Two-tape finite automata with quantum and classical states

{\it Two-way finite automata with quantum and classical states} (2QCFA) were introduced by Ambainis and Watrous, and {\it two-way two-tape deterministic finite automata} (2TFA) were introduced by Rabin and Scott. In this paper we study 2TFA and propose a new computing model called {\it two-way two-tape finite automata with quantum and classical states} (2TQCFA). First, we give efficient 2TFA algorithms for recognizing languages which can be recognized by 2QCFA. Second, we give efficient 2TQCFA algorithms to recognize several languages whose status vis-a-vis 2QCFA have been posed as open questions, such as $L_{square}=\{a^{n}b^{n^{2}}\mid n\in \mathbf{N}\}$. Third, we show that $\{a^{n}b^{n^{k}}\mid n\in \mathbf{N}\}$ can be recognized by {\it $(k+1)$-tape deterministic finite automata} ($(k+1)$TFA). Finally, we introduce {\it $k$-tape automata with quantum and classical states} ($k$TQCFA) and prove that $\{a^{n}b^{n^{k}}\mid n\in \mathbf{N}\}$ can be recognized by $k$TQCFA.Comment: 25 page

Rare-earth doped chalcogenide glass fibre laser

We report on the first laser action in a rare-earth doped chalcogenide glass fibre. Laser action at 1080nm was obtained in a 22mm long gallium lanthanum sulphide glass fibre with a neodymium doped core, fabricated by the rod-in-tube technique. The laser was pumped continuous wave with a Ti:sapphire laser at 815nm and showed a self-pulsing behaviour

Quantitative trait loci for bone traits segregating independently of those for growth in an F-2 broiler X layer cross

An F broiler-layer cross was phenotyped for 18 skeletal traits at 6, 7 and 9 weeks of age and genotyped with 120 microsatellite markers. Interval mapping identified 61 suggestive and significant QTL on 16 of the 25 linkage groups for 16 traits. Thirty-six additional QTL were identified when the assumption that QTL were fixed in the grandparent lines was relaxed. QTL with large effects on the lengths of the tarsometatarsus, tibia and femur, and the weights of the tibia and femur were identified on GGA4 between 217 and 249 cM. Six QTL for skeletal traits were identified that did not co-locate with genome wide significant QTL for body weight and two body weight QTL did not coincide with skeletal trait QTL. Significant evidence of imprinting was found in ten of the QTL and QTL x sex interactions were identified for 22 traits. Six alleles from the broiler line for weight- and size-related skeletal QTL were positive. Negative alleles for bone quality traits such as tibial dyschondroplasia, leg bowing and tibia twisting generally originated from the layer line suggesting that the allele inherited from the broiler is more protective than the allele originating from the layer

Healthcare-associated outbreak of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: role of a cryptic variant of an epidemic clone

BACKGROUND New strains of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may be associated with changes in rates of disease or clinical presentation. Conventional typing techniques may not detect new clonal variants that underlie changes in epidemiology or clinical phenotype. AIM To investigate the role of clonal variants of MRSA in an outbreak of MRSA bacteraemia at a hospital in England. METHODS Bacteraemia isolates of the major UK lineages (EMRSA-15 and -16) from before and after the outbreak were analysed by whole-genome sequencing in the context of epidemiological and clinical data. For comparison, EMRSA-15 and -16 isolates from another hospital in England were sequenced. A clonal variant of EMRSA-16 was identified at the outbreak hospital and a molecular signature test designed to distinguish variant isolates among further EMRSA-16 strains. FINDINGS By whole-genome sequencing, EMRSA-16 isolates during the outbreak showed strikingly low genetic diversity (P < 1 × 10(-6), Monte Carlo test), compared with EMRSA-15 and EMRSA-16 isolates from before the outbreak or the comparator hospital, demonstrating the emergence of a clonal variant. The variant was indistinguishable from the ancestral strain by conventional typing. This clonal variant accounted for 64/72 (89%) of EMRSA-16 bacteraemia isolates at the outbreak hospital from 2006. CONCLUSIONS Evolutionary changes in epidemic MRSA strains not detected by conventional typing may be associated with changes in disease epidemiology. Rapid and affordable technologies for whole-genome sequencing are becoming available with the potential to identify and track the emergence of variants of highly clonal organisms

Steady water waves with multiple critical layers: interior dynamics

We study small-amplitude steady water waves with multiple critical layers. Those are rotational two-dimensional gravity-waves propagating over a perfect fluid of finite depth. It is found that arbitrarily many critical layers with cat's-eye vortices are possible, with different structure at different levels within the fluid. The corresponding vorticity depends linearly on the stream function.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures. As accepted for publication in J. Math. Fluid Mec

The role of beach state and the timing of pre-storm surveys in determining the accuracy of storm impact assessments

Dune erosion principally occurs when water level exceeds the elevation of the beach and predicting erosion is progressively becoming more important for management as coastal populations increase, sea level rises, and storms become more powerful. This study assesses storm impacts using a simple model from Stockdon et al. (2007) configured with oceanographic information from the ADCIRC + SWAN model and frequently collected beach profiles. We applied that model to barrier islands in North Carolina including: Core Banks with a more dissipative beach morphology and Shackleford Banks and Onslow Beach with intermediate beach morphologies. The study periods captured 10 events where wave collision with the dunes and/or overwash were either predicted or observed, including large multiple-day events caused by hurricanes and smaller events caused by onshore winds and high tide. Comparing model output with a time series of beach photographs shows the predictive power and sensitivity of the model was consistently high at the Core Banks Site with its wide and low-gradient beach, high-elevation dunes (2.58 m), and high resistance to overwash. Model predictive power and sensitivity was lowest at the Shackleford Banks Site because frequent and large changes to beach slope and intermediate dune elevation (0.54–1.25 m) caused small variations of modeled total water level to either overpredict or underpredict storm impacts. In addition, storm impacts were always overpredicted during hurricanes at the Shackleford Banks Site, which was likely due to storm waves decreasing the beach slope from what was measured prior to the event and used as model input. Like Shackleford Banks, the beach slope of the Onslow Beach Site was steep and variable, but the low-elevation dunes (0.24–0.28 m) made resistance to overwash low and the predictive power and sensitivity of the model higher than at the Shackleford Banks Site. Results suggest that storm impacts and the associated potential for dune erosion is predicted more accurately at beaches where the threshold for overwash is high or low because total water level during most events will commonly fall short of or exceed the overwash threshold, respectively. The accuracy of predicting the storm impact regime is sensitive to beach slope. The slope of intermediate beaches is more variable than dissipative beaches and requires frequent measurement if it is to be represented accurately in the model, but this can be impractical and costly even using the latest drone-surveying methods. To maximize the accuracy of predicting storm impacts, intermediate beach morphology should be constrained by surveying at seasonal or yearly time scales and used as input to numerical models that estimate beach slope over short time scales (hours during an event or daily), configured with the latest wave and water-level forecasts

Flux-rope twist in eruptive flares and CMEs : due to zipper and main-phase reconnection

Funding: UK Science and Technology Facilities CouncilThe nature of three-dimensional reconnection when a twisted flux tube erupts during an eruptive flare or coronal mass ejection is considered. The reconnection has two phases: first of all, 3D “zipper reconnection” propagates along the initial coronal arcade, parallel to the polarity inversion line (PIL); then subsequent quasi-2D “main phase reconnection” in the low corona around a flux rope during its eruption produces coronal loops and chromospheric ribbons that propagate away from the PIL in a direction normal to it. One scenario starts with a sheared arcade: the zipper reconnection creates a twisted flux rope of roughly one turn (2π radians of twist), and then main phase reconnection builds up the bulk of the erupting flux rope with a relatively uniform twist of a few turns. A second scenario starts with a pre-existing flux rope under the arcade. Here the zipper phase can create a core with many turns that depend on the ratio of the magnetic fluxes in the newly formed flare ribbons and the new flux rope. Main phase reconnection then adds a layer of roughly uniform twist to the twisted central core. Both phases and scenarios are modeled in a simple way that assumes the initial magnetic flux is fragmented along the PIL. The model uses conservation of magnetic helicity and flux, together with equipartition of magnetic helicity, to deduce the twist of the erupting flux rope in terms the geometry of the initial configuration. Interplanetary observations show some flux ropes have a fairly uniform twist, which could be produced when the zipper phase and any pre-existing flux rope possess small or moderate twist (up to one or two turns). Other interplanetary flux ropes have highly twisted cores (up to five turns), which could be produced when there is a pre-existing flux rope and an active zipper phase that creates substantial extra twist.PostprintPublisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Ekpyrotic Universe: Colliding Branes and the Origin of the Hot Big Bang

We propose a cosmological scenario in which the hot big bang universe is produced by the collision of a brane in the bulk space with a bounding orbifold plane, beginning from an otherwise cold, vacuous, static universe. The model addresses the cosmological horizon, flatness and monopole problems and generates a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of density perturbations without invoking superluminal expansion (inflation). The scenario relies, instead, on physical phenomena that arise naturally in theories based on extra dimensions and branes. As an example, we present our scenario predominantly within the context of heterotic M-theory. A prediction that distinguishes this scenario from standard inflationary cosmology is a strongly blue gravitational wave spectrum, which has consequences for microwave background polarization experiments and gravitational wave detectors.Comment: 67 pages, 4 figures. v2,v3: minor corrections, references adde

Evaluation of a SPLUNC1-derived peptide for the treatment of cystic fibrosis lung disease

In cystic fibrosis (CF) lungs, epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) hyperactivity causes a reduction in airway surface liquid volume, leading to decreased mucocilliary clearance, chronic bacterial infection, and lung damage. Inhibition of ENaC is an attractive therapeutic option. However, ENaC antagonists have failed clinically because of off-target effects in the kidney. The S18 peptide is a naturally occurring short palate lung and nasal epithelial clone 1 (SPLUNC1)-derived ENaC antagonist that restores airway surface liquid height for up to 24 h in CF human bronchial epithelial cultures. However, its efficacy and safety in vivo are unknown. To interrogate the potential clinical efficacy of S18, we assessed its safety and efficacy using human airway cultures and animal models. S18-mucus interactions were tested using superresolution microscopy, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation, and confocal microscopy. Human and murine airway cultures were used to measure airway surface liquid height. Off-target effects were assessed in conscious mice and anesthetized rats. Morbidity and mortality were assessed in the β-ENaC-transgenic (Tg) mouse model. Restoration of normal mucus clearance was measured in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator inhibitor 172 [CFTR(inh)-172]-challenged sheep. We found that S18 does not interact with mucus and rapidly penetrated dehydrated CF mucus. Compared with amiloride, an early generation ENaC antagonist, S18 displayed a superior ability to slow airway surface liquid absorption, reverse CFTR(inh)-172-induced reduction of mucus transport, and reduce morbidity and mortality in the β-ENaC-Tg mouse, all without inducing any detectable signs of renal toxicity. These data suggest that S18 is the first naturally occurring ENaC antagonist to show improved preclinical efficacy in animal models of CF with no signs of renal toxicity

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio