Analyticity and Integrabiity in the Chiral Potts Model

We study the perturbation theory for the general non-integrable chiral Potts model depending on two chiral angles and a strength parameter and show how the analyticity of the ground state energy and correlation functions dramatically increases when the angles and the strength parameter satisfy the integrability condition. We further specialize to the superintegrable case and verify that a sum rule is obeyed.Comment: 31 pages in harvmac including 9 tables, several misprints eliminate

Detection and Quantification of Grass and Olea Airborne Pollen Allergens in Outdoor Air Samples and its Correlation with Pollen Counts

Detection and Quantification of Grass and Olea Airborne Pollen Allergens in Outdoor Air Samples and its Correlation with Pollen Counts R Ferro1*, R Ribeiro1*, MR Martins1,2, AT Caldeira1,3, E Caeiro6, CM Antunes1,5 & R Brandão2,4 and the HIALINE working group7 1Dep. of Chemistry, University of Evora, Portugal; 2Mediterranean Inst. Crop and Environment Sciences, Univ.Evora, Portugal; 3Centro Química, University of Évora, Portugal; 4Dep. Biology, University of Evora; 5Center for NeuroSciences and Cell Biology-University of Coimbra, Portugal; 6Soc.Portuguesa Alergol.Imunologia Clínica , Portugal 7 M. Thibaudon, France, M. Smith, United Kingdom, C. Galan, Spain R. Albertini, Italy, L. Grewling, Poland, G. Reese, Germany, A. Rantio-Lehtimäki, Finland, S. Jäger and U. Berger, Austria, M. Sofiev, Finland, I. Sauliene, Lithuania, L. Cecchi, Italy Presenting author: [email protected] tel: +351 266760889 Introduction: Allergic respiratory diseases broken out after an exposure to airborne pollen, as asthma and allergic rhinitis, are deeply increasing and they represent one of the major public health problems nowadays, affecting about 40% of European population. In Portugal, grass and Olea europaea pollen are certainly one of the main sources of athmospheric aeroallergens and as such, one of the main causes of respiratory allergy. For these reasons, it is useful the development of new strategies for prevention and treatment of these pathologies. The execution of aerobiological analysis including pollen calendars and/or immunoassays for the detection and quantification of allergens which could forecast the allergenic potential of the athmosphere are quite relevant since they would contribute to develop prevention measures of allergic respiratory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the putative correlation between the concentration of some of the major allergens of and with their pollen counts. Methodology: On a meteorological platform at the town center of Evora (south Portugal), ambient air was sampled at 800L/min with a Chemvol high-volume cascade impactor equipped with stages PM>10µm, 10 µm>PM>2.5µm. The polyurethane impacting substrate was extracted with 0.1M NH4HCO3, pH8.1, supplemented with 0.1% BSA. The major pollen allergens from grass Phleum p 5 and olive Ole e 1 were determined with allergen specific ELISA´s. Airborne pollen of and Olea europaea simultaneously monitored with a Burkard Seven Day Recording Volumetric Spore Trap* , between the 30th of April and the 8th of July of 2009. Both samplers were placed side-by-side with air input at the same level. Results: During the pollen season of 2009, high values of grass pollen were recorded between May 2th and June 1 th. It was also observed that the air content of Phl p5 or Ole e1 aeroallergens were directly correlated with airborne pollen counts of Poaceae and Oleaceae, respectively. Conclusions: These results suggest that the directly quantification of aeroallergens may contribute, together with pollen counts of air samples, to define the allergic risk with higher precision. Acknowledgments: This study is integrated in the european project HIALINE (Executive Agency for Health and Consumers under grant agreement No 2008 11 07

Bethe Ansatz Equations for the Broken ZNZ_{N}-Symmetric Model

We obtain the Bethe Ansatz equations for the broken ${\bf Z}_{N}$-symmetric model by constructing a functional relation of the transfer matrix of $L$-operators. This model is an elliptic off-critical extension of the Fateev-Zamolodchikov model. We calculate the free energy of this model on the basis of the string hypothesis.Comment: 43 pages, latex, 11 figure

Parallelism for Quantum Computation with Qudits

Robust quantum computation with d-level quantum systems (qudits) poses two requirements: fast, parallel quantum gates and high fidelity two-qudit gates. We first describe how to implement parallel single qudit operations. It is by now well known that any single-qudit unitary can be decomposed into a sequence of Givens rotations on two-dimensional subspaces of the qudit state space. Using a coupling graph to represent physically allowed couplings between pairs of qudit states, we then show that the logical depth of the parallel gate sequence is equal to the height of an associated tree. The implementation of a given unitary can then optimize the tradeoff between gate time and resources used. These ideas are illustrated for qudits encoded in the ground hyperfine states of the atomic alkalies $^{87}$Rb and $^{133}$Cs. Second, we provide a protocol for implementing parallelized non-local two-qudit gates using the assistance of entangled qubit pairs. Because the entangled qubits can be prepared non-deterministically, this offers the possibility of high fidelity two-qudit gates.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Completeness of the Bethe Ansatz solution of the open XXZ chain with nondiagonal boundary terms

A Bethe Ansatz solution of the open spin-1/2 XXZ quantum spin chain with nondiagonal boundary terms has recently been proposed. Using a numerical procedure developed by McCoy et al., we find significant evidence that this solution can yield the complete set of eigenvalues for generic values of the bulk and boundary parameters satisfying one linear relation. Moreover, our results suggest that this solution is practical for investigating the ground state of this model in the thermodynamic limit.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX; amssymb, amsmath, no figures, 5 tables; v2 contains an additional footnote and a "Note Added"; v3 contains an Addendu

Long-term effects of automated mechanical peripheral stimulation on gait patterns of patients with Parkinson's disease

New treatments based on peripheral stimulation of the sensory–motor system have been inspiring new rehabilitation approaches in Parkinson’s disease (PD), especially to reduce gait impairment, levodopa washout effects, and the incidence of falls. The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in gait and the clinical status of PD patients after six sessions of a treatment based on automated mechanical peripheral stimulation (AMPS). Eighteen patients with PD and 15 age-matched healthy individuals (control group) participated in this study. A dedicated medical device delivered the AMPS. PD patients were treated with AMPS six times once every 4 days. All PD patients were treated in the off-levodopa phase and were evaluated with gait analysis before and after the first intervention (acute phase), after the sixth intervention, 48 h after the sixth intervention, and 10 days after the end of the treatment. To compare the differences among the AMPS interventions (pre, 6 AMPS, and 10 days) in terms of clinical scales, a t-test was used (α≤0.05). In addition, to compare the differences among the AMPS interventions (pre, post, 6 AMPS, 48 h and 10 days), the gait spatiotemporal parameters were analyzed using the Friedman test and the Bonferroni post-hoc test (α≤0.05). Also, for comparisons between the PD group and the control group, the gait spatiotemporal parameters were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney test and the Bonferroni post-hoc test (α≤0.05). The results of the study indicate that the AMPS treatment has a positive effect on bradykinesia because it improves walking velocity, has a positive effect on the step and stride length, and has a positive effect on walking stability, measured by the increase in stride length. These results are consistent with the improvements measured with clinical scales. These findings indicate that AMPS treatment seems to generate a more stable walking pattern in PD patients, reducing the well-known gait impairment that is typical of PD; regular repetition every 4 days of AMPS treatment appears to be able to improve gait parameters, to restore rhythmicity, and to reduce the risk of falls, with benefits maintained up to 10 days after the last treatment. The trial was registered online at ClinicalTrials.gov (number identifier: NCT0181528)