24,490 research outputs found
Maternal and infant infections stimulate a rapid leukocyte response in breastmilk
Breastmilk protects infants against infections; however, specific responses of breastmilk immune factors to different infections of either the mother or the infant are not well understood. Here, we examined the baseline range of breastmilk leukocytes and immunomodulatory biomolecules in healthy mother/infant dyads and how they are influenced by infections of the dyad. Consistent with a greater immunological need in the early postpartum period, colostrum contained considerable numbers of leukocytes (13–70% out of total cells) and high levels of immunoglobulins and lactoferrin. Within the first 1–2 weeks postpartum, leukocyte numbers decreased significantly to a low baseline level in mature breastmilk (0–2%) (P\u3c0.001). This baseline level was maintained throughout lactation unless the mother and/or her infant became infected, when leukocyte numbers significantly increased up to 94% leukocytes out of total cells (P\u3c0.001). Upon recovery from the infection, baseline values were restored. The strong leukocyte response to infection was accompanied by a more variable humoral immune response. Exclusive breastfeeding was associated with a greater baseline level of leukocytes in mature breastmilk. Collectively, our results suggest a strong association between the health status of the mother/infant dyad and breastmilk leukocyte levels. This could be used as a diagnostic tool for assessment of the health status of the lactating breast as well as the breastfeeding mother and infant
Spontaneous, collective coherence in driven, dissipative cavity arrays
We study an array of dissipative tunnel-coupled cavities, each interacting
with an incoherently pumped two-level emitter. For cavities in the lasing
regime, we find correlations between the light fields of distant cavities,
despite the dissipation and the incoherent nature of the pumping mechanism.
These correlations decay exponentially with distance for arrays in any
dimension but become increasingly long ranged with increasing photon tunneling
between adjacent cavities. The interaction-dominated and the
tunneling-dominated regimes show markedly different scaling of the correlation
length which always remains finite due to the finite photon trapping time. We
propose a series of observables to characterize the spontaneous build-up of
collective coherence in the system.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, including supplemental material (with 4 pages, 1
figure). This is a shorter version with some modifications in the
supplemental material (a gap in the proof was closed and calculations
significantly generalized and improved
Two-photon spectra of quantum emitters
We apply our recently developed theory of frequency-filtered and
time-resolved N-photon correlations to study the two-photon spectra of a
variety of systems of increasing complexity: single mode emitters with two
limiting statistics (one harmonic oscillator or a two-level system) and the
various combinations that arise from their coupling. We consider both the
linear and nonlinear regimes under incoherent excitation. We find that even the
simplest systems display a rich dynamics of emission, not accessible by simple
single photon spectroscopy. In the strong coupling regime, novel two-photon
emission processes involving virtual states are revealed. Furthermore, two
general results are unraveled by two-photon correlations with narrow linewidth
detectors: i) filtering induced bunching and ii) breakdown of the
semi-classical theory. We show how to overcome this shortcoming in a
fully-quantized picture.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure
Phase transition for cutting-plane approach to vertex-cover problem
We study the vertex-cover problem which is an NP-hard optimization problem
and a prototypical model exhibiting phase transitions on random graphs, e.g.,
Erdoes-Renyi (ER) random graphs. These phase transitions coincide with changes
of the solution space structure, e.g, for the ER ensemble at connectivity
c=e=2.7183 from replica symmetric to replica-symmetry broken. For the
vertex-cover problem, also the typical complexity of exact branch-and-bound
algorithms, which proceed by exploring the landscape of feasible
configurations, change close to this phase transition from "easy" to "hard". In
this work, we consider an algorithm which has a completely different strategy:
The problem is mapped onto a linear programming problem augmented by a
cutting-plane approach, hence the algorithm operates in a space OUTSIDE the
space of feasible configurations until the final step, where a solution is
found. Here we show that this type of algorithm also exhibits an "easy-hard"
transition around c=e, which strongly indicates that the typical hardness of a
problem is fundamental to the problem and not due to a specific representation
of the problem.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Optimal Vertex Cover for the Small-World Hanoi Networks
The vertex-cover problem on the Hanoi networks HN3 and HN5 is analyzed with
an exact renormalization group and parallel-tempering Monte Carlo simulations.
The grand canonical partition function of the equivalent hard-core repulsive
lattice-gas problem is recast first as an Ising-like canonical partition
function, which allows for a closed set of renormalization group equations. The
flow of these equations is analyzed for the limit of infinite chemical
potential, at which the vertex-cover problem is attained. The relevant fixed
point and its neighborhood are analyzed, and non-trivial results are obtained
both, for the coverage as well as for the ground state entropy density, which
indicates the complex structure of the solution space. Using special
hierarchy-dependent operators in the renormalization group and Monte-Carlo
simulations, structural details of optimal configurations are revealed. These
studies indicate that the optimal coverages (or packings) are not related by a
simple symmetry. Using a clustering analysis of the solutions obtained in the
Monte Carlo simulations, a complex solution space structure is revealed for
each system size. Nevertheless, in the thermodynamic limit, the solution
landscape is dominated by one huge set of very similar solutions.Comment: RevTex, 24 pages; many corrections in text and figures; final
version; for related information, see
http://www.physics.emory.edu/faculty/boettcher
Low-temperature thermopower study of YbRh2Si2
The heavy-fermion compound YbRh2Si2 exhibits an antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase
transition at an extremely low temperature of TN = 70 mK. Upon applying a tiny
magnetic field of Bc = 60 mT the AFM ordering is suppressed and the system is
driven toward a field-induced quantum critical point (QCP). Here, we present
low-temperature thermopower S(T) measurements of high-quality YbRh2Si2 single
crystals down to 30 mK. S(T) is found negative with comparably large values in
the paramagnetic state. In zero field no Landau-Fermi-liquid (LFL) like
behavior is observed within the magnetically ordered phase. However, a sign
change from negative to positive appears at lowest temperatures on the magnetic
side of the QCP. For higher fields B > Bc a linear extrapolation of S to zero
clearly evidences the recovery of LFL regime. The crossover temperature is
sharply determined and coincides perfectly with the one derived from
resistivity and specific heat investigations.Comment: LT25 conference proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Serie
A system of relational syllogistic incorporating full Boolean reasoning
We present a system of relational syllogistic, based on classical
propositional logic, having primitives of the following form:
Some A are R-related to some B;
Some A are R-related to all B;
All A are R-related to some B;
All A are R-related to all B.
Such primitives formalize sentences from natural language like `All students
read some textbooks'. Here A and B denote arbitrary sets (of objects), and R
denotes an arbitrary binary relation between objects. The language of the logic
contains only variables denoting sets, determining the class of set terms, and
variables denoting binary relations between objects, determining the class of
relational terms. Both classes of terms are closed under the standard Boolean
operations. The set of relational terms is also closed under taking the
converse of a relation. The results of the paper are the completeness theorem
with respect to the intended semantics and the computational complexity of the
satisfiability problem.Comment: Available at
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10849-012-9165-
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