Optimal measurements for quantum spatial superresolution

We construct optimal measurements, achieving the ultimate precision predicted by quantum theory, for the simultaneous estimation of centroid, separation, and relative intensities of two incoherent point sources using a linear optical system. We discuss the physical feasibility of the scheme, which could pave the way for future practical implementations of quantum inspired imaging.Comment: 7 pages. 3 color figures. Title change

Multiparameter Quantum Metrology of Incoherent Point Sources: Towards Realistic Superresolution

We establish the multiparameter quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound for simultaneously estimating the centroid, the separation, and the relative intensities of two incoherent optical point sources using alinear imaging system. For equally bright sources, the Cram\'er-Rao bound is independent of the source separation, which confirms that the Rayleigh resolution limit is just an artifact of the conventional direct imaging and can be overcome with an adequate strategy. For the general case of unequally bright sources, the amount of information one can gain about the separation falls to zero, but we show that there is always a quadratic improvement in an optimal detection in comparison with the intensity measurements. This advantage can be of utmost important in realistic scenarios, such as observational astronomy.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Comments welcome

Εκτίμηση τρωτότητας υγροτόπων της Αττικής στην κλιματική Αλλαγή & Σχέδιο Δράσης

Στο παρόν συντίθενται και παρουσιάζονται ολοκληρωμένα τα αποτελέσματα υλοποίησης του έργου ORIENTGATE "Ένα Δομημένο Δίκτυο για την Ενσωμάτωση της Γνώσης για το Κλίμα, στην Πολιτική και στο Χωρικό Σχεδιασμό" στην Ελλάδα. Η μεθοδολογική προσέγγιση και τα αποτελέσματα της πιλοτικής εφαρμογής για 10 επιλεγμένους υγροτόπους της Αττικής παρουσιάζονται στο ΜΕΡΟΣ Α της παρούσας. Στο ΜΕΡΟΣ Β παρουσιάζεται το Σχέδιο Δράσης για τους υγροτόπους της Αττικής

Drought Vulnerability Index (DVI) in Attica Region, Greece using climate models upon the climate scenarios A1B and A2. ORIENTGATE Technical Report

The study was commissioned within the preparation of the River Basin Management Plan of Attica Water District (Ministry of Environment 2013). Its main purpose was to: a) quantify the effects of drought and water shortage in the water district of Attica, b) to examine possible methodologies for predicting future incidents and c) to propose remedies for various levels of risk. This essay aims to strengthen the effectiveness of the above "Drought and Water shortage Management Plan" of the Attica Water District, by enhancing the forecasting process of future drought incidents

The importance of soil education to connectivity as a dimension of soil security

The connectivity concept within soil security posits that people need to have a connection to soil in order to properly value it. Showing how soil is important in everyday life can create connections to soil, because people care about things they see as impacting their quality of life. Education can demonstrate these connections and may take place in either formal or informal settings and over a wide range of age groups. Creating an effective educational environment is critical, which involves understanding the specific group being addressed, including their existing knowledge of and interest in soil. Soil scientists increasingly teach to student groups that need to know about soils within their chosen careers but are not necessarily training to be soil specialists. Within this formal setting, education that demonstrates the various functions that soils provide in support of human wellbeing may be important to connectivity because it clearly demonstrates the impact of soils on peoples’ lives. In less formal settings, it will be important to identify concepts that will resonate with the public or stakeholders, such as terroir, soil health, or soil security, and to effectively reach these groups with a message built around these concepts. Social marketing, social media, storytelling, soil apps, and soil games are all approaches that have promise to deliver the desired message, therefore creating connections between people and soil

Characterizing, modelling and understanding the climate variability of the deep water formation in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea

Observing, modelling and understanding the climate-scale variability of the deep water formation (DWF) in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea remains today very challenging. In this study, we first characterize the interannual variability of this phenomenon by a thorough reanalysis of observations in order to establish reference time series. These quantitative indicators include 31 observed years for the yearly maximum mixed layer depth over the period 1980–2013 and a detailed multi-indicator description of the period 2007–2013. Then a 1980–2013 hindcast simulation is performed with a fully-coupled regional climate system model including the high-resolution representation of the regional atmosphere, ocean, land-surface and rivers. The simulation reproduces quantitatively well the mean behaviour and the large interannual variability of the DWF phenomenon. The model shows convection deeper than 1000 m in 2/3 of the modelled winters, a mean DWF rate equal to 0.35 Sv with maximum values of 1.7 (resp. 1.6) Sv in 2013 (resp. 2005). Using the model results, the winter-integrated buoyancy loss over the Gulf of Lions is identified as the primary driving factor of the DWF interannual variability and explains, alone, around 50 % of its variance. It is itself explained by the occurrence of few stormy days during winter. At daily scale, the Atlantic ridge weather regime is identified as favourable to strong buoyancy losses and therefore DWF, whereas the positive phase of the North Atlantic oscillation is unfavourable. The driving role of the vertical stratification in autumn, a measure of the water column inhibition to mixing, has also been analyzed. Combining both driving factors allows to explain more than 70 % of the interannual variance of the phenomenon and in particular the occurrence of the five strongest convective years of the model (1981, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2013). The model simulates qualitatively well the trends in the deep waters (warming, saltening, increase in the dense water volume, increase in the bottom water density) despite an underestimation of the salinity and density trends. These deep trends come from a heat and salt accumulation during the 1980s and the 1990s in the surface and intermediate layers of the Gulf of Lions before being transferred stepwise towards the deep layers when very convective years occur in 1999 and later. The salinity increase in the near Atlantic Ocean surface layers seems to be the external forcing that finally leads to these deep trends. In the future, our results may allow to better understand the behaviour of the DWF phenomenon in Mediterranean Sea simulations in hindcast, forecast, reanalysis or future climate change scenario modes. The robustness of the obtained results must be however confirmed in multi-model studies

Colloquium: Mechanical formalisms for tissue dynamics

The understanding of morphogenesis in living organisms has been renewed by tremendous progressin experimental techniques that provide access to cell-scale, quantitative information both on theshapes of cells within tissues and on the genes being expressed. This information suggests that ourunderstanding of the respective contributions of gene expression and mechanics, and of their crucialentanglement, will soon leap forward. Biomechanics increasingly benefits from models, which assistthe design and interpretation of experiments, point out the main ingredients and assumptions, andultimately lead to predictions. The newly accessible local information thus calls for a reflectionon how to select suitable classes of mechanical models. We review both mechanical ingredientssuggested by the current knowledge of tissue behaviour, and modelling methods that can helpgenerate a rheological diagram or a constitutive equation. We distinguish cell scale ("intra-cell")and tissue scale ("inter-cell") contributions. We recall the mathematical framework developpedfor continuum materials and explain how to transform a constitutive equation into a set of partialdifferential equations amenable to numerical resolution. We show that when plastic behaviour isrelevant, the dissipation function formalism appears appropriate to generate constitutive equations;its variational nature facilitates numerical implementation, and we discuss adaptations needed in thecase of large deformations. The present article gathers theoretical methods that can readily enhancethe significance of the data to be extracted from recent or future high throughput biomechanicalexperiments.Comment: 33 pages, 20 figures. This version (26 Sept. 2015) contains a few corrections to the published version, all in Appendix D.2 devoted to large deformation

Reduced blood flow and oxygenation in SA-1 tumours after electrochemotherapy with cisplatin

Electrochemotherapy is an antitumour treatment that utilises locally delivered electric pulses to increase cytotoxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs. Besides increased drug delivery, application of electric pulses affects tumour blood flow. The aim of this study was to determine tumour blood flow modifying effects of electrochemotherapy with cisplatin, its effects on tumour oxygenation and to determine their relation to antitumour effectiveness. Electrochemotherapy of SA-1 subcutaneous tumours was performed by application of electric pulses to the tumours, following administration of cisplatin. Tumour blood flow modifying effects of electrochemotherapy were determined by measurement of tumour perfusion using the Patent blue staining technique, determination of tumour blood volume, and microvascular permeability using contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, and tumour oxygenation using electron paramagnetic resonance oximetry. Antitumour effectiveness was determined by tumour growth delay and the extent of tumour necrosis and apoptosis. Tumour treatment by electrochemotherapy induced 9.4 days tumour growth delay. Tumour blood flow was reduced instantaneously and persisted for several days. This reduction in tumour blood flow was reflected in reduced tumour oxygenation. The maximal reduction in partial oxygen pressure (pO2) levels was observed at 2 h after the treatment, with steady recovery to the pretreatment level within 48 h. The reduced tumour blood flow and oxygenation correlated well with the extent of tumour necrosis and tumour cells apoptosis induced by electrochemotherapy with cisplatin. Therefore, the data indicate that antitumour effectiveness of electrochemotherapy is not only due to increased cytotoxicity of cisplatin due to electroporation of tumour cells, but also due to anti-vascular effect of electrochemotherapy, which resulted in reduced tumour blood flow and oxygenation

Climateurope festival: an innovative way of linking science and society

The Climateurope Festivals were designed to create synergies between different European, national and international initiatives in the fields of Earth-system modelling & Climate Services and enhance the transfer of information between suppliers and users. It gave an opportunity to display best in class outcomes and engage in world class networking in a less rigid environment than a scientific conference. A number of formats were adopted in the Festival, from traditional impulse talks to innovative interactive sessions, and the thought-provoking discussions allowed the participants to share their experiences and knowledge around the advantages and challenges that Climate Services face within different sectors. Three Climateurope Festivals were originally planned to be held across Europe. Two Festivals were successfully organised, the first in Valencia in 2017, and the second in Belgrade in 2018. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns and travel restrictions, the third and final Festival was held online as a series of virtual web-based Festivals in 2020/2021. The Festivals were highly valued by participants. There was a strong desire by the Climateurope network to continue a science-stakeholder dialogue and make the Climateurope Festivals a regular event

New live screening of plant-nematode interactions in the rhizosphere

Abstract Free living nematodes (FLN) are microscopic worms found in all soils. While many FLN species are beneficial to crops, some species cause significant damage by feeding on roots and vectoring viruses. With the planned legislative removal of traditionally used chemical treatments, identification of new ways to manage FLN populations has become a high priority. For this, more powerful screening systems are required to rapidly assess threats to crops and identify treatments efficiently. Here, we have developed new live assays for testing nematode responses to treatment by combining transparent soil microcosms, a new light sheet imaging technique termed Biospeckle Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (BSPIM) for fast nematode detection, and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy for high resolution imaging. We show that BSPIM increased signal to noise ratios by up to 60 fold and allowed the automatic detection of FLN in transparent soil samples of 1.5 mL. Growing plant root systems were rapidly scanned for nematode abundance and activity, and FLN feeding behaviour and responses to chemical compounds observed in soil-like conditions. This approach could be used for direct monitoring of FLN activity either to develop new compounds that target economically damaging herbivorous nematodes or ensuring that beneficial species are not negatively impacted