Optimal cloning of mixed Gaussian states

We construct the optimal 1 to 2 cloning transformation for the family of displaced thermal equilibrium states of a harmonic oscillator, with a fixed and known temperature. The transformation is Gaussian and it is optimal with respect to the figure of merit based on the joint output state and norm distance. The proof of the result is based on the equivalence between the optimal cloning problem and that of optimal amplification of Gaussian states which is then reduced to an optimization problem for diagonal states of a quantum oscillator. A key concept in finding the optimum is that of stochastic ordering which plays a similar role in the purely classical problem of Gaussian cloning. The result is then extended to the case of n to m cloning of mixed Gaussian states.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure; proof of general form of covariant amplifiers adde

Chapter 10 Weltbürger Perspectives and Samhandling

"The chapter starts with a criticism of management and control concepts that have been rooted in economic or psychological theories and models, although society’s complexity and the pace of change will demand a broader and deeper foundation for the development of effective management systems in the future. Other voices need to be put forward. Immanuel Kant (1795/1991) argued for his idea of the Weltbürger (“world citizen”), also known as “The Cosmopolitan Ideal”. His fundamental philosophy is that all humans are welcome, regardless of time and place, and that all humans are world citizens, regardless of nationality and cultural belonging (Kant, 1795/1991). All people are co-citizens, independent of nationality and cultural affiliation, and the Weltbürger is concerned with global problems and solutions. Another central thinker is Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), a French philosopher and writer particularly known for the term “Deconstruction”, which is about splitting up words and phrases to find out what they really mean, in the light of the culture and underlying attitudes. Human comprehension requires common words and phrases (language), and a cultural and social context, both of which have formed the basis for conceptual analysis of the terms “hospitality” and “threshold of tolerance”. The conclusion is that the concepts of the Weltbürger and “hospitality” have important values in and of themselves, and are ideas that are universal and timeless, providing an important compass for samhandling.

Mg and its alloys for biomedical applications: Exploring corrosion and its interplay with mechanical failure

The future of biomaterial design will rely on temporary implant materials that degrade while tissues grow, releasing no toxic species during degradation and no residue after full regeneration of the targeted anatomic site. In this aspect, Mg and its alloys are receiving increasing attention because they allow both mechanical strength and biodegradability. Yet their use as biomedical implants is limited due to their poor corrosion resistance and the consequential mechanical integrity problems leading to corrosion assisted cracking. This review provides the reader with an overview of current biomaterials, their stringent mechanical and chemical requirements and the potential of Mg alloys to fulfil them. We provide insight into corrosion mechanisms of Mg and its alloys, the fundamentals and established models behind stress corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue. We explain Mgs unique negative differential effect and approaches to describe it. Finally, we go into depth on corrosion improvements, reviewing literature on high purity Mg, on the effect of alloying elements and their tolerance levels, as well as research on surface treatments that allow to tune degradation kinetics. Bridging fundamentals aspects with current research activities in the field, this review intends to give a substantial overview for all interested readers; potential and current researchers and practitioners of the future not yet familiar with this promising material. © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Chapter 14 Samhandling Under Risk

"This chapter aims to examine how samhandling and concurrent learning work together. “Concurrent learning” is a form of simultaneous learning, where many learning processes related to samhandling take place at the same time. Samhandling and concurrent learning are also functional processes, in the sense that learning also occurs through daily interaction activities or actions. At the same time, concurrent learning and samhandling are interdependent and they are, therefore, in a sense part of the same process (hence concurrent learning). The chapter identifies five factors identified as important to samhandling and concurrent learning. These are: (1) Awareness of basic assumptions regarding people; relations and teamwork are essential; (2) Space, (3) Giving of themselves, (4) Making processes transparent and addressing problems as early as possible, and (5) Reflection as a key to samhandling and concurrent learning. Samhandling and concurrent learning represent a mindset, a way of working and a form of learning, which together help to meet and/ or develop the skills needed to tackle the challenges of flexible organizations.

Chapter 10 Weltbürger Perspectives and Samhandling

"The chapter starts with a criticism of management and control concepts that have been rooted in economic or psychological theories and models, although society’s complexity and the pace of change will demand a broader and deeper foundation for the development of effective management systems in the future. Other voices need to be put forward. Immanuel Kant (1795/1991) argued for his idea of the Weltbürger (“world citizen”), also known as “The Cosmopolitan Ideal”. His fundamental philosophy is that all humans are welcome, regardless of time and place, and that all humans are world citizens, regardless of nationality and cultural belonging (Kant, 1795/1991). All people are co-citizens, independent of nationality and cultural affiliation, and the Weltbürger is concerned with global problems and solutions. Another central thinker is Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), a French philosopher and writer particularly known for the term “Deconstruction”, which is about splitting up words and phrases to find out what they really mean, in the light of the culture and underlying attitudes. Human comprehension requires common words and phrases (language), and a cultural and social context, both of which have formed the basis for conceptual analysis of the terms “hospitality” and “threshold of tolerance”. The conclusion is that the concepts of the Weltbürger and “hospitality” have important values in and of themselves, and are ideas that are universal and timeless, providing an important compass for samhandling.

Chapter 6 Apprenticeship Learning in Preparation for Meeting the Unforeseen

"The chapter analyzes teaching where the goal is to enable students at the Armed Forces Staff College to master unforeseen events. The students are all participants in a program for joint operations in which different military branches are placed together to solve complex tasks. How can the supervisor contribute to increased samhandling when facing the unforeseen? The goal is for students to be able to cope with the roles that exist in a normal NATO headquarters and to learn how to use NATO’s operational planning strategy. The group supervisor becomes a form of master who greatly influences the approach of students to the training community. From a sample of one hundred students, five groups consisting of four to five students of both sexes, with varied defense-force affiliations, backgrounds and experience were selected to be interviewed. A total of 23 informants participated in the interviews. In addition, observations were carried out. Apprenticeship Learning as a method is appropriate to prepare the students better for samhandling in anticipation of the unforeseen. The way the supervisor manages his or her role has a great deal of impact on samhandling and learning outcomes. The supervisor’s insight and expertise in what is needed to make groups work together is decisive. Strengthening and developing samhandling in exercises is a suitable educational method for military forces in meeting unforeseen events, provided that it is done properly.

Frontiers of fracture and fatigue: Some recent applications of the local strain energy density

The phenomenon of brittle fracture occurs too often in various branches of engineering being the reason of unexpected termination of anticipated service lives of an engineering objects. This leads to unfortunate catastrophic structural failures resulting in loss of lives and in excessive costs. The theory of fracture mechanics enables the analysis of brittle and fatigue fracture and helps to prevent the occurrence of brittle failure. This field has engaged researchers from various fields of engineering from the early days until today. As its own scientific discipline, it is now less than fifty years old and encourages scientists and engineers to speak the same language when dealing with the design and manufacturing of the classical machinery as well as various intricate devices of nanometer scale, or even smaller, reasoning significant scale effects that arise. Attempting to strike a common ground will connect various physical events/phenomena as a natural result of curiosity arising in course of joint research activities. The interpretation provided by the strain energy density to face different problems and applications is presented in this paper considering some recent outcomes at different scale levels

Dissolved noble gases and stable isotopes as tracers of preferential fluid flow along faults in the Lower Rhine Embayment, Germany

Groundwater in shallow unconsolidated sedimentary aquifers close to the Bornheim fault in the Lower Rhine Embayment (LRE), Germany, has relatively low δ2H and δ18O values in comparison to regional modern groundwater recharge, and 4He concentrations up to 1.7 × 10−4 cm3 (STP) g–1 ± 2.2 % which is approximately four orders of magnitude higher than expected due to solubility equilibrium with the atmosphere. Groundwater age dating based on estimated in situ production and terrigenic flux of helium provides a groundwater residence time of ∼107 years. Although fluid exchange between the deep basal aquifer system and the upper aquifer layers is generally impeded by confining clay layers and lignite, this study’s geochemical data suggest, for the first time, that deep circulating fluids penetrate shallow aquifers in the locality of fault zones, implying  that sub-vertical fluid flow occurs along faults in the LRE. However, large hydraulic-head gradients observed across many faults suggest that they act as barriers to lateral groundwater flow. Therefore, the geochemical data reported here also substantiate a conduit-barrier model of fault-zone hydrogeology in unconsolidated sedimentary deposits, as well as corroborating the concept that faults in unconsolidated aquifer systems can act as loci for hydraulic connectivity between deep and shallow aquifers. The implications of fluid flow along faults in sedimentary basins worldwide are far reaching and of particular concern for carbon capture and storage (CCS) programmes, impacts of deep shale gas recovery for shallow groundwater aquifers, and nuclear waste storage sites where fault zones could act as potential leakage pathways for hazardous fluids

Cochlea-inspired tonotopic resonators

The cochlea has long been the subject of investigation in various research fields due to its intriguing spiral architecture and unique sensing characteristics. One of its most interesting features is tonotopy, the ability to sense acoustic waves at different spatial locations based on their frequency content. In this work, we propose a novel design for a tonotopic resonator, based on a cochlea-inspired spiral, which can discriminate the frequency content of elastic waves without the use of sub-wavelength resonators. The structure is the result of an optimization process to display a uniform distribution of displacement maxima along its centreline for frequencies spanning nearly a two-decade range, while maintaining a compact design. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the concept and experimental measurements to validate it on a 3D printed structure. The resulting frequency-dependent distribution is also shown to be a viable means to discriminate signals with various frequency components. We also show that for appropriate parameter ranges, the tonotopic behaviour can be inverted, i.e., lower frequencies can be made to concentrate in narrower regions, as happens in the real cochlea. The harnessed tonotopic features can be used as a fundamental principle to design structures with applications in areas such as non-destructive testing and vibration attenuation

SYNBIOSAFE e-conference: online community discussion on the societal aspects of synthetic biology

As part of the SYNBIOSAFE project, we carried out an open electronic conference (e-conference), with the aim to stimulate an open debate on the societal issues of synthetic biology in a proactive way. The e-conference attracted 124 registered participants from 23 different countries and different professional backgrounds, who wrote 182 contributions in six different categories: (I) Ethics; (II) Safety; (III) Security; (IV) IPR; (V) Governance and regulation; (VI) and Public perception. In this paper we discuss the main arguments brought up during the e-conference and provide our conclusions about how the community thinks, and thinks differently on the societal impact of synthetic biology. Finally we conclude that there is a chance for an open discourse on the societal issues of synthetic biology happening, and that the rules to govern such a discourse might be set up much easier and be respected more readily than many would suggest