4,570 research outputs found
Current concepts in nanostructured contrast media development for In vivo photoacoustic imaging
Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is indeed one of the most promising bioimaging techniques for theranostics applications in humans, allowing for the visualization of blood vessels and melanomas with high spatial resolution. However, in order to overcome the endogenous contrast arising from interfering endogenous species such as haemoglobin and melanin, specific contrast agents need to be developed, allowing PAI to successfully identify targeted contrast in the range of wavelengths in which interference from the biomatrix is minimized. This has been first performed by small molecule dyes, which, however, suffer from some important limitations such as low hydrophilicity and short circulation times. For this reason, scientific research has recently directed its efforts towards the development of nanostructured contrast agents capable of providing efficient PA contrast at low concentrations with low toxicity and high biocompatibility. The principal nanostructures are based on (1) metal and semiconducting nanoparticles, amongst which variously shaped nano-gold plays the main role, (2) carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, and (3) conjugated polymer nanoparticles. In this review, the principal characteristics of this class of materials are reported and greater focus is directed towards in vivo studies. A detailed analysis is performed on various physical-chemical parameters that define the PA response of reported contrast agents, like absorption coefficients and photoacoustic efficiencies. By comparing the experimental data, this review provides a comprehensive tool for the evaluation of new nanostructured contrast agents for PA imaging
Universal parity effects in the entanglement entropy of XX chains with open boundary conditions
We consider the Renyi entanglement entropies in the one-dimensional XX
spin-chains with open boundary conditions in the presence of a magnetic field.
In the case of a semi-infinite system and a block starting from the boundary,
we derive rigorously the asymptotic behavior for large block sizes on the basis
of a recent mathematical theorem for the determinant of Toeplitz plus Hankel
matrices. We conjecture a generalized Fisher-Hartwig form for the corrections
to the asymptotic behavior of this determinant that allows the exact
characterization of the corrections to the scaling at order o(1/l) for any n.
By combining these results with conformal field theory arguments, we derive
exact expressions also in finite chains with open boundary conditions and in
the case when the block is detached from the boundary.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure
A stochastic gradient method with variance control and variable learning rate for Deep Learning
In this paper we study a stochastic gradient algorithm which rules the increase of the minibatch size in a predefined fashion and automatically adjusts the learning rate by means of a monotone or non -monotone line search procedure. The mini -batch size is incremented at a suitable a priori rate throughout the iterative process in order that the variance of the stochastic gradients is progressively reduced. The a priori rate is not subject to restrictive assumptions, allowing for the possibility of a slow increase in the mini -batch size. On the other hand, the learning rate can vary non -monotonically throughout the iterations, as long as it is appropriately bounded. Convergence results for the proposed method are provided for both convex and non -convex objective functions. Moreover it can be proved that the algorithm enjoys a global linear rate of convergence on strongly convex functions. The low per -iteration cost, the limited memory requirements and the robustness against the hyperparameters setting make the suggested approach well -suited for implementation within the deep learning framework, also for GPGPU-equipped architectures. Numerical results on training deep neural networks for multiclass image classification show a promising behaviour of the proposed scheme with respect to similar state of the art competitors
Universal corrections to scaling for block entanglement in spin-1/2 XX chains
We consider the R\'enyi entropies in the one dimensional spin-1/2
Heisenberg XX chain in a magnetic field. The case n=1 corresponds to the von
Neumann ``entanglement'' entropy. Using a combination of methods based on the
generalized Fisher-Hartwig conjecture and a recurrence relation connected to
the Painlev\'e VI differential equation we obtain the asymptotic behaviour,
accurate to order , of the R\'enyi entropies
for large block lengths . For n=1,2,3,10 this constitutes the 3,6,10,48
leading terms respectively. The o(1) contributions are found to exhibit a rich
structure of oscillatory behaviour, which we analyze in some detail both for
finite and in the limit .Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure
Renyi Entropy of the XY Spin Chain
We consider the one-dimensional XY quantum spin chain in a transverse
magnetic field. We are interested in the Renyi entropy of a block of L
neighboring spins at zero temperature on an infinite lattice. The Renyi entropy
is essentially the trace of some power of the density matrix of the
block. We calculate the asymptotic for analytically in terms of
Klein's elliptic - function. We study the limiting entropy as a
function of its parameter . We show that up to the trivial addition
terms and multiplicative factors, and after a proper re-scaling, the Renyi
entropy is an automorphic function with respect to a certain subgroup of the
modular group; moreover, the subgroup depends on whether the magnetic field is
above or below its critical value. Using this fact, we derive the
transformation properties of the Renyi entropy under the map and show that the entropy becomes an elementary function of the
magnetic field and the anisotropy when is a integer power of 2, this
includes the purity . We also analyze the behavior of the entropy as
and and at the critical magnetic field and in the
isotropic limit [XX model].Comment: 28 Pages, 1 Figur
Epigenetic mechanisms of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in obesity
The incidence of obesity has dramatically increased over the last decades. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the possible association between the pandemics of obesity and some endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), termed “obesogens”. These are a heterogeneous group of exogenous compounds that can interfere in the endocrine regulation of energy metabolism and adipose tissue structure. Oral intake, inhalation, and dermal absorption represent the major sources of human exposure to these EDCs. Recently, epigenetic changes such as the methylation of cytosine residues on DNA, post-translational modification of histones, and microRNA expression have been considered to act as an intermediary between deleterious effects of EDCs and obesity development in susceptible individuals. Specifically, EDCs exposure during early-life development can detrimentally affect individuals via inducing epigenetic modifications that can permanently change the epigenome in the germline, enabling changes to be transmitted to the next generations and predisposing them to a multitude of diseases. The purpose of this review is to analyze the epigenetic alterations putatively induced by chemical exposures and their ability to interfere with the control of energy metabolism and adipose tissue regulation, resulting in imbalances in the control of body weight, which can lead to obesity
Chromosomal mapping of murine c-fes and c-src genes
The murine homologs of two viral oncogenes associated with tyrosine-specific kinase activity have been assigned to different loci in the mouse genome. The segregation of restriction site polymorphisms, as detected by probes that are specific for endogenous c-fes and c-src sequences, was followed in the DNA of recombinant inbred strains. The c-fes gene was mapped to the proximal portion of chromosome 7, very close to the Gpi-1 locus, whereas c-src was linked to the Psp locus on the distal half of chromosome 2
Anisotropy of magnetic interactions and symmetry of the order parameter in unconventional superconductor Sr2RuO4
Sr2RuO4is the best candidate for spin-triplet superconductivity, an unusual and elusive superconducting state of fundamental importance. In the last three decades, Sr2RuO4has been very carefully studied and despite its apparent simplicity when compared with strongly correlated high-Tccuprates, for which the pairing symmetry is understood, there is no scenario that can explain all the major experimental observations, a conundrum that has generated tremendous interest. Here, we present a density-functional-based analysis of magnetic interactions in Sr2RuO4and discuss the role of magnetic anisotropy in its unconventional superconductivity. Our goal is twofold. First, we access the possibility of the superconducting order parameter rotation in an external magnetic field of 200 Oe, and conclude that the spin-orbit interaction in this material is several orders of magnitude too strong to be consistent with this hypothesis. Thus, the observed invariance of the Knight shift across Tchas no plausible explanation, and casts doubt on using the Knight shift as an ultimate litmus paper for the pairing symmetry. Second, we propose a quantitative double-exchange-like model for combining itinerant fermions with an anisotropic Heisenberg magnetic Hamiltonian. This model is complementary to the Hubbard-model-based calculations published so far, and forms an alternative framework for exploring superconducting symmetry in Sr2RuO4. As an example, we use this model to analyze the degeneracy between various p-triplet states in the simplest mean-field approximation, and show that it splits into a single and two doublets with the ground state defined by the competition between the "Ising" and "compass" anisotropic terms
Scattering on two Aharonov-Bohm vortices with opposite fluxes
The scattering of an incident plane wave on two Aharonov-Bohm vortices with
opposite fluxes is considered in detail. The presence of the vortices imposes
non-trivial boundary conditions for the partial waves on a cut joining the two
vortices. These conditions result in an infinite system of equations for
scattering amplitudes between incoming and outgoing partial waves, which can be
solved numerically. The main focus of the paper is the analytic determination
of the scattering amplitude in two limits, the small flux limit and the limit
of small vortex separation. In the latter limit the dominant contribution comes
from the S-wave amplitude. Calculating it, however, still requires solving an
infinite system of equations, which is achieved by the Riemann-Hilbert method.
The results agree well with the numerical calculations
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