Critical current performances of state-of-the-art Zr-added (Gd, Y)BaCuO tapes have been investigated over a temperature range of 20-77 K, in magnetic fields up to 9 T and over a wide angular range of magnetic field orientations. The peak in critical current that is commonly observed in the field orientation perpendicular to the tape in BaZrO 3 (BZO) containing superconducting tapes is found to vanish at 30 K in magnetic fields at 1-9 T. While the critical current of 15% Zr-added tapes was about 40% lower than that of 7.5% Zr-added tapes at 77 K, the pinning force values of the former were found to be 18-23% higher than those of the latter in the temperature range of 20-40 K and in magnetic fields of 3-5 T. The results from this study emphasize the importance of optimization of coated conductor fabrication processes for optimum performance not just in low magnetic fields at 77 K but also at the operating conditions of low temperatures and high magnetic fields that are of interest, especially for rotating superconducting machinery applications.

Critical current (I c ) values of 1384 A/12 mm, corresponding to a critical current density of 12.47 MA cm −2 and a pinning force of 374 GN m −3 , have been achieved at 30 K, 3 T in the orientation of field parallel to the c axis (B c) in (Gd, Y)BaCuO tapes with 15 mol% Zr addition made by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). These tapes show pinning force levels as high as 453 GN m −3 at 30 K. An analysis of the properties of 24-28 (Gd, Y)BaCuO tapes with 15 mol% Zr addition showed a lack of correlation between their critical currents at 30 K, 3 T (B c) and I c values both at 77 K, zero field and at 77 K, 1 T (B c). However, a strong correlation was found between the critical currents at 30 K, 3 T and at 77 K, 3 T (B c). It has also been discovered that the minimum critical current (I c,min ) value at 77 K, 3 T has no influence on the I c,min value at 30 K, 3 T, and it in turn depends on the ratio of the I c values in the orientations of field parallel and perpendicular to the c axis at 77 K, 3 T.

The cancer stem cell (CSC) theory depicts a special population within the cancer mass that self-renew and sustain the cancer, even if the other cells were eliminated by therapies. How CSCs acquire these unique traits is still unclear. Crumbs homolog 3 (CRB3), a member of the CRB polarity complex, has been reported to act as a tumor suppressor. Here, we detected significantly lower or negative CRB3 expression in human breast cancer tissues. Knockdown of CRB3 generated non-tumorigenic, immortalized breast epithelial cell line MCF 10A with CSC properties. Simultaneously, we found that CRB3 downregulation induced the epithelial–mesenchymal transition and activated TAZ (transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif) and β-catenin. Significantly, the activation of TAZ and β-catenin sufficed in conferring MCF 10A cells with CSC properties. This study demonstrates that cell polarity proteins may serve as a switch of the differentiated vs multipotent states in breast cancers.