869 research outputs found
Quantum signatures of chaos in the dynamics of a trapped ion
We show how a nonlinear chaotic system, the parametrically kicked nonlinear
oscillator, may be realised in the dynamics of a trapped, laser-cooled ion,
interacting with a sequence of standing wave pulses. Unlike the original
optical scheme [G.J.Milburn and C.A.Holmes, Phys. Rev A, 44, p4704, (1991)],
the trapped ion enables strongly quantum dynamics with minimal dissipation.
This should permit an experimental test of one of the quantum signatures of
chaos; irregular collapse and revival dynamics of the average vibrational
energy.Comment: 9 pages, 9 Postscript figures, Revtex, submitted to Phys. Rev.
A rapid synthesis of evidence on whole systems approaches to obesity prevention to inform policy
© 2023 The Author(s) . Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. This is an open-access meeting abstract distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/Peer reviewe
Why growth equals power - and why it shouldn't : constructing visions of China
When discussing the success of China's transition from socialism, there is a tendency to focus on growth figures as an indication of performance. Whilst these figures are
indeed impressive, we should not confuse growth with development and assume that the former necessarily automatically generates the latter. Much has been done to
reduce poverty in China, but the task is not as complete as some observers would suggest; particularly in terms of access to health, education and welfare, and also in
dealing with relative (rather than absolute) depravation and poverty. Visions of China have been constructed that exaggerate Chinese development and power in the global
system partly to serve political interests, but partly due to the failure to consider the relationship between growth and development, partly due to the failure to disaggregate
who gets what in China, and partly due to the persistence of inter-national conceptions of globalised production, trade, and financial flows
Systematic review of global functioning and quality of life in people with psychotic disorders
Aims People with psychotic disorders face impairments in their global functioning and their quality of life (QoL). The relationship between the two outcomes has not been systematically investigated. Through a systematic review, we aim to explore the presence and extent of associations between global functioning and QoL and establish whether associations depend on the instruments employed.Methods In May 2016, ten electronic databases were searched using a two-phase process to identify articles in which associations between global functioning and QoL were assessed. Basic descriptive data and correlation coefficients between global functioning and QoL instruments were extracted, with the strength of the correlation assessed according to the specifications of Cohen 1988. Results were reported with reference to the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines and PRISMA standards. A narrative synthesis was performed due to heterogeneity in methodological approaches.Results Of an initial 15 183 non-duplicate articles identified, 756 were deemed potentially relevant, with 40 studies encompassing 42 articles included. Fourteen instruments for measuring global functioning and 22 instruments for measuring QoL were used. Twenty-nine articles reported linear associations while 19 assessed QoL predictors. Correlations between overall scores varied in strength, primarily dependent on the QoL instrument employed, and whether QoL was objectively or subjectively assessed. Correlations observed for objective QoL measures were consistently larger than those observed for subjective measures, as were correlations for an interviewer than self-assessed QoL. When correlations were assessed by domains of QoL, the highest correlations were found for social domains of QoL, for which most correlations were moderate or higher. Global functioning consistently predicted overall QoL as did depressive and negative symptoms.Conclusions This review is the first to explore the extent of associations between global functioning and QoL in people with psychotic disorders. We consistently found a positive association between global functioning and QoL. The strength of the association was dependent on the QoL instrument employed. QoL domains strongly associated with global functioning were highlighted. The review illustrates the extensive array of instruments used for the assessment of QoL and to a lesser extent global functioning in people with psychotic disorders and provides a framework to understand the different findings reported in the literature. The findings can also inform the future choice of instruments by researchers and/or clinicians. The observed associations reassure that interventions for improving global functioning will have a positive impact on the QoL of people living with a psychotic disorder
The Flux Variability of Markarian 501 in Very High Energy Gamma Rays
The BL Lacertae object Markarian 501 was identified as a source of gamma-ray
emission at the Whipple Observatory in March 1995. Here we present a flux
variability analysis on several times-scales of the 233 hour data set
accumulated over 213 nights (from March 1995 to July 1998) with the Whipple
Observatory 10 m atmospheric Cherenkov imaging telescope. In 1995, with the
exception of a single night, the flux from Markarian 501 was constant on daily
and monthly time-scales and had an average flux of only 10% that of the Crab
Nebula, making it the weakest VHE source detected to date. In 1996, the average
flux was approximately twice the 1995 flux and showed significant
month-to-month variability. No significant day-scale variations were detected.
The average gamma-ray flux above ~350 GeV in the 1997 observing season rose to
1.4 times that of the Crab Nebula -- 14 times the 1995 discovery level --
allowing a search for variability on time-scales shorter than one day.
Significant hour-scale variability was present in the 1997 data, with the
shortest, observed on MJD 50607, having a doubling time of ~2 hours. In 1998
the average emission level decreased considerably from that of 1997 (to ~20% of
the Crab Nebula flux) but two significant flaring events were observed. Thus,
the emission from Markarian 501 shows large amplitude and rapid flux
variability at very high energies as does Markarian 421. It also shows large
mean flux level variations on year-to-year time-scales, behaviour which has not
been seen from Markarian 421 so far.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, to appear in ApJ, June 20, 1999, Vol. 518 #
Bitterness suppression with zinc sulfate and na-cyclamate: a model of combined peripheral and central neural approaches to flavor modification
Purpose Zinc sulfate is known to inhibit the bitterness of the antimalarial agent quinine [R. S. J. Keast. The effect of zinc on human taste perception. J. Food Sci. 68:1871–1877 (2003)]. In the present work, we investigated whether zinc sulfate would inhibit other bitter-tasting compounds and pharmaceuticals. The utility of zinc as a general bitterness inhibitor is compromised, however, by the fact that it is also a good sweetness inhibitor [R. S. J. Keast, T. Canty, and P. A. S. Breslin. Oral zinc sulfate solutions inhibit sweet taste perception. Chem. Senses 29:513–521 (2004)] and would interfere with the taste of complex formulations. Yet, zinc sulfate does not inhibit the sweetener Na-cyclamate. Thus, we determined whether a mixture of zinc sulfate and Na-cyclamate would be a particularly effective combination for bitterness inhibition (Zn) and masking (cyclamate). Method We used human taste psychophysical procedures with chemical solutions to assess bitterness blocking. Results Zinc sulfate significantly inhibited the bitterness of quinine–HCl, Tetralone, and denatonium benzoate (DB) (p < 0.05), but had no significant effect on the bitterness of sucrose octa-acetate, pseudoephedrine (PSE), and dextromethorphan. A second experiment examined the influence of zinc sulfate on bittersweet mixtures. The bitter compounds were DB and PSE, and the sweeteners were sucrose (inhibited by 25 mM zinc sulfate) and Na-cyclamate (not inhibited by zinc sulfate). The combination of zinc sulfate and Na-cyclamate most effectively inhibited DB bitterness (86%) (p < 0.0016), whereas the mixture\u27s inhibition of PSE bitterness was not different from that of Na-cyclamate alone. Conclusion A combination of Na-cyclamate and zinc sulfate was most effective at inhibiting bitterness. Thus, the combined use of peripheral oral and central cognitive bitterness reduction strategies should be particularly effective for improving the flavor profile of bitter-tasting foods and pharmaceutical formulations. <br /
Dynamical Stability and Quantum Chaos of Ions in a Linear Trap
The realization of a paradigm chaotic system, namely the harmonically driven
oscillator, in the quantum domain using cold trapped ions driven by lasers is
theoretically investigated. The simplest characteristics of regular and chaotic
dynamics are calculated. The possibilities of experimental realization are
discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev
Entropic uncertainty relations for extremal unravelings of super-operators
A way to pose the entropic uncertainty principle for trace-preserving
super-operators is presented. It is based on the notion of extremal unraveling
of a super-operator. For given input state, different effects of each
unraveling result in some probability distribution at the output. As it is
shown, all Tsallis' entropies of positive order as well as some of Renyi's
entropies of this distribution are minimized by the same unraveling of a
super-operator. Entropic relations between a state ensemble and the generated
density matrix are revisited in terms of both the adopted measures. Using
Riesz's theorem, we obtain two uncertainty relations for any pair of
generalized resolutions of the identity in terms of the Renyi and Tsallis
entropies. The inequality with Renyi's entropies is an improvement of the
previous one, whereas the inequality with Tsallis' entropies is a new relation
of a general form. The latter formulation is explicitly shown for a pair of
complementary observables in a -level system and for the angle and the
angular momentum. The derived general relations are immediately applied to
extremal unravelings of two super-operators.Comment: 8 pages, one figure. More explanations are given for Eq. (2.19) and
Example III.5. One reference is adde
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