Non-Markovian dynamics of interacting qubit pair coupled to two independent bosonic baths

The dynamics of two interacting spins coupled to separate bosonic baths is studied. An analytical solution in Born approximation for arbitrary spectral density functions of the bosonic environments is found. It is shown that in the non-Markovian cases concurrence "lives" longer or reaches greater values.Comment: 13 page

Chronic low back pain patients' use of, level of knowledge of and perceived benefits of complementary medicine: a cross-sectional study at an academic pain center.

Chronic pain patients often use complementary medicine (CM) to alleviate their pain; however, little is known about the use of CM by chronic low back pain (cLBP) patients. We investigated the frequency of use of CM by cLBP patients, the perceived effects of these therapies, patients' knowledge regarding CM, and patient-physician communication regarding CM. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from November 2014 to February 2015. A questionnaire was distributed by physicians to 238 consecutive patients consulting for cLBP at the Pain Center of Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. Poisson regression model was used to analyze patients' level of knowledge regarding various CMs, and the logistic regression model was used to assess CM use for cLBP. The questionnaire was returned by 168 cLBP patients (response rate: 70.6%). Lifetime prevalence of CM use for cLBP was 77.3%. The most commonly used therapies were osteopathy (48.8%), massage (45.2%) and acupuncture (31.6%), rated for their usefulness on a 0-10 scale as a mean ± SD of 5.4 ± 2.7, 5.9 ± 2.5 and 3.8 ± 3.2, respectively. The CM treatment best known by patients was osteopathy, followed by massage and acupuncture. If their doctors proposed CM as a treatment for cLBP, 78% of participants reported being very or somewhat likely to try CM. Respondents with CM health insurance were more likely to use CM (OR = 2.26; 95%CI: 1.07-4.78; p = 0.031) for cLBP. Respondents having experienced cLBP for more than five years were more likely to use CM to treat their cLBP than respondents having experienced cLBP for one year or less (OR = 2.84; 95%CI: 1.02-7.88; p = 0.044). More than three-quarters of cLBP patients in our sample did use CM to treat their cLBP. The results showed that the most commonly used therapies were not necessarily the highest rated in terms of perceived usefulness. These results highlight the importance of developing integrative pain centers in which patients may obtain advice regarding CM treatments

Robust stationary entanglement of two coupled qubits in independent environments

The dissipative dynamics of two interacting qubits coupled to independent reservoirs at nonzero temperatures is investigated, paying special attention to the entanglement evolution. The counter-rotating terms in the qubit-qubit interaction give rise to stationary entanglement, traceable back to the ground state structure. The robustness of this entanglement against thermal noise is thoroughly analyzed, establishing that it can be detected at reasonable experimental temperatures. Some effects linked to a possible reservoir asymmetry are brought to light.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; version accepted for publication on Eur. Phys. J.

Partial purification and MALDI-TOF MS analysis of UN1, a tumor antigen membrane glycoprotein.

UN1 is a membrane glycoprotein that is expressed in immature human thymocytes, a subpopulation of peripheral T lymphocytes, the HPB acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) T-cell line and fetal thymus. We previously reported the isolation of a monoclonal antibody (UN1 mAb) recognizing the UN1 protein that was classified as "unclustered" at the 5th and 6th International Workshop and Conference on Human Leukocyte Differentiation Antigens. UN1 was highly expressed in breast cancer tissues and was undetected in non-proliferative lesions and in normal breast tissues, indicating a role for UN1 in the development of a tumorigenic phenotype of breast cancer cells. In this study, we report a partial purification of the UN1 protein from HPB-ALL T cells by anion-exchange chromatography followed by immunoprecipitation with the UN1 mAb and MALDI-TOF MS analysis. This analysis should assist in identifying the amino acid sequence of UN

The ligand-receptor interactions based on silicon technology

We explored the use of porous silicon (pSi) technology for the construction of a biotechnological device, in which the ligand-receptor interactions are revealed by means of laser optical measurements. Here we report the settling of chemical procedures for the functionalization of the silicon wafers and for the subsequent anchoring of biological molecules such as a purified murine monoclonal antibody (UN1 mAb), an antibody anti-P8 protein of M13 phage and an antibody anti-A20 murine lymphoma cell line. The optical analysis of the interaction on the biochips between the bound biomolecules and their corresponding ligands indicated that the pSi is suitable for thi

Avaliação do desempenho de adubos verdes antecedendo o plantio de milho, em agroecossistema sob bases ecológicas, Utilizando-se análises multivariadas.

bitstream/item/68818/1/021-moitinho-avaliacao.pdfPublicado também no Cadernos de Agroecologia, v. 7, n. 2, 2012

Efficiency of informational transfer in regular and complex networks

We analyze the process of informational exchange through complex networks by measuring network efficiencies. Aiming to study non-clustered systems, we propose a modification of this measure on the local level. We apply this method to an extension of the class of small-worlds that includes {\it declustered} networks, and show that they are locally quite efficient, although their clustering coefficient is practically zero. Unweighted systems with small-world and scale-free topologies are shown to be both globally and locally efficient. Our method is also applied to characterize weighted networks. In particular we examine the properties of underground transportation systems of Madrid and Barcelona and reinterpret the results obtained for the Boston subway network.Comment: 10 pages and 9 figure

Thermodynamic and structural aspects of the potential energy surface of simulated water

Relations between the thermodynamics and dynamics of supercooled liquids approaching a glass transition have been proposed over many years. The potential energy surface of model liquids has been increasingly studied since it provides a connection between the configurational component of the partition function on one hand, and the system dynamics on the other. This connection is most obvious at low temperatures, where the motion of the system can be partitioned into vibrations within a basin of attraction and infrequent inter-basin transitions. In this work, we present a description of the potential energy surface properties of supercooled liquid water. The dynamics of this model has been studied in great details in the last years. Specifically, we locate the minima sampled by the liquid by ``quenches'' from equilibrium configurations generated via molecular dynamics simulations. We calculate the temperature and density dependence of the basin energy, degeneracy, and shape. The temperature dependence of the energy of the minima is qualitatively similar to simple liquids, but has anomalous density dependence. The unusual density dependence is also reflected in the configurational entropy, the thermodynamic measure of degeneracy. Finally, we study the structure of simulated water at the minima, which provides insight on the progressive tetrahedral ordering of the liquid on cooling

Técnicas pra caracterização dos estoques de carbono e humificação da matéria orgânica em diferentes sistemas de manejo de solos na região de Mococa (SP).

Devido à crescente preocupação com o meio ambiente, o estudo de solos tem ganho destaque estudos nos últimos anos. O solo é o maior reservatório de Carbono terrestre, assim desempenha papel fundamental no ciclo deste elemento. O estudo do estoque de Carbono no solo é importante pois diferentes tipos de manejo e culturas podem aumentar a concentração deste elemento no solo e assim diminuir o efeito estufa. O objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar as variações dos estoques de carbono no solo e humificação da matéria orgânica do solo (MOS) devido às mudanças de uso do solo em áreas agrícolas e mata nativa. Foram utilizadas as técnicas de Análise Elementar (CHN) e Espectroscopia de Fluorescência Induzida por Laser (LIFS) para análises da concentração de Carbono e do grau de humificação da MOS respectivamente. Foram avaliadas amostras de solo de áreas de mata nativa, café e uma área de café convertida para cana de açúcar sob regime de colheita crua, coletadas na região de Mococa, SP. Os resultados mostram que áreas de mata nativa estocam mais Carbono do que áreas agrícolas, além disso, também foi possível concluir que o estoque de Carbono é mais estável em horizontes mais profundos. Dentre os manejo agrícolas, o Café-CanaCrua foi o que melhor apresentou quantidade de Carbono estável

Thermodynamically Important Contacts in Folding of Model Proteins

We introduce a quantity, the entropic susceptibility, that measures the thermodynamic importance-for the folding transition-of the contacts between amino acids in model proteins. Using this quantity, we find that only one equilibrium run of a computer simulation of a model protein is sufficient to select a subset of contacts that give rise to the peak in the specific heat observed at the folding transition. To illustrate the method, we identify thermodynamically important contacts in a model 46-mer. We show that only about 50% of all contacts present in the protein native state are responsible for the sharp peak in the specific heat at the folding transition temperature, while the remaining 50% of contacts do not affect the specific heat.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures; to be published in PR