A sequence of unsharp measurements enabling a real time visualization of a quantum oscillation

The normalized state $\ket{\psi(t)}=c_1(t)\ket{1}+c_2(t)\ket{2}$ of a single two-level system performs oscillations under the influence of a resonant driving field. It is assumed that only one realization of this process is available. We show that it is possible to approximately visualize in real time the evolution of the system as far as it is given by $|c_2(t)|^2$. For this purpose we use a sequence of particular unsharp measurements separated in time. They are specified within the theory of generalized measurements in which observables are represented by positive operator valued measures (POVM). A realization of the unsharp measurements may be obtained by coupling the two-level system to a meter and performing the usual projection measurements on the meter only.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. A. Some typographical corrections are made and a short treatmeant of the fidelity of our measurements (N-series) is adde

The future of social is personal: the potential of the personal data store

This chapter argues that technical architectures that facilitate the longitudinal, decentralised and individual-centric personal collection and curation of data will be an important, but partial, response to the pressing problem of the autonomy of the data subject, and the asymmetry of power between the subject and large scale service providers/data consumers. Towards framing the scope and role of such Personal Data Stores (PDSes), the legalistic notion of personal data is examined, and it is argued that a more inclusive, intuitive notion expresses more accurately what individuals require in order to preserve their autonomy in a data-driven world of large aggregators. Six challenges towards realising the PDS vision are set out: the requirement to store data for long periods; the difficulties of managing data for individuals; the need to reconsider the regulatory basis for third-party access to data; the need to comply with international data handling standards; the need to integrate privacy-enhancing technologies; and the need to future-proof data gathering against the evolution of social norms. The open experimental PDS platform INDX is introduced and described, as a means of beginning to address at least some of these six challenges

Approaches to Address Premature Death of Patients When Assessing Patterns of Use of Health Care Services after an Index Event

Background: Studies of the use of health care after the onset of disease are important for assessing quality of care, treatment disparities, and guideline compliance. Cohort definition and analysis method are important considerations for the generalizability and validity of study results. We compared different approaches for cohort definition (restriction by survival time vs. comorbidity score) and analysis method [Kaplan-Meier (KM) vs. competing risk] when assessing patterns of guideline adoption in elderly patients. Methods: Medicare beneficiaries aged 65-95 years old who had an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in 2008 were eligible for this study. Beneficiaries with substantial frailty or an AMI in the prior year were excluded. We compared KM with competing risk estimates of guideline adoption during the first year post-AMI. Results: At 1-year post-AMI, 14.2% [95% confidence interval (CI), 14.0%-14.5%) of beneficiaries overall initiated cardiac rehabilitation when using competing risk analysis and 15.1% (95% CI, 14.8%-15.3%) from the KM analysis. Guideline medication adoption was estimated as 52.3% (95% CI, 52.0%-52.7%) and 53.4% (95% CI, 53.1%-53.8%) for competing risk and KM methods, respectively. Mortality was 17.0% (95%CI, 16.8%-17.3%) at 1 year post-AMI. The difference in cardiac rehabilitation initiation at 1-year post-AMI from the overall population was 0.1%, 1.7%, and 1.9% compared with 30-day survivor, 1-year survivor, and comorbidity-score restricted populations, respectively. Conclusions: In this study, the KM method consistently overestimated the competing risk method. Competing risk approaches avoid unrealistic mortality assumptions and lead to interpretations of estimates that are more meaningful

About levitation of superconducting rings for magnetic system of multipole plasma trap

In order to continue works on creation of the plasma trap with levitating magnetic coils the analytical function of the potential energy U(x,θ) of the system of two coaxial superconducting rings (and the upper ring is fixed at that), which trapped given fluxes of the same sign, in the homogeneous gravity field versus the coordinate x of the free ring and the deflection angle θ of its axis from the vertical has been obtained under approximation of thin rings. For manufactured HTSC rings, which trapped fluxes of the same sign, with the help of calculations of the dependence U(x,θ) in Mathcad system, such values of magnetic fluxes trapped by rings have been obtained under which equilibrium states of the free ring in the field of the fixed ring, stable to the shift of the levitating ring plane along the common axis and to the deflection of its axis from the vertical, exist. The existence of the determined by calculations equilibrium state for HTSC rings under trapped fluxes of the same sign, stable to the vertical shifts of the levitating ring and to the deflection of its axis from the vertical, has been proved experimentally.В продолжение работ по созданию плазменной ловушки с левитирующими магнитными катушками в приближении тонких колец получено аналитическое выражение для потенциальной энергии U (x,θ) системы из двух коаксиальных сверхпроводящих колец (причем, верхнее из них закреплено), захвативших заданные потоки одного знака, в однородном поле силы тяжести как функции координаты x свободного кольца и угла отклонения θ его оси от вертикали. Для изготовленных ВТСП-колец, захвативших потоки одного знака, с помощью расчетов в системе Mathcad зависимости U (x,θ) были найдены такие значения захваченных кольцами магнитных потоков, при которых существуют равновесные состояния свободного кольца в поле закрепленного кольца, устойчивые по отношению к смещению плоскости левитирующего кольца вдоль общей оси и к отклонению его оси от вертикали. Существование найденного из расчетов равновесного состояния для ВТСП- колец при захваченных потоках одного знака, устойчивого по отношению к вертикальным смещениям левитирующего кольца и к отклонению его оси от вертикали, было подтверждено экспериментально.У продовження робіт зі створення плазмової пастки з левітуючими магнітними котушками в наближенні тонких кілець отримано аналітичний вираз для потенційної енергії U (x, θ) системи з двох коаксіальних надпровідних кілець (причому, верхнє з них закріплено), що захопили задані потоки одного знаку, в однорідному полі сили тяжіння як функції координати x вільного кільця і кута відхилення θ його осі від вертикалі. Для виготовлених ВТНП-кілець, які захопили потоки одного знаку, за допомогою розрахунків в системі Mathcad залежності U (x, θ), були знайдені такі значення захоплених кільцями магнітних потоків, при яких існують рівноважні стани вільного кільця в полі закріпленого кільця, стійкі по відношенню до зміщення площини левітуючого кільця уздовж загальної осі та до відхилення його осі від вертикалі. Існування знайденого з розрахунків рівноважного стану для ВТНП-кілець при захоплених потоках одного знаку, стійкого по відношенню до вертикальних зсувів левітуючого кільця та до відхилення його осі від вертикалі, було підтверджено експериментально

Incretin-based therapy: a powerful and promising weapon in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a progressive multisystemic disease that increases significantly cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. It is associated with obesity, insulin resistance, beta-cell dysfunction, and hyperglucagonemia, the combination of which typically leads to hyperglycemia. Incretin-based treatment modalities, and in particular glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, are able to successfully counteract several of the underlying pathophysiological abnormalities of T2DM. The pancreatic effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists include glucose-lowering effects by stimulating insulin secretion and inhibiting glucagon release in a strictly glucose-dependent manner, increased beta-cell proliferation, and decreased beta-cell apoptosis. GLP-1 receptors are widely expressed throughout human body; thus, GLP-1-based therapies exert pleiotropic and multisystemic effects that extend far beyond pancreatic islets. A large body of experimental and clinical data have suggested a considerable protective role of GLP-1 analogs in the cardiovascular system (decreased blood pressure, improved endothelial and myocardial function, functional recovery of failing and ischemic heart, arterial vasodilatation), kidneys (increased diuresis and natriuresis), gastrointestinal tract (delayed gastric emptying, reduced gastric acid secretion), and central nervous system (appetite suppression, neuroprotective properties). The pharmacologic use of GLP-1 receptor agonists has been shown to reduce bodyweight and systolic blood pressure, and significantly improve glycemic control and lipid profile. Interestingly, weight reduction induced by GLP-1 analogs reflects mainly loss of abdominal visceral fat. The critical issue of whether the emerging positive cardiometabolic effects of GLP-1 analogs can be translated into better clinical outcomes for diabetic patients in terms of long-term hard endpoints, such as cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, remains to be elucidated with prospective, large-scale clinical trials

Crowd computing as a cooperation problem: an evolutionary approach

Cooperation is one of the socio-economic issues that has received more attention from the physics community. The problem has been mostly considered by studying games such as the Prisoner's Dilemma or the Public Goods Game. Here, we take a step forward by studying cooperation in the context of crowd computing. We introduce a model loosely based on Principal-agent theory in which people (workers) contribute to the solution of a distributed problem by computing answers and reporting to the problem proposer (master). To go beyond classical approaches involving the concept of Nash equilibrium, we work on an evolutionary framework in which both the master and the workers update their behavior through reinforcement learning. Using a Markov chain approach, we show theoretically that under certain----not very restrictive-conditions, the master can ensure the reliability of the answer resulting of the process. Then, we study the model by numerical simulations, finding that convergence, meaning that the system reaches a point in which it always produces reliable answers, may in general be much faster than the upper bounds given by the theoretical calculation. We also discuss the effects of the master's level of tolerance to defectors, about which the theory does not provide information. The discussion shows that the system works even with very large tolerances. We conclude with a discussion of our results and possible directions to carry this research further.This work is supported by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation grant TE/HPO/0609(BE)/05, the National Science Foundation (CCF-0937829, CCF-1114930), Comunidad de Madrid grant S2009TIC-1692 and MODELICO-CM, Spanish MOSAICO, PRODIEVO and RESINEE grants and MICINN grant TEC2011-29688-C02-01, and National Natural Science Foundation of China grant 61020106002.Publicad

Novel community data in ecology-properties and prospects

New technologies for monitoring biodiversity such as environmental (e)DNA, passive acoustic monitoring, and optical sensors promise to generate automated spatiotemporal community observations at unprecedented scales and resolutions. Here, we introduce ‘novel community data’ as an umbrella term for these data. We review the emerging field around novel community data, focusing on new ecological questions that could be addressed; the analytical tools available or needed to make best use of these data; and the potential implications of these developments for policy and conservation. We conclude that novel community data offer many opportunities to advance our understanding of fundamental ecological processes, including community assembly, biotic interactions, micro- and macroevolution, and overall ecosystem functioning

Turkish information retrieval: Past changes future

One of the most exciting accomplishments of computer science in the lifetime of this generation is the World Wide Web. The Web is a global electronic publishing medium. Its size has been growing with an enormous speed for over a decade. Most of its content is objectionable, but it also contains a huge amount of valuable information. The Web adds a new dimension to the concept of information explosion and tries to solve the very same problem by information retrieval systems known as Web search engines. We briefly review the information explosion problem and information retrieval systems, convey the past and state of the art in Turkish information retrieval research, illustrate some recent developments, and propose some future actions in this research area in Turkey. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006

Improved Measurement of the dˉ/uˉ\bar d / \bar u Asymmetry in the Nucleon Sea

Measurements of the ratio of Drell-Yan yields from an 800 \rm{GeV/c} proton beam incident on liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets are reported. Approximately 360,000 Drell-Yan muon pairs remained after all cuts on the data. From these data, the ratio of anti-down ($\bar{d}$) to anti-up ($\bar{u}$) quark distributions in the proton sea is determined over a wide range in Bjorken-$x$. These results confirm previous measurements by E866 and extend them to lower $x$. From these data, $(\bar{d}-\bar{u})$ and $\int(\bar{d}-\bar{u})dx$ are evaluated for $0.015<x<0.35$. These results are compared with parameterizations of various parton distribution functions, models and experimental results from NA51, NMC, and HERMES.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figure