2,919 research outputs found
Optimizing photon indistinguishability in the emission from incoherently-excited semiconductor quantum dots
Most optical quantum devices require deterministic single-photon emitters.
Schemes so far demonstrated in the solid state imply an energy relaxation which
tends to spoil the coherent nature of the time evolution, and with it the
photon indistinguishability. We focus our theoretical investigation on
semiconductor quantum dots embedded in microcavities. Simple and general
relations are identified between the photon indistinguishability and the
collection efficiency. The identification of the key parameters and of their
interplay provides clear indications for the device optimization
Optimizing CIGB-300 intralesional delivery in locally advanced cervical cancer
Background:We conducted a phase 1 trial in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer by injecting 0.5 ml of the CK2-antagonist CIGB-300 in two different sites on tumours to assess tumour uptake, safety, pharmacodynamic activity and identify the recommended dose.Methods:Fourteen patients were treated with intralesional injections containing 35 or 70 mg of CIGB-300 in three alternate cycles of three consecutive days each before standard chemoradiotherapy. Tumour uptake was determined using 99 Tc-radiolabelled peptide. In situ B23/nucleophosmin was determined by immunohistochemistry.Results:Maximum tumour uptake for CIGB-300 70-mg dose was significantly higher than the one observed for 35 mg: 16.1±8.9 vs 31.3±12.9 mg (P=0.01). Both, AUC 24h and biological half-life were also significantly higher using 70 mg of CIGB-300 (P<0.001). Unincorporated CIGB-300 diffused rapidly to blood and was mainly distributed towards kidneys, and marginally in liver, lungs, heart and spleen. There was no DLT and moderate allergic-like reactions were the most common systemic side effect with strong correlation between unincorporated CIGB-300 and histamine levels in blood. CIGB-300, 70 mg, downregulated B23/nucleophosmin (P=0.03) in tumour specimens.Conclusion:Intralesional injections of 70 mg CIGB-300 in two sites (0.5 ml per injection) and this treatment plan are recommended to be evaluated in phase 2 studies.Fil: Sarduy, M. R.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: García, I.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Coca, M. A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Perera, A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Torres, L. A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Valenzuela, C. M.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Baladrón, I.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Solares, M.. Hospital Materno Ramón González Coro; CubaFil: Reyes, V.. Center For Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology Havana; CubaFil: Hernández, I.. Isotope Center; CubaFil: Perera, Y.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Martínez, Y. M.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: Molina, L.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: González, Y. M.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: Ancízar, J. A.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Prats, A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: González, L.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Casacó, C. A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Acevedo, B. E.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: López Saura, P. A.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Alonso, Daniel Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; ArgentinaFil: Gómez, R.. Elea Laboratories; ArgentinaFil: Perea Rodríguez, S. E.. Center For Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology Havana; Cuba. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; Cub
Forming first-ranked early-type galaxies through hierarchical dissipationless merging
We have developed a computationally competitive N-body model of a
previrialized aggregation of galaxies in a flat LambdaCDM universe to assess
the role of the multiple mergers that take place during the formation stage of
such systems in the configuration of the remnants assembled at their centres.
An analysis of a suite of 48 simulations of low-mass forming groups (of about
1E13 solar masses) demonstrates that the gravitational dynamics involved in
their hierarchical collapse is capable of creating realistic first-ranked
galaxies without the aid of dissipative processes. Our simulations indicate
that the brightest group galaxies (BGGs) constitute a distinct population from
other group members, sketching a scenario in which the assembly path of these
objects is dictated largely by the formation of their host system. We detect
significant differences in the distribution of Sersic indices and total
magnitudes, as well as a luminosity gap between BGGs and the next brightest
galaxy that is positively correlated with the total luminosity of the parent
group. Such gaps arise from both the grow of BGGs at the expense of lesser
companions and the decrease in the relevance of second-ranked objects in equal
measure. This results in a dearth of intermediate-mass galaxies which explains
the characteristic central dip detected in their luminosity functions in
dynamically young galaxy aggregations. The fact that the basic global
properties of our BGGs define a thin mass fundamental plane strikingly similar
to that followed giant early-type galaxies in the local universe reinforces
confidence in the results obtained.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables. Accepted to MNRA
Seyfert's Sextet: A Slowly Dissolving Stephan's Quintet?
We present a multiwavelength study of the highly evolved compact galaxy group
known as Seyfert's Sextet (HCG79: SS). We interpret SS as a 2-3 Gyr more
evolved analog of Stephan's Quintet (HCG92: SQ). We postulate that SS formed by
sequential acquisition of 4-5 primarily late-type field galaxies. Four of the
five galaxies show an early-type morphology which is likely the result of
secular evolution driven by gas stripping. Stellar stripping has produced a
massive/luminous halo and embedded galaxies that are overluminous for their
size. These are interpreted as remnant bulges of the accreted spirals. H79d
could be interpreted as the most recent intruder being the only galaxy with an
intact ISM and uncertain evidence for tidal perturbation. In addition to
stripping activity we find evidence for past accretion events. H79b (NGC6027)
shows a strong counter-rotating emission line component interpreted as an
accreted dwarf spiral. H79a shows evidence for an infalling component of gas
representing feedback or possible cross fueling by H79d. The biggest challenge
to this scenario involves the low gas fraction in the group. If SS formed from
normal field spirals then much of the gas is missing. Finally, despite its
advanced stage of evolution, we find no evidence for major mergers and infer
that SS (and SQ) are telling us that such groups coalesce via slow dissolution.Comment: 70 pages, 19 figures, 15 tables - accepted for publication in the
Astronomical Journa
Overview of VideoCLEF 2009: New perspectives on speech-based multimedia content enrichment
VideoCLEF 2009 offered three tasks related to enriching video content for improved multimedia access in a multilingual environment. For each task, video data (Dutch-language television, predominantly documentaries) accompanied by speech recognition transcripts were provided.
The Subject Classification Task involved automatic tagging of videos with subject theme labels. The best performance was achieved by approaching subject tagging as an information retrieval task and using both speech recognition transcripts and archival metadata. Alternatively, classifiers were trained using either the training data provided or data collected from Wikipedia or via general Web search. The Affect Task involved detecting narrative peaks, defined as points where viewers perceive heightened dramatic tension. The task was carried out on the “Beeldenstorm” collection containing 45 short-form documentaries on the visual arts. The best runs exploited affective vocabulary and audience directed speech. Other approaches included using topic changes, elevated speaking pitch, increased speaking intensity and radical visual changes. The Linking Task, also called “Finding Related Resources Across Languages,” involved linking video to material on the same subject in a different language.
Participants were provided with a list of multimedia anchors (short video segments) in the Dutch-language “Beeldenstorm” collection and were expected to return target pages drawn from English-language Wikipedia. The best performing methods used the transcript of the
speech spoken during the multimedia anchor to build a query to search an index of the Dutch language Wikipedia. The Dutch Wikipedia pages returned were used to identify related English pages. Participants also experimented with pseudo-relevance feedback, query translation and methods that targeted proper names
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