361 research outputs found
Laser Additive Manufacturing of Gas Permeable Structures
Laser additive manufacturing offers a variety of new design possibilities. In mold making laser additive manufactured inserts with conformal cooling channels are already state of the art. Pneumatic ejectors for injection molds are a new application for laser additive manufacturing. The pneumatic ejectors require a durable gas permeable material. This material is produced by placing the scan vectors for the laser additive manufacturing process in a defined pattern. Trials with different plastics proofed the function and reliability of the pneumatic ejector concept in the injection molding cycle
Quantum Communication between N partners and Bell's inequalities
We consider a family of quantum communication protocols involving
partners. We demonstrate the existence of a link between the security of these
protocols against individual attacks by the eavesdropper, and the violation of
some Bell's inequalities, generalizing the link that was noticed some years ago
for two-partners quantum cryptography. The arguments are independent of the
local hidden variable debate.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
A Rare Case of Propofol-Induced Acute Liver Failure and Literature Review
The incidence of drug-induced acute liver failure is increasing. A number of drugs can inhibit mitochondrial functions, alter β-oxidation and cause accumulation of free fatty acids within the hepatocytes. This may result in hepatic steatosis, cell death and liver injury. In our case, propofol, an anesthetic drug commonly used in adults and children, is suspected to have induced disturbance of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which in consequence led to insufficient energy supply and finally liver failure. We report the case of a 35-year-old Caucasian woman with acute liver failure after anesthesia for stripping of varicose veins. Liver histology, imaging and laboratory data indicate drug-induced acute liver failure, presumably due to propofol. Hepatocyte death and microvesicular fatty degeneration of 90% of the liver parenchyma were observed before treatment with steroids. Six months later, a second biopsy was performed, which revealed only minimal steatosis and minimal periportal hepatitis. We suggest that propofol led to impaired fatty acid oxidation possibly due to a genetic susceptibility. This caused free fatty acid accumulation within hepatocytes, which presented as hepatocellular fatty degeneration and cell death. Large scale hepatocyte death was followed by impaired liver function and, consecutively, progressed to acute liver failure
Improvement of continuous-variable quantum key distribution systems by using optical preamplifiers
Continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocols, based on Gaussian
modulation of the quadratures of coherent states, have been implemented in
recent experiments. A present limitation of such systems is the finite
efficiency of the detectors, which can in principle be compensated for by the
use of classical optical preamplifiers. Here we study this possibility in
detail, by deriving the modified secret key generation rates when an optical
parametric amplifier is placed at the output of the quantum channel. After
presenting a general set of security proofs, we show that the use of
preamplifiers does compensate for all the imperfections of the detectors when
the amplifier is optimal in terms of gain and noise. Imperfect amplifiers can
also enhance the system performance, under conditions which are generally
satisfied in practice.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, submitted to J. Phys. B (special issue on Few
Atoms Optics
Linking Classical and Quantum Key Agreement: Is There "Bound Information"?
After carrying out a protocol for quantum key agreement over a noisy quantum
channel, the parties Alice and Bob must process the raw key in order to end up
with identical keys about which the adversary has virtually no information. In
principle, both classical and quantum protocols can be used for this
processing. It is a natural question which type of protocols is more powerful.
We prove for general states but under the assumption of incoherent
eavesdropping that Alice and Bob share some so-called intrinsic information in
their classical random variables, resulting from optimal measurements, if and
only if the parties' quantum systems are entangled. In addition, we provide
evidence that the potentials of classical and of quantum protocols are equal in
every situation. Consequently, many techniques and results from quantum
information theory directly apply to problems in classical information theory,
and vice versa. For instance, it was previously believed that two parties can
carry out unconditionally secure key agreement as long as they share some
intrinsic information in the adversary's view. The analysis of this purely
classical problem from the quantum information-theoretic viewpoint shows that
this is true in the binary case, but false in general. More explicitly, bound
entanglement, i.e., entanglement that cannot be purified by any quantum
protocol, has a classical counterpart. This "bound intrinsic information"
cannot be distilled to a secret key by any classical protocol. As another
application we propose a measure for entanglement based on classical
information-theoretic quantities.Comment: Accepted for Crypto 2000. 17 page
No-go theorem for false vacuum black holes
We study the possibility of non-singular black hole solutions in the theory
of general relativity coupled to a non-linear scalar field with a positive
potential possessing two minima: a `false vacuum' with positive energy and a
`true vacuum' with zero energy. Assuming that the scalar field starts at the
false vacuum at the origin and comes to the true vacuum at spatial infinity, we
prove a no-go theorem by extending a no-hair theorem to the black hole
interior: no smooth solutions exist which interpolate between the local de
Sitter solution near the origin and the asymptotic Schwarzschild solution
through a regular event horizon or several horizons.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, Latex, some references added, to appear in
Classical and Quantum Gravit
High rate, long-distance quantum key distribution over 250km of ultra low loss fibres
We present a fully automated quantum key distribution prototype running at
625 MHz clock rate. Taking advantage of ultra low loss fibres and low-noise
superconducting detectors, we can distribute 6,000 secret bits per second over
100 km and 15 bits per second over 250km
Entanglement and the SU(2) phase states in atomic systems
We show that a system of 2n identical two-level atoms interacting with n
cavity photons manifests entanglement and that the set of entangled states
coincides with the so-called SU(2) phase states. In particular, violation of
classical realism in terms of the GHZ and GHSH conditions is proved. We discuss
a new property of entanglement expressed in terms of local measurements. We
also show that generation of entangled states in the atom-photon systems under
consideration strongly depends on the choice of initial conditions and that the
parasitic influence of cavity detuning can be compensated through the use of
Kerr medium.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur
Feasibility of free space quantum key distribution with coherent polarization states
We demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of free space quantum key
distribution with continuous variables under real atmospheric conditions. More
specifically, we transmit coherent polarization states over a 100m free space
channel on the roof of our institute's building. In our scheme, signal and
local oscillator are combined in a single spatial mode which auto-compensates
atmospheric fluctuations and results in an excellent interference. Furthermore,
the local oscillator acts as spatial and spectral filter thus allowing
unrestrained daylight operation.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, extensions in sections 2, 3.1, 3.2 and 4. This
is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for
publication in New Journal of Physics (Special Issue on Quantum Cryptography:
Theory and Practice). IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or
omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from i
Neuronal damage in autoimmune neuroinflammation mediated by the death ligand TRAIL
Here, we provide evidence for a detrimental role of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in neural death in T cell-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Clinical severity and neuronal apoptosis in brainstem motor areas were substantially reduced upon brain-specific blockade of TRAIL after induction of EAE through adoptive transfer of encephalitogenic T cells. Furthermore, TRAIL-deficient myelin-specific lymphocytes showed reduced encephalitogenicity when transferred to wild-type mice. Conversely, intracerebral delivery of TRAIL to animals with EAE increased clinical deficits, while naive mice were not susceptible to TRAIL. Using organotypic slice cultures as a model for living brain tissue, we found that neurons were susceptible to TRAIL-mediated injury induced by encephalitogenic T cells. Thus, in addition to its known immunoregulatory effects, the death ligand TRAIL contributes to neural damage in the inflamed brain
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