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Geographic variation and evolutionary history of Dipodomys nitratoides (Rodentia: Heteromyidae), a species in severe decline
We examined geographic patterns of diversification in the highly impacted San Joaquin kangaroo rat, Dipodomys nitratoides, throughout its range in the San Joaquin Valley and adjacent basins in central California. The currently recognized subspecies were distinct by the original set of mensural and color variables used in their formal diagnoses, although the Fresno kangaroo rat (D. n. exilis) is the most strongly differentiated with sharp steps in character clines relative to the adjacent Tipton (D. n. nitratoides) and short-nosed (D. n. brevinasus) races. The latter two grade more smoothly into one another but still exhibit independent, and different, character clines within themselves. At the molecular level, as delineated by mtDNA cytochrome b sequences, most population samples retain high levels of diversity despite significant retraction in the species range and severe fragmentation of local populations in recent decades due primarily to landscape conversion for agriculture and secondarily to increased urbanization. Haplotype apportionment bears no relationship to morphologically defined subspecies boundaries. Rather, a haplotype network is shallow, most haplotypes are single-step variants, and the time to coalescence is substantially more recent than the time of species split between D. nitratoides and its sister taxon, D. merriami. The biogeographic history of the species within the San Joaquin Valley appears tied to mid-late Pleistocene expansion following significant drying of the valley resulting from the rain shadow produced by uplift of the Central Coastal Ranges
Experimental demonstration of quantum memory for light
The information carrier of today's communications, a weak pulse of light, is
an intrinsically quantum object. As a consequence, complete information about
the pulse cannot, even in principle, be perfectly recorded in a classical
memory. In the field of quantum information this has led to a long standing
challenge: how to achieve a high-fidelity transfer of an independently prepared
quantum state of light onto the atomic quantum state? Here we propose and
experimentally demonstrate a protocol for such quantum memory based on atomic
ensembles. We demonstrate for the first time a recording of an externally
provided quantum state of light onto the atomic quantum memory with a fidelity
up to 70%, significantly higher than that for the classical recording. Quantum
storage of light is achieved in three steps: an interaction of light with
atoms, the subsequent measurement on the transmitted light, and the feedback
onto the atoms conditioned on the measurement result. Density of recorded
states 33% higher than that for the best classical recording of light on atoms
is achieved. A quantum memory lifetime of up to 4 msec is demonstrated.Comment: 22 pages (double line spacing) incl. supplementary information, 4
figures, accepted for publication in Natur
Integrating modes of policy analysis and strategic management practice : requisite elements and dilemmas
There is a need to bring methods to bear on public problems that are inclusive, analytic, and quick. This paper describes the efforts of three pairs of academics working from three different though complementary theoretical foundations and intervention backgrounds (i.e., ways of working) who set out together to meet this challenge. Each of the three pairs had conducted dozens of interventions that had been regarded as successful or very successful by the client groups in dealing with complex policy and strategic problems. One approach focused on leadership issues and stakeholders, another on negotiating competitive strategic intent with attention to stakeholder responses, and the third on analysis of feedback ramifications in developing policies. This paper describes the 10 year longitudinal research project designed to address the above challenge. The important outcomes are reported: the requisite elements of a general integrated approach and the enduring puzzles and tensions that arose from seeking to design a wide-ranging multi-method approach
Long-distance quantum communication with atomic ensembles and linear optics
Quantum communication holds a promise for absolutely secure transmission of
secret messages and faithful transfer of unknown quantum states. Photonic
channels appear to be very attractive for physical implementation of quantum
communication. However, due to losses and decoherence in the channel, the
communication fidelity decreases exponentially with the channel length. We
describe a scheme that allows to implement robust quantum communication over
long lossy channels. The scheme involves laser manipulation of atomic
ensembles, beam splitters, and single-photon detectors with moderate
efficiencies, and therefore well fits the status of the current experimental
technology. We show that the communication efficiency scale polynomially with
the channel length thereby facilitating scalability to very long distances.Comment: 2 tex files (Main text + Supplement), 4 figure
Quantum internet using code division multiple access
A crucial open problem in large-scale quantum networks is how to efficiently
transmit quantum data among many pairs of users via a common data-transmission
medium. We propose a solution by developing a quantum code division multiple
access (q-CDMA) approach in which quantum information is chaotically encoded to
spread its spectral content, and then decoded via chaos synchronization to
separate different sender-receiver pairs. In comparison to other existing
approaches, such as frequency division multiple access (FDMA), the proposed
q-CDMA can greatly increase the information rates per channel used, especially
for very noisy quantum channels.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figure
Mapping photonic entanglement into and out of a quantum memory
Recent developments of quantum information science critically rely on
entanglement, an intriguing aspect of quantum mechanics where parts of a
composite system can exhibit correlations stronger than any classical
counterpart. In particular, scalable quantum networks require capabilities to
create, store, and distribute entanglement among distant matter nodes via
photonic channels. Atomic ensembles can play the role of such nodes. So far, in
the photon counting regime, heralded entanglement between atomic ensembles has
been successfully demonstrated via probabilistic protocols. However, an
inherent drawback of this approach is the compromise between the amount of
entanglement and its preparation probability, leading intrinsically to low
count rate for high entanglement. Here we report a protocol where entanglement
between two atomic ensembles is created by coherent mapping of an entangled
state of light. By splitting a single-photon and subsequent state transfer, we
separate the generation of entanglement and its storage. After a programmable
delay, the stored entanglement is mapped back into photonic modes with overall
efficiency of 17 %. Improvements of single-photon sources together with our
protocol will enable "on demand" entanglement of atomic ensembles, a powerful
resource for quantum networking.Comment: 7 pages, and 3 figure
Mortality Risk of Hypnotics: Strengths and Limits of Evidence
Sleeping pills, more formally defined as hypnotics, are sedatives used to induce and maintain sleep. In a review of publications for the past 30 years, descriptive epidemiologic studies were identified that examined the mortality risk of hypnotics and related sedative-anxiolytics. Of the 34 studies estimating risk ratios, odds ratios, or hazard ratios, excess mortality associated with hypnotics was significant (p < 0.05) in 24 studies including all 14 of the largest, contrasted with no studies at all suggesting that hypnotics ever prolong life. The studies had many limitations: possibly tending to overestimate risk, such as possible confounding by indication with other risk factors; confusing hypnotics with drugs having other indications; possible genetic confounders; and too much heterogeneity of studies for meta-analyses. There were balancing limitations possibly tending towards underestimates of risk such as limited power, excessive follow-up intervals with possible follow-up mixing of participants taking hypnotics with controls, missing dosage data for most studies, and over-adjustment of confounders. Epidemiologic association in itself is not adequate proof of causality, but there is proof that hypnotics cause death in overdoses; there is thorough understanding of how hypnotics euthanize animals and execute humans; and there is proof that hypnotics cause potentially lethal morbidities such as depression, infection, poor driving, suppressed respiration, and possibly cancer. Combining these proofs with consistent evidence of association, the great weight of evidence is that hypnotics cause huge risks of decreasing a patient's duration of survival
Association of tamoxifen use and reduced risk of contralateral breast cancer for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers
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Cavity Induced Interfacing of Atoms and Light
This chapter introduces cavity-based light-matter quantum interfaces, with a
single atom or ion in strong coupling to a high-finesse optical cavity. We
discuss the deterministic generation of indistinguishable single photons from
these systems; the atom-photon entanglement intractably linked to this process;
and the information encoding using spatio-temporal modes within these photons.
Furthermore, we show how to establish a time-reversal of the aforementioned
emission process to use a coupled atom-cavity system as a quantum memory. Along
the line, we also discuss the performance and characterisation of cavity
photons in elementary linear-optics arrangements with single beam splitters for
quantum-homodyne measurements.Comment: to appear as a book chapter in a compilation "Engineering the
Atom-Photon Interaction" published by Springer in 2015, edited by A.
Predojevic and M. W. Mitchel
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