Heating and thermoelectric transport in a molecular junction

The energy dissipation and heat flows associated with the particle current in a system with a molecular junction are considered. In this connection, we determine the effective temperature of the molecular oscillator that is compatible with the existence of a steady state. The calculations based on the Kadanov-Baym nonequilibrium Green function formalism are carried out supposing a strong coupling of the dot electrons with the molecular vibrations. Accordingly, the representation given by the Lang-Firsov polaron transformation is used and the dependence of results on the electron-phonon interaction strength is investigated.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to EPJ

General construction of symmetric parabolic structures

First we introduce a generalization of symmetric spaces to parabolic geometries. We provide construction of such parabolic geometries starting with classical symmetric spaces and we show that all regular parabolic geometries with smooth systems of involutive symmetries can be obtained this way. Further, we investigate the case of parabolic contact geometries in great detail and we provide the full classification of those with semisimple groups of symmetries without complex factors. Finally, we explicitly construct all non-trivial contact geometries with non-complex simple groups of symmetries. We also indicate geometric interpretations of some of them.Comment: 38 pages, to be published in Differential Geometry and Its Applications (Elsevier

Importance of heat-stable enterotoxin B in the induction of early immune responses in piglets after infection with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) strains that produce heat-stable (STa, STb) and/or heat-labile (LT) enterotoxins are an important cause of post-weaning diarrhea in piglets [1]. However, the relative importance of the different enterotoxins in the pathogenesis of ETEC infection has been poorly defined. In the present study we assessed the contributions of different ETEC enterotoxins to the induction of small intestinal secretion and early innate immune responses in weaned piglets

Green IS – Information Systems for Environmental Sustainability

While in the past information technol- ogy was mostly seen as a contributor to environmental degradation, recent stud- ies suggest that information systems (IS) can indeed enable sustainable processes, products, and services. Specifically, infor- mation systems are expected to create an impact on individual beliefs about en- vironmental sustainability, enable more sustainable work practices through virtu- alization and remote work, enable orga- nizations to meet compliance imperatives and social norms, or increase resource ef- ficiency. In this context, notions such as energy informatics or green business pro- cess management have emerged. The IS discipline is thus challenged to explore the potential of information systems to contribute to the betterment of the nat- ural environment by enabling more sus- tainable work practices at individual, or- ganizational, and societal levels

Sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic fluorescence assay for the quantitation of topotecan (SKF 104864-A) and its lactone ring-opened product (hydroxy acid) in human plasma and urine

A sensitive reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic fluorescence method is described for the simultaneous determination of topotecan (I) and the hydrolysed lactone ring-opened product hydroxy acid (II) in plasma and for the determination of I in urine. To 250 μl of plasma, a 750-μl volume of cold methanol was added to stabilize the pH-dependent conversion of I into II. In plasma, the lower limit of quantitation (LLQ) for both compounds was 0.10 ng/ml. The between-day variation for I at the LLQ was 7.1% and for II was 5.5%. Prior to injection, urine samples were acidified with orthophosphoric acid and diluted with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). In urine, the calibration curve for I was linear in the range of 10 to 250 ng/ml and the LLQ was 10 ng/ml. The assay was developed to enable pharmacological analysis of I, in on-going phase I and II studies, in patients with solid tumors

Software Tools for Technology Transfer manuscript No. (will be inserted by the editor) How to Prove Complex Properties of Hybrid Systems with KeYmaera: A Tutorial

The date of receipt and acceptance will be inserted by the editor Abstract. This paper is a tutorial on how to model and prove complex properties of complex hybrid systems in KeYmaera, an automatic and interactive formal verification tool for hybrid systems implementing differential dynamic logic. Hybrid systems can model highly nontrivial controllers of physical plants, whose behaviors are often safety critical such as trains, cars, airplanes, or medical devices. Formal methods can help design systems that work correctly. This paper illustrates how KeYmaera can be used to systematically model, validate, and verify hybrid systems. We develop tutorial examples that illustrate challenges arising in many realworld systems. In the context of this tutorial, we identify the impact that modeling decisions have on the suitability of the model for verification purposes. We show how the interactive features of KeYmaera can help users understand their system designs better and prove complex properties for which the automatic prover of KeYmaera still takes an impractical amount of time. We hope this paper is a helpful resource for designers of embedded and cyber-physical systems and that it illustrates how to master common practical challenges in hybrid systems verification.