Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science A Journal of Dosic and Clinical Research Articles Non-Fluorescent Dye Staining of Primate Blue Cones

The intravitreal injection in macaque retina of the fluorescent dye Procion yellow can selectively label a specific cone population whose eccentricity distribution and angular separation are consistent with those of the blue-sensitive cones of human and non-human primate retinas. Because at the concentrations used the dye is poorly visible in conventional light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy is required for the observation of the stained cones. In this paper we describe several alternative methods for the staining of blue cones in primate retina, staining that can be visualized in conventional light microscopy and, with some methods, electron microscopy. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 24:1449-1455, 198

Graphene-Quantum Dots Hybrid Photodetectors with Low Dark-Current Readout

Graphene-based photodetectors have shown responsivities up to 10$^8$A/W and photoconductive gains up to 10$^{8}$ electrons per photon. These photodetectors rely on a highly absorbing layer in close proximity of graphene, which induces a shift of the graphene chemical potential upon absorption, hence modifying its channel resistance. However, due to the semi-metallic nature of graphene, the readout requires dark currents of hundreds of $\mu$A up to mA, leading to high power consumption needed for the device operation. Here we propose a novel approach for highly responsive graphene-based photodetectors with orders of magnitude lower dark current levels. A shift of the graphene chemical potential caused by light absorption in a layer of colloidal quantum dots, induces a variation of the current flowing across a metal-insulator-graphene diode structure. Owing to the low density of states of graphene near the neutrality point, the light-induced shift in chemical potential can be relatively large, dramatically changing the amount of current flowing across the insulating barrier, and giving rise to a novel type of gain mechanism. This readout requires dark currents of hundreds of nA up to few $\mu$A, orders of magnitude lower than other graphene-based photodetectors, while keeping responsivities of $\sim$70A/W in the infrared, almost two orders of magnitude higher compared to established germanium on silicon and indium gallium arsenide infrared photodetectors. This makes the device appealing for applications where high responsivity and low power consumption are required.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Chaos and Complexity of quantum motion

The problem of characterizing complexity of quantum dynamics - in particular of locally interacting chains of quantum particles - will be reviewed and discussed from several different perspectives: (i) stability of motion against external perturbations and decoherence, (ii) efficiency of quantum simulation in terms of classical computation and entanglement production in operator spaces, (iii) quantum transport, relaxation to equilibrium and quantum mixing, and (iv) computation of quantum dynamical entropies. Discussions of all these criteria will be confronted with the established criteria of integrability or quantum chaos, and sometimes quite surprising conclusions are found. Some conjectures and interesting open problems in ergodic theory of the quantum many problem are suggested.Comment: 45 pages, 22 figures, final version, at press in J. Phys. A, special issue on Quantum Informatio

Fluctuations in Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics: Models, Mathematical Theory, Physical Mechanisms

The fluctuations in nonequilibrium systems are under intense theoretical and experimental investigation. Topical ``fluctuation relations'' describe symmetries of the statistical properties of certain observables, in a variety of models and phenomena. They have been derived in deterministic and, later, in stochastic frameworks. Other results first obtained for stochastic processes, and later considered in deterministic dynamics, describe the temporal evolution of fluctuations. The field has grown beyond expectation: research works and different perspectives are proposed at an ever faster pace. Indeed, understanding fluctuations is important for the emerging theory of nonequilibrium phenomena, as well as for applications, such as those of nanotechnological and biophysical interest. However, the links among the different approaches and the limitations of these approaches are not fully understood. We focus on these issues, providing: a) analysis of the theoretical models; b) discussion of the rigorous mathematical results; c) identification of the physical mechanisms underlying the validity of the theoretical predictions, for a wide range of phenomena.Comment: 44 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Nonlinearity (2007

From thermal rectifiers to thermoelectric devices

We discuss thermal rectification and thermoelectric energy conversion from the perspective of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and dynamical systems theory. After preliminary considerations on the dynamical foundations of the phenomenological Fourier law in classical and quantum mechanics, we illustrate ways to control the phononic heat flow and design thermal diodes. Finally, we consider the coupled transport of heat and charge and discuss several general mechanisms for optimizing the figure of merit of thermoelectric efficiency.Comment: 42 pages, 22 figures, review paper, to appear in the Springer Lecture Notes in Physics volume "Thermal transport in low dimensions: from statistical physics to nanoscale heat transfer" (S. Lepri ed.

Estudio de la actividad antimicrobiana del fango termal de Copahue (Neuquén, Argentina)

Se investigó la actividad antimicrobiana del fango termal (Complejo Termal Copahue, Argentina) sobre microorganismos de la microbiota autóctona del hombre, agentes infecciosos de la comunidad, hospitalarios y cepas AT CC. Las cepas correspondieron a cocos Gram positivos, bacilos Gram negativos, levaduras y cepas AT CC. El fango se obtuvo de la Laguna Sulfurosa. La actividad inhibitoria se demostró utilizando fase líquida (FL) mediante la prueba de difusión en agar y por estudios de cinética bactericida. Con la primera se observó halo inhibitorio frente a Staphylococcus aureus y Cándida albicans, no visualizándose inhibición para el resto de los microorganismos. El estudio dinámico a través del tiempo sobre S. aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus epidermis y C. albicans demostró acción inhibitoria antes de las 6 hs de incubación, mientras que no se observó inhibición frente a los bacilos Gram negativos. Es el primer trabajo que demuestra la actividad antimicrobiana de la FL sobre las cepas ensayadas.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Estudio de la actividad antimicrobiana del fango termal de Copahue (Neuquén, Argentina)

Se investigó la actividad antimicrobiana del fango termal (Complejo Termal Copahue, Argentina) sobre microorganismos de la microbiota autóctona del hombre, agentes infecciosos de la comunidad, hospitalarios y cepas AT CC. Las cepas correspondieron a cocos Gram positivos, bacilos Gram negativos, levaduras y cepas AT CC. El fango se obtuvo de la Laguna Sulfurosa. La actividad inhibitoria se demostró utilizando fase líquida (FL) mediante la prueba de difusión en agar y por estudios de cinética bactericida. Con la primera se observó halo inhibitorio frente a Staphylococcus aureus y Cándida albicans, no visualizándose inhibición para el resto de los microorganismos. El estudio dinámico a través del tiempo sobre S. aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus epidermis y C. albicans demostró acción inhibitoria antes de las 6 hs de incubación, mientras que no se observó inhibición frente a los bacilos Gram negativos. Es el primer trabajo que demuestra la actividad antimicrobiana de la FL sobre las cepas ensayadas.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

A Solvable Regime of Disorder and Interactions in Ballistic Nanostructures, Part I: Consequences for Coulomb Blockade

We provide a framework for analyzing the problem of interacting electrons in a ballistic quantum dot with chaotic boundary conditions within an energy $E_T$ (the Thouless energy) of the Fermi energy. Within this window we show that the interactions can be characterized by Landau Fermi liquid parameters. When $g$, the dimensionless conductance of the dot, is large, we find that the disordered interacting problem can be solved in a saddle-point approximation which becomes exact as $g\to\infty$ (as in a large-N theory). The infinite $g$ theory shows a transition to a strong-coupling phase characterized by the same order parameter as in the Pomeranchuk transition in clean systems (a spontaneous interaction-induced Fermi surface distortion), but smeared and pinned by disorder. At finite $g$, the two phases and critical point evolve into three regimes in the $u_m-1/g$ plane -- weak- and strong-coupling regimes separated by crossover lines from a quantum-critical regime controlled by the quantum critical point. In the strong-coupling and quantum-critical regions, the quasiparticle acquires a width of the same order as the level spacing $\Delta$ within a few $\Delta$'s of the Fermi energy due to coupling to collective excitations. In the strong coupling regime if $m$ is odd, the dot will (if isolated) cross over from the orthogonal to unitary ensemble for an exponentially small external flux, or will (if strongly coupled to leads) break time-reversal symmetry spontaneously.Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures. Very minor changes. We have clarified that we are treating charge-channel instabilities in spinful systems, leaving spin-channel instabilities for future work. No substantive results are change