A Diagrammatic Axiomatisation of Fermionic Quantum Circuits

We introduce the fermionic ZW calculus, a string-diagrammatic language for fermionic quantum computing (FQC). After defining a fermionic circuit model, we present the basic components of the calculus, together with their interpretation, and show how the main physical gates of interest in FQC can be represented in the language. We then list our axioms, and derive some additional equations. We prove that the axioms provide a complete equational axiomatisation of the monoidal category whose objects are quantum systems of finitely many local fermionic modes, with operations that preserve or reverse the parity (number of particles mod 2) of states, and the tensor product, corresponding to the composition of two systems, as monoidal product. We achieve this through a procedure that rewrites any diagram in a normal form. We conclude by showing, as an example, how the statistics of a fermionic Mach-Zehnder interferometer can be calculated in the diagrammatic language

Bacterial dissolution of fluorapatite as a possible source of elevated dissolved phosphate in the environment

In order to understand the contribution of geogenic phosphorus to lake eutrophication, we have investigated the rate and extent of fluorapatite dissolution in the presence of two common soil bacteria (Pantoea agglomerans and Bacillus megaterium) at T = 25 °C for 26 days. The release of calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), and rare earth elements (REE) under biotic and abiotic conditions was compared to investigate the effect of microorganism on apatite dissolution. The release of Ca and P was enhanced under the influence of bacteria. Apatite dissolution rates obtained from solution Ca concentration in the biotic reactors increased above error compared with abiotic controls. Chemical analysis of biomass showed that bacteria scavenged Ca, P, and REE during their growth, which lowered their fluid concentrations, leading to apparent lower release rates. The temporal evolution of pH in the reactors reflected the balance of apatite weathering, solution reactions, bacterial metabolism, and potentially secondary precipitation, which was implied in the variety of REE patterns in the biotic and abiotic reactors. Light rare earth elements (LREE) were preferentially adsorbed to cell surfaces, whereas heavy rare earth elements (HREE) were retained in the fluid phase. Decoupling of LREE and HREE could possibly be due to preferential release of HREE from apatite or selective secondary precipitation of LREE enriched phosphates, especially in the presence of bacteria. When corrected for intracellular concentrations, both biotic reactors showed high P and REE release compared with the abiotic control. We speculate that lack of this correction explains the conflicting findings about the role of bacteria in mineral weathering rates. The observation that bacteria enhance the release rate of P and REE from apatite could account for some of the phosphorus burden and metal pollution in aquatic environments

Excess Kondo resonance in a quantum dot device with normal and superconducting leads: the physics of Andreev-normal co-tunneling

We report on a novel Kondo phenomenon of interacting quantum dots coupled asymmetrically to a normal and a superconducting lead. The effects of intradot Coulomb interaction and Andreev tunneling give rise to Andreev bound resonances. As a result, a new type of co-tunneling process which we term Andreev-normal co-tunneling, is predicted. At low temperatures, coherent superposition of these co-tunneling processes induces a Kondo effect in which Cooper pairs directly participate formation of a spin singlet, leading to four Kondo resonance peaks in the local density of states, and enhancing the tunneling current.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Late

Electron transport through strongly interacting quantum dot coupled to normal metal and superconductor

We study the electron transport through the quantum dot coupled to the normal metal and BCS-like superconductor (N - QD - S) in the presence of the Kondo effect and Andreev scattering. The system is described by the single impurity Anderson model in the limit of strong on-dot interaction. We use recently proposed equation of motion technique for Keldysh nonequilibrium Green's function together with the modified slave boson approach to study the electron transport. We derive formula for the current which contains various tunneling processes and apply it to study the transport through the system. We find that the Andreev conductance is strongly suppressed and there is no zero-bias (Kondo) anomaly in the differential conductance. We discuss effects of the particle-hole asymmetry in the electrodes as well as the asymmetry in the couplings.Comment: Supercond. Sci. Technol. - accepted for publicatio

Processing-Induced Disorder in Pharmaceutical Materials

This chapter focuses on the major types of pharmaceutical processing methods that have been widely reported to produce disordered material either intentionally or unintentionally. Milling is one of the most frequently used unit operations used by the pharmaceutical industry for reducing the particle size of solids. Thermal processing techniques are mainly used for controlling or improving the release and the subsequent bioavailability of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Techniques such as melt-mixing, spray-congealing, sintering, melt-granulation, and hot-melt extrusion (HME) have developed and evolved rapidly for large-scale pharmaceutical production. Solvent-evaporation-based methods are important processing techniques for both raw materials, such as crystallization of the raw drug, and formulation manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry. The chapter discusses the processing that can potentially induce the formation of the disordered state during the manufacture of formulations. The widely used solvent-evaporation-based processing techniques in pharmaceutical formulation production include spray-drying, freeze-drying, film casting, and film coating

Unveiling the origin of catalytic sites of Pt nanoparticles decorated on oxygen-deficient vanadium-doped cobalt hydroxide nanosheet for hybrid sodium-air batteries

Highly active bifunctional electrocatalysts are crucial for improving the performance of rechargeable metal-air batteries. However, most reported bifunctional electrocatalysts feature poor electrocatalytic activity and stability toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here, we have reported the first-ever study of an effective one-step reduction-assisted exfoliation method to exfoliate bulk vanadium-doped cobalt hydroxide (V-doped Co(OH)2, denoted as V-Co(OH)2) into ultrathin nanosheets with abundant oxygen vacancies (V-Co(OH)2-Ov) and simultaneously anchor them with highly dispersed ultrafine Pt nanoparticles (NPs) with a nominal size of 0.8-2.4 nm (denoted as Pt/V-Co(OH)2-Ov). The Pt/V-Co(OH)2-Ov catalyst exhibits improved catalytic performance in ORR/OER. X-ray absorption spectroscopy analysis and theoretical calculations reveal the strong interfacial electronic interactions between Pt NPs and V-Co(OH)2-Ov, which synergistically improves oxygen intermediates' adsorption/desorption, enhancing the ORR and OER performance. Using Pt/V-Co(OH)2-Ov as a catalyst in the air cathode, a hybrid sodium-air battery displays a record value of an ultralow charging-discharging voltage gap of 0.07 V at a current density of 0.01 mA cm-2 with remarkable stability of up to 1000 cycles. This reduction-assisted exfoliation approach provides a new strategy to generate oxygen vacancies in metal hydroxides, which act as anchoring sites for deposition of sub-nanometal NPs via a strong interfacial effect

The Histone H3K79 Methyltransferase Dot1L Is Essential for Mammalian Development and Heterochromatin Structure

Dot1 is an evolutionarily conserved histone methyltransferase specific for lysine 79 of histone H3 (H3K79). In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Dot1-mediated H3K79 methylation is associated with telomere silencing, meiotic checkpoint control, and DNA damage response. The biological function of H3K79 methylation in mammals, however, remains poorly understood. Using gene targeting, we generated mice deficient for Dot1L, the murine Dot1 homologue. Dot1L-deficient embryos show multiple developmental abnormalities, including growth impairment, angiogenesis defects in the yolk sac, and cardiac dilation, and die between 9.5 and 10.5 days post coitum. To gain insights into the cellular function of Dot1L, we derived embryonic stem (ES) cells from Dot1L mutant blastocysts. Dot1L-deficient ES cells show global loss of H3K79 methylation as well as reduced levels of heterochromatic marks (H3K9 di-methylation and H4K20 tri-methylation) at centromeres and telomeres. These changes are accompanied by aneuploidy, telomere elongation, and proliferation defects. Taken together, these results indicate that Dot1L and H3K79 methylation play important roles in heterochromatin formation and in embryonic development