Effects of thermal and quantum fluctuations on the phase diagram of a spin-1 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate

We investigate effects of thermal and quantum fluctuations on the phase diagram of a spin-1 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) under a quadratic Zeeman effect. Due to the large ratio of spinindependent to spin-dependent interactions of 87Rb atoms, the effect of noncondensed atoms on the condensate is much more significant than that in scalar BECs. We find that the condensate and spontaneous magnetization emerge at different temperatures when the ground state is in the brokenaxisymmetry phase. In this phase, a magnetized condensate induces spin coherence of noncondensed atoms in different magnetic sublevels, resulting in temperature-dependent magnetization of the noncondensate. We also examine the effect of quantum fluctuations on the order parameter at absolute zero, and find that the ground-state phase diagram is significantly altered by quantum depletion.Comment: Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, paper reconstructed, nomenclature changed, references added, grammatical errors correcte

Catalytic Performance of La-Ni/Al2O3 Catalyst for CO2 Reforming of Ethanol

Bio-derived ethanol has been considered as an attractive and alternative feedstock for dry or steam reforming reactions to generate renewable hydrogen, which may be used for replacement of conventional fossil fuels. Ethanol dry reforming (EDR) is an environmentally-friendly process since it transforms greenhouse gas, CO2 to value-added products and ethanol can be easily obtained from biomass which is free of catalyst poisons (i.e. sulphur-containing compounds). However, there are currently limited studies regarding syngas production from EDR [1, 2]. Ni-based catalysts are commonly used for reforming reactions due to its capability of C-C bond rupture, relatively low cost and high availability compared to precious metals [2]. Nevertheless, carbonaceous deposition may considerably deteriorate catalytic activity and stability of Ni-based catalysts. La promoter reportedly hindered carbon deposition and improved catalytic activity [3]. Hence, the objective of this research was to investigate the effect of La promotion on 10%Ni/Al2O3 catalyst for EDR

Evaluation of Luminex xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel Assay for Detection of Multiple Diarrheal Pathogens in Fecal Samples in Vietnam.

Diarrheal disease is a complex syndrome that remains a leading cause of global childhood morbidity and mortality. The diagnosis of enteric pathogens in a timely and precise manner is important for making treatment decisions and informing public health policy, but accurate diagnosis is a major challenge in industrializing countries. Multiplex molecular diagnostic techniques may represent a significant improvement over classical approaches. We evaluated the Luminex xTAG gastrointestinal pathogen panel (GPP) assay for the detection of common enteric bacterial and viral pathogens in Vietnam. Microbiological culture and real-time PCR were used as gold standards. The tests were performed on 479 stool samples collected from people admitted to the hospital for diarrheal disease throughout Vietnam. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for the xTAG GPP for the seven principal diarrheal etiologies. The sensitivity and specificity for the xTAG GPP were >88% for Shigellaspp.,Campylobacterspp., rotavirus, norovirus genotype 1/2 (GI/GII), and adenovirus compared to those of microbiological culture and/or real-time PCR. However, the specificity was low (∼60%) for Salmonella species. Additionally, a number of important pathogens that are not identified in routine hospital procedures in this setting, such as Cryptosporidiumspp. and Clostridium difficile, were detected with the GPP. The use of the Luminex xTAG GPP for the detection of enteric pathogens in settings, like Vietnam, would dramatically improve the diagnostic accuracy and capacity of hospital laboratories, allowing for timely and appropriate therapy decisions and a wider understanding of the epidemiology of pathogens associated with severe diarrheal disease in low-resource settings

The impact of environmental and climatic variation on the spatiotemporal trends of hospitalized pediatric diarrhea in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

It is predicted that the integration of climate-based early warning systems into existing action plans will facilitate the timely provision of interventions to diarrheal disease epidemics in resource-poor settings. Diarrhea remains a considerable public health problem in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam and we aimed to quantify variation in the impact of environmental conditions on diarrheal disease risk across the city. Using all inpatient diarrheal admissions data from three large hospitals within HCMC, we developed a mixed effects regression model to differentiate district-level variation in risk due to environmental conditions from the overarching seasonality of diarrheal disease hospitalization in HCMC. We identified considerable spatial heterogeneity in the risk of all-cause diarrhea across districts of HCMC with low elevation and differential responses to flooding, air temperature, and humidity driving further spatial heterogeneity in diarrheal disease risk. The incorporation of these results into predictive forecasting algorithms will provide a powerful resource to aid diarrheal disease prevention and control practices in HCMC and other similar settings

Pyramidal core-shell quantum dot under applied electric and magnetic fields

We have theoretically investigated the electronic states in a core/shell pyramidal quantum dot with GaAs core embedded in AlGaAs matrix. This system has a quite similar recent experimental realization through a cone/shell structure [Phys. Status Solidi-RRL 13, 1800245 (2018)]. The research has been performed within the efective mass approximation taking into account position-dependent efective masses and the presence of external electric and magnetic felds. For the numerical solution of the resulting three-dimensional partial diferential equation we have used a fnite element method. A detailed study of the conduction band states wave functions and their associated energy levels is presented, with the analysis of the efect of the geometry and the external probes. The calculation of the non-permanent electric polarization via the of-diagonal intraband dipole moment matrix elements allows to consider the related optical response by evaluating the coefcients of light absorption and relative refractive index changes, under diferent applied magnetic feld confgurations