Extended 2D generalized dilaton gravity theories

We show that an anomaly-free description of matter in (1+1) dimensions requires a deformation of the 2D relativity principle, which introduces a non-trivial centre in the 2D Poincare algebra. Then we work out the reduced phase space of the anomaly-free 2D relativistic particle, in order to show that it lives in a noncommutative 2D Minkowski space. Moreover, we build a Gaussian wave packet to show that a Planck length is well defined in two dimensions. In order to provide a gravitational interpretation for this noncommutativity, we propose to extend the usual 2D generalized dilaton gravity models by a specific Maxwell component, which guages the extra symmetry associated with the centre of the 2D Poincare algebra. In addition, we show that this extension is a high energy correction to the unextended dilaton theories that can affect the topology of spacetime. Further, we couple a test particle to the general extended dilaton models with the purpose of showing that they predict a noncommutativity in curved spacetime, which is locally described by a Moyal star product in the low energy limit. We also conjecture a probable generalization of this result, which provides strong evidence that the noncommutativity is described by a certain star product which is not of the Moyal type at high energies. Finally, we prove that the extended dilaton theories can be formulated as Poisson-Sigma models based on a nonlinear deformation of the extended Poincare algebra.

Rational approximations of the Arrhenius integral using Jacobi fractions and gaussian quadrature

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Gaussian basis sets to the theoretical study of the electronic structure of perovskite (LaMnO3)

The Generator Coordinate Hartree-Fock (GCHF) method is applied to generate extended (20s14p), (30s19p13d), and (31s23p18d) Gaussian basis sets for the 0, Mn, and La atoms, respectively. The role of the weight functions (WFs) in the assessment of the numerical integration range of the GCHF equations is shown. These basis sets are then contracted to [5s3p] and [11s6p6d] for 0 and Mn atoms, respectively, and [17s11p7d] for La atom by a standard procedure. For quality evaluation of contracted basis sets in molecular calculations, we have accomplished calculations of total and orbital energies in the Hartree-Fock-Roothaan (HFR) method for (MnO1+)-Mn-5 and (LaO1+)-La-1 fragments. The results obtained with the contracted basis sets are compared with values obtained with the extended basis sets. The addition of one d polarization function in the contracted basis set for 0 atom and its utilization with the contracted basis sets for Mn and La atoms leads to the calculations of dipole moment and total atomic charges of perovskite (LaMnO3). The calculations were performed at the HFR level with the crystal [LaMnO3](2) fragment in space group C-2v the values of dipole moment, total energy, and total atomic charges showed that it is reasonable to believe that LaMnO3 presents behaviour of piezoelectric material. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design of Gaussian basis sets to the theoretical interpretation of IR-spectrum of hexaaquachromium (III) ion, tetraoxochromium (IV) ion, and tetraoxochromium (VI) ion

The Generator Coordinate Hartree-Fock (GCHF) method is employed to design 16s, 16s10p, 24s17p13d, 25s17p13d, and 26s17p Gaussian basis sets for the H ((2)S), O ((3)P), O(2-) ((1)S), Cr(3+) ((4)F), Cr(4+) ((3)F), and Cr(6+) ((1)S) atomic species. These basis sets are then contracted to (4s) for H ((2)S), (6s4p) for O ((3)P), and O(2-) ((1)S), (986p3d) for Cr(3+) ((4)F), (10s8p3d) for Cr(4+) ((3)F), and (13s7p) for Cr(6+) (1S) by a standard procedure. For evaluation of the quality of those basis sets in molecular calculations, we have accomplished studies of total and orbital (HOMO and HOMO-1) energies at the HF-Roothaan level for the molecular species of our interest. The results obtained with the contracted basis sets are compared to the values obtained with our extended basis sets and to the standard 6-311G basis set from literature. Finally, the contracted basis sets are enriched with polarization function and then utilized in the theoretical interpretation of IR-spectrum of hexaaquachromium (III) ion, [Cr(H(2)O)(6)](3+), tetraoxochromium (IV) ion, [CrO(4)](4-), and tetraoxochromium (VI) ion, [CrO(4)](2-). The respective theoretical harmonic frequencies and IR-intensities were computed at the density functional theory (DFT) level. In the DFT calculations we employed the Becke's 1988 functional using the LYP correlation functional. The comparison between the results obtained and the corresponding experimental values indicates a very good description of the IR-spectra of the molecular ions studied, and that the GCHF method is still a legitimate alternative for selection of Gaussian basis sets. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On degeneracy and invariances of random fields paths with applications in Gaussian process modelling

We study pathwise invariances and degeneracies of random fields with motivating applications in Gaussian process modelling. The key idea is that a number of structural properties one may wish to impose a priori on functions boil down to degeneracy properties under well-chosen linear operators. We first show in a second order set-up that almost sure degeneracy of random field paths under some class of linear operators defined in terms of signed measures can be controlled through the two first moments. A special focus is then put on the Gaussian case, where these results are revisited and extended to further linear operators thanks to state-of-the-art representations. Several degeneracy properties are tackled, including random fields with symmetric paths, centred paths, harmonic paths, or sparse paths. The proposed approach delivers a number of promising results and perspectives in Gaussian process modelling. In a first numerical experiment, it is shown that dedicated kernels can be used to infer an axis of symmetry. Our second numerical experiment deals with conditional simulations of a solution to the heat equation, and it is found that adapted kernels notably enable improved predictions of non-linear functionals of the field such as its maximum.

Genetic algorithms and Gaussian Bayesian networks to uncover the predictive core set of bibliometric indices

The diversity of bibliometric indices today poses the challenge of exploiting the relationships among them. Our research uncovers the best core set of relevant indices for predicting other bibliometric indices. An added difficulty is to select the role of each variable, that is, which bibliometric indices are predictive variables and which are response variables. This results in a novel multioutput regression problem where the role of each variable (predictor or response) is unknown beforehand. We use Gaussian Bayesian networks to solve the this problem and discover multivariate relationships among bibliometric indices. These networks are learnt by a genetic algorithm that looks for the optimal models that best predict bibliometric data. Results show that the optimal induced Gaussian Bayesian networks corroborate previous relationships between several indices, but also suggest new, previously unreported interactions. An extended analysis of the best model illustrates that a set of 12 bibliometric indices can be accurately predicted using only a smaller predictive core subset composed of citations, g-index, q2-index, and hr-index. This research is performed using bibliometric data on Spanish full professors associated with the computer science area.

A bound on the error in a general quadrature formula with equidistant ordinates /

"October 20, 1954"

Batchelor's theory extended to elongated cylindrical or ellipsoidal particles

Extensions to Batchelor's theory have been derived to take into account different shaped particles while relating extensional viscosity enhancement to three parameters - shape, volume fraction and particle aspect ratio. The extended theory now allows calculation of the extensional viscosity enhancement, at a given volume fraction of particles, for either ellipsoidal or cylindrical particles. The formula improves the predictive capability of Batchelor's theory when compared with measurements found in the literature for different rod-like polymer solutions. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Non-Gaussian statistics of an optical soliton in the presence of amplified spontaneous emission

A study was performed on non-Gaussian statistics of an optical soliton in the presence of amplified spontaneous emission. An approach based on the Fokker-Planck equation was applied to study the optical soliton parameters in the presence of additive noise. The rigorous method not only allowed to reproduce and justify the classical Gordon-Haus formula but also led to new exact results.

Non-gaussian Spatial Correlations Dramatically Weaken Localization.

We perform variational studies of the interaction-localization problem to describe the interaction-induced renormalizations of the effective (screened) random potential seen by quasiparticles. Here we present results of careful finite-size scaling studies for the conductance of disordered Hubbard chains at half-filling and zero temperature. While our results indicate that quasiparticle wave functions remain exponentially localized even in the presence of moderate to strong repulsive interactions, we show that interactions produce a strong decrease of the characteristic conductance scale g^{*} signaling the crossover to strong localization. This effect, which cannot be captured by a simple renormalization of the disorder strength, instead reflects a peculiar non-Gaussian form of the spatial correlations of the screened disordered potential, a hitherto neglected mechanism to dramatically reduce the impact of Anderson localization (interference) effects.

Emergence of Klebsiella pneumoniae carrying the novel extended-spectrum 'beta'-lactamase gene variants 'bla IND. SHV-40', 'bla IND. TEM-116' and the class I integron-associated 'bla IND. GES-7' in Brazil

A clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate carrying the extended-spectrum beta-lactamase gene variants bla(SHV-40), bla(TEM-116) and bla(GES-7) was recovered. Cefoxitin and ceftazidime activity was most affected by the presence of these genes and an additional resistance to trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole was observed. The bla(GES-7) gene was found to be inserted into a class 1 integron. These results show the emergence of novel bla(TEM) and bla(SHV) genes in Brazil. Moreover, the presence of class 1 integrons suggests a great potential for dissemination of bla(GES) genes into diverse nosocomial pathogens. Indeed, the bla(GES-7) gene was originally discovered in Enterobacter cloacae in Greece and, to our knowledge, has not been reported elsewhere

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases among Enterobacteriaceae isolated in a public hospital in Brazil

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) in enterobacteria are recognized worldwide as a great hospital problem. In this study, 127 ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolated in one year from inpatients and Outpatients at a public teaching hospital at Sao Paulo, Brazil, were Submitted to analysis by PCR with specific primers for bla(SHV), bla(TEM) and bla(CTX-M) genes. From the 127 isolates, 96 (75.6%) Klebsiella pneumoniae, 12 (9.3%) Escherichia coli, 8 (6.2%) Morganella morganii, 3 (2.3%) Proteus mirabilis, 2 (1.6%) Klebsiella oxytoca, 2 (1.6%) Providencia rettgeri, 2 (1.6%) Providencia stuartti, 1 (0.8%) Enterobacter aerogenes and 1 (0.8%) Enterobacter cloacae were identified as ESBL producers. Bla(SHV), bla(TEM), and bla(CTX-M) were detected in 63%, 17.3% and 33.9% strains, respectively. Pulsed field get eletrophoresis genotyping of K. pneumoniae revealed four main molecular patterns and 29 unrelated profiles. PCR results showed a high variety of ESBL groups among strains, in nine different species. The results Suggest the spread of resistance genes among genetically different strains of ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae in some hospital wards, and also that some strongly related strains were identified in different hospital wards, Suggesting clonal spread in the institutional environment

Crossover between the extended and localized regimes in stochastic partially self-avoiding walks in one-dimensional disordered systems

Consider N sites randomly and uniformly distributed in a d-dimensional hypercube. A walker explores this disordered medium going to the nearest site, which has not been visited in the last mu (memory) steps. The walker trajectory is composed of a transient part and a periodic part (cycle). For one-dimensional systems, travelers can or cannot explore all available space, giving rise to a crossover between localized and extended regimes at the critical memory mu(1) = log(2) N. The deterministic rule can be softened to consider more realistic situations with the inclusion of a stochastic parameter T (temperature). In this case, the walker movement is driven by a probability density function parameterized by T and a cost function. The cost function increases as the distance between two sites and favors hops to closer sites. As the temperature increases, the walker can escape from cycles that are reminiscent of the deterministic nature and extend the exploration. Here, we report an analytical model and numerical studies of the influence of the temperature and the critical memory in the exploration of one-dimensional disordered systems.

High Prevalence of bla(CTX-M) Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase Genes in Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolates from a Tertiary Care Hospital: First report of bla(SHV-12), bla(SHV-31), bla(SHV-38), and bla(CTX-M-15) in Brazil

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence and prevalence of bla(TEM), bla(SHV), and bla(CTX-M) and bla(GES)-like genes, responsible for extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) production in clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae collected from a Brazilian tertiary care hospital. Sixty-five ESBL producing K. pneumoniae isolates, collected between 2005 and 2007, were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Identification of bla genes was achieved by sequencing. Genotyping of ESBL producing K. pneumoniae was performed by the enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR with cluster analysis by the Dice coefficient. The presence of genes encoding ESBLs was confirmed in 59/65 (90.8%) isolates, comprising 20 bla(CTX-M-2), 14 bla(CTX-M-59), 12 bla(CTX-M-15), 9 bla(SHV-12), 1 bla(SHV-2), 1 bla(SHV-2a), 1 bla(SHV-5), and 1 bla(SHV-31) genes. The ESBL genes bla(SHV-12), bla(SHV-31), and bla(CTX-M-15), and the chromosome-encoded SHV-type beta-lactamase capable of hydrolyzing imipenem were detected in Brazil for the first time. The analysis of the enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR band patterns revealed a high rate of multiclonal bla(CTX-M) carrying K. pneumoniae isolates (70.8%), suggesting that dissemination of encoding plasmids is likely to be the major cause of the high prevalence of these genes among the K. pneumoniae isolates considered in this study.

Synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy studies on nanocrystalline ZrO(2)-CaO solid solutions

The crystal structure and the local atomic order of a series of nanocrystalline ZrO(2)-CaO solid solutions with varying CaO content were studied by synchrotron radiation X-ray powder diffraction and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy. These samples were synthesized by a pH-controlled nitrate-glycine gel-combustion process. For CaO contents up to 8 mol%, the t' form of the tetragonal phase (c/a > 1) was identified, whereas for 10 and 12 mol% CaO, the t '' form (c/a=1; oxygen anions displaced from their ideal positions in the cubic phase) was detected. Finally, the cubic phase was observed for solid solutions with CaO content of 14 mol% CaO or higher. The t'/t '' and t ''/cubic compositional boundaries were determined to be at 9 (1) and 13 (1) mol% CaO, respectively. The EXAFS study demonstrated that this transition is related to a tetragonal-to-cubic symmetry change of the first oxygen coordination shell around the Zr atoms.