System of accounts for retail merchants

The Federal Trade Commission has found that the majority of retail merchants do not know accurately the cost of conducting their business and for this reason they are unable to price their goods intelligently. There must he decided improvement in this direction before competition can be placed upon a sound basis and before we can expect a decrease in the heavy business death rate among retail merchants. With the object of aiding retail merchants to improve their accounting methods we have outlined a simple system of accounts which provides for supplying the information necessary to properly direct a retail business. I commend the pamphlet to your attention and feel satisfied that if you will read it carefully you will find many helpful suggestions

Fundamentals of a cost system for manufacturers

The Federal Trade Commission has found that an amazing number of manufacturers, particularly the smaller ones, have no adequate system for determining their costs and price their goods arbitrarily. It is evident that there must be improvement in this direction before competition can be placed upon a sound economic basis. With the object of aiding in the improvement of business generally we have endeavored in this pamphlet to show briefly the importance of accurate manufacturing costs and the fundamental principles underlying them. I commend it to your attention and feel satisfied that if you will read it carefully you will find many helpful suggestions

Timing of exercise for muscle strength and physical function in men initiating ADT for prostate cancer

© 2020, The Author(s). Background: Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in men with prostate cancer (PCa) results in adverse effects, including reduced muscle strength and physical function, potentially compromising daily functioning. We examined whether it was more efficacious to commence exercise at the onset of ADT rather than later in treatment to counter declines in strength and physical function. Methods: One-hundred-and-four men with PCa (68.3 ± 7.0 years) initiating ADT were randomised to immediate exercise (IMX, n = 54) or delayed exercise (DEL, n = 50) for 12 months. IMX comprised 6 months of supervised resistance/aerobic/impact exercise initiated at the onset of ADT with a 6-month follow-up. DEL comprised 6 months of usual care followed by 6 months of resistance/aerobic/impact exercise. Upper and lower body muscle strength and physical function were assessed at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Results: There was a significant difference for all strength measures at 6 months favouring IMX (P \u3c 0.001), with net differences in leg press, seated row and chest press strength of 19.9 kg (95% CI, 12.3–27.5 kg), 5.6 kg (3.8–7.4 kg) and 4.3 kg (2.7–5.8 kg), respectively. From 7 to 12 months, DEL increased in all strength measures (P \u3c 0.001), with no differences between groups at 12 months. Similarly, physical function improved (P \u3c 0.001) in IMX compared with DEL at 6 months for the 6-m fast walk (−0.2, 95% CI −0.3 to −0.1 s), 400-m walk (−9.7, −14.8 to −4.6 s), stair climb (−0.4, −0.6 to −0.2 s) and chair rise (−1.0, −1.4 to −0.7 s), with no differences between groups by 12 months, except for the 6-m fast walk (P \u3c 0.001). Conclusion: Exercise either at the onset or after 6 months of ADT preserves/enhances muscle strength and physical function. However, to avoid initial treatment-related adverse effects on strength and function, exercise therapy should be implemented with initiation of ADT

Pumped-Up SU(1,1) interferometry

Although SU(1,1) interferometry achieves Heisenberg-limited sensitivities, it suffers from one major drawback: Only those particles outcoupled from the pump mode contribute to the phase measurement. Since the number of particles outcoupled to these “side modes” is typically small, this limits the interferometer’s absolute sensitivity. We propose an alternative “pumped-up” approach where all the input particles participate in the phase measurement and show how this can be implemented in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates and hybrid atom-light systems—both of which have experimentally realized SU(1,1) interferometry. We demonstrate that pumped-up schemes are capable of surpassing the shot-noise limit with respect to the total number of input particles and are never worse than conventional SU(1,1) interferometry. Finally, we show that pumped-up schemes continue to excel—both absolutely and in comparison to conventional SU(1,1) interferometry—in the presence of particle losses, poor particle-resolution detection, and noise on the relative phase difference between the two side modes. Pumped-up SU(1,1) interferometry therefore pushes the advantages of conventional SU(1,1) interferometry into the regime of high absolute sensitivity, which is a necessary condition for useful quantum-enhanced devices

Musculoskeletal comparison of patients with localised versus metastatic prostate cancer

Abstract of a presentation at the 2nd Prostate Cancer World Congress, Australia, 17-21 August 201

Cat States and Single Runs for the Damped Harmonic Oscillator

We discuss the fate of initial states of the cat type for the damped harmonic oscillator, mostly employing a linear version of the stochastic Schr\"odinger equation. We also comment on how such cat states might be prepared and on the relation of single realizations of the noise to single runs of experiments.Comment: 18, Revte

Exacerbation of glycoprotein VI-dependent platelet responses in a rhesus monkey model of type 1 diabetes

Thrombosis is a life-threatening complication of diabetes. Platelet reactivity is crucial to thrombus formation, particularly in arterial vessels and in thrombotic complications causing myocardial infarction or ischaemic stroke, but diabetic patients often respond poorly to current antiplatelet medication. In this study, we used a nonhuman primate model of Type 1 diabetes to measure early downstream signalling events following engagement of the major platelet collagen receptor, glycoprotein (GP)VI. Diabetic monkeys were given enough insulin to maintain their blood glucose levels either at ~8 mM (well-controlled diabetes) or ~15 mM (poorly controlled diabetes). Flow cytometric analysis was used to measure platelet reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, calcium mobilisation, receptor surface expression, and immature platelet fraction. We observed exacerbated intracellular ROS and calcium flux associated with engagement of GPVI in monkeys with poorly controlled diabetes. GPVI surface levels did not differ between healthy monkeys or the two diabetic groups. Treatment of platelets with the specific Syk inhibitor BAY61-3606 inhibited GPVI-dependent ROS and, importantly, reduced ROS generation in the poorly controlled diabetes group to that observed in healthy monkeys. These data indicate that glycaemic control is important in reducing GPVI-dependent platelet hyperreactivity and point to a potential antithrombotic therapeutic benefit of Syk inhibition in hyperglycaemic diabete

N-Photon wave packets interacting with an arbitrary quantum system

We present a theoretical framework that describes a wave packet of light prepared in a state of definite photon number interacting with an arbitrary quantum system (e.g. a quantum harmonic oscillator or a multi-level atom). Within this framework we derive master equations for the system as well as for output field quantities such as quadratures and photon flux. These results are then generalized to wave packets with arbitrary spectral distribution functions. Finally, we obtain master equations and output field quantities for systems interacting with wave packets in multiple spatial and/or polarization modes.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures. Published versio

Linear stochastic wave-equations for continuously measured quantum systems

While the linearity of the Schr\"odinger equation and the superposition principle are fundamental to quantum mechanics, so are the backaction of measurements and the resulting nonlinearity. It is remarkable, therefore, that the wave-equation of systems in continuous interaction with some reservoir, which may be a measuring device, can be cast into a linear form, even after the degrees of freedom of the reservoir have been eliminated. The superposition principle still holds for the stochastic wave-function of the observed system, and exact analytical solutions are possible in sufficiently simple cases. We discuss here the coupling to Markovian reservoirs appropriate for homodyne, heterodyne, and photon counting measurements. For these we present a derivation of the linear stochastic wave-equation from first principles and analyze its physical content.Comment: 34 pages, Revte

Immediate versus delayed exercise in men initiating androgen deprivation: effects on bone density and soft tissue composition

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether it is more efficacious to commence exercise medicine in men with prostate cancer at the onset of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) rather than later on during treatment to preserve bone and soft-tissue composition, as ADT results in adverse effects including: reduced bone mineral density (BMD), loss of muscle mass, and increased fat mass (FM). PATIENTS AND METHODS: In all, 104 patients with prostate cancer, aged 48-84 years initiating ADT, were randomised to immediate exercise (IMEX, n = 54) or delayed exercise (DEL, n = 50) conditions. The former consisted of 6 months of supervised resistance/aerobic/impact exercise and the latter comprised 6 months of usual care followed by 6 months of the identical exercise programme. Regional and whole body BMD, lean mass (LM), whole body FM and trunk FM, and appendicular skeletal muscle (ASM) were assessed by dual X-ray absorptiometry, and muscle density by peripheral quantitative computed tomography at baseline, and at 6 and 12 months. RESULTS: There was a significant time effect (P \u3c 0.001) for whole body, spine and hip BMD with a progressive loss in the IMEX and DEL groups, although lumbar spine BMD was largely preserved in the IMEX group at 6 months compared with the DEL group (-0.4% vs -1.6%). LM, ASM, and muscle density were preserved in the IMEX group at 6 months, declined in the DEL group at 6 months (-1.4% to -2.5%) and then recovered at 12 months after training. FM and trunk FM increased (P \u3c 0.001) over the 12-month period in the IMEX (7.8% and 4.5%, respectively) and DEL groups (6.5% and 4.3%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Commencing exercise at the onset of ADT preserves lumbar spine BMD, muscle mass, and muscle density. To avoid treatment-related adverse musculoskeletal effects, exercise medicine should be prescribed and commenced at the onset of ADT