ElsevierCampos Beneyto, L.; Granell Albert, P.; Tarraga Herrero, S.; López Gresa, MP.; Conejero Tomás, V.; Belles Albert, JM.; Rodrigo Bravo, I.... (2014) AbstractWe have observed that treatments with salicylic acid (SA) or gentisic acid (GA) induced resistance to RNA pathogens such as ToMV and CEVd in tomato and Gynura auriantiaca, respectively. Accumulation of SA and GA has been found to occur in plants infected by these pathogens, thus pointing out a possible defence role of both molecules. To study the molecular basis of the observed induced resistance to RNA pathogens the induction of silencing-related genes by SA and GA was considered. For that purpose, we searched for tomato genes which were orthologous to those described in Arabidopsis thaliana, such as AtDCL1, AtDCL2, AtDCL4, AtRDR1, AtRDR2 and AtRDR6, and we tracked their induction in tomato along virus and viroid infections. We observed that CEVd significantly induced all these genes in tomato, with the exception of ToRDR6, being the induction of ToDCL4 the most outstanding. Regarding the ToMV asymptomatic infection, with the exception of ToRDR2, we observed a significant induction of all the indicated silencing-related genes, being ToDCL2 the most induced gene. Subsequently, we analyzed their transcriptional activation by SA and at the time when ToMV was inoculated on plants. ToDCL2, ToRDR1 and ToRDR2 were significantly induced by both SA and GA, whereas ToDCL1 was only induced by SA. Such an induction resulted more effective by SA treatment, which is in agreement with the stronger SA-induced resistance observed. Our results suggest that the observed delay in the RNA pathogen accumulation could be due to the pre-induction of RNA silencing-related genes by SA or GA. Highlights-Treatments with salicylic acid or gentisic acid induce resistance to RNA pathogens -Induction of tomato silencing-related genes by RNA pathogen infections is studied -Induction of RNA silencing by SA or GA treatments is analysed in tomato plants -New connexions between RNA silencing and the SA or GA response are proposed

Being a facet of flexible electronics, mechanically reshapeable magnetic field sensorics enable novel device ideas for soft robotics, interactive devices for virtual-and augmented reality and point of care diagnostics. These applications demand mechanically compliant yet robust sensor devices revealing high sensitivity to small magnetic fields. To push the detection limit of highly compliant and linear magnetic field sensors to be in the sub-µT range, we explore a new fundamental concept for magnetic field sensing, namely the planar Hall effect in magnetic thin films. With their remarkable bendability down to 1 mm, these compliant planar Hall effect sensors allow for an efficient detection of magnetic fields as small as 200 nT with a limit of detection of 20 nT. We demonstrate the application potential of these devices as a direction (angle) as well as proximity (distance) sensors of tiny magnetic fields emanating from magnetically functionalized objects. With their intrinsic linearity and simplicity of fabrication, these compliant planar Hall effect sensors have the potential to become a standard solution for low field applications of shapeable magnetoelectronics in point of care applications and on-skin interactive electronics.

We study the crystalline structure and superconducting properties of -Mo 2 N thin films grown by reactive DC sputtering on AlN buffered Si (001) substrates. The films were grown at room temperature. The microstructure of the films, which was studied by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, shows a single-phase with nanometric grains textured along the (200) direction. The films exhibit highly uniform thickness in areas larger than 20 x 20 m 2. The superconducting critical temperature T c is suppressed from 6.6 K to ≈ 3.0 K when the thickness decreases from 40 nm to 5 nm. The residual-resistivity ratio is slightly smaller than 1 for all the films, which indicates very short electronic mean free path. The films are in the superconducting dirty limit with upper critical field H c2 (0) ≈ 12 T for films with thickness of 40 nm, and 9 T for films with thickness of 10 nm. In addition, from the critical current densities J c in the vortex-free state, we estimate a penetration depth (0) ≈ (800  50) nm and a thermodynamic critical field H c (0) = (500  80 Oe).

We report on the influence of oxygen stoichiometry on the vortex creep mechanism of GdBa2Cu3Ox-coated conductors produced by co-evaporation. The oxygen stoichiometry of the films, x, was modified in a controlled way between 6.85 and 7, which resulted in systematic and reversible control of the superconducting critical temperature between about 78 and 93 K. The change in the oxygen stoichiometry produces a strong reduction in the self-field critical current densities Jc without significantly modifying the power-law dependence at intermediate magnetic fields, which indicates a negligible contribution of oxygen vacancies to the pinning. In addition, the characteristic glassy exponent μ shows a systematic diminution from about 1.63 at x = 7 to about 1.12 at x = 6.85. The results are compared with those obtained for proton- and oxygen-irradiated films, in which the vortex dynamics is determined by a balance between the improved pinning, originating from nanocluster inclusion, and the suppressed superconducting properties due to disorder in the nanoscale.

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We report on non-volatile memory devices based on multifunctional manganites. The electric field induced resistive switching of Ti/La 1/3 Ca 2/3 MnO 3 /n-Si devices is explored using different measurement protocols. We show that using current as the electrical stimulus (instead of standard voltage-controlled protocols) improves the electrical performance of our devices and unveils an intermediate resistance state. We observe three discrete resistance levels (low, intermediate and high), which can be set either by the application of current-voltage ramps or by means of single pulses. These states exhibit retention and endurance capabilities exceeding 10 4 s and 70 cycles, respectively. We rationalize our experimental observations by proposing a mixed scenario were a metallic filament and a SiO x layer coexist, accounting for the observed resistive switching. Overall electrode area dependence and temperature dependent resistance measurements support our scenario. After device failure takes place, the system can be turned functional again by heating up to low temperature (120ºC), a feature that could be exploited for the design of memristive devices with self-healing functionality. These results give insight into the existence of multiple resistive switching mechanisms in manganite-based memristive systems and provide strategies for controlling them.

The hysteretic conduction characteristics and fatigue profile of La 1/3 Ca 2/3 MnO 3 (LCMO)-based memristive devices were investigated. The oxide films were grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and sandwiched between Ag and Pt electrodes. The devices exhibit bipolar resistive switching (RS) effect with well-defined intermediate conduction states that arise from partial SET and RESET events. The current-voltage curves are modeled and simulated using a compact memristive approach. Two equations are considered: one for the electron transport based on the double-diode equation and the other for the memory state of the device driven by the play operator with logistic ridge functions. An expression that accounts for the remnant resistance of the device is obtained after simplifying the model equations in the low-voltage limit. The role played by the power dissipation in the LCMO reset dynamics as well as the asymmetrical reduction of the resistance window caused by long trains of switching pulses are discussed.

We report the critical current densities Jc and flux creep rates in a 2 μm thick SmBa2Cu3O7–δ coated conductor produced by co-evaporation. The sample presents strong pinning produced by correlated disorder (CD) (boundaries between growth islands, dislocations and twin boundaries) as well as random nanoparticles. Correlated pinning along the c-axis was evidenced due to the appearance of a large peak in the angular critical current, centered at H║c. The analysis of the critical current density Jc (with the magnetic field applied parallel (H║c) and at 45° of the c-axis (H║45°)) indicates that CD assists pinning throughout the temperature range. For all temperatures and at both angles the in-field dependence of Jc exhibits a power-law behavior. The contribution of CD drops when the field is rotated to intermediate angles between the c axis and a–b axis (i. e. H║45°), which derives in a reduction of the absolute Jc value and poorer in-field dependences. The flux creep rate depends on the angle and its values remain approximately constant within the power-law regime. For H║c and H║45° and for magnetic fields lower than 20 kOe, the flux relaxation presents characterizing glassy exponents μ = 1.70 and μ = 1.32, respectively.