Circuit QED with a Flux Qubit Strongly Coupled to a Coplanar Transmission Line Resonator

We propose a scheme for circuit quantum electrodynamics with a superconducting flux-qubit coupled to a high-Q coplanar resonator. Assuming realistic circuit parameters we predict that it is possible to reach the strong coupling regime. Routes to metrological applications, such as single photon generation and quantum non-demolition measurements are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Outbreak of acute hepatitis C following the use of anti-hepatitis C virus--screened intravenous immunoglobulin therapy

BACKGROUND and AIMS: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been associated with intravenous (IV) immunoglobulin (Ig), and plasma donations used to prepare IV Ig are now screened to prevent transmission. Thirty-six patients from the United Kingdom received infusions from a batch of anti-HCV antibody-screened intravenous Ig (Gammagard; Baxter Healthcare Ltd., Thetford, Norfolk, England) that was associated with reports of acute hepatitis C outbreak in Europe. The aim of this study was to document the epidemiology of this outbreak. METHODS: Forty-six patients from the United Kingdom treated with Gammagard (34 exposed and 12 unexposed to the batch) returned epidemiological questionnaires. RESULTS: Eighty-two percent of the exposed patients (28 of 34) became positive for HCV RNA. Eighteen percent of the patients (6 of 34) who had infusions with this batch tested negative for HCV RNA, but 2 of the patients had abnormal liver function and subsequently seroconverted to anti-HCV antibody positive. Twenty-seven percent of the patients (9 of 34) developed jaundice, and 79% (27 of 34) had abnormal liver transferase levels. Virus isolates (n=21), including an isolate from the implicated batch, were genotype 1a and virtually identical by sequence analysis of the NS5 region, consistent with transmission from a single source. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatitis C infection can be transmitted by anti-HCV-screened IV Ig. Careful documentation of IV Ig batch numbers and regular biochemical monitoring is recommended for all IV Ig recipients

The Impact of Shape on the Perception of Euler Diagrams

Euler diagrams are often used for visualizing data collected into sets. However, there is a significant lack of guidance regarding graphical choices for Euler diagram layout. To address this deficiency, this paper asks the question `does the shape of a closed curve affect a user's comprehension of an Euler diagram?' By empirical study, we establish that curve shape does indeed impact on understandability. Our analysis of performance data indicates that circles perform best, followed by squares, with ellipses and rectangles jointly performing worst. We conclude that, where possible, circles should be used to draw effective Euler diagrams. Further, the ability to discriminate curves from zones and the symmetry of the curve shapes is argued to be important. We utilize perceptual theory to explain these results. As a consequence of this research, improved diagram layout decisions can be made for Euler diagrams whether they are manually or automatically drawn

Quantized Scaling of Growing Surfaces

The Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class of stochastic surface growth is studied by exact field-theoretic methods. From previous numerical results, a few qualitative assumptions are inferred. In particular, height correlations should satisfy an operator product expansion and, unlike the correlations in a turbulent fluid, exhibit no multiscaling. These properties impose a quantization condition on the roughness exponent $\chi$ and the dynamic exponent $z$. Hence the exact values $\chi = 2/5, z = 8/5$ for two-dimensional and $\chi = 2/7, z = 12/7$ for three-dimensional surfaces are derived.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, no figure

Endemic trees in a tropical biodiversity hotspot imperilled by an invasive tree

Non-native plants invade some tropical forests but there are few long-term studies of these invasions, and the consequences for plant richness and diversity are unclear. Repeated measurements of permanent plots in tropical montane rain forests in the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park in Jamaica over 24 to 40 years coincided with invasion by a non-native tree, Pittosporum undulatum. By 2014, P. undulatum comprised, on average, 11.9% of stems ≥ 3 cm diameter and 10.4% of the basal area across 16 widespread plots within c. 250 ha of the forests. Across these plots, the more P. undulatum increased in basal area over 24 years, the greater the decline in local, plot-scale tree species richness, and the greater the reduction in the percentage of stems of endemic tree species. Plot-scale tree diversity (Shannon and Fisher\u27s alpha) also declined the more P. undulatum basal area increased, but beta diversity across the plots was not reduced. Declines in local-scale tree species diversity and richness as the invasion progresses is especially concerning because Jamaica is a global biodiversity hotspot. Native birds disperse P. undulatum seeds widely, and future hurricanes will probably further increase its invasion by reducing canopy cover and therefore promoting growth rates of its established shade-tolerant seedlings. Remedial action is needed now to identify forest communities with greatest endemism, and to protect them through a continuing programme of control and removal of P. undulatum

Causation, Measurement Relevance and No-conspiracy in EPR

In this paper I assess the adequacy of no-conspiracy conditions employed in the usual derivations of the Bell inequality in the context of EPR correlations. First, I look at the EPR correlations from a purely phenomenological point of view and claim that common cause explanations of these cannot be ruled out. I argue that an appropriate common cause explanation requires that no-conspiracy conditions are re-interpreted as mere common cause-measurement independence conditions. In the right circumstances then, violations of measurement independence need not entail any kind of conspiracy (nor backwards in time causation). To the contrary, if measurement operations in the EPR context are taken to be causally relevant in a specific way to the experiment outcomes, their explicit causal role provides the grounds for a common cause explanation of the corresponding correlations.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur

Estimating Survival in Patients with Operable Skeletal Metastases: An Application of a Bayesian Belief Network

BACKGROUND: Accurate estimations of life expectancy are important in the management of patients with metastatic cancer affecting the extremities, and help set patient, family, and physician expectations. Clinically, the decision whether to operate on patients with skeletal metastases, as well as the choice of surgical procedure, are predicated on an individual patient's estimated survival. Currently, there are no reliable methods for estimating survival in this patient population. Bayesian classification, which includes bayesian belief network (BBN) modeling, is a statistical method that explores conditional, probabilistic relationships between variables to estimate the likelihood of an outcome using observed data. Thus, BBN models are being used with increasing frequency in a variety of diagnoses to codify complex clinical data into prognostic models. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of developing bayesian classifiers to estimate survival in patients undergoing surgery for metastases of the axial and appendicular skeleton. METHODS: We searched an institution-owned patient management database for all patients who underwent surgery for skeletal metastases between 1999 and 2003. We then developed and trained a machine-learned BBN model to estimate survival in months using candidate features based on historical data. Ten-fold cross-validation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed to evaluate the BNN model's accuracy and robustness. RESULTS: A total of 189 consecutive patients were included. First-degree predictors of survival differed between the 3-month and 12-month models. Following cross validation, the area under the ROC curve was 0.85 (95% CI: 0.80-0.93) for 3-month probability of survival and 0.83 (95% CI: 0.77-0.90) for 12-month probability of survival. CONCLUSIONS: A robust, accurate, probabilistic naïve BBN model was successfully developed using observed clinical data to estimate individualized survival in patients with operable skeletal metastases. This method warrants further development and must be externally validated in other patient populations

Epithelioid hemangioma of bone harboring FOS and FOSB gene rearrangements:A clinicopathologic and molecular study

The diagnosis of epithelioid hemangioma (EH) remains challenging due to its rarity, worrisome histologic features and locally aggressive clinical and radiographic presentation. Especially in the bone, EH can be misdiagnosed as a malignant vascular neoplasm due its lytic, often destructive or multifocal growth, as well as atypical morphology. The discovery of recurrent FOS and FOSB gene fusions in the pathogenesis of most EH has strengthened its stand-alone classification, distinct from other malignant epithelioid vascular lesions, such as epithelioid hemangioendothelioma or angiosarcoma. In this study we investigate a group of molecularly confirmed skeletal EH by the presence of FOS or FOSB gene rearrangements to better define its clinical and pathologic characteristics within a homogenous molecular subset. The cohort included 38 patients (25 males, 13 females), with a mean age at diagnosis of 38 years (range, 4–75). Regional, multifocal presentation was noted in 10 cases. Only six cases were correctly recognized as EH by the referring institutions, while most were misdiagnosed as other vascular tumors. Of the 17 patients with follow-up data available, 5 patients (29%) developed local recurrence after marginal en bloc excision (n = 3) or curettage (n = 2). Local recurrence-free survival rates were 84% at 3 years and 38% at 5 years. No metastasis or disease-related death was identified. Imaging studies exhibited no specific features, showing cortical bone destruction and soft-tissue extension in 14 (38%) cases. FOS gene rearrangements were detected in 28 (74%) of cases, while FOSB rearrangements in 10 (26%) cases. Our results highlight the significant challenges encountered in establishing a correct diagnosis exclusive of the molecular testing, mainly due to its overlap to other malignant epithelioid vascular tumors. Skeletal EH emerges as a genetically defined locally aggressive vascular neoplasm, with a high rate of local recurrence, but lacking the propensity for distant spread