Modular categories as representations of the 3-dimensional bordism 2-category

We show that once-extended anomalous 3-dimensional topological quantum field theories valued in the 2-category of k-linear categories are in canonical bijection with modular tensor categories equipped with a square root of the global dimension in each factor.Comment: 71 page

Maine Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus Control Program Standards

The United States Department of Agriculture, (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, (APHIS), Veterinary Services, (VS) Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus Control Program Standards, hereafter referred to as the Standards, establish recommended procedures for the prevention and containment of Infectious Salmon Anemia virus (ISAV) in farm-raised Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The Standards provide guidelines for producers, APHIS-accredited veterinarians, other fish health personnel, laboratory personnel, and regulators. The eligibility of Atlantic salmon producers affected by ISA in Maine to receive indemnity is based, in part, on compliance with these Standards, and upon availability of any indemnity funds (See 9 CFR 53.10 for additional details). These Standards were originally written in 2001 by the USDA APHIS VS after numerous meetings, consultations, and discussions with members the Standards Committee of the Maine/USDA APHIS VS ISA Joint Working Group. These Standards have been revised twice since then, by the ISA Technical Board, to reflect updated information regarding ISAV/ISA transmission, diagnostic tests, and control processes

Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria Community Analysis: ISCO/ISB Coupled Remediation

Improved techniques for remediating groundwater systems are required for the more than 500,000 contaminated sites in North America. Many of these sites are the legacy of historical industrial operations, inappropriate disposal practices and accidental releases. The most widely observed contaminant at many of these sites is petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs). Recently, remediation efforts that involve the sequential application of treatment technologies have gained widespread interest. One specific sequential technology application or treatment train employs the aggressive nature of a chemical oxidation followed by bioremediation for polishing. When persulfate is used as the chemical oxidant its natural degradation by-product is sulfate, an electron acceptor for sulfate-reducing bacteria. Hence in this thesis, the focus is on ways to optimize the mass removal behaviour of a treatment train that involves the use of PHC biodegrading sulfate-reducing bacteria as a bioremediation tool for the ‘polishing’ of a contaminated site. Persulfate was predicted to have a multitude of effects on microbial communities, both positive and negative. It was hypothesized that the production of sulfate would enhance the sulfate-reducing community and subsequently increase biodegradation potential following a persulfate treatment. However, the use of a strong oxidant like persulfate may also have detrimental effects on microbial communities. In order to test this hypothesis, a bench-scale system was implemented to gather data for the analyses of this remediation technique. Microbiological methods and chemical analyses of geochemical parameters were used to examine diversity, richness and abundance of sulfate-reducing communities following persulfate treatments. Initially, the successful generation of anaerobic bioreactors containing an indigenous sulfate-reducing microbial community from a freshwater aquifer was completed and confirmed using colony-PCR. Approximately 3 ppm total PHC was then introduced into the reactors and the microbial community was then allowed to acclimate to the conditions. PHC biodegradation was confirmed (~ 5.7 µg/L/hr). The community was then exposed to two types of oxidants, unactivated and alkaline-activated persulfate. Immediately following exposure, culture-based methods revealed almost complete reduction of the microbial community (≤101 CFU/mL and SRB cells/mL). qPCR on a gene conserved within the sulfate-reducing phylogeny confirmed this reduction. However, by the fourth week of the recovery phase, bacterial counts and target genes rose above pre-treatment levels, indicating enhancement of the sulfate-reducing community following the oxidant exposure(s). However, the recovered community displayed differences in structure and function, as revealed by microbial community fingerprint profiles and a lowered biodegradation potential (~2.7 µg/L/hr). Overall this research illustrated the successful application of a remediation treatment train at a bench-scale level

Tailored codes for small quantum memories

We demonstrate that small quantum memories, realized via quantum error correction in multi-qubit devices, can benefit substantially by choosing a quantum code that is tailored to the relevant error model of the system. For a biased noise model, with independent bit and phase flips occurring at different rates, we show that a single code greatly outperforms the well-studied Steane code across the full range of parameters of the noise model, including for unbiased noise. In fact, this tailored code performs almost optimally when compared with 10,000 randomly selected stabilizer codes of comparable experimental complexity. Tailored codes can even outperform the Steane code with realistic experimental noise, and without any increase in the experimental complexity, as we demonstrate by comparison in the observed error model in a recent 7-qubit trapped ion experiment.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, supplementary material; v2 published versio

North of the Red Sea

With immense pride, I present a collection of ten songs woven from the threads of my musical influences, personal wisdom, and artistic explorations, guided by the invaluable mentorship of Franz Nicolay. This journey began long before the formal recording during my senior year at Bard. A visceral vision resonated within me, the melodies echoing in the depths of my mind. However, the path wasn\u27t devoid of hurdles. Intense imposter syndrome, and self-doubt in its various forms, forced me to re-evaluate my direction. In many ways, separating myself from the work became the key to uncovering the most authentic approaches. Through introspection, I realized the crucial role of meticulous lyricism and phrasing. Each word became a brushstroke, painting vivid imagery and conveying emotions with the utmost care. This dedication unlocked a deeper understanding of the songs, paving the way for their true potential to unfold. The decisions woven into the album\u27s fabric reflect a deliberate desire to share my artistic vision with the world. While the music flowed effortlessly from my imagination, the lyrics demanded careful consideration and refinement. Bringing these songs to life led me to discover a profound connection between my inner world and the unfolding melodies. Composing became an organic expression, a natural translation of the sounds that had simmered within my creative consciousness for a long. Crafting the lyrics and carefully considering how to express them played a pivotal role. As I immersed myself in the musical process, a seamless connection emerged between my creative endeavors and the melodic landscapes residing within me. This entire journey demanded my dedication and propelled me towards unforeseen paths of exploration. I recorded North of the Red Sea entirely on a digital 8-track. I wanted to capture a specific immediacy in these songs. I wanted to make it feel as if I were right there singing and exploring these stories right in front of you. Throughout the intricate process, I discovered an innate harmony between my thoughts and the unfolding melodies. The act of composing became an organic expression of the sounds that had long lingered within my imagination. The challenges encountered along the way only heightened the authenticity of the musical narrative, pushing me to explore uncharted artistic territories. North of the Red Sea feels like a foundation for future ventures. They are the tangible manifestation of my artistic journey, a testament to the transformative power of dedicated work and materialized ideas. This realization instills a sense of continuity and forward momentum on my artistic path. This experience has yielded invaluable insights into the symbiotic relationship between intention, expression, and the transformative power of creative exploration. It has become abundantly clear that when these elements are thoughtfully interwoven, they transcend the boundaries of mere musical composition, culminating in something profoundly meaningful. I invite you to embark on a journey, to navigate the musical landscapes of North of the Red Sea Let the melodies wash over you, and allow the lyrics to resonate with your inner world. May this album serve as a testament to the transformative power of artistic expression, a reminder that even the most personal journeys can resonate with the universal human experience

Saltwater Fishing in Cobscook Bay: Angler profile and economic impact

This Research in Focus fact sheet profiles the economic impact of recreational fishing in Downeast Maine. Extension associate Chris Bartlett worked with University of Maine-Machias researcher Kevin Athearn to survey recreational fishers in the Cobscook Bay region. This research is informing sustainable development initiatives in Washington County

Two novel quantitative trait linkage analysis statistics based on the posterior probability of linkage: application to the COGA families

BACKGROUND: In this paper we apply two novel quantitative trait linkage statistics based on the posterior probability of linkage (PPL) to chromosome 4 from the GAW 14 COGA dataset. Our approaches are advantageous since they use the full likelihood, use full phenotypic information, do not assume normality at the population level or require population/sample parameter estimates; and like other forms of the PPL, they are specifically tailored to accumulate linkage evidence, either for or against linkage, across multiple sets of heterogeneous data. RESULTS: The first statistic uses all quantitative trait (QT) information from the pedigree (QT-posterior probability of linkage, PPL); we applied the QT-PPL to the trait ecb21 (resting electroencephalogram). The second statistic allows simultaneous incorporation of dichotomous trait data into the QT analysis via a threshold model (QTT-PPL); we applied the QTT-PPL to combined data on ecb21 and ALDX1. We obtained a QT-PPL of 96% at GABRB1 and a QT-PPL of 18% at FABP2 while the QTT-PPL was 4% and 2% at the same two loci, respectively. By comparison, the variance-components (VC) method, as implemented in SOLAR, yielded multipoint VC LOD scores of 2.05 and 2.21 at GABRB1 and FABP2, respectively; no other VC LODs were greater than 2. CONCLUSION: The QTT-PPL was only 4% at GABARB1, which might suggest that the underlying ecb21 gene does not also cause ALDX1, although features of the data complicate interpretation of this result

Market-Driven Management and Intangible Assets in Global Television Set Manufacturers

The television set industry is a global sector where the most competitive companies are market-driven. Their competitive advantage is based not only on their ability to innovate products but also on their capability to develop and strengthen intangible assets, such as corporate culture, brand image and relationships between organisations.Television set industry, Market Driven Management, Competitiveness, Intangible Assets DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.4468/2010.2.07silvestrelli

Extended 3-dimensional bordism as the theory of modular objects

A modular object in a symmetric monoidal bicategory is a Frobenius algebra object whose product and coproduct are biadjoint, equipped with a braided structure and a compatible twist, satisfying rigidity, ribbon, pivotality, and modularity conditions. We prove that the oriented 3-dimensional bordism bicategory of 1-, 2-, and 3-manifolds is the free symmetric monoidal bicategory on a single anomaly-free modular object.Comment: 64 page

Tailoring surface codes for highly biased noise

The surface code, with a simple modification, exhibits ultra-high error correction thresholds when the noise is biased towards dephasing. Here, we identify features of the surface code responsible for these ultra-high thresholds. We provide strong evidence that the threshold error rate of the surface code tracks the hashing bound exactly for all biases, and show how to exploit these features to achieve significant improvement in logical failure rate. First, we consider the infinite bias limit, meaning pure dephasing. We prove that the error threshold of the modified surface code for pure dephasing noise is $50\%$, i.e., that all qubits are fully dephased, and this threshold can be achieved by a polynomial time decoding algorithm. We demonstrate that the sub-threshold behavior of the code depends critically on the precise shape and boundary conditions of the code. That is, for rectangular surface codes with standard rough/smooth open boundaries, it is controlled by the parameter $g=\gcd(j,k)$, where $j$ and $k$ are dimensions of the surface code lattice. We demonstrate a significant improvement in logical failure rate with pure dephasing for co-prime codes that have $g=1$, and closely-related rotated codes, which have a modified boundary. The effect is dramatic: the same logical failure rate achievable with a square surface code and $n$ physical qubits can be obtained with a co-prime or rotated surface code using only $O(\sqrt{n})$ physical qubits. Finally, we use approximate maximum likelihood decoding to demonstrate that this improvement persists for a general Pauli noise biased towards dephasing. In particular, comparing with a square surface code, we observe a significant improvement in logical failure rate against biased noise using a rotated surface code with approximately half the number of physical qubits.Comment: 18+4 pages, 24 figures; v2 includes additional coauthor (ASD) and new results on the performance of surface codes in the finite-bias regime, obtained with beveled surface codes and an improved tensor network decoder; v3 published versio