Entanglement trapping in a non-stationary structured reservoir

We study a single two-level atom interacting with a reservoir of modes defined by a reservoir structure function with a frequency gap. Using the pseudomodes technique, we derive the main features of a trapping state formed in the weak coupling regime. Utilising different entanglement measures we show that strong correlations and entanglement between the atom and the modes are in existence when this state is formed. Furthermore, an unexpected feature for the reservoir is revealed. In the long time limit and for weak coupling the reservoir spectrum is not constant in time.Comment: 10 pages, 16 figure

The significance of adolescent social competence for mental health in young adulthood

Publisher Copyright: © 2021Introduction: Social competence is one of the primary components of mental health development. This study examines the associations between adolescent competence and its components, and adulthood adaptive functioning and internalizing and externalizing problems. Methods: As part of a longitudinal study that begun in Finland in 1989, 191 mothers, 126 fathers and their 192 16–17-year-old adolescent children completed a standardized questionnaire, the Child Behavior Checklist or the Youth Self Report, to analyse the adolescents’ total competence and its subscales (activity, social skills and school performance). Ten years later, the former adolescents completed the corresponding Adult Self Report questionnaire to assess adaptive functioning as well as internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Results: Better total competence or social skills in adolescence were associated with a good level of adaptive functioning and a low level of internalizing symptoms in young adulthood. Better scores in school performance subscale according to the parents’ reports were associated with a low level of externalizing symptoms in young adulthood. Together with total competence and social skills, concurrent partner relationship status was associated with optimal outcomes. Conclusion: This study supports earlier findings that better social competence in adolescence is associated with fewer internalizing problems in young adulthood, and indicates a longitudinal association between adolescent competence and adult adaptive functioning. It is important to study whether interventions supporting adolescents’ competence could promote mental health in their subsequent development into young adulthood.Peer reviewe

Local in time master equations with memory effects: Applicability and interpretation

Non-Markovian local in time master equations give a relatively simple way to describe the dynamics of open quantum systems with memory effects. Despite their simple form, there are still many misunderstandings related to the physical applicability and interpretation of these equations. Here we clarify these issues both in the case of quantum and classical master equations. We further introduce the concept of a classical non-Markov chain signified through negative jump rates in the chain configuration.Comment: Special issue on loss of coherence and memory effects in quantum dynamics, J. Phys. B., to appea

Biomarkers of Heavy Metal Effects in Two Species of Caddisfly Larvae from Clark Fork River, Montana: Stress Proteins (HSP70) and Lysosomal Membrane Integrity

Potential sublethal effects of heavy metals in stream macroinvertebrates were examined with two cellular and biochemical biomarkers in larvae of two caddisflies indigenous to the Clark Fork River, Montana, - Hydropsyche spp. and Arctopsyche grandis. Stress proteins, in particular members of the HSP70 family, are involved in cellular protein homeostasis and repair, and are induced by a variety of stressors, which either damage cellular proteins directly or cause cells to synthesize aberrant proteins. Lysosomes are intracellular organelles that play key roles in the detoxification of both organic and inorganic xenobiotic compounds. Larvae of Hydropsyche spp. were collected from four sites on the Clark Fork (Galen Gage--4.7 km, Goldcreek--85.6 km, Turah--189.7 km, above Flathead--381 km) and a reference site (the Blackfoot River). Larvae of A. grandis were collected from the same sites minus the Galen site. Samples were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen for HSP70 analysis, or preserved with Tissue Tek, then frozen in liquid nitrogen for the lysosomal stability assay. HSP70 was analyzed by western blotting using monoclonal antibodies. Lysosomal integrity was measured in cryosections by acid labilization with acid phosphatase as a marker enzyme. Results to date show elevated tissue concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn and significantly increased levels of HSP70 in Arctopsyche from Goldcreek compared to reference samples. Lysosomal integrity also was compromised in samples from Goldcreek. In Hydropsyche, tissue concentrations of Cd, Cu and Pb from Galen Gage were elevated (4-7 times) relative to the Blackfoot River, but levels of HSP70 did not differ between the two sites. These preliminary results indicate that sublethal effects of metal exposure may differ between species

The failure of suicide prevention in primary care: family and GP perspectives - a qualitative study

Background Although Primary care is crucial for suicide prevention, clinicians tend to report completed suicides in their care as non-preventable. We aimed to examine systemic inadequacies in suicide prevention from the perspectives of bereaved family members and GPs.Methods Qualitative study of 72 relatives or close friends bereaved by suicide and 19 General Practitioners who have experienced the suicide of patients.Results Relatives highlight failures in detecting symptoms and behavioral changes and the inability of GPs to understand the needs of patients and their social contexts. A perceived overreliance on anti-depressant treatment is a major source of criticism by family members. GPs tend to lack confidence in the recognition and management of suicidal patients, and report structural inadequacies in service provision.Conclusions Mental health and primary care services must find innovative and ethical ways to involve families in the decision-making process for patients at risk of suicide

Evaluating the effects of bilingual traffic signs on driver performance and safety

Variable Message Signs (VMS) can provide immediate and relevant information to road users and bilingual VMS can provide great flexibility in countries where a significant proportion of the population speak an alternative language to the majority. The study reported here evaluates the effect of various bilingual VMS configurations on driver behaviour and safety. The aim of the study was to determine whether or not the visual distraction associated with bilingual VMS signs of different configurations (length, complexity) impacted on driving performance. A driving simulator was used to allow full control over the scenarios, road environment and sign configuration and both longitudinal and lateral driver performance was assessed. Drivers were able to read one and two-line monolingual signs and two-line bilingual signs without disruption to their driving behaviour. However, drivers significantly reduced their speed in order to read four-line monolingual and four-line bilingual signs, accompanied by an increase in headway to the vehicle in front. This implies that drivers are possibly reading the irrelevant text on the bilingual sign and various methods for reducing this effect are discussed

Confronting the vicinity of the surface water and sea shore in a shallow glaciogenic aquifer in southern Finland

The groundwater in a shallow, unconfined, low-lying coastal aquifer in Santala, southern Finland, was chemically characterised by integrating multivariate statistical approaches, principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), based on the stable isotopes delta H-2 and delta O-18, hydrogeochemistry and field monitoring data. PCA and HCA yielded similar results and classified groundwater samples into six distinct groups that revealed the factors controlling temporal and spatial variations in the groundwater geochemistry, such as the geology, anthropogenic sources from human activities, climate and surface water. High temporal variation in groundwater chemistry directly corresponded to precipitation. With an increase in precipitation, KMnO4 consumption, EC, alkalinity and Ca concentrations also increased in most wells, while Fe, Al, Mn and SO4 were occasionally increased during spring after the snowmelt under specific geological conditions. The continued increase in NO3 and metal concentrations in groundwater indicates the potential contamination risk to the aquifer. Stable isotopes of delta O-18 and delta H-2 indicate groundwater recharge directly from meteoric water, with an insignificant contribution from lake water, and no seawater intrusion into the aquifer. Groundwater geochemistry suggests that local seawater intrusion is temporarily able to take place in the sulfate reduction zone along the freshwater and seawater mixed zone in the low-lying coastal area, but the contribution of seawater was found to be very low. The influence of lake water could be observed from higher levels of KMnO4 consumption in wells near the lake. The integration of PCA and HCA with conventional classification of groundwater types, as well as with the hydrogeochemical data, provided useful tools to identify the vulnerable groundwater areas representing the impacts of both natural and human activities on water quality and the understanding of complex groundwater flow system for the aquifer vulnerability assessment and groundwater management in the future.Peer reviewe

QTL/microarray approach using pathway information

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A combined quantitative trait loci (QTL) and microarray-based approach is commonly used to find differentially expressed genes which are then identified based on the known function of a gene in the biological process governing the trait of interest. However, a low cutoff value in individual gene analyses may result in many genes with moderate but meaningful changes in expression being missed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We modified a gene set analysis to identify intersection sets with significantly affected expression for which the changes in the individual gene sets are less significant. The gene expression profiles in liver tissues of four strains of mice from publicly available microarray sources were analyzed to detect trait-associated pathways using information on the QTL regions of blood concentrations of high density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Several metabolic pathways related to HDL levels, including lipid metabolism, ABC transporters and cytochrome P450 pathways were detected for HDL QTL regions. Most of the pathways identified for the IGF-1 phenotype were signal transduction pathways associated with biological processes for IGF-1's regulation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have developed a method of identifying pathways associated with a quantitative trait using information on QTL. Our approach provides insights into genotype-phenotype relations at the level of biological pathways which may help to elucidate the genetic architecture underlying variation in phenotypic traits.</p

Eight years of sub-micrometre organic aerosol composition data from the boreal forest characterized using a machine-learning approach

The Station for Measuring Ecosystem-Atmosphere Relations (SMEAR) II, located within the boreal forest of Finland, is a unique station in the world due to the wide range of long-term measurements tracking the Earth-atmosphere interface. In this study, we characterize the composition of organic aerosol (OA) at SMEAR II by quantifying its driving constituents. We utilize a multi-year data set of OA mass spectra measured in situ with an Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) at the station. To our knowledge, this mass spectral time series is the longest of its kind published to date. Similarly to other previously reported efforts in OA source apportionment from multi-seasonal or multi-annual data sets, we approached the OA characterization challenge through positive matrix factorization (PMF) using a rolling window approach. However, the existing methods for extracting minor OA components were found to be insufficient for our rather remote site. To overcome this issue, we tested a new statistical analysis framework. This included unsupervised feature extraction and classification stages to explore a large number of unconstrained PMF runs conducted on the measured OA mass spectra. Anchored by these results, we finally constructed a relaxed chemical mass balance (CMB) run that resolved different OA components from our observations. The presented combination of statistical tools provided a data-driven analysis methodology, which in our case achieved robust solutions with minimal subjectivity. Following the extensive statistical analyses, we were able to divide the 2012-2019 SMEAR II OA data (mass concentration interquartile range (IQR): 0.7, 1.3, and 2.6 mu gm(-3)) into three sub-categories - low-volatility oxygenated OA (LV-OOA), semi-volatile oxygenated OA (SV-OOA), and primary OA (POA) - proving that the tested methodology was able to provide results consistent with literature. LV-OOA was the most dominant OA type (organic mass fraction IQR: 49 %, 62 %, and 73 %). The seasonal cycle of LV-OOA was bimodal, with peaks both in summer and in February. We associated the wintertime LV-OOA with anthropogenic sources and assumed biogenic influence in LV-OOA formation in summer. Through a brief trajectory analysis, we estimated summertime natural LV-OOA formation of tens of ngm 3 h 1 over the boreal forest. SV-OOA was the second highest contributor to OA mass (organic mass fraction IQR: 19 %, 31 %, and 43 %). Due to SV-OOA's clear peak in summer, we estimate biogenic processes as the main drivers in its formation. Unlike for LV-OOA, the highest SV-OOA concentrations were detected in stable summertime nocturnal surface layers. Two nearby sawmills also played a significant role in SV-OOA production as also exemplified by previous studies at SMEAR II. POA, taken as a mix of two different OA types reported previously, hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA) and biomass burning OA (BBOA), made up a minimal OA mass fraction (IQR: 2 %, 6 %, and 13 %). Notably, the quantification of POA at SMEAR II using ACSM data was not possible following existing rolling PMF methodologies. Both POA organic mass fraction and mass concentration peaked in winter. Its appearance at SMEAR II was linked to strong southerly winds. Similar wind direction and speed dependence was not observed among other OA types. The high wind speeds probably enabled the POA transport to SMEAR II from faraway sources in a relatively fresh state. In the event of slower wind speeds, POA likely evaporated and/or aged into oxidized organic aerosol before detection. The POA organic mass fraction was significantly lower than reported by aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) measurements 2 to 4 years prior to the ACSM measurements. While the co-located long-term measurements of black carbon supported the hypothesis of higher POA loadings prior to year 2012, it is also possible that short-term (POA) pollution plumes were averaged out due to the slow time resolution of the ACSM combined with the further 3 h data averaging needed to ensure good signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Despite the length of the ACSM data set, we did not focus on quantifying long-term trends of POA (nor other components) due to the high sensitivity of OA composition to meteorological anomalies, the occurrence of which is likely not normally distributed over the 8-year measurement period. Due to the unique and realistic seasonal cycles and meteorology dependences of the independent OA subtypes complemented by the reasonably low degree of unexplained OA variability, we believe that the presented data analysis approach performs well. Therefore, we hope that these results encourage also other researchers possessing several-yearlong time series of similar data to tackle the data analysis via similar semi- or unsupervised machine-learning approaches. This way the presented method could be further optimized and its usability explored and evaluated also in other environments.Peer reviewe