Boson Mott insulators at finite temperatures

We discuss the finite temperature properties of ultracold bosons in optical lattices in the presence of an additional, smoothly varying potential, as in current experiments. Three regimes emerge in the phase diagram: a low-temperature Mott regime similar to the zero-temperature quantum phase, an intermediate regime where MI features persist, but where superfluidity is absent, and a thermal regime where features of the Mott insulator state have disappeared. We obtain the thermodynamic functions of the Mott phase in the latter cases. The results are used to estimate the temperatures achieved by adiabatic loading in current experiments. We point out the crucial role of the trapping potential in determining the final temperature, and suggest a scheme for further cooling by adiabatic decompression

Processed Meat and Colorectal Cancer: A Review of Epidemiologic and Experimental Evidence

Processed meat intake may be involved in the etiology of colorectal cancer, a major cause of death in affluent countries. The epidemiologic studies published to date conclude that the excess risk in the highest category of processed meat-eaters is comprised between 20 and 50% compared with non-eaters. In addition, the excess risk per gram of intake is clearly higher than that of fresh red meat. Several hypotheses, which are mainly based on studies carried out on red meat, may explain why processed meat intake is linked to cancer risk. Those that have been tested experimentally are (i) that high-fat diets could promote carcinogenesis via insulin resistance or fecal bile acids; (ii) that cooking meat at a high temperature forms carcinogenic heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; (iii) that carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds are formed in meat and endogenously; (iv) that heme iron in red meat can promote carcinogenesis because it increases cell proliferation in the mucosa, through lipoperoxidation and/or cytotoxicity of fecal water. Nitrosation might increase the toxicity of heme in cured products. Solving this puzzle is a challenge that would permit to reduce cancer load by changing the processes rather than by banning processed meat

The effect of social security payroll tax reductions on employment and wages: an evaluation of the 2003 French reform

public policy evaluation, payroll tax cuts, labour cost, semi-parametric estimations

Beef meat promotion of dimethylhydrazine-induced colorectal carcinogenesis biomarkers is suppressed by dietary calcium

Red meat consumption is associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer. We have previously shown that haemin, Hb and red meat promote carcinogen-induced preneoplastic lesions: aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and mucin-depleted foci (MDF) in rats. We have also shown that dietary calcium, antioxidant mix and olive oil inhibit haemin-induced ACF promotion, and normalize faecal lipoperoxides and cytotoxicity. Here we tested if these strategies are effective also against red meat promotion in dimethylhydrazine-induced rats. Three diets with 60% beef meat were supplemented with calcium phosphate (33 g/kg), antioxidant agents (rutin and butylated hydroxyanisole, 0•05% each) and olive oil (5 %). ACF, MDF, faecal water cytotoxicity, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and urinary 1,4-dihydroxynonane mercapturic acid (DHN-MA) were measured. Beef meat diet increased the number of ACF (þ30 %) and MDF (þ100 %) (P,0•001), which confirms our previous findings. Promotion was associated with increased faecal water TBARs ( £ 4) and cytotoxicity ( £ 2), and urinary DHN-MA excretion ( £ 15). Calcium fully inhibited beef meat-induced ACF and MDF promotion, and normalized faecal TBARS and cytotoxicity, but did not reduce urinary DHN-MA. Unexpectedly, high-calcium control diet-fed rats had more MDF and ACF in the colon than low-calcium control diet-fed rats. Antioxidant mix and olive oil did not normalize beef meat promotion nor biochemical factors. The results confirm that haem causes promotion of colon carcinogenesis by red meat. They suggest that calcium can reduce colorectal cancer risk in meat-eaters. The results support the concept that toxicity associated with the excess of a useful nutrient may be prevented by another nutrient

Comparison of the effectiveness and attractiveness of the trap "Sentrap"and two home-made prototypes to "Multilure" (conventional trap) in male anihilation technique Mbaye Ndiaye1* and Fabrice L. R.

The average catches of Bactrocera invadens obtained from home-made open-bottom dry traps of mineral water translucent plastic bottles of 1.5 L, 5 L, and "Sentrap" Open-top Dry local Trap (plastic prototype improved by SENCHIM, an agrochemicals industry based in Senegal) were compared to the conventional trap "Multilure" (Better World Manufacturing, Inc.., Miami, FL). Results show that no significant difference was found when "Multilure" was compared to the 5 L plastic bottle trap. The study of the relationships between catches and type of trap was significant for all of them. Sentrap, "Multilure" and 1.5 L bottle trap exhibited a very high significant dependency relationships (r = -0.969**, r = -0.903** and r = -0.801**; respectively and p< 0.01). And the 5 L bottle trap was significant with r = -0.801* and p< 0.05. Thus, in case of absence of conventional traps, the plastic bottle of 5 L could, therefore, be used as an alternative and its basal part painted in yellow should increase its efficiency. Also, due to simple design and less time needed for servicing "Sentrap", increasing its volume and openings and fixing firmly the upper part with a lid screw might improve its efficiency.Key words: Traps, catches, Bactrocera

A 3D scanner for transparent glass

Many practical tasks in industry, such as automatic inspection or robot vision, often require the scanning of three-dimensional shapes by use of non-contact techniques. However, few methods have been proposed to measure three-dimensional shapes of transparent objects because of the difficulty of dealing with transparency and specularity of the surface. This paper presents a 3D scanner for transparent glass objects based on Scanning From Heating (SFH), a new method that makes use of local surface heating and thermal imaging

SiNx:Tb3+--Yb3+, an efficient down-conversion layer compatible with a silicon solar cell process

SiN x : Tb 3+-Yb 3+, an efficient down-conversion layer compatible with silicon solar cell process Abstract Tb 3+-Yb 3+ co-doped SiN x down-conversion layers compatible with silicon Photovoltaic Technology were prepared by reactive magnetron co-sputtering. Efficient sensitization of Tb 3+ ions through a SiN x host matrix and cooperative energy transfer between Tb 3+ and Yb 3+ ions were evidenced as driving mechanisms of the down-conversion process. In this paper, the film composition and microstructure are investigated alongside their optical properties, with the aim of maximizing the rare earth ions incorporation and emission efficiency. An optimized layer achieving the highest Yb 3+ emission intensity was obtained by reactive magnetron co-sputtering in a nitride rich atmosphere for 1.2 W/cm${}^2$ and 0.15 W/cm${}^2$ power density applied on the Tb and Yb targets, respectively. It was determined that depositing at 200 {\textdegree}C and annealing at 850 {\textdegree}C leads to comparable Yb 3+ emission intensity than depositing at 500 {\textdegree}C and annealing at 600 {\textdegree}C, which is promising for applications toward silicon solar cells.Comment: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Elsevier, 201

Meat processing and colon carcinogenesis: Cooked, nitrite-treated and oxidized high-heme cured meat promotes mucin depleted foci in rats

Processed meat intake is associated with colorectal cancer risk, but no experimental study supports the epidemiologic evidence. To study the effect of meat processing on carcinogenesis promotion, we first did a 14-day study with 16 models of cured meat. Studied factors, in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 design, were muscle color (a proxy for heme level), processing temperature, added nitrite, and packaging. Fischer 344 rats were fed these 16 diets, and we evaluated fecal and urinary fat oxidation and cytotoxicity, three biomarkers of heme-induced carcinogenesis promotion. A principal component analysis allowed for selection of four cured meats for inclusion into a promotion study. These selected diets were given for 100 days to rats pretreated with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine. Colons were scored for preneoplastic lesions: aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and mucin-depleted foci (MDF). Cured meat diets significantly increased the number of ACF/colon compared with a no-meat control diet (P = 0.002). Only the cooked nitrite-treated and oxidized high heme meat significantly increased the fecal level of apparent total N-nitroso compounds (ATNC) and the number of MDF per colon compared with the no-meat control diet (P < 0.05). This nitrite-treated and oxidized cured meat specifically increased the MDF number compared with similar non nitrite-treated meat (P = 0.03) and with similar non oxidized meat (P = 0.004). Thus, a model cured meat, similar to ham stored aerobically, increased the number of preneoplastic lesions, which suggests colon carcinogenesis promotion. Nitrite treatment and oxidation increased this promoting effect, which was linked with increased fecal ATNC level. This study could lead to process modifications to make non promoting processed meat

Luminescence Spectra of Quantum Dots in Microcavities. I. Bosons

We provide a unified theory of luminescence spectra of coupled light-matter systems realized with semiconductor heterostructures in microcavities, encompassing: i) the spontaneous emission case, where the system decays from a prepared (typically pure) initial state, and ii) luminescence in the presence of a continuous, incoherent pump. While the former case has been amply discussed in the literature (albeit mainly for the case of resonance), no consideration has been given to the influence of the incoherent pump. We show how, by provoking a self-consistent quantum state, the pump considerably alters the emission spectra, even at vanishing intensities. The main outcome of our analysis is to unambiguously identify strong-coupling in situations where it appears in disguise or only seems to appear. Here, we consider bosonic matter fields, in which case fully analytical solutions can be obtained. This describes the case of quantum wells or large quantum dots, or the limit of low excitation where the average populations remain much smaller than one