Continuous Entanglement Distribution from an AlGaAs-on-Insulator Microcomb for Quantum Communications

Using an aluminum gallium arsenide microring resonator, we demonstrate a bright quantum optical microcomb with $>300$ nm bandwidth and more than 20 sets of time-energy entangled modes, enabling spectral demultiplexing with simple, off-the-shelf commercial telecom components. We report high-rate continuous entanglement distribution for two sets of entangled-photon pair frequency modes exhibiting up to $20$ GHz/mW$^2$ pair generation rate. As an illustrative example of entanglement distribution, we perform a continuous-wave time-bin quantum key distribution protocol with 8 kbps raw key rates while maintaining less than 10$\%$ error rate and sufficient two-photon visibility to ensure security of the channel. When the $>$20 frequency modes are multiplexed, we estimate $>$100 kbps entanglement-based key rates or the creation of a multi-user quantum communications network. The entire system requires less than 110 $\mu$W of on-chip optical power, demonstrating an efficient source of entangled frequency modes for quantum communications. As a proof of principle, a quantum key is distributed across 12 km of deployed fiber on the UCSB campus and used to transmit a 21 kB image with $<9\%$ error.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

δ-closure, θ-closure and generalized closed sets

[EN] We study some new classes of generalized closed sets (in the sense of N. Levine) in a topological space via the associated δ-closure and θ-closure. The relationships among these new classes and existing classes of generalized closed sets are investigated. In the last section we provide an extensive and more or less complete survey on separation axioms characterized via singletons.Cao, J.; Ganster, M.; Reilly, IL.; Steiner, M. (2005). δ-closure, θ-closure and generalized closed sets. Applied General Topology. 6(1):79-86. doi:10.4995/agt.2005.1964.798661Cao, J., Ganster, M., & Reilly, I. (2002). On generalized closed sets. Topology and its Applications, 123(1), 37-46. doi:10.1016/s0166-8641(01)00167-5J. Cao, M. Ganster and I. Reilly, Submaximality, extremal disconnectedness and generalized closed sets, Houston J. Math. 24 (1998), 681-688.Cao, J., Greenwood, S., & Reilly, I. L. (2001). Generalized closed sets: a unified approach. Applied General Topology, 2(2), 179. doi:10.4995/agt.2001.2148K. Dlaska and M. Ganster, S-sets and co-S-closed topologies, Indian J. Pure Appl. Math. 23 (1992), 731-737.J. Dontchev and M. Ganster, On δ-generalized closed sets and T3/4 spaces, Mem. Fac. Sci. Kochi Univ. Ser. A Math. 17 (1996), 15-31.Dontchev, J., & Maki, H. (1999). Onθ-generalized closed sets. International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences, 22(2), 239-249. doi:10.1155/s0161171299222399W. Dunham, T1/2-spaces, Kyungpook Math. J. 17 (1977), 161-169.D. Jankovic, On some separation axioms and θ-closure, Mat. Vesnik 32 (4) (1980), 439-449.D. Jankovic and I. Reilly, On semi-separation properties, Indian J. Pure Appl. Math. 16 (1985), 957-964.Levine, N. (1970). Generalized closed sets in topology. Rendiconti del Circolo Matematico di Palermo, 19(1), 89-96. doi:10.1007/bf02843888Veličko, N. V. (1968). -closed topological spaces. Eleven Papers on Topology, 103-118. doi:10.1090/trans2/078/0

Combining targeted and systematic prostate biopsy improves prostate cancer detection and correlation with the whole mount histopathology in biopsy naïve and previous negative biopsy patients

OBJECTIVE: Guidelines for previous negative biopsy (PNB) cohorts with a suspicion of prostate cancer (PCa) after positive multiparametric (mp) magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) often favour the fusion-guided targeted prostate-biopsy (TB) only approach for Prostate Imaging-Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) ≥3 lesions. However, recommendations lack direct biopsy performance comparison within biopsy naïve (BN) vs. PNB patients and its prognostication of the whole mount pathology report (WMPR), respectively. We suppose, that the combination of TB and concomitant TRUS-systematic biopsy (SB) improves the PCa detection rate of PI-RADS 2, 3, 4 or 5 lesions and the International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP)-grade predictability of the WMPR in BN- and PNB patients. METHODS: Patients with suspicious mpMRI, elevated prostate-specific-antigen and/or abnormal digital rectal examination were included. All PI-RADS reports were intramurally reviewed for biopsy planning. We compared the PI-RADS score substratified TB, SB or combined approach (TB/SB) associated BN- and PNB-PCa detection rate. Furthermore, we assessed the ISUP-grade variability between biopsy cores and the WMPR. RESULTS: According to BN (n = 499) vs. PNB (n = 314) patients, clinically significant (cs) PCa was detected more frequently by the TB/SB approach (62 vs. 43%) than with the TB (54 vs. 34%) or SB (57 vs. 34%) (all p < 0.0001) alone. Furthermore, we observed that the TB/SB strategy detects a significantly higher number of csPCa within PI-RADS 3, 4 or 5 reports, both in BN and PNB men. In contrast, applied biopsy techniques were equally effective to detect csPCa within PI-RADS 2 lesions. In case of csPCa diagnosis the TB approach was more often false-negative in PNB patients (BN 11% vs. PNB 19%; p = 0.02). The TB/SB technique showed in general significantly less upgrading, whereas a higher agreement was only observed for the total and BN patient cohort. CONCLUSION: Despite csPCa is more frequently found in BN patients, the TB/SB method always detected a significantly higher number of csPCa within PI-RADS 3, 4 or 5 reports of our BN and PNB group. The TB/SB strategy predicts the ISUP-grade best in the total and BN cohort and in general shows the lowest upgrading rates, emphasizing its value not only in BN but also PNB patients

Heat stored in the Earth system:where does the energy go?

Human-induced atmospheric composition changes cause a radiative imbalance at the top of the atmosphere which is driving global warming. This Earth energy imbalance (EEI) is the most critical number defining the prospects for continued global warming and climate change. Understanding the heat gain of the Earth system – and particularly how much and where the heat is distributed – is fundamental to understanding how this affects warming ocean, atmosphere and land; rising surface temperature; sea level; and loss of grounded and floating ice, which are fundamental concerns for society. This study is a Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) concerted international effort to update the Earth heat inventory and presents an updated assessment of ocean warming estimates as well as new and updated estimates of heat gain in the atmosphere, cryosphere and land over the period 1960–2018. The study obtains a consistent long-term Earth system heat gain over the period 1971–2018, with a total heat gain of 358±37 ZJ, which is equivalent to a global heating rate of 0.47±0.1 W m−2. Over the period 1971–2018 (2010–2018), the majority of heat gain is reported for the global ocean with 89 % (90 %), with 52 % for both periods in the upper 700 m depth, 28 % (30 %) for the 700–2000 m depth layer and 9 % (8 %) below 2000 m depth. Heat gain over land amounts to 6 % (5 %) over these periods, 4 % (3 %) is available for the melting of grounded and floating ice, and 1 % (2 %) is available for atmospheric warming. Our results also show that EEI is not only continuing, but also increasing: the EEI amounts to 0.87±0.12 W m−2 during 2010–2018. Stabilization of climate, the goal of the universally agreed United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992 and the Paris Agreement in 2015, requires that EEI be reduced to approximately zero to achieve Earth's system quasi-equilibrium. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would need to be reduced from 410 to 353 ppm to increase heat radiation to space by 0.87 W m−2, bringing Earth back towards energy balance. This simple number, EEI, is the most fundamental metric that the scientific community and public must be aware of as the measure of how well the world is doing in the task of bringing climate change under control, and we call for an implementation of the EEI into the global stocktake based on best available science. Continued quantification and reduced uncertainties in the Earth heat inventory can be best achieved through the maintenance of the current global climate observing system, its extension into areas of gaps in the sampling, and the establishment of an international framework for concerted multidisciplinary research of the Earth heat inventory as presented in this study. This Earth heat inventory is published at the German Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ, https://www.dkrz.de/, last access: 7 August 2020) under the DOI https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/GCOS_EHI_EXP_v2 (von Schuckmann et al., 2020)

Anoxia begets anoxia: a positive feedback to the deoxygenation of temperate lakes

Declining oxygen concentrations in the deep waters of lakes worldwide pose a pressing environmental and societal challenge. Existing theory suggests that low deep-water dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations could trigger a positive feedback through which anoxia (i.e., very low DO) during a given summer begets increasingly severe occurrences of anoxia in following summers. Specifically, anoxic conditions can promote nutrient release from sediments, thereby stimulating phytoplankton growth, and subsequent phytoplankton decomposition can fuel heterotrophic respiration, resulting in increased spatial extent and duration of anoxia. However, while the individual relationships in this feedback are well established, to our knowledge, there has not been a systematic analysis within or across lakes that simultaneously demonstrates all of the mechanisms necessary to produce a positive feedback that reinforces anoxia. Here, we compiled data from 656 widespread temperate lakes and reservoirs to analyze the proposed anoxia begets anoxia feedback. Lakes in the dataset span a broad range of surface area (1–126,909 ha), maximum depth (6–370 m), and morphometry, with a median time-series duration of 30 years at each lake. Using linear mixed models, we found support for each of the positive feedback relationships between anoxia, phosphorus concentrations, chlorophyll a concentrations, and oxygen demand across the 656-lake dataset. Likewise, we found further support for these relationships by analyzing time-series data from individual lakes. Our results indicate that the strength of these feedback relationships may vary with lake-specific characteristics: For example, we found that surface phosphorus concentrations were more positively associated with chlorophyll a in high-phosphorus lakes, and oxygen demand had a stronger influence on the extent of anoxia in deep lakes. Taken together, these results support the existence of a positive feedback that could magnify the effects of climate change and other anthropogenic pressures driving the development of anoxia in lakes around the world

City branding as economic necessity

Kvalitetno brendiranje grada je preduvjet za njihovu prepoznatljivost, kvalitetno pozicioniranje i stvaranje dodatne vrijednosti. Praksa i mnogobrojni primjeri potvrđuju ispravnost ove teze. Brendiranje gradova je nužno kako bi se pojačala konkurentnost, ostvarila veća dobit i osigurao razvoj mjesta. No ne radi se samo o ekonomskim kategorijama jer se pod razvojem mjesta podrazumijevaju i pozitivna demografska kretanja, obogaćivanje kulturnih sadržaja kao i drugih činitelja koji podižu ukupnu kvalitetu života. Izazov je to i nužnost i za gradove u Hrvatskoj kako bi bili konkurentni u oštroj tržišnoj konkurenciji.Quality city branding is a precondition for their recognazibility, quality positionig and creating of added value. Practice and numerous examples confirm correction of this theses. City branding is necessary to enhance concurence, gain bigger profit and ensure place development. But this is not only about economic categories because under place development it is understandable alsto positive demographic movement, enrichment of cultural contens as well as other factors which raise total quality of life. This is as well a challenge as it is a necessity for cities in Croatia so they could be concurente in harsh economy concurence

Impact of clinical phenotypes on management and outcomes in European atrial fibrillation patients: a report from the ESC-EHRA EURObservational Research Programme in AF (EORP-AF) General Long-Term Registry

Background: Epidemiological studies in atrial fibrillation (AF) illustrate that clinical complexity increase the risk of major adverse outcomes. We aimed to describe European AF patients\u2019 clinical phenotypes and analyse the differential clinical course. Methods: We performed a hierarchical cluster analysis based on Ward\u2019s Method and Squared Euclidean Distance using 22 clinical binary variables, identifying the optimal number of clusters. We investigated differences in clinical management, use of healthcare resources and outcomes in a cohort of European AF patients from a Europe-wide observational registry. Results: A total of 9363 were available for this analysis. We identified three clusters: Cluster 1 (n = 3634; 38.8%) characterized by older patients and prevalent non-cardiac comorbidities; Cluster 2 (n = 2774; 29.6%) characterized by younger patients with low prevalence of comorbidities; Cluster 3 (n = 2955;31.6%) characterized by patients\u2019 prevalent cardiovascular risk factors/comorbidities. Over a mean follow-up of 22.5 months, Cluster 3 had the highest rate of cardiovascular events, all-cause death, and the composite outcome (combining the previous two) compared to Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 (all P &lt;.001). An adjusted Cox regression showed that compared to Cluster 2, Cluster 3 (hazard ratio (HR) 2.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.27\u20133.62; HR 3.42, 95%CI 2.72\u20134.31; HR 2.79, 95%CI 2.32\u20133.35), and Cluster 1 (HR 1.88, 95%CI 1.48\u20132.38; HR 2.50, 95%CI 1.98\u20133.15; HR 2.09, 95%CI 1.74\u20132.51) reported a higher risk for the three outcomes respectively. Conclusions: In European AF patients, three main clusters were identified, differentiated by differential presence of comorbidities. Both non-cardiac and cardiac comorbidities clusters were found to be associated with an increased risk of major adverse outcomes

Vorschläge betr. eine Reform des jüdischen Religionsunterrichtes an den obersten Klassen der Mittelschulen erstattet an den Vorstand der Wiener israel. Kultusgemeinde

von Maximilian Steine

On br -closed sets

[EN] This paper is closely related to the work of Cao, Greenwood and Reilly in as it expands and completes their fundamental diagram by considering b-closed sets. In addition, we correct a wrong assertion in about βgs-spaces.Ganster, M.; Steiner, M. (2007). On br -closed sets. Applied General Topology. 8(2):243-247. doi:10.4995/agt.2007.1889.SWORD24324782M. E. Abd El-Monsef, S.N. El-Deeb, and R.A. Mahmoud, β-open sets and β-continuous mappings, Bull. Fac. Sci. Assiut Univ. 12 (1983), 77–90.D. Andrijevic, Semi-preopen sets, Mat. Vesnik 38 (1986), 24–32.D. Andrijevic, On b-open sets, Mat. Vesnik 48 (1996), 69–64.S. Arya and T. Nour, Characterizations of s-normal spaces, Indian J. Pure Appl. Math.21 (1990), 717–719.P. Bhattacharya and B. Lahiri, Semi-generalized closed sets in topology, Indian J. Math. 29 (1987), 375–382.J. Cao, M. Ganster, Ch. Konstadilaki, and I. Reilly, On preclosed sets and their generalizations, Houston J. Math. 28 (2002), 771–780.J. Cao, M. Ganster, and I. Reilly, Submaximality, extremal disconnectedness and generalized closed sets, Houston J. Math. 24 (1998), 681–688.J. Cao, M. Ganster, and I. Reilly, On sg-closed sets and gα-closed sets, Mem. Fac. Sci. Kochi. Univ. Ser A, Math. 20 (1999), 1–5.Cao, J., Ganster, M., & Reilly, I. (2002). On generalized closed sets. Topology and its Applications, 123(1), 37-46. doi:10.1016/s0166-8641(01)00167-5Cao, J., Greenwood, S., & Reilly, I. L. (2001). Generalized closed sets: a unified approach. Applied General Topology, 2(2), 179. doi:10.4995/agt.2001.2148J. Dontchev, On generalizing semi-preopen sets, Mem. Fac. Sci. Kochi Univ. Ser. A, Math. 16 (1995), 35–48.J. Dontchev and H. Maki, On sg-closed sets and semi- -closed sets, Questions Answers Gen. Topology 15 (1997), 259–266.M. Ganster and M. Steiner, On some questions about b-open sets, Questions Answers Gen. Topology, to appear.D. Jankovic and I. Reilly, On semi-separation properties, Indian J. Pure Appl. Math. 16 (1985), 957–964.Levine, N. (1963). Semi-Open Sets and Semi-Continuity in Topological Spaces. The American Mathematical Monthly, 70(1), 36. doi:10.2307/2312781H. Maki, J. Umehara, and T. Noiri, Every topological space is pre-T1/2, Mem. Fac. Sci. Kochi Univ. Ser. A, Math. 17 (1996), 33–42.A.S. Mashhour, M.E. Abd El-Monsef, and S.N. El-Deeb, On pre-continuous and weak pre-continuous mappings, Proc. Math. Phys. Soc. Egypt 53 (1982), 47–53.Njȧstad, O. (1965). On some classes of nearly open sets. Pacific Journal of Mathematics, 15(3), 961-970. doi:10.2140/pjm.1965.15.96