4,229 research outputs found
Asymmetric Gaussian steering: when Alice and Bob disagree
Asymmetric steering is an effect whereby an inseparable bipartite system can
be found to be described by either quantum mechanics or local hidden variable
theories depending on which one of Alice or Bob makes the required
measurements. We show that, even with an inseparable bipartite system,
situations can arise where Gaussian measurements on one half are not sufficient
to answer the fundamental question of which theory gives an adequate
description and the whole system must be considered. This phenomenon is
possible because of an asymmetry in the definition of the original
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and in this article we show theoretically that
it may be demonstrated, at least in the case where Alice and Bob can only make
Gaussian measurements, using the intracavity nonlinear coupler.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 Figure
A Vineyard in a Law Clinic: The Practical Application of a Therapeutic Jurisprudence Philosophy in a UK Law Clinic
In late 2015, the British Red Cross approached the lead author. It was increasingly evident that given the austerity-driven political agenda of the UK government in cutting public funding to advisory services, coupled with the developing refugee crisis and its impact on countries and regions, refugees in many parts of the UK were in need of legal and non-legal assistance. University law clinics were an obvious source of support given their objectives of developing studentsâ understanding and engagement with community groups. As our law clinic, based in the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC), was developed specifically to address the needs of groups such as refugees, and given the ground-breaking work of Wexler and Winick (in Therapeutic Jurisprudence) and Gould and Perlin (on its application to clinical legal education) on providing a therapeutically positive experience for users, we sought to base our clinic aligned with Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ) principles. This paper examines the development and practical operation of a law clinic from a TJ perspective
Harms from other people's drinking: an international survey of their occurrence, impacts on feeling safe and legislation relating to their control.
OBJECTIVE: To examine factors associated with suffering harm from another person's alcohol consumption and explore how suffering such harms relate to feelings of safety in nightlife. DESIGN: Cross-sectional opportunistic survey (Global Drug Survey) using an online anonymous questionnaire in 11 languages promoted through newspapers, magazines and social media. SUBJECTS: Individuals (participating November 2014-January 2015) aged 18-34â
years, reporting alcohol consumption in the past 12â
months and resident in a country providing â„250 respondents (n=21 countries; 63â
725 respondents). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Harms suffered due to others' drinking in the past 12â
months, feelings of safety on nights out (on the way out, in bars/pubs, in nightclubs and when travelling home) and knowledge of over-serving laws and their implementation. RESULTS: In the past 12â
months, >40% of respondents suffered at least one aggressive (physical, verbal or sexual assault) harm and 59.5% any harm caused by someone drunk. Suffering each category of harm was higher in younger respondents and those with more harmful alcohol consumption patterns. Men were more likely than women to have suffered physical assault (9.2% vs 4.7; p<0.001), with women much more likely to suffer sexual assault or harassment (15.3% vs 2.5%; p<0.001). Women were more likely to feel unsafe in all nightlife settings, with 40.8% typically feeling unsafe on the way home. In all settings, feeling unsafe increased with experiencing more categories of aggressive harm by a drunk person. Only 25.7% of respondents resident in countries with restrictions on selling alcohol to drunks knew about such laws and 75.8% believed that drunks usually get served alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: Harms from others' drinking are a threat to people's health and well-being. Public health bodies must ensure that such harms are reflected in measures of the societal costs of alcohol, and must advocate for the enforcement of legislation designed to reduce such harms
Reduced tillage, but not organic matter input, increased nematode diversity and food web stability in European longâterm field experiments
Soil nematode communities and food web indices can inform about the complexity, nutrient flows and decomposition pathways of soil food webs, reflecting soil quality. Relative abundance of nematode feeding and lifeâhistory groups are used for calculating food web indices, i.e., maturity index (MI), enrichment index (EI), structure index (SI) and channel index (CI). Molecular methods to study nematode communities potentially offer advantages compared to traditional methods in terms of resolution, throughput, cost and time. In spite of such advantages, molecular data have not often been adopted so far to assess the effects of soil management on nematode communities and to calculate these food web indices. Here, we used highâthroughput amplicon sequencing to investigate the effects of tillage (conventional vs. reduced) and organic matter addition (low vs. high) on nematode communities and food web indices in 10 European longâterm field experiments and we assessed the relationship between nematode communities and soil parameters. We found that nematode communities were more strongly affected by tillage than by organic matter addition. Compared to conventional tillage, reduced tillage increased nematode diversity (23% higher Shannon diversity index), nematode community stability (12% higher MI), structure (24% higher SI), and the fungal decomposition channel (59% higher CI), and also the number of herbivorous nematodes (70% higher). Total and labile organic carbon, available K and microbial parameters explained nematode community structure. Our findings show that nematode communities are sensitive indicators of soil quality and that molecular profiling of nematode communities has the potential to reveal the effects of soil management on soil quality
A biophysical model of prokaryotic diversity in geothermal hot springs
Recent field investigations of photosynthetic bacteria living in geothermal
hot spring environments have revealed surprisingly complex ecosystems, with an
unexpected level of genetic diversity. One case of particular interest involves
the distribution along hot spring thermal gradients of genetically distinct
bacterial strains that differ in their preferred temperatures for reproduction
and photosynthesis. In such systems, a single variable, temperature, defines
the relevant environmental variation. In spite of this, each region along the
thermal gradient exhibits multiple strains of photosynthetic bacteria adapted
to several distinct thermal optima, rather than the expected single thermal
strain adapted to the local environmental temperature. Here we analyze
microbiology data from several ecological studies to show that the thermal
distribution field data exhibit several universal features independent of
location and specific bacterial strain. These include the distribution of
optimal temperatures of different thermal strains and the functional dependence
of the net population density on temperature. Further, we present a simple
population dynamics model of these systems that is highly constrained by
biophysical data and by physical features of the environment. This model can
explain in detail the observed diversity of different strains of the
photosynthetic bacteria. It also reproduces the observed thermal population
distributions, as well as certain features of population dynamics observed in
laboratory studies of the same organisms
Applying refugee family reunion law therapeutically
This paper aims to highlight some of the key issues surrounding the development and application of immigration law as it applies in the United Kingdom (UK) to refugees attempting to be reunited with their families living abroad. The right for refugees to be reunited with their families is enshrined in international law, but this is frequently frustrated by the legal and administrative systems used in the UK. Using content analysis and doctrinal analysis techniques, the paper provides an examination of how a philosophy which considers the emotional effects of the law, therapeutic jurisprudence, could be used not only to inform interpretation of current domestic laws, but also influence the drafting of future legislation. This is an aspect of current refugee law in the United Kingdom which has yet to be examined. It provides, we argue, a humanitarian direction to statutory interpretation which may provide tangible benefits to current and proposed legal systems
Further specification of the leader political skillâleadership effectiveness relationships: transformational and transactional leader behavior as mediators
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordThe present investigation was a three-source test of the intermediate linkages in the leader political skillâleader effectiveness and follower satisfaction relationships, which examined transformational and transactional (i.e., contingent reward behavior) leader behavior as mediators. Data from 408 leaders (headmasters) and 1429 followers (teachers) of state schools in the western part of Germany participated in this research. The results of mediation analyses, based on bias-corrected bootstrapping confidence intervals, provided support for the hypotheses that political skill predicts both transformational and transactional leader behavior, beyond other established predictors, and that transformational and transactional leader behavior mediate the relationships between leader political skill and leadership effectiveness. The contributions to theory and research, strengths and limitations, directions for future research, and practical implications are discussed
A Review of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Multimodal Neuroimaging to Characterize Post-Stroke Neuroplasticity
Following stroke, the brain undergoes various stages of recovery where the central nervous system can reorganize neural circuitry (neuroplasticity) both spontaneously and with the aid of behavioral rehabilitation and non-invasive brain stimulation. Multiple neuroimaging techniques can characterize common structural and functional stroke-related deficits, and importantly, help predict recovery of function. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) typically reveals increased overall diffusivity throughout the brain following stroke, and is capable of indexing the extent of white matter damage. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) provides an index of metabolic changes in surviving neural tissue after stroke, serving as a marker of brain function. The neural correlates of altered brain activity after stroke have been demonstrated by abnormal activation of sensorimotor cortices during task performance, and at rest, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Electroencephalography (EEG) has been used to characterize motor dysfunction in terms of increased cortical amplitude in the sensorimotor regions when performing upper limb movement, indicating abnormally increased cognitive effort and planning in individuals with stroke. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) work reveals changes in ipsilesional and contralesional cortical excitability in the sensorimotor cortices. The severity of motor deficits indexed using TMS has been linked to the magnitude of activity imbalance between the sensorimotor cortices. In this paper, we will provide a narrative review of data from studies utilizing DTI, MRS, fMRI, EEG, and brain stimulation techniques focusing on TMS and its combination with uni- and multimodal neuroimaging methods to assess recovery after stroke. Approaches that delineate the best measures with which to predict or positively alter outcomes will be highlighted
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