Dynamical phase transitions at finite temperature from fidelity and interferometric Loschmidt echo induced metrics

We study finite-temperature Dynamical Quantum Phase Transitions (DQPTs) by means of the fidelity and the interferometric Loschmidt Echo (LE) induced metrics. We analyse the associated dynamical susceptibilities (Riemannian metrics), and derive analytic expressions for the case of two-band Hamiltonians. At zero temperature the two quantities are identical, nevertheless, at finite temperatures they behave very differently. Using the fidelity LE, the zero temperature DQPTs are gradually washed away with temperature, while the interferometric counterpart exhibits finite-temperature Phase Transitions (PTs). We analyse the physical differences between the two finite-temperature LE generalisations, and argue that, while the interferometric one is more sensitive and can therefore provide more information when applied to genuine quantum (microscopic) systems, when analysing many-body macroscopic systems, the fidelity-based counterpart is a more suitable quantity to study. Finally, we apply the previous results to two representative models of topological insulators in 1D and 2D.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure

The Unstoppable Force, the Immovable Object: Challenges for Structuring a Cosmopolitan Legal Education in Brazil

This Article discusses the challenges for structuring a more cosmopolitan legal education in the global South without falling in the traps of legal colonialism, academic solipsism and social elitism. It does so by examining the experience of FGV Direito SP, an attempt to create a global Law school in Brazil. The Article suggests that understanding the broad implications of a project for radically changing legal teaching in Brazil requires a nuanced reading of the encounter between the purportedly unstoppable force of globalization and the supposedly immovable object of traditional legal institutions. This Article is organized in four sections. The first discusses how globalization and the return to democratic rule of law have created the need for a new model of legal education in Brazil. The second discusses the legal culture framework within which the new school appeared. The third overviews the main lines of FGV Direito SP global-oriented legal education. The fourth section presents the hurdles to offering a globaloriented legal education in an emerging country overwhelmed by deep and persistent social inequality and frames FGV’s experience within the context of the ethical and political challenges for legal education in the global South

Para conhecer os direitos humanos

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A relação entre resíduos do pós-consumo e energia: estudo de caso de viabilidade da utilização de energia renovável em cooperativa de catadores

This dissertation evaluate how the use of solar energy through a photovoltaic system can contribute to the challenge of the final destination of the residues, with social inclusion and seeking to make economically viable a collectors cooperative. A symmetrical approach is presented on the intersection between waste and energy, dealing with concepts such as: energy efficiency, waste, zero waste, final disposal of waste, recycling chains, renewable energy, avoided energy and distributed microgeneration. This work presents a synthesis of the governmental policy that takes care of the solid waste, taking as reference the Law of the National Policy of Solid Waste. In parallel, it presents the scenario that deals with the regulation of renewable energy policies. In its second part, the study establishes a connection between theory and practice by analyzing the results of field research on energy consumption at the Cielo Azul Cooperative, which specializes in electro-electronic waste. As a contribution, the survey stipulates which equipment and installations are necessary for the installation of a photovoltaic system that is alternative to that offered by the concessionaire in order to allow the reduction of electric energy expenditures. It also identifies the possible sources of financing for the implementation of the photovoltaic system and the possibilities of the cooperative to integrate to solidarity projects of microgeneration of energy.Esta dissertação busca avaliar como a utilização de energia solar, por meio de um sistema fotovoltaico, pode contribuir para o enfrentamento do desafio da destinação final dos resíduos com inclusão social, procurando tornar economicamente viável uma cooperativa de catadores. Abordando simetricamente os dois temas, é apresentada uma reflexão sobre a interseção entre resíduo e energia, tratando conceitos como: eficiência energética, lixo, resíduo zero, destinação final de resíduos, cadeias da reciclagem, energia renovável, energia evitada e microgeração distribuída. Numa via, o trabalho apresenta uma síntese da política governamental que cuida dos resíduos sólidos, tomando como referência a Lei da Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos. Na via paralela, apresenta o cenário que trata da regulamentação das políticas de energias renováveis. Em sua segunda parte, o estudo estabelece uma conexão entre a teoria e a realidade fazendo uma análise dos resultados da pesquisa de campo sobre o consumo de energia na Cooperativa Céu Azul, especializada em resíduos eletroeletrônicos. Como contribuição, a pesquisa dimensiona quais os equipamentos e instalações necessários para a instalação de um sistema fotovoltaico que seja alternativo ao oferecido pela concessionária de modo a permitir a redução dos gastos com energia elétrica. Também identifica as possíveis fontes de financiamento para a implantação do sistema fotovoltaico e as possibilidades da cooperativa se integrar a empreendimentos solidários de microgeração de energia

Differential frond growth in the isomorphic haploid–diploid red seaweed Agarophyton chilense by long‐term in situ monitoring (1)

Conditional differentiation between haploids and diploids has been proposed to drive the evolutionary stability of isomorphic biphasic life cycles. The cost of producing and maintaining genetic information has been posed as a possible driver of this conditional differentiation. Under this hypothesis, haploids benefit over diploids in resource-limited environments by halving the costs of producing and maintaining DNA. Spared resources can be allocated to enhance survival, growth or fertility. Here we test in the field whether indeed haploids have higher growth rates than diploids. Individuals of the red seaweed Agarophyton chilense, were mapped and followed during 2 years with 4-month census intervals across different stands within the Valdivia River estuary, Chile. As hypothesized, haploids grew larger and faster than diploids, but this was sex-dependent. Haploid (gametophyte) females grew twice as large and 15% faster than diploids (tetrasporophytes), whereas haploid males only grew as large and as fast as the maximum obtained by diploids in summer. However, haploid males maintained their maximum sizes and growth rates constant year-round, while diploids were smaller and had lower growth rates during the winter. In conclusion, our results confirm the conditional differentiation in size and growth between haploids and diploids but also identified important differences between males and females. Besides understanding life cycle evolution, the dynamics of A. chilense frond growth reported informs algal farmers regarding production optimization and should help in determining best planting and harvesting strategies.CONICYT FONDECYT: 1090360/ 1170541.FCT: UIDB/EEA/50009/2020/ SFRH/BPD/107878/2015/ UID/Multi/04326/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Recombinant viruses as tools to induce protective cellular immunity against infectious diseases

Infections by intracellular pathogens such as viruses, some bacteria and many parasites, are cleared in most cases after activation of specific T cellular immune responses that recognize foreign antigens and eliminate infected cells. Vaccines against those infectious organisms have been traditionally developed by administration of whole live attenuated or inactivated microorganisms. Nowadays, research is focused on the development of subunit vaccines, containing the most immunogenic antigens from the particular pathogen. However, when purified subunit vaccines are administered using traditional immunization protocols, the levels of cellular immunity induced are mostly low and not capable of eliciting complete protection against diseases caused by intracellular microbes. In this review, we present a promising alternative to those traditional protocols, which is the use of recombinant viruses encoding subunit vaccines as immunization tools. Recombinant viruses have several interesting features that make them extremely efficient at inducing immune responses mediated by T-lymphocytes. This cellular immunity has recently been demonstrated to be of key importance for protection against malaria and AIDS, both of which are major targets of the World Health Organization for vaccine development. Thus, this review will focus in particular on the development of new vaccination protocols against these diseases. [Int Microbiol 2004; 7(2):83–94

An individual-based Model of the Red Alga Agarophyton chilense unravels the complex demography of Its intertidal stands

Algal demographic models have been developed mainly to study their life cycle evolution or optimize their commercial exploitation. Most commonly, structured-aggregated population models simulate the main life cycle stages considering their fertility, growth and survival. Their coarse resolution results in weak predictive abilities since neglected details may still impact the whole. In our case, we need a model of Agarophyton chilense natural intertidal populations that unravels the complex demography of isomorphic biphasic life cycles and be further used for: (i) introduction of genetics, aimed at studying the evolutionary stability of life cycles, (ii) optimizing commercial exploitation, and (iii) adaptation for other species. Long-term monitoring yield 6,066 individual observations and 40 population observations. For a holistic perspective, we developed an Individual-Based Model (IBM) considering ploidy stage, sex stage, holdfast age and survival, frond size, growth and breakage, fecundity, spore survival, stand biomass, location and season. The IBM was calibrated and validated comparing observed and estimated sizes and abundances of gametophyte males, gametophyte females and tetrasporophytes, stand biomass, haploid:dipoid ratio (known as H:D or G:T), fecundity and recruitment. The IBM replicated well the respective individual and population properties, and processes such as winter competition for light, self-thinning, summer stress from desiccation, frond breakage and re-growth, and different niche occupation by haploids and diploids. Its success depended on simulating with precision details such as the holdfasts' dynamics. Because "details" often occur for a reduced number of individuals, inferring about them required going beyond statistically significant evidences and integrating these with parameter calibration aimed at maximized model fit. On average, the population was haploid-dominated (H:D > 1). In locations stressed by desiccation, the population was slightly biased toward the diploids and younger individuals due to the superior germination and survival of the diploid sporelings. In permanently submerged rock pools the population was biased toward the haploids and older individuals due to the superior growth and survival of the haploid adults. The IBM application demonstrated that conditional differentiation among ploidy stages was responsible for their differential niche occupation, which, in its turn, has been argued as the driver of the evolutionary stability of isomorphic biphasic life cycles.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reprint of: The dark side of the moon : global challenges in the distribution of vaccines and implementation of vaccination plans against COVID-19

Simultáneamente con el inicio de la pandemia, la búsqueda de vacunas efectivas comenzó y se desarrolló con gran éxito, y las campañas de vacunación masiva comenzaron a fines de 2020. En el primer trimestre de 2021, países como Israel, el Reino Unido y los Estados Unidos avanzaron a gran ritmo en los programas de vacunación, mientras que otros países, principalmente en el hemisferio sur, recién comenzaban. A principios de abril, 30 países no habían recibido una sola dosis y solo el 0,57 % de la población africana estaba vacunada [1]. El retraso en la introducción de nuevas estrategias de inmunización entre países no es nuevo. Por ejemplo, en 2016, solo el 14 % de los países de ingresos bajos y medios (PIMB) habían introducido la vacuna contra el VPH en sus planes nacionales de inmunización, mientras que el 55 % de los países de ingresos altos (PIA) ya lo habían hecho [2]. De hecho, algunas vacunas se introdujeron en los LMIC años más tarde que en los HIC [3] . A pesar de los desafíos que plantea el impacto desigual y la larga duración de la pandemia, la introducción de una vacuna para la prevención de la COVID-19 ha despertado sentimientos de esperanza en la población mundial. En este contexto, nació el acuerdo Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) como una iniciativa para asegurar la distribución global equitativa de vacunas [4] . Pero aún con este mecanismo, existen múltiples riesgos por la administración desigual de las vacunas, por lo que el mayor desafío ahora será cerrar las brechas y mitigar las inequidades en el acceso a la salud que se han presentado [ 3 , 5 , 6 ].Q1Concomitantly with the start of the pandemic, the pursuit of effective vaccines began and developed with great success, and mass vaccination campaigns commenced by the end of 2020. The first quarter of 2021 saw countries such as Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States advancing at great pace in the vaccination programs, while other countries, mainly in the southern hemisphere, were just starting. By the beginning of April, 30 countries had not received a single dose and only 0.57% of the African population was vaccinated [1]. The lag in the introduction of new immunization strategies between countries is not new. For example, in 2016, only 14% of the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) had introduced the HPV vaccine in their national immunization plans, while 55% of high-income countries (HICs) had done so already [2]. Indeed, some vaccines have been introduced in LMICs years later than in HICs [3]. Despite the challenges posed by the unequal impact and the long duration of the pandemic, the introduction of a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 has awakened feelings of hope in the global population. In this context, the Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) agreement was born as an initiative to ensure equitable global distribution of vaccines [4]. But even with this mechanism, there are multiple risks for unequal administration of the vaccines, so the greatest challenge now will be closing the gaps and mitigating the inequities in access to healthcare that have arisen [3,5,6].Revista Internacional - Indexad