135 research outputs found
An Algorithm for constructing Hjelmslev planes
Projective Hjelmslev planes and Affine Hjelmselv planes are generalisations
of projective planes and affine planes. We present an algorithm for
constructing a projective Hjelmslev planes and affine Hjelsmelv planes using
projective planes, affine planes and orthogonal arrays. We show that all
2-uniform projective Hjelmslev planes, and all 2-uniform affine Hjelsmelv
planes can be constructed in this way. As a corollary it is shown that all
2-uniform Affine Hjelmselv planes are sub-geometries of 2-uniform projective
Hjelmselv planes.Comment: 15 pages. Algebraic Design Theory and Hadamard matrices, 2014,
Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics 13
Adhesion of Listeria monocytogenes to materials commonly found in domestic kitchens
The aim of this work was to investigate the adhesion of Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 15313 to glass,
granite, marble, polypropylene from a bowl (PPb), polypropylene from a cutting board (PPcb) and stainless
steel (SS), which are materials commonly used in kitchens. Marble and granite were chosen because they are
applied as kitchen bench covers and pavements in many countries and there are no literature reports on their
behaviour in terms of microbial adhesion. The effect of surface hydrophobicity and roughness on the
adhesion process was also analysed. The results showed that the highest extent of adhesion of
L. monocytogenes occurred to stainless steel, followed by glass and in less extent to the other materials
studied. However, it was not possible to establish a correlation between surface hydrophobicity or roughness
and the extent of adhesion of L. monocytogenes. The adherence of L. monocytogenes should be dependent on
other factors, like the presence of exopolymers and surface charge.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT
Heating and decoherence suppression using decoupling techniques
We study the application of decoupling techniques to the case of a damped
vibrational mode of a chain of trapped ions, which can be used as a quantum bus
in linear ion trap quantum computers. We show that vibrational heating could be
efficiently suppressed using appropriate ``parity kicks''. We also show that
vibrational decoherence can be suppressed by this decoupling procedure, even
though this is generally more difficult because the rate at which the parity
kicks have to applied increases with the effective bath temperature.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Typos corrected, references adde
Empirical Determination of Bang-Bang Operations
Strong and fast "bang-bang" (BB) pulses have been recently proposed as a
means for reducing decoherence in a quantum system. So far theoretical analysis
of the BB technique relied on model Hamiltonians. Here we introduce a method
for empirically determining the set of required BB pulses, that relies on
quantum process tomography. In this manner an experimenter may tailor his or
her BB pulses to the quantum system at hand, without having to assume a model
Hamiltonian.Comment: 14 pages, 2 eps figures, ReVTeX4 two-colum
Effect of a non-dieting lifestyle randomised control trial on psychological well-being and weight management in morbidly obese pre-menopausal women.
Objective This study examined the effects of a non-dieting lifestyle intervention approach for morbidly obese women designed in the framework of the self-determination theory (SDT) and Health at Every Size on weight maintenance and psychological functioning. Participants and design Predominantly white (97%), morbidly obese (BMI ≥ 35 kg m-2 with at least one co-morbid condition or a BMI ≥ 40 kg m-2) pre-menopausal women (N = 62), aged between 24 and 55 years were initially randomly assigned to 12 weeks of lifestyle intervention (IIG) or delayed start control group (DSCG). The program consisted of 3 months intensive lifestyle intervention followed by 9 month maintenance phase. The DSCG group commenced the program after 3 months. Results and conclusions Initially, the IIG showed a significant decrease in body weight (baseline to end of the RCT phase) compared with a significant increase in the DSCG group. However, no significant changes in weight status were evident in either group at 12 months compared with baseline. The 3-month intensive intervention resulted in significantly improved psychological functioning in both groups, which were maintained at 12 months. The study provides additional support for a non-dieting, theory-based, lifestyle approach to weight management and psychological well-being among morbidly obese females
Encoded Recoupling and Decoupling: An Alternative to Quantum Error Correcting Codes, Applied to Trapped Ion Quantum Computation
A recently developed theory for eliminating decoherence and design
constraints in quantum computers, ``encoded recoupling and decoupling'', is
shown to be fully compatible with a promising proposal for an architecture
enabling scalable ion-trap quantum computation [D. Kielpinski et al., Nature
417, 709 (2002)]. Logical qubits are encoded into pairs of ions. Logic gates
are implemented using the Sorensen-Molmer (SM) scheme applied to pairs of ions
at a time. The encoding offers continuous protection against collective
dephasing. Decoupling pulses, that are also implemented using the SM scheme
directly to the encoded qubits, are capable of further reducing various other
sources of qubit decoherence, such as due to differential dephasing and due to
decohered vibrational modes. The feasibility of using the relatively slow SM
pulses in a decoupling scheme quenching the latter source of decoherence
follows from the observed 1/f spectrum of the vibrational bath.Comment: 12 pages, no figure
The XMM Cluster Survey: Exploring scaling relations and completeness of the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 redMaPPer cluster catalogue
We cross-match and compare characteristics of galaxy clusters identified in
observations from two sky surveys using two completely different techniques.
One sample is optically selected from the analysis of three years of Dark
Energy Survey observations using the redMaPPer cluster detection algorithm. The
second is X-ray selected from XMM observations analysed by the XMM Cluster
Survey. The samples comprise a total area of 57.4 deg, bounded by the area
of 4 contiguous XMM survey regions that overlap the DES footprint. We find that
the X-ray selected sample is fully matched with entries in the redMaPPer
catalogue, above 20 and within 0.10.9. Conversely, only 38\%
of the redMaPPer catalogue is matched to an X-ray extended source. Next, using
120 optically clusters and 184 X-ray selected clusters, we investigate the form
of the X-ray luminosity-temperature (), luminosity-richness
() and temperature-richness () scaling relations.
We find that the fitted forms of the relations are consistent
between the two selection methods and also with other studies in the
literature. However, we find tentative evidence for a steepening of the slope
of the relation for low richness systems in the X-ray selected sample. When
considering the scaling of richness with X-ray properties, we again find
consistency in the relations (i.e., and )
between the optical and X-ray selected samples. This is contrary to previous
similar works that find a significant increase in the scatter of the luminosity
scaling relation for X-ray selected samples compared to optically selected
samples.Comment: Accepted for publication to MNRA
Star clusters near and far; tracing star formation across cosmic time
© 2020 Springer-Verlag. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00690-x.Star clusters are fundamental units of stellar feedback and unique tracers of their host galactic properties. In this review, we will first focus on their constituents, i.e.\ detailed insight into their stellar populations and their surrounding ionised, warm, neutral, and molecular gas. We, then, move beyond the Local Group to review star cluster populations at various evolutionary stages, and in diverse galactic environmental conditions accessible in the local Universe. At high redshift, where conditions for cluster formation and evolution are more extreme, we are only able to observe the integrated light of a handful of objects that we believe will become globular clusters. We therefore discuss how numerical and analytical methods, informed by the observed properties of cluster populations in the local Universe, are used to develop sophisticated simulations potentially capable of disentangling the genetic map of galaxy formation and assembly that is carried by globular cluster populations.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
Erratum: "A Gravitational-wave Measurement of the Hubble Constant Following the Second Observing Run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo" (2021, ApJ, 909, 218)
[no abstract available
Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 in the second Advanced LIGO observing run with an improved hidden Markov model
We present results from a semicoherent search for continuous gravitational waves from the low-mass x-ray binary Scorpius X-1, using a hidden Markov model (HMM) to track spin wandering. This search improves on previous HMM-based searches of LIGO data by using an improved frequency domain matched filter, the J-statistic, and by analyzing data from Advanced LIGO's second observing run. In the frequency range searched, from 60 to 650 Hz, we find no evidence of gravitational radiation. At 194.6 Hz, the most sensitive search frequency, we report an upper limit on gravitational wave strain (at 95% confidence) of h095%=3.47×10-25 when marginalizing over source inclination angle. This is the most sensitive search for Scorpius X-1, to date, that is specifically designed to be robust in the presence of spin wandering. © 2019 American Physical Society
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