Experimental investigation of the evolution of gaussian quantum discord in an open system

Gaussian quantum discord is a measure of quantum correlations in Gaussian systems. Using Gaussian discord, we quantify the quantum correlations of a bipartite entangled state and a separable two-mode mixture of coherent states. We experimentally analyze the effect of noise addition and dissipation on Gaussian discord and show that the former noise degrades the discord, while the latter noise for some states leads to an increase of the discord. In particular, we experimentally demonstrate the near death of discord by noisy evolution and its revival through dissipation.     

An online nano-LC-ESI-FTICR-MS method for comprehensive characterization of endogenous fragments from amyloid β and amyloid precursor protein in human and cat cerebrospinal fluid

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is the precursor protein to amyloid β (Aβ), the main constituent of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Endogenous Aβ peptides reflect the APP processing, and greater knowledge of different APP degradation pathways is important to understand the mechanism underlying AD pathology. When one analyzes longer Aβ peptides by low-energy collision-induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), mainly long b-fragments are observed, limiting the possibility to determine variations such as amino acid variants or post-translational modifications (PTMs) within the N-terminal half of the peptide. However, by using electron capture dissociation (ECD), we obtained a more comprehensive sequence coverage for several APP/Aβ peptide species, thus enabling a deeper characterization of possible variants and PTMs. Abnormal APP/Aβ processing has also been described in the lysosomal storage disease Niemann-Pick type C and the major large animal used for studying this disease is cat. By ECD MS/MS, a substitution of Asp7 → Glu in cat Aβ was identified. Further, sialylated core 1 like O-glycans at Tyr10, recently discovered in human Aβ (a previously unknown glycosylation type), were identified also in cat cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). It is therefore likely that this unusual type of glycosylation is common for (at least) species belonging to the magnorder Boreoeutheria. We here describe a detailed characterization of endogenous APP/Aβ peptide species in CSF by using an online top-down MS-based method.     

Small-Molecule Diffusion in Semicrystalline Polymers as Revealed by Experimental and Simulation Studies

Summary: Diffusion of n-hexane in poly(ethylene-co-1-hexene)s with 15–75 wt.% crystallinity was studied by desorption experiments analyzing data using the Fickian equations with a concentration dependent diffusivity. The effect of the impenetrable crystalline phase on the penetrant diffusivity (D) is described by D = D_a/(τβ), where D_a is the diffusivity of the amorphous polymer, τ is the geometrical impedance factor and β is a factor describing the constraining effect of the crystals on the non-crystalline phase. For a polymer with 75 wt.% crystallinity, τβ varied markedly with penetrant concentration (v_1a) in the penetrable phase: 1000 (v_1a = 0) and 10 (v_1a = 0.15). This penetrant-uptake had no effect on the gross crystal morphology, i.e. β must be strongly dependent on v_1a. Samples saturated in n-hexane exhibited a penetrant-induced loosening of the interfacial structure, as revealed by an increase in crystal density that require an increased mobility in the interfacial component and by a decrease in the intensity of the asymmetric X-ray scattering associated with the interfacial component. The geometrical impedance factor has been modelled by mimicking spherulite growth and τ was obtained as the ratio of the diffusivities of the fully amorphous and semicrystalline systems. The maximum τ obtained from these simulations is ca. ten, which suggests that β in the systems with v_1a = 0.15 takes values close to unity. The simulations showed that the geometrical impedance factor is insensitive to the ratio of the crystal width and the crystal thickness. A free path length scaling parameter characteristic of the amorphous phase correlated with τ.