Many-body localization in continuum systems: two-dimensional bosons

We demonstrate that many-body localization of two-dimensional weakly interacting bosons in disorder remains stable in the thermodynamic limit at sufficiently low temperatures. Highly energetic particles destroy the localized state only above a critical temperature, which increases with the strength of the disorder. If the particle distribution is truncated at high energies, as it does for cold atom systems, the localization can be stable at any temperature.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Ratio of weight to height gain: a useful tool for identifying children at risk of becoming overweight or obese at preschool age

PURPOSE: To analyze the usefulness of the weight gain/height gain ratio from birth to two and three years of age as a predictive risk indicator of excess weight at preschool age. METHODS: The weight and height/length of 409 preschool children at daycare centers were measured according to internationally recommended rules. The weight values and body mass indices of the children were transformed into a z-score per the standard method described by the World Health Organization. The Pearson correlation coefficients (rP) and the linear regressions between the anthropometric parameters and the body mass index z-scores of preschool children were statistically analyzed (alpha = 0.05). RESULTS: The mean age of the study population was 3.2 years (± 0.3 years). The prevalence of excess weight was 28.8%, and the prevalence of overweight and obesity was 8.8%. The correlation coefficients between the body mass index z-scores of the preschool children and the birth weights or body mass indices at birth were low (0.09 and 0.10, respectively). There was a high correlation coefficient (rP = 0.79) between the mean monthly gain of weight and the body mass index z-score of preschool children. A higher coefficient (rP = 0.93) was observed between the ratio of the mean weight gain per height gain (g/cm) and the preschool children body mass index z-score. The coefficients and their differences were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Regardless of weight or length at birth, the mean ratio between the weight gain per g/cm of height growth from birth presented a strong correlation with the body mass index of preschool children. These results suggest that this ratio may be a good indicator of the risk of excess weight and obesity in preschool-aged children.Research Support Foundation of the State of Sao Paulo (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

MORPH: A Reference Architecture for Configuration and Behaviour Self-Adaptation

An architectural approach to self-adaptive systems involves runtime change of system configuration (i.e., the system's components, their bindings and operational parameters) and behaviour update (i.e., component orchestration). Thus, dynamic reconfiguration and discrete event control theory are at the heart of architectural adaptation. Although controlling configuration and behaviour at runtime has been discussed and applied to architectural adaptation, architectures for self-adaptive systems often compound these two aspects reducing the potential for adaptability. In this paper we propose a reference architecture that allows for coordinated yet transparent and independent adaptation of system configuration and behaviour

Usos potenciales de la madera de roble europeo y fresno americano cultivados en la provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

- Spavento, E. Ing. Forestal, Docente-Investigadora, Xilotecnología y Profesional Independiente. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, UNLP. [email protected] - Keil, G. Ing. Forestal M. Sc., Docente-Investigador, Xilotecnología e Industrias de Transformación Mecánica. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, UNLP. [email protected] - Murace, M. Licenciada en Biología, Docente-Investigadora, Protección Forestal. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, UNLP. [email protected] - Luján M . Doctora en Ciencias Naturales, Docente-Investigadora, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, UNLP. CIC, PBA. - Bertoli, B Ingeniero Forestal, Profesional Independiente.Los usos de una madera están estrechamente relacionados a sus características tecnológicas. Para utilizar con fiabilidad la madera de roble europeo (Quercus robur L.) y fresno americano (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.) cultivada en la provincia de Buenos Aires (Argentina) es necesario conocer sus propiedades físicomecánicas y su durabilidad. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar, mediante ensayos estandarizados, las características tecnológicas de la madera de roble y fresno, implantados en la provincia de Buenos Aires, con el propósito de definir sus usos. Las propiedades físicas determinadas fueron: contenido de humedad (IRAM 9532), densidades aparentes (IRAM 9544), cambios dimensionales (IRAM 9543). Las propiedades mecánicas determinadas fueron: dureza Janka (IRAM 9570), flexión estática (IRAM 9542), corte paralelo a las fibras (IRAM 9596), compresión perpendicular y paralela a las fibras (IRAM 9547 y 9541 respectivamente). La durabilidad natural se estimó aplicando la norma IRAM 9518. Se estudió además la estructura del leño de ambas especies, a nivel macro y microscópico, con el fin de relacionar estas características con las propiedades tecnológicas. Para ello se cuantificaron los siguientes caracteres: longitud, espesor de pared y diámetro del lumen de fibras y diámetro de vasos mayores. Ambas maderas resultaron medianamente estables, de densidad media alta y durables. De acuerdo con esto las maderas de roble europeo y fresno americano cultivadas en Argentina son aptas para una amplia gama de usos: elementos deportivos, mangos de herramientas, muebles, escaleras, molduras, puertas, solados interiores y exteriores y elementos estructurales como vigas y columnas, entre otros

Outcome stability of orthopaedic treatment of skeletal Class III malocclusion: A study of prognostic agreement between three models

Introduction: Long-term stability of the treatment outcome of skeletal Class III malocclusion is always not achievable, thereforeseveral prediction models of stability of orthopaedic treatment of the Class III malocclusion have been proposed. Aim: This cross-sectional study was aimed at the evaluation of the prognostic agreement and association between three differentprediction models based on skeletal parameters recorded on lateral cephalograms. Materials and methods: A total of 75 subjects (34 females and 41 males, age range 7-11, mean age 9.1±1.2years) having skeletal ClassIII malocclusion were included in the study. Prediction models reported by Baccetti et al. 2004 (prediction model 1), Moon et al.2005 (prediction model 2) and Yoshida et al. 2006 (prediction model 3), were considered. Percentage agreement and unweighted kappa coefficient evaluated the agreement between the prediction models in terms of stable or unstable cases. Multiple regressions were run to evaluate the association between the absolute scores obtained from each of the prediction model (prediction scores). Results: Percentage agreement ranged from 77.3% (models 2 and 3) to 89.3%, (models 1 and 2) and corresponding unweighted kappa coefficients ranged from 0.099 (models 1 and 3) to 0.205 (models 2 and 3). The prediction score from model 3 was significantly associated with those from both the other models; on the contrary, prediction scores from models 1 and 2 were not significantly associated. Conclusions: Agreement in terms of stability or instability outcome derived from these models is only partial and not satisfactory,even though significant association between the prediction scores denotes a common biological meaning of the models

In silico approach for the definition of radiomirnomic signatures for breast cancer differential diagnosis

Personalized medicine relies on the integration and consideration of specific characteristics of the patient, such as tumor phenotypic and genotypic profiling. BACKGROUND: Radiogenomics aim to integrate phenotypes from tumor imaging data with genomic data to discover genetic mechanisms underlying tumor development and phenotype. METHODS: We describe a computational approach that correlates phenotype from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of breast cancer (BC) lesions with microRNAs (miRNAs), mRNAs, and regulatory networks, developing a radiomiRNomic map. We validated our approach to the relationships between MRI and miRNA expression data derived from BC patients. We obtained 16 radiomic features quantifying the tumor phenotype. We integrated the features with miRNAs regulating a network of pathways specific for a distinct BC subtype. RESULTS: We found six miRNAs correlated with imaging features in Luminal A (miR-1537, -205, -335, -337, -452, and -99a), seven miRNAs (miR-142, -155, -190, -190b, -1910, -3617, and -429) in HER2+, and two miRNAs (miR-135b and -365-2) in Basal subtype. We demonstrate that the combination of correlated miRNAs and imaging features have better classification power of Luminal A versus the different BC subtypes than using miRNAs or imaging alone. CONCLUSION: Our computational approach could be used to identify new radiomiRNomic profiles of multi-omics biomarkers for BC differential diagnosis and prognosis

Recent and subfossil diatom assemblages as indicators of environmental change (including fish introduction) in a high-mountain lake

We investigated modern-littoral and subfossil sediment-core diatoms in the shallow (max depth 6.4 m) high-mountain Lake Balma in the Orsiera Rocciavrè Nature Park (Italian Western Alps). Our study provided evidence that might be related to the response of diatom assemblages to fish introduction, in particular the decreasing of the nutrient-enrichment sensitive low-profile life-form/ecological guild and the increase in species known to react positively to the augmented nutrient availability due to fish excretions (e.g., Fragilaria nanana, Pseudostaurosira brevistriata, Staurosirella neopinnata). We are, however, aware that some of these effects could as well have been caused by pastures and cattle watering, and by increased temperatures due to global warming, and we acknowledge the typical complex-interaction pattern among different stressors. High-mountain lakes are ‘‘early warning systems’’ for the whole alpine system and can contribute valuable information also on the interactions between environmental global changes and anthropogenic impacts. Benthic diatoms, in particular, can provide useful indications on the deleterious effects of non-native fish introduction, cattle grazing, and global warming, and thus support an adaptive and sustainable management of high-mountain lakes for the sake of nature conservation

Electric field control of magnetic properties and electron transport in BaTiO3-based multiferroic heterostructures

In this paper, we report on a purely electric mechanism for achieving the electric control of the interfacial spin polarization and magnetoresistance in multiferroic tunneling junctions. We investigate micrometric devices based on the Co/Fe/BaTiO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 heterostructure, where Co/Fe and La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 are the magnetic electrodes and BaTiO3 acts both as a ferroelectric element and tunneling barrier. We show that, at 20 K, devices with a 2 nm thick BaTiO3 barrier present both tunneling electroresistance (TER = 12   ±   0.1%) and tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR). The latter depends on the direction of the BaTiO3 polarization, displaying a sizable change of the TMR from  -0.32   ±   0.05% for the polarization pointing towards Fe, to  -0.12   ±   0.05% for the opposite direction. This is consistent with the on-off switching of the Fe magnetization at the Fe/BaTiO3 interface, driven by the BaTiO3 polarization, we have previously demonstrated in x-ray magnetic circular dichroism experiments