Generation of hybrid polarization-orbital angular momentum entangled states

Hybrid entangled states exhibit entanglement between different degrees of freedom of a particle pair and thus could be useful for asymmetric optical quantum network where the communication channels are characterized by different properties. We report the first experimental realization of hybrid polarization-orbital angular momentum (OAM) entangled states by adopting a spontaneous parametric down conversion source of polarization entangled states and a polarization-OAM transferrer. The generated quantum states have been characterized through quantum state tomography. Finally, the violation of Bell's inequalities with the hybrid two photon system has been observed.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Multi-objective optimal longitudinal flight control system design for large flexible transport aircraft

This paper presents a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm design of a longitudinal optimal controller for a large flexible transport aircraft. The algorithm uses a mixed optimization approach based on a combination of Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) control and a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) to search over a set of possible weighting function structures and parameter values in order to satisfy a number of conflicting design criteria. The proposed approach offers a number of potential optimal solutions lying on or near the Pareto optimal front of competing objectives. The approach is explained in this paper and some results are presented

Research Opportunities in Contextualized Fusion Systems. The Harbor Surveillance Case

Proceedings of: International Workshop of Intelligent Systems for Context-Based Information Fusion (ISCIF 2011) associated to 11th International Work-Conference on Artificial Neural Networks, IWANN, Torremolinos-Málaga, Spain, June 8-10, 2011.The design of modern Information Fusion (IF) systems involves a complex process to achieve the requirements in the selected applications, especially in domains with a high degree of customization. In general, an advanced fusion system is required to show robust, context-sensitive behavior and efficient performance in real time. It is necessary to exploit all potentially relevant sensor and contextual information in the most appropriate way. Among modern applications for IF technology is the case of surveillance of complex harbor environments that are comprised of large numbers of surface vessels, high-value and dangerous facilities, and many people. The particular conditions and open needs in the harbor scenario are reviewed in this paper, highlighting research opportunities to explore in the development of fusion systems in this area.This work was supported in part by Projects CICYT TIN2008-06742-C02-02/TSI, CICYT TEC2008-06732-C02-02/TEC and CAM CONTEXTS S2009/TIC-1485.Publicad

Endophytic Microbes Are Tools to Increase Tolerance in Jasione Plants Against Arsenic Stress

Seed microbiota is becoming an emergent area of research. Host plant microbial diversity is increasingly well described, yet relatively little is known about the stressors driving plant endomicrobiota at the metaorganism level. The present work examines the role of horizontal and vertical transmission of bacterial microbiota in response to abiotic stress generated by arsenic. Horizontal transmission is achieved by bioaugmentation with the endophyte Rhodococcus rhodochrous, while vertical transmission comes via maternal inheritance from seeds. To achieve this goal, all experiments were conducted with two Jasione species. J. montana is tolerant to arsenic (As), whereas J. sessiliflora, being phylogenetically close to J. montana, was not previously described as As tolerant. The Jasione core bacterial endophytes are composed of genera Pseudomonas, Ralstonia, Undibacterium, Cutibacterium, and Kocuria and family Comamanadaceae across different environmental conditions. All these operational taxonomic units (OTUs) coexisted from seeds to the development of the seedling, independently of As stress, or bioaugmentation treatment and Jasione species. R. rhodochrous colonized efficiently both species, driving the endomicrobiota structure of Jasione with a stronger effect than As stress. Despite the fact that most of the OTUs identified inside Jasione seeds and seedlings belonged to rare microbiota, they represent a large bacterial reservoir offering important physiological and ecological traits to the host. Jasione traits co-regulated with R. rhodochrous, and the associated microbiota improved the host response to As stress. NGS-Illumina tools provided further knowledge about the ecological and functional roles of plant endophytes.This work has been supported by the Research grant from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (AYUDA PUENTE 2019-DRIADES Project). IM-R gratefully acknowledges PEJD-2019-PRE/AMB-16306 from the Madrid Community program. Funding support was also provided by USDA-NIFA Multistate Project W4147 and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.N

Modelling sea breeze climatologies and interactions on coasts in the southern North Sea: Implications for offshore wind energy

Current understanding of the behaviour of sea breezes in the offshore environment is limited but rapidly requires improvement due, not least, to the expansion of the offshore wind energy industry. Here we report on contrasting characteristics of three sea-breeze types on five coastlines around the southern North Sea from an 11 year model-simulated climatology. We present and test an identification method which distinguishes sea-breeze types which can, in principle, be adapted for other coastlines around the world. The coherence of the composite results for each type demonstrates that the method is very effective in resolving and distinguishing characteristics and features. Some features, such as jets and calm zones, are shown to influence offshore wind farm development areas, including the sites of the proposed wind farms up to 200 km offshore. A large variability in sea-breeze frequency between neighbouring coastlines of up to a factor of 3 is revealed. Additionally, there is a strong association between sea-breeze type on one coastline and that which may form coincidentally on another nearby. This association can be as high as 86% between, for example, the North Norfolk and East Norfolk coasts. We show, through associations between sea-breeze events on coastlines with contrasting orientations, that each coastline can be important for influencing the wind climate of another. Furthermore, we highlight that each sea-breeze type needs separate consideration in wind power resource assessment and that future larger turbines will be more sensitive to sea-breeze impacts

Genome-Wide Association Study for Maize Leaf Cuticular Conductance Identifies Candidate Genes Involved in the Regulation of Cuticle Development.

The cuticle, a hydrophobic layer of cutin and waxes synthesized by plant epidermal cells, is the major barrier to water loss when stomata are closed at night and under water-limited conditions. Elucidating the genetic architecture of natural variation for leaf cuticular conductance (g c) is important for identifying genes relevant to improving crop productivity in drought-prone environments. To this end, we conducted a genome-wide association study of g c of adult leaves in a maize inbred association panel that was evaluated in four environments (Maricopa, AZ, and San Diego, CA, in 2016 and 2017). Five genomic regions significantly associated with g c were resolved to seven plausible candidate genes (ISTL1, two SEC14 homologs, cyclase-associated protein, a CER7 homolog, GDSL lipase, and β-D-XYLOSIDASE 4). These candidates are potentially involved in cuticle biosynthesis, trafficking and deposition of cuticle lipids, cutin polymerization, and cell wall modification. Laser microdissection RNA sequencing revealed that all these candidate genes, with the exception of the CER7 homolog, were expressed in the zone of the expanding adult maize leaf where cuticle maturation occurs. With direct application to genetic improvement, moderately high average predictive abilities were observed for whole-genome prediction of g c in locations (0.46 and 0.45) and across all environments (0.52). The findings of this study provide novel insights into the genetic control of g c and have the potential to help breeders more effectively develop drought-tolerant maize for target environments

2D material platform for overcoming the amplitude-phase tradeoff in ring modulators

Compact, high-speed electro-optic phase modulators play a vital role in various large-scale applications including phased arrays, quantum and neural networks, and optical communication links. Conventional phase modulators suffer from a fundamental tradeoff between device length and optical loss that limits their scaling capabilities. High-finesse ring resonators have been traditionally used as compact intensity modulators, but their use for phase modulation have been limited due to the high insertion loss associated with the phase change. Here, we show that high-finesse resonators can achieve a strong phase change with low insertion loss by simultaneous modulation of the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index, to the same extent i.e. $\frac{\Delta n}{\Delta k} \sim 1$. To implement this strategy, we utilize a hybrid platform that combines a low-loss SiN ring resonator with electro-absorptive graphene (Gr) and electro-refractive WSe$_2$. We achieve a phase modulation efficiency ($V_{\frac{\pi}{2}} \cdot L_{\frac{\pi}{2}}$) of 0.045 V $\cdot$ cm with an insertion loss (IL$_{\frac{\pi}{2}}$) of 4.7 dB for a phase change of $\frac{\pi}{2}$ radians, in a 25 $\mu$m long Gr-Al$_2$O$_3$-WSe$_2$ capacitor embedded on a SiN ring of 50 $\mu$m radius. We find that our Gr-Al$_2$O$_3$-WSe$_2$ capacitor can support an electro-optic bandwidth of 14.9 $\pm$ 0.1 GHz. We further show that the $V_{\frac{\pi}{2}} \cdot L_{\frac{\pi}{2}}$ of our SiN-2D platform is at least an order of magnitude lower than that of electro-optic phase modulators based on silicon, III-V on silicon, graphene on silicon and lithium niobate. This SiN-2D hybrid platform provides the impetus to design compact and high-speed reconfigurable circuits with graphene and transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers that can enable large-scale photonic systems

PARASITOIDS AND PARASITES OF \u3ci\u3eSPODOPTERA FRUGIPERDA\u3c/i\u3e (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) IN THE AMERICAS AND CARIBBEAN BASIN: AN INVENTORY

An inventory of parasitoids and parasites of fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), was conducted using references describing parasitized FAW eggs, larvae, pupae and adults collected from different crops or habitats throughout the Americas and the Caribbean Basin. The crops and countries where these parasites were reported occurring in the Americas is also inventoried. Maize was the crop where the FAW was more frequently collected followed by rice. Overall, Chelonus insularis (Cresson) had the broadest natural distribution in the Americas. For the North American region C. insulares , Chelonus sp., and Euplectrus platyhypenae (Howard) were the most relevant parasitoids. In Central America, C. insularis was the most prevalent parasitoid, and in the South American region the most prevalent parasites were Archytas incertus (Macq.), A. marmoratus (Tns.), C. insularis , and Meteorus laphygmae (Viereck). Diapetimorpha introita (Cresson) is the most important pupal parasitoid of FAW occurring mainly in North America. An acugutturid, Noctuidonema guyanense (Remillet & Silvain), is the most important ectoparasitic nematode attacking adults of FAW and other noctuid moths in South and Southeastern US, and Mexico in North America, Caribbean Basin, Central America, and Northern South America

ADGRL3 (LPHN3) variants are associated with a refined phenotype of ADHD in the MTA study

Background ADHD is the most common neuropsychiatric condition affecting individuals of all ages. Long-term outcomes of affected individuals and association with severe comorbidities as SUD or conduct disorders are the main concern. Genetic associations have been extensively described. Multiple studies show that intronic variants harbored in the ADGRL3 (LPHN3) gene are associated with ADHD, especially associated with poor outcomes. Methods In this study, we evaluated this association in the Multimodal Treatment Study of children with ADHD (MTA), initiated as a 14-month randomized clinical trial of 579 children diagnosed with DSM-IV ADHD-Combined Type (ADHD-C), that transitioned to a 16-year prospective observational follow-up, and 289 classmates added at the 2-year assessment to serve as a local normative comparison group (LNCG). Diagnostic evaluations at entry were based on the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-Parent (DISC-P), which was repeated at several points over the years. For an add-on genetic study, blood samples were collected from 232 in the MTA group and 139 in the LNCG. Results For the 205 MTA participants, 14.6% retained the DISC-P diagnosis of ADHD-C in adolescence. For 127 LNCG participants, 88.2% remained undiagnosed by the DISC-P. We genotyped 15 polymorphic SNP markers harbored in the ADGRL3 gene, and compared allele frequencies for the 30 cases with continued diagnosis of ADHD-C in adolescence to the other participants. Replication of the association of rs2345039 ADGRL3 variant was observed (P value = 0.004, FDR corrected = 0.03; Odds ratio = 2.25, upper CI 1.28–3.97). Conclusion The detection of susceptibility conferred by ADGRL3 variants in the extreme phenotype of continued diagnosis of ADHD-C from childhood to adolescence provides additional support that the association of ADGRL3 and ADHD is not spurious. Exploring genetic effects in longitudinal cohorts, in which refined, age-dependent phenotypes are documented, is crucial to understand the natural history of ADHD