Defining the limits of parental authority: Charlie Gard, best interests and the risk of significant harm threshold

Examines Great Ormond Street Hospital v Yates (CA) on whether the court had the inherent jurisdiction to rule that it was not in the best interests of a child suffering from mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome for his parents to take him to the US where a doctor was willing to administer experimental nucleoside therapy, given that his UK medical team believed this would be futile and that life-sustaining treatment should be withdrawn instead

Structure and interactions of ultracold Yb ions and Rb atoms

In order to study ultracold charge-transfer processes in hybrid atom-ion traps, we have mapped out the potential energy curves and molecular parameters for several low lying states of the Rb, Yb$^+$ system. We employ both a multi-reference configuration interaction (MRCI) and a full configuration interaction (FCI) approach. Turning points, crossing points, potential minima and spectroscopic molecular constants are obtained for the lowest five molecular states. Long-range parameters, including the dispersion coefficients are estimated from our {\it ab initio} data. The separated-atom ionization potentials and atomic polarizability of the ytterbium atom ($\alpha_d=128.4$ atomic units) are in good agreement with experiment and previous calculations. We present some dynamical calculations for (adiabatic) scattering lengths for the two lowest (Yb,Rb$^+$) channels that were carried out in our work. However, we find that the pseudo potential approximation is rather limited in validity, and only applies to nK temperatures. The adiabatic scattering lengths for both the triplet and singlet channels indicate that both are large and negative in the FCI approximation.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 5 table

Regulating CCTV? : We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them

Peer reviewedPostprin

Teleportation of a quantum state of a spatial mode with a single massive particle

Mode entanglement exists naturally between regions of space in ultra-cold atomic gases. It has, however, been debated whether this type of entanglement is useful for quantum protocols. This is due to a particle number superselection rule that restricts the operations that can be performed on the modes. In this paper, we show how to exploit the mode entanglement of just a single particle for the teleportation of an unknown quantum state of a spatial mode. We detail how to overcome the superselection rule to create any initial quantum state and how to perform Bell state analysis on two of the modes. We show that two of the four Bell states can always be reliably distinguished, while the other two have to be grouped together due to an unsatisfied phase matching condition. The teleportation of an unknown state of a quantum mode thus only succeeds half of the time.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, this paper was presented at TQC 2010 and extends the work of Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 200502 (2009

Many-body effects on the thermodynamics of closed quantum systems

Thermodynamics of quantum systems out-of-equilibrium is very important for the progress of quantum technologies, however, the effects of many body interactions and their interplay with temperature, different drives and dynamical regimes is still largely unknown. Here we present a systematic study of these interplays: we consider a variety of interaction (from non-interacting to strongly correlated) and dynamical (from sudden quench to quasi-adiabatic) regimes, and draw some general conclusions in relation to work extraction and entropy production. As treatment of many-body interacting systems is highly challenging, we introduce a simple approximation which includes, for the average quantum work, many-body interactions only via the initial state, while the dynamics is fully non-interacting. We demonstrate that this simple approximation is surprisingly good for estimating both the average quantum work and the related entropy variation, even when many-body correlations are significant.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figure

On defining the Hamiltonian beyond quantum theory

Energy is a crucial concept within classical and quantum physics. An essential tool to quantify energy is the Hamiltonian. Here, we consider how to define a Hamiltonian in general probabilistic theories, a framework in which quantum theory is a special case. We list desiderata which the definition should meet. For 3-dimensional systems, we provide a fully-defined recipe which satisfies these desiderata. We discuss the higher dimensional case where some freedom of choice is left remaining. We apply the definition to example toy theories, and discuss how the quantum notion of time evolution as a phase between energy eigenstates generalises to other theories.Comment: Authors' accepted manuscript for inclusion in the Foundations of Physics topical collection on Foundational Aspects of Quantum Informatio

In-Flight Testing of MEMS Pressure Sensors for Flight Loads Determination

The determination and monitoring of structural loads during flight is an important partof every certification program. It must be proved to the certification authorities that the loads occurring during specific flight maneuvers do not exceed the permissible component loads. Usually conventional strain gauges are used to determine structural loads, however an elaborate calibration process is necessary to determine these loads from the measuredstrains. Recent advances in sensor technology allow determining aerodynamic loads directly from pressure distributions measured by MEMS based sensors. When compared to strain gauges this measurement method has several advantages over conventional strain gauges interms of installation and calibration costs. Flight tests were carried out with the DLR researchglider aircraft Discus-2c in order to compare and investigate the loads determined with the two measuring methods. For this purpose a wing glove equipped with 64 MEMS pressure sensors on the airfoil surface was constructed. Different maneuvers with varying loads were performed during the test flights. A first evaluation of steady flight maneuvers shows that theloads determined from the measured pressure distribution are in very good accordance with the ones determined from the strain gauge measurements. This paper gives an overview of the flight test setup and the data analysis process, results from evaluations of trimmed wings-level flight and steady turn maneuvers are presented and discussed

Parallel laboratory evolution and rational debugging reveal genomic plasticity to S. cerevisiae synthetic chromosome XIV defects

Synthetic chromosome engineering is a complex process due to the need to identify and repair growth defects and deal with combinatorial gene essentiality when rearranging chromosomes. To alleviate these issues, we have demonstrated novel approaches for repairing and rearranging synthetic Saccharomyces cerevisiae genomes. We have designed, constructed, and restored wild-type fitness to a synthetic 753,096-bp version of S. cerevisiae chromosome XIV as part of the Synthetic Yeast Genome project. In parallel to the use of rational engineering approaches to restore wild-type fitness, we used adaptive laboratory evolution to generate a general growth-defect-suppressor rearrangement in the form of increased TAR1 copy number. We also extended the utility of the synthetic chromosome recombination and modification by loxPsym-mediated evolution (SCRaMbLE) system by engineering synthetic-wild-type tetraploid hybrid strains that buffer against essential gene loss, highlighting the plasticity of the S. cerevisiae genome in the presence of rational and non-rational modifications. </p

Structural versus experienced complexity: a new perspective on the relationship between organizational complexity and innovation

In this paper, we explore the relationship between organizational complexity and firm-level innovation. We define and operationalize a new construct, experienced complexity, which is the extent to which the organizational environment makes it challenging for decision-makers to do their jobs effectively. We distinguish experienced complexity from structural complexity, which is the elements of the organization, such as the number of reporting lines or integrating mechanisms, that are deliberately put in place to help the organization deliver on its objectives, and we argue that structural complexity correlates positively with firm-level innovation while experienced complexity correlates negatively with innovation. Using a novel dataset combining survey and objective data on 209 large firms, we find support for our arguments