Moments of nonclassicality quasiprobabilities

A method is introduced for the verification of nonclassicality in terms of moments of nonclassicality quasiprobability distributions. The latter are easily obtained from experimental data and will be denoted as nonclassicality moments. Their relation to normally-ordered moments is derived, which enables us to verify nonclassicality by using well established criteria. Alternatively, nonclassicality criteria are directly formulated in terms of nonclassicality moments. The latter converge in proper limits to the usually used criteria, as is illustrated for squeezing and sub-Poissonian photon statistics. Our theory also yields expectation values of any observable in terms of nonclassicality moments.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Physical Therapy Professionals’ Opioid Knowledge and Attitudes in a Midwestern State: A Cross Sectional Survey

Purpose: To determine perspectives towards opioid use, knowledge on managing an opioid overdose, and awareness towards individuals who use opioids of Indiana physical therapy (PT) professionals. Methods: An online questionnaire was disseminated to PT professionals in Indiana from various practice settings. This questionnaire included two standardized measures, the Opioid Overdose Knowledge Scale (OOKS) and the Opioid Overdose Attitude Scale (OOAS). An additional 12 questions regarding the role of PT and other groups in the opioid crisis as well as opioid education were included. These questions were developed by discussion between investigators as well as feedback from another rehabilitation professional. Descriptive statistics were primarily used to analyze the data. Further investigation via non-parametric tests, including Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests, were performed to analyze the impact of demographic variables on OOKS and OOAS scores. Results: Of 1840 surveys disseminated, the questionnaire was initiated by 67 PT professionals, while 58 participants completed it. The OOKS score was 30.24 mean (5.67 standard deviation) and the OOAS score was 90.36 (9.36). 93.1% of respondents reported wanting to help in an overdose situation, but 94.8% of respondents also reported needing more training. Only 48.3% of participants received education on the opioid crisis within the last 3 years that significantly impacted their clinical practice. Those who had opioid education in the last 3 years had higher OOKS scores (p = .003) and OOAS scores (p = .002) compared to those who did not receive opioid education. American Physical Therapy Association members had statistically significant higher OOAS scores (p = .005) but not OOKS scores (p = .322). Conclusion: A sample of PT professionals in Indiana surveyed in this study lack knowledge and awareness on opioid use, specifically managing an overdose. While most want to help, further education or training is needed for them to confidently manage these situations

Single-photon optomechanics in the strong coupling regime

We give a theoretical description of a coherently driven opto-mechanical system with a single added photon. The photon source is modeled as a cavity which initially contains one photon and which is irreversibly coupled to the opto-mechanical system. We show that the probability for the additional photon to be emitted by the opto-mechanical cavity will exhibit oscillations under a Lorentzian envelope, when the driven interaction with the mechanical resonator is strong enough. Our scheme provides a feasible route towards quantum state transfer between optical photons and micromechanical resonators.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Cosmological Neutrino Entanglement and Quantum Pressure

Context: The widespread view that cosmological neutrinos, even if massive, are well described since the decoupling redshift z~10^10 down to the present epoch by an almost perfectly collisionless fluid of classical point particles is re-examined. Aims: In view of the likely sub-eV rest mass of neutrinos, the main effects due to their fermionic nature are studied. Methods: By numerical means we calculate the accurate entropy, fugacity and pressure of cosmological neutrinos in the Universe expansion. By solving the Schroedinger equation we derive how and how fast semi-degenerate identical free fermions become entangled. Results: We find that for sub-eV neutrinos the exchange degeneracy has significantly increased during the relativistic to non-relativistic transition epoch at z~10^4-10^5. At all times neutrinos become entangled in less than 10^-6 s, much faster than any plausible decoherence time. The total pressure is increased by quantum effect from 5% at high redshifts to 68% at low redshifts with respect to a collisionless classical fluid. Conclusions: The quantum overpressure has no dynamical consequences in the homogeneous regime at high redshifts, but must be significant for neutrino clustering during the non-linear structure formation epoch at low redshifts.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted version to Astronomy & Astrophysics (no change, correct wrong TeX rendering

The hyaluronan-related genes HAS2, HYAL1-4, PH20 and HYALP1 are associated with prognosis, cell viability and spheroid formation capacity in ovarian cancer

Purpose: Hyaluronan modulates tumour progression, including cell adhesion, cohesion, proliferation and invasion, and the cancer stem cell phenotype. In ovarian cancer, high levels of stromal hyaluronan are associated with poor prognosis. In this work, hyaluronan synthases (HAS1-3) and hyaluronidases (HYAL1-4, PH-20, HYALP1) were examined with regard to different levels of gene expression and its influence on ovarian cancer patients’ survival. The impact of a siRNA depletion of HAS2 was investigated in vitro. Methods: Using the Kaplan–Meier Plotter tool, we investigated the influence of hyaluronic synthases and hyaluronidases on the survival of a collective of 1435 ovarian cancer patients. Differences in gene expression between normal (n = 46) and cancerous (n = 744) ovarian tissue were examined using the TNMplot database. Following an evaluation of hyaluronan-related gene expression in the ATCC ovarian cancer panel, we studied SKOV3 and SW 626 ovarian cancer cells subjected to HAS2 siRNA or control siRNA treatment in terms of HAS1-3, HYAL2 and HYAL3 mRNA expression. We investigated the ability to form spheroids using the Hanging Drop method and the response to chemotherapy at different concentrations using the MTT Assay. By STRING analysis, interactions within the enzymes of the hyaluronic acid system and with binding partners were visualized. Results: HAS1, HYAL1 and HYAL4 mRNA expression is significantly upregulated, whereas HAS2, HYAL2 and HYAL3 mRNA expression is significantly downregulated in ovarian cancer tissue compared to controls. HAS2 improves cell viability, the capability to form tumour spheroids and has a negative prognostic value regarding overall survival. Lower HAS2 expression and high expression of HYAL2 and HYAL3 favours the survival of ovarian cancer patients. HAS2 knockdown cells and control cells showed a moderate response to combinatorial in vitro chemotherapy with taxol and cisplatin. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study shows that the hyaluronic acid system has a relevant influence on the survival of ovarian cancer patients and could therefore be considered as a possible prognostic factor

Photonic entanglement as a resource in quantum computation and quantum communication

Entanglement is an essential resource in current experimental implementations for quantum information processing. We review a class of experiments exploiting photonic entanglement, ranging from one-way quantum computing over quantum communication complexity to long-distance quantum communication. We then propose a set of feasible experiments that will underline the advantages of photonic entanglement for quantum information processing.Comment: 33 pages, 4 figures, OSA styl

Modulations of DNA contacts by linker histones and post-translational modifications determine the mobility and modifiability of nucleosomal H3 tails.

Post-translational histone modifications and linker histone incorporation regulate chromatin structure and genome activity. How these systems interface on a molecular level is unclear. Using biochemistry and NMR spectroscopy, we deduced mechanistic insights into the modification behavior of N-terminal histone H3 tails in different nucleosomal contexts. We find that linker histones generally inhibit modifications of different H3 sites and reduce H3 tail dynamics in nucleosomes. These effects are caused by modulations of electrostatic interactions of H3 tails with linker DNA and largely depend on the C-terminal domains of linker histones. In agreement, linker histone occupancy and H3 tail modifications segregate on a genome-wide level. Charge-modulating modifications such as phosphorylation and acetylation weaken transient H3 tail-linker DNA interactions, increase H3 tail dynamics, and, concomitantly, enhance general modifiability. We propose that alterations of H3 tail-linker DNA interactions by linker histones and charge-modulating modifications execute basal control mechanisms of chromatin function

US agricultural university students\u27 mental well-being and resilience during the first wave of COVID-19: Discordant expectations and experiences across genders

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic\u27s first wave led to declining mental health and life satisfaction outcomes for college students, especially women. While women in undergraduate agricultural programs outperformed men academically prior to and during the pandemic, the achievement may have come at personal cost, especially for those women with fewer personal and environmental resiliency resources. Our research objective was to expand on personal, social, and environmental factors linked with lower mental health and life satisfaction scores for students in agriculture during the pandemic. We measured the influence of such factors across gender-based mental health and life satisfaction outcomes. Our data were collected from 2030 students using an on-line survey across six land-grant university college of agriculture in agriculturally as many distinct regions of the United States. We estimated OLS and Ordered Probit models of their mental health and life satisfaction self-assessments. Our findings reveal students\u27 mental health and life satisfaction were reduced due to a paucity of personal (e.g., less future orientation or graduate school aspirations, food and housing insecurity, and personal health risks) and environmental (e.g., lower quality on-line learning experiences, isolation, family health risk, discrimination experiences) resiliency resources. Our results suggest women were more likely than men to be adversely affected by reduced resiliency resources. These findings suggest university emergency response policies need to address students\u27 needs for housing and food security, on-line course development and delivery, tele health and mental health resources, broad social inclusion and diversity to decrease risk of female attrition and support all students in agricultural degree programs