Probing quantum fluctuation theorems in engineered reservoirs

Fluctuation Theorems are central in stochastic thermodynamics, as they allow for quantifying the irreversibility of single trajectories. Although they have been experimentally checked in the classical regime, a practical demonstration in the framework of quantum open systems is still to come. Here we propose a realistic platform to probe fluctuation theorems in the quantum regime. It is based on an effective two-level system coupled to an engineered reservoir, that enables the detection of the photons emitted and absorbed by the system. When the system is coherently driven, a measurable quantum component in the entropy production is evidenced. We quantify the error due to photon detection inefficiency, and show that the missing information can be efficiently corrected, based solely on the detected events. Our findings provide new insights into how the quantum character of a physical system impacts its thermodynamic evolution.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Curso de cultivo de tecidos vegetais.

bitstream/CNPA/18311/1/DOC157.pd

Peptide-modified dendrimer nanoparticles for targeted therapy of colorectal cancer

Peptides have recently emerged as a promising class of targeting ligands forspecific drug delivery in cancer treatment, which avoid undesirable side effectsof the systemic administration of chemotherapeutics. Their conjugation withnanoparticles has been demonstrated to improve the functionality of peptidesresulting in a versatile platform for biomedical applications. In this work, thedevelopment of carboxymethylchitosan/poly(amidoamine) (CMCht/PAMAM)dendrimer nanoparticles functionalized with YIGSR laminin receptor bindingpeptide for the active targeting and specific delivery of therapeutic agents intocolorectal cancer cells is described. The successful functionalization isconfirmed by several physico-chemical characterization techniques. Theselectivity of the YIGSR-CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles is firstvalidated in vitro using a micropatterned array of 67 kDa laminin receptor.Next, the specificity of YIGSR-CMCht/PAMAM dendrimers nanoparticlestoward laminin receptor is further confirmed both in 2D and 3D settings usingHCT-116 colorectal cancer cells and L929 fibroblasts in co-culture. Finally,gemcitabine-loaded YIGSR-CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles inducea targeted mortality on HCT-116 cancer cells in a co-culture scenario. Overall,the study shows solid evidence that YIGSR laminin receptor binding peptidecoupled to CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles may be employed as ananticancerous target for the specific and intracellular delivery ofchemotherapeutic agents.This work was financially supported through the project FROnTHERA (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000023), Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); M.R.C. for her Ph.D. scholarship NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000044, funded by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte, Fundo Social Europeu, Norte 2020 TERM&SC and EMBO Short-Term Fellowship 7232. J.M.O. for his distinction attributed under the FCT Investigator program (IF/00423/2012 and IF/01285/2015; F.R.M. acknowledges FCT for her work contract under the Transitional Rule DL 57/2016 (CTTI-57/18-I3BS(5)). D.C. acknowledges the financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the program CEEC Individual 2017 (CEECIND/00352/2017). D.C. and S.C.K. for the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the project 2MATCH (PTDC/BTMORG/28070/2017) funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte supported by European Regional Development Funds (ERDF). This work is also partially supported by the IET Harvey Engineering Research Award 2018 (ENG ThE CANCER) and the European Union Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 on FoReCaST project under Grant Agreement No. 668983

Análise espacial da produção de leite no estado de Minas Gerais em base microrregional.

A produção de leite está distribuída por todo país e a heterogeneidade do processo produtivo é marcante. Entre 1990 a 2004, verificou-se uma modificação da distribuição espacial do rebanho bovino, se deslocando para a Região Norte, principalmente para os Estados do Pará e Rondônia. Em Minas Gerais houve também um deslocamento da produção para a região central e sudoeste do estado, se mantendo de forma relativa na região oeste. Em termos de concentração houve um ligeiro incremento da concentração temporal entre 1990 e 2004 para a produção de leite. Para as vacas ordenhadas o movimento foi inverso. A produtividade média do rebanho leiteiro do país cresceu significativamente no período analisado, o que levou a um incremento maior da concentração da produção em relação às vacas ordenadas. Em linhas gerais, verificou-se baixa concentração em base microrregional

Observational Constraints on Visser's Cosmological Model

Theories of gravity for which gravitons can be treated as massive particles have presently been studied as realistic modifications of General Relativity, and can be tested with cosmological observations. In this work, we study the ability of a recently proposed theory with massive gravitons, the so-called Visser theory, to explain the measurements of luminosity distance from the Union2 compilation, the most recent Type-Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) dataset, adopting the current ratio of the total density of non-relativistic matter to the critical density ($\Omega_m$) as a free parameter. We also combine the SNe Ia data with constraints from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and CMB measurements. We find that, for the allowed interval of values for $\Omega_m$, a model based on Visser's theory can produce an accelerated expansion period without any dark energy component, but the combined analysis (SNe Ia + BAO + CMB) shows that the model is disfavored when compared with $\Lambda$CDM model.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Improving the Knowledge on Seismogenic Sources in the Lower Tagus Valley for Seismic Hazard Purposes

The Lower Tagus Valley, that includes the metropolitan area of Lisbon, has been struck by several earthquakes which produced significant material damage and loss of lives. Their exact location remains unknown. Our goal is to shed some light into the seismogenic sources in the area using seismic reflection and geological data. In areas with no seismic coverage, potential-field data interpretation was carried out. Seismicity was overlaid to the potential seismogenic structures and high-resolution data was acquired in order to confirm which structures have been active into the Quaternary. Three major fault-zones affecting the Neogene were identified: V. F. Xira, Samora-Alcochete and Pinhal Novo. For the first fault, strong evidences suggest it is active. The other two fault-zones and other structures previously unknown can be correlated with several epicentres. Empirical relationships between maximum moment magnitude and fault area indicate that MW > 6.5 earthquakes can be expected for the larger structures

Improved semiclassical density matrix: taming caustics

We present a simple method to deal with caustics in the semiclassical approximation to the thermal density matrix of a particle moving on the line. For simplicity, only its diagonal elements are considered. The only ingredient we require is the knowledge of the extrema of the Euclidean action. The procedure makes use of complex trajectories, and is applied to the quartic double-well potential.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures. Revised version, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.