Steering a quantum system over a Schroedinger bridge

A new approach to the steering problem for quantum systems relying on Nelson's stochastic mechanics and on the theory of Schroedinger bridges is presented. The method is illustrated by working out a simple Gaussian example.Comment: Proc. Intern. Conf. on the Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems, Perpignan, France, June 2000, CD-ROM, paper nr. 268, M. Fliess and A. El Jai Ed

Mediterranean diet adherence and synergy with acute myocardial infarction and its determinants. a multicenter case-control study in Italy.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in Western countries. The possible synergistic effect of poor adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MD) and other risk factors for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) such as hypertension, cholesterol, ever smoker, BMI> 25, diabetes, has not been deeply studied. Design Case-control study. Methods Patients with first AMI and controls from four tertiary referral Italian centers were screened for enrolment. Dietary information was collected through a questionnaire and a MD adherence score was calculated. Physical activity and smoking habits were also registered. The Synergy Index was calculated according to Rothman. Results 127 cases and 173 controls were enrolled. The analysis was conducted using a dichotomous variable for the MD score with values 7 representing good adherence. Multivariate analysis showed the following variables associated to AMI: ever smoker (OR = 2.08), diabetes (OR = 1.42), hypertension (OR = 2.08), hypercholesterolemia (OR = 2.47), BMI> 25 (OR = 1.99), while a protective effect emerged both in subjects scoring > 7 on the MD score(OR = 0.55) and in subjects resident of Southern Italy (OR = 0.38). A synergistic effect does exist between poor adherence to the MD and the following risk factors: hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, BMI >25, diabetes and being a resident in central and northern Italy. Conclusion Synergy between heart disease risk factors and MD underlines the need to enlarge the list of known modifiable cardiovascular risk factors to include and promote adherence to Mediterranean dietary habits

Lyapunov Control on Quantum Open System in Decoherence-free Subspaces

A scheme to drive and manipulate a finite-dimensional quantum system in the decoherence-free subspaces(DFS) by Lyapunov control is proposed. Control fields are established by Lyapunov function. This proposal can drive the open quantum system into the DFS and manipulate it to any desired eigenstate of the free Hamiltonian. An example which consists of a four-level system with three long-lived states driven by two lasers is presented to exemplify the scheme. We have performed numerical simulations for the dynamics of the four-level system, which show that the scheme works good.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

A 2-year comparative open label randomized study of efficacy and safety of etanercept and infliximab in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

The signs and symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) respond inadequately to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, and disease modifying antirheumatic drugs in quite a number of patients. Tumor necrosis factor inhibitors have demonstrated to be of value in reducing AS disease activity in clinical trials. The efficacy and safety of both etanercept and infliximab in patients with ankylosing spondylitis were compared in a 2-year open label randomised study. Our results are consistent with a significant more rapid clinical improvement in the infliximab treated group. Treatment with both etanercept and infliximab at the end of the study was effective, safe, and well tolerated. \ua9 2009 Springer-Verlag

The texture development of ECAP processed AA1050aluminum, before and after a final anneal: effect of the initial texture

Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) can be used to control deformation and annealing textures. The initial texture has a significant role on texture development and intensity after deformation and anneal. In this work AA 1050 Al samples with different initial textures and initial strain of 0.3 were deformed in a I20° ECAP die. Deformation followed route A, yielding equivalents strains of 1 and 3 above the initial. After ECAP one of the samples was rolled to a thickness reduction of 70%. Texture evaluation was performed by x-ray analysis in the as deformed state and after annealing at 350°C for 1 h, by calculating orientation distribution functions. The microstructure was observed by optical and scanning electron microscopy.Fil: Vega, M. C. V.. Universidade Federal Do Sao Carlos. Departamento de Engenharia de Mteriales; BrasilFil: Piva, B. H.. Universidade Federal Do Sao Carlos. Departamento de Engenharia de Mteriales; BrasilFil: Bolmaro, Raul Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: Ferrante, M.. Universidade Federal Do Sao Carlos. Departamento de Engenharia de Mteriales; BrasilFil: Kliauga, A. M.. Universidade Federal Do Sao Carlos. Departamento de Engenharia de Mteriales; Brasi

Measuring Gravito-magnetic Effects by Multi Ring-Laser Gyroscope

We propose an under-ground experiment to detect the general relativistic effects due to the curvature of space-time around the Earth (de Sitter effect) and to rotation of the planet (dragging of the inertial frames or Lense-Thirring effect). It is based on the comparison between the IERS value of the Earth rotation vector and corresponding measurements obtained by a tri-axial laser detector of rotation. The proposed detector consists of six large ring-lasers arranged along three orthogonal axes. In about two years of data taking, the 1% sensitivity required for the measurement of the Lense-Thirring drag can be reached with square rings of 6 $m$ side, assuming a shot noise limited sensitivity ($20 prad/s/\sqrt{Hz}$). The multi-gyros system, composed of rings whose planes are perpendicular to one or the other of three orthogonal axes, can be built in several ways. Here, we consider cubic and octahedron structures. The symmetries of the proposed configurations provide mathematical relations that can be used to study the stability of the scale factors, the relative orientations or the ring-laser planes, very important to get rid of systematics in long-term measurements, which are required in order to determine the relativistic effects.Comment: 24 pages, 26 Postscript figure