Complementarity and uncertainty in Mach-Zehnder interferometry and beyond

A coherent account of the connections and contrasts between the principles of complementarity and uncertainty is developed starting from a survey of the various formalizations of these principles. The conceptual analysis is illustrated by means of a set of experimental schemes based on Mach-Zehnder interferometry. In particular, path detection via entanglement with a probe system and (quantitative) quantum erasure are exhibited to constitute instances of joint unsharp, measurements of complementary pairs of physical quantities, path and interference observables. The analysis uses the representation of observables as positive-operator-valued measures (POVMs). The reconciliation of complementary experimental options in the sense of simultaneous unsharp preparations and measurements is expressed in terms of uncertainty relations of different kinds. The feature of complementarity, manifest in the present examples in the mutual exclusivity of path detection and interference observation, is recovered as a limit case from the appropriate uncertainty relation. It is noted that the complementarity and uncertainty principles are neither completely logically independent nor logical consequences of one another. Since entanglement is an instance of the uncertainty of quantum properties (of compound systems), it is moot to play out uncertainty and entanglement against each other as possible mechanisms enforcing complementarity. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V

The Development of Multidimensional Poverty in Germany 1985-2007

This paper deals with concepts of multidimensional poverty measurement and applies them to Germany. Three concepts of poverty are examined and included into one multidimensional approach: economic well being, capability and social exclusion. The empirical application relies on indices introduced by Bourguigon and Chakravarty (2003), and Alkire and Foster (2008). It uses data from the German Socio-Economic Panel study. The indices are tested for their robustness in several aspects, and the influence of changing levels of substitutability between achievements on the poverty dimensions is examined. It transpires that the depth of poverty is relatively stable for the period 1985 to 2007. A structural analysis of the poor in 2007 reveals that the group at greatest risk of poverty is the unemployed.multidimensional measurement, poverty, deprivation, inequality

The Diffusion of Cattle Ranching and Deforestation – Prospects for a Hollow Frontier in Mexico’s Yucatán

This article investigates the behavioral drivers of pasture creation and associated implications for deforestation in a 22,000 km2 agricultural frontier spanning the base of Mexico‘s southern Yucatán. After developing a theoretical model that highlights the role of social networks and information spillovers with respect to the decision to begin cattle ranching, we use household data to estimate an econometric duration model of the determinants of pasture creation. Although pasture fi ts well with the typical household‘s resource constraints, its continued expansion contributes to a hollow frontier dynamic in which the spread of low-value cattle ranching coincides with decreasing population.Pasture creation; information spillovers; duration analysis; farm households; Mexico

Use of Automatic Metaheuristic Optimizations for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy

Boron Neutron Capture therapy (BNCT) is a cancer treatment method investigated to reach malignant tumors that have added complications due to shape, size, or location. The unique property of BNCT is that it can deposit an immense dose gradient between the tumor cells and normal cells. This is done by selectively concentrating boron compounds in tumor cells and then irradiating the cells with an epithermal neutron beam. Due to complex nature of neutron interactions, a high fidelity neutronic model is needed to design and predict the outcomes of a BNCT experiment. This work aims to introduce a high level autonomous optimization software, a metaheuristic code (GNOWEE) coupled with a high fidelity neutron transport code (MCNP6.2), to generically optimize a Beam Shaping Assembly (BSA) required for any BNCT scenario. This research work leverages from previous work in the nuclear engineering field on metaheuristic optimization used to expand the optimization parameter space for a flexible BSA design. This thesis describes further efforts made in developing a generalized, problem independent Gnowee/MCNP6.2 software. The new software package includes the ability to design a BSA within a high fidelity model for possible future BNCT application. The expanded parameter space includes the exploration of different neutron sources (e.g. generator based or proton accelerator), of complex geometries, of optimization based on doses to the target, and cost constraints for possible BNCT treatment. Case studies were investigated and modeled for different tumor depth inside a patient\u27s head setup, which resulted in a gradient of 10x the increase in tumor dose respectively to the healthy tissues. In addition, other models studied include the optimization of a BSA for a boron filled cell culture medium, which demonstrated the possibility to tailor any source to a primarily thermal neutron flux. This situation would demonstrate the first step toward a possible BNCT treatment. The results provide a powerful demonstration of the tailoring capabilities of Gnowee/MCNP6.2 for BNCT application and provide improved capabilities to refine the spectrum of neutrons that are most effective for the treatment of both surface and deep-seated tumors

Complementarity and Uncertainty in Mach-Zehnder Interferometry and beyond

A coherent account of the connections and contrasts between the principles of complementarity and uncertainty is developed starting from a survey of the various formalizations of these principles. The conceptual analysis is illustrated by means of a set of experimental schemes based on Mach-Zehnder interferometry. In particular, path detection via entanglement with a probe system and (quantitative) quantum erasure are exhibited to constitute instances of joint unsharp measurements of complementary pairs of physical quantities, path and interference observables. The analysis uses the representation of observables as positive-operator-valued measures (POVMs). The reconciliation of complementary experimental options in the sense of simultaneous unsharp preparations and measurements is expressed in terms of uncertainty relations of different kinds. The feature of complementarity, manifest in the present examples in the mutual exclusivity of path detection and interference observation, is recovered as a limit case from the appropriate uncertainty relation. It is noted that the complementarity and uncertainty principles are neither completely logically independent nor logical consequences of one another. Since entanglement is an instance of the uncertainty of quantum properties (of compound systems), it is moot to play out uncertainty and entanglement against each other as possible mechanisms enforcing complementarity

HIGHER‐ORDER INCOME RISK OVER THE BUSINESS CYCLE

We explore the consequences of higher-order risk in a standard incomplete-markets life-cycle model. We calibrate the model using a canonical income process with persistent and transitory risk, extended to feature cyclical shock distributions with left-skewness and excess kurtosis. We estimate this income process for U.S. household data, and find shocks to be highly leptokurtic, with countercyclical variance and procyclical skewness of persistent shocks. In the model, first, higher-order risk has sizable welfare implications; second, it matters quantitatively for the welfare costs of cyclical idiosyncratic risk; third, it has nontrivial implications for self-insurance against shocks

The impacts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) apoptosis regulation.

In this study, it is hypothesized that the apoptotic pathways in the brown bullhead are altered by the presence of PAHs with a final outcome of elevated tumor formation. To evaluate the impact of PAHs on the apoptotic process, three separate, but related, studies were completed to characterise apoptosis in brown bullhead. First, the impact of known apoptotic inducers (staurosporine, cycloheximide, and TNF-alpha) on cell death in brown bullhead fibroblasts was characterized (Chapter 1). Secondly, fibroblasts were exposed to PAHs to examine how exposure to an environmentally relevant genotoxic substance alters the apoptotic pathway (Chapter 2). Finally, bullheads from various areas of the Detroit River, with a range of levels of persistent PAHs, were collected and tested for differences in the amount and regulation of apoptosis among sites (Chapter 3). To accomplish the objectives of this study, DNA fragmentation was examined, a late stage indicator of apoptosis, by utilizing immunohistochemistry methods (TUNEL) and novel bullhead genetic markers were isolated and developed to evaluate differences in the transcription of apoptotic regulatory genes and to quantify apoptosis in the various studies. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 42-05, page: 1629. Advisers: Daniel D. Heath; Andrew Hubberstey. Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2003

Promoting Transition to Postsecondary Education: Creating Opportunities for Social Change

Multiple studies document that students with disabilities participate at significantly lower rates than their peers without disabilities in post-secondary education, post-school employment, independent living, and community participation. This article exposits a program model at Ohio University, Gateway to Success, which addresses this inequity through a combined effort of various stakeholders. Particular consideration is given to evidence based predictors related to post-school success, the need for intervention, and the social justice implications of increased participation in post-secondary education for students with disabilities

Regulator scheme dependence of the chiral phase transition at high densities

A common feature of recent functional renormalization group investigations of effective low-energy QCD is the appearance of a back-bending behavior of the chiral phase transition line at low temperatures together with a negative entropy density in the symmetric regime. The regulator scheme dependence of this phenomenon and the necessary modifications at finite densities are analyzed within a two-flavor quark-meson model. The flows at finite densities for three different regulators of three- or four-dimensional momenta are confronted to each other. It is found that the back-bending behavior and the negative entropy density can be traced back to the explicit momentum dependence of the regulator shape function. While it persists for the often-used three-dimensional flat regulator, it vanishes for Callan-Symanzik type regulators. This points to truncation artifacts in the lowest order of the derivative expansion. A careful theoretical as well as numerical exploration is given.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, to be published in PR

Essays on Individual Labor Income Dynamics

Chapter 2 documents in administrative German social security data that the extent of occupational switching upon changing jobs is high, and that the decision to change occupations is of major relevance for realized wage changes. It develops a structural model in which workers optimally choose occupations in response to productivity shocks. The model is used to identify the role of occupational switching choices for productivity changes, and to quantify the utility gain from the option of occupational switching. Chapter 3 develops a novel Generalized Method of Moments estimation approach for the relationship between idiosyncratic and aggregate labor income risk. In a decomposition of income changes into transitory and permanent shocks, it shows identification of their variance and skewness. In German survey data, the distribution of permanent shocks to gross earnings of males is more dispersed and more left-skewed in recessions. Households smooth transitory shocks; taxes and transfers further smooth these shocks and remove the cyclicality of permanent shocks. Chapter 4 provides a comparative analysis of the United States, Germany, and Sweden. Using non-parametric methods, it documents that–in all three economies–downside risk is higher in recessions and the existing tax and transfer schedules are successful at reducing this cyclicality. The chapter finishes with an evaluation of the welfare gain coming from the insurance provided by the government on top of within-household insurance using an incomplete markets model with partial insurance against income fluctuations. Chapter 5 sets up a real business cycle model with two production sectors and involuntary unemployment. Aggregate fluctuations are endogenously propagated asymmetrically to the two sectors. As a consequence, workers want to move across sectors in response to aggregate shocks, which is costly. These costs can generate costs of aggregate fluctuations, which exceed those in a frictionless economy