8 K. • Magnetic properties of TmMgGaO₄ are highly anisotropic. - Abstract: The crystal growth, structure, and basic magnetic properties of TmMgGaO₄ are reported. The Tm ions are located in a planar triangular lattice consisting of distorted TmO₆ octahedra, while the Mg and Ga atoms randomly occupy intermediary bilayers of M-O triangular bipyramids. The Tm ions are positionally disordered. The material displays an antiferromagnetic Curie Weiss theta of ∼−20 −25 K, with no clear ordering visible in the magnetic susceptibility down to 1.8 K; the structure and magnetic properties suggest that ordering of the magnetic moments is frustrated by both structural disorder and the triangular magnetic motif. Single crystal magnetization measurements indicate that the magnetic properties are highly anisotropic, with large moments measured perpendicular to the triangular planes. At 2 K, a broad step-like feature is seen in the field-dependent magnetization perpendicular to the plane on applied field near 2 T.

[en] We report measurements of ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectra for RFe₂Zn₂₀ (R = Lu, Yb, Gd) from  ∼4.5 K to room temperature. The obtained isomer shift values are very similar for all three compounds, their temperature dependence was analyzed within the Debye model and resulted in an estimate of the Debye temperatures of 450–500 K. The values of quadrupole splitting at room temperature change with the cubic lattice constant a in a linear fashion. For GdFe₂Zn₂₀, ferromagnetic order is seen as an appearance of a sextet in the spectra. The ⁵⁷Fe site hyperfine field for $T\to <!--\; ???\; -->0$ was evaluated to be  ∼2.4 T. (paper)

[en] We study the evolution of the Kondo effect in heavy fermion compounds, Yb(Fe_1_-_xCo_x)_2Zn_2_0 (0 ≲ x ≲ 1), by means of temperature-dependent electric resistivity and speci c heat. The ground state of YbFe_2Zn_2_0 can be well described by a Kondo model with degeneracy N = 8 and a T_K ~30 K. In the presence of a very similar total CEF splitting with YbFe_2Zn_2_0, the ground state of YbCo_2Zn_2_0 is close to a Kondo state with degeneracy N = 2 and a much lower TK ~ 2 K. Upon Co substitution, the coherence temperature of YbFe_2Zn_2_0 is suppressed, accompanied by an emerging Schottky-like feature in speci c heat associated with the thermal depopulation of CEF levels upon cooling. For 0.4 ≲ x ≲ 0.9, the ground state remains roughly the same which can be qualitatively understood by Kondo effect in the presence of CEF splitting. There is no clear indication of Kondo coherence observable in resistivity within this substitution range down to 500 mK. The coherence re-appears at around x≳ 0.9 and the coherence temperature increases with higher Co concentration levels.

[en] We report that the partial substitution of Cu for Co has a significant impact on the magnetic properties of the Heusler-phase Weyl fermion candidate ZrCo₂Sn. Polycrystalline samples of ZrCo_2−xCu_xSn (x  =  0.0–1.0) exhibited a linearly decreasing ferromagnetic transition temperature and similarly decreasing saturated magnetic moment on increasing Cu substitution x. Materials with Cu contents near x  =  1 and several other quaternary materials synthesized at the same x (ZrCoTʹSn (Tʹ  =  Rh, Pd, Ni)) display what appears to be non-ferromagnetic magnetization behavior with spin glass characteristics. Electronic structure calculations suggest that the half-metallic nature of unsubstituted ZrCo₂Sn is disrupted significantly by the Cu substitutions, leading to the breakdown of the magnetization versus electron count guidelines usually followed by Heusler phases, and a more typical metallic non-spin-polarized electronic structure at high x. (paper)

[en] The main aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using soybean meal added with papain to replace half of the fishmeal used in the moist pellets (49% fishmeal and 45% trash fish) developed by the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) for culturing marine fish. Gold-lined seabream (Rhabdosargus sarba), brown spotted grouper (Epinephelus bleekeri) and pompano (Trachinotus blochii) were farmed at one of the research stations (Kat-O) of AFCD, for a period of 340 days. Results indicated that diets containing papain resulted in better fish growth (reflected by relative weight gain and feed conversion ratio) than diets without papain. In general, wet weight gain of fish depends on the amount of papain added in diet rather than the diet composition. Soybean used in conjunction with papain also contributed to a more effective growth than fish fed with the moist pellets alone. A laboratory experiment (using tanks) was conducted to study the effects of the diets on concentrations of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the tank water. Results showed that concentrations of ammonia and nitrate were significantly lower (p < 0.05) when the fish were fed with papain-supplemented (with or without soybean meal) diets. It is envisaged that by using plant protein incorporated with enzymes could promote better growth of marine fish and lower the adverse impact of trash fish and fishmeal on water quality of the mariculture zones. - Highlights: • Diets containing papain resulted in better fish growth than diets without papain. • Significant correlation between percentage fish growth and papain concentration. • Soybean with papain could replace fishmeal and enhance fish growth. - Incorporating papain into diets with soybean meal to replace half of the fishmeal used in the moist pellets could result in better fish growth.