Entanglement of formation for a class of (2⊗d)(2\otimes d)-dimensional systems

Currently the entanglement of formation can be calculated analytically for mixed states in a $(2\otimes2)$-dimensional Hilbert space. For states in higher dimensional Hilbert space a closed formula for quantifying entanglement does not exist. In this regard only entanglement bounds has been found for estimating it. In this work, we find an analytical expression for evaluating the entanglement of formation for bipartite ($2\otimes d$)-dimensional mixed states.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Submitted for publicatio

Conocimientos y actitudes ante la Voluntad Anticipada en profesionales de la salud del Centro Médico “Lic. Adolfo López Mateos”, Toluca, México

Introducción: La Voluntad Anticipada es una declaración mediante la cual una persona mayor de edad, con capacidad mental suficiente y libremente, expone las instrucciones que se deben tener en cuenta respecto a la atención sanitaria que desea recibir en situaciones en las cuales no pueda ya expresar personalmente su voluntad. Objetivo: Determinar el nivel de conocimientos y actitudes que tienen los profesionales de la salud de Centro Médico “Lic. Adolfo López Mateos” con respecto a la Ley de Voluntad Anticipada del Estado de México. Método y materiales: Se aplicaron 265 encuestas que incluían el conocimiento y la actitud que tienen los profesionales de la salud sobre la Ley de Voluntad Anticipada del Estado de México. Resultados: El grupo mayoritario abarcó de 25-29 años con el 31%, el turno mayoritario fue el de la Jornada Especial con 34%, el 60% de los encuestados fueron mujeres y 40% hombres, el 94% no había leído la Ley de Voluntad Anticipada inscrita en la gaceta oficial del Gobierno del Estado de México y el 6% restante respondió afirmativamente. Conclusiones: La mayoría de los y las profesionales de salud refirieron no conocer la Ley inscrita en la gaceta oficial, lo que significa que hace falta difusión y promoción del tema; a pesar de eso, tuvieron una posición favorable hacia la voluntad anticipada y demostraron tener noción sobre lo tratad

Impurity Effects in Two-Electron Coupled Quantum Dots: Entanglement Modulation

We present a detailed analysis of the electronic and optical properties of two-electron quantum dots with a two-dimensional Gaussian confinement potential. We study the effects of Coulomb impurities and the possibility of manipulate the entanglement of the electrons by controlling the confinement potential parameters. The degree of entanglement becomes highly modulated by both the location and charge screening of the impurity atom, resulting two regimes: one of low entanglement and other of high entanglement, with both of them mainly determined by the magnitude of the charge. It is shown that the magnitude of the oscillator strength of the system could provide an indication of the presence and characteristics of impurities that could largely influence the degree of entanglement of the system.Comment: Regular Article (Journal of Physics B, in press), 9 pages, 10 figure

Sandy beaches at the brink

Sandy beaches line most of the world’s oceans and are highly valued by society: more people use sandy beaches than any other type of shore. While the economic and social values of beaches are generally regarded as paramount, sandy shores also have special ecological features and contain a distinctive biodiversity that is generally not recognized. These unique ecosystems are facing escalating anthropogenic pressures, chiefly from rapacious coastal development, direct human uses — mainly associated with recreation — and rising sea levels. Beaches are increasingly becoming trapped in a ‘coastal squeeze’ between burgeoning human populations from the land and the effects of global climate change from the sea. Society’s interventions (e.g. shoreline armouring, beach nourishment) to combat changes in beach environments, such as erosion and shoreline retreat, can result in severe ecological impacts and loss of biodiversity at local scales, but are predicted also to have cumulative large-scale consequences worldwide. Because of the scale of this problem, the continued existence of beaches as functional ecosystems is likely to depend on direct conservation efforts. Conservation, in turn, will have to increasingly draw on a consolidated body of ecological theory for these ecosystems. Although this body of theory has yet to be fully developed, we identify here a number of critical research directions that are required to progress coastal management and conservation of sandy beach ecosystems

Characterisation of the key determinants of Phd antitoxin mediated Doc toxin inactivation in Salmonella

In the search for novel antimicrobial therapeutics, toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules are promising yet underexplored targets for overcoming antibiotic failure. The bacterial toxin Doc has been associated with the persistence of Salmonella in macrophages, enabling its survival upon antibiotic exposure. After developing a novel method to produce the recombinant toxin, we have used antitoxin-mimicking peptides to thoroughly investigate the mechanism by which its cognate antitoxin Phd neutralizes the activity of Doc. We reveal insights into the molecular detail of the Phd–Doc relationship and discriminate antitoxin residues that stabilize the TA complex from those essential for inhibiting the activity of the toxin. Coexpression of Doc and antitoxin peptides in Salmonella was able to counteract the activity of the toxin, confirming our in vitro results with equivalent sequences. Our findings provide key principles for the development of chemical tools to study and therapeutically interrogate this important class of protein–protein interactions

New phylogenetic insights into Saprolegniales (Oomycota, Straminipila) based upon studies of specimens isolated from Brazil and Argentina

Saprolegniales is a complex and monophyletic order of oomycetes. Their members inhabit terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems and have a worldwide distribution. In these ecosystems, they are found as saprobes, parasites, or even pathogens of animals and plants of economic importance. In this study, a concatenate phylogeny of the partial LSU and complete ITS rDNA regions is presented, including isolates from Brazil and Argentina, which were sequenced after a detailed morphological analysis. Among the sequenced species, Achlya orion, Leptolegnia eccentrica, Phragmosporangium uniseriatum, and Pythiopsis irregularis are included for the first time in a phylogeny. Our results are in agreement with the recent informal proposals outlined in taxonomic overviews of the Oomycota of G.W. Beakes and collaborators, who placed the family Verrucalvaceae into the Saprolegniales and introduced the family Achlyaceae to group Achlya s.s., Brevilegnia, Dictyuchus, and Thraustotheca. These results also support the transference of Achlya androgyna to Newbya. Leptolegnia appears as paraphyletic, with the separation of L. eccentrica from the other species of this genus. In addition, Phragmosporangium, which is herein sequenced for the first time, clustered as sister to some species of Aphanomyces, including the type species, A. stellatus.Fil: Rocha, Sarah C. O.. Instituto de Botânica. Núcleo de Pesquisa em Micologia; BrasilFil: Lopez Lastra, Claudia Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Marano, Agostina Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Instituto de Botânica. Núcleo de Pesquisa em Micologia; BrasilFil: de Souza, José Ivanildo. Instituto de Botânica. Núcleo de Pesquisa em Micologia; BrasilFil: Rueda Páramo, Manuel Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Pires Zottarelli, Carmen L. A.. Instituto de Botânica. Núcleo de Pesquisa em Micologia; Brasi

Credit bureaus between risk-management, creditworthiness assessment and prudential supervision

"This text may be downloaded for personal research purposes only. Any additional reproduction for other purposes, whether in hard copy or electronically, requires the consent of the author. If cited or quoted, reference should be made to the full name of the author, the title, the working paper or other series, the year, and the publisher."This paper discusses the role and operations of consumer Credit Bureaus in the European Union in the context of the economic theories, policies and law within which they work. Across Europe there is no common practice of sharing the credit data of consumers which can be used for several purposes. Mostly, they are used by the lending industry as a practice of creditworthiness assessment or as a risk-management tool to underwrite borrowing decisions or price risk. However, the type, breath, and depth of information differ greatly from country to country. In some Member States, consumer data are part of a broader information centralisation system for the prudential supervision of banks and the financial system as a whole. Despite EU rules on credit to consumers for the creation of the internal market, the underlying consumer data infrastructure remains fragmented at national level, failing to achieve univocal, common, or defined policy objectives under a harmonised legal framework. Likewise, the establishment of the Banking Union and the prudential supervision of the Euro area demand standardisation and convergence of the data used to measure debt levels, arrears, and delinquencies. The many functions and usages of credit data suggest that the policy goals to be achieved should inform the legal and institutional framework of Credit Bureaus, as well as the design and use of the databases. This is also because fundamental rights and consumer protection concerns arise from the sharing of credit data and their expanding use