What entropy at the edge of chaos?

Numerical experiments support the interesting conjecture that statistical methods be applicable not only to fully-chaotic systems, but also at the edge of chaos by using Tsallis' generalizations of the standard exponential and entropy. In particular, the entropy increases linearly and the sensitivity to initial conditions grows as a generalized exponential. We show that this conjecture has actually a broader validity by using a large class of deformed entropies and exponentials and the logistic map as test cases.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, uses ws-procs975x65.cls. Proceedings of the Workshop "Complexity, Metastability and Nonextensivity" held in Erice 20-26 July 2004. New version: minor changes (one reference added, typos corrected, positions of figures changed, some comments added

Neutron - mirror neutron mixing and neutron stars

The oscillation of neutrons $n$ into mirror neutrons $n'$, their mass degenerate partners from dark mirror sector, can have interesting implications for neutron stars: an ordinary neutron star could gradually transform into a mixed star consisting in part of mirror dark matter. Mixed stars can be detectable as twin partners of ordinary neutron stars: namely, there can exist compact stars with the same masses but having different radii. For a given equation of state (identical between the ordinary and mirror components), the mass and radius of a mixed star depend on the proportion between the ordinary and mirror components in its interior which in turn depends on its age. If $50 \% - 50\%$ proportion between two fractions can be reached asymptotically in time, then the maximum mass of such "maximally mixed stars" should be $\sqrt2$ times smaller than that of ordinary neutron star while the stars exceeding a critical mass value $M^{\rm max}_{NS}/\sqrt2$ should collapse in black holes after certain time. We evaluate the evolution time and discuss the implications of $n-n'$ transition for the pulsar observations as well as for the gravitational waves from the neutron star mergers and associated electromagnetic signals.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) in supply chain management: from foundations to practical implementation

Abstract Since 2015 developments such as Industry 4.0 and cyber-physical production systems on the technology side, and approaches such as flexible and smart manufacturing systems hold great potential. These in turn give rise to special requirements that the production planning, control and monitoring, among others, needing a paradigm shift to exploit the full potential of these methods and techniques. Starting from foundations in Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), building upon definitions and findings reported by literature, a practical example of innovative Cyber Physical Supply Chain Planning System (CPS2) is provided. The paper clarifies the advantages of cyber-physical systems in the production planning, controlling and monitoring perspective with respect to manufacturing, logistics and related planning practices. A set of basic features of CPS2 systems are discussed and addressed by contextualizing service orientation architecture and microservices components with respect to supply chain management collaboration and cooperation practices. The identification of specific technologies behind those functions, within the developed research, provides some practical insight if the interesting CPS2 potential

Hydrophobic and Oleophobic Coatings Based on Perfluoropolyether/Silica Hybrids by the Sol-Gel Method

Glass substrates were spin-coated with a perfluoropolyether oligomer based organic-inorganic hybrid material, and prepared by the sol-gel process. Contact angle analysis and atomic force microscopic analysis were carried out to characterize the surface of the prepared coatings. All systems exhibited strong hydrophobic and oleopophobic characteristics. The wettability behavior was found to be almost independent of both molecular weight and functionality of the fluorinated oligomer. The low values obtained for the contact angle and surface tension indicate that surface segregation of perfluoropolyether segments is likely to take place within the network. On the basis of these results and the high quality of the obtained coatings, these materials could be used as functional coatings to impart water and oleo-repellent characteristics to glasses and other similar substrates

Never Give Up: lesson learned from a severe COVID-19 patient.

We here report the clinical course of a 72-year old Caucasian male (M.A.) admitted for SARS-CoV2 pneumonia at our University Hospital in Modena. A multidisciplinary medical staff composed by different specialists (infectious diseases, pulmonology, intensive care) was in charge for caring and assuming shared clinical decisions

DOF-binding sites additively contribute to guard cell-specificity of AtMYB60 promoter

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We previously demonstrated that the <it>Arabidopsis thaliana </it>AtMYB60 protein is an R2R3MYB transcription factor required for stomatal opening. <it>AtMYB60 </it>is specifically expressed in guard cells and down-regulated at the transcriptional levels by the phytohormone ABA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To investigate the molecular mechanisms governing <it>AtMYB60 </it>expression, its promoter was dissected through deletion and mutagenesis analyses. By studying different versions of <it>AtMYB60 </it>promoter::GUS reporter fusions in transgenic plants we were able to demonstrate a modular organization for the <it>AtMYB60 </it>promoter. Particularly we defined: a minimal promoter sufficient to confer guard cell-specific activity to the reporter gene; the distinct roles of different DOF-binding sites organised in a cluster in the minimal promoter in determining guard cell-specific expression; the promoter regions responsible for the enhancement of activity in guard cells; a promoter region responsible for the negative transcriptional regulation by ABA. Moreover from the analysis of single and multiple mutants we could rule out the involvement of a group of DOF proteins, known as CDFs, already characterised for their involvement in flowering time, in the regulation of <it>AtMYB60 </it>expression.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings shed light on the regulation of gene expression in guard cells and provide new promoter modules as useful tools for manipulating gene expression in guard cells, both for physiological studies and future biotechnological applications.</p

AFM phase imaging of soft-hydrated samples: A versatile tool to complete the chemical-physical study of liposomes

Despite of the several approaches applied to the physicochemical characterization of liposomes, few techniques are really useful to obtain information about the surface properties of these colloidal drug-delivery systems. In this paper, we demonstrate a possible new application of tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) to discriminate between conventional and pegylated liposomes. We showed that the differences on liposomal surface properties revealed by the phase images AFM approach well correlate with the data obtained using classical methods, such as light scattering, hydrodynamic, and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis