822 research outputs found
Environmental Exposure Assessment of Pesticides in Farmworker Homes
Farmworkers and their families are exposed to pesticides both at work and in their homes. Environmental exposure assessment provides a means to evaluate pesticides in the environment and human contact with these chemicals through identification of sources and routes of exposure. To date, a variety of methods have been used to assess pesticide exposure among farmworker families, mostly focusing on dust and handwipe samples. While many of the methods are similar, differences in the collection, chemical analysis, and statistical analysis, can limit the comparability of results from farm-worker studies. This mini-monograph discusses the strategies used to assess pesticide exposures, presents limitations in the available data for farmworkers, and suggests research needs for future studies of pesticide exposure among farmworker families
Correlators of Giant Gravitons from dual ABJ(M) Theory
We generalize the operators of ABJM theory, given by Schur polynomials, in
ABJ theory by computing the two point functions in the free field and at finite
limits. These polynomials are then identified with the states of
the dual gravity theory. Further, we compute correlators among giant gravitons
as well as between giant gravitons and ordinary gravitons through the
corresponding correlators of ABJ(M) theory. Finally, we consider a particular
non-trivial background produced by an operator with an -charge of
and find, in presence of this background, due to the contribution of
the non-planar corrections, the large expansion is replaced by
and respectively.Comment: Latex, 32+1 pages, 2 figures, journal versio
Field test of a practical secure communication network with decoy-state quantum cryptography
We present a secure network communication system that operated with
decoy-state quantum cryptography in a real-world application scenario. The full
key exchange and application protocols were performed in real time among three
nodes, in which two adjacent nodes were connected by approximate 20 km of
commercial telecom optical fiber. The generated quantum keys were immediately
employed and demonstrated for communication applications, including unbreakable
real-time voice telephone between any two of the three communication nodes, or
a broadcast from one node to the other two nodes by using one-time pad
encryption.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, typos correcte
Metropolitan all-pass and inter-city quantum communication network
We have demonstrated a metropolitan all-pass quantum communication network in
field fiber for four nodes. Any two nodes of them can be connected in the
network to perform quantum key distribution (QKD). An optical switching module
is presented that enables arbitrary 2-connectivity among output ports.
Integrated QKD terminals are worked out, which can operate either as a
transmitter, a receiver, or even both at the same time. Furthermore, an
additional link in another city of 60 km fiber (up to 130 km) is seamless
integrated into this network based on a trusted relay architecture. On all the
links, we have implemented protocol of decoy state scheme. All of necessary
electrical hardware, synchronization, feedback control, network software,
execution of QKD protocols are made by tailored designing, which allow a
completely automatical and stable running. Our system has been put into
operation in Hefei in August 2009, and publicly demonstrated during an
evaluation conference on quantum network organized by the Chinese Academy of
Sciences on August 29, 2009. Real-time voice telephone with one-time pad
encoding between any two of the five nodes (four all-pass nodes plus one
additional node through relay) is successfully established in the network
within 60km.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
High prevalence of bronchiectasis is linked to HTLV-1-associated inflammatory disease.
BACKGROUND: Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1), a retrovirus, is the causative agent of HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma (ATLL). The reported association with pulmonary disease such as bronchiectasis is less certain. METHODS: A retrospective case review of a HTLV-1 seropositive cohort attending a national referral centre. The cohort was categorised into HTLV-1 symptomatic patients (SPs) (ATLL, HAM/TSP, Strongyloidiasis and HTLV associated inflammatory disease (HAID)) and HTLV-1 asymptomatic carriers (ACs). The cohort was reviewed for diagnosis of bronchiectasis. RESULT: 34/246 ACs and 30/167 SPs had been investigated for respiratory symptoms by computer tomography (CT) with productive cough +/- recurrent chest infections the predominant indications. Bronchiectasis was diagnosed in one AC (1/246) and 13 SPs (2 HAID, 1 ATLL, 10 HAM/TSP) (13/167, RR 19.2 95 % CI 2.5-14.5, p = 0.004) with high resolution CT. In the multivariate analysis ethnicity (p = 0.02) and disease state (p < 0.001) were independent predictors for bronchiectasis. The relative risk of bronchiectasis in SPs was 19.2 (95 % CI 2.5-14.5, p = 0.004) and in HAM/TSP patients compared with all other categories 8.4 (95 % CI 2.7-26.1, p = 0.0002). Subjects not of African/Afro-Caribbean ethnicity had an increased prevalence of bronchiectasis (RR 3.45 95 % 1.2-9.7, p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Bronchiectasis was common in the cohort (3.4 %). Risk factors were a prior diagnosis of HAM/TSP and ethnicity but not HTLV-1 viral load, age and gender. The spectrum of HTLV-associated disease should now include bronchiectasis and HTLV serology should be considered in patients with unexplained bronchiectasis
F-Theorem without Supersymmetry
The conjectured F-theorem for three-dimensional field theories states that
the finite part of the free energy on S^3 decreases along RG trajectories and
is stationary at the fixed points. In previous work various successful tests of
this proposal were carried out for theories with {\cal N}=2 supersymmetry. In
this paper we perform more general tests that do not rely on supersymmetry. We
study perturbatively the RG flows produced by weakly relevant operators and
show that the free energy decreases monotonically. We also consider large N
field theories perturbed by relevant double trace operators, free massive field
theories, and some Chern-Simons gauge theories. In all cases the free energy in
the IR is smaller than in the UV, consistent with the F-theorem. We discuss
other odd-dimensional Euclidean theories on S^d and provide evidence that
(-1)^{(d-1)/2} \log |Z| decreases along RG flow; in the particular case d=1
this is the well-known g-theorem.Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures; v2 refs added, minor improvements; v3 refs
added, improved section 4.3; v4 minor improvement
Corner contributions to holographic entanglement entropy
The entanglement entropy of three-dimensional conformal field theories
contains a universal contribution coming from corners in the entangling
surface. We study these contributions in a holographic framework and, in
particular, we consider the effects of higher curvature interactions in the
bulk gravity theory. We find that for all of our holographic models, the corner
contribution is only modified by an overall factor but the functional
dependence on the opening angle is not modified by the new gravitational
interactions. We also compare the dependence of the corner term on the new
gravitational couplings to that for a number of other physical quantities, and
we show that the ratio of the corner contribution over the central charge
appearing in the two-point function of the stress tensor is a universal
function for all of the holographic theories studied here. Comparing this
holographic result to the analogous functions for free CFT's, we find fairly
good agreement across the full range of the opening angle. However, there is a
precise match in the limit where the entangling surface becomes smooth, i.e.,
the angle approaches , and we conjecture the corresponding ratio is a
universal constant for all three-dimensional conformal field theories. In this
paper, we expand on the holographic calculations in our previous letter
arXiv:1505.04804, where this conjecture was first introduced.Comment: 62 pages, 6 figures, 1 table; v2: minor modifications to match
published version, typos fixe
On thermodynamics of N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons theory
We study thermodynamics of N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons theory by
computing quantum corrections to the free energy. We find that in weakly
coupled ABJM theory on R(2) x S(1), the leading correction is non-analytic in
the 't Hooft coupling lambda, and is approximately of order lambda^2
log(lambda)^3. The free energy is expressed in terms of the scalar thermal mass
m, which is generated by screening effects. We show that this mass vanishes to
1-loop order. We then go on to 2-loop order where we find a finite and positive
mass squared m^2. We discuss differences in the calculation between Coulomb and
Lorentz gauge. Our results indicate that the free energy is a monotonic
function in lambda which interpolates smoothly to the N^(3/2) behaviour at
strong coupling.Comment: 29 pages. v2: references added. v3: minor changes, references added,
published versio
Holographic Evolution of Entanglement Entropy
We study the evolution of entanglement entropy in a 2-dimensional
equilibration process that has a holographic description in terms of a Vaidya
geometry. It models a unitary evolution in which the field theory starts in a
pure state, its vacuum, and undergoes a perturbation that brings it far from
equilibrium. The entanglement entropy in this set up provides a measurement of
the quantum entanglement in the system. Using holographic techniques we recover
the same result obtained before from the study of processes triggered by a
sudden change in a parameter of the hamiltonian, known as quantum quenches.
Namely, entanglement in 2-dimensional conformal field theories propagates with
velocity v^2=1. Both in quantum quenches and in the Vaidya model equilibration
is only achieved at the local level. Remarkably, the holographic derivation of
this last fact requires information from behind the apparent horizon generated
in the process of gravitational collapse described by the Vaidya geometry. In
the early stages of the evolution the apparent horizon seems however to play no
relevant role with regard to the entanglement entropy. We speculate on the
possibility of deriving a thermalization time for occupation numbers from our
analysis.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figure
On the worldsheet theory of the type IIA AdS(4) x CP(3) superstring
We perform a detailed study of the type IIA superstring in AdS(4) x CP(3).
After introducing suitable bosonic light-cone and fermionic kappa worldsheet
gauges we derive the pure boson and fermion SU(2|2) x U(1) covariant light-cone
Hamiltonian up to quartic order in fields.
As a first application of our derivation we calculate energy shifts for
string configurations in a closed fermionic subsector and successfully match
these with a set of light-cone Bethe equations. We then turn to investigate the
mismatch between the degrees of freedom of scattering states and oscillatory
string modes. Since only light string modes appear as fundamental Bethe roots
in the scattering theory, the physical role of the remaining massive
oscillators is rather unclear. By continuing a line of research initiated by
Zarembo, we shed light on this question by calculating quantum corrections for
the propagators of the bosonic massive fields. We show that, once loop
corrections are incorporated, the massive coordinates dissolve in a continuum
state of two light particles.Comment: 40 pages, 2 figures. v3: Minor clarifications made and reference list
updated. Published version
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