Towards Quantum Superpositions of a Mirror: an Exact Open Systems Analysis - Calculational Details

We give details of calculations analyzing the proposed mirror superposition experiment of Marshall, Simon, Penrose, and Bouwmeester within different stochastic models for state vector collapse. We give two methods for exactly calculating the fringe visibility in these models, one proceeding directly from the equation of motion for the expectation of the density matrix, and the other proceeding from solving a linear stochastic unravelling of this equation. We also give details of the calculation that identifies the stochasticity parameter implied by the small displacement Taylor expansion of the CSL model density matrix equation. The implications of the two results are briefly discussed. Two pedagogical appendices review mathematical apparatus needed for the calculations.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX. Minor changes mad

A new sensorized ceramic plug for the remote monitoring of moisture in historic masonry walls: First results from laboratory and onsite testing

The presence of moisture in historic buildings, especially from rising damp, is extremely widespread and severe, causing materials' deterioration, internal discomfort and bad thermal insulation of external walls. Although this phenomenon is widely studied in the literature, the available solutions are frequently only partially effective, also due to the lack of reliable and compatible techniques to monitor the amount of moisture inside porous building materials, especially in heritage buildings where multiple restrictions exist. In this paper, a new sensorized ceramic plug was developed, to be inserted in historic masonry walls for the remote monitoring of moisture. The plug includes a moisture sensor that is currently used for soil irrigation purpose in agriculture and a ceramic envelope of tailored properties. The plug was developed in laboratory following a step-by-step testing program, which took into account both the specific features of the sensor (requiring a strong research effort to be transferred to building materials) and those of historic walls. After a first set of laboratory tests, the sensorized ceramic plug was validated in small-scale laboratory walls and in a real historic masonry in the monumental Certosa cemetery in Bologna, Italy. The results are extremely encouraging, as they show how the new plug can provide valuable information about the rising damp evolution, and in fact, the data were correlated with the changes in the concurrent environmental parameters in the area of the cemetery. The results also suggest some possible measures to improve the sensorized ceramic plug in the near future

Prey selection by an apex predator : the importance of sampling uncertainty.

The impact of predation on prey populations has long been a focus of ecologists, but a firm understanding of the factors influencing prey selection, a key predictor of that impact, remains elusive. High levels of variability observed in prey selection may reflect true differences in the ecology of different communities but might also reflect a failure to deal adequately with uncertainties in the underlying data. Indeed, our review showed that less than 10% of studies of European wolf predation accounted for sampling uncertainty. Here, we relate annual variability in wolf diet to prey availability and examine temporal patterns in prey selection; in particular, we identify how considering uncertainty alters conclusions regarding prey selection. Over nine years, we collected 1,974 wolf scats and conducted drive censuses of ungulates in Alpe di Catenaia, Italy. We bootstrapped scat and census data within years to construct confidence intervals around estimates of prey use, availability and selection. Wolf diet was dominated by boar (61.5±3.90 [SE] % of biomass eaten) and roe deer (33.7±3.61%). Temporal patterns of prey densities revealed that the proportion of roe deer in wolf diet peaked when boar densities were low, not when roe deer densities were highest. Considering only the two dominant prey types, Manly's standardized selection index using all data across years indicated selection for boar (mean = 0.73±0.023). However, sampling error resulted in wide confidence intervals around estimates of prey selection. Thus, despite considerable variation in yearly estimates, confidence intervals for all years overlapped. Failing to consider such uncertainty could lead erroneously to the assumption of differences in prey selection among years. This study highlights the importance of considering temporal variation in relative prey availability and accounting for sampling uncertainty when interpreting the results of dietary studies

Effect of metal clusters on the swelling of gold-fluorocarbon-polymer composite films

We have investigated the phenomenon of swelling due to acetone diffusion in fluorocarbon polymer films doped with different gold concentrations below the percolation threshold. The presence of the gold clusters in the polymer is shown to improve the mixing between the fluorocarbon polymer and the acetone, which is not a good solvent for this kind of polymers. In order to explain the experimental results the stoichiometry and the morphology of the polymer--metal system have been studied and a modified version of the Flory--Huggins model has been developed

Assessing environmental awareness towards protection of the Alps: a case study

The paper focuses on environmental awareness towards the protection of Alpine areas, and presents the results of a research aimed at assessing people\u2019s awareness in regards to certain topical environmental issues such as protected areas, ecological connectivity, and wildlife. The study area is the Julian Prealps Natural Park, in the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia (Northeast Italy). In order to obtain a measure of \u201cenvironmental awareness\u201d, the Rasch model was applied. It allowed us first to identify which items are most suitable for this. The results obtained show that people are quite aware of some issues, e.g. that wellbeing is related to greener areas and that they can change things to solve environmental problems. We also found that it is easier to agree with items relating to the environment in general than with more specific issues, probably due to a lack of knowledge. However, the provision of pertinent information, in our case on ecological connectivity, can increase the level of environmental awareness. The model also showed that the level varies according to certain sociodemographic characteristics, particularly gender and age. These results could serve as a starting point for planning effective information activities aimed at raising environmental awareness and, possibly, bolstering participation in initiatives for protecting Alpine areas

Breaking quantum linearity: constraints from human perception and cosmological implications

Resolving the tension between quantum superpositions and the uniqueness of the classical world is a major open problem. One possibility, which is extensively explored both theoretically and experimentally, is that quantum linearity breaks above a given scale. Theoretically, this possibility is predicted by collapse models. They provide quantitative information on where violations of the superposition principle become manifest. Here we show that the lower bound on the collapse parameter lambda, coming from the analysis of the human visual process, is ~ 7 +/- 2 orders of magnitude stronger than the original bound, in agreement with more recent analysis. This implies that the collapse becomes effective with systems containing ~ 10^4 - 10^5 nucleons, and thus falls within the range of testability with present-day technology. We also compare the spectrum of the collapsing field with those of known cosmological fields, showing that a typical cosmological random field can yield an efficient wave function collapse.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX, 3 figure

Kinin-B1 receptors in ischaemia-induced pancreatitis: Functional importance and cellular localisation

In this study we compare the role of kininB1 and B2 receptors during ischaemia/reperfusion of rat pancreas. Our investigations were prompted by the observation that infusion of a kininB2 receptor antagonist produced significant improvement in acute experimental pancreatitis. In an acute model with two hours of ischaemia/two hours of reperfusion, application of the kininB1 receptor antagonist (CP-0298) alone, or in combination with kininB2 receptor antagonist (CP-0597), significantly reduced the number of adherent leukocytes in postcapillary venules. In a chronic model with five days of reperfusion, the continuous application of kininB1 receptor antagonist or a combination of kininB1 and B2 receptor antagonists markedly reduced the survival rate. In kininreceptor binding studies kininB1 receptor showed a 22-fold increase in expression during the time of ischaemia/ reperfusion. Carboxypeptidase M activity was upregulated 10-fold following two hours of ischaemia and two hours of reperfusion, provided the appropriate specific ligand, desArg10-kallidin and/or desArg9-bradykinin, was used. The occurrence of kininB1 receptor binding sites on acinar cell membranes was demonstrated by microautoradiography. With a specific antibody, the localisation of kininB1 receptor protein was confirmed at the same sites. In conclusion, we have demonstrated the upregulation of the pancreatic acinar cell kininB1 receptors during ischaemia/reperfusion. The novel functional finding was that antagonism of the kininB1 receptors decreased the survival rate in an experimental model of pancreatitis

Towards Quantum Superpositions of a Mirror: an Exact Open Systems Analysis

We analyze the recently proposed mirror superposition experiment of Marshall, Simon, Penrose, and Bouwmeester, assuming that the mirror's dynamics contains a non-unitary term of the Lindblad type proportional to -[q,[q,\rho]], with q the position operator for the center of mass of the mirror, and \rho the statistical operator. We derive an exact formula for the fringe visibility for this system. We discuss the consequences of our result for tests of environmental decoherence and of collapse models. In particular, we find that with the conventional parameters for the CSL model of state vector collapse, maintenance of coherence is expected to within an accuracy of at least 1 part in 10^{8}. Increasing the apparatus coupling to environmental decoherence may lead to observable modifications of the fringe visibility, with time dependence given by our exact result.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX. Substantial changes mad

Collapse models with non-white noises

We set up a general formalism for models of spontaneous wave function collapse with dynamics represented by a stochastic differential equation driven by general Gaussian noises, not necessarily white in time. In particular, we show that the non-Schrodinger terms of the equation induce the collapse of the wave function to one of the common eigenstates of the collapsing operators, and that the collapse occurs with the correct quantum probabilities. We also develop a perturbation expansion of the solution of the equation with respect to the parameter which sets the strength of the collapse process; such an approximation allows one to compute the leading order terms for the deviations of the predictions of collapse models with respect to those of standard quantum mechanics. This analysis shows that to leading order, the ``imaginary'' noise trick can be used for non-white Gaussian noise.Comment: Latex, 20 pages;references added and minor revisions; published as J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. {\bf 40} (2007) 15083-1509