Phase-tunable Josephson thermal router

Since the the first studies of thermodynamics, heat transport has been a crucial element for the understanding of any thermal system. Quantum mechanics has introduced new appealing ingredients for the manipulation of heat currents, such as the long-range coherence of the superconducting condensate. The latter has been exploited by phase-coherent caloritronics, a young field of nanoscience, to realize Josephson heat interferometers, which can control electronic thermal currents as a function of the external magnetic flux. So far, only one output temperature has been modulated, while multi-terminal devices that allow to distribute the heat flux among different reservoirs are still missing. Here, we report the experimental realization of a phase-tunable thermal router able to control the heat transferred between two terminals residing at different temperatures. Thanks to the Josephson effect, our structure allows to regulate the thermal gradient between the output electrodes until reaching its inversion. Together with interferometers, heat diodes and thermal memories, the thermal router represents a fundamental step towards the thermal conversion of non-linear electronic devices, and the realization of caloritronic logic components.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Inhibition of G Protein-coupled Receptor Kinase Subtypes by Ca2+/Calmodulin

G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) are implicated in the homologous desensitization of G protein-coupled receptors. Six GRK subtypes have so far been identified, named GRK1 to GRK6. The functional state of the GRKs can be actively regulated in different ways. In particular, it was found that retinal rhodopsin kinase (GRK1), but not the ubiquitous betaARK1 (GRK2), can be inhibited by the photoreceptor-specific Ca2+-binding protein recoverin through direct binding. The present study was aimed to investigate regulation of other GRKs by alternative Ca2+-binding proteins such as calmodulin (CaM). We found that Gbetagamma-activated GRK2 and GRK3 were inhibited by CaM to similar extents (IC50 approximately 2 microM), while a 50-fold more potent inhibitory effect was observed on GRK5 (IC50 = 40 nM). Inhibition by CaM was strictly dependent on Ca2+ and was prevented by the CaM inhibitor CaMBd. Since Gbetagamma, which is a binding target of Ca2+/CaM, is critical for the activation of GRK2 and GRK3, it provides a possible site of interaction between these proteins. However, since GRK5 is Gbetagamma-independent, an alternative mechanism is conceivable. A direct interaction between GRK5 and Ca2+/CaM was revealed using CaM-conjugated Sepharose 4B. This binding does not influence the catalytic activity as demonstrated using the soluble GRK substrate casein. Instead, Ca2+/CaM significantly reduced GRK5 binding to the membrane. The mechanism of GRK5 inhibition appeared to be through direct binding to Ca2+/CaM, resulting in inhibition of membrane association and hence receptor phosphorylation. The present study provides the first evidence for a regulatory effect of Ca2+/CaM on some GRK subtypes, thus expanding the range of different mechanisms regulating the functional states of these kinases

Agent-Based Enhanced Workflow in Manufacturing Information Systems: the MAKE-IT Approach

Manufacturing is one of the main fields of application of software agent technology. In this respect, several current research projects focus on workflow management, with the aim of an integration and coordination among plant and business activities. In section I, the state of the art is presented, relevant to software agents and to the technologies currently adopted in the exploitation of agents in manufacturing information systems. In section II, the possibility of developing real-time agents at the shop floor level is investigated. In section III, the MAKE-IT (Manufacturing Agents in a Knowledgebased Environment driven by Internet Technologies) approach to agent-based enhanced workflow in manufacturing information system is presented. Finally section IV presents our conclusions

Genetic divergence of influenza A NS1 gene in pandemic 2009 H1N1 isolates with respect to H1N1 and H3N2 isolates from previous seasonal epidemics

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Influenza A pandemic sustained by a new H1N1 variant (H1N1v) started in Mexico and the USA at the end of April 2009 spreading worldwide in a few weeks. In this study we investigate the variability of the NS1 gene of the pandemic H1N1v strain with respect to previous seasonal strains circulating in humans and the potential selection of virus variants through isolation in cell culture.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>During the period April 27^th2009-Jan 15^th2010, 1633 potential 2009 H1N1v cases have been screened at our center using the CDC detection and typing realtime RT-PCR assays. Virus isolation on MDCK cells was systematically performed in 1/10 positive cases. A subset of 51 H1N1v strains isolated in the period May-September 2009 was selected for NS1 gene sequencing. In addition, 15 H1N1 and 47 H3N2 virus isolates from three previous seasonal epidemics (2006-2009) were analyzed in parallel.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A low variability in the NS1 amino acid (aa) sequence among H1N1v isolates was shown (aa identity 99.5%). A slightly higher NS1 variability was observed among H1N1 and H3N2 strains from previous epidemics (aa identity 98.6% and 98.9%, respectively). The H1N1v strains were closely related (aa identity 92.1%) to swine reference strain (A/swine/Oklahoma/042169/2008). In contrast, substantial divergence (aa identity 83.4%) with respect to human reference strain A/Brevig Mission/1/1918 and previous epidemic strains H1N1 and H3N2 (aa identity 78.9% and 77.6%, respectively) was shown. Specific sequence signatures of uncertain significance in the new virus variant were a C-terminus deletion and a T215P substitution.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The H1N1v NS1 gene was more conserved than that of previous epidemic strains. In addition, a closer genetic identity of H1N1v with the swine than the human reference strains was shown. Hot-spots were shown in the H1N1v NS1 aa sequence whose biologic relevance remains to be investigated.</p

A Comparison of Power Quality Disturbance Detection and Classification Methods Using CNN, LSTM and CNN-LSTM

The use of electronic loads has improved many aspects of everyday life, permitting more efficient, precise and automated process. As a drawback, the nonlinear behavior of these systems entails the injection of electrical disturbances on the power grid that can cause distortion of voltage and current. In order to adopt countermeasures, it is important to detect and classify these disturbances. To do this, several Machine Learning Algorithms are currently exploited. Among them, for the present work, the Long Short Term Memory (LSTM), the Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), the Convolutional Neural Networks Long Short Term Memory (CNN-LSTM) and the CNN-LSTM with adjusted hyperparameters are compared. As a preliminary stage of the research, the voltage and current time signals are simulated using MATLAB Simulink. Thanks to the simulation results, it is possible to acquire a current and voltage dataset with which the identification algorithms are trained, validated and tested. These datasets include simulations of several disturbances such as Sag, Swell, Harmonics, Transient, Notch and Interruption. Data Augmentation techniques are used in order to increase the variability of the training and validation dataset in order to obtain a generalized result. After that, the networks are fed with an experimental dataset of voltage and current field measurements containing the disturbances mentioned above. The networks have been compared, resulting in a 79.14% correct classification rate with the LSTM network versus a 84.58% for the CNN, 84.76% for the CNN-LSTM and a 83.66% for the CNN-LSTM with adjusted hyperparameters. All of these networks are tested using real measurements

A framework for deriving semantic web services

Web service-based development represents an emerging approach for the development of distributed information systems. Web services have been mainly applied by software practitioners as a means to modularize system functionality that can be offered across a network (e.g., intranet and/or the Internet). Although web services have been predominantly developed as a technical solution for integrating software systems, there is a more business-oriented aspect that developers and enterprises need to deal with in order to benefit from the full potential of web services in an electronic market. This ‘ignored’ aspect is the representation of the semantics underlying the services themselves as well as the ‘things’ that the services manage. Currently languages like the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) provide the syntactic means to describe web services, but lack in providing a semantic underpinning. In order to harvest all the benefits of web services technology, a framework has been developed for deriving business semantics from syntactic descriptions of web services. The benefits of such a framework are two-fold. Firstly, the framework provides a way to gradually construct domain ontologies from previously defined technical services. Secondly, the framework enables the migration of syntactically defined web services toward semantic web services. The study follows a design research approach which (1) identifies the problem area and its relevance from an industrial case study and previous research, (2) develops the framework as a design artifact and (3) evaluates the application of the framework through a relevant scenario

First experience in operating the population of the condition databases for the CMS experiment

Reliable population of the condition databases is critical for the correct operation of the online selection as well as of the offline reconstruction and analysis of data. We will describe here the system put in place in the CMS experiment to populate the database and make condition data promptly available both online for the high-level trigger and offline for reconstruction. The system, designed for high flexibility to cope with very different data sources, uses POOL-ORA technology in order to store data in an object format that best matches the object oriented paradigm for \texttt{C++} programming language used in the CMS offline software. In order to ensure consistency among the various subdetectors, a dedicated package, PopCon (Populator of Condition Objects), is used to store data online. The data are then automatically streamed to the offline database hence immediately accessible offline worldwide. This mechanism was intensively used during 2008 in the test-runs with cosmic rays. The experience of this first months of operation will be discussed in detail.Comment: 15 pages, submitter to JOP, CHEP0

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in pediatrics. FASD and the pediatrician

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a complex and malformative condition due to the teratogenic effect of alcohol consumed during pregnancy. Several epidemiological studies have shown that maternal alcohol use during pregnancy is the most common preventable cause of mental retardation in childhood. The effects of alcohol on the fetus range from abortion to a spectrum of clinical manifestations called Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) that includes partial FAS (PFAS), neonatal Alcohol Related Birth Defects (ARBD) and Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders (ARND) up to the most severe disease which is the so-called FAS

Polyakov loops and finite-size effects of hadron masses in full lattice QCD

Polyakov type loops are responsible for the difference between quenched and unquenched finite size effects on the QCD mass spectrum. With a numerical simulation, using appropriate sea quark spatial boundary conditions, we show that we can align the phases of spatial Polyakov loops in a predelined direction. Starting from these results, we propose a procedure to minimize fluctuations due to these effects in meson propagators

Experiencia de trabajo público-privada en el Desarrollo del sector productivo e industrial del Jugo Concentrado de Uva (JCU) en la Provincia de Mendoza y San Juan

En Argentina, anualmente se destina 30% de la producción de uva a la elaboración de Jugo Concentrado de Uva (JCU). Esto significa una producción de 2.904.618 de hectolitros. Las plantas concentradoras de uva suman un total de 29 en todo el país, distribuidas principalmente en Mendoza y San Juan. Con esta estructura productiva, Argentina se posiciona como el principal país exportador de JCU. Sin embargo, el producto JCU es un commoditie en el mercado global, por lo que un planteamiento de mejora competitiva sectorial necesariamente tendrá que ver con innovación tecnológica que permita eficientizar el uso de los recursos en la producción para reducir costos. En el sector de producción primaria, encargado de la provisión del principal insumo para la elaboración del JCU, un alto porcentaje de las explotaciones no alcanza una unidad económica que favorezca la sostenibilidad en las condiciones de producción actuales, esto se traduce en: sostenimiento de modelos productivos tradicionales no mecanizables, con explotaciones descapitalizadas, estructuras de capital deterioradas, sistemas de riego de baja eficiencia y escasa integración horizontal y vertical de los productores. En el sector industrial concentrador, se visualizan dos problemas importantes. Por un lado, en la fase de recepción de materia prima que, dada la organización de la vendimia actual, se producen demoras importantes en la descarga, lo que genera puntos de pérdida de calidad. Por otro lado, en la concentración misma del JCU la energía utilizada es un recurso muy importante. Por lo tanto, el presente proyecto realizará un diagnóstico sectorial para logar conformar un programa de asistencia técnica tanto para el sector primario como para el industrial, que permita generar un proceso de innovación tecnológica y de integración, que eficientice la producción de azúcares de uva, con un fuerte componente de mecanización en las tareas de mayor costo operativo tanto para el sector de producción primario como para el industrial.Fil: Acosta, Gabriela Lourdes. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Novello, Raúl. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Diaz Bruno, Analía. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Santi, Carina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Argüello, Marcos. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Paolucci, Rodolfo. Cámara Argentina de Fabricantes y Empresas de Mosto (CAFEM); Argentin