Quantum entanglement and fixed-point bifurcations

How does the classical phase space structure for a composite system relate to the entanglement characteristics of the corresponding quantum system? We demonstrate how the entanglement in nonlinear bipartite systems can be associated with a fixed point bifurcation in the classical dynamics. Using the example of coupled giant spins we show that when a fixed point undergoes a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation, the corresponding quantum state - the ground state - achieves its maximum amount of entanglement near the critical point. We conjecture that this will be a generic feature of systems whose classical limit exhibits such a bifurcation.Comment: v2: Structure of the paper changed for clarity, reduced length, now 9 pages with 6 figure

GUTs with dim-5 interactions: Gauge Unification and Intermediate Scales

Dimension-5 corrections to the gauge kinetic term of Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) may capture effects of quantum gravity or string compactification. Such operators modify the usual gauge coupling unification prediction in a calculable manner. Here we examine SU(5), SO(10), and E(6) GUTs in the light of all such permitted operators and calculate the impact on the intermediate scales and the unification programme. We show that in many cases at least one intermediate scale can be lowered to even 1-10 TeV, where a neutral Z' and possibly other states are expected.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, 10 tables, Treatment of U(1) mixing effects corrected. Published version

Deer carcass breakdown monitoring

This research project monitored 1080 residue breakdown in muscle, skin, bone and stomach samples for two sika deer (Cervus nippon) carcasses during the period October 2010 to May 2011. These deer were located immediately following a possum control operation undertaken on the 23/10/2010 using aerially-delivered 1080 bait

Studies on the promotion of nickel—alumina coprecipitated catalysts: I. Titanium oxide

A series of TiO2-promoted nickel—alumina catalysts has been prepared and characterized. The promoter was added in various proportions to a calcined coprecipitated nickel—alumina material by adsorption of the acetylacetonate complex of titanium, followed by further calcination and reduction. The structure of the resultant materials was similar to that of the unpromoted coprecipitated nickel—alumina. The chemisorption properties of the catalyst and its behaviour in the CO/H2 reaction were characteristic of a strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) reported in the literature for Ni/TiO2. The strong adsorption of both carbon monoxide and hydrogen were suppressed while the activity for carbon monoxide hydrogenation was increased, the activation energy being lowered. The higher activity, however, was relatively unstable under reaction conditions

Perceiving and expressing feelings through actions in relation to individual differences in empathic traits : the Action and Feelings Questionnaire (AFQ)

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Lateral cephalometric analysis of asymptomatic volunteers and symptomatic patients with and without bilateral temporomandibular joint disk displacement

Few studies of dentofacial and orthodontic structural relationships relative to temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction have been reported. We undertook this investigation to determine any correlation of orthodontic and dentofacial characteristics with TMJ bilateral disc displacement. The population of patients was selected from a TMJ clinic where a control group of asymptomatic volunteers had been previously established and standardized. Differences in skeletal structural features were determined among three study groups: (1) asymptomatic volunteers with no TMJ disk displacement, (2) symptomatic patients with no TMJ disc displacement, and (3) symptomatic patients with bilateral TMJ disk displacement. Thirty-two asymptomatic volunteers without disk displacement (25 female, 7 male) were compared with the same number each of symptomatic patients without TMJ disk displacement and symptomatic patients with bilateral TMJ disk displacement. All subjects had undergone a standardized clinical examination, bilateral TMJ magnetic resonance imaging, and lateral cephalometric radiographic analysis. The groups were matched according to sex, TMJ status, age, and Angle classification of malocclusion. Seventeen lateral cephalometric radiographic cranial base, maxillomandibular, and vertical dimension variables were evaluated and compared among the study groups. The mean angle of SNB, or the intersection of the sella-nasion plane and the nasion–point B line (indicating mandibular retrognathism relative to cranial base), of the symptomatic patients-with-displacement group was significantly smaller than that in the asymptomatic volunteers and symptomatic patients without bilateral disk displacement (p \u3c 0.05). Female subjects showed smaller linear measurements of mandibular length, lower facial height, and total anterior facial height than male subjects in all three groups (p \u3c 0.05). The mean angle of ANB, or the intersection of the nasion–point A and nasion–point B planes (indicating retrognathism of mandible relative to maxilla), was significantly greater in female than in male subjects, in all groups (p \u3c 0.05). Symptomatic patients with bilateral disk displacement had a retropositioned mandible, indicated by a smaller mean SNB angle compared with that in asymptomatic volunteers and symptomatic patients with no disk displacement on either side. Lateral cephalometric radiographic assessment may improve predictability of TMJ disk displacement in orthodontic patients but is not diagnostic; nor does the assessment explain any cause-and-effect relationship. (Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 1998;114:248-55.

Identification of weta foraging on brodifacoum bait and the risk of secondary poisoning for birds on Quail Island, Canterbury, New Zealand

Brodifacoum is a second-generation anticoagulant used for rodent control in New Zealand. Concerns about the poisoning of non-target species have resulted in restrictions being imposed on the mainland. It is, however, still commonly employed on offshore islands. Previous research investigating the poisoning risks of brodifacoum has generally focused on birds eating brodifacoum bait (primary poisoning) or through depredation of live rodents or carrion containing brodifacoum residues (secondary poisoning). Other research has highlighted the potential for secondary poisoning of birds via the consumption of contaminated invertebrates. An inspection of rodent bait stations undertaken on Quail Island revealed that both cave and ground weta were feeding on brodifacoum bait. A sample of ground weta (Hemiandrus n. sp.) and cave weta (Pleioplectron simplex) was removed from Quail Island and exposed to toxic bait for 60 days. These weta were then assayed for brodifacoum residues and the values used to quantify the secondary poisoning risk for bird species found around Quail Island. We also calculated the risk to birds of secondary poisoning from the tree weta (Hemideina ricta) and the risk of primary poisoning via direct consumption of brodifacoum bait. The LD50 estimates indicated a low risk of secondary poisoning from contaminated ground weta and cave weta. By contrast, the estimates indicated a higher risk from larger-bodied tree weta; however, our calculations were based on a single residue concentration value and should be treated with caution. Of most concern was the primary poisoning risk from the brodifacoum bait. The results indicated that all the 17 bird species assessed are more susceptible to primary poisoning than secondary poisoning and access to brodifacoum bait by non-target bird species needs to be minimised

Thermal gravity, black holes and cosmological entropy

Taking seriously the interpretation of black hole entropy as the logarithm of the number of microstates, we argue that thermal gravitons may undergo a phase transition to a kind of black hole condensate. The phase transition proceeds via nucleation of black holes at a rate governed by a saddlepoint configuration whose free energy is of order the inverse temperature in Planck units. Whether the universe remains in a low entropy state as opposed to the high entropy black hole condensate depends sensitively on its thermal history. Our results may clarify an old observation of Penrose regarding the very low entropy state of the universe.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, RevTex. v4: to appear in Phys. Rev.

Systematic alteration of ATAC-seq for profiling open chromatin in cryopreserved nuclei preparations from livestock tissues.

The use of Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin (ATAC-seq) to profile chromatin accessibility has surged over the past years, but its applicability to tissues has been very limited. With the intent of preserving nuclear architecture during long-term storage, cryopreserved nuclei preparations from chicken lung were used to optimize ATAC-seq. Sequencing data were compared with existing DNase-seq, ChIP-seq, and RNA-seq data to evaluate library quality, ultimately resulting in a modified ATAC-seq method capable of generating high quality chromatin accessibility data from cryopreserved nuclei preparations. Using this method, nucleosome-free regions (NFR) identified in chicken lung overlapped half of DNase-I hypersensitive sites, coincided with active histone modifications, and specifically marked actively expressed genes. Notably, sequencing only the subnucleosomal fraction dramatically improved signal, while separation of subnucleosomal reads post-sequencing did not improve signal or peak calling. The broader applicability of this modified ATAC-seq technique was tested using cryopreserved nuclei preparations from pig tissues, resulting in NFR that were highly consistent among biological replicates. Furthermore, tissue-specific NFR were enriched for binding motifs of transcription factors related to tissue-specific functions, and marked genes functionally enriched for tissue-specific processes. Overall, these results provide insights into the optimization of ATAC-seq and a platform for profiling open chromatin in animal tissues