12,575 research outputs found
Contextuality under weak assumptions
The presence of contextuality in quantum theory was first highlighted by Bell, Kochen and Specker, who discovered that for quantum systems of three or more dimensions, measurements could not be viewed as deterministically revealing pre-existing properties of the system. More precisely, no model can assign deterministic outcomes to the projectors of a quantum measurement in a way that depends only on the projector and not the context (the full set of projectors) in which it appeared, despite the fact that the Born rule probabilities associated with projectors are independent of the context. A more general, operational definition of contextuality introduced by Spekkens, which we will term "probabilistic contextuality", drops the assumption of determinism and allows for operations other than measurements to be considered contextual. Even two-dimensional quantum mechanics can be shown to be contextual under this generalised notion. Probabilistic noncontextuality represents the postulate that elements of an operational theory that cannot be distinguished from each other based on the statistics of arbitrarily many repeated experiments (they give rise to the same operational probabilities) are ontologically identical. In this paper, we introduce a framework that enables us to distinguish between different noncontextuality assumptions in terms of the relationships between the ontological representations of objects in the theory given a certain relation between their operational representations. This framework can be used to motivate and define a "possibilistic" analogue, encapsulating the idea that elements of an operational theory that cannot be unambiguously distinguished operationally can also not be unambiguously distinguished ontologically. We then prove that possibilistic noncontextuality is equivalent to an alternative notion of noncontextuality proposed by Hardy. Finally, we demonstrate that these weaker noncontextuality assumptions are sufficient to prove alternative versions of known "no-go" theorems that constrain ψ-epistemic models for quantum mechanics
Learning with Biased Complementary Labels
In this paper, we study the classification problem in which we have access to
easily obtainable surrogate for true labels, namely complementary labels, which
specify classes that observations do \textbf{not} belong to. Let and
be the true and complementary labels, respectively. We first model
the annotation of complementary labels via transition probabilities
, where is the number of
classes. Previous methods implicitly assume that , are identical, which is not true in practice because humans are
biased toward their own experience. For example, as shown in Figure 1, if an
annotator is more familiar with monkeys than prairie dogs when providing
complementary labels for meerkats, she is more likely to employ "monkey" as a
complementary label. We therefore reason that the transition probabilities will
be different. In this paper, we propose a framework that contributes three main
innovations to learning with \textbf{biased} complementary labels: (1) It
estimates transition probabilities with no bias. (2) It provides a general
method to modify traditional loss functions and extends standard deep neural
network classifiers to learn with biased complementary labels. (3) It
theoretically ensures that the classifier learned with complementary labels
converges to the optimal one learned with true labels. Comprehensive
experiments on several benchmark datasets validate the superiority of our
method to current state-of-the-art methods.Comment: ECCV 2018 Ora
Three-dimensional Binary Superlattices of Oppositely-charged Colloids
We report the equilibrium self-assembly of binary crystals of
oppositely-charged colloidal microspheres at high density. By varying the
magnitude of the charge on near equal-sized spheres we show that the structure
of the binary crystal may be switched between face-centered cubic, cesium
chloride and sodium chloride. We interpret these transformations in terms of a
competition between entropic and Coulombic forces
Degradation of a quantum directional reference frame as a random walk
We investigate if the degradation of a quantum directional reference frame
through repeated use can be modeled as a classical direction undergoing a
random walk on a sphere. We demonstrate that the behaviour of the fidelity for
a degrading quantum directional reference frame, defined as the average
probability of correctly determining the orientation of a test system, can be
fit precisely using such a model. Physically, the mechanism for the random walk
is the uncontrollable back-action on the reference frame due to its use in a
measurement of the direction of another system. However, we find that the
magnitude of the step size of this random walk is not given by our classical
model and must be determined from the full quantum description.Comment: 5 pages, no figures. Comments are welcome. v2: several changes to
clarify the key results. v3: journal reference added, acknowledgements and
references update
A molecular perspective on the limits of life: Enzymes under pressure
From a purely operational standpoint, the existence of microbes that can grow
under extreme conditions, or "extremophiles", leads to the question of how the
molecules making up these microbes can maintain both their structure and
function. While microbes that live under extremes of temperature have been
heavily studied, those that live under extremes of pressure have been
neglected, in part due to the difficulty of collecting samples and performing
experiments under the ambient conditions of the microbe. However, thermodynamic
arguments imply that the effects of pressure might lead to different organismal
solutions than from the effects of temperature. Observationally, some of these
solutions might be in the condensed matter properties of the intracellular
milieu in addition to genetic modifications of the macromolecules or repair
mechanisms for the macromolecules. Here, the effects of pressure on enzymes,
which are proteins essential for the growth and reproduction of an organism,
and some adaptations against these effects are reviewed and amplified by the
results from molecular dynamics simulations. The aim is to provide biological
background for soft matter studies of these systems under pressure.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
Spectroscopic and photometric oscillatory envelope variability during the S Doradus outburst of the Luminous Blue Variable R71
To better understand the LBV phenomenon, we analyze multi-epoch and
multi-wavelength spectra and photometry of R71. Pre-outburst spectra are
analyzed with the radiative transfer code CMFGEN to determine the star's
fundamental stellar parameters. During quiescence, R71 has an effective
temperature of and a luminosity of
log = 5.78 and is thus a classical LBV, but at the lower
luminosity end of this group. We determine its mass-loss rate to yr. We present R71's spectral energy distribution
from the near-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared during its present outburst.
Mid-infrared observations suggest that we are witnessing dust formation and
grain evolution. Semi-regular oscillatory variability in the star's light curve
is observed during the current outburst. Absorption lines develop a second blue
component on a timescale twice that length. The variability may consist of one
(quasi-)periodic component with P ~ 425/850 d with additional variations
superimposed. During its current S Doradus outburst, R71 occupies a region in
the HR diagram at the high-luminosity extension of the Cepheid instability
strip and exhibits similar irregular variations as RV Tau variables. LBVs do
not pass the Cepheid instability strip because of core evolution, but they
develop comparable cool, low-mass, extended atmospheres in which convective
instabilities may occur. As in the case of RV Tau variables, the occurrence of
double absorption lines with an apparent regular cycle may be due to shocks
within the atmosphere and period doubling may explain the factor of two in the
lengths of the photometric and spectroscopic cycles.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, submitted to A&
Ras/Raf-1/MAPK pathway mediates response to tamoxifen but not chemotherapy in breast cancer patients
<b>Purpose</b>: The expression and activation of the Ras/Raf-1/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway plays an important role in the development and progression of cancer, and may influence response to treatments such as tamoxifen and chemotherapy. In this study we investigated whether the expression and activation of the key components of this pathway influenced clinical outcome, to test the hypothesis that activation of the MAPK pathway drives resistance to tamoxifen and chemotherapy in women with breast cancer.
<b>Experimental Design</b>: Breast tumors from patients at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and others treated within the BR9601 trial were analyzed for expression of the three Ras isoforms, total Raf-1, active and inactive forms of Raf-1 [pRaf(ser338) and pRaf(ser259), respectively], MAPK, and phospho-MAPK using an immunohistochemical approach. Analyses were done with respect to disease free-survival and overall survival.
<b>Results</b>: Expression and activation of the Ras pathway was associated with loss of benefit from treatment with tamoxifen but not chemotherapy. Overexpression of pRaf(ser338) was associated with shortened disease-free and overall survival time in univariate analyses. Multivariate analysis suggested pRaf(ser338) was independent of known prognostic markers in predicting outcome following tamoxifen treatment (<i>P</i>=0.03).
<b>Conclusion</b>: This study suggests that activation of the Ras pathway predicts for poor outcome on tamoxifen but not chemotherapy, and identifies pRaf(ser338) as a potential marker of resistance to estrogen receptor–targeted therapy. In addition, it suggests that expression of pRaf(ser338) could identify patients for whom tamoxifen alone is insufficient adjuvant systemic therapy, but for whom the addition of chemotherapy may be of benefit
Dynamics of a Quantum Reference Frame
We analyze a quantum mechanical gyroscope which is modeled as a large spin
and used as a reference against which to measure the angular momenta of
spin-1/2 particles. These measurements induce a back-action on the reference
which is the central focus of our study. We begin by deriving explicit
expressions for the quantum channel representing the back-action. Then, we
analyze the dynamics incurred by the reference when it is used to sequentially
measure particles drawn from a fixed ensemble. We prove that the reference
thermalizes with the measured particles and find that generically, the thermal
state is reached in time which scales linearly with the size of the reference.
This contrasts a recent conclusion of Bartlett et al. that this takes a
quadratic amount of time when the particles are completely unpolarized. We now
understand their result in terms of a simple physical principle based on
symmetries and conservation laws. Finally, we initiate the study of the
non-equilibrium dynamics of the reference. Here we find that a reference in a
coherent state will essentially remain in one when measuring polarized
particles, while rotating itself to ultimately align with the polarization of
the particles
Recommendations for HER2 testing in the UK
Determining the HER2 status of breast carcinomas is a prerequisite for the use of the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin(R)), which has recently been licensed for the treatment of metastatic disease. This necessitates a test based on archival material. The preferred analyses are immunohistochemistry with fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) as a follow up test for ambiguous results. Guidelines have been developed for standardised, well controlled procedures for the provision of reliable results. A group of three reference laboratories has been established to provide advice, quality assurance, and materials, where needed
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