6,457 research outputs found
Actigraphy in agitated patients with dementia : Monitoring treatment outcomes
Especially in pharmacotherapeutic research, a variety of methods to monitor behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are currently being discussed. To date, the most frequently used of these are clinical scales, which, however, are subjective and highly dependent on personnel resources. In our study, we tested the usefulness of actigraphy as a more direct and objective way to measure day-night rhythm disturbances and agitated behaviour.After a baseline assessment, 24 patients with probable dementia of the Alzheimer type (NINCDS-ADRDA) and agitated behaviour received either 3 mg melatonin (n=7), 2.5 mg dronabinol (n=7), or placebo (n=10) for two weeks. In addition, 10 young and 10 elderly healthy subjects were examined as a control group. Motor activity levels were assessed using an actigraph worn continuously on the wrist of the non-dominant hand. At the beginning and the end of the study, patients' Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) scores were also assessed.In the verum group, actigraphic nocturnal activity (P=0.001), NPI total score (P=0.043), and NPI agitation subscale score (P=0.032) showed significant reductions compared to baseline. The treatment-baseline ratio of nocturnal activity (P=0.021) and treatment-baseline difference of the nocturnal portion of 24 h activity (P=0.012) were reduced. Patients' baseline activity levels were similar to those seen in healthy elderly subjects. Younger healthy subjects exhibited higher motor activity even at night. There was no correlation between actigraphy and NPI.Both actigraphic measures and the gold standard clinical scale were able to distinguish between the verum and placebo groups. However, because they did not correlate with each other, they clearly represent different aspects of BPSD, each of which reacts differently to therapy. As a result, actigraphy may well come to play an important role in monitoring treatment success in BPSD
Extracting high fidelity quantum computer hardware from random systems
An overview of current status and prospects of the development of quantum
computer hardware based on inorganic crystals doped with rare-earth ions is
presented. Major parts of the experimental work in this area has been done in
two places, Canberra, Australia and Lund, Sweden, and the present description
follows more closely the Lund work. Techniques will be described that include
optimal filtering of the initially inhomogeneously broadened profile down to
well separated and narrow ensembles, as well as the use of advanced
pulse-shaping in order to achieve robust arbitrary single-qubit operations with
fidelities above 90%, as characterized by quantum state tomography. It is
expected that full scalability of these systems will require the ability to
determine the state of single rare-earth ions. It has been proposed that this
can be done using special readout ions doped into the crystal and an update is
given on the work to find and characterize such ions. Finally, a few aspects on
the possibilities for remote entanglement of ions in separate
rare-earth-ion-doped crystals are considered.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures. Written for The Proceedings of the
Nobelsymposium on qubits for future quantum computers, Gothenburg, May-0
Experimental realization of Dicke states of up to six qubits for multiparty quantum networking
We report the first experimental generation and characterization of a
six-photon Dicke state. The produced state shows a fidelity of F=0.56+/-0.02
with respect to an ideal Dicke state and violates a witness detecting genuine
six-qubit entanglement by four standard deviations. We confirm characteristic
Dicke properties of our resource and demonstrate its versatility by projecting
out four- and five-photon Dicke states, as well as four-photon GHZ and W
states. We also show that Dicke states have interesting applications in
multiparty quantum networking protocols such as open-destination teleportation,
telecloning and quantum secret sharing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX
Optimal Tableaux Method for Constructive Satisfiability Testing and Model Synthesis in the Alternating-time Temporal Logic ATL+
We develop a sound, complete and practically implementable tableaux-based
decision method for constructive satisfiability testing and model synthesis in
the fragment ATL+ of the full Alternating time temporal logic ATL*. The method
extends in an essential way a previously developed tableaux-based decision
method for ATL and works in 2EXPTIME, which is the optimal worst case
complexity of the satisfiability problem for ATL+ . We also discuss how
suitable parametrizations and syntactic restrictions on the class of input ATL+
formulae can reduce the complexity of the satisfiability problem.Comment: 45 page
Macroscopic Interference Effects in Resonant Cavities
We investigate the possibility of interference effects induced by macroscopic
quantum-mechanical superpositions of almost othogonal coherent states - a
Schroedinger cats state - in a resonant microcavity. Despite the fact that a
single atom, used as a probe of the cat state, on the average only change the
mean number of photons by one unit, we show that this single atom can change
the system drastically. Interference between the initial and almost orthogonal
macroscopic quantum states of the radiation field can now take place.
Dissipation under current experimental conditions is taken into account and it
is found that this does not necessarily change the intereference effects
dramatically.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure
Decoherence assisting a measurement-driven quantum evolution process
We study the problem of driving an unknown initial mixed quantum state onto a
known pure state without using unitary transformations. This can be achieved,
in an efficient manner, with the help of sequential measurements on at least
two unbiased bases. However here we found that, when the system is affected by
a decoherence mechanism, only one observable is required in order to achieve
the same goal. In this way the decoherence can assist the process. We show
that, depending on the sort of decoherence, the process can converge faster or
slower than the method implemented by means of two complementary observables.Comment: Four pages, three figures included ([email protected]
Cryo-Preparation and Planar Magnetron Sputtering for Low Temperature Scanning Electron Microscopy
Cryo-preparation is a reliable technique for the structural investigation of food products in low temperature scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Artifacts, such as, the segregation of water/non-water ingredients, occur during the freezing process by the crystallization of ice; they can be helpful for correct interpretation of visualized details, e.g., the detection of water containing compartments. The size of the segregation structures depends on water concentration and specimen thickness. The condensation of water vapor (ice contamination) is influenced by the specimen temperature and the partial pressure of the water inside the vacuum system. Furthermore, the evaporation (sublimation, etching) of specimen water can be regulated by monitoring the specimen temperature. Sublimation under SEM observation, i.e., in situ etching at low acceleration voltage, allows the progress of etching to be observed continuously, prior to the coating of the specimen inside a dedicated cryo-preparation system attached to the SEM. Coating of specimens provides superior structural resolution compared with the observation of uncoated samples. A coating layer of platinum ( ~ 1-2 nm thick), deposited on a cold substrate by planar magnetron sputtering, is almost homogenous and has a density close to that of the solid metal. Its use allows bulk biological specimens to be observed in low temperature SEM with a structural resolution up to the visualization of transmembrane proteins
Deterministic cavity quantum electrodynamics with trapped ions
We have employed radio-frequency trapping to localize a single 40Ca+-ion in a high-finesse optical cavity. By means of laser Doppler cooling, the position spread of the ion's wavefunction along the cavity axis was reduced to 42 nm, a fraction of the resonance wavelength of ionized calcium (λ = 397 nm). By controlling the position of the ion in the optical field, continuous and completely deterministic coupling of ion and field was realized. The precise three-dimensional location of the ion in the cavity was measured by observing the fluorescent light emitted upon excitation in the cavity field. The single-ion system is ideally suited to implement cavity quantum electrodynamics under cw conditions. To this end we operate the cavity on the D3/2–P1/2 transition of 40Ca+ (λ = 866 nm). Applications include the controlled generation of single-photon pulses with high efficiency and two-ion quantum gates
Thermal Excitation of Multi-Photon Dressed States in Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics
The exceptionally strong coupling realizable between superconducting qubits
and photons stored in an on-chip microwave resonator allows for the detailed
study of matter-light interactions in the realm of circuit quantum
electrodynamics (QED). Here we investigate the resonant interaction between a
single transmon-type multilevel artificial atom and weak thermal and coherent
fields. We explore up to three photon dressed states of the coupled system in a
linear response heterodyne transmission measurement. The results are in good
quantitative agreement with a generalized Jaynes-Cummings model. Our data
indicates that the role of thermal fields in resonant cavity QED can be studied
in detail using superconducting circuits.Comment: ArXiv version of manuscript to be published in the Physica Scripta
topical issue on the Nobel Symposium 141: Qubits for Future Quantum
Computers(2009), 13 pages, 6 figures, hi-res version at
http://qudev.ethz.ch/content/science/PubsPapers.htm
Well-Water Quality Data from a Volunteer Sampling Program: Audubon County, Iowa
This study presents the results of a countywide volunteer sampling of private well-water. Volunteers collected 231 well-water samples in Audubon County for nitrate-nitrogen (NO3,-N) and total coliform bacteria analyses during September 1988. Questionnaires were completed at all sites to document well construction, age and depth of well, well placement relative to septic system, barnyard/feedlots, location of chemical mixing/tank rinsing, and presence of abandoned wells
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