Experimentally Attainable Optimal Pulse Shapes Obtained with the Aid of Genetic Algorithms

We propose a methodology to design optimal pulses for achieving quantum optimal control on molecular systems. Our approach constrains pulse shapes to linear combinations of a fixed number of experimentally relevant pulse functions. Quantum optimal control is obtained by maximizing a multi-target fitness function with genetic algorithms. As a first application of the methodology we generated an optimal pulse that successfully maximized the yield on a selected dissociation channel of a diatomic molecule. Our pulse is obtained as a linear combination of linearly chirped pulse functions. Data recorded along the evolution of the genetic algorithm contained important information regarding the interplay between radiative and diabatic processes. We performed a principal component analysis on these data to retrieve the most relevant processes along the optimal path. Our proposed methodology could be useful for performing quantum optimal control on more complex systems by employing a wider variety of pulse shape functions.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

And if it Wasn\u27t For Me[rrick], Then Where Would You be Ms. Gypsy Rose Lee? An Argument for Copyright Protection for Theatre Directors Through a Reasonable Definition of Theatrical Stage Directions and an Understanding of the Theatre Company

Federal courts have yet to decide whether stage directions are copyrightable works, and it is unlikely that the Tam Lim lawsuit or the Urinetown controversy will bring such a decision. In the past decade, a federal court resolution as to the copyrightability of theatrical stage directions has been delayed by out of court settlements. Additionally, conflicting views by the legal6 and the artistic community\u27s predictions of catastrophic consequences if copyright protection is extended to theatrical directors have blurred the predictability of a resolution. This article argues that theatrical stage directions should be afforded copyright protection. First, this article gives a basic background of the theatrical community; specifically highlighting the collaborative spirit, overwhelming respect for the director, and a collective desire by all players in this industry for its continued prosperity. This article then discusses the various suggested definitions for theatrical stage directions from reference sources and various members of the stage community and argues that a reasonable definition must take into account the suggested definition from directors. Relying on stage directors\u27 point of view this article defines theatrical stage directions as: a director\u27s interpretation of a written play performed under his control and fixed through a prompt book or a video-recording. Next, this article addresses the required elements for copyrightability: subject matter, original work of authorship, and fixation; and explains that theatrical stage directions can meet these requirements. Specifically, since copyright law protects the expression of ideas fixed in a tangible form, theatrical stage directions when written or recorded are the expression of the director\u27s interpretation of a play and thus should be copyrightable. This article examines the potential issues of ownership affecting theatrical stage directions such as joint-works, work-for-hire, derivative works, and compilations. Next, this article explains that the limiting copyright doctrines of merger, sweat of the brow, and moral rights do not support arguments denying theatrical stage directions copyright protection. Finally, this article finds that giving copyright protection to theatrical stage directions not only promotes the continued success of the theatre community, but also supports the basic policy behind copyright law

Evaluación del potencial oncolítico del rotavirus en la línea celular Sp2/0-Ag14 de mieloma de ratón

Introduction: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, surpassed only by cardiovascular disease. However, cancer has now overtaken cardiovascular disease as the main cause of death in 12 countries in Western Europe. The burden of cancer is posing a major challenge to health care systems worldwide and demanding improvements in methods for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Alternative and complementary strategies for orthodox surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy need to be developed.Objective: To determine the oncolytic potential of tumor cell-adapted rotavirus in terms of their ability to infect and lysate murine myeloma Sp2/0-Ag14 cells.Materials and methods: We inoculated rotaviruses Wt1-5, WWM, TRUYO, ECwt-O, and WTEW in Sp2/0-Ag14 cells and we examined their infectious effects by immunocytochemistry, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, and DNA fragmentation assays.Results: Rotavirus infection involved the participation of some heat shock proteins, of protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), and integrin β3. We detected the accumulation of viral antigens within the virus-inoculated cells and in the culture medium in all the rotavirus isolates examined. The rotavirus-induced cell death mechanism in Sp2/0-Ag14 cells involved changes in cell membrane permeability, chromatin condensation, and DNA fragmentation, which were compatible with cytotoxicity and apoptosis.Conclusions: The ability of the rotavirus isolates Wt1-5, WWM, TRUYO, ECwt-O, and WTEW to infect and cause cell death of Sp2/0-Ag14 cells through mechanisms that are compatible with virus-induced apoptosis makes them potential candidates as oncolytic agents.Introducción. El cáncer es la segunda causa de muerte en los Estados Unidos, solamente superado por la enfermedad cardiovascular. Sin embargo, el cáncer aventaja a la enfermedad cardiovascular como primera causa de muerte en doce países de Europa occidental. Se requieren mejores métodos de prevención, diagnóstico y tratamiento para afrontar el gran desafío que el cáncer representa mundialmente para los sistemas de salud, y se necesita desarrollar estrategias alternativas y complementarias a la cirugía, la radioterapia y la quimioterapia convencionales.Objetivo. Evaluar el potencial oncolítico de rotavirus adaptados a células tumorales por su capacidad para infectar y lisar células Sp2/0-Ag14 de mieloma de ratón.Materiales and métodos. Los aislamientos de rotavirus Wt1-5, WWM, TRUYO, ECwt-O y WTEW se inocularon en células Sp2/0-Ag14 y se examinaron sus efectos infecciosos mediante inmunocitoquímica, inmunofluorescencia, citometría de flujo y ensayos de fragmentación del ADN.Resultados. La infección con los rotavirus Wt1-5, WWM, TRUYO, ECwt-O y WTEW implicó la participación de algunas proteínas de choque térmico, la proteína disulfuro isomerasa y la integrina β3. La acumulación de antígenos virales intracelulares y extracelulares se detectó en todos los virus utilizados. Los mecanismos de muerte inducidos por los rotavirus en células Sp2/0-Ag14 indujeron cambios en la permeabilidad de la membrana celular, la condensación de cromatina y la fragmentación de ADN, los cuales fueron compatibles con citotoxicidad y apoptosis.Conclusiones. La capacidad de los rotavirus estudiados para infectar y causar la muerte de células Sp2/0-Ag14 mediante mecanismos compatibles con la apoptosis inducida viralmente los convierte en candidatos potenciales para ser utilizados como agentes oncolíticos

“Zombie attack” a new way to teach Chemistry

The Higher Education requires new models which allow training people able to adapt and survive in changing environments. It is based on the use of technologies and the adaptation of knowledge to people. It is about an education according to circumstances, which is adapted to context and virtual behaviour of people. One of the main difficulties that lecturers find in the classroom is how to maintain students' attention and interest in their subject, especially when students also think that the subject is not important for their training. In order to motivate these students, innovation in educational techniques and methodologies, such as experiential learning, are progressively being imposed to and/or coordinated with the traditional ones. Escape Room is a very modern concept in education, based on the development of mental skills for the solution of enigmas and problems. It is a tool to develop the cooperative, cognitive, deductive and logical reasoning skills of the students. In this work, an educational gamification experience based on the escape room concept is presented. The students have 1 hour and 30 minutes to carry out this activity. They will have to solve four puzzles and enigmas that will give them the key to open a treasure chest and finally let them escape from the classroom. Logic, ingenuity and teamwork will allow participants to develop not only chemical competence, but also other basic skills. The story that is told throughout the escape room is a zombie attack: the city has been infected (with a virus) and only the occupants of the room where the activity takes place have not been infected. In addition, they can all protect themselves if they are able to open the chest where the antidote is located. The aim of this activity is to enhance the knowledge acquired throughout the semester as well as the development of skills.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Reconstructing land's appearance

An important and largely area of computer image generation is that related with geographic information. Geographic data can be used for analysis, design and evaluation in natural-resource assessment, regional planning, and large-area landscape design. While Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has focused on delivering traditional cartographic representations, some people demands others aspects be covered: the use of "appropiate" representations to help viewers to understand the information. This is the case of the visualization of the land's topography and how the changes on it affect its appearance. Strangely, the combination of GIS and visualization area still remains unexplored. The elds seem to complement on another, yet they have developed in parallel and the interaction between them is important in providing usable interactive systems. This paper presents a visualization approach of a topographic surface spatially inter- polated from Topographic Reliefs. We hope this will help people with no background in scientific visualization orient themselves to the image.Área: Procesamiento de Imágenes - Tratamiento de Señales - Computación Gráfica - VisualizaciónRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

TBL1 is required for the mesenchymal phenotype of transformed breast cancer cells

The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and its reversion (MET) are related to tumor cell dissemination and migration, tumor circulating cell generation, cancer stem cells, chemoresistance, and metastasis formation. To identify chromatin and epigenetic factors possibly involved in the process of EMT, we compare the levels of expression of epigenetic genes in a transformed human breast epithelial cell line (HMEC-RAS) versus a stable clone of the same cell line expressing the EMT master regulator ZEB1 (HMEC-RAS-ZEB1). One of the factors strongly induced in the HMEC-RAS-ZEB1 cells was Transducin beta-like 1 (TBL1), a component of the NCoR complex, which has both corepressor and coactivator activities. We show that TBL1 interacts with ZEB1 and that both factors cooperate to repress the promoter of the epithelial gene E-cadherin (CDH1) and to autoactivate the ZEB1 promoter. Consistent with its central role, TBL1 is required for mesenchymal phenotypes of transformed breast epithelial and breast cancer cell lines of the claudin-low subtype. Importantly, a high expression of the TBL1 gene correlates with poor prognosis and increased proportion of metastasis in breast cancer patients, indicating that the level of TBL1 expression can be used as a prognostic marker.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BFU2014-53543-P, BFU2017-85420-RJunta de Andalucía BIO-32

β-decay half-lives and β-delayed neutron emission probabilities for several isotopes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi, beyond N = 126

Background: There have been measurements on roughly 230 nuclei that are β-delayed neutron emitters. They range from 8 He up to 150La. Apart from 210Tl, with a branching ratio of only 0.007%, no other neutron emitter has been measured beyond A = 150. Therefore, new data are needed, particularly in the region of heavy nuclei around N = 126, in order to guide theoretical models and help understand the formation of the third r-process peak at A ∼ 195. Purpose: To measure both β-decay half-lives and neutron branching ratios of several neutron-rich Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi isotopes beyond N = 126. Method: Ions of interest were produced by fragmentation of a 238U beam, selected and identified via the GSI-FRS fragment separator. A stack of segmented silicon detectors (SIMBA) was used to measure ion implants and β decays. An array of 30 3 He tubes embedded in a polyethylene matrix (BELEN) was used to detect neutrons with high efficiency and selectivity. A self-triggered digital system is employed to acquire data and to enable time correlations. The latter were analyzed with an analytical model and results for the half-lives and neutron-branching ratios were derived by using the binned maximum-likelihood method. Results: Twenty new β-decay half-lives are reported for 204−206Au, 208–211Hg, 211–216Tl, 215–218Pb, and 218–220Bi, nine of them for the first time. Neutron emission probabilities are reported for 210,211Hg and 211–216Tl. Conclusions: The new β-decay half-lives are in good agreement with previous measurements on nuclei in this region. The measured neutron emission probabilities are comparable to or smaller than values predicted by global models such as relativistic Hartree Bogoliubov plus the relativistic quasi-particle random phase approximation (RHB + RQRPA).Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad-FPA2011- 28770-C03-03, FPA2008-04972-C03-3, AIC-D2011-0705, FPA2011-24553, FPA2008-6419, FPA2010-17142, FPA2014-52823-C2-1-P, FPA2014- 52823-C2-2-P, and CPAN CSD-2007-00042 (Ingenio2010)Program Severo Ochoa-SEV-2014-0398German Helmholtz Association (Young Investigators)-VH-NG 627 (LISA-Lifetime Spectroscopy for Astrophysics)Nuclear Astrophysics Virtual Institute-VH-VI-417German Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung-06MT7178 / 05P12WOFNFSpanish Nuclear Security Council (CSN)-Catedra ArgosUK Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)-ST/F012012/

Slab proposal for one and two story housing with a lightweight constructive system: Static vertical load evaluation and finite elements modeling

Resumen Como alternativa de entrepiso para las viviendas del sistema constructivo liviano, se desarrolló una propuesta basada en el trabajo en conjunto de materiales y elementos livianos ya existentes, logrando una respuesta adecuada ante las solicitaciones de carga estática. Este sistema se fundamentó en la utilización de perfiles livianos de acero rolados en frío, adosados a una loseta de ferrocemento a través de conectores de cortante. Inicialmente, se ensayaron a flexión dos propuestas del sistema para determinar las cargas últimas y las deflexiones causadas por carga de servicio. Empleando los resultados obtenidos y la metodología de elementos finitos con el programa Ansys Ins., se realizó un modelo computacional para simular el ensayo a flexión realizado en una de las probetas estudiadas, llevando a cabo un análisis estático tridimensional no lineal de acuerdo a las propiedades de los materiales empleados en la probeta, a las condiciones de apoyo del ensayo y a la carga aplicada. Este modelo, fue posteriormente ajustado según los resultados del ensayo, identificando los parámetros que incidían en la respuesta estática del sistema, lo cual servirá para predecir el comportamiento a flexión de losas de este tipo con diferentes configuraciones geométricas. Abstract As an alternative slab system for lightweight housing construction, a composite slab was developed based on the combined work of existing materials and lightweight elements, achieving a good static load behavior. In this system cold formed steel joists were used linked to ferrocement slab through shear connectors. Initially, two system assemblies were tested to flexural load in order to determinate ultimate loads and deflection caused by service loads. A computational model was produced using the finite element method with the Ansys Ins. program to calibrate the experimental tests. It was used to simulate the flexural tests made on the studied specimens; a static three-dimensional nonlinear analysis was elaborated in accordance to the materials properties used in the specimen, the support conditions and the applied load. Then this model was adjusted in accordance to the test´s results, identifying the parameters that influence the static behavior of the system which will be useful to predict the behavior to flexion of this type of slabs for different geometric configurations