Entanglement properties of spin models in triangular lattices

The different quantum phases appearing in strongly correlated systems as well as their transitions are closely related to the entanglement shared between their constituents. In 1D systems, it is well established that the entanglement spectrum is linked to the symmetries that protect the different quantum phases. This relation extends even further at the phase transitions where a direct link associates the entanglement spectrum to the conformal field theory describing the former. For 2D systems much less is known. The lattice geometry becomes a crucial aspect to consider when studying entanglement and phase transitions. Here, we analyze the entanglement properties of triangular spin lattice models by also considering concepts borrowed from quantum information theory such as geometric entanglement.

Hydrogel-Forming Microneedles Prepared from ‘‘Super Swelling’’ Polymers Combined with Lyophilised Wafers for Transdermal Drug Delivery

We describe, for the first time, hydrogel-forming microneedle arrays prepared from "super swelling" polymeric compositions. We produced a microneedle formulation with enhanced swelling capabilities from aqueous blends containing 20% w/w Gantrez S-97, 7.5% w/w PEG 10,000 and 3% w/w Na2CO3 and utilised a drug reservoir of a lyophilised wafer-like design. These microneedle-lyophilised wafer compositions were robust and effectively penetrated skin, swelling extensively, but being removed intact. In in vitro delivery experiments across excised neonatal porcine skin, approximately 44 mg of the model high dose small molecule drug ibuprofen sodium was delivered in 24 h, equating to 37% of the loading in the lyophilised reservoir. The super swelling microneedles delivered approximately 1.24 mg of the model protein ovalbumin over 24 h, equivalent to a delivery efficiency of approximately 49%. The integrated microneedle-lyophilised wafer delivery system produced a progressive increase in plasma concentrations of ibuprofen sodium in rats over 6 h, with a maximal concentration of approximately 179 µg/ml achieved in this time. The plasma concentration had fallen to 71±6.7 µg/ml by 24 h. Ovalbumin levels peaked in rat plasma after only 1 hour at 42.36±17.01 ng/ml. Ovalbumin plasma levels then remained almost constant up to 6 h, dropping somewhat at 24 h, when 23.61±4.84 ng/ml was detected. This work represents a significant advancement on conventional microneedle systems, which are presently only suitable for bolus delivery of very potent drugs and vaccines. Once fully developed, such technology may greatly expand the range of drugs that can be delivered transdermally, to the benefit of patients and industry. Accordingly, we are currently progressing towards clinical evaluations with a range of candidate molecules.

Properties of Super-Hydrophobic Copper and Stainless Steel Meshes: Applications in Controllable Water Permeation and Organic Solvents/Water Separation

The wettability and hydrophobicity of super-hydrophobic (SH) meshes is greatly influenced by their topographic structures, chemical composition and coating process. In this study, the properties of copper and stainless steel meshes, coated with super-hydrophobic electrolessly deposited silver were investigated. A new method to test the pressure resistance of super-hydrophobic mesh was applied to avoid any deformation of mesh. Results showed that SH copper mesh and SH stainless steel meshes with the same pore size have almost the same contact angle and the same hydrophobicity. SH copper mesh with a pore size of 122 μm can resist water pressure of 4900 Pa and a decrease of pore size of mesh can increase the pressure resistance of SH copper mesh. The SH copper mesh modified with 0.1 M HS(CH2)10COOH solution in ethanol has a controllable water permeation property by simply adjusting the pH of water solution. SH copper mesh shows super-oleophilicity with organic solvents and so with a water contact angle of 0° and it can be an effective tool for organic solvents/water separation. The separation efficiency of SH copper mesh for separating mixtures of organic solvent and water can be as high as 99.8%.

Characterizing K2 Planet Discoveries: A super-Earth transiting the bright K-dwarf HIP 116454

We report the first planet discovery from the two-wheeled Kepler (K2) mission: HIP 116454 b. The host star HIP 116454 is a bright (V = 10.1, K = 8.0) K1 dwarf with high proper motion and a parallax-based distance of 55.2 +/- 5.4 pc. Based on high-resolution optical spectroscopy, we find that the host star is metal-poor with [Fe/H]= -0.16 +/- 0.08 and has a radius R-star = 0.716 +/- 0.024 R-circle dot and mass M-star = 0.775 +/- 0.027M(circle dot). The star was observed by the Kepler spacecraft during its Two-Wheeled Concept Engineering Test in 2014 February. During the 9 days of observations, K2 observed a single transit event. Using a new K2 photometric analysis technique, we are able to correct small telescope drifts and recover the observed transit at high confidence, corresponding to a planetary radius of R-p = 2.53 +/- 0.18 R-circle plus. Radial velocity observations with the HARPS-N spectrograph reveal a 11.82 +/- 1.33 M-circle plus planet in a 9.1 day orbit, consistent with the transit depth, duration, and ephemeris. Follow-up photometric measurements from the MOST satellite confirm the transit observed in the K2 photometry and provide a refined ephemeris, making HIP 116454 b amenable for future follow-up observations of this latest addition to the growing population of transiting super-Earths around nearby, bright stars.

LC- HRMS based metabolomics in food safety and doping control – DeTECH21

Issues surrounding the misuse of prohibited and licensed substances in animals destined for food production and performance sport competition continue to be an enormous challenge to regulatory authorities charged with enforcing their control. Efficient analytical strategies are implemented to screen and confirm the presence of a wide range of exogenous substances in various biological matrices. However, such methods rely on the direct measurement of drugs and/or their metabolites in a targeted mode, allowing the detection of restricted number of compounds. As a consequence, emerging practices, in particular the use of natural hormones, designer drugs and low-dose cocktails, remain difficult to handle from a control point of view. A new SME-led FP7 funded project, DeTECH21, aims to overcome current limitations by applying an untargeted metabolomics approach based on liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry and bioinformatic data analysis to identify bovine and equine animals which have been exposed to exogenous substances and assist in the identification of administered compounds. Markerbased strategies, dealing with the comprehensive analysis of metabolites present in a biological sample (urine/plasma/tissue), offer a reliable solution in the areas of food safety and animal sport doping control by effective, high-throughput and sensitive detection of exogenously administered agents. Therefore, the development of the first commercially available forensic test service based on metabolomics profiling will meet 21st century demands in animal forensics.

LSQ14bdq: a type Ic Super-luminous Supernova with a double-peaked light curve

We present data for LSQ14bdq, a hydrogen-poor super-luminous supernova (SLSN) discovered by the La Silla QUEST survey and classified by the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects. The spectrum and light curve are very similar to slow-declining SLSNe such as PTF12dam. However, detections within ∼1 day after explosion show a bright and relatively fast initial peak, lasting for ∼15 days, prior to the usual slow rise to maximum light. The broader, main peak can be fit with either central engine or circumstellar interaction models. We discuss the implications of the precursor peak in the context of these models. It is too bright and narrow to be explained as a normal ⁵⁶Ni-powered SN, and we suggest that interaction models may struggle to fit the two peaks simultaneously. We propose that the initial peak may arise from the post-shock cooling of extended stellar material, and reheating by a central engine drives the second peak. In this picture, we show that an explosion energy of ∼2 × 10⁵² erg and a progenitor radius of a few hundred solar radii would be required to power the early emission. The competing engine models involve rapidly spinning magnetars (neutron stars) or fallback onto a central black hole. The prompt energy required may favor the black hole scenario. The bright initial peak may be difficult to reconcile with a compact Wolf-Rayet star as a progenitor since the inferred energies and ejected masses become unphysical.

Super suburbia: developing resilience by closing resource cycles in North Belfast

Sustainability can be described as having three interlinked strands, known as the ‘trias energetica’, without which resilience is difficult to achieve. These strands are environmental, social and economic: and if taken as indicators, the suburbs of North Belfast are very poorly performing indeed. Places such as Ligoneal and Glen Cairn have poor housing stock energetically, and also little economic activity. This paper describes propositional work completed by Queens University and Belfast City Council as part of the UK’s Technology Strategy Board’s Future Cities Programme, which aimed to develop new synergies in these neighbourhoods by the insertion of closed cycle economies.

By utilising a research by design methodology, the paper develops a process-based and phased design to develop a new emergent form to these neighbourhoods, one in which new productive systems are embedded into the city, at a small-scales. These include a peak-load hydro-electric project in Ligoneal; a productive landscape in Glen Cairn and a city-wide energy refurbishment utilising neighbourhood waste streams.

These designs allow for a roadmap for development to be created that could change the modus operandi of an area over a relatively short period of time, and show that even modest investments of productive technologies at a local scale could fundamentally change the form and the economic and environmental operation of the city in the future, and create a new resilient city, one that can be less externally dependent and more socially just.

The high-energy environment in the super-Earth system CoRoT-7

High-energy irradiation of exoplanets has been identified to be a key influence on the stability of these planets' atmospheres. So far, irradiation-driven mass-loss has been observed only in two Hot Jupiters, and the observational data remain even more sparse in the super-Earth regime. We present an investigation of the high-energy emission in the CoRoT-7 system, which hosts the first known transiting super-Earth. To characterize the high-energy XUV radiation field into which the rocky planets CoRoT-7b and CoRoT-7c are immersed, we analyzed a 25 ks XMM-Newton observation of the host star. Our analysis yields the first clear (3.5σ) X-ray detection of CoRoT-7. We determine a coronal temperature of ≈ 3 MK and an X-ray luminosity of 3 × 1028 erg s-1. The level of XUV irradiation on CoRoT-7b amounts to ≈37 000 erg cm-2 s-1. Current theories for planetary evaporation can only provide an order-of-magnitude estimate for the planetary mass loss; assuming that CoRoT-7b has formed as a rocky planet, we estimate that CoRoT-7b evaporates at a rate of about 1.3 × 1011 g s-1 and has lost ≈4-10 earth masses in total.

X-Ray Emission from the Super-Earth Host GJ 1214

Stellar activity can produce large amounts of high-energy radiation, which is absorbed by the planetary atmosphere leading to irradiation-driven mass loss. We present the detection and an investigation of high-energy emission in a transiting super-Earth host system, GJ 1214, based on XMM-Newton observations. We derive an X-ray luminosity of LX = 7.4 × 1025 erg s-1 and a corresponding activity level of log (LX /L bol) ~ -5.3. Further, we determine a coronal temperature of about ~3.5 MK, which is typical for coronal emission of moderately active low-mass stars. We estimate that GJ 1214 b evaporates at a rate of 1.3× 1010 g s-1 and has lost a total of ≈2-5.6 M ⊕.

Lattice-based Encryption Over Standard Lattices in Hardware

Lattice-based cryptography has gained credence recently as a replacement for current public-key cryptosystems, due to its quantum-resilience, versatility, and relatively low key sizes. To date, encryption based on the learning with errors (LWE) problem has only been investigated from an ideal lattice standpoint, due to its computation and size efficiencies. However, a thorough investigation of standard lattices in practice has yet to be considered. Standard lattices may be preferred to ideal lattices due to their stronger security assumptions and less restrictive parameter selection process. In this paper, an area-optimised hardware architecture of a standard lattice-based cryptographic scheme is proposed. The design is implemented on a FPGA and it is found that both encryption and decryption fit comfortably on a Spartan-6 FPGA. This is the first hardware architecture for standard lattice-based cryptography reported in the literature to date, and thus is a benchmark for future implementations.
Additionally, a revised discrete Gaussian sampler is proposed which is the fastest of its type to date, and also is the first to investigate the cost savings of implementing with lamda_2-bits of precision. Performance results are promising in comparison to the hardware designs of the equivalent ring-LWE scheme, which in addition to providing a stronger security proof; generate 1272 encryptions per second and 4395 decryptions per second.