Quantum key distribution with higher-order alphabets using spatially-encoded qudits

We propose and demonstrate a quantum key distribution scheme in higher-order $d$-dimensional alphabets using spatial degrees of freedom of photons. Our implementation allows for the transmission of 4.56 bits per sifted photon, while providing improved security: an intercept-resend attack on all photons would induce an error rate of 0.47. Using our system, it should be possible to send more than a byte of information per sifted photon.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Replaced with published versio

State business: gender, sex and marriage in Tajikistan

This article examines the relation of the state to masculinity and sexuality by way of an exploration of the sexual problems of a young man and his wife in Tajikistan at the end of the Soviet era. It suggests that the regime’s inattention to this kind of issue was bound up with the importance to the state of projecting appropriate versions of masculinity. It further posits the idea that the continued refusal of the independent Tajik state to offer appropriate treatments for sexual dysfunction is consistent with the image of modernity President Rahmon wishes to present to the world. The article shows that as masculinity discursively occupies the superior gender position, with men expected to dominate, the state is itself impotent to respond when they are, in fact, unable to do so in sexual practice. However, the myth of male dominance persists to the point that it may prevent women from seeing beyond their subordination and finding mutually beneficial solutions in their familial and sexual relationships

“Dogged” Search of Fresh Nakhla Surfaces Reveals New Alteration Textures

Special Issue: 74th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, August 8-12, 2011, London, U.K.International audienceCarbonaceous chondrites are considered as amongst the most primitive Solar System samples available. One of their primitive characteristics is their enrichment in volatile elements.This includes hydrogen, which is present in hydrated and hydroxylated minerals. More precisely, the mineralogy is expected to be dominated by phyllosilicates in the case of CM chondrites, and by Montmorillonite type clays in the case of CI. Here, in order to characterize and quantify the abundance of lowtemperature minerals in carbonaceous chondrites, we performed thermogravimetric analysis of matrix fragments of Tagish Lake, Murchison and Orgueil

Esophageal atresia: data from a national cohort

PURPOSE: A prospective national register was established in 2008 to record all new cases of live-birth newborns with esophageal atresia (EA). This epidemiological survey was recommended as part of a national rare diseases plan. METHODS: All 38 national centers treating EA participated by completing for each patient at first discharge a questionnaire validated by a national committee of experts. Data were centralized by the national reference center for esophageal anomalies. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed, with P-values of less than 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results of the 2008-2009 data collection are presented in this report. RESULTS: Three hundred seven new living cases of EA were recorded between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009. The male/female sex ratio was 1.3, and the live-birth prevalence of EA was 1.8 per 10,000 births. Major characteristics were comparable to those reported in the literature. Survival was 95%, and no correlation with caseload was noted. CONCLUSIONS: Epidemiologic surveys of congenital anomalies such as EA, which is a rare disease, provide valuable data for public health authorities and fulfill one important mission of reference centers. When compared with previous epidemiological data, this national population-based registry suggests that the incidence of EA remains stable

Le diagnostic anténatal modifie-t-il la prise en charge néonatale et le devenir à 1 an des enfants suivis pour atrésie de l’œsophage de type III ?

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate neonatal management and outcome of neonates with either a prenatal or a post-natal diagnosis of EA type III. STUDY DESIGN: Population-based study using data from the French National Register for EA from 2008 to 2010. We compared children with prenatal versus post-natal diagnosis in regards to prenatal, maternal and neonatal characteristics. We define a composite variable of morbidity (anastomotic esophageal leaks, recurrent fistula, stenosis) and mortality at 1 year. RESULTS: Four hundred and eight live births with EA type III were recorded with a prenatal diagnosis rate of 18.1%. Transfer after birth was lower in prenatal subset (32.4% versus 81.5%, P<0.001). Delay between birth and first intervention was not significantly different. Defect size (2cm vs 1.4cm, P<0.001), gastrostomy (21.6% versus 8.7%, P<0.001) and length in neonatal unit care were higher in prenatal subset (47.9 days versus 33.6 days, P<0.001). The composite variables were higher in prenatal diagnosis subset (38.7% vs 26.1%, P=0.044). CONCLUSION: Despite the excellent survival rate of EA, cases with antenatal detection have a higher morbidity related to the EA type (longer gap). Even if it does not modify neonatal management and 1-year outcome, prenatal diagnosis allows antenatal parental counseling and avoids post-natal transfer

Novel Methods for Analysing Bacterial Tracks Reveal Persistence in Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Tracking bacteria using video microscopy is a powerful experimental approach to probe their motile behaviour. The trajectories obtained contain much information relating to the complex patterns of bacterial motility. However, methods for the quantitative analysis of such data are limited. Most swimming bacteria move in approximately straight lines, interspersed with random reorientation phases. It is therefore necessary to segment observed tracks into swimming and reorientation phases to extract useful statistics. We present novel robust analysis tools to discern these two phases in tracks. Our methods comprise a simple and effective protocol for removing spurious tracks from tracking datasets, followed by analysis based on a two-state hidden Markov model, taking advantage of the availability of mutant strains that exhibit swimming-only or reorientating-only motion to generate an empirical prior distribution. Using simulated tracks with varying levels of added noise, we validate our methods and compare them with an existing heuristic method. To our knowledge this is the first example of a systematic assessment of analysis methods in this field. The new methods are substantially more robust to noise and introduce less systematic bias than the heuristic method. We apply our methods to tracks obtained from the bacterial species Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Escherichia coli. Our results demonstrate that R. sphaeroides exhibits persistence over the course of a tumbling event, which is a novel result with important implications in the study of this and similar species

Mineralogy and petrology of comet 81P/wild 2 nucleus samples

The bulk of the comet 81P/Wild 2 (hereafter Wild 2) samples returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft appear to be weakly constructed mixtures of nanometer-scale grains, with occasional much larger (over 1 micrometer) ferromagnesian silicates, Fe-Ni sulfides, Fe-Ni metal, and accessory phases. The very wide range of olivine and low-Ca pyroxene compositions in comet Wild 2 requires a wide range of formation conditions, probably reflecting very different formation locations in the protoplanetary disk. The restricted compositional ranges of Fe-Ni sulfides, the wide range for silicates, and the absence of hydrous phases indicate that comet Wild 2 experienced little or no aqueous alteration. Less abundant Wild 2 materials include a refractory particle, whose presence appears to require radial transport in the early protoplanetary disk

Mineralogy and Petrology of Comet Wild 2 Nucleus Samples

The bulk of the Wild 2 samples appear to be weakly-constructed mixtures of nanometerscale grains with occasional much larger (>1{micro}m) ferromagnesian silicates, Fe-Ni sulfides, Fe-Ni metal and accessory phases. The very wide range of olivine and low-Ca pyroxene compositions in Wild 2 require a wide range of formation conditions, probably reflecting different formation locations in the protoplanetary disk. The restricted compositional ranges of Fe-Ni sulfides, the wide range for silicates, and absence of hydrous phases indicate that Wild 2 experienced little or no aqueous alteration. Less abundant Wild 2 materials include a refractory particle, whose presence appears to require large-scale radial transport in the early protoplanetary disk. The nature of cometary solids is of fundamental importance to our understanding of the early solar nebula and protoplanetary history. Until now we have had to study comets from afar using spectroscopy, or settle for analyses of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) of uncertain provenance. We report here mineralogical and petrographic analyses of particles derived directly from Comet Wild 2. All of the Wild 2 particles we have thus far examined have been modified in various ways by the capture process. All particles that may have been loose aggregates, ''traveling sand piles'', disaggregated into individual components with the larger, denser components penetrating more deeply into the aerogel. Individual grains experienced a wide range of heating effects that range from excellent preservation to melting (Fig. 1); such behavior was expected (1, 2 ,3). What is remarkable is the extreme variability of these modifications and the fact that severely modified and unmodified materials can be found within a micrometer of each other, requiring tremendous local temperature gradients. Fortunately, we have an internal gauge of impact collection heating. Fe-Ni sulfides are ubiquitous in the Wild 2 samples, are very sensitive indicators of heating, and accurate chemical analyses can reveal which have lost S, and which have not (and are therefore stoichiometric) (Fig. 2). Our surveys show that crystalline grains are found along the entire lengths of tracks, not just at track termini

ES-108 - SXRF nanoimaging of one of the oldest bona fide microbial cell fossils

The aim of the experiment is to establish that exceptional and rare microfilaments discovered in 2012 in one of the two oldest outcrops on Earth showing life indications are bona fide fossils of microbial cells. This would demonstrate that life was already spread out in different focii in the very early ages of the Earth. We want to show that the unique microstructures, well-characterized, are composed of 3D cylindrical organic walls having a \u201cmicrobial\u201d elemental composition. In this perspective, S K edge XANES and sub-micrometer-XRF mapping of the S-organic molecules and the trace (>300ppm) of low and high Z elements (Ca, Fe, Mn, Co, Cu, Ni) will be carried out at the ID21 beamline on transverse and parallel FIB-cuts of the filaments. Nano-XRF mapping of the same elements and absorption and phase contrast nanotomography of one filament will be carried out at the ID16B