1,511 research outputs found
Coarsening of Disordered Quantum Rotors under a Bias Voltage
We solve the dynamics of an ensemble of interacting rotors coupled to two
leads at different chemical potential letting a current flow through the system
and driving it out of equilibrium. We show that at low temperature the
coarsening phase persists under the voltage drop up to a critical value of the
applied potential that depends on the characteristics of the electron
reservoirs. We discuss the properties of the critical surface in the
temperature, voltage, strength of quantum fluctuations and coupling to the bath
phase diagram. We analyze the coarsening regime finding, in particular, which
features are essentially quantum mechanical and which are basically classical
in nature. We demonstrate that the system evolves via the growth of a coherence
length with the same time-dependence as in the classical limit, -- the scalar curvature driven universality class. We obtain the
scaling function of the correlation function at late epochs in the coarsening
regime and we prove that it coincides with the classical one once a prefactor
that encodes the dependence on all the parameters is factorized. We derive a
generic formula for the current flowing through the system and we show that,
for this model, it rapidly approaches a constant that we compute.Comment: 53 pages, 12 figure
From non equilibrium quantum Brownian motion to impurity dynamics in 1D quantum liquids
Impurity motion in one dimensional ultra cold quantum liquids confined in an
optical trap has attracted much interest recently. As a step towards its full
understanding, we construct a generating functional from which we derive the
position non equilibrium correlation function of a quantum Brownian particle
with general Gaussian non-factorizing initial conditions. We investigate the
slow dynamics of a particle confined in a harmonic potential after a position
measurement; the rapid relaxation of a particle trapped in a harmonic potential
after a quantum quench realized as a sudden change in the potential parameters;
and the evolution of an impurity in contact with a one dimensional bosonic
quantum gas. We argue that such an impurity-Luttinger liquid system, that has
been recently realized experimentally, admits a simple modeling as quantum
Brownian motion in a super Ohmic bath.Comment: Published version, 23 pages, 2 figure
Geographic distribution, age pattern and sites of lesions in a cohort of buruli ulcer patients from the mapé basin of cameroon
Buruli ulcer (BU), a neglected tropical disease of the skin, caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, occurs most frequently in children in West Africa. Risk factors for BU include proximity to slow flowing water, poor wound care and not wearing protective clothing. Man-made alterations of the environment have been suggested to lead to increased BU incidence. M. ulcerans DNA has been detected in the environment, water bugs and recently also in mosquitoes. Despite these findings, the mode of transmission of BU remains poorly understood and both transmission by insects or direct inoculation from contaminated environment have been suggested. Here, we investigated the BU epidemiology in the Mapé basin of Cameroon where the damming of the Mapé River since 1988 is believed to have increased the incidence of BU. Through a house-by-house survey in spring 2010, which also examined the local population for leprosy and yaws, and continued surveillance thereafter, we identified, till June 2012, altogether 88 RT-PCR positive cases of BU. We found that the age adjusted cumulative incidence of BU was highest in young teenagers and in individuals above the age of 50 and that very young children (>5) were underrepresented among cases. BU lesions clustered around the ankles and at the back of the elbows. This pattern neither matches any of the published mosquito biting site patterns, nor the published distribution of small skin injuries in children, where lesions on the knees are much more frequent. The option of multiple modes of transmission should thus be considered. Analyzing the geographic distribution of cases in the Mapé Dam area revealed a closer association with the Mbam River than with the artificial lake
Heterogeneous slow dynamics in a two dimensional doped classical antiferromagnet
We introduce a lattice model for a classical doped two dimensional
antiferromagnet which has no quenched disorder, yet displays slow dynamics
similar to those observed in supercooled liquids. We calculate two-time spatial
and spin correlations via Monte Carlo simulations and find that for
sufficiently low temperatures, there is anomalous diffusion and
stretched-exponential relaxation of spin correlations. The relaxation times
associated with spin correlations and diffusion both diverge at low
temperatures in a sub-Arrhenius fashion if the fit is done over a large
temperature-window or an Arrhenius fashion if only low temperatures are
considered. We find evidence of spatially heterogeneous dynamics, in which
vacancies created by changes in occupation facilitate spin flips on
neighbouring sites. We find violations of the Stokes-Einstein relation and
Debye-Stokes-Einstein relation and show that the probability distributions of
local spatial correlations indicate fast and slow populations of sites, and
local spin correlations indicate a wide distribution of relaxation times,
similar to observ ations in other glassy systems with and without quenched
disorder.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures, corrected erroneous figure, and improved
quality of manuscript, updated reference
KINETICS STUDY OF IRON LEACHING FROM KAOLINITIC CLAY USING OXALIC ACID
The kinetics study of iron leaching from kaolin clay from the County of Agua Blanca (Mexico) was carried out using solutions of oxalic acid for iron dissolution. The effects of acid concentration and temperature were studied to determinate kinetics parameters during iron leaching in oxalic acid media. It was found that iron dissolution rate increased with increasing of concentration and temperature, respectively. Leaching results showed that iron dissolution from the kaolin clay could be due to a chemical reaction control. The energy of activation calculated in this work was of 50.32 kJ • mol-1, for the interval of temperatures from 273 to 333 K; which is characteristic of a process controlled by chemical reaction. According to the results shown above, iron removal is possible, and this can improve the economic value for this kind of kaolin clay, being possible its use in the ceramic and paper industries as raw material of high quality
Fluctuations of two-time quantities and time-reparametrization invariance in spin-glasses
This article is a contribution to the understanding of fluctuations in the
out of equilibrium dynamics of glassy systems. By extending theoretical ideas
based on the assumption that time-reparametrization invariance develops
asymptotically we deduce the scaling properties of diverse high-order
correlation functions. We examine these predictions with numerical tests in a
standard glassy model, the 3d Edwards-Anderson spin-glass, and in a system
where time-reparametrization invariance is not expected to hold, the 2d
ferromagnetic Ising model, both at low temperatures. Our results enlighten a
qualitative difference between the fluctuation properties of the two models and
show that scaling properties conform to the time-reparametrization invariance
scenario in the former but not in the latter.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
Association Of Nitric Oxide Synthase And Matrix Metalloprotease Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms With Preeclampsia And Its Complications
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Background Preeclampsia is one of the leading causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in the world, but its appearance is still unpredictable and its pathophysiology has not been entirely elucidated. Genetic studies have associated single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes encoding nitric oxide synthase and matrix metalloproteases with preeclampsia, but the results are largely inconclusive across different populations. Objectives To investigate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in NOS3 (G894T, T-786C, and a variable number of tandem repetitions VNTR in intron 4), MMP2 (C-1306T), and MMP9 (C-1562T) genes with preeclampsia in patients from Southeastern Brazil. Methods This prospective case-control study enrolled 77 women with preeclampsia and 266 control pregnant women. Clinical data were collected to assess risk factors and the presence of severe complications, such as eclampsia and HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets) syndrome. Results We found a significant association between the single nucleotide polymorphism NOS3 T-786C and preeclampsia, independently from age, height, weight, or the other SNPs studied, and no association was found with the other polymorphisms. Age and history of preeclampsia were also identified as risk factors. The presence of at least one polymorphic allele for NOS3 T-786C was also associated with the occurrence of eclampsia or HELLP syndrome among preeclamptic women. Conclusions Our data support that the NOS3 T-786C SNP is associated with preeclampsia and the severity of its complications.108FAEPEX - PRP/UNICAMP (Fundo de Apoio ao Ensino, Pesquisa e Extensao) [MLC 699/13]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP [FFC 2014/00984-3, 2008/57441-0
Un nuevo enfoque basado en perfiles con aprendizaje de representaciones
Los Enfoques Basados en Perfiles (EBP’s) han mostrado muy buen comportamiento específicamente en la tarea de atribución de autoría. Este trabajo tiene como finalidad extender al EBP empleando aprendizaje de representaciones. Para ello, se utilizará la gran flexibilidad de los mecanismos de coincidencia (matching) que proveen los embeddings. La similitud entre perfiles, en este caso, ya no considerará únicamente aquellas palabras que coinciden “exactamente”, sino aquellas que son lo “suficientemente similares”, de acuerdo a un umbral predeterminado. Este trabajo comprende un estudio exhaustivo comparativo empleando las colecciones Enron y CIAPPA, donde quedará probada la viabilidad y efectividad de nuestra propuesta en relación a enfoques de EBP clásicos como SPI y KRD empleando escenarios con diferentes métodos de embeddings, tales como Word2Vec, Fastext y Glove.XIX Workshop Base de Datos y Minería de Datos (WBDMD)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informátic
Identification of latexin by a proteomic analysis in rat normal articular cartilage
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by degeneration of articular cartilage. Animal models of OA induced are a widely used tool in the study of the pathogenesis of disease. Several proteomic techniques for selective extraction of proteins have provided protein profiles of chondrocytes and secretory patterns in normal and osteoarthritic cartilage, including the discovery of new and promising biomarkers. In this proteomic analysis to study several proteins from rat normal articular cartilage, two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry (MS) were used. Interestingly, latexin (LXN) was found. Using an immunohistochemical technique, it was possible to determine its localization within the chondrocytes from normal and osteoarthritic articular cartilage.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, 147 proteins were visualized, and 47 proteins were identified by MS. A significant proportion of proteins are involved in metabolic processes and energy (32%), as well as participating in different biological functions including structural organization (19%), signal transduction and molecular signaling (11%), redox homeostasis (9%), transcription and protein synthesis (6%), and transport (6%). The identified proteins were assigned to one or more subcellular compartments.</p> <p>Among the identified proteins, we found some proteins already recognized in other studies such as OA-associated proteins. Interestingly, we identified LXN, an inhibitor of mammalian carboxypeptidases, which had not been described in articular cartilage. Immunolabeling assays for LXN showed a granular distribution pattern in the cytoplasm of most chondrocytes of the middle, deep and calcified zones of normal articular cartilage as well as in subchondral bone. In osteoarthritic cartilage, LXN was observed in superficial and deep zones.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides the first proteomic analysis of normal articular cartilage of rat. We identified LXN, whose location was demonstrated by immunolabeling in the chondrocytes from the middle, deep and calcified zones of normal articular cartilage, and superficial and deep zones of osteoarthritic cartilage.</p
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