Molecular prototypes for spin-based CNOT quantum gates

We show that a chemically engineered structural asymmetry in [Tb2] molecular clusters renders the two weakly coupled Tb3+ spin qubits magnetically inequivalent. The magnetic energy level spectrum of these molecules meets then all conditions needed to realize a universal CNOT quantum gate.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A dissymmetric [Gd2] coordination molecular dimer hosting six addressable spin qubits

Artificial magnetic molecules can host several spin qubits, which could then implement small-scale algorithms. In order to become of practical use, such molecular spin processors need to increase the available computational space and warrant universal operations. Here, we design, synthesize and fully characterize dissymetric molecular dimers hosting either one or two Gadolinium(III) ions. The strong sensitivity of Gadolinium magnetic anisotropy to its local coordination gives rise to different zero-field splittings at each metal site. As a result, the [LaGd] and [GdLu] complexes provide realizations of distinct spin qudits with eight unequally spaced levels. In the [Gd2] dimer, these properties are combined with a Gd-Gd magnetic interaction, sufficiently strong to lift all level degeneracies, yet sufficiently weak to keep all levels within an experimentally accessible energy window. The spin Hamiltonian of this dimer allows a complete set of operations to act as a 64-dimensional all-electron spin qudit, or, equivalently, as six addressable qubits. Electron paramagnetic resonance experiments show that resonant transitions between different spin states can be coherently controlled, with coherence times TM of the order of 1 µs limited by hyperfine interactions. Coordination complexes with embedded quantum functionalities are promising building blocks for quantum computation and simulation hybrid platforms

AAV-mediated ERdj5 overexpression protects against P23H rhodopsin toxicity

Rhodopsin misfolding caused by the P23H mutation is a major cause of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP), to date there are no effective treatments for adRP. The BiP co-chaperone and reductase ERdj5 (DNAJC10) is part of the ER quality control machinery and previous studies have shown that overexpression of ERdj5 in vitro enhanced the degradation of P23H rhodopsin; whereas knockdown of ERdj5 increased P23H rhodopsin ER retention and aggregation. Here, we investigated the role of ERdj5 in photoreceptor homeostasis in vivo by using an Erdj5 knock-out mouse crossed with the P23H knock-in mouse, and by adeno associated viral (AAV) vector-mediated gene augmentation of ERdj5 in P23H-3 rats. Electroretinogram (ERG) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) of Erdj5−/− and P23H+/−:Erdj5−/− mice showed no effect of ERdj5 ablation on retinal function or photoreceptor survival. Rhodopsin levels and localisation were similar to those of control animals at a range of time points. By contrast, when AAV2/8-ERdj5-HA was subretinally injected into P23H-3 rats, analysis of the full field ERG suggested that overexpression of ERdj5 reduced visual function loss 10 weeks post-injection. This correlated with a significant preservation of photoreceptor cells at 4 and 10 weeks post-injection. Assessment of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) morphology showed preserved ONL thickness and reduced rhodopsin retention in the ONL in the injected superior retina. Overall, these data suggest that manipulation of the ER quality control and ERAD factors to promote mutant protein degradation could be beneficial for the treatment of adRP caused by mutant rhodopsin

BikeNet: Preventing theft, building community

This report discusses the Save the Bike Project and the BikeNet App, and the ways it helps prevent and recover stolen bikes.Ope

Towards an Energy-Aware Framework for Application Development and Execution in Heterogeneous Parallel Architectures

The Transparent heterogeneous hardware Architecture deployment for eNergy Gain in Operation (TANGO) project’s goal is to characterise factors which affect power consumption in software development and operation for Heterogeneous Parallel Hardware (HPA) environments. Its main contribution is the combination of requirements engineering and design modelling for self-adaptive software systems, with power consumption awareness in relation to these environments. The energy efficiency and application quality factors are integrated into the application lifecycle (design, implementation and operation). To support this, the key novelty of the project is a reference architecture and its implementation. Moreover, a programming model with built-in support for various hardware architectures including heterogeneous clusters, heterogeneous chips and programmable logic devices is provided. This leads to a new cross-layer programming approach for heterogeneous parallel hardware architectures featuring software and hardware modelling. Application power consumption and performance, data location and time-criticality optimization, as well as security and dependability requirements on the target hardware architecture are supported by the architecture

Zn2+ ion surface enrichment in doped iron oxide nanoparticles leads to charge carrier density enhancement

Here, we report the development of monodisperse Zn-doped iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) with different amounts of Zn (ZnxFe3-xO4, 0 < x < 0.43) by thermal decomposition of a mixture of zinc and iron oleates. The as-synthesized NPs show a considerable fraction of wüstite (FeO) which is transformed to spinel upon 2 h oxidation of the NP reaction solutions. At any Zn doping amounts, we observed the enrichment of the NP surface with Zn2+ ions, which is enhanced at higher Zn loadings. Such a distribution of Zn2+ ions is attributed to the different thermal decomposition profiles of Zn and Fe oleates, with Fe oleate decomposing at much lower temperature than that of Zn oleate. The decomposition of Zn oleate is, in turn, catalyzed by a forming iron oxide phase. The magnetic properties were found to be strongly dependent on the Zn doping amounts, showing the saturation magnetization to decrease by 9 and 20% for x = 0.05 and 0.1, respectively. On the other hand, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy near the Fermi level demonstrates that the Zn0.05Fe2.95O4 sample displays a more metallic character (a higher charge carrier density) than undoped iron oxide NPs, supporting its use as a spintronic material

Pathway selection as a tool for crystal defect engineering: A case study with a functional coordination polymer

New synthetic routes capable of achieving defect engineering of functional crystals through well- controlled pathway selection will spark new breakthroughs and advances towards unprecedented and unique functional materials and devices. In nature, the interplay of chemical reactions with the diffusion of reagents in space and time is already used to favor such pathway selection and trigger the formation of materials with bespoke properties and functions, even when the material composition is preserved. Following this approach, herein we show that a controlled interplay of a coordination reaction with mass transport (i.e. the diffusion of reagents) is essential to favor the generation of charge imbalance defects (i.e. protonation defects) in a final crystal structure (thermodynamic product). We show that this syn- thetic pathway is achieved with the isolation of a kinetic product (i.e. a metastable state), which can be only accomplished when a controlled interplay of the reaction with mass transport is satisfied. Account- ing for the relevance of controlling, tuning and understanding structure-properties correlations, we have studied the spin transition evolution of a well-defined spin-crossover complex as a model system

Ni Iguals ni Banals

Projecte: 2018PID-UB/026Ni iguals ni banals és un projecte col·laboratiu entre estudiants de diferents facultats i presentat com un mètode resolutiu per transmetre informació mèdica a la societat. La idea del projecte sorgeix a partir de l’observació de l’ús incorrecte dels fàrmacs de venda lliure i els riscos derivats del seu consum inadequat. L’ibuprofè i el paracetamol són un claríssim exemple, pel que es decideix fer una intervenció, en forma de campanya educativa, orientada a fomentar un consum responsable d’aquests fàrmacs que es poden adquirir sense recepta mèdica. Una anàlisi de l’entorn mostra que la població jove és la que té menys contacte amb el sistema de salut i, per tant, menys oportunitats de rebre indicacions sobre l’ús correcte dels medicaments. A més, els joves formen part del rang d’edat més propens a realitzar auto-consultes en línia. La forma com Ni iguals ni banals pretén donar resposta al problema del mal ús dels fàrmacs és amb la creació d’un producte audiovisual dirigit a la població jove on es defineixin les indicacions específiques del paracetamol i de l’ibuprofè, així com les conseqüències del seu ús incorrecte a causa de les seves similituds farmacològiques. El material audiovisual elaborat té dos propòsits: 1) seduir a la població diana a través de l’elecció del gènere audiovisual més adient, la síntesi de la informació científica i l’ajust del registre verbal divulgatiu i 2) facilitar la seva difusió a través de les xarxes socials. Així mateix, és un format tancat i revisable per professionals abans de la seva difusió i, per tant, factible per a estudiants de Medicina que encara no són facultatius. Ni iguals ni banals és un exemple clar sobre com es pot combinar la identificació d’un problema real mèdic, la recerca d’informació tant poblacional com bibliogràfica i la col·laboració interdisciplinària, per englobar-ho tot en una dinàmica didàctica, de forma que els estudiants adquireixen habilitats pràctiques a la vegada que es desenvolupen en un ambient transversal

Site selective 3d heterometallic molecular strings based on bis-β-diketone ligand

Resumen del trabajo presentado a la: "14th International Conference on Molecule-Based Magnets" celebrada en San Petersburgo (Rusia) del 5 al 9 de julio de 2014.One of the major challenges of coordination chemistry today is the design and synthesis of molecules with predetermined functions and physicochemical properties. Our research group is addressing this challenge through the preparation of polydentate ligands from the bis-β-diketone family, capable of gathering transition metals within molecular clusters of well-defined nuclearity and topology. Known structural motifs arising from these platforms are weakly coupled cluster pairs as prototypes of 2-qubit quantum gates, and chain-like arrays as potential prototypes of molecular wires. One of the ligands capable to accommodate metal ions into linear chains is trispyridyl/ bis-β-diketone, H2L, (1,3-bis-(3-oxo-3-(2-pyridyl)propionyl)pyridine) as demonstrated with the synthesis of the supramolecular array [Co4L2(MeOH)8](NO3)4 and its analogues. We are now presenting the potential of this ligand for the preparation of new 3d heterometallic molecular strings with site selective metal composition as a direct consequence of crystal field energy effects. Among them, the most interesting cases are tetranuclear and octanuclear Co-Ni systems where two very similar metals are easily differentiated due to the above described selectivity. From the synthetic point of view, it will be shown how small changes in reaction conditions can vary the nature of the obtained system leading from charged species to neutral molecules. The solid state and solution behaviour of those systems will be discussed following crystallographic, spectroscopic, magnetic and redox studies.We are grateful to the ERC for a financial support under Starting Grant 258060 FuncMolQIP.Peer reviewe

Molecular assembly of two [Co(II)4] linear arrays

Molecular chains of four Co(ii) ions stabilized by a bis-β-diketone/ pyridyl ligand may be isolated or linked into molecular pairs of two semi-independent such units. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011.Peer Reviewe