Generation of spin-motion entanglement in a trapped ion using long-wavelength radiation

Applying a magnetic-field gradient to a trapped ion allows long-wavelength radiation to produce a mechanical force on the ion's motion when internal transitions are driven. We demonstrate such a coupling using a single trapped Yb+171 ion and use it to produce entanglement between the spin and motional state, an essential step toward using such a field gradient to implement multiqubit operations

The Australian Charter of Employment Rights: The missing dimensions

Just prior to the 2007 General Election, a group of labour lawyers and economists, broadly sympathetic to the Labor Party, produced a Charter of Employment Rights. This article examines the Charter's proposals and its underlying framework, and suggests significant aspects of work and labour have been omitted. It contends that the Charter would have been improved if it had not retained an artificially stretched definition of workers as employees, in which the only relationship worthy of inclusion in a Charter is that between the direct employer and employee. The framework and language of the Charter convey a paternalistic approach and an outdated focus on industrial labour, while ignoring aspects of the emerging global system of work linked to the concept of occupation

Grassroots responses to violence against women and girls in post-earthquake Nepal: lessons from the field

Violence against women and girls (VAWG), including sexual violence, can increase after natural disasters. This article provides evidence from Nepal, a country where progress has been made on gender equality but VAWG remains an endemic problem. Research since the earthquakes involving women activists and non-government organisations indicates the continuing challenges facing disaster response efforts to prevent VAWG and protect women. Women and girls in camps and temporary shelters feel threatened and insecure due to the risk of violence and lack of privacy. Humanitarian aid, health care, and disaster responses can challenge VAWG, and offer safe spaces for women and girls to be established. This article draws on the views of grassroots women’s activists in Nepal and shares lessons for development and humanitarian workers about steps to be taken to challenge and minimise VAWG in emergency situations. © 2016 Oxfam GB

Efficient preparation and detection of microwave dressed-state qubits and qutrits with trapped ions

We demonstrate a method for preparing and detecting all eigenstates of a three-level microwave dressed system with a single trapped ion. The method significantly reduces the experimental complexity of gate operations with dressed-state qubits, as well as allowing all three of the dressed states to be prepared and detected, thereby providing access to a qutrit that is well protected from magnetic field noise. In addition, we demonstrate individual addressing of the clock transitions in two ions using a strong static magnetic field gradient, showing that our method can be used to prepare and detect microwave dressed states in a string of ions when performing multi-ion quantum operations with microwave and radio frequency fields. The individual addressability of clock transitions could also allow for the control of pairwise interaction strengths between arbitrary ions in a string using lasers

Ground-state cooling of a trapped ion Using long-wavelength radiation

We demonstrate ground-state cooling of a trapped ion using radio-frequency (rf) radiation. This is a powerful tool for the implementation of quantum operations, where rf or microwave radiation instead of lasers is used for motional quantum state engineering. We measure a mean phonon number of n¯=0.13(4) after sideband cooling, corresponding to a ground-state occupation probability of 88(7)%. After preparing in the vibrational ground state, we demonstrate motional state engineering by driving Rabi oscillations between the |n=0⟩ and |n=1⟩ Fock states. We also use the ability to ground-state cool to accurately measure the motional heating rate and report a reduction by almost 2 orders of magnitude compared with our previously measured result, which we attribute to carefully eliminating sources of electrical noise in the system

Development of a Novel Multipenicillin Assay and Assessment of the Impact of Analyte Degradation: Lessons for Scavenged Sampling in Antimicrobial Pharmacokinetic Study Design

Penicillins are widely used to treat infections in children, however the evidence is continuing to evolve in defining optimal dosing. Modern paediatric pharmacokinetic study protocols frequently favour opportunistic, “scavenged” sampling. This study aimed to develop a small volume single assay for five major penicillins and to assess the influence of sample degradation on inferences made using pharmacokinetic modelling, to investigate the suitability of scavenged sampling strategies. Using a rapid ultra-high performance liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric method, an assay for five penicillins (amoxicillin, ampicillin, benzylpenicillin, piperacillin and flucloxacillin) in blood plasma was developed and validated. Penicillin stabilities were evaluated under different conditions. Using these data, the impact of drug degradation on inferences made during pharmacokinetic modelling was evaluated. All evaluated penicillins indicated good stability at room temperature (23 ± 2°C) over 1 hour remaining in the range of 98-103% of the original concentration. More rapid analyte degradation had already occurred after 4 hours with stability ranging from 68% to 99%. Stability over longer periods declined: degradation of up to 60% was observed with delayed sample processing of up to 24 hours. Modelling showed that analyte degradation can lead to a 30% and 28% bias in clearance and volume of distribution, respectively, and falsely show nonlinearity in clearance. Five common penicillins can now be measured in a single low volume blood sample. Beta-lactam chemical instability in plasma can cause misleading pharmacokinetic modelling results, which could impact upon model-based dosing recommendations and the forthcoming era of beta-lactam therapeutic drug monitoring

Environmental Impacts of Productivity-Enhancing Crop Research: A Critical Review

Study by Drs. Mywish Maredia and Prabhu Pingali reviewing evidence of the possible negative impacts of productivity-enhancing technologies on the environment. Identifying "negative land savings" as a suitable measure of negative impact, the authors find salinity problems associated with irrigation as the most complete available index of land savings lost, and together with less precise measures of the impacts of intensification and monocultures, estimate global land savings lost to be on the order of 90-100 million hectares. This is several hundreds of millions of hectares less than the positive land savings attributable to CGIAR research on eight mandated crops (see "Environmental Impacts of the CGIAR: An Assessment.")A treatment of efforts by the CGIAR and NARS to mitigate negative impacts on the environment follows, focusing on the development of pest-resistant varieties and integrated pest management practices which reduce the need for pesticides. While this was identified clearly as an area of significant advances, farmers' adoption of these varieties and practices was not matched by a concomitant reduction in pesticide use - which represented a major failure in disseminating the implications of the new technologies for pesticide requirements. The study ends by pointing to the complexities of relating environmental impacts to agricultural research, given the many factors other than research that contribute to these impacts. Adding to this difficulty of attributing the causes of environmental impacts to research, the authors describe a common tendency of literature to conflate the green revolution with the larger phenomenon of agricultural intensification

Plant closures, precariousness and policy responses:revisiting MG Rover 10 years on

With automotive plants being closed in Australia and western Europe, this article reflects on the employment status of ex-MG Rover (MGR) workers following the closure of the Longbridge plant in 2005. In particular, it draws on Standing's typology of labour market insecurity and uses a mixed-methods approach including an analysis of a longitudinal survey of some 200 ex-MGR workers, and in-depth interviews with ex-workers and policy-makers. While the policy response to the closure saw significant successes in terms of the great majority of workers successfully adjusting into re-employment, and with positive findings in terms of re-training and education, the paper finds significant challenges in terms of security of employment, income, job quality and representation at work years after closure. In particular, the paper posits that the general lack of attention to employment security at the macrolevel effectively undermined elements of a positive policy response over the longer run. This in turn suggests longer-term policy measures are required to address aspects of precariousness at work

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the simultaneous quantitation of ceftriaxone, metronidazole and hydroxymetronidazole in plasma from seriously ill, severely malnourished children.

We have developed and validated a novel, sensitive, selective and reproducible reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) for the simultaneous quantitation of ceftriaxone (CEF), metronidazole (MET) and hydroxymetronidazole (MET-OH) from only 50 µL of human plasma, and unbound CEF from 25 µL plasma ultra-filtrate to evaluate the effect of protein binding. Cefuroxime axetil (CEFU) was used as an internal standard (IS). The analytes were extracted by a protein precipitation procedure with acetonitrile and separated on a reversed-phase Polaris 5 C18-Analytical column using a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile containing 0.1% (v/v) formic acid and 10 mM aqueous ammonium formate pH 2.5, delivered at a flow-rate of 300 µL/min. Multiple reaction monitoring was performed in the positive ion mode using the transitionsm/z555.1→m/z396.0 (CEF),m/z172.2→m/z128.2 (MET),m/z188.0→m/z125.9 (MET-OH) andm/z528.1→m/z364.0 (CEFU) to quantify the drugs. Calibration curves in spiked plasma and ultra-filtrate were linear (r2≥ 0.9948) from 0.4-300 µg/mL for CEF, 0.05-50 µg/mL for MET and 0.02 - 30 µg/mL for MET-OH. The intra- and inter- assay precisions were less than 9% and the mean extraction recoveries were 94.0% (CEF), 98.2% (MET), 99.6% (MET-OH) and 104.6% (CEF in ultra-filtrate); the recoveries for the IS were 93.8% (in plasma) and 97.6% (in ultra-filtrate). The validated method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of CEF, MET and MET-OH in hospitalized children with complicated severe acute malnutrition following an oral administration of MET and intravenous administration of CEF over the course of 72 hours