Pointer basis induced by collisional decoherence

We study the emergence and dynamics of pointer states in the motion of a quantum test particle affected by collisional decoherence. These environmentally distinguished states are shown to be exponentially localized solitonic wave functions which evolve according to the classical equations of motion. We explain their formation using the orthogonal unraveling of the master equation, and we demonstrate that the statistical weights of the arising mixture are given by projections of the initial state onto the pointer basis.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures; v2: minimal corrections, corresponds to published versio

Managing pharmaceutical regulation in Germany: Overview and economic assessment

Rising costs in pharmaceutical expenditure have become a major concern for policy makers in Germany over the last years. Therefore the pharmaceutical market in Germany has been increasingly targeted by different kinds of regulations, focussing both on the supply and the demand side, using price, volume and spending controls. Specific regulations include price reductions, reference pricing, pharmacy rebate for sickness funds, increasing co-payments, an aut-idem substitution, parallel imports, negative list, guidelines, and finally spending caps for pharmaceutical expenditure per physicians association. Although it is difficult to attribute certain effects to single measures, some measures like reference pricing and physician spending caps are more effective and long-lasting than others. Although highly disputed among physicians, the spending caps applied between 1993 and 2001 have limited pharmaceutical expenditure for an entire decade. However, while some measures do effectively control expenditures, their effect on allocative efficiency may be negative. -- Steigende Ausgaben für Arzneimittel stellen zunehmend ein Problem für Entscheidungsträger in Politik und Selbstverwaltung dar. Daher war der Arzneimittelmarkt in den letzten Jahren Ziel verschiedener Regulierungsformen, die sowohl auf der Angebotsseite als auch auf der Nachfrageseite ansetzen und sowohl Instrumente zur Preis, Mengen als auch Ausgabenregulierung nutzen. Sie umfassen dabei insbesondere Preisrabatte, Festbeträge, Zuzahlungen, Aut-idem substitution, Parallelimporte, Negativlisten, Leitlinien and Arzneimittelbudgets. Obwohl es schwierig ist, bestimmte Wirkungen monokausal auf einzelne Maßnahmen zu zurückzuführen, kann festgestellt werden, dass Arzneimittelbudgets und Festpreise nachhaltiger und effektiver als andere Regulierungsformen sind. Obwohl Arzneimittelbudgets bei niedergelassenen Ärzten sehr umstritten sind, waren sie hauptverantwortlich für die Begrenzung der Arzneimittelausgaben zwischen 1993 und 2001. Daneben existieren einige Regulierungsformen die zwar die Arzneimittel-ausgaben wirksam senken, deren allokative Effizienz jedoch insgesamt eher negativ ist.

Stochastic simulation algorithm for the quantum linear Boltzmann equation

We develop a Monte Carlo wave function algorithm for the quantum linear Boltzmann equation, a Markovian master equation describing the quantum motion of a test particle interacting with the particles of an environmental background gas. The algorithm leads to a numerically efficient stochastic simulation procedure for the most general form of this integro-differential equation, which involves a five-dimensional integral over microscopically defined scattering amplitudes that account for the gas interactions in a non-perturbative fashion. The simulation technique is used to assess various limiting forms of the quantum linear Boltzmann equation, such as the limits of pure collisional decoherence and quantum Brownian motion, the Born approximation and the classical limit. Moreover, we extend the method to allow for the simulation of the dissipative and decohering dynamics of superpositions of spatially localized wave packets, which enables the study of many physically relevant quantum phenomena, occurring e.g. in the interferometry of massive particles.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures; v2: corresponds to published versio

Emergence of pointer states in a non-perturbative environment

We show that the pointer basis distinguished by collisional decoherence consists of exponentially localized, solitonic wave packets. Based on the orthogonal unraveling of the quantum master equation, we characterize their formation and dynamics, and we demonstrate that the statistical weights arising from an initial superposition state are given by the required projection. Since the spatial width of the pointer states can be obtained by accounting for the gas environment in a microscopically realistic fashion, one may thus calculate the coherence length of a strongly interacting gas.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure; corresponds to published versio

Mechanical Competence and Bone Quality Develop During Skeletal Growth.

Bone fracture risk is influenced by bone quality, which encompasses bone's composition as well as its multiscale organization and architecture. Aging and disease deteriorate bone quality, leading to reduced mechanical properties and higher fracture incidence. Largely unexplored is how bone quality and mechanical competence progress during longitudinal bone growth. Human femoral cortical bone was acquired from fetal (n = 1), infantile (n = 3), and 2- to 14-year-old cases (n = 4) at the mid-diaphysis. Bone quality was assessed in terms of bone structure, osteocyte characteristics, mineralization, and collagen orientation. The mechanical properties were investigated by measuring tensile deformation at multiple length scales via synchrotron X-ray diffraction. We find dramatic differences in mechanical resistance with age. Specifically, cortical bone in 2- to 14-year-old cases exhibits a 160% greater stiffness and 83% higher strength than fetal/infantile cases. The higher mechanical resistance of the 2- to 14-year-old cases is associated with advantageous bone quality, specifically higher bone volume fraction, better micronscale organization (woven versus lamellar), and higher mean mineralization compared with fetal/infantile cases. Our study reveals that bone quality is superior after remodeling/modeling processes convert the primary woven bone structure to lamellar bone. In this cohort of female children, the microstructural differences at the femoral diaphysis were apparent between the 1- to 2-year-old cases. Indeed, the lamellar bone in 2- to 14-year-old cases had a superior structural organization (collagen and osteocyte characteristics) and composition for resisting deformation and fracture than fetal/infantile bone. Mechanistically, the changes in bone quality during longitudinal bone growth lead to higher fracture resistance because collagen fibrils are better aligned to resist tensile forces, while elevated mean mineralization reinforces the collagen scaffold. Thus, our results reveal inherent weaknesses of the fetal/infantile skeleton signifying its inferior bone quality. These results have implications for pediatric fracture risk, as bone produced at ossification centers during children's longitudinal bone growth could display similarly weak points. © 2019 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research

Medical ethics in the Anthropocene: how are €100 billion of German physicians' pension funds invested?

[No abstract available

Die Kleinschmetterlinge (Microlepidoptera) der Diluviallandschaften um Eberswalde

Mikrolepidopteren gehörten seit der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts zum Gegenstand entomologischer Forschung in Eberswalde. Zentren der Forschung waren zunächst die Forstlichen Lehranstalten und Institute, später auch das Deutsche Entomologische Institut. Außerdem war die Eberswalder Gegend stets Anziehungspunkt für viele Mikrolepidopteren-Spezialisten, die nicht an einschlägigen wissenschaftlichen Instituten arbeiteten.In der vorgelegten Arbeit werden die Forschungsergebnisse aus der Vergangenheit regionalfaunistisch ausgewertet und durch Ergebnisse aktueller faunistischer Forschungen zu einem Verzeichnis der Microlepidoptera der Diluviallandschaften um Eberswalde ergänzt. Das Verzeichnis umfasst mit 863 Arten aus 47 Familien 57 % der im Land Brandenburg nachgewiesenen Mikrolepidopteren-Arten, darunter ein Neufund für Deutschland: Clepsis coriacanus; 13 Neufunde für das Land Brandenburg: Coleophora adjectella, Colephora sylvaticella, Coleophora ramosella, Mompha terminella, Monochroa arundinetella, Bryotropha umbrosella, Anarsia innoxiella, Telephila schmidtiellus, Cydia gemmiferana, Acrobasis legatea, Pammene herrichiana, Pammene ignorata, Schreckensteinia festaliella; und 45 Wiederfunde im Land Brandenburg. Die Autoren konnten 332 Arten erstmals im Eberswalder Raum nachweisen. Für 531 Arten wurden ältere/historische Nachweise ausgewertet. Das Vorkommen von 408 dieser Arten konnte bestätigt werden.Die Funddaten sind tabellarisch dargestellt und sowohl Naturräumen des Gebietes als auch Messtischblättern zugeordnet.Microlepidoptera have been the subject of entomological research in Eberswalde since the first half of the 19th Century. Centres of research were at first the forestry colleges and institutes, later also the German Entomological Institute. Furthermore, the Eberswalde area has always been a magnet for many Microlepidoptera specialists who did not work at scientific institutes.In this paper the results of past research are evaluated faunistically at the regional level and supplemented by data obtained during recent research. The result is a list of Microlepidoptera of the diluvial landscapes around Eberswalde. Comprising 863 species in 47 families, the inventory includes 57 % of the Microlepidoptera species found in the state of Brandenburg, including a species not previously recorded in Germany: Clepsis coriacanus; 13 new finds for the state of Brandenburg: Coleophora adjectella, Colephora sylvaticella, Coleophora ramosella, Mompha terminella, Monochroa arundinetella, Bryotropha umbrosella, Anarsia innoxiella, Telephila schmidtiellus, Cydia gemmiferana, Acrobasis legatea, Pammene herrichiana, Pammene ignorata, Schreckensteinia festaliella; and 45 rediscoveries for the State of Brandenburg. The authors were able to record 332 species for the first time in the Eberswalde area. For 531 species older/ historical evidence was evaluated. The occurrence of 408 of these species is confirmed.The record data are presented in tabular form and assigned both to the classification of natural areas of the region and to the map sheets of the ordinance survey

Time-Resolved Soft X-ray Diffraction Reveals Transient Structural Distortions of Ternary Liquid Crystals

Home-based soft X-ray time-resolved scattering experiments with nanosecond time resolution (10 ns) and nanometer spatial resolution were carried out at a table top soft X-ray plasma source (2.2–5.2 nm). The investigated system was the lyotropic liquid crystal C16E7/paraffin/glycerol/formamide/IR 5. Usually, major changes in physical, chemical, and/or optical properties of the sample occur as a result of structural changes and shrinking morphology. Here, these effects occur as a consequence of the energy absorption in the sample upon optical laser excitation in the IR regime. The liquid crystal shows changes in the structural response within few hundred nanoseconds showing a time decay of 182 ns. A decrease of the Bragg peak diffracted intensity of 30% and a coherent macroscopic movement of the Bragg reflection are found as a response to the optical pump. The Bragg reflection movement is established to be isotropic and diffusion controlled (1 μs). Structural processes are analyzed in the Patterson analysis framework of the time-varying diffraction peaks revealing that the inter-lamellar distance increases by 2.7 Å resulting in an elongation of the coherently expanding lamella crystallite. The present studies emphasize the possibility of applying TR-SXRD techniques for studying the mechanical dynamics of nanosystems

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of asthma in ethnically diverse North American populations.

Asthma is a common disease with a complex risk architecture including both genetic and environmental factors. We performed a meta-analysis of North American genome-wide association studies of asthma in 5,416 individuals with asthma (cases) including individuals of European American, African American or African Caribbean, and Latino ancestry, with replication in an additional 12,649 individuals from the same ethnic groups. We identified five susceptibility loci. Four were at previously reported loci on 17q21, near IL1RL1, TSLP and IL33, but we report for the first time, to our knowledge, that these loci are associated with asthma risk in three ethnic groups. In addition, we identified a new asthma susceptibility locus at PYHIN1, with the association being specific to individuals of African descent (P = 3.9 × 10(-9)). These results suggest that some asthma susceptibility loci are robust to differences in ancestry when sufficiently large samples sizes are investigated, and that ancestry-specific associations also contribute to the complex genetic architecture of asthma