1,333 research outputs found
Impact of time-ordered measurements of the two states in a niobium superconducting qubit structure
Measurements of thermal activation are made in a superconducting, niobium
Persistent-Current (PC) qubit structure, which has two stable classical states
of equal and opposite circulating current. The magnetization signal is read out
by ramping the bias current of a DC SQUID. This ramping causes time-ordered
measurements of the two states, where measurement of one state occurs before
the other. This time-ordering results in an effective measurement time, which
can be used to probe the thermal activation rate between the two states.
Fitting the magnetization signal as a function of temperature and ramp time
allows one to estimate a quality factor of 10^6 for our devices, a value
favorable for the observation of long quantum coherence times at lower
temperatures.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Electronic Structure and Optical Properties of the Co-doped Anatase TiO Studied from First Principles
The Co-doped anatase TiO, a recently discovered room-temperature
ferromagnetic insulator, has been studied by the first-principles calculations
in the pseudo-potential plane-wave formalism within the local-spin-density
approximation (LSDA), supplemented by the full-potential linear augmented plane
wave (FP-LAPW) method. Emphasis is placed on the dependence of its electronic
structures and linear optical properties on the Co-doping concentration and
oxygen vacancy in the system in order to pursue the origin of its
ferromagnetism. In the case of substitutional doping of Co for Ti, our
calculated results are well consistent with the experimental data, showing that
Co is in its low spin state. Also, it is shown that the oxygen vacancy enhances
the ferromagnetism and has larger effect on both the electronic structure and
optical properties than the Co-doping concentration only.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
The experience of long-term opiate maintenance treatment and reported barriers to recovery: A qualitative systematic review
Background/Aim: To inform understanding of the experience of long-term opiate maintenance and identify barriers to recovery. Methods: A qualitative systematic review. Results: 14 studies in 17 papers, mainly from the USA (65%), met inclusion criteria, involving 1,088 participants. Studies focused on methadone prescribing. Participants reported stability; however, many disliked methadone. Barriers to full recovery were primarily ‘inward focused'. Conclusion: This is the first review of qualitative literature on long-term maintenance, finding that universal service improvements could be made to address reported barriers to recovery, including involving ex-users as positive role models, and increasing access to psychological support. Treatment policies combining harm minimisation and abstinence-orientated approaches may best support individualised recovery
Mathematical description of bacterial traveling pulses
The Keller-Segel system has been widely proposed as a model for bacterial
waves driven by chemotactic processes. Current experiments on {\em E. coli}
have shown precise structure of traveling pulses. We present here an
alternative mathematical description of traveling pulses at a macroscopic
scale. This modeling task is complemented with numerical simulations in
accordance with the experimental observations. Our model is derived from an
accurate kinetic description of the mesoscopic run-and-tumble process performed
by bacteria. This model can account for recent experimental observations with
{\em E. coli}. Qualitative agreements include the asymmetry of the pulse and
transition in the collective behaviour (clustered motion versus dispersion). In
addition we can capture quantitatively the main characteristics of the pulse
such as the speed and the relative size of tails. This work opens several
experimental and theoretical perspectives. Coefficients at the macroscopic
level are derived from considerations at the cellular scale. For instance the
stiffness of the signal integration process turns out to have a strong effect
on collective motion. Furthermore the bottom-up scaling allows to perform
preliminary mathematical analysis and write efficient numerical schemes. This
model is intended as a predictive tool for the investigation of bacterial
collective motion
High-fidelity measurement and quantum feedback control in circuit QED
Circuit QED is a promising solid-state quantum computing architecture. It also has excellent potential as a platform for quantum control-especially quantum feedback control-experiments. However, the current scheme for measurement in circuit QED is low efficiency and has low signal-to-noise ratio for single-shot measurements. The low quality of this measurement makes the implementation of feedback difficult, and here we propose two schemes for measurement in circuit QED architectures that can significantly improve signal-to-noise ratio and potentially achieve quantum-limited measurement. Such measurements would enable the implementation of quantum feedback protocols and we illustrate this with a simple entanglement-stabilization scheme
Multi-component Transparent Conducting Oxides: Progress in Materials Modelling
Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) play an essential role in modern
optoelectronic devices through their combination of electrical conductivity and
optical transparency. We review recent progress in our understanding of
multi-component TCOs formed from solid-solutions of ZnO, In2O3, Ga2O3 and
Al2O3, with a particular emphasis on the contributions of materials modelling,
primarily based on Density Functional Theory. In particular, we highlight three
major results from our work: (i) the fundamental principles governing the
crystal structures of multi-component oxide structures including (In2O3)(ZnO)n,
named IZO, and (In2O3)m(Ga2O3)l(ZnO)n, named IGZO; (ii) the relationship
between elemental composition and optical and electrical behaviour, including
valence band alignments; (iii) the high-performance of amorphous oxide
semiconductors. From these advances, the challenge of the rational design of
novel electroceramic materials is discussed.Comment: Part of a themed issue of Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter on
"Semiconducting Oxides". In Press (2011
Pulsed Feedback Defers Cellular Differentiation
Environmental signals induce diverse cellular differentiation programs. In certain systems, cells defer differentiation for extended time periods after the signal appears, proliferating through multiple rounds of cell division before committing to a new fate. How can cells set a deferral time much longer than the cell cycle? Here we study Bacillus subtilis cells that respond to sudden nutrient limitation with multiple rounds of growth and division before differentiating into spores. A well-characterized genetic circuit controls the concentration and phosphorylation of the master regulator Spo0A, which rises to a critical concentration to initiate sporulation. However, it remains unclear how this circuit enables cells to defer sporulation for multiple cell cycles. Using quantitative time-lapse fluorescence microscopy of Spo0A dynamics in individual cells, we observed pulses of Spo0A phosphorylation at a characteristic cell cycle phase. Pulse amplitudes grew systematically and cell-autonomously over multiple cell cycles leading up to sporulation. This pulse growth required a key positive feedback loop involving the sporulation kinases, without which the deferral of sporulation became ultrasensitive to kinase expression. Thus, deferral is controlled by a pulsed positive feedback loop in which kinase expression is activated by pulses of Spo0A phosphorylation. This pulsed positive feedback architecture provides a more robust mechanism for setting deferral times than constitutive kinase expression. Finally, using mathematical modeling, we show how pulsing and time delays together enable “polyphasic” positive feedback, in which different parts of a feedback loop are active at different times. Polyphasic feedback can enable more accurate tuning of long deferral times. Together, these results suggest that Bacillus subtilis uses a pulsed positive feedback loop to implement a “timer” that operates over timescales much longer than a cell cycle
DC measurements of macroscopic quantum levels in a superconducting qubit structure with a time-ordered meter
DC measurements are made in a superconducting, persistent current qubit
structure with a time-ordered meter. The persistent-current qubit has a
double-well potential, with the two minima corresponding to magnetization
states of opposite sign. Macroscopic resonant tunneling between the two wells
is observed at values of energy bias that correspond to the positions of the
calculated quantum levels. The magnetometer, a Superconducting Quantum
Interference Device (SQUID), detects the state of the qubit in a time-ordered
fashion, measuring one state before the other. This results in a different
meter output depending on the initial state, providing different signatures of
the energy levels for each tunneling direction. From these measurements, the
intrawell relaxation time is found to be about 50 microseconds.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
Chemotaxis When Bacteria Remember: Drift versus Diffusion
{\sl Escherichia coli} ({\sl E. coli}) bacteria govern their trajectories by
switching between running and tumbling modes as a function of the nutrient
concentration they experienced in the past. At short time one observes a drift
of the bacterial population, while at long time one observes accumulation in
high-nutrient regions. Recent work has viewed chemotaxis as a compromise
between drift toward favorable regions and accumulation in favorable regions. A
number of earlier studies assume that a bacterium resets its memory at tumbles
-- a fact not borne out by experiment -- and make use of approximate
coarse-grained descriptions. Here, we revisit the problem of chemotaxis without
resorting to any memory resets. We find that when bacteria respond to the
environment in a non-adaptive manner, chemotaxis is generally dominated by
diffusion, whereas when bacteria respond in an adaptive manner, chemotaxis is
dominated by a bias in the motion. In the adaptive case, favorable drift occurs
together with favorable accumulation. We derive our results from detailed
simulations and a variety of analytical arguments. In particular, we introduce
a new coarse-grained description of chemotaxis as biased diffusion, and we
discuss the way it departs from older coarse-grained descriptions.Comment: Revised version, journal reference adde
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