Production, reproduction, and reversion of protoplast-like structures in the osmotic strain of Neurospora crassa

Protoplasts devoid of cell walls have been produced in Bacillus megaterium and certain other Gram-positive species of bacteria.(1) Structures resembling protoplasts but not completely devoid of cell walls have also been produced in Escherichia coli and some other Gram-negative bacteria.(2) Those from Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria are alike in that they are spherical in shape and are lysed by osmotic shock. Bacterial protoplasts have already proved to have many useful applications among others, in the extraction of cellular constituents, in studies of the biosynthesis of enzymes and other macromolecular substances, and in host-parasite interrelations.(3

Scalable Noise Estimation with Random Unitary Operators

We describe a scalable stochastic method for the experimental measurement of generalized fidelities characterizing the accuracy of the implementation of a coherent quantum transformation. The method is based on the motion reversal of random unitary operators. In the simplest case our method enables direct estimation of the average gate fidelity. The more general fidelities are characterized by a universal exponential rate of fidelity loss. In all cases the measurable fidelity decrease is directly related to the strength of the noise affecting the implementation -- quantified by the trace of the superoperator describing the non--unitary dynamics. While the scalability of our stochastic protocol makes it most relevant in large Hilbert spaces (when quantum process tomography is infeasible), our method should be immediately useful for evaluating the degree of control that is achievable in any prototype quantum processing device. By varying over different experimental arrangements and error-correction strategies additional information about the noise can be determined.Comment: 8 pages; v2: published version (typos corrected; reference added

Seeing the music in their hands: How conductors' depictions shape the music

Depiction is a way of ‘showing’ meaning through certain gestures or demonstrations. Conductors often use depiction, including multimodal depiction, as well as descriptive talk, to convey meaning to their choirs. This paper considers four short extracts from choir rehearsals with different conductors, to show how they combine description and depiction, including vocal models, facial expressions, metaphoric and iconic gestures and body language to communicate about music, specifically here as part of the activity of modelling

Randomized benchmarking of single and multi-qubit control in liquid-state NMR quantum information processing

Being able to quantify the level of coherent control in a proposed device implementing a quantum information processor (QIP) is an important task for both comparing different devices and assessing a device's prospects with regards to achieving fault-tolerant quantum control. We implement in a liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance QIP the randomized benchmarking protocol presented by Knill et al (PRA 77: 012307 (2008)). We report an error per randomized $\frac{\pi}{2}$ pulse of $1.3 \pm 0.1 \times 10^{-4}$ with a single qubit QIP and show an experimentally relevant error model where the randomized benchmarking gives a signature fidelity decay which is not possible to interpret as a single error per gate. We explore and experimentally investigate multi-qubit extensions of this protocol and report an average error rate for one and two qubit gates of $4.7 \pm 0.3 \times 10^{-3}$ for a three qubit QIP. We estimate that these error rates are still not decoherence limited and thus can be improved with modifications to the control hardware and software.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted versio

Genetic Interrelations of Two Andromonoecious Types of Maize, Dwarf and Anther Ear

Attention was called by Montgomery (1906)to the occasional appearance of perfect flowers in the staminate inflorescence of maize and similar cases were reported by Kempton (1913). Montgomery (1911) described with illustrations a true-breeding type of semi-dwarf dent maize, the ears of which were perfect-flowered. Perfect-flowered maize was described and illustrated also by Blaringhem (1908, pp. 180-183). East and Hayes (1911, pp. 13, 14) noted and illustrated a perfect-flowered sweet corn. Weatherwax (1916, 1917) showed that typically pistillate flowers of maize exhibit in microscopic sections the rudiments of stamens and that staminate flowers show rudiments of pistils

Sinuosity and the affect grid: A method for adjusting repeated mood scores

Copyright @ 2012 Ammons Scientific. The article can be accessed from the links below.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Sinuosity is a measure of how much a travelled pathway deviates from a straight line. In this paper, sinuosity is applied to the measurement of mood. The Affect Grid is a mood scale that requires participants to place a mark on a 9 x 9 grid to indicate their current mood. The grid has two dimensions: pleasure-displeasure (horizontal) and arousal-sleepiness (vertical). In studies where repeated measurements are required, some participants may exaggerate their mood shifts due to faulty interpretation of the scale or a feeling of social obligation to the experimenter. A new equation is proposed, based on the sinuosity measure in hydrology, a measure of the meandering of rivers. The equation takes into account an individual's presumed tendency to exaggerate and meander to correct the score and reduce outliers. The usefulness of the equation is demonstrated by applying it to Affect Grid data from another study.This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund

Control of Flowering in Teosinte: Short-Day Treatment Brings Early Flowers

Attempts to force teosinte into flower in mid-summer, in order to facilitate hybridizing it with maize, have afforded considerable information concerning the flowering time of teosinte under diverse conditions. The possibility that some of this information may be of use to others suggests its publication. The paper is, therefore, to be considered as a help in the technique of teosinte and maize hybridization rather than a contribution ~to the solution of the physiological problems involved