Proposed direct test of a certain type of noncontextuality in quantum mechanics

The noncontextuality of quantum mechanics can be directly tested by measuring two entangled particles with more than two outcomes per particle. The two associated contexts are "interlinked" by common observables.Comment: 9 pages 2 figure

Forensic Resources For Network Professionals

Network professionals face an environment characterized by constantly increasing technological complexity and the daunting challenges posed by ill-intentioned intruders.  Securing the systems that they are entrusted to manage is a task of primary importance.  Effective network security includes protocols to detect, to investigate, and to preclude the recurrence of any breach in the installed security systems.         This study investigates principal forensic techniques that are available to the network professional and provides an efficient access path to practical solutions to the post-breach segment of security system design

Economics of Integrated Crop Management for Field Crops

A.E. Ext. 92-2The purpose of this report is to summarize and analyze the economics of cultural practices that were changed as a result of enrolling in the second year of an integrated crop management program. This report will also serve to document the 1991 results and provide a standard for comparison with the results with similar data obtained for future years. Another objective is to illustrate the economic implications that may be expected from a carefUlly managed program of field crop cultural practices aimed at both resource protection and enterprise profitability

Imagining Moral Enhancement Practices

Since 2008, the so-called ‘moral enhancement debate’ asks whether we should actively pursue the development of moral enhancement technologies, and whether it would be permissible – or even obligatory – to put them to use, provided that these interventions would be effective and safe? Whereas ‘traditional methods’ of moral betterment (such as upbringing, socialization and education) are arguably as old as humanity itself, the debate on moral bioenhancement focuses on the desirability of methods based on novel biomedical insights and the use of biomedical methods. The debate follows a significant rise in fundamental research on the (neuro)biological and genetic underpinnings of morality. Potential interventions that are being discussed range from various types of psychopharmaceuticals, neurostimulation, and genetic selection and engineering. Until now, the theoretical debate on moral (bio)enhancement has a strong speculative character and mostly precedes and runs ahead of realistic scientific possibilities. Moreover, to date, the debate risks lacking focus and real world impact, as different commentators fail to agree on how to understand and define moral enhancement. This under-examination of potential practices of moral enhancement is significant because without specifying intended users, contexts of implementation, and the goals and objectives of developing and applying potential biomedical possibilities for optimizing morally relevant capacities, it is not clear who should be concerned about this debate. At the same time, existing or emerging practices that already contain elements of ‘moral enhancement’ but as yet lack ethical attention and ethical scrutiny, risk staying out of sight. In order to address this problem, this thesis focuses on (present and emerging) moral enhancement practices, in order to identify ethical issues that are not necessarily part of the current debate on moral enhancement. Rather than distinguishing in a blanket fashion desirable from undesirable moral enhancement technologies, this thesis intends to formulate conditions and ethical requirements for ethically justifiable moral enhancement practices

Non-Contextual Hidden Variables and Physical Measurements

For a hidden variable theory to be indistinguishable from quantum theory for finite precision measurements, it is enough that its predictions agree for some measurement within the range of precision. Meyer has recently pointed out that the Kochen-Specker theorem, which demonstrates the impossibility of a deterministic hidden variable description of ideal spin measurements on a spin 1 particle, can thus be effectively nullified if only finite precision measurements are considered. We generalise this result: it is possible to ascribe consistent outcomes to a dense subset of the set of projection valued measurements, or to a dense subset of the set of positive operator valued measurements, on any finite dimensional system. Hence no Kochen-Specker like contradiction can rule out hidden variable theories indistinguishable from quantum theory by finite precision measurements in either class.Comment: Typo corrected. Final version: to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Small-molecule lysophosphatidic acid receptor 5 (LPAR5) antagonists: versatile pharmacological tools to regulate inflammatory signaling in BV-2 microglia cells

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) species in the extracellular environment induce downstream signaling via six different G protein-coupled receptors (LPAR1-6). These signaling cascades are essential for normal brain development and function of the nervous system. However, in response to acute or chronic central nervous system (CNS) damage, LPA levels increase and aberrant signaling events can counteract brain function. Under neuro-inflammatory conditions signaling along the LPA/LPAR5 axis induces a potentially neurotoxic microglia phenotype indicating the need for new pharmacological intervention strategies. Therefore, we compared the effects of two novel small-molecule LPAR5 antagonists on LPA-induced polarization parameters of the BV-2 microglia cell line. AS2717638 is a selective piperidine-based LPAR5 antagonist (IC(50) 0.038 μM) while compound 3 is a diphenylpyrazole derivative with an IC(50) concentration of 0.7 μM in BV-2 cells. Both antagonists compromised cell viability, however, at concentrations above their IC(50) concentrations. Both inhibitors blunted LPA-induced phosphorylation of STAT1 and STAT3, p65, and c-Jun and consequently reduced the secretion of pro-inflammatory cyto-/chemokines (IL-6, TNFα, IL-1β, CXCL10, CXCL2, and CCL5) at non-toxic concentrations. Both compounds modulated the expression of intracellular (COX-2 and Arg1) and plasma membrane-located (CD40, CD86, and CD206) polarization markers yet only AS2717638 attenuated the neurotoxic potential of LPA-activated BV-2 cell-conditioned medium towards CATH.a neurons. Our findings from the present in vitro study suggest that the two LPAR5 antagonists represent valuable pharmacological tools to interfere with LPA-induced pro-inflammatory signaling cascades in microglia

Kochen-Specker theorem for a single qubit using positive operator-valued measures

A proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem for a single two-level system is presented. It employs five eight-element positive operator-valued measures and a simple algebraic reasoning based on the geometry of the dodecahedron.Comment: REVTeX4, 4 pages, 2 figure

Experimentally testable state-independent quantum contextuality

We show that there are Bell-type inequalities for noncontextual theories that are violated by any quantum state. One of these inequalities between the correlations of compatible measurements is particularly suitable for testing this state-independent violation in an experiment.Comment: REVTeX4, 4 pages, 1 figur

A feasible "Kochen-Specker" experiment with single particles

We present a simple experimental scheme which can be used to demonstrate an all-or-nothing type contradiction between non-contextual hidden variables and quantum mechanics. The scheme, which is inspired by recent ideas by Cabello and Garcia-Alcaine, shows that even for a single particle, path and spin information cannot be predetermined in a non-contextual way.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Identification of a novel benzimidazole pyrazolone scaffold that inhibits KDM4 lysine demethylases and reduces proliferation of prostate cancer cells

Human lysine demethylase (KDM) enzymes (KDM1-7) constitute an emerging class of therapeutic targets, with activities that support growth and development of metastatic disease. By interacting with and co-activating the androgen receptor, the KDM4 subfamily (KDM4A-E) promotes aggressive phenotypes of prostate cancer (PCa). Knockdown of KDM4 expression or inhibition of KDM4 enzyme activity reduces the proliferation of PCa cell lines and highlights inhibition of lysine demethylation as a possible therapeutic method for PCa treatment. To address this possibility, we screened the ChemBioNet small molecule library for inhibitors of the human KDM4E isoform and identified several compounds with IC50 values in the low micromolar range. Two hits, validated as active by an orthogonal enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, displayed moderate selectivity toward the KDM4 subfamily and exhibited antiproliferative effects in cellular models of PCa. These compounds were further characterized by their ability to maintain the transcriptionally silent histone H3 tri-methyl K9 epigenetic mark at subcytotoxic concentrations. Taken together, these efforts identify and validate a hydroxyquinoline scaffold and a novel benzimidazole pyrazolone scaffold as tractable for entry into hit-to-lead chemical optimization campaigns