1,285 research outputs found
Holism, Physical Theories and Quantum Mechanics
Motivated by the question what it is that makes quantum mechanics a holistic
theory (if so), I try to define for general physical theories what we mean by
`holism'. For this purpose I propose an epistemological criterion to decide
whether or not a physical theory is holistic, namely: a physical theory is
holistic if and only if it is impossible in principle to infer the global
properties, as assigned in the theory, by local resources available to an
agent. I propose that these resources include at least all local operations and
classical communication. This approach is contrasted with the well-known
approaches to holism in terms of supervenience. The criterion for holism
proposed here involves a shift in emphasis from ontology to epistemology. I
apply this epistemological criterion to classical physics and Bohmian mechanics
as represented on a phase and configuration space respectively, and for quantum
mechanics (in the orthodox interpretation) using the formalism of general
quantum operations as completely positive trace non-increasing maps.
Furthermore, I provide an interesting example from which one can conclude that
quantum mechanics is holistic in the above mentioned sense, although, perhaps
surprisingly, no entanglement is needed.Comment: Published versio
Hybrid gap plasmon GaAs nanolasers
Compact semiconductor lasers with sub-wavelength-scale dimensions rely heavily on materials with low surface recombination due to the large surface area to volume ratios of their nano-cavities. Furthermore, the reliance on semiconductor nanostructures has led to predominantly bottom-up fabrication approaches, which has hindered scalable and practical applications. In this letter, we present lithographically constructed hybrid gap plasmon nanolasers using the gain of bulk GaAs operating at room temperature. The nanolasers are built on GaAs suspended membranes with InGaP passivation layers. Laser resonators are defined only by patterning gold on top of these GaAs membranes, thus eliminating the need to etch the semiconductor for optical confinement, which would intro duce additional surface recombination. An analysis of the modal gain and losses in these devices suggests that threshold carrier densities in the range of 4-5×1018 cm -3 are necessary - potentially achievable with current densities as low as 6-8 kA cm-2
Fermionic Vacuum Energy from a Nielsen-Olesen Vortex
We calculate the vacuum energy of a spinor field in the background of a
Nielsen-Olesen vortex. We use the method of representing the vacuum energy in
terms of the Jost function on the imaginary momentum axis. Renormalization is
carried out using the heat kernel expansion and zeta functional regularization.
With this method well convergent sums and integrals emerge which allow for an
efficient numerical calculation of the vacuum energy in the given case where
the background is not known analytically but only numerically. The vacuum
energy is calculated for several choices of the parameters and it turns out to
give small corrections to the classical energy.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure
Health Assessment and Seroepidemiologic Survey of Potential Pathogens in Wild Antillean Manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus)
The Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus), a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, inhabits fresh, brackish, and warm coastal waters distributed along the eastern border of Central America, the northern coast of South America, and throughout the Wider Caribbean Region. Threatened primarily by human encroachment, poaching, and habitat degradation, Antillean manatees are listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The impact of disease on population viability remains unknown in spite of concerns surrounding the species' ability to rebound from a population crash should an epizootic occur. To gain insight on the baseline health of this subspecies, a total of 191 blood samples were collected opportunistically from wild Antillean manatees in Belize between 1997 and 2009. Hematologic and biochemical reference intervals were established, and antibody prevalence to eight pathogens with zoonotic potential was determined. Age was found to be a significant factor of variation in mean blood values, whereas sex, capture site, and season contributed less to overall differences in parameter values. Negative antibody titers were reported for all pathogens surveyed except for Leptospira bratislava, L. canicola, and L. icterohemorrhagiae, Toxoplasma gondii, and morbillivirus. As part of comprehensive health assessment in manatees from Belize, this study will serve as a benchmark aiding in early disease detection and in the discernment of important epidemiologic patterns in the manatees of this region. Additionally, it will provide some of the initial tools to explore the broader application of manatees as sentinel species of nearshore ecosystem health
Practices in scholarly publishing : making sense of rejection
Abstract: In South Africa, criticisms of peer review often hinge on allegations of racism, anti-African attitudes, and viewpoint discrimination. This article discusses the issue of peer-review, and examines these allegations in terms of claims of Western conceptual gatekeeping. Cautions are offered on allegations of exceptionalism, as are some strategies on dealing with the process of peer review
Diffusion of gold nanoclusters on graphite
We present a detailed molecular-dynamics study of the diffusion and
coalescence of large (249-atom) gold clusters on graphite surfaces. The
diffusivity of monoclusters is found to be comparable to that for single
adatoms. Likewise, and even more important, cluster dimers are also found to
diffuse at a rate which is comparable to that for adatoms and monoclusters. As
a consequence, large islands formed by cluster aggregation are also expected to
be mobile. Using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, and assuming a proper scaling
law for the dependence on size of the diffusivity of large clusters, we find
that islands consisting of as many as 100 monoclusters should exhibit
significant mobility. This result has profound implications for the morphology
of cluster-assembled materials
Foreground removal from CMB temperature maps using an MLP neural network
One of the main obstacles in extracting the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
signal from observations in the mm-submm range is the foreground contamination
by emission from galactic components: mainly synchrotron, free-free and thermal
dust emission. Due to the statistical nature of the intrinsic CMB signal it is
essential to minimize the systematic errors in the CMB temperature
determinations. Following the available knowledge of the spectral behavior of
the galactic foregrounds simple, power law-like spectra have been assumed. The
feasibility of using a simple neural network for extracting the CMB temperature
signal from the combined CMB and foreground signals has been investigated. As a
specific example, we have analysed simulated data, like that expected from the
ESA Planck Surveyor mission. A simple multilayer perceptron neural network with
2 hidden layers can provide temperature estimates, over more than 80 percent of
the sky, that are to a high degree uncorrelated with the foreground signals. A
single network will be able to cover the dynamic range of the Planck noise
level over the entire sky.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc
Entanglement Dynamics in Two-Qubit Open System Interacting with a Squeezed Thermal Bath via Quantum Nondemolition interaction
We analyze the dynamics of entanglement in a two-qubit system interacting
with an initially squeezed thermal environment via a quantum nondemolition
system-reservoir interaction, with the system and reservoir assumed to be
initially separable. We compare and contrast the decoherence of the two-qubit
system in the case where the qubits are mutually close-by (`collective regime')
or distant (`localized regime') with respect to the spatial variation of the
environment. Sudden death of entanglement (as quantified by concurrence) is
shown to occur in the localized case rather than in the collective case, where
entanglement tends to `ring down'. A consequence of the QND character of the
interaction is that the time-evolved fidelity of a Bell state never falls below
, a fact that is useful for quantum communication applications like
a quantum repeater. Using a novel quantification of mixed state entanglement,
we show that there are noise regimes where even though entanglement vanishes,
the state is still available for applications like NMR quantum computation,
because of the presence of a pseudo-pure component.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, REVTeX
Atomic layering at the liquid silicon surface: a first- principles simulation
We simulate the liquid silicon surface with first-principles molecular
dynamics in a slab geometry. We find that the atom-density profile presents a
pronounced layering, similar to those observed in low-temperature liquid metals
like Ga and Hg. The depth-dependent pair correlation function shows that the
effect originates from directional bonding of Si atoms at the surface, and
propagates into the bulk. The layering has no major effects in the electronic
and dynamical properties of the system, that are very similar to those of bulk
liquid Si. To our knowledge, this is the first study of a liquid surface by
first-principles molecular dynamics.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
practice of mechanical ventilation in cardiac arrest patients and effects of targeted temperature management a substudy of the targeted temperature management trial
Aims: Mechanical ventilation practices in patients with cardiac arrest are not well described. Also, the effect of temperature on mechanical ventilation settings is not known. The aims of this study were 1) to describe practice of mechanical ventilation and its relation with outcome 2) to determine effects of different target temperatures strategies (33 °C versus 36 °C) on mechanical ventilation settings. Methods: This is a substudy of the TTM-trial in which unconscious survivors of a cardiac arrest due to a cardiac cause were randomized to two TTM strategies, 33 °C (TTM33) and 36 °C (TTM36). Mechanical ventilation data were obtained at three time points: 1) before TTM; 2) at the end of TTM (before rewarming) and 3) after rewarming. Logistic regression was used to determine an association between mechanical ventilation variables and outcome. Repeated-measures mixed modelling was performed to determine the effect of TTM on ventilation settings. Results: Mechanical ventilation data was available for 567 of the 950 TTM patients. Of these, 81% was male with a mean (SD) age of 64 (12) years. At the end of TTM median tidal volume was 7.7 ml/kg predicted body weight (PBW)(6.4–8.7) and 60% of patients were ventilated with a tidal volume ≤ 8 ml/kg PBW. Median PEEP was 7.7cmH2O (6.4–8.7) and mean driving pressure was 14.6 cmH2O (±4.3). The median FiO2 fraction was 0.35 (0.30–0.45). Multivariate analysis showed an independent relationship between increased respiratory rate and 28-day mortality. TTM33 resulted in lower end-tidal CO2 (Pgroup = 0.0003) and higher alveolar dead space fraction (Pgroup = 0.003) compared to TTM36, while PCO2 levels and respiratory minute volume were similar between groups. Conclusions: In the majority of the cardiac arrest patients, protective ventilation settings are applied, including low tidal volumes and driving pressures. High respiratory rate was associated with mortality. TTM33 results in lower end-tidal CO2 levels and a higher alveolar dead space fraction compared to TTTM36
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