Hofstadter butterflies of bilayer graphene

We calculate the electronic spectrum of bilayer graphene in perpendicular magnetic fields nonperturbatively. To accommodate arbitrary displacements between the two layers, we apply a periodic gauge based on singular flux vortices of phase $2\pi$. The resulting Hofstadter-like butterfly plots show a reduced symmetry, depending on the relative position of the two layers against each other. The split of the zero-energy relativistic Landau level differs by one order of magnitude between Bernal and non-Bernal stacking.Comment: updated to refereed and edited versio

Tuning the electronic structure of graphene by ion irradiation

Mechanically exfoliated graphene layers deposited on SiO2 substrate were irradiated with Ar+ ions in order to experimentally study the effect of atomic scale defects and disorder on the low-energy electronic structure of graphene. The irradiated samples were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy measurements, which reveal that defect sites, besides acting as scattering centers for electrons through local modification of the on-site potential, also induce disorder in the hopping amplitudes. The most important consequence of the induced disorder is the substantial reduction in the Fermi velocity, revealed by bias-dependent imaging of electron-density oscillations observed near defect sites

Knowledge graphs for covid-19: An exploratory review of the current landscape

Background: Searching through the COVID-19 research literature to gain actionable clinical insight is a formidable task, even for experts. The usefulness of this corpus in terms of improving patient care is tied to the ability to see the big picture that emerges when the studies are seen in conjunction rather than in isolation. When the answer to a search query requires linking together multiple pieces of information across documents, simple keyword searches are insufficient. To answer such complex information needs, an innovative artificial intelligence (AI) technology named a knowledge graph (KG) could prove to be effective. Methods: We conducted an exploratory literature review of KG applications in the context of COVID-19. The search term used was "covid-19 knowledge graph". In addition to PubMed, the first five pages of search results for Google Scholar and Google were considered for inclusion. Google Scholar was used to include non-peer-reviewed or non-indexed articles such as pre-prints and conference proceedings. Google was used to identify companies or consortiums active in this domain that have not published any literature, peer-reviewed or otherwise. Results: Our search yielded 34 results on PubMed and 50 results each on Google and Google Scholar. We found KGs being used for facilitating literature search, drug repurposing, clinical trial mapping, and risk factor analysis. Conclusions: Our synopses of these works make a compelling case for the utility of this nascent field of research

System multilayered applied to the radiative cooling

In applied optics, the multilayered structures (MLS) take an important place in many instrumental and industrial devices. The aim of this work is to study the MLS in order to optimize the inverse greenhouse effect; it is made by a survey on theoretical formalism of the energy exchange phenomena. This optimization requires that the window materials (MLS) are good reflectors in the visible range and assuring a total transmission in the infrared zone (8-13 µm); One of the support elements, of the window, answering to these criterions is germanium, for which we have studied the thickness influence and have found that the equilibrium temperature reached by the absorber has a minimal value between 0.01 µm and 0.06 µm. However, only with germanium, the window can not products the inverse greenhouse effect. Indeed, the germanium must include other layers in order to increase the visible reflectance and the infrared transmittance (8-13µm); what forms a multilayered structure. Several system have been used, only 7 of them have been kept for this work: S1, S2, …, S7 systems. Only the following systems: S2/S1, S3/S2/S1 and MgO/S3/S2/S1 give a radiative cooling effect, with a very good result of 15 °C below ambient temperature in the case of the S6 system. To approach of the real conditions of this system realization (S6), we simulated the effects of such imperfections, as presence of air, that would be due to the quality of the layers deposition. This study is made in the case of the S7 system. As results, we found that, for zenithal angles ≤ 60°, the layers of air, for which the thickness is lower than 0.5 µm, don't present any influence on the absorber's equilibrium temperature.In applied optics, the multilayered structures (MLS) take an important place in many instrumental and industrial devices. The aim of this work is to study the MLS in order to optimize the inverse greenhouse effect; it is made by a survey on theoretical formalism of the energy exchange phenomena. This optimization requires that the window materials (MLS) are good reflectors in the visible range and assuring a total transmission in the infrared zone (8-13 µm); One of the support elements, of the window, answering to these criterions is germanium, for which we have studied the thickness influence and have found that the equilibrium temperature reached by the absorber has a minimal value between 0.01 µm and 0.06 µm. However, only with germanium, the window can not products the inverse greenhouse effect. Indeed, the germanium must include other layers in order to increase the visible reflectance and the infrared transmittance (8-13µm); what forms a multilayered structure. Several system have been used, only 7 of them have been kept for this work: S1, S2, …, S7 systems. Only the following systems: S2/S1, S3/S2/S1 and MgO/S3/S2/S1 give a radiative cooling effect, with a very good result of 15 °C below ambient temperature in the case of the S6 system. To approach of the real conditions of this system realization (S6), we simulated the effects of such imperfections, as presence of air, that would be due to the quality of the layers deposition. This study is made in the case of the S7 system. As results, we found that, for zenithal angles ≤ 60°, the layers of air, for which the thickness is lower than 0.5 µm, don't present any influence on the absorber's equilibrium temperature

Spores of Clostridium engineered for clinical efficacy and safety cause regression and cure of tumors in vivo.

Spores of some species of the strictly anaerobic bacteria Clostridium naturally target and partially lyse the hypoxic cores of tumors, which tend to be refractory to conventional therapies. The anti-tumor effect can be augmented by engineering strains to convert a non-toxic prodrug into a cytotoxic drug specifically at the tumor site by expressing a prodrug-converting enzyme (PCE). Safe doses of the favored prodrug CB1954 lead to peak concentrations of 6.3 μM in patient sera, but at these concentration(s) known nitroreductase (NTR) PCEs for this prodrug show low activity. Furthermore, efficacious and safe Clostridium strains that stably express a PCE have not been reported. Here we identify a novel nitroreductase from Neisseria meningitidis, NmeNTR, which is able to activate CB1954 at clinically-achievable serum concentrations. An NmeNTR expression cassette, which does not contain an antibiotic resistance marker, was stably localized to the chromosome of Clostridium sporogenes using a new integration method, and the strain was disabled for safety and containment by making it a uracil auxotroph. The efficacy of Clostridium-Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy (CDEPT) using this system was demonstrated in a mouse xenograft model of human colon carcinoma. Substantial tumor suppression was achieved, and several animals were cured. These encouraging data suggest that the novel enzyme and strain engineering approach represent a promising platform for the clinical development of CDEPT

Towards analytical approaches to the dynamical-cluster approximation

I introduce several simplified schemes for the approximation of the self-consistency condition of the dynamical cluster approximation. The applicability of the schemes is tested numerically using the fluctuation-exchange approximation as a cluster solver for the Hubbard model. Thermodynamic properties are found to be practically indistinguishable from those computed using the full self-consistent scheme in all cases where the non-interacting partial density of states is replaced by simplified analytic forms with matching 1st and 2nd moments. Green functions are also compared and found to be in close agreement, and the density of states computed using Pad\'{e} approximant analytic continuation shows that dynamical properties can also be approximated effectively. Extensions to two-particle properties and multiple bands are discussed. Simplified approaches to the dynamical cluster approximation should lead to new analytic solutions of the Hubbard and other models