Universal geometric approach to uncertainty, entropy and information

It is shown that for any ensemble, whether classical or quantum, continuous or discrete, there is only one measure of the "volume" of the ensemble that is compatible with several basic geometric postulates. This volume measure is thus a preferred and universal choice for characterising the inherent spread, dispersion, localisation, etc, of the ensemble. Remarkably, this unique "ensemble volume" is a simple function of the ensemble entropy, and hence provides a new geometric characterisation of the latter quantity. Applications include unified, volume-based derivations of the Holevo and Shannon bounds in quantum and classical information theory; a precise geometric interpretation of thermodynamic entropy for equilibrium ensembles; a geometric derivation of semi-classical uncertainty relations; a new means for defining classical and quantum localization for arbitrary evolution processes; a geometric interpretation of relative entropy; and a new proposed definition for the spot-size of an optical beam. Advantages of the ensemble volume over other measures of localization (root-mean-square deviation, Renyi entropies, and inverse participation ratio) are discussed.Comment: Latex, 38 pages + 2 figures; p(\alpha)->1/|T| in Eq. (72) [Eq. (A10) of published version

Improving Detectors Using Entangling Quantum Copiers

We present a detection scheme which using imperfect detectors, and imperfect quantum copying machines (which entangle the copies), allows one to extract more information from an incoming signal, than with the imperfect detectors alone.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, REVTeX, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Suggested Guidelines for Controlling Panicle-Feeding Bugs in Texas Sorghum.

8 p

Tidal signatures in mesospheric turbulence

We search for the presence of tidal signatures in high latitude mesospheric turbulence as parameterized by turbulent energy dissipation rate estimated using a medium frequency radar, quantifying our findings with the aid of correlation analyses. A diurnal periodicity is not particularly evident during the winter and spring months but is a striking feature of the summer mesopause. While semidiurnal variation is present to some degree all year round, it is particularly pronounced in winter. We find that the maximum in the summer 24-h variation corresponds to that of the westward phase of the diurnal tide, and that the maximum in the winter 12 h variation corresponds to that of the southward phase of the semidiurnal tide. This information is used to infer the horizontal propagation direction of gravity waves: during the summer the eastward direction is consistent with closure of the summer vortex, while in winter the inferred directions require more complex arguments

Exile Vol. XXXIII No. 1

ARTWORK Treetops by Jane Smith (cover) Wreath on Chair by Eliza Brown 1 Pencil Drawing of Wood by Holly Trotter 5 Falling State II -Dark by Terri J. Wolf 10 Falling State II -Light by Terri J. Wolf 11 Secretly, Deep Down by Terri J. Wolf 15 Water & Trees by William (Woody) Woodroof 19 POETRY Busting the Fence by C. E. McGinnis 4 Big Scissors by Amy Becker 14 The Woman Below Me by Karen J. Hall 8 On Choctawatchee Bay by David Zivan 18 H2O by Amy Becker 7 The Unfathomable by Amy Becker 3 Together, Bathing by Karen J. Hall 13 The Day Before by Debra Benko 1

A needs assessment of people living with diabetes and diabetic retinopathy

BACKGROUND: The Kilimanjaro Diabetic Programme was initiated in response to the needs of people living with diabetes (PWLD) to identify barriers to uptake of screening for diabetic retinopathy, to improve management of diabetes, and establish an affordable, sustainable eye screening and treatment programme for diabetic retinopathy. Intervention Mapping was used as the framework for the needs assessment. METHODS: A mixed methods approach was used. Five psychometric measures, Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire, Diabetes Health Beliefs, Self-Efficacy scale, Problem Areas in Diabetes scale, and Hopkins Scale Checklist-25 and a structured interview relating to self-efficacy, addressing disclosure of living with diabetes and life-style changes were used to triangulate the quantitative findings. These were administered to 26 PWLD presenting to rural district hospitals. RESULTS: The interviewees demonstrated low levels of perceived stigma regarding disclosure of living with diabetes and high levels of self-efficacy in raising community awareness of diabetes, seeking on going treatment from Western medicine over traditional healers and in seeking care on sick days. Self-efficacy was high for adjusting diet, although comprehensive dietary knowledge was poor. Negative emotions expressed at diagnosis, changes in life style and altered quality of life were reflected in high levels of anxiety and depression. CONCLUSIONS: Low levels of stigma surrounding living with diabetes were linked to a desire to raise community awareness of diabetes, help others live with diabetes and to secure social support to access hospital services. Confusion over what constituted a healthy diet showed the importance of comprehensive, accessible diabetes education, essential to ensuring good glycaemic control, and preventing diabetic complications, including diabetic retinopathy. Low levels of self-efficacy along with high levels of anxiety and depression may have a negative impact on the uptake of screening for Diabetic Retinopathy. The findings of this needs assessment led to the planning and delivery of a comprehensive health intervention programme for PLWD in Kilimanjaro Region. The programme has provided them with support, resources, education, and screening for diabetic retinopathy at the regional hospital and at district level with mobile digital retinal cameras, an electronic diabetic database and computerised follow up to ensure continuity of care

IL-4 Signaling Drives a Unique Arginase\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e/IL-1β\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e Microglia Phenotype and Recruits Macrophages to the Inflammatory CNS: Consequences of Age-Related Deficits in IL-4Rα after Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

Alternative activation of microglia/macrophages (M2a) by interleukin (IL)-4 is purported to support intrinsic growth and repair processes after CNS injury. Nonetheless, alternative activation of microglia is poorly understood in vivo, particularly in the context of inflammation, injury, and aging. Here, we show that aged mice (18-19 months) had reduced functional recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) associated with impaired induction of IL-4 receptor α (IL-4Rα) on microglia. The failure to successfully promote an IL-4/IL-4Rα response in aged mice resulted in attenuated arginase (M2a associated), IL-1β, and chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) expression, and diminished recruitment of IL-4Rα+ macrophages to the injured spinal cord. Furthermore, the link between reduced IL-4Rα expression and reduced arginase, IL-1β, and CCL2 expression was confirmed using adult IL-4Rα knock-out (IL-4RαKO) mice. To better understand IL-4Rα-mediated regulation of active microglia, a series of studies was completed in mice that were peripherally injected with lipopolysaccharide and later provided IL-4 by intracerebroventricular infusion. These immune-based studies demonstrate that inflammatory-induced IL-4Rα upregulation on microglia was required for the induction of arginase by IL-4. In addition, IL-4-mediated reprogramming of active microglia enhanced neurite growth ex vivo and increased inflammatory gene expression (i.e., IL-1β and CCL2) and the corresponding recruitment of CCR2+/IL-4Rα+/arginase+ myeloid cells in vivo. IL-4 reprogrammed active microglia to a unique and previously unreported phenotype (arginase+/IL-1β+) that augmented neurite growth and enhanced recruitment of peripheral IL-4Rα+ myeloid cells to the CNS. Moreover, this key signaling cascade was impaired with age corresponding with reduced functional recovery after SCI

Vertical and interhemispheric links in the stratosphere-mesosphere as revealed by the day-to-day variability of Aura-MLS temperature data

The coupling processes in the middle atmosphere have been a subject of intense research activity because of their effects on atmospheric circulation, structure, variability, and the distribution of chemical constituents. In this study, the day-to-day variability of Aura-MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) temperature data are used to reveal the vertical and interhemispheric coupling processes in the stratosphere-mesosphere during four Northern Hemisphere winters (2004/2005–2007/2008). The UKMO (United Kingdom Meteorological Office) assimilated data and mesospheric winds from MF (medium frequency) radars are also applied to help highlight the coupling processes. In this study, a clear vertical link can be seen between the stratosphere and mesosphere during winter months. The coolings and reversals of northward meridional winds in the polar winter mesosphere are often observed in relation to warming events (Sudden Stratospheric Warming, SSW for short) and the associated changes in zonal winds in the polar winter stratosphere. An upper-mesospheric cooling usually precedes the beginning of the warming in the stratosphere by 1–2 days. Inter-hemispheric coupling has been identified initially by a correlation analysis using the year-to-year monthly zonal mean temperature. Then the correlation analyses are performed based upon the daily zonal mean temperature. From the original time sequences, significant positive (negative) correlations are generally found between zonal mean temperatures at the Antarctic summer mesopause and in the Arctic winter stratosphere (mesosphere) during northern mid-winters, although these correlations are dominated by the low frequency variability (i.e. the seasonal trend). Using the short-term oscillations (less than 15 days), the statistical result, by looking for the largest magnitude of correlation within a range of time-lags (0 to 10 days; positive lags mean that the Antarctic summer mesopause is lagging), indicates that the temporal variability of zonal mean temperature at the Antarctic summer mesopause is also positively (negatively) correlated with the polar winter stratosphere (mesosphere) during three (2004/2005, 2005/2006, and 2007/2008) out of the four winters. The highest value of the correlation coefficient is over 0.7 in the winter-stratosphere for the three winters. The remaining winter (2006/2007) has more complex correlations structures; correspondingly the polar vortex was distinguished this winter. The time-lags obtained for 2004/2005 and 2006/2007 are distinct from 2005/2006 and 2007/2008 where a 6-day lag dominates for the coupling between the winter stratosphere and the summer mesopause. The correlations are also provided using temperatures in northern longitudinal sectors in a comparison with the Antarctic-mesopause zonal mean temperature. For northern mid-high latitudes (~50–70° N), temperatures in Scandinavia-Eastern Europe and in the Pacific-Western Canada longitudinal sectors often have opposite signs of correlations with zonal mean temperatures near the Antarctic summer mesopause during northern mid-winters. The statistical results are shown to be associated with the Northern Hemisphere's polar vortex characteristics

Geology of the Llanidloes district : British Geological Survey Sheet 164

This Sheet Explanation provides a summary of the geology of the district covered by Geological 1:50 000 Series Map Sheet 164 (Llanidloes), published in 2010 as a Bedrock and Superficial Deposits edition. The district mostly lies within the county of Powys, but includes small parts of Ceredigion in the extreme west and south-west. Much of the western part of the district is occupied by the deeply dissected uplands of the Cambrian Mountains, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In this area the land rises to 740 m on the flanks of Plynlimon (Pumlumon Fawr), the highest summit in the range. It falls away towards the eastern part of the district into rolling countryside that includes the important catchment of the River Severn (Afon Hafren) and its tributaries, the largest of which are the rivers Carno, Trannon, Cerist, Clywedog and Dulas. A major reservoir (Llyn Clywedog) occupies the upper reaches of the Clywedog valley, its purpose being to regulate river discharge and groundwater levels within the catchment. The south-western part of the district is drained by the River Wye (Afon Gwy) and its tributaries, that flow south-eastwards via Llangurig. The sources of both the Severn and Wye are situated on the eastern flanks of Plynlimon within the western part of the district. The town of Llanidloes is the main centre of population, with smaller settlements at Llangurig, Carno, Trefeglwys, Caersws and Staylittle; the Newtown conurbation impinges on the eastern part of the district. Much of the district is given over to beef and dairy farming, although sheep are reared in the remote upland areas in the west and extensive forestry plantations have been developed in places. The Ordovician and Silurian rocks of the district have been exploited locally, in the past, as a source of building material and, recently, commercial quantities of sandstone aggregate have been excavated at Penstrowed Quarry [SO 0680 9100]. The district includes part of the Central Wales Mining Field from which substantial volumes of lead and zinc ore were extracted during the 19th and early 20th centuries. A number of former mine sites are still visible, notably along the Van, Nant-y-ricket, Dylife, Dyfngwm and Llanerchyraur lodes (Jones, 1922[1]; IGS, 1974), and the historic Bryntail Mine, below the Clywedog Dam has been restored as a site of industrial archaeological interest. The district is underlain by a succession of Late Ordovician (Ashgill) to Silurian sedimentary rocks, over 5 km thick, deposited between 450 and 420 million years ago in the Early Palaeozoic Welsh Basin (Figure P930911). The basin developed on a fragment of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, known as Eastern Avalonia (e.g. Pickering et al., 1988[2]), that drifted northwards to collide with the continents of Baltica and Laurentia during the Late Ordovician and Silurian (Soper and Hutton, 1984[3]; Soper and Woodcock, 1990[4]; Woodcock and Strachan, 2000[5]). To the east and the south of the basin lay the Midland Platform, a relatively stable shallow marine shelf that was subject to periodic emergence. The basinal sediments are predominantly deep marine turbiditic facies that were introduced into the district by density currents from southerly, south-easterly and north-westerly quadrants. Coeval shallower-water ‘shelfal’ sediments were deposited north and east of the district, and locally impinge on its northern margins. Thickness variations within the major sedimentary units suggest that, at times, syndepositional fault movements were an important control on their distribution. During late Silurian (Ludlow) times, shallowing of the basin occurred, and sandstones, variably interpreted as a turbiditic (Cave and Hains, 2001[6]) or storm-generated facies (Tyler and Woodcock, 1987[7]), were laid down over the eastern part of the district and adjacent areas. The shallowing was a result of tectonic reconfiguration of the basin, a precursor to the late Caledonian (Acadian) Orogeny that affected the region during the late Early Devonian, around 400 million years ag

Determination of two-photon exchange amplitudes from elastic electron-proton scattering data

Using the available cross section and polarization data for elastic electron-proton scattering, we provide an extraction of the two-photon exchange amplitudes at a common value of four-momentum transfer, around Q^2 = 2.5 GeV^2. This analysis also predicts the e^+ p / e^- p elastic scattering cross section ratio, which will be measured by forthcoming experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, updated error analysi