Dissipation-driven generation of two-qubit entanglement mediated by plasmonic waveguides

We study the generation of entanglement between two distant qubits mediated by the surface plasmons of a metallic waveguide. We show that a V-shaped channel milled in a flat metallic surface is much more efficient for this purpose than a metallic cylinder. The role of the misalignments of the dipole moments of the qubits, an aspect of great importance for experimental implementations, is also studied. A careful analysis of the quantum-dynamics of the system by means of a master equation shows that two-qubit entanglement generation is essentially due to the dissipative part of the effective qubit-qubit coupling provided by the surface plasmons. The influence of a coherent external pumping, needed to achieve a steady state entanglement, is discussed. Finally, we pay attention to the question of how to get information experimentally on the degree of entanglement achieved in the system.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure

A ferric guest inside a spin crossover ferrous helicate

A designed dimetallic Fe(II) helicate made with biphenylenebridged bispyrazolylpyridine ligands and exhibiting a process of spin crossover at temperatures above ambient is shown to encapsulate an S = 5/2 tris-oxalato Fe(III) ion. The spin relaxation dynamics of this guest are strongly reduced upon encapsulatio

FPGA acceleration using high-level languages of a Monte-Carlo method for pricing complex options

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Systems Architecture. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Systems Architecture, 59, 3 (2013) DOI: 10.1016/j.sysarc.2013.01.004In this paper we present an FPGA implementation of a Monte-Carlo method for pricing Asian options using Impulse C and floating-point arithmetic. In an Altera Stratix-V FPGA, a 149x speedup factor was obtained against an OpenMP-based solution in a 4-core Intel Core i7 processor. This speedup is comparable to that reported in the literature using a classic HDL-based methodology, but the development time is significantly reduced. Additionally, the use of a HLL-based methodology allowed us to implement a high-quality Gaussian random number generator, which produces more precise results than those obtained with the simple generators usually present in HDL-based designs

Anomalies in Noncommutative Dipole Field Theories

We study chiral symmetries of fermionic non commutative dipole theories. By using Fujikawa's approach we obtain explicit expressions of the anomalies for Dirac and chiral fermions in 2 and 4 dimensions.Comment: 11pages, latex file. Comments adde

A low-power RF front-end for 2.5 GHz receivers

© 2008 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.This paper presents a low power and low cost front end for a direct conversion 2.5 GHz ISM band receiver composed of a 16 kV HBM ESD protected LNA, differential Gilbert-cell mixers, and high-pass filters for DC offset cancellation. The whole front-end is implemented in a 2P6M 0.18 µm RFCMOS process. It exhibits a voltage gain of 24dB and a SSB noise figure of 8.4dB which make it suitable for most of the 2.5 GHz wireless short-range communication transceivers. The achieved power consumption is only 1.06mW from a 1.2V power supply.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A new vertebrate assemblage from the matute formation of the Cameros Basin (Ágreda, Spain): implications for the diversity during the jurassic/cretaceous boundary

Altres ajuts: Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.The Ribota site (Ágreda, Soria, Spain) is a new locality in the Matute Formation (Tithonian-Berriasian) composed of several carbonate layers, outstandingly rich in macrovertebrate remains. Fossils show an unusual replacement of the original bioapatite by quartz, and are found as positive reliefs protruding from lacustrine limestone beds. This type of conservation has allowed the identification of around one hundred vertebrate bone accumulations in an outcrop of more than 10 hectares. Osteichthyans (articulated partial skeletons, cranial material, and isolated postcranial bones and scales), crocodylomorphs (disarticulated cranial material, isolated teeth, vertebrae and osteoderms), turtles (partial carapaces and plastra, but also isolated plates) and pterosaurs (cranial and appendicular elements) have been identified. Around 80 specimens have been collected and a preliminary study of part of the collection (35 specimens) has allowed the identification of at least 5 different taxa: Halecomorphi indet., Neoginglymodi indet., Goniopholididae indet., Testudinata indet., and Pterodactyloidea indet. This new site represents one of the few sites from this time interval preserved in a fully lacustrine environment, so these vertebrate assemblages are unique and composed of different animals that presumably lived around and within the lake. They are dominated by aquatic and amphibian vertebrates and was formed by attrition in this lacustrine environment, possibly far from the lake shoreline. These macrovertebrate assemblages provide new data about the diversity in the faunal ecosystems from the Jurassic/Cretaceous transition of the Iberian Basin Rift System

The contribution of histone crotonylation to tissue health and disease: focus on kidney health

Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are the most severe consequences of kidney injury. They are interconnected syndromes as CKD predisposes to AKI and AKI may accelerate CKD progression. Despite their growing impact on the global burden of disease, there is no satisfactory treatment for AKI and current therapeutic approaches to CKD remain suboptimal. Recent research has focused on the therapeutic target potential of epigenetic regulation of gene expression, including non-coding RNAs and the covalent modifications of histones and DNA. Indeed, several drugs targeting histone modifications are in clinical use or undergoing clinical trials. Acyllysine histone modifications (e.g. methylation, acetylation, and crotonylation) have modulated experimental kidney injury. Most recently, increased histone lysine crotonylation (Kcr) was observed during experimental AKI and could be reproduced in cultured tubular cells exposed to inflammatory stress triggered by the cytokine TWEAK. The degree of kidney histone crotonylation was modulated by crotonate availability and crotonate supplementation protected from nephrotoxic AKI. We now review the functional relevance of histone crotonylation in kidney disease and other pathophysiological contexts, as well as the implications for the development of novel therapeutic approaches. These studies provide insights into the overall role of histone crotonylation in health and diseaseSources of support: FIS/FEDER funds (PI15/00298, CP14/00133, PI16/02057, PI16/01900, PI18/01386, PI19/00588, PI19/00815, DTS18/00032, ERA-PerMed-JTC2018 (KIDNEY ATTACK AC18/00064 and PERSTIGAN AC18/00071), ISCIII-RETIC REDinREN RD016/0009), Sociedad Española de Nefrología, FRIAT, Comunidad de Madrid en Biomedicina B2017/BMD- 3686 CIFRA2-CM. Salary support: ISCIII Miguel Servet and to AS and MS-N, ISCIII Sara Borrell to JM-M and Comunidad de Madrid (B2017/BMD-3686 CIFRA2-CM) to MF-B and DM-S

Self-organized network evolution coupled to extremal dynamics

The interplay between topology and dynamics in complex networks is a fundamental but widely unexplored problem. Here, we study this phenomenon on a prototype model in which the network is shaped by a dynamical variable. We couple the dynamics of the Bak-Sneppen evolution model with the rules of the so-called fitness network model for establishing the topology of a network; each vertex is assigned a fitness, and the vertex with minimum fitness and its neighbours are updated in each iteration. At the same time, the links between the updated vertices and all other vertices are drawn anew with a fitness-dependent connection probability. We show analytically and numerically that the system self-organizes to a non-trivial state that differs from what is obtained when the two processes are decoupled. A power-law decay of dynamical and topological quantities above a threshold emerges spontaneously, as well as a feedback between different dynamical regimes and the underlying correlation and percolation properties of the network.Comment: Accepted version. Supplementary information at http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v3/n11/suppinfo/nphys729_S1.htm

Prevalencia de sarcopenia en adultos mayores de dos hogares geriátricos de Pereira, Colombia: Prevalence of sarcopenia in older adults in two retirement homes in Pereira, Colombia

Introduction: Is a risk factor for morbidity, mortality and disability in older adults, so its management is a priority in geriatrics. The aim of this article is to characterize a population of older adults from two geriatric homes and to establish the prevalence of sarcopenia and the degree of dependence. Methods: Cross-sectional study developed in the city of Pereira-Colombia. A population of 72 adults from 65 to 98 years of age was included, using probability sampling. Sarcopenia was determined by means of the Criteria of the European Consensus on Definition and Diagnosis of Sarcopenia, evaluating grip strength, skeletal muscle mass index, in case of sarcopenia, the severity of sarcopenia together with walking speed, and the degree of dependence according to the Barthel scale.  Results: 57 people participated. A total of 68.4% (n=39) were women. The median age was 83 years. Two percent had no sarcopenia, 9% had suspected sarcopenia, 28% had confirmed sarcopenia and 61% had severe sarcopenia. According to the Barthel scale, 31.5% were independent, 45.6% had mild, 15.8% moderate, 5.3% severe and 1.8% total dependence. Conclusions: The prevalence of sarcopenia in nursing homes in Pereira is higher compared to that reported in the literature. Similarly, being in a private nursing home does not guarantee a better physical condition and/or quality of lifeIntroducción: La sarcopenia es un factor de riesgo para morbilidad, mortalidad y discapacidad en adultos mayores, por lo que su manejo es prioridad en geriatría. El objetivo de este artículo, consiste en caracterizar una población de adultos mayores de dos hogares geriátricos y establecer la prevalencia de sarcopenia y el grado de dependencia. Métodos: Estudio de corte transversal desarrollado en la ciudad de Pereira-Colombia. Se incluyó a una población de 72 adultos desde los 65 hasta los 98 años, usando muestreo probabilístico. Se determinó la sarcopenia por medio de los Criterios del Consenso Europeo sobre Definición y Diagnóstico de Sarcopenia; evaluándose la fuerza de prensión, índice de masa muscular esquelética, en caso de presentarse sarcopenia, la severidad de esta junto a la velocidad de marcha, y el grado de dependencia según la escala de Barthel. Resultados: Participaron finalmente 57 personas. El 68,4% (n=39) eran mujeres. La mediana de la edad fue de 83 años. El 2% no presentó sarcopenia, 9% presentaban sospecha de sarcopenia, 28% tenían sarcopenia confirmada y 61% sarcopenia grave. Según la escala de Barthel, el 31,5% eran independientes, 45,6% tenían dependencia leve, 15,8% moderada, 5,3% severa y 1,8% total. Conclusiones: La prevalencia de sarcopenia en los hogares geriátricos de Pereira es mayor en comparación a la reportada en la literatura. Del mismo modo, encontrarse en un hogar geriátrico privado no garantiza una mejor condición física y/o calidad de vida