Increasing and decreasing entanglement characteristics for continuous variables by a local photon subtraction

We investigate how the entanglement characteristics of a non-Gaussian entangled state are increased or decreased by a local photon subtraction operation. The non-Gaussian entangled state is generated by injecting a single-mode non-Gaussian state and a vacuum state into a 50:50 beam splitter. We consider a photon-added coherent state and an odd coherent state as a single-mode non-Gaussian state. In the regime of small amplitude, we show that the performance of quantum teleportation and the second-order Einstein-Podolsky- Rosen-type correlation can both be enhanced, whereas the degree of entanglement decreases, for the output state when a local photon subtraction operation is applied to the non-Gaussian entangled state. The counterintuitive effect is more prominent in the limit of nearly zero amplitude.Comment: Published version, 7 pages, 3 figure

RESULTS OF A FARM AND MARKET SURVEY FOR HMONG SPECIALTY CROP FARMERS IN THE MINNEAPOLIS, ST. PAUL METRO AREA

This report is part of a larger project, "Risk Management Education and Farm Management Development Program for Hmong Specialty Crop Farmers in the Minneapolis, St. Paul Metro Area," funded by the Risk Management Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture. The project was designed to assist Hmong farmers in the Twin Cities area in improving their production and management practices so they are able to increase their economic viability and reduce their exposure to risk. As part of the overall project, 62 Hmong farmers and 69 customers at farmers markets were surveyed to determine the local specialty crop production and market conditions. The findings of these 2 surveys are contained in the report. The median size of the 62 farms surveyed farms was 3 acres. Forty-two percent of those farmers responding reported total farm product sales between $3,000 and$8,999. Few farmers indicated they were familiar with crop insurance programs. Sixty-eight percent of the 19 farmers responding (or 21% of the 62 surveyed) said they were familiar with multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI). Only 12% of the 50 farmers responding had bought crop insurance in 2002. The most frequently indicated needs for future education programs were production oriented: weed control, insect control, fertilization, and pesticide safety. All of the 69 customers surveyed regularly bought some kind of vegetables or herbs. Over half of the customers bought potatoes, snap beans, peppers, sweet corn, carrots, cucumbers, basil, and winter squash. Eighty-eight percent of customers indicated they typically spend between $10 and$29 on vegetables and herbs during each visit to a farmers' market.Crop Production/Industries,

Effects of search intent on eye-movement patterns in a change detection task

The goal of the present study was to examine whether intention type affects eye movement patterns in a change detection task In addition, we assessed whether the eye movement index could be used to identify human implicit intent. We attempted to generate three types of intent amongst the study participants, dividing them into one of three conditions; each condition received different information regarding an impending change to the visual stimuli. In the “navigational intent” condition, participants were asked to look for any interesting objects, and were not given any more information about the impending change. In the “low-specific intent” condition, participants were informed that a change would occur. In the “high-specific intent” condition, participants were told that a change would occur, and that an object would disappear. In addition to this main change detection task, participants also had to perform a primary task, in which they were required to name aloud the colors of objects in the pre-change scene. This allowed us to control for the visual searching process during the pre-change scene. The main results were as follows: firstly, the primary task successfully controlled for the visual search process during the pre-change scene, establishing that there were no differences in the patterns of eye movements across all three conditions despite differing intents. Secondly, we observed significantly different patterns of eye movement between the conditions in the post-change scene, suggesting that generating a specific intent for change detection yields a distinctive pattern of eye-movements. Finally, discriminant function analysis showed a reasonable classification rate for identifying a specific intent. Taken together, it was found that both participant intent and the specificity of information provided to the participants affect eye movements in a change detection task

Damage detection of truss structure based on the variation in axial stress and strain energy predicted from incomplete measurements

This study derives the static equilibrium equation of a damaged system on the basis of stiffness change due to damage as well as the constraint forces at measurements required for obtaining the measured data. Based on the derived equations, this work provides an analytical method to detect damage from the stress and strain energy variations between intact and damaged truss structures. The applicability of the proposed method is evaluated in detecting multiple damages of low rate in the truss structure from measured data contaminated by external noise. It is demonstrated that it is possible to properly detect damage in an isolated substructure by partitioning the damage-expected substructure from an entire structure and using the displacements measured at the boundary of the partitioned subsystem. The partitioning method has the benefits in reducing the computational time and measured data as well as improving the effectiveness of the damage detection process

A Deep Learning Based Model for Driving Risk Assessment

In this paper a novel multilayer model is proposed for assessing driving risk. Studying aggressive behavior via massive driving data is essential for protecting road traffic safety and reducing losses of human life and property in smart city context. In particular, identifying aggressive behavior and driving risk are multi-factors combined evaluation process, which must be processed with time and environment. For instance, improper time and environment may facilitate abnormal driving behavior. The proposed Dynamic Multilayer Model consists of identifying instant aggressive driving behavior that can be visited within specific time windows and calculating individual driving risk via Deep Neural Networks based classification algorithms. Validation results show that the proposed methods are particularly effective for identifying driving aggressiveness and risk level via real dataset of 2129 drivers’ driving behavior

Optimal confinement potential in quantum Hall droplets

We find that the confinement potential of a few electron quantum dot can be tuned to significantly increase the overlap with certain quantum Hall trial wave functions. Besides manipulating inter-electron interaction, this approach may prove useful in quantum point contact experiments, which involve narrow constrictions.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Effect of Antrodia

Antrodia camphorata is a rare Taiwanese medicinal mushroom. Antrodia camphorata extract has been reported to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammation, antimetastasis, and anticancer activities and plays a role in liver fibrosis, vasorelaxation, and immunomodulation. Critical vascular inflammation leads to vascular dysfunction and cardiovascular diseases, including abdominal aortic aneurysms, hypertension, and atherosclerosis. Platelet activation plays a crucial role in intravascular thrombosis, which is involved in a wide variety of cardiovascular diseases. However, the effect of Antrodia camphorata on platelet activation remains unclear. We examined the effects of Antrodia camphorata on platelet activation. In the present study, Antrodia camphorata treatment (56–224 μg/mL) inhibited platelet aggregation induced by collagen, but not U46619, an analogue of thromboxane A2, thrombin, and arachidonic acid. Antrodia camphorata inhibited collagen-induced calcium (Ca2+) mobilization and phosphorylation of protein kinase C (PKC) and Akt. In addition, Antrodia camphorata significantly reduced the aggregation and phosphorylation of PKC in phorbol-12, 13-dibutyrate (PDBu) activated platelets. In conclusion, Antrodia camphorata may inhibit platelet activation by inhibiting of Ca2+ and PKC cascade and the Akt pathway. Our study suggests that Antrodia camphorata may be a potential therapeutic agent for preventing or treating thromboembolic disorders

Pathologic change of an arterialized giant venous aneurysm of a brachiocephalic arteriovenous fistula

Aneurysmal venous dilatation is a frequent complication of arterio venous fistulas (AVFs) created for hemodialysis. Venous aneurysm rupture can lead to lethal hemorrhage. A 49-year-old male patient presented with a giant aneurysmal dilatation of his AVF 10 years after its creation. The patient had complaints of pulsating pain and discomfort due to swelling of the left forearm. We performed an aneurysm resection and revised the overlying dermal lesion through a brachial plexus block. Here, we describe the pathological features of the arterialized venous aneurysm compared to simple venous aneurysms