A report on the nonlinear squeezed states and their non-classical properties of a generalized isotonic oscillator

We construct nonlinear squeezed states of a generalized isotonic oscillator potential. We demonstrate the non-existence of dual counterpart of nonlinear squeezed states in this system. We investigate statistical properties exhibited by the squeezed states, in particular Mandel's parameter, second-order correlation function, photon number distributions and parameter $A_3$ in detail. We also examine the quadrature and amplitude-squared squeezing effects. Finally, we derive expression for the $s$-parameterized quasi-probability distribution function of these states. All these information about the system are new to the literature.Comment: Accepted for publication in J. Phys. A: Math. Theo

Science and Film-making

The essay reviews the literature, mostly historical, on the relationship between science and film-making, with a focus on the science documentary. It then discusses the circumstances of the emergence of the wildlife making-of documentary genre. The thesis examined here is that since the early days of cinema, film-making has evolved from being subordinate to science, to being an equal partner in the production of knowledge, controlled by non-scientists

Animals in a Bacterial World, A New Imperative for the Life Sciences

In the last two decades, the widespread application of genetic and genomic approaches has revealed a bacterial world astonishing in its ubiquity and diversity. This review examines how a growing knowledge of the vast range of animal–bacterial interactions, whether in shared ecosystems or intimate symbioses, is fundamentally altering our understanding of animal biology. Specifically, we highlight recent technological and intellectual advances that have changed our thinking about five questions: how have bacteria facilitated the origin and evolution of animals; how do animals and bacteria affect each other’s genomes; how does normal animal development depend on bacterial partners; how is homeostasis maintained between animals and their symbionts; and how can ecological approaches deepen our understanding of the multiple levels of animal–bacterial interaction. As answers to these fundamental questions emerge, all biologists will be challenged to broaden their appreciation of these interactions and to include investigations of the relationships between and among bacteria and their animal partners as we seek a better understanding of the natural world.Earth and Planetary SciencesOrganismic and Evolutionary Biolog

The Effects of Defamilisation and Familisation Measures on the Accumulation of Retirement Income for Women in the UK

This paper is concerned with the link between the effects of pro-market pension reforms on women and familisation/defamilisation measures. It aims to contribute to the study of this link in three ways. Firstly, it identifies defamilisation/familisation measures which have the potential to reduce negative effects of pro-market pension measures on women. Secondly, based on the examples from the UK, it shows that the government’s willingness to provide sufficient defamilisation/familisation measures to assist women to deal with the negative effects of the pro-market pension measures should not be taken for granted. Thirdly, it suggests ways for tackling this problem

An endogenous small interfering RNA pathway in Drosophila

Drosophila endogenous small RNAs are categorized according to their mechanisms of biogenesis and the Argonaute protein to which they bind. MicroRNAs are a class of ubiquitously expressed RNAs of 22 nucleotides in length, which arise from structured precursors through the action of Drosha - Pasha and Dicer- 1-Loquacious complexes(1-7). These join Argonaute-1 to regulate gene expression(8,9). A second endogenous small RNA class, the Piwi-interacting RNAs, bind Piwi proteins and suppress transposons(10,11). Piwi- interacting RNAs are restricted to the gonad, and at least a subset of these arises by Piwi- catalysed cleavage of single-stranded RNAs12,13. Here we show that Drosophila generates a third small RNA class, endogenous small interfering RNAs, in both gonadal and somatic tissues. Production of these RNAs requires Dicer- 2, but a subset depends preferentially on Loquacious(1,4,5) rather than the canonical Dicer- 2 partner, R2D2 ( ref. 14). Endogenous small interfering RNAs arise both from convergent transcription units and from structured genomic loci in a tissue- specific fashion. They predominantly join Argonaute- 2 and have the capacity, as a class, to target both protein- coding genes and mobile elements. These observations expand the repertoire of small RNAs in Drosophila, adding a class that blurs distinctions based on known biogenesis mechanisms and functional roles

Scheduling M2M traffic over LTE uplink of a dense small cell network

We present an approach to schedule Long Term Evolution (LTE) uplink (UL) Machine-to-Machine (M2M) traffic in a densely deployed heterogeneous network, over the street lights of a big boulevard for smart city applications. The small cells operate with frequency reuse 1, and inter-cell interference (ICI) is a critical issue to manage. We consider a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) compliant scenario, where single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) is selected as the multiple access scheme, which requires that all resource blocks (RBs) allocated to a single user have to be contiguous in the frequency within each time slot. This adjacency constraint limits the flexibility of the frequency-domain packet scheduling (FDPS) and inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC), when trying to maximize the scheduling objectives, and this makes the problem NP-hard. We aim to solve a multi-objective optimization problem, to maximize the overall throughput, maximize the radio resource usage and minimize the ICI. This can be modelled through a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) and solved through a heuristic implementable in the standards. We propose two models. The first one allocates resources based on the three optimization criteria, while the second model is more compact and is demonstrated through numerical evaluation in CPLEX, to be equivalent in the complexity, while it performs better and executes faster. We present simulation results in a 3GPP compliant network simulator, implementing the overall protocol stack, which support the effectiveness of our algorithm, for different M2M applications, with respect to the state-of-the-art approaches

Mice Deficient in T-bet Form Inducible NO Synthase-Positive Granulomas That Fail to Constrain Salmonella.

Clearance of intracellular infections caused by Salmonella Typhimurium (STm) requires IFN-γ and the Th1-associated transcription factor T-bet. Nevertheless, whereas IFN-γ-/- mice succumb rapidly to STm infections, T-bet-/- mice do not. In this study, we assess the anatomy of immune responses and the relationship with bacterial localization in the spleens and livers of STm-infected IFN-γ-/- and T-bet-/- mice. In IFN-γ-/- mice, there is deficient granuloma formation and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) induction, increased dissemination of bacteria throughout the organs, and rapid death. The provision of a source of IFN-γ reverses this, coincident with subsequent granuloma formation and substantially extends survival when compared with mice deficient in all sources of IFN-γ. T-bet-/- mice induce significant levels of IFN-γ- after challenge. Moreover, T-bet-/- mice have augmented IL-17 and neutrophil numbers, and neutralizing IL-17 reduces the neutrophilia but does not affect numbers of bacteria detected. Surprisingly, T-bet-/- mice exhibit surprisingly wild-type-like immune cell organization postinfection, including extensive iNOS+ granuloma formation. In wild-type mice, most bacteria are within iNOS+ granulomas, but in T-bet-/- mice, most bacteria are outside these sites. Therefore, Th1 cells act to restrict bacteria within IFN-γ-dependent iNOS+ granulomas and prevent dissemination

The Long March: A Sample Preparation Technique that Enhances Contig Length and Coverage by High-Throughput Short-Read Sequencing

High-throughput short-read technologies have revolutionized DNA sequencing by drastically reducing the cost per base of sequencing information. Despite producing gigabases of sequence per run, these technologies still present obstacles in resequencing and de novo assembly applications due to biased or insufficient target sequence coverage. We present here a simple sample preparation method termed the “long march” that increases both contig lengths and target sequence coverage using high-throughput short-read technologies. By incorporating a Type IIS restriction enzyme recognition motif into the sequencing primer adapter, successive rounds of restriction enzyme cleavage and adapter ligation produce a set of nested sub-libraries from the initial amplicon library. Sequence reads from these sub-libraries are offset from each other with enough overlap to aid assembly and contig extension. We demonstrate the utility of the long march in resequencing of the Plasmodium falciparum transcriptome, where the number of genomic bases covered was increased by 39%, as well as in metagenomic analysis of a serum sample from a patient with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute liver failure, where the number of HBV bases covered was increased by 42%. We also offer a theoretical optimization of the long march for de novo sequence assembly

Are all beliefs equal? Implicit belief attributions recruiting core brain regions of theory of mind

Humans possess efficient mechanisms to behave adaptively in social contexts. They ascribe goals and beliefs to others and use these for behavioural predictions. Researchers argued for two separate mental attribution systems: an implicit and automatic one involved in online interactions, and an explicit one mainly used in offline deliberations. However, the underlying mechanisms of these systems and the types of beliefs represented in the implicit system are still unclear. Using neuroimaging methods, we show that the right temporo-parietal junction and the medial prefrontal cortex, brain regions consistently found to be involved in explicit mental state reasoning, are also recruited by spontaneous belief tracking. While the medial prefrontal cortex was more active when both the participant and another agent believed an object to be at a specific location, the right temporo-parietal junction was selectively activated during tracking the false beliefs of another agent about the presence, but not the absence of objects. While humans can explicitly attribute to a conspecific any possible belief they themselves can entertain, implicit belief tracking seems to be restricted to beliefs with specific contents, a content selectivity that may reflect a crucial functional characteristic and signature property of implicit belief attribution