765 research outputs found
Virtual context - relating media objects to their real world subjects
Virtual Reality (VR) is sometimes used to give the user an immersive, three-dimensional sense of a real-world setting. VR is also sometimes used for information visualization, taking advantage of the perceptual characteristics of VR to convey information. This paper presents the Dam Square Virtual Context, a Web-based VR that is a combination of both these uses. This VR presents mock-ups of both Dam Square in the city of Amsterdam and the city's largest museum, the Rijksmuseum. This VR conveys abstract information that includes the relationships between objects in the museum, such as paintings of Amsterdam cityscapes, and the corresponding objects in Dam Square itself, such as the buildings and neighborhoods shown in these paintings. It is thus a multimedia combining VR wireframes and bitmaps with still images and interface scripts. The principle behind this is that the user learns how to walk through the museum to view objects that together convey a unified view about Amsterdam, which the user can then later walk through
Resonant cancellation of off-resonant effects in a multilevel qubit
Off-resonant effects are a significant source of error in quantum
computation. This paper presents a group theoretic proof that off-resonant
transitions to the higher levels of a multilevel qubit can be completely
prevented in principle. This result can be generalized to prevent unwanted
transitions due to qubit-qubit interactions. A simple scheme exploiting dynamic
pulse control techniques is presented that can cancel transitions to higher
states to arbitrary accuracy.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, submitted for publicatio
Achievable rates for the Gaussian quantum channel
We study the properties of quantum stabilizer codes that embed a
finite-dimensional protected code space in an infinite-dimensional Hilbert
space. The stabilizer group of such a code is associated with a symplectically
integral lattice in the phase space of 2N canonical variables. From the
existence of symplectically integral lattices with suitable properties, we
infer a lower bound on the quantum capacity of the Gaussian quantum channel
that matches the one-shot coherent information optimized over Gaussian input
states.Comment: 12 pages, 4 eps figures, REVTe
The Detectability of Departures from the Inflationary Consistency Equation
We study the detectability, given CMB polarization maps, of departures from
the inflationary consistency equation, r \equiv T/S \simeq -5 n_T, where T and
S are the tensor and scalar contributions to the quadrupole variance,
respectively. The consistency equation holds if inflation is driven by a
slowly-rolling scalar field. Departures can be caused by: 1) higher-order terms
in the expansion in slow-roll parameters, 2) quantum loop corrections or 3)
multiple fields. Higher-order corrections in the first two slow-roll parameters
are undetectably small. Loop corrections are detectable if they are nearly
maximal and r \ga 0.1. Large departures (|\Delta n_T| \ga 0.1) can be seen if r
\ga 0.001. High angular resolution can be important for detecting non-zero
r+5n_T, even when not important for detecting non-zero r.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Arthroscopic partial medial meniscectomy is associated with higher medial knee joint load and reductions in medial articular cartilage volume despite typical knee strength at 2 years post-surgery
Secure quantum key distribution using squeezed states
We prove the security of a quantum key distribution scheme based on
transmission of squeezed quantum states of a harmonic oscillator. Our proof
employs quantum error-correcting codes that encode a finite-dimensional quantum
system in the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space of an oscillator, and protect
against errors that shift the canonical variables p and q. If the noise in the
quantum channel is weak, squeezing signal states by 2.51 dB (a squeeze factor
e^r=1.34) is sufficient in principle to ensure the security of a protocol that
is suitably enhanced by classical error correction and privacy amplification.
Secure key distribution can be achieved over distances comparable to the
attenuation length of the quantum channel.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX and epsf, new section on channel losse
Sequential bottlenecks drive viral evolution in early acute Hepatitis C virus infection
Hepatitis C is a pandemic human RNA virus, which commonly causes chronic infection and liver disease. The characterization of viral populations that successfully initiate infection, and also those that drive progression to chronicity is instrumental for understanding pathogenesis and vaccine design. A comprehensive and longitudinal analysis of the viral population was conducted in four subjects followed from very early acute infection to resolution of disease outcome. By means of next generation sequencing (NGS) and standard cloning/Sanger sequencing, genetic diversity and viral variants were quantified over the course of the infection at frequencies as low as 0.1%. Phylogenetic analysis of reassembled viral variants revealed acute infection was dominated by two sequential bottleneck events, irrespective of subsequent chronicity or clearance. The first bottleneck was associated with transmission, with one to two viral variants successfully establishing infection. The second occurred approximately 100 days post-infection, and was characterized by a decline in viral diversity. In the two subjects who developed chronic infection, this second bottleneck was followed by the emergence of a new viral population, which evolved from the founder variants via a selective sweep with fixation in a small number of mutated sites. The diversity at sites with non-synonymous mutation was higher in predicted cytotoxic T cell epitopes, suggesting immune-driven evolution. These results provide the first detailed analysis of early within-host evolution of HCV, indicating strong selective forces limit viral evolution in the acute phase of infection
Protecting Quantum Information with Entanglement and Noisy Optical Modes
We incorporate active and passive quantum error-correcting techniques to
protect a set of optical information modes of a continuous-variable quantum
information system. Our method uses ancilla modes, entangled modes, and gauge
modes (modes in a mixed state) to help correct errors on a set of information
modes. A linear-optical encoding circuit consisting of offline squeezers,
passive optical devices, feedforward control, conditional modulation, and
homodyne measurements performs the encoding. The result is that we extend the
entanglement-assisted operator stabilizer formalism for discrete variables to
continuous-variable quantum information processing.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur
Changes in muscle activation following balance and technique training and a season of Australian football
Objectives: Determine if balance and technique training implemented adjunct to 1001 male Australian football playersâ training influenced the activation/strength of the muscles crossing the knee during pre-planned and unplanned sidestepping.
Design: Randomized Control Trial.
Methods: Each Australian football player participated in either 28 weeks of balance and technique training or âshamâ training. Twenty-eight Australian football players (balance and technique training, n = 12; âshamâ training, n = 16) completed biomechanical testing pre-to-post training. Peak knee moments and directed co-contraction ratios in three degrees of freedom, as well as total muscle activation were calculated during pre-planned and unplanned sidestepping.
Results: No significant differences in muscle activation/strength were observed between the âshamâ training and balance and technique training groups. Following a season of Australian football, knee extensor (p = 0.023) and semimembranosus (p = 0.006) muscle activation increased during both pre-planned sidestepping and unplanned sidestepping. Following a season of Australian football, total muscle activation was 30% lower and peak valgus knee moments 80% greater (p = 0.022) during unplanned sidestepping when compared with pre-planned sidestepping.
Conclusions: When implemented in a community level training environment, balance and technique training was not effective in changing the activation of the muscles crossing the knee during side stepping. Following a season of Australian football, players are better able to support both frontal and sagittal plane knee moments. When compared to pre-planned sidestepping, Australian football players may be at increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury during unplanned sidestepping in the latter half of an Australian football season
Decoherence and Programmable Quantum Computation
An examination of the concept of using classical degrees of freedom to drive
the evolution of quantum computers is given. Specifically, when externally
generated, coherent states of the electromagnetic field are used to drive
transitions within the qubit system, a decoherence results due to the back
reaction from the qubits onto the quantum field. We derive an expression for
the decoherence rate for two cases, that of the single-qubit Walsh-Hadamard
transform, and for an implementation of the controlled-NOT gate. We examine the
impact of this decoherence mechanism on Grover's search algorithm, and on the
proposals for use of error-correcting codes in quantum computation.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. A 35 double-spaced pages, 2 figures, in LaTe
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