Thermal entanglement in a triple quantum dot system

We present studies of thermal entanglement of a three-spin system in triangular symmetry. Spin correlations are described within an effective Heisenberg Hamiltonian, derived from the Hubbard Hamiltonian, with super-exchange couplings modulated by an effective electric field. Additionally a homogenous magnetic field is applied to completely break the degeneracy of the system. We show that entanglement is generated in the subspace of doublet states with different pairwise spin correlations for the ground and excited states. At low temperatures thermal mixing between the doublets with the same spin destroys entanglement, however one can observe its restoration at higher temperatures due to the mixing of the states with an opposite spin orientation or with quadruplets (unentangled states) always destroys entanglement. Pairwise entanglement is quantified using concurrence for which analytical formulae are derived in various thermal mixing scenarios. The electric field plays a specific role -- it breaks the symmetry of the system and changes spin correlations. Rotating the electric field can create maximally entangled qubit pairs together with a separate spin (monogamy) that survives in a relatively wide temperature range providing robust pairwise entanglement generation at elevated temperatures.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted in Eur. Phys. J.

The ecclesial notion of 'family' versus authentic families today : evaluation of the initial findings of the 2014 Synod of Catholic Bishops

The traditional institution of the family within Roman Catholic Christianity and Christianity in general is in an invidious position in contemporary society, partly because it lacks an agreed definition in a fluid global context. The church is an institution in which families subsist and which both needs and bolsters the family unit for its own existence and stability. However, all major churches seem to be stuck in outdated traditional modes of understanding which are exclusive and cause great distress to many who do not conform to them. The Roman Catholic Church has recently inaugurated a discussion of pastoral challenges currently facing family life. This is an attempt to evaluate critically its initial findings through deconstructing the traditional notion of family on which the Church teaching seems to rely.http://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/index.php/stjam2016Church History and Church Polic

Generation-dependent charge carrier transport in Cu(In,Ga)Se 2/CdS/ZnO thin-film solar-cells

The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 113.4 (2013): 044515 and may be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/113/4/10.1063/1.4788827Cross section electron-beam induced current (EBIC) and illumination- dependent current voltage (IV) measurements show that charge carrier transport in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe)/CdS/ZnO solar-cells is generation-dependent. We perform a detailed analysis of CIGSe solar cells with different CdS layer thicknesses and varying Ga-content in the absorber layer. In conjunction with numerical simulations, EBIC and IV data are used to develop a consistent model for charge and defect distributions with a focus on the heterojunction region. The best model to explain our experimental data is based on a p+ layer at the CIGSe/CdS interface leading to generation-dependent transport in EBIC at room temperature. Acceptor-type defect states at the CdS/ZnO interface cause a significant reduction of the photocurrent in the red-light illuminated IV characteristics at low temperatures (red kink effect). Shallow donor-type defect states at the p+ layer/CdS interface of some grains of the absorber layer are responsible for grain specific, i.e., spatially inhomogeneous, charge carrier transport observed in EBIC

Capacitance spectroscopy of thin film formamidinium lead iodide based perovskite solar cells

This work concerns the interpretation of capacitance spectroscopy results in perovskite based solar cells. Based on the deep level transient spectroscopy and admittance spectroscopy results, we present arguments that the observable signals in perovskite based solar cells come from anion migration rather than being a response from deep trap energy levels. The ion migration parameters, such as activation energy and ion concentration, are calculated and compared to theoretical values for different migration paths of ions in perovskites. Those parameters evolve with time, reflecting in the degradation of the cells, which we propose to link with a change in the anion migration path in perovskit

Vacancy defects in epitaxial thin film CuGaSe2 and CuInSe2

Epitaxial thin film CuGaSe2 and CuInSe2 samples grown on GaAs substrates with varying [Cu]/[Ga,In] ratios were studied using positron annihilation Doppler-broadening spectroscopy and were compared to bulk crystals. We find both Cu monovacancies and Cu-Se divacancies in CuInSe2, whereas, in CuGaSe2, the only observed vacancy defect is the Cu-Se divacancy.Peer reviewe

synthesis biological evaluation and molecular docking studies of new amides of 4 chlorothiocolchicine as anticancer agents

Abstract Colchicine belongs to a large group of microtubule polymerization inhibitors. Although the anti-cancer activity of colchicine and its derivatives has been established, none of them has found commercial application in cancer treatment due to side effects. Therefore, we designed and synthesized a series of six triple-modified 4-chlorothiocolchicine analogues with amide moieties and one urea derivative. These novel derivatives were tested against several different cancer cell lines (A549, MCF-7, LoVo, LoVo/DX) and primary acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells and they showed activity in the nanomolar range. The obtained IC50 values for novel derivatives were lower than those obtained for unmodified colchicine and common anticancer drugs such as doxorubicin and cisplatin. Further studies of colchicine and selected analogues were undertaken to indicate that they induced apoptotic cell death in ALL-5 cells. We also performed in silico studies to predict binding modes of the 4-chlorothiocolchicine derivatives to different β tubulin isotypes. The results indicate that select triple-modified 4-chlorothiocolchicine derivatives represent highly promising novel cancer chemotherapeutics

Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking studies of new amides of 4-bromothiocolchicine as anticancer agents

Abstract Colchicine is the major alkaloid isolated from the plant Colchicum autumnale, which shows strong therapeutic effects towards different types of cancer. However, due to the toxicity of colchicine towards normal cells its application is limited. To address this issue we synthesized a series of seven triple-modified 4-bromothiocolchicine analogues with amide moieties. These novel derivatives were active in the nanomolar range against several different cancer cell lines and primary acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells, specifically compounds: 5 – 9 against primary ALL-5 (IC50 = 5.3 – 14 nM), 5, 7– 9 against A549 (IC50 = 10 nM), 5, 7 – 9 against MCF-7 (IC50 = 11 nM), 5 – 9 against LoVo (IC50 = 7 – 12 nM), and 5, 7 – 9 against LoVo/DX (IC50 = 48 – 87 nM). These IC50 values were lower than those obtained for unmodified colchicine and common anticancer drugs such as doxorubicin and cisplatin. Further studies revealed that colchicine and selected analogues induced characteristics of apoptotic cell death but manifested their effects in different phases of the cell cycle in MCF-7 versus ALL-5 cells. Specifically, while colchicine and the studied derivatives arrested MCF-7 cells in mitosis, very little mitotically arrested ALL-5 cells were observed, suggesting effects were manifest instead in interphase. We also developed an in silico model of the mode of binding of these compounds to their primary target, β-tubulin. We conducted a correlation analysis (linear regression) between the calculated binding energies of colchicine derivatives and their anti-proliferative activity, and determined that the obtained correlation coefficients strongly depend on the type of cells used

The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. VLT/FORS2 Spectroscopy in the GOODS-South Field: Part III

Aims. We present the full data set of the spectroscopic campaign of the ESO/GOODS program in the GOODS-South field, obtained with the FORS2 spectrograph at the ESO/VLT. Method. Objects were selected as candidates for VLT/FORS2 observations primarily based on the expectation that the detection and measurement of their spectral features would benefit from the high throughput and spectral resolution of FORS2. The reliability of the redshift estimates is assessed using the redshift-magnitude and color-redshift diagrams, and comparing the results with public data. Results. Including the third part of the spectroscopic campaign (12 masks) to the previous work (26 masks, Vanzella et al. 2005, 2006), 1715 spectra of 1225 individual targets have been analyzed. The actual spectroscopic catalog provides 887 redshift determinations. The typical redshift uncertainty is estimated to be sigma(z) ~ 0.001. Galaxies have been selected adopting different color criteria and using photometric redshifts. The resulting redshift distribution typically spans two domains: from z=0.5 to 2 and z=3.5 to 6.3. The reduced spectra and the derived redshifts are released to the community through the ESO web page http://www.eso.org/science/goods/Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Data are available at http://www.eso.org/science/goods

Faint extended Lyalpha emission due to star formation at the centre of high-column density QSO absorption systems

We use detailed Lyalpha radiative transfer calculations to further test the claim of Rauch et al. (2008) that they have detected spatially extended faint Lyalpha emission from the elusive host population of Damped Lyalpha Absorption systems (DLAs) in their recent ultra-deep spectroscopic survey. We investigate the spatial and spectral distribution of Lyalpha emission due to star-formation at the centre of DLAs, and its dependence on the spatial and velocity structure of the gas. Our model simultaneously reproduces the observed properties of DLAs and the faint Lyalpha emitters, including the velocity width and column density distribution of DLAs and the large spatial extent of the emission of the faint emitters. Our modelling confirms previous suggestions that DLAs are predominately hosted by Dark Matter (DM) halos in the mass range 10^{9.5}-10^{12} M_sun, and are thus of significantly lower mass than those inferred for L_* Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs). Our modelling suggests that DM halos hosting DLAs retain up to 20% of the cosmic baryon fraction in the form of neutral hydrogen, and that star formation at the centre of the halos is responsible for the faint Lyalpha emission. The scattering of a significant fraction of the Lyalpha emission to the observed radii, which can be as large as 50 kpc or more, requires the amplitude of the bulk motions of the gas at the centre of the halos to be moderate. The observed space density and size distribution of the emitters together with the incidence rate of DLAs suggests that the Lyalpha emission due to star formation has a duty cycle of ~ 25%.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Teratoma formation of human embryonic stem cells in three-dimensional perfusion culture bioreactors

Teratoma formation in mice is today the most stringent test for pluripotency that is available for human pluripotent cells, as chimera formation and tetraploid complementation cannot be performed with human cells. The teratoma assay could also be applied for assessing the safety of human pluripotent cell-derived cell populations intended for therapeutic applications. In our study we examined the spontaneous differentiation behaviour of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in a perfused 3D multi-compartment bioreactor system and compared it with differentiation of hESCs and human induced pluripotent cells (hiPSCs) cultured in vitro as embryoid bodies and in vivo in an experimental mouse model of teratoma formation. Results from biochemical, histological/immunohistological and ultrastuctural analyses revealed that hESCs cultured in bioreactors formed tissue-like structures containing derivatives of all three germ layers. Comparison with embryoid bodies and the teratomas revealed a high degree of similarity of the tissues formed in the bioreactor to these in the teratomas at the histological as well as transcriptional level, as detected by comparative whole-genome RNA expression profiling. The 3D culture system represents a novel in vitro model that permits stable long-term cultivation, spontaneous multi-lineage differentiation and tissue formation of pluripotent cells that is comparable to in vivo differentiation. Such a model is of interest, e.g. for the development of novel cell differentiation strategies. In addition, the 3D in vitro model could be used for teratoma studies and pluripotency assays in a fully defined, controlled environment, alternatively to in vivo mouse models. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd