3,727 research outputs found
Now or never: perceptions of uniqueness induce acceptance of price increases for experiences more than for objects
Seven studies test and support the prediction that consumers are more willing to accept a price increase for an experiential versus a material purchase; an effect explained by the greater uniqueness of experiences. Critically, the uniqueness model advanced here is found to be independent of the happiness consumers derive from the purchase. To gain a deeper understanding of the uniqueness mechanism, this investigation then advances and tests a four-facet framework of uniqueness (unique opportunity, unique purchase, unique identity, and counterconformity). Together, the findings converge on the conclusion that consumers perceive the opportunity to have a particular experience (vs. object) as more unique, and this unique opportunity increases their willingness to accept a price increase. Overall, this work extends the experiential versus material purchases literature into a new domain—that of pricing; identifies the dimension—uniqueness—and its precise facet responsible for the effect—unique opportunity; and demonstrates that this model unfolds in a pattern distinct from the oft researched model centered on consumer happiness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio
Coherent spin qubit transport in silicon
A fault-tolerant quantum processor may be configured using stationary qubits
interacting only with their nearest neighbours, but at the cost of significant
overheads in physical qubits per logical qubit. Such overheads could be reduced
by coherently transporting qubits across the chip, allowing connectivity beyond
immediate neighbours. Here we demonstrate high-fidelity coherent transport of
an electron spin qubit between quantum dots in isotopically-enriched silicon.
We observe qubit precession in the inter-site tunnelling regime and assess the
impact of qubit transport using Ramsey interferometry and quantum state
tomography techniques. We report a polarization transfer fidelity of 99.97% and
an average coherent transfer fidelity of 99.4%. Our results provide key
elements for high-fidelity, on-chip quantum information distribution, as long
envisaged, reinforcing the scaling prospects of silicon-based spin qubits
Recent Advances in Graph Partitioning
We survey recent trends in practical algorithms for balanced graph
partitioning together with applications and future research directions
Increased localization of APP-C99 in mitochondria-associated ER membranes causes mitochondrial dysfunction in Alzheimer disease
In the amyloidogenic pathway associated with Alzheimer disease (AD), the
amyloid precursor protein (APP) is cleaved by beta-secretase to generate
a 99-aa C-terminal fragment (C99) that is then cleaved by c-secretase to
generate the beta-amyloid (Ab) found in senile plaques. In previous
reports, we and others have shown that c-secretase activity is enriched
in mitochondria-associated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes (MAM)
and that ER-mitochondrial connectivity and MAM function are upregulated
in AD. We now show that C99, in addition to its localization in
endosomes, can also be found in MAM, where it is normally processed
rapidly by c-secretase. In cell models of AD, however, the concentration
of unprocessed C99 increases in MAM regions, resulting in elevated
sphingolipid turnover and an altered lipid composition of both MAM and
mitochondrial membranes. In turn, this change in mitochondrial membrane
composition interferes with the proper assembly and activity of
mitochondrial respiratory supercomplexes, thereby likely contributing to
the bioenergetic defects characteristic of AD.We thank Drs. Orian Shirihai and Marc Liesa (UCLA) for assistance with
the Seahorse measurements, Dr. Huaxi Xu (Sanford Burnham Institute) for
the APP-DKO MEFs and Dr. Mark Mattson (NIH) for the PS1 knock-in mice,
Drs. Arancio and Teich for the APP-KO mice tissues used in these
studies, Dr. Hua Yang (Columbia University) for mouse husbandry, and
Drs. Marc Tambini, Ira Tabas, and Serge Przedborski for helpful
comments. This work was supported by the Fundacion Alfonso Martin
Escudero (to M.P.); the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, the
Ellison Medical Foundation, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the U.S.
Department of Defense W911NF-12-1-9159 and W911F-15-1-0169), and the J.
Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation (to E.A.S.); the U.S. National
Institutes of Health (P01-HD080642 and P01-HD032062 to E.A.S.; NS071571
and HD071593 to M.F.M.; R01-NS056049 and P50-AG008702 to G.D.P.;
1S10OD016214-01A1 to G.S.P. and F.P.M, and K01-AG045335 to E.A.-G.), the
Lucien Cote Early Investigator Award in Clinical Genetics from the
Parkinson's Disease Foundation (PDF-CEI-1364 and PDF-CEI-1240) to
C.G.-L., and National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate
Fellowship (FA9550-11-C-0028) to R.R.A.S
Characterizing non-Markovian Quantum Processes by Fast Bayesian Tomography
To push gate performance to levels beyond the thresholds for quantum error
correction, it is important to characterize the error sources occurring on
quantum gates. However, the characterization of non-Markovian error poses a
challenge to current quantum process tomography techniques. Fast Bayesian
Tomography (FBT) is a self-consistent gate set tomography protocol that can be
bootstrapped from earlier characterization knowledge and be updated in
real-time with arbitrary gate sequences. Here we demonstrate how FBT allows for
the characterization of key non-Markovian error processes. We introduce two
experimental protocols for FBT to diagnose the non-Markovian behavior of
two-qubit systems on silicon quantum dots. To increase the efficiency and
scalability of the experiment-analysis loop, we develop an online FBT software
stack. To reduce experiment cost and analysis time, we also introduce a native
readout method and warm boot strategy. Our results demonstrate that FBT is a
useful tool for probing non-Markovian errors that can be detrimental to the
ultimate realization of fault-tolerant operation on quantum computing
Integrating transposable elements in the 3D genome
Chromosome organisation is increasingly recognised as an essential component of genome regulation, cell fate and cell health. Within the realm of transposable elements (TEs) however, the spatial information of how genomes are folded is still only rarely integrated in experimental studies or accounted for in modelling. Whilst polymer physics is recognised as an important tool to understand the mechanisms of genome folding, in this commentary we discuss its potential applicability to aspects of TE biology. Based on recent works on the relationship between genome organisation and TE integration, we argue that existing polymer models may be extended to create a predictive framework for the study of TE integration patterns. We suggest that these models may offer orthogonal and generic insights into the integration profiles (or "topography") of TEs across organisms. In addition, we provide simple polymer physics arguments and preliminary molecular dynamics simulations of TEs inserting into heterogeneously flexible polymers. By considering this simple model, we show how polymer folding and local flexibility may generically affect TE integration patterns. The preliminary discussion reported in this commentary is aimed to lay the foundations for a large-scale analysis of TE integration dynamics and topography as a function of the three-dimensional host genome
Configuring Balanced Scorecards for Measuring Health System Performance: Evidence from 5 Years' Evaluation in Afghanistan
Anbrasi Edward and colleagues report the results of a balanced scorecard performance system used to examine 29 key performance indicators over a 5-year period in Afghanistan, between 2004 and 2008
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