A combined electrochemical quartz-crystal microbalance probe beam deflection (EQCM-PBD) study of solvent and ion transfers at a poly[Ni(saltMe)]: modified elecrode during redox switching

The oxidative polymerization of the complex2,3-dimelhyl-N,N-bis( salicylidene)butane-2,3-diaminatonickel( n), [Ni(saltMe)], was monitored by the electrochemical quartz microbalance (EQCM) and crystal impedance techniques. Polymerisation efficiency was maintained throughout deposition of a film, which behaved rigidly, on the electrode

Electrochemical behavior of a new precursor for the design of poly[Ni(salen)]-based modified electrodes

Wedescribe the potentiodynamic preparation and subsequent characterization of poly[Ni(3-MeOsaltMe)] films (surface concentration, 3 < ¡/nmol cm-2 < 350) in acetonitrile media. Coulometric and gravimetric (electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance, EQCM) data allow one to monitor the deposition process and show that the resultant films are physically and chemically stable

Utilization and metabolism of palmityl and oleoyl fatty acids and alcohols in caecal enterocytes of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)

The substitution of fish oil with wax ester-rich calanoid copepod-derived oil in diets for carnivorous fish, such as Atlantic salmon, has previously indicated a lower lipid digestibility. This suggests that the fatty alcohols (FAlc) present in wax esters may be a poorer substrate for intestinal enzymes than the fatty acids (FA) in triacylglycerol, the major lipid in fish oil. The hypothesis tested was that the possible lower utilization of dietary FAlc by salmon enterocytes is at the level of uptake and that subsequent intracellular metabolism was identical to that of FA. A dual-labelled FAlc-FA metabolism assay was employed to determine simultaneous FAlc and FA uptake and relative utilisation in enterocytes isolated from pyloric caeca of Atlantic salmon fed either a diet supplemented with fish oil or wax ester-rich Calanus oil. The diets were fed for 10 weeks before caecal enterocytes from each dietary group were isolated and incubated with equimolar mixtures of either [1-14C]16:0 FA and [9,10(n)-3H]16:0 FAlc, or [1-14C]18:1n-9 FA and [9,10(n)-3H]18:1n-9 FAlc. Uptake was measured after 2 h with relative utilization of labelled FAlc and FA calculated as a percentage of uptake. Differences in uptake were observed, with FA showing higher uptake than FAlc, and 18:1 chains a higher uptake than 16:0. A proportion of unesterified FAlc was possibly recovered in the cells, but the majority of FALc was recovered in lipid classes such as triacylglycerol and phospholipids indicating substantial conversion of FAlc to FA followed by esterification. However, incorporation of FA and FAlc into esterified lipids was higher when derived from FA than from FAlc. Twenty-five to fifty percentage of the absorbed 16:0 FA was recovered in TAG fraction of the enterocytes compared with fifteen to seventy-five percentage of 18:1 FA. Twenty to thirty percentage of the absorbed 16:0 FA was recovered in the PC fraction of the enterocytes compared with only five to fifteen percentage of the 18:1 FA. Less than 15% of the fatty chains taken up by the cells was used for energy production, with significantly higher oxidation of 18:1 in enterocytes from fish fed the fish oil diet compared to the Calanus oil diet. However, overall, dietary copepod oil had little effect on FAlc and FA metabolism. Metabolic modification by elongation and/or desaturation was generally low at 1-5% of uptake. We conclude that our hypothesis was generally proved in that the uptake of FAlc by salmon enterocytes was lower than the uptake of FA and that subsequent intracellular metabolism of FAlc was similar to that of FA. However, unesterified FAlc was possibly recovered in the cells suggesting that the conversion to FA may not be concomitant with uptake

Quantum Dissension: Generalizing Quantum Discord for Three-Qubit States

We introduce the notion of quantum dissension for a three-qubit system as a measure of quantum correlations. We use three equivalent expressions of three-variable mutual information. Their differences can be zero classically but not so in quantum domain. It generalizes the notion of quantum discord to a multipartite system. There can be multiple definitions of the dissension depending on the nature of projective measurements done on the subsystems. As an illustration, we explore the consequences of these multiple definitions and compare them for three-qubit pure and mixed GHZ and W states. We find that unlike discord, dissension can be negative. This is because measurement on a subsystem may enhance the correlations in the rest of the system. This approach can pave a way to generalize the notion of quantum correlations in the multiparticle setting.Comment: 9 pages 6 figures typo fixed and some arguments adde

New features of quantum discord uncovered by q-entropies

The notion of quantum discord introduced by Ollivier and Zurek [Phys. Rev. Lett 88, 017901 (2001)] (see also Henderson and Vedral [J. Phys. A 34, 6899 (2001)]) has attracted increasing attention, in recent years, as an entropic quantifier of non-classical features pertaining to the correlations exhibited by bipartite quantum systems. Here we generalize the notion so as to encompass power-law q-entropies (that reduce to the standard Shannon entropy in the limit $q \to 1$) and study the concomitant consequences. The ensuing, new discord-like measures we advance describe aspects of non-classicality that are different from those associated with the standard quantum discord. A particular manifestation of this difference concerns a feature related to order. Let $D_1$ stand for the standard, Shannon-based discord measure and $D_q$ for the $q \ne 1$ one. If two quantum states $A$, $B$ are such that $D_1(A) > D_1(B)$, this order-relation does not remain invariant under a change from $D_1$ to $D_q$.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Glass Transition of Hard Sphere Systems: Molecular Dynamics and Density Functional Theory

The glass transition of a hard sphere system is investigated within the framework of the density functional theory (DFT). Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed to study dynamical behavior of the system on the one hand and to provide the data to produce the density field for the DFT on the other hand. Energy landscape analysis based on the DFT shows that there appears a metastable (local) free energy minimum representing an amorphous state as the density is increased. This state turns out to become stable, compared with the uniform liquid, at some density, around which we also observe sharp slowing down of the $alpha$ relaxation in MD simulations.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Comparison of optimal performance at 300keV of three direct electron detectors for use in low dose electron microscopy

Low dose electron imaging applications such as electron cryo-microscopy are now benefitting from the improved performance and flexibility of recently introduced electron imaging detectors in which electrons are directly incident on backthinned CMOS sensors. There are currently three commercially available detectors of this type: the Direct Electron DE-20, the FEI Falcon II and the Gatan K2 Summit. These have different characteristics and so it is important to compare their imaging properties carefully with a view to optimise how each is used. Results at 300 keV for both the modulation transfer function (MTF) and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) are presented. Of these, the DQE is the most important in the study of radiation sensitive samples where detector performance is crucial. We find that all three detectors have a better DQE than film. The K2 Summit has the best DQE at low spatial frequencies but with increasing spatial frequency its DQE falls below that of the Falcon II

Quantifying Quantum Correlations in Fermionic Systems using Witness Operators

We present a method to quantify quantum correlations in arbitrary systems of indistinguishable fermions using witness operators. The method associates the problem of finding the optimal entan- glement witness of a state with a class of problems known as semidefinite programs (SDPs), which can be solved efficiently with arbitrary accuracy. Based on these optimal witnesses, we introduce a measure of quantum correlations which has an interpretation analogous to the Generalized Robust- ness of entanglement. We also extend the notion of quantum discord to the case of indistinguishable fermions, and propose a geometric quantifier, which is compared to our entanglement measure. Our numerical results show a remarkable equivalence between the proposed Generalized Robustness and the Schliemann concurrence, which are equal for pure states. For mixed states, the Schliemann con- currence presents itself as an upper bound for the Generalized Robustness. The quantum discord is also found to be an upper bound for the entanglement.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Quantum Information Processin

Eye-tracking the time‐course of novel word learning and lexical competition in adults and children

Lexical competition is a hallmark of proficient, automatic word recognition. Previous research suggests that there is a delay before a new spoken word becomes engaged in this process, with sleep playing an important role. However, data from one method--the visual world paradigm--consistently show competition without a delay. We trained 42 adults and 40 children (aged 7-8) on novel word-object pairings, and employed this paradigm to measure the time-course of lexical competition. Fixations to novel objects upon hearing existing words (e.g., looks to the novel object biscal upon hearing “click on the biscuit”) were compared to fixations on untrained objects. Novel word-object pairings learned immediately before testing and those learned the previous day exhibited significant competition effects, with stronger competition for the previous day pairings for children but not adults. Crucially, this competition effect was significantly smaller for novel than existing competitors (e.g., looks to candy upon hearing “click on the candle”), suggesting that novel items may not compete for recognition like fully-fledged lexical items, even after 24 hours. Explicit memory (cued recall) was superior for words learned the day before testing, particularly for children; this effect (but not the lexical competition effects) correlated with sleep-spindle density. Together, the results suggest that different aspects of new word learning follow different time courses: visual world competition effects can emerge swiftly, but are qualitatively different from those observed with established words, and are less reliant upon sleep. Furthermore, the findings fit with the view that word learning earlier in development is boosted by sleep to a greater degree

Peak effect and its evolution with defect structure in YBa2Cu3O7-d thin films at microwave frequencies

The vortex dynamics in YBa2Cu3O7-d thin films have been studied at microwave frequencies. A pronounced peak in the surface resistance, Rs, is observed in these films at frequencies of 4.88 and 9.55 GHz for magnetic fields varying from 0.2 to 0.8 T. The peak is associated with an order-disorder transformation of the flux line lattice as the temperature or field is increased. The occurrence of the peak in Rs is crucially dependent on the depinning frequency, wp and on the nature and concentration of growth defects present in these films. Introduction of artificial defects by swift heavy ion irradiation with 200 MeV Ag ion at a fluence of 4x1010 ions/cm2 enhances wp and suppresses the peak at 4.88 GHz but the peak at 9.55 GHz remains unaffected. A second peak at lower temperature has also been observed at 9.55 GHz. This is related to twin boundaries from angular dependence studies of Rs. Based on the temperature variation of Rs, vortex phase diagrams have been constructed at 9.55 GHz.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures Submitted to Physical Review