Experimental observation of impossible-to-beat quantum advantage on a hybrid photonic system

Quantum resources outperform classical ones for certain communication and computational tasks. Remarkably, in some cases, the quantum advantage cannot be improved using hypothetical postquantum resources. A class of tasks with this property can be singled out using graph theory. Here we report the experimental observation of an impossible-to-beat quantum advantage on a four-dimensional quantum system defined by the polarization and orbital angular momentum of a single photon. The results show pristine evidence of the quantum advantage and are compatible with the maximum advantage allowed using postquantum resources.Comment: REVTeX4, 5 pages, 2 figure

Teaching design in emerging countries A train-the-trainer methodology

Design disciplines have constantly evolved to keep up with the emerging demands of the 21st Century. Design education is thus called to change its methods, tools and approaches. There is an increasing interest in emerging economies in design education, especially in India, where the role of creativity, communication and technology can support social and economic development. This paper aims to present the educational approach developed in the context of the Erasmus+ KA2 project entitled ‘Design and Innovation Capacity Building in India/DESINNO’. The modernisation and internationalisation of Indian universities with innovative and contemporary design courses have been the main goals of a set of research and training activities. In this paper, the state-of-the-art methodologies in design thinking, sustainability, design research, social innovation and ethical issues in design are presented, leading to a bespoke educational approach that provides a platform for Indian design academics to apply modern educational approaches to their specificities and needs

Iso-singlet Down Quark Mixing And CP Violation Experiments

We confront the new physics models with extra iso-singlet down quarks in the new CP violation experimental era with $\sin{(2\beta)}$ and $\epsilon'/\epsilon$ measurements, $K^+ \to \pi^+ \nu \bar{\nu}$ events, and $x_s$ limits. The closeness of the new experimental results to the standard model theory requires us to include full SM amplitudes in the analysis. In models allowing mixing to a new isosinglet down quark, as in E$_6$, flavor changing neutral currents are induced that allow a $Z^0$ mediated contribution to $B-\bar B$ mixing and which bring in new phases. In $(\rho,\eta)$, $(x_s,\sin{(\gamma)})$, and $(x_s, \sin{(2\phi_s)})$ plots we still find much larger regions in the four down quark model than in the SM, reaching down to $\eta \approx 0$, $0 \leq \sin{(\gamma)} \leq 1$, $-.75 \leq \sin{(2\alpha)} \leq 0.15$, and $\sin{(2\phi_s)}$ down to zero, all at 1$\sigma$. We elucidate the nature of the cancellation in an order $\lambda^5$ four down quark mixing matrix element which satisfies the experiments and reduces the number of independent angles and phases. We also evaluate tests of unitarity for the $3\times3$ CKM submatrix.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures, REVTeX

The Concept of Culture in Critical Mathematics Education

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of a chapter published in The Philosophy of Mathematics Education Today. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77760-3A well-known critique in the research literature of critical mathematics education suggests that framing educational questions in cultural terms can encourage ethnic-cultural essentialism, obscure conflicts within cultures and promote an ethnographic or anthropological stance towards learners. Nevertheless, we believe that some of the obstacles to learning mathematics are cultural. ‘Stereotype threat’, for example, has a basis in culture. Consequently, the aims of critical mathematics education cannot be seriously pursued without including a cultural approach in educational research. We argue that an adequate conception of culture is available and should include normative/descriptive and material/ideal dyads as dialectical moments

The s ---> d gamma decay in and beyond the Standard Model

The New Physics sensitivity of the s ---> d gamma transition and its accessibility through hadronic processes are thoroughly investigated. Firstly, the Standard Model predictions for the direct CP-violating observables in radiative K decays are systematically improved. Besides, the magnetic contribution to epsilon prime is estimated and found subleading, even in the presence of New Physics, and a new strategy to resolve its electroweak versus QCD penguin fraction is identified. Secondly, the signatures of a series of New Physics scenarios, characterized as model-independently as possible in terms of their underlying dynamics, are investigated by combining the information from all the FCNC transitions in the s ---> d sector.Comment: 54 pages, 14 eps figure

A multicenter evaluation of the efficacy and duration of action of alcaftadine 0.25% and olopatadine 0.2% in the conjunctival allergen challenge model

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and duration of action of once-daily dosing with alcaftadine 0.25% ophthalmic solution and olopatadine 0.2% ophthalmic solution as compared with placebo in the prevention of ocular itching, and to directly compare the efficacy of alcaftadine 0.25% with olopatadine 0.2% in the prevention of ocular itching associated with allergic conjunctivitis using the conjunctival allergen challenge model. Methods: Subjects with allergic conjunctivitis (n = 127) were enrolled in a multicenter, double-masked, randomized, active-controlled and placebo-controlled clinical trial. Using the conjunctival allergen challenge model, this study was conducted over the course of approximately 5 weeks. Subjects were randomized into one of three treatment arms: alcaftadine 0.25% ophthalmic solution, olopatadine 0.2% ophthalmic solution, or placebo. Study medications were administered twice over the course of the trial. The primary efficacy measure for the study was ocular itching evaluated by the subject at 3, 5, and 7 minutes post challenge. Secondary endpoints, measured at 7, 15, and 20 minutes post challenge, included conjunctival, ciliary, and episcleral redness, lid swelling, chemosis, and tearing. Duration of action was measured at 16 and 24 hours post-instillation of the study medication at visits 3 and 4, respectively. Results: For the primary measure of ocular itching, both actives, alcaftadine 0.25% and olopatadine 0.2%, were statistically superior to placebo at all three measured time points for both the 16-hour and 24-hour measures (P < 0.0001). Eyes treated with alcaftadine 0.25% had numerically lower mean ocular itching scores than eyes treated with olopatadine 0.2% at every time point, and this difference was statistically significant at the 3-minute time point 16 hours post instillation (P = 0.026). Eyes treated with alcaftadine 0.25% and with olopatadine 0.2% displayed significantly less lid swelling relative to placebo at every time point for the 16-hour and 24-hour post-instillation visits (P < 0.005). Alcaftadine 0.25% was the only active treatment that provided statistically significant relief of chemosis at every time point of the 24-hour post-instillation visit. Conclusion: Both the alcaftadine 0.25% and olopatadine 0.2% ophthalmic solutions provided highly effective relief of ocular itching at both 16 and 24 hours post-instillation. Treatment differences between the actives were most pronounced at the earliest time point (3 minutes post-challenge) following conjunctival allergen challenge (16 hours), when alcaftadine 0.25% ophthalmic solution was statistically superior to olopatadine 0.2% ophthalmic solution. Alcaftadine 0.25% was the only treatment to provide significant relief from chemosis at both 16 and 24 hours post-instillation. Both active treatments and placebo were generally safe and well tolerated

Persistent itching associated to silodosin in an elderly patient: Implications for drug-drug interactions and pharmacogenetics

Itching is a complaint affecting especially the elderly, in whom comorbidities and polypharmacy increase the risk of adverse drug reactions. We reported the case of an 83-year-old man with a generalized itching lasting more than 3 years underwent to our attention during his enrollment in a clinical study at University Hospital of Salerno, Italy where he was planned for a thromboendoarteriectomy because of left internal carotid artery stenosis. His medical history included arterial hypertension, ischemic heart disease, chronic cerebrovasculopathy, dyslipidaemia and prostatic hyperplasia. His therapy was olmesartan medoxomil 10 mg/die, nebivolol 5 mg x 1/2/die, acetylsalicylic acid 100 mg/die, omeprazole 20 mg/die, atorvastatin 20 mg/die, supplements contain ing EPA and DHA, vitamins K2, B6, B12 and folic acid (vit B9) and silodosin 8 mg/die. The patient’s demographic clinic, laboratory data and a pharmacological anamnesis were collected. Screening of two ABCB1 polymorphisms associated to a decrease of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) activity was performed by realtime PCR. An iatrogenic cause of the itching was suspected and the Naranjo algorithm was applied, revealing possible association between such an adverse reaction and all used drugs. Because the patient reported the beginning of the itching in concomitance with the aspirin assumption, this agent was discontinued but without improvement. Then, because silodosin-atorvastatin interaction may increase the silodosin plasma concentration, this drug was switched to doxazosin and the itching disappeared. This clinical case stresses the potential misleading based on the patients’ beliefs and the importance to consider all the patients’ available information to ascertain the cause of adverse drug reactions

See-Saw Masses for Quarks and Leptons in SU(5)

We build on a recent paper by Grinstein, Redi and Villadoro, where a see-saw like mechanism for quark masses was derived in the context of spontaneously broken gauged flavour symmetries. The see-saw mechanism is induced by heavy Dirac fermions which are added to the Standard Model spectrum in order to render the flavour symmetries anomaly-free. In this letter we report on the embedding of these fermions into multiplets of an SU(5) grand unified theory and discuss a number of interesting consequences.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures (v3: outline restructured, modified mechanism to cancel anomalies

EWPD Constraints on Flavor Symmetric Vector Fields

Electroweak precision data constraints on flavor symmetric vector fields are determined. The flavor multiplets of spin one that we examine are the complete set of fields that couple to quark bi-linears at tree level while not initially breaking the quark global flavor symmetry group. Flavor safe vector masses proximate to, and in some cases below, the electroweak symmetry breaking scale are found to be allowed. Many of these fields provide a flavor safe mechanism to explain the t tbar forward backward anomaly, and can simultaneously significantly raise the allowed values of the Standard Model Higgs mass consistent with electroweak precision data.Comment: Matches version published in JHE