Giant multiple caloric effects in charge transition ferrimagnet.

Caloric effects of solids can provide us with innovative refrigeration systems more efficient and environment-friendly than the widely-used conventional vapor-compression cooling systems. Exploring novel caloric materials is challenging but critically important in developing future technologies. Here we discovered that the quadruple perovskite structure ferrimagnet BiCuCrO shows large multiple caloric effects at the first-order charge transition occurring around 190 K.

Stroke incidence and usage rate of thrombolysis in a Japanese urban city: the Kurashiki stroke registry.

Background: To investigate stroke incidence and rate of thrombolytic therapy in an urban city of around 500,000 residents.

Methods: Patients suffering acute stroke in Kurashiki City (population 474,415) between March 2009 and February 2010 (inclusive) and admitted to 1 of 10 hospitals throughout the city were prospectively enrolled.

Results: We enrolled patients with first-ever stroke (n = 763; men 415; median age 72 years) and first-ever/recurrent stroke (n = 1009; men 552; median age 73 years).

Magnetic and dielectric properties of InFe2O4, InFeCuO4, and InGaCuO4.

The magnetic and dielectric properties of InFe2O4, InFeCuO4, and InGaCuO4 have been investigated. All these materials are isostructural with RFe2O4 (R = Y, Ho-Lu), which shows ferroelectricity due to iron-valence ordering. InFe2O4 exhibits ferrimagnetic ordering at T(C) approximately 242 K and a dielectric constant (epsilon) of approximately 10,000 at around room temperature.

Ferroelectricity from iron valence ordering in the charge-frustrated system LuFe2O4.

Ferroelectric materials are widely used in modern electric devices such as memory elements, filtering devices and high-performance insulators. Ferroelectric crystals have a spontaneous electric polarization arising from the coherent arrangement of electric dipoles (specifically, a polar displacement of anions and cations). First-principles calculations and electron density analysis of ferroelectric materials have revealed that the covalent bond between the anions and cations, or the orbital hybridization of electrons on both ions, plays a key role in establishing the dipolar arrangement.