How safe is BDSM? A literature review on fatal outcome in BDSM play.

A noteworthy number of people are interested in BDSM (bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism, and masochism). Fatal outcomes while participating in BDSM activities occur. The aim of this literature review is to give a better insight into potential dangerous BDSM play by summarizing published data on BDSM fatalities. A literature search was conducted. It was searched for non-natural death related to BDSM activity. Seventeen cases were found. The age of the deceased ranged between 23 and 49 years (mean age 34.9 years). Strangulation in the course of erotic asphyxiation was the most common cause of death (88.2%). In 13 cases, a toxicology report for the deceased was mentioned, of which in eight cases (61.5%) toxicology analysis was positive. In four of these cases, the BDSM partner was also tested positive with the same substance. Drugs or alcohol was involved in 64.3% of fatal BDSM play. In nine cases, the level of experience in BDMS activity of the deceased and the partner was described, and in all of them, the deceased and the partner were not new to BDSM play. Fatal outcomes of BDSM plays are rarer than autoerotic fatalities and natural deaths related to sexual activities. Safeguards and education on medical aspects exist in the BDSM communities. If they are followed by the practitioners, the risks of BDMS play can be reduced. Cases of non-natural death connected to BDSM are rare incidents and can be prevented

Generation of Superposition Spin States in an Atomic Ensemble

A method for generating a mesoscopic superposition state of the collective spin variable of a gas of atoms is proposed. The state consists of a superposition of the atomic spins pointing in two slightly different directions. It is obtained by using off resonant light to carry out Quantum Non Demolition Measurements of the spins. The relevant experimental conditions, which require very dense atomic samples, can be realized with presently available techniques. Long-lived atomic superposition states may become useful as an off-line resource for quantum computing with otherwise linear operations.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev. Let

Quantum enhanced X-ray detection

We present the first experimental demonstration of quantum-enhanced detection at x-ray wavelengths. We show that x-ray pairs that are generated by spontaneous down-conversion can be used for the generation of heralded x-ray photons and measure directly the sub-Poissonian statistics of the single photons by using photon number resolving detectors. We utilize the properties of the strong time-energy correlations of the down converted photons to demonstrate the ability to improve the visibility and the signal-to-noise ratio of an image with a small number of photons in an environment with a noise level that is higher than the signal by many orders of magnitude. In our work we demonstrate a new protocol for the measurement of quantum effects with x-rays using advantages such as background free measurements that the x-ray regime offers for experiments aiming at testing fundamental concepts in quantum optics.Comment: 12 page

Dissection of quantitative and durable leaf rust resistance in Swiss winter wheat reveals a major resistance QTL in the Lr34 chromosomal region

The Swiss winter bread wheat cv. ‘Forno' has a highly effective, durable and quantitative leaf rust (Puccinia triticina Eriks.) resistance which is associated with leaf tip necrosis (LTN). We studied 240 single seed descent lines of an ‘Arina×Forno' F5:7 population to identify and map quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for leaf rust resistance and LTN. Percentage of infected leaf area (%) and the response to infection (RI) were evaluated in seven field trials and were transformed to the area under the disease progress curves (AUDPC). Using composite interval mapping and LOD>4.4, we identified eight chromosomal regions specifically associated with resistance. The largest and most consistent leaf rust resistance locus was identified on the short arm of chromosome 7D (32.6% of variance explained for AUDPC_% and 42.6% for AUDPC_RI) together with the major QTL for LTN (R 2=55.6%) in the same chromosomal region as Lr34 (Xgwm295). A second major leaf rust resistance QTL (R 2=28% and 31.5%, respectively) was located on chromosome arm 1BS close to Xgwm604 and was not associated with LTN. Additional minor QTLs for LTN (2DL, 3DL, 4BS and 5AL) and leaf rust resistance were identified. These latter QTLs might correspond to the leaf rust resistance genes Lr2 or Lr22 (2DS) and Lr14a (7BL

Lattice bosons in quartic confinement

We present a theoretical study of bose condensation of non-interacting bosons in finite lattices in quartic potentials in one, two, and three dimensions. We investigate dimensionality effects and quartic potential effects on single boson density of energy states, condensation temperature, condensate fraction, and specific heat. The results obtained are compared with corresponding results for lattice bosons in harmonic traps.Comment: revised version, 11 pages including figures, accepted in EPJ

Assessing short-term feed efficiency and its association with biological markers in herbage-fed dairy cows.

Feed efficiency is an important trait of dairy production. However, assessing feed efficiency is constrained by the associated cost and difficulty in measuring individual feed intake, especially on pastures. The objective of this study was to investigate short-term feed efficiency traits of herbage-fed dairy cows and screening of potential biomarkers (n = 238). Derived feed efficiency traits were ratio-based (i.e., feed conversion ratio (FCR) and N use efficiency (NUE)) or residual-based (i.e., residual feed intake (RFI), residual energy intake (REI), and residual N intake (RNI)). Thirty-eight Holstein and 16 Swiss Fleckvieh dairy cows underwent a 7-d measurement period during mid- and/or late-lactation. The experimental data (n = 100 measurement points) covered different lactational and herbage-fed system situations: mid-lactation grazing (n = 56), late-lactation grazing (n = 28), and late-lactation barn feeding (n = 16). During each measuring period, the individual herbage intake of each cow was estimated using the n-alkane marker technique. For each cow, biomarkers representing milk constituents (n = 109), animal characteristics (n = 13), behaviour, and activity (n = 46), breath emissions (n = 3), blood constituents (n = 35), surface, and rectal temperature (n = 29), hair cortisol (n = 1), and near-infrared (NIR) spectra of faeces and milk (n = 2) were obtained. The relationships between biomarkers and efficiency traits were statistically analysed with univariate linear regression and for NIR spectra using partial least squares regression with feed efficiency traits. The feed efficiency traits were interrelated with each other (r: -0.57 to -0.86 and 0.49-0.81). The biomarkers showed varying R2 values in explaining the variability of feed efficiency traits (FCR: 0.00-0.66, NUE: 0.00-0.74, RFI: 0.00-0.56, REI: 0.00-0.69, RNI: 0.00-0.89). Overall, the feed efficiency traits were best explained by NIR spectral characteristics of milk and faeces (R2: 0.25-0.89). Biomarkers show potential for predicting feed efficiency in herbage-fed dairy cows. NIR spectra data analysis of milk and faeces presents a promising method for estimating individual feed efficiency upon further validation of prediction models. Future applications will depend on the ability to improve the robustness of biomarkers to predict feed efficiency in a greater variety of environments (locations), managing conditions, feeding systems, production intensities, and other aspects

Unitary Gate Synthesis for Continuous Variable Systems

We investigate the synthesis of continuous-variable two-mode unitary gates in the setting where two modes A and B are coupled by a fixed quadratic Hamiltonian H. The gate synthesis consists of a sequence of evolutions governed by Hamiltonian H interspaced by local phase shifts applied to A and B. We concentrate on protocols that require the minimum necessary number of steps and we show how to implement the beam splitter and the two-mode squeezer in just three steps. Particular attention is paid to the Hamiltonian x_A p_B that describes the effective off-resonant interaction of light with the collective atomic spin.Comment: 7 pages, minor text modifications, references adde

Time-resolved homodyne characterization of individual quadrature-entangled pulses

We describe a simple and efficient setup to generate and characterize femtosecond quadrature-entangled pulses. Quantum correlations equivalent to about 2.5 dB squeezing are efficiently and easily reached using the non-degenerate parametric amplification of femtosecond pulses through a single-pass in a thin (0.1 mm) potassium niobate crystal. The entangled pulses are then individually sampled to characterize the non-separability and the entropy of formation of the states. The complete experiment is analysed in the time-domain, from the pulsed source of quadrature entanglement to the time-resolved homodyne detection. This particularity allows for applications in quantum communication protocols using continuous-variable entanglement.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Characterizing the spin state of an atomic ensemble using the magneto-optical resonance method

Quantum information protocols utilizing atomic ensembles require preparation of a coherent spin state (CSS) of the ensemble as an important starting point. We investigate the magneto-optical resonance method for characterizing a spin state of cesium atoms in a paraffin coated vapor cell. Atoms in a constant magnetic field are subject to an off-resonant laser beam and an RF magnetic field. The spectrum of the Zeeman sub-levels, in particular the weak quadratic Zeeman effect, enables us to measure the spin orientation, the number of atoms, and the transverse spin coherence time. Notably the use of 894nm pumping light on the D1-line, ensuring the state F=4, m_F=4 to be a dark state, helps us to achieve spin orientation of better than 98%. Hence we can establish a CSS with high accuracy which is critical for the analysis of the entangled states of atoms.Comment: 12 pages ReVTeX, 6 figures, in v2 added ref. and corrected typo