1,827 research outputs found
Probability representation and quantumness tests for qudits and two-mode light states
Using tomographic-probability representation of spin states, quantum behavior
of qudits is examined. For a general j-qudit state we propose an explicit
formula of quantumness witnetness whose negative average value is incompatible
with classical statistical model. Probability representations of quantum and
classical (2j+1)-level systems are compared within the framework of quantumness
tests. Trough employing Jordan-Schwinger map the method is extended to check
quantumness of two-mode light states.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, PDFLaTeX, Contribution to the 11th International
Conference on Squeezed States and Uncertainty Relations (ICSSUR'09), June
22-26, 2009, Olomouc, Czech Republi
Nutritional Evaluation and Optimisation in Neonates (NEON): a randomised double-blind controlled trial of amino-acid regimen and intravenous lipid composition in preterm parenteral nutrition
Living apart, losing sympathy? How neighbourhood context affects attitudes to redistribution and to welfare recipients
Rising levels of income inequality have been directly linked to rising levels of spatial segregation. In this paper, we explore whether rising segregation may in turn erode support for the redistributive policies of the welfare state, further increasing levels of inequality â a form of positive feedback. The role of the neighbourhood has been neglected in attitudes research but, building on both political geography and âneighbourhood effectsâ literatures, we theorise that neighbourhood context may shape attitudes through the transmission of attitudes directly and through the accumulation of relevant knowledge. We test this through multilevel modelling of data from England on individual attitudes to redistribution in general and to welfare benefit recipients in particular. We show that the individual factors shaping these attitudes are quite different and that the influence of neighbourhood context also varies as a result. The findings support the idea that neighbourhood context shapes attitudes, with the knowledge accumulation mechanism likely to be the more important. Rising spatial segregation would appear to erode support for redistribution but to increase support for welfare recipients â at least in a context where the dominant media discourse presents such a stigmatising image of those on welfare benefits
Decreased functional connectivity within a language subnetwork in benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes.
OBJECTIVE: Benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS, also known as Rolandic epilepsy) is a common epilepsy syndrome that is associated with literacy and language impairments. The neural mechanisms of the syndrome are not known. The primary objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that functional connectivity within the language network is decreased in children with BECTS. We also tested the hypothesis that siblings of children with BECTS have similar abnormalities. METHODS: Echo planar magnetic resonance (MR) imaging data were acquired from 25 children with BECTS, 12 siblings, and 20 healthy controls, at rest. After preprocessing with particular attention to intrascan motion, the mean signal was extracted from each of 90 regions of interest. Sparse, undirected graphs were constructed from adjacency matrices consisting of Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. Global and nodal graph metrics and subnetwork and pairwise connectivity were compared between groups. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in graph metrics between groups. Children with BECTS had decreased functional connectivity relative to controls within a four-node subnetwork, which consisted of the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left superior frontal gyrus, the left supramarginal gyrus, and the right inferior parietal lobe (p = 0.04). A similar but nonsignificant decrease was also observed for the siblings. The BECTS groups had significant increases in connectivity within a five-node, five-edge frontal subnetwork. SIGNIFICANCE: The results provide further evidence of decreased functional connectivity between key mediators of speech processing, language, and reading in children with BECTS. We hypothesize that these decreases reflect delayed lateralization of the language network and contribute to specific cognitive impairments
Search for electromagnetic properties of the neutrinos at the LHC
Exclusive production of neutrinos via photon-photon fusion provides an
excellent opportunity to probe electromagnetic properties of the neutrinos at
the LHC. We explore the potential of processes pp-> p gamma gamma p -> p nu
anti-nu p and pp -> p gamma gamma p -> p nu anti-nu Z p to probe
neutrino-photon and neutrino-two photon couplings. We show that these reactions
provide more than seven orders of magnitude improvement in neutrino-two photon
couplings compared to LEP limits.Comment: 11 pages, 4 tables, New backgrounds have been adde
The impacts of climate change on river flood risk at the global scale
This paper presents an assessment of the implications of climate change for global river flood risk. It is based on the estimation of flood frequency relationships at a grid resolution of 0.5âĂâ0.5°, using a global hydrological model with climate scenarios derived from 21 climate models, together with projections of future population. Four indicators of the flood hazard are calculated; change in the magnitude and return period of flood peaks, flood-prone population and cropland exposed to substantial change in flood frequency, and a generalised measure of regional flood risk based on combining frequency curves with generic flood damage functions. Under one climate model, emissions and socioeconomic scenario (HadCM3 and SRES A1b), in 2050 the current 100-year flood would occur at least twice as frequently across 40 % of the globe, approximately 450 million flood-prone people and 430 thousand km2 of flood-prone cropland would be exposed to a doubling of flood frequency, and global flood risk would increase by approximately 187 % over the risk in 2050 in the absence of climate change. There is strong regional variability (most adverse impacts would be in Asia), and considerable variability between climate models. In 2050, the range in increased exposure across 21 climate models under SRES A1b is 31â450 million people and 59 to 430 thousand km2 of cropland, and the change in risk varies between â9 and +376 %. The paper presents impacts by region, and also presents relationships between change in global mean surface temperature and impacts on the global flood hazard. There are a number of caveats with the analysis; it is based on one global hydrological model only, the climate scenarios are constructed using pattern-scaling, and the precise impacts are sensitive to some of the assumptions in the definition and application
Qubit portrait of the photon-number tomogram and separability of two-mode light states
In view of the photon-number tomograms of two-mode light states, using the
qubit-portrait method for studying the probability distributions with infinite
outputs, the separability and entanglement detection of the states are studied.
Examples of entangled Gaussian state and Schr\"{o}dinger cat state are
discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, TeX file, to appear in Journal of Russian Laser
Researc
A decade of inequality in maternity care: antenatal care, professional attendance at delivery, and caesarean section in Bangladesh (1991â2004)
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bangladesh is committed to the fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG-5) target of reducing its maternal mortality ratio by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015. Since the early 1990s, Bangladesh has followed a strategy of improving access to facilities equipped and staffed to provide emergency obstetric care (EmOC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used data from four Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 1993 and 2004 to examine trends in the proportions of live births preceded by antenatal consultation, attended by a health professional, and delivered by caesarean section, according to key socio-demographic characteristics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Utilization of antenatal care increased substantially, from 24% in 1991 to 60% in 2004. Despite a relatively greater increase in rural than urban areas, utilization remained much lower among the poorest rural women without formal education (18%) compared with the richest urban women with secondary or higher education (99%). Professional attendance at delivery increased by 50% (from 9% to 14%, more rapidly in rural than urban areas), and caesarean sections trebled (from 2% to 6%), but these indicators remained low even by developing country standards. Within these trends there were huge inequalities; 86% of live births among the richest urban women with secondary or higher education were attended by a health professional, and 35% were delivered by caesarean section, compared with 2% and 0.1% respectively of live births among the poorest rural women without formal education. The trend in professional attendance was entirely confounded by socioeconomic and demographic changes, but education of the woman and her husband remained important determinants of utilization of obstetric services.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Despite commendable progress in improving uptake of antenatal care, and in equipping health facilities to provide emergency obstetric care, the very low utilization of these facilities, especially by poor women, is a major impediment to meeting MDG-5 in Bangladesh.</p
Holographic Geometry of Entanglement Renormalization in Quantum Field Theories
We study a conjectured connection between the AdS/CFT and a real-space
quantum renormalization group scheme, the multi-scale entanglement
renormalization ansatz (MERA). By making a close contact with the holographic
formula of the entanglement entropy, we propose a general definition of the
metric in the MERA in the extra holographic direction, which is formulated
purely in terms of quantum field theoretical data. Using the continuum version
of the MERA (cMERA), we calculate this emergent holographic metric explicitly
for free scalar boson and free fermions theories, and check that the metric so
computed has the properties expected from AdS/CFT. We also discuss the cMERA in
a time-dependent background induced by quantum quench and estimate its
corresponding metric.Comment: 42pages, 9figures, reference added, minor chang
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