329 research outputs found
Informationally complete measurements and groups representation
Informationally complete measurements on a quantum system allow to estimate
the expectation value of any arbitrary operator by just averaging functions of
the experimental outcomes. We show that such kind of measurements can be
achieved through positive-operator valued measures (POVM's) related to unitary
irreducible representations of a group on the Hilbert space of the system. With
the help of frame theory we provide a constructive way to evaluate the
data-processing function for arbitrary operators.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, IOP style. Some new references adde
What is the limit of quantum theory ?
An analysis is made of the relation between quantum theory and classical
mechanics, in the context of the limit . Several ways in which
this limit may be performed are considered. It is shown that Schr\"odinger's
equation for a single particle moving in an external potential does not,
except in special cases, lead, in this limit, to Newton's equation of motion
for the particle. This shows that classical mechanics cannot be regarded as
emerging from quantum mechanics-at least in this sense-upon straightforward
application of the limit .Comment: 12 pages, no figure
Quantifying Forearm Muscle Activity during Wrist and Finger Movements by Means of Multi-Channel Electromyography.
The study of hand and finger movement is an important topic with applications in prosthetics, rehabilitation, and ergonomics. Surface electromyography (sEMG) is the gold standard for the analysis of muscle activation. Previous studies investigated the optimal electrode number and positioning on the forearm to obtain information representative of muscle activation and robust to movements. However, the sEMG spatial distribution on the forearm during hand and finger movements and its changes due to different hand positions has never been quantified. The aim of this work is to quantify 1) the spatial localization of surface EMG activity of distinct forearm muscles during dynamic free movements of wrist and single fingers and 2) the effect of hand position on sEMG activity distribution. The subjects performed cyclic dynamic tasks involving the wrist and the fingers. The wrist tasks and the hand opening/closing task were performed with the hand in prone and neutral positions. A sensorized glove was used for kinematics recording. sEMG signals were acquired from the forearm muscles using a grid of 112 electrodes integrated into a stretchable textile sleeve. The areas of sEMG activity have been identified by a segmentation technique after a data dimensionality reduction step based on Non Negative Matrix Factorization applied to the EMG envelopes. The results show that 1) it is possible to identify distinct areas of sEMG activity on the forearm for different fingers; 2) hand position influences sEMG activity level and spatial distribution. This work gives new quantitative information about sEMG activity distribution on the forearm in healthy subjects and provides a basis for future works on the identification of optimal electrode configuration for sEMG based control of prostheses, exoskeletons, or orthoses. An example of use of this information for the optimization of the detection system for the estimation of joint kinematics from sEMG is reported
Economic evaluation of sublingual immunotherapy vs. symptomatic treatment in allergic asthma
The worldwide increased prevalence of allergic diseases, and especially of respiratory allergy, is paralleled by increased health costs. This requires consideration of the cost to efficacy ratio of the available treatment to identify the optimal choice
Approaching the Heisenberg limit with two mode squeezed states
Two mode squeezed states can be used to achieve Heisenberg limit scaling in
interferometry: a phase shift of can be
resolved. The proposed scheme relies on balanced homodyne detection and can be
implemented with current technology. The most important experimental
imperfections are studied and their impact quantified.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure
Iterative algorithm for reconstruction of entangled states
An iterative algorithm for the reconstruction of an unknown quantum state
from the results of incompatible measurements is proposed. It consists of
Expectation-Maximization step followed by a unitary transformation of the
eigenbasis of the density matrix. The procedure has been applied to the
reconstruction of the entangled pair of photons.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, some formulations changed, a minor mistake
correcte
Direct visualization and cellular localization of D1 and D2 dopamine receptors in rat forebrain by use of fluorescent ligands.
Exchange Gate on the Qudit Space and Fock Space
We construct the exchange gate with small elementary gates on the space of
qudits, which consist of three controlled shift gates and three "reverse"
gates. This is a natural extension of the qubit case.
We also consider a similar subject on the Fock space, but in this case we
meet with some different situation. However we can construct the exchange gate
by making use of generalized coherent operator based on the Lie algebra su(2)
which is a well--known method in Quantum Optics. We moreover make a brief
comment on "imperfect clone".Comment: Latex File, 12 pages. I could solve the problems in Sec. 3 in the
preceding manuscript, so many corrections including the title were mad
Binary optical communication in single-mode and entangled quantum noisy channels
We address binary optical communication in single-mode and entangled quantum
noisy channels. For single-mode we present a systematic comparison between
direct photodetection and homodyne detection in realistic conditions, i.e.
taking into account the noise that occurs both during the propagation and the
detection of the signals. We then consider entangled channels based on
twin-beam state of radiation, and show that with realistic heterodyne detection
the error probability at fixed channel energy is reduced in comparison to the
single-mode cases for a large range of values of quantum efficiency and noise
parameters
A survey of clinical features of allergic rhinitis in adults
Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) has high prevalence and substantial socio-economic burden.
Material/Methods: The study included 35 Italian Centers recruiting an overall number of 3383 adult patients with rhinitis (48% males, 52% females, mean age 29.1, range 18â45 years). For each patient, the attending physician had to fill in a standardized questionnaire, covering, in particular, some issues such as the ARIA classification of allergic rhinitis (AR), the results of skin prick test (SPT), the kind of treatment, the response to treatment, and the satisfaction with treatment.
Results: Out of the 3383 patients with rhinitis, 2788 (82.4%) had AR: 311 (11.5%) had a mild intermittent, 229 (8.8%) a mild persistent, 636 (23.5%) a moderate-severe intermittent, and 1518 (56.1%) a moderate-severe persistent form. The most frequently used drugs were oral antihistamines (77.1%) and topical corticosteroids (60.8%). The response to treatment was judged as excellent in 12.2%, good in 41.3%, fair in 31.2%, poor in 14.5%, and very bad in 0.8% of subjects. The rate of treatment dissatisfaction was significantly higher in patients with moderate-to-severe AR than in patients with mild AR (p<0.0001). Indication to allergen immunotherapy (AIT) was significantly more frequent (p<0.01) in patients with severe AR than with mild AR. .
Conclusions: These fndings confirm the appropriateness of ARIA guidelines in classifying the AR patients and the association of severe symptoms with unsuccessful drug treatment. The optimal targeting of patients to be treated with AIT needs to be reassessed
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