Mobile Bipolaron—Strong Coupling Approach

We explore the properties of the bipolaron in a 1D Holstein–Hubbard model with dynamical quantum phonons. We apply strong coupling theory to investigate the intersite bipolaron. We investigate the influence of the Hubbard interaction on the bipolaron binding energy, effective mass, and phase diagram. We compare our analytic results to recent numerical calculations [1]. In the intermediate and strong coupling regimes, a bipolaron is stable beyond the naive stability limit U ₀ = 2g ². The intersite bipolaron has a significantly reduced mass compared to the single site bipolaron, and is stable in the strong coupling regime up toU _c 4g ².     

Reliability allocation methods: A systematic literature review

The choice of a reliability allocation method is not always easy or straightforward, since it depends on several factors. Some factors are directly related to the characteristics of the analyzed system, such as the level of complexity or the reliability configuration; on the other hand, additional aspects constitute boundary conditions, such as budget or experimentation time. In this scenario, the purpose of the present research is to present a systematic literature review on reliability allocation, proposing a guideline to choose the optimal allocation method in respect to the desired application, available resources, and required accuracy. The proposed review analyzes allocation methods in literature, determining main features and area of application. Motivated by a lack of a comprehensive methods summarization present in literature, our research goal is to assist practitioners in choosing a well-suited method and to provide an overview, to support academics in conducting new research in this area. The results of the performed analysis are synthetized according to several criteria. The results are summarized and categorized in different clusters for each individuated application field. The proposed summarization design allows an easy and rapid consultation.     

Is there a ��gender gap�� in authorship of the main Brazilian psychiatric journals at the beginning of the 21st century?

The aim of this study was to investigate the existence of a ??gender gap?? in the authorship of the four most important peer-reviewed psychiatric journals in Brazil and to quantify its magnitude. In addition, we examined the patterns of change in this gap during the period extending from 2001 to 2008 and variations according to the total number of authors, the type of article (original vs. non-original studies), and the journals themselves. A total of 1,036 articles were analyzed. We found that the proportion of female overall participation has increased from 2001 to 2008. Nevertheless, the incremental rate was accounted mostly by the growth of the participation in non-original articles. While the average annual increment for original articles was virtually null (.01%), for the non-original articles the corresponding figure was 3.7%. We also found that the chance of a woman being first author was about three times greater in original papers as compared to non-original ones at the beginning of the study period; this differential declined by 11% per year during this period. A different pattern emerged from the analysis of female last authorship. Year of publication and type of study were still associated with the chance of a woman being the last author but without interaction. Further, the journals themselves were found to be related with female last authorship: the chance of a woman being the last author in an article published in the Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria was significantly smaller than in the other three journals. Our findings indicate clearly that some progress in being achieved in eliminating the gender gap also in field of Psychiatry and highlight the need for further research in this area.     

Photoluminescence of Eu<Superscript>3+</Superscript> ion in SnO<Subscript>2</Subscript> obtained by sol–gel

Photoluminescence data of Eu-doped SnO₂ xerogels are presented, yielding information on the symmetry of Eu³⁺ luminescent centers, which can be related to their location in the matrix: at lattice sites, substituting to Sn⁴⁺, or segregated at particles surface. Influence of doping concentration and/or particle size on the photoluminescence spectra obtained by energy transfer from the matrix to Eu³⁺ sites is investigated. Results show that a better efficiency in the energy transfer processes is obtained for high symmetry Eu³⁺ sites and low doping levels. Emission intensity from ⁵D₀→⁷F₁ transition increases as the temperature is raised from 10 to 240 K, under excitation at 266 nm laser line, because in this transition the multiphonon emission becomes significant only above 240 K. As an extension of this result, we predict high effectiveness for room temperature operation of Eu-based optical communication devices. X-ray diffraction data show that the impurity excess inhibits particle growth, which may influence the asymmetry ratio of luminescence spectra.     

Presentation of a viral peptide assembled on the carbohydrate moieties of immunoglobulin does not require processing

We have previously demonstrated that an immunodominant CD4 T cell epitope, HA110-120 of the hemagglutinin (HA) of the A/PR/8/34 influenza virus, enzymatically assembled on the carbohydrate moieties of self immunoglobulins (Ig) primed the precursors of peptide-specific T cells and induced efficient proliferation in vivo of naive lymphocytes from transgenic mice expressing the peptide-specific T cell receptor. Here, we show that an immuno-galacto-peptide construct, IgG-gal-HA, does not require intracellular or extracellular processing to present the peptide to the specific T cells. The presentation occurs following the binding of the IgG-gal-HA construct to Fc gamma receptor on the surface of antigen-presenting cells (APC), with concurrent interaction of the peptides to their neighboring major histocompatibility complex class II molecules. This mechanism of peptide presentation may harness the immune response in vivo by the engagement of APC with a low capacity of antigen processing, such as neonatal B cells. In addition, the enzymatic method of assembling various aminated compounds on the sugar moieties of Ig may offer novel perspectives on immuno-targeting of antagonist peptides, cytostatic drugs, and biologically active ligands of therapeutic use.     

Possible role of plasma neurotensin on growth hormone regulation in neonates

The multimedia portrayals of dentists and dentistry have expanded in scope. Prevention and esthetics have replaced drilling and extraction in the public perception of dental practice. According to the author, dentists themselves are no longer treated exclusively as buffoons or sadists. Instead, he writes, they are more apt to be seen as solid citizens, occasionally as romantic figures and even as complex, realistic human beings.     

Q-PSO: Fast Quaternion-Based Pose Estimation from RGB-D Images

This paper investigates the leader–follower formation control problem for a group of networked nonholonomic mobile robots that are subject to bounded time-varying communication delays and an asynchronous clock. First we convert the formation control problem into a trajectory tracking problem, and then a fully distributed unified control framework based on the receding horizon control is implemented to converge the tracking errors. By adding an auxiliary acceleration term into the receding horizon controller, the framework is able to solve the impractical velocity jump problem. Considering the time-varying delays, the timing and order features of the messages are utilized to guarantee their logical correctness. To compensate for the delay effect, an improved control framework that exploits the predictability of the receding horizon controller is proposed. The asynchronous clock problem, which makes the communication delay unmeasurable, is studied. We give a definition of the syn point that is inspired from investigation of the property that messages are received out of order in a bounded time-varying delayed network. A novel method that detects the occurrence of syn points is integrated into the control framework to solve the asynchronous clock problem. Finally the effectiveness of the proposed approaches is demonstrated in the Player/Stage simulation environment.     

Protective cellular immunity against influenza virus induced by plasmid inoculation of newborn mice

The mercury-binding capacity of seleno-DL-methionine and selenium dioxide was assessed in male Wistar rats. Mercury was supplied as fish loaves made of northern pike or rainbow trout. We used a selenium concentration of 3.4 mg/kg fish, about sixfold compared to the equivalent quantity of mercury. Seleno-DL-methionine had a tendency to increase both methyl mercury and total mercury in blood, although it also seemed to reduce the proportion of methyl mercury of total mercury. Selenium dioxide lowered mercury levels by 24-29% both in the blood and in the liver of rats that were fed with northern pike.     

Bioactive compounds of 44 traditional and exotic Brazilian fruit pulps: phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity

Bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity from 44 fruit were evaluated. The data were statistically evaluated by analysis of common components and specific weights (CCSWA). Panã, acerola, açaí, and jabuticaba showed higher values of total phenolic compounds (TPCs) and antioxidant activity. The analysis of CCSWA was able to explain almost 100% of the variance of the data and established the correlation between TPC and antioxidant capacity, being the most influential variables in the classification of samples. This statistical method is ideal for quickly analyzing a large amount of data, as obtained in this research, which facilitates routines of industrial analysis.