Fast high fidelity quantum non-demolition qubit readout via a non-perturbative cross-Kerr coupling

Qubit readout is an indispensable element of any quantum information processor. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate a non-perturbative cross-Kerr coupling between a transmon and a polariton mode which enables an improved quantum non-demolition (QND) readout for superconducting qubits. The new mechanism uses the same experimental techniques as the standard QND qubit readout in the dispersive approximation, but due to its non-perturbative nature, it maximizes the speed, the single-shot fidelity and the QND properties of the readout. In addition, it minimizes the effect of unwanted decay channels such as the Purcell effect. We observed a single-shot readout fidelity of 97.4% for short 50 ns pulses, and we quantified a QND-ness of 99% for long measurement pulses with repeated single-shot readouts

Barriers and enablers to the implementation of perioperative hypothermia prevention practices from the perspectives of the multidisciplinary team: a qualitative study using the Theoretical Domains Framework

Judy Munday,1,2 Alana Delaforce,1,3 Gillian Forbes,4 Samantha Keogh11School of Nursing and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, QLD 4059, Australia; 2Department of Health and Nursing Science, University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway; 3Clinical Governance Unit, Mater Health, South Brisbane, QLD 4101, Australia; 4Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL Centre for Behaviour Change, London WC1E 6BT, UKPurpose: Inadvertent perioperative hypothermia is a significant problem for surgical patients globally, and is associated with many detrimental side-effects. Despite the availability of rigorously developed international evidence-based guidelines for prevention, a high incidence of this complication persists. This qualitative study aims to identify and examine the domains which act as barriers and enablers to perioperative hypothermia prevention practices, from the perspectives of the key healthcare professionals involved with perioperative temperature management.Methods: A qualitative study employing semi-structured interviews was utilized. A purposive sample of key stakeholders involved in perioperative temperature management, including perioperative nurses, anesthetists, surgeons, and perioperative managers, were recruited via email. The interview guide was developed in reference to the Theoretical Domains Framework. All interviews were recorded, de-identified, transcribed, and coded. Belief statements were generated within each domain, and a frequency score generated for each belief. Finally, the domains were mapped to the COM-B model of the Behavior Change Wheel to develop recommendations for future interventions.Results: Twelve participants were included including eight nurses, two surgeons, and two anesthetists. Eleven key theoretical domains that influence the uptake of perioperative hypothermia practices were identified: knowledge; skills; social/professional role and identity; beliefs about capabilities; optimism; beliefs about consequences; reinforcement; goals; memory, attention, and decision processes; environmental context and resources; social influence. Suggested intervention strategies include training, reminder systems, audit, and feedback, organizational support to resolve lack of control of ambient temperature, as well as provision of accurate temperature measurement devices.Conclusion: Future interventions to address the key behavioral domains and improve perioperative hypothermia prevention need to be evaluated in the context of feasibility, effectiveness, safety, acceptability, and cost by the target users. All suggested intervention strategies need to take a team-based, multi-modal approach, as this is most likely to facilitate improvements in perioperative hypothermia prevention.Keywords: perioperative hypothermia, temperature management, Theoretical Domains Framework, multidisciplinary, COM-B, behaviour change whee

A story of success: The Deception Bay Life Long Learning Project

This resource has been developed as a way of documenting and sharing the journey of the Deception Bay Life Long Learning Project. It details the methodology, challenges and outstanding achievements of this project. Additionally, it aims to assist other researchers and communities endeavouring to undertake a similar initiative through sharing the knowledge and lessons learnt as a result of this project. \ud \ud The Deception Bay Life Long Learning Project commenced in 2003 and concluded in 2006. The project was made possible through funding provided by Community Jobs Plan and Community Renewal. \ud \ud The objective of this project was to stimulate community interest and achieve participation in life long learning by fostering pathways to further training, employment and personal development opportunities. This objective was achieved through the implementation of a diverse range of affordable, localised learning activities that enabled community members to gain new skills, contacts and confidence. The positive outcomes of this project are evident in the subsequent employment of several tutors and course participants, an increased skill and knowledge base in the Deception Bay community and greater community cohesion

Management of hypothermia in the perioperative environment

This standard provides guidance for the prevention and management of inadvertent perioperative hypothermia

Perioperative temperature monitoring for patient safety: A period prevalence study of five hospitals

Background: Monitoring body temperature is essential for safe perioperative care. Without patient monitoring during each surgical phase, alterations in core body temperature will not be recognised, prevented, or treated. Safe use of warming interventions also depends on monitoring. Yet there has been limited evaluation of temperature monitoring practices as the primary endpoint. Objective: To investigate temperature monitoring practices during all stages of perioperative care. We examined what patient characteristics are associated with the rate of temperature monitoring, along with clinical variables such as warming intervention or exposure to hypothermia. Design: An observational period-prevalence study over seven days across five Australian hospitals. Settings: Four metropolitan, tertiary hospitals and one regional hospital. Participants: We selected all adult patients (N = 1690) undergoing any surgical procedure and any mode of anaesthesia during the study period. Methods: Patient characteristics, perioperative temperature data, warming interventions and exposure to hypothermia were retrospectively collected from patient charts. We describe the frequencies and distribution of temperature data at each perioperative stage, including adherence to minimum temperature monitoring based on clinical guidelines. To examine associations with clinical variables, we also modelled the rate of temperature monitoring using each patient's count of recorded temperature measurements within their calculated time interval from anaesthetic induction to postanaesthetic care unit discharge. All analyses adjusted 95% confidence intervals (CI) for patient clustering by hospital. Results: There were low levels of temperature monitoring, with most temperature data clustered around admission to postanaesthetic care. Over half of patients (51.8%) had two or less temperatures recorded during perioperative care and one-third (32.7%) had no temperature data at all prior to admission to postanaesthetic care. Of all patients that received active warming intervention during surgery, over two-thirds (68.5%) had no temperature monitoring recorded. In our adjusted model, associations between clinical variables and the rate of temperature monitoring often did not reflect clinical risk or need: rates were decreased for those with greatest operative risk (American Society of Anesthesiologists Classification IV: rate ratio (RR) 0.78, 95% CI 0.68–0.89; emergency surgery: RR 0.89, 0.80–0.98), and neither warming interventions (intraoperative warming: RR 1.01, 0.93–1.10; postanaesthetic care unit warming: RR 1.02, 0.98–1.07) nor hypothermia at postanaesthetic care unit admission (RR 1.12, 0.98–1.28) were associated with monitoring rate. Conclusions: Our findings point to the need for systems-level change to enable proactive temperature monitoring over all phases of perioperative care to enhance patient safety outcomes. Registration: Not a clinical trial

Coulomb blockade in monolithic and monocrystalline Al-Ge-Al nanowire heterostructures

International audienceWe report the realization of Ge single-hole transistors based on Al-Ge-Al nanowire (NW) heterostructures. The formation of these axial structures is enabled by a thermally induced exchange reaction at 350 °C between the initial Ge NW and Al contact pads, leading to a monolithic and monocrystalline Al-Ge-Al NW. The 25 nm-diameter Ge segment is a quasi-1D hole channel. Its length is defined by two abrupt Al-Ge Schottky tunnel barriers. At low temperatures, the device shows a single hole transistor signature with well pronounced Coulomb oscillations. The barrier strength between the Ge segment and the Al leads can be tuned as a function of the gate voltage VG. It leads to a zero conductance at VG= 0 V to a few quantum conductance at VG= –15 V. When the gate voltage increases from –5 V to –3 V, the charging energy is extracted and it varies from 0.39 meV to 2.42 meV

Lost Cities in the Digital Era: the case of pre-earquake Lisbon

Lisbon was ruined by a major earthquake on November 1st, 1755. The seismic shocks, the tsunami, and the fire that followed massively destroyed its urban and architectural fabric, and its written and iconographic memory was seriously curtailed. There is a significant historiography on pre-earthquake Lisbon, particularly dating from the last 30 years. However, it was vital to convert this knowledge into a global outlook on the city which was lost. Virtual archaeology provided the necessary tools, from a technical and a methodological perspective. City and Spectacle: A Vision of Pre-Earthquake Lisbon was thus devised as a virtual re-creation/simulation of all the area of Lisbon destroyed by the 1755 earthquake and on which the new city was built. Developed at the Centre for Art History and Artistic Research (CHAIA), of the University of Évora, this project aims to re-create the physical, social, and cultural dimensions of Lisbon on the eve of the earthquake, through the use of Second Life®/OpenSimulator technology. The documentary sources available, either primary or secondary, are being tested in an interactive and immersive model and in a collaborative real-time environment, so as to give the project an innovative laboratory dimension. Also, the fact that users are able to interact with the model as well as with other users in realtime transforms the data itself and, as a result, the object of study. The Lisbon that is being re-created/simulated is not just a working hypothesis presented as a glimpse into the collective memory, but is also a means for contemporaneous fruition of this memory