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Magnetic entropy change of La0.75Ca0.25MnO3 with different particle size has been investigated. Magnetic entropy change ∼4.7 J/kg K larger than that of Gd has been observed at 224 K under a magnetic field of 1.5 T in comparatively big particles. This phenomenon of large magnetic entropy change indicates that the perovskite-type manganese oxides have potential applications for magnetic refrigerants in high temperature.

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In perovskite manganites La0.7−xNdxCa0.3MnO3 (x=0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.20) prepared by the sol–gel technique, large magnetocaloric effects have been observed. The maximum of the magnetic entropy change peaks at the magnetic ordering temperature. Compared to La0.7Ca0.3MnO3, an enhancement of the magnetocaloric effect has been obtained in the samples with Nd3+ dopant (for La0.5Nd0.2Ca0.3MnO3, the maximum of ΔSM is about −2.31 J/kg K).

Objective: This study aimed to explore alterations in the topological properties of the functional brain network in primary Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with freezing of gait (PD-FOG). Methods: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (Rs-fMRI) data were obtained in 23 PD-FOG patients, 33 PD patients without FOG (PD-nFOG), and 24 healthy control (HC) participants. The whole-brain functional connectome was constructed by thresholding the Pearson correlation matrices of 90 brain regions, and topological properties were analyzed by using graph theory approaches. The networkbased statistics (NBS) method was used to determine the suprathreshold connected edges (P < 0.05; threshold T = 2.725), and statistical significance was estimated by using the non-parametric permutation method (5,000 permutations). Statistically significant topological properties were further evaluated for their relationship with clinical neurological scales. Results: The topological properties of the functional brain network in PD-FOG and PD-nFOG showed no abnormalities at the global level. However, compared with HCs, PD-FOG patients showed decreased nodal local efficiency in several brain regions, including the bilateral striatum, frontoparietal areas, visual cortex, and bilateral superior temporal gyrus, increased nodal local efficiency in the left gyrus rectus. When compared with PD-nFOG patients and HCs, PD-FOG showed increased betweenness centrality in the left hippocampus. Moreover, compared to HCs, both PD-FOG and PD-nFOG patients displayed reduced network connections by using the NBS method, mainly involving the sensorimotor cortex (SM), visual network (VN), default mode network (DMN), auditory network (AN), dorsal attention network (DAN), subcortical regions, and limbic network (LIM). The local node efficiency of the right temporal pole: superior temporal gyrus in PD-FOG patients was positively correlated with the Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (FOGQ) scores.

A tunneling-type magnetoresistance (MR) as large as 158% is observed at T = 300 K in a polycrystalline Zn0.41Fe2.59O4 sample, in which the Zn0.41Fe2.59O4 grains are separated by insulating alpha-Fe2O3 boundaries. The huge room-temperature MR is attributed to the high spin polarization of Zn(0.41)Fe(2.59)O4 grains and antiferromagnetic correlations between magnetic domains on both sides of the insulating alpha-Fe2O3 boundary. The MR exhibits strong temperature dependence below 100 K and its magnitude is enhanced to reach 1280% at 4.2 K, which may arise from the Coulomb blockade effect.

We have determined the dependence of exchange coupling on the antiferromagnetic layer thickness (tAF) in FeMn/NiFe bilayers, where the FeMn layer varies from 0.5 to 32 nm, and the NiFe is constant at 30 nm. For tAF&gt;3 nm, the exchange field Hex varies as (1/tAF)0.3 at both 80 and 300 K, whereas the coercivity is insensitive to tAF. The value of Hex displays a simple angular dependence of cos θ.