Three path interference using nuclear magnetic resonance: a test of the consistency of Born's rule

The Born rule is at the foundation of quantum mechanics and transforms our classical way of understanding probabilities by predicting that interference occurs between pairs of independent paths of a single object. One consequence of the Born rule is that three way (or three paths) quantum interference does not exist. In order to test the consistency of the Born rule, we examine detection probabilities in three path intereference using an ensemble of spin-1/2 quantum registers in liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance (LSNMR). As a measure of the consistency, we evaluate the ratio of three way interference to two way interference. Our experiment bounded the ratio to the order of $10^{-3} \pm 10^{-3}$, and hence it is consistent with Born's rule.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; Improved presentation of figures 1 and 4, changes made in section 2 to better describe the experiment, minor changes throughout, and added several reference

Development of emergency response plans for community water systems

All water services systems, irrespective of size, location etc., should have emergency response plans (ERPs) to guide officials, stakeholders and consumers through emergencies, as part of managing risks in the water supply system. Emergencies in the water supply system may result from, among other causes, natural disasters, equipment failure, human error and intentional acts (e.g. vandalism). Simply put, an ERP prepares the organisation for emergencies and gives specific instructions about what to do if there is an emergency situation that may affect the water system. To assist water services institutions (WSIs), the Water Research Commission project ‘Water Safety and Security: Emergency Response Plans’ aimed to develop a generic ERP guide for community water systems (CWS). A CWS in this study was defined as a potable water service provided to a rural community where municipal constraints exist and there is either ‘no supply’ or water is provided up to a communal standpipe. Emergencies considered in this study include (i) unavailability of water or (ii) excess of water (e.g. flood) and (iii) water quality or pollution/contamination. CWS in 3 provinces in South Africa (Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Cape), were visited to (i) identify the water service delivery status, methods and possible shared threats/vulnerabilities and risks (ii) identify water services challenges experienced by these communities (iii) ascertain who owns and who is responsible for water services (e.g. whether these communities are serviced by municipalities or by local chiefs and/or trusts) and (iv) investigate whether the systems have been documented and evaluated. Following site visits, an ERP guideline document with associated templates will be developed and workshopped with the selected communities, which will include: (i) conditions identified as emergencies, (ii) communication procedures/protocol/chain of command, and (iii) procedures detailing how to attend to the specified emergencies.Keywords: potable; supply; emergency; public healt

The Overlooked Potential of Generalized Linear Models in Astronomy - I: Binomial Regression

Revealing hidden patterns in astronomical data is often the path to fundamental scientific breakthroughs; meanwhile the complexity of scientific inquiry increases as more subtle relationships are sought. Contemporary data analysis problems often elude the capabilities of classical statistical techniques, suggesting the use of cutting edge statistical methods. In this light, astronomers have overlooked a whole family of statistical techniques for exploratory data analysis and robust regression, the so-called Generalized Linear Models (GLMs). In this paper -- the first in a series aimed at illustrating the power of these methods in astronomical applications -- we elucidate the potential of a particular class of GLMs for handling binary/binomial data, the so-called logit and probit regression techniques, from both a maximum likelihood and a Bayesian perspective. As a case in point, we present the use of these GLMs to explore the conditions of star formation activity and metal enrichment in primordial minihaloes from cosmological hydro-simulations including detailed chemistry, gas physics, and stellar feedback. We predict that for a dark mini-halo with metallicity $\approx 1.3 \times 10^{-4} Z_{\bigodot}$, an increase of $1.2 \times 10^{-2}$ in the gas molecular fraction, increases the probability of star formation occurrence by a factor of 75%. Finally, we highlight the use of receiver operating characteristic curves as a diagnostic for binary classifiers, and ultimately we use these to demonstrate the competitive predictive performance of GLMs against the popular technique of artificial neural networks.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Computin

Substrate‐Controlled Divergent Synthesis of Enaminones and Pyrroles from Indolizines and Nitroso Compounds

It is imperative to learn new synthetic transformations to succeed in drug discovery and development. We report the substrate‐driven synthesis of β‐enaminones and N‐aryl pyrroles from indolizines and nitrosoarenes; aryl‐substituted indolizines lead to β‐enaminones in a regio‐ and diastereoselective manner, whereas alkyl‐substituted indolizines produce tetrasubstituted pyrroles. All products contain a pyridine unit, the second most abundant ring (after phenyl) in the FDA Orange Book. In both cases, the reactions proceed at room temperature without any catalyst. Moreover, both types of products can be obtained in one pot from commercial materials as well as at a gram scale. It is worthy of note that the regioselectivity of the β‐enaminones is inaccessible by the standard literature methods and their utility has been exemplified in the synthesis of diverse heterocycles. We have made every endeavor to put forward the corresponding reaction mechanisms based on thorough experimental work.This work was generously supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICIU; grant no. CTQ2017-88171-P), the Generalitat Valenciana (GV; grant no. AICO/2017/007), and the Instituto de Síntesis Orgánica (ISO). M.J.G.-S. is grateful to the ISO for a predoctoral grant (contract no. I-PAS-11/16)

Efeito de diferentes concentrações de ácido indol butírico no enraizamento de estacas de Croton heliotropiifolius Kunth.

O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar o efeito de diferentes concentrações de ácido indol butírico (AIB) no enraizamento de estacas apicais e medianas de velam

Influência da secagem e do tempo de extração no rendimento de óleo essencial de Croton blanchetianus Baill.

O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a influência da secagem e do tempo de extração das raspas do caule de marmeleiro, a fim de otimizar o rendimento do óleo essencial