The Hong-Ou-Mandel effect with atoms

Controlling light at the level of individual photons has led to advances in fields ranging from quantum information and precision sensing to fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. A central development that followed the advent of single photon sources was the observation of the Hong-Ou- Mandel (HOM) effect, a novel two-photon path interference phenomenon experienced by indistinguishable photons. The effect is now a central technique in the field of quantum optics, harnessed for a variety of applications such as diagnosing single photon sources and creating probabilistic entanglement in linear quantum computing. Recently, several distinct experiments using atomic sources have realized the requisite control to observe and exploit Hong-Ou-Mandel interference of atoms. This article provides a summary of this phenomenon and discusses some of its implications for atomic systems. Transitioning from the domain of photons to atoms opens new perspectives on fundamental concepts, such as the classification of entanglement of identical particles. It aids in the design of novel probes of quantities such as entanglement entropy by combining well established tools of AMO physics - unity single-atom detection, tunable interactions, and scalability - with the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference. Furthermore, it is now possible for established protocols in the photon community, such as measurement-induced entanglement, to be employed in atomic experiments that possess deterministic single-particle production and detection. Hence, the realization of the HOM effect with atoms represents a productive union of central ideas in quantum control of atoms and photons.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

Restor(y)ing meaning: reading Manoel de Oliveira’s Non ou a Vã Glória de Mandar

Manoel de Oliveira’s Non ou a Vã Glória de Mandar (1990) is a landmark in Lusophone cinema’s revisitation of the history of Portuguese expansion and colonial conflicts. This article aims at analysing the film’s political import by extrapolating from Jacques Rancière’s meditation on the ‘aesthetic regime’ and from Manoel de Oliveira’s references to Derridean deconstruction. Non and Oliveira’s filming praxis both exceed and disrupt the filmmaker’s personal logocentric and teleological theories of history and cinema

Automatic classification of flying bird species using computer vision techniques [forthcoming]

Bird populations are identified as important biodiversity indicators, so collecting reliable population data is important to ecologists and scientists. However, existing manual monitoring methods are labour-intensive, time-consuming, and potentially error prone. The aim of our work is to develop a reliable automated system, capable of classifying the species of individual birds, during flight, using video data. This is challenging, but appropriate for use in the field, since there is often a requirement to identify in flight, rather than while stationary. We present our work, which uses a new and rich set of appearance features for classification from video. We also introduce motion features including curvature and wing beat frequency. Combined with Normal Bayes classifier and a Support Vector Machine classifier, we present experimental evaluations of our appearance and motion features across a data set comprising 7 species. Using our appearance feature set alone we achieved a classification rate of 92% and 89% (using Normal Bayes and SVM classifiers respectively) which significantly outperforms a recent comparable state-of-the-art system. Using motion features alone we achieved a lower-classification rate, but motivate our on-going work which we seeks to combine these appearance and motion feature to achieve even more robust classification

Resuscitation of Severe Uncontrolled Hemorrhage 7.5% Sodium Chloride/6% Dextran 70 vs 0.9% Sodium Chloride

Objectives: Resuscitation studies of hypertonic saline using controlled and uncontrolled hemorrhage models yield conflicting results with regard to efficacy. These disparate results reflect the use of models and resuscitation regimens that are not comparable between studies. This study evaluated the effects of comparable and clinically relevant resuscitation regimens of 7.5% sodium chloride/6% dextran 70 (HSD) and 0.9% sodium chloride (NS) in a near-fatal uncontrolled hemorrhage model. Methods: Thirty-six swine (14.2 to 21.4 kg) with 4-mm aortic tears were bled to a pulse pressure of 5 mm Hg (40-45 mL/kg). The animals were resuscitated with either NS or HSD administered in volumes that provided equivalent sodium loads at similar rates. Group II (n = 12) was resuscitated with 80 mL/kg of NS at a rate of 4 mL/kg/min. Group III (n = 12) received 9.6 mL/kg of HSD at a rate of 0.48 mL/kg/min. In both groups, crystalloid resuscitation was followed by shed blood infusion (30 mL/kg) at a rate of 2 mL/kg/min. Group I (controls; n = 12) were not resuscitated. Results: One-hour mortality was significantly greater in group I (92%) as compared with group II (33%) and group III (33%) (Fisher's exact test; p = 0.004). Intraperitoneal hemorrhage was significantly greater in group II (34 ± 20 mL/kg) and group III (31 ± 13 mL/kg) as compared with group I (5 ± 2 mL/kg) (ANOVA; p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in hemodynamic parameters between groups II and III. Conclusion: In this model of severe uncontrolled hemorrhage, resuscitation with HSD or NS, administered in volumes that provided equivalent sodium loads at similar rates, had similar effects on mortality, hemodynamic parameters, and hemorrhage from the injury site.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73625/1/j.1553-2712.2000.tb02060.x.pd

Impact of Westernized Diet on Gut Microbiota in Children on Leyte Island

10.3389/fmicb.2017.00197Frontiers in Microbiology8FEB19

Impact of intraoperative fluid administration on outcome in patients undergoing robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy – a retrospective analysis

BACKGROUND Robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) gained much popularity during the last decade. Although the influence of intraoperative fluid management on patients' outcome has been largely discussed in general, its impact on perioperative complications and length of hospitalization in patients undergoing RALP has not been examined so far. We hypothesized that a more restrictive fluid management might lead to a shortened length of hospitalization and a decreased rate of complications in our patients. METHODS Retrospective analysis of data of 182 patients undergoing RALP at an University Hospital (first series of RALP performed at the center). RESULTS The amount of fluid administered was initially normalized for body mass index of the patient and the duration of the operation and additionally corrected for age and the interaction of these variables. The application of crystalloids (multiple linear regression model, estimate = -0.044, p = 0.734) had no effect on the length of hospitalization, whereas a negative effect was found for colloids (estimate = -8.317, p = 0.021). Additionally, a significant interaction term between age and the amount of colloid applied (estimate = 0.129, p = 0.028) was calculated. Evaluation of the influence of intraoperative fluid administration using multiple logistic regression models corrected for body mass index, duration of the surgery and additionally for age revealed a negative effect of crystalloids on the incidence of an anastomotic leak between bladder and urethra (estimate = -23.860, p = 0.017), with a significant interaction term between age and the amount of crystalloids (estimate = 0.396, p = 0.0134). Colloids had no significant effect on this particular complication (estimate = 1.887, p = 0.524). Intraoperative blood loss did not alter the incidence of an anastomotic leak (estimate = 0.001, p = 0.086), nor did it affect the length of hospitalization (estimate = 0.0001, p = 0.351). CONCLUSIONS In accordance to the findings of our study, we suggest that a standardized, more restrictive fluid management might be beneficial in patients undergoing RALP. In older patients this measure would be able to shorten the length of hospitalization and to decrease the incidence of anastomosis leakage as a major complication

Porous hydroxyapatite-bioactive glass hybrid scaffolds fabricated via ceramic honeycomb extrusion

The successful fabrication of hydroxyapatite‐bioactive glass scaffolds using honeycomb extrusion is presented herein. Hydroxyapatite was combined with either 10 wt% stoichiometric Bioglass® (BG1), calcium‐excess Bioglass® (BG2) or canasite (CAN). For all composite materials, glass‐induced partial phase transformation of the HA into the mechanically weaker β‐tricalcium phosphate (TCP) occurred but XRD data demonstrated that BG2 exhibited a lower volume fraction of TCP than BG1. Consequently, the maximum compressive strength observed for BG1 and BG2 were 30.3 ± 3.9 and 56.7 ± 6.9 MPa, respectively, for specimens sintered at 1300°C. CAN scaffolds, in contrast, collapsed when handled when sintered below 1300°C, and thus failed. The microstructure illustrated a morphology similar to that of BG1 sintered at 1200°C, and hence a comparable compressive strength (11.4 ± 3.1 MPa). The results highlight the great potential offered by honeycomb extrusion for fabricating high‐strength porous scaffolds. The compressive strengths exceed that of commercial scaffolds, and biological tests revealed an increase in cell viability over 7 days for all hybrid scaffolds. Thus it is expected that the incorporation of 10 wt% bioactive glass will provide the added advantage of enhanced bioactivity in concert with improved mechanical stability