Second-Order Coding Rates for Conditional Rate-Distortion

This paper characterizes the second-order coding rates for lossy source coding with side information available at both the encoder and the decoder. We first provide non-asymptotic bounds for this problem and then specialize the non-asymptotic bounds for three different scenarios: discrete memoryless sources, Gaussian sources, and Markov sources. We obtain the second-order coding rates for these settings. It is interesting to observe that the second-order coding rate for Gaussian source coding with Gaussian side information available at both the encoder and the decoder is the same as that for Gaussian source coding without side information. Furthermore, regardless of the variance of the side information, the dispersion is $1/2$ nats squared per source symbol.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, second-order coding rates, finite blocklength, network information theor

Dynamical Casimir-Polder force between an excited atom and a conducting wall

We consider the dynamical atom-surface Casimir-Polder force in the nonequilibrium configuration of an atom near a perfectly conducting wall, initially prepared in an excited state with the field in its vacuum state. We evaluate the time-dependent Casimir-Polder force on the atom and find that it shows an oscillatory behavior from attractive to repulsive both in time and in space. We also investigate the asymptotic behavior in time of the dynamical force and of related local field quantities, showing that the static value of the force, as obtained by a time-independent approach, is recovered for times much longer than the time scale of the atomic self-dressing but shorter than the atomic decay time. We then discuss the evolution of global quantities such as atomic and field energies and their asymptotic behavior. We also compare our results for the dynamical force on the excited atom with analogous results recently obtained for an initially bare ground-state atom. We show that new relevant features are obtained in the case of an initially excited atom, for example, much larger values of the dynamical force with respect to the static one, allowing for an easier way to single out and observe the dynamical Casimir-Polder effect

Using Dramatic Monologue for Teaching Social Sciences

During the welcoming session at the start of every academic year, teachers in Vanier College’s Psychology Department put on a skit to introduce incoming “psychology major” students, in a concise and entertaining manner, to the three different theoretical approaches currently prevailing in the discipline. In the skit, a teacher plays the role of a client who consults a psychotherapist (played by another teacher) for help with a marital problem. Seeking a solution to his problem, the “client” appears on stage three different times and receives treatment from three psychotherapists (played by another teacher) of different theoretical orientations: B.F. Skinner, Sigmund Freud, and “Dr. Phil”, the famous American talk-show host (who respectively represent behaviorism, psychoanalysis, and cognitive psychology). Generally speaking, this skit is the first real exposure to psychological theories for the new cohort of students. Based on the feedback received afterwards, it seems to have made a powerful impression on them. Which explains why we keep putting on the same skit year after year! One reason for the impressive success of this simple skit is quite clear: complex ideas can be effectively conveyed to even the most uninitiated in a concise and easily understood manner through dramatic techniques, because drama is engaging, entertaining, and thought-provoking.published_or_final_versio

Friedelin: A bacterial resistance modulator from Paulinia Pinnata L.

As part of the project to identify plant natural products which modulate bacterial multidrug resistance (MDR), bioassay-guided isolation of the methanol extract of Paullinia pinnata L. roots yielded four known compounds namely friedelin, â-sitosterol, â-sitosterol acetate and â-sitosterol Dglucoside. The structures were established by spectroscopic methods and comparison with published data. These compounds were tested for in vitro antibacterial and resistance modifying activities against strains of Staphylococcus aureus; SA1199B, RN4220 and XU212 possessing the Tet(K), Msr(A), and Nor(A) multidrug resistance efflux mechanisms respectively. At 10ìg/ml, none of the compounds displayed any antibacterial action but in combination with tetracycline, erythromycin andnorfloxacin, friedelin displayed a 2-fold, 4-fold and 16-fold potentiation of activities of these antibiotics against XU212, SA1199B and RN4220 possessing the Tet(K) [tetracycline resistant], Nor(A)[norfloxacin resistant] and Msr(A) [macrolide resistant] transporters respectively

Field-Trial of Machine Learning-Assisted Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Networking with SDN

We demonstrated, for the first time, a machine-learning method to assist the coexistence between quantum and classical communication channels. Software-defined networking was used to successfully enable the key generation and transmission over a city and campus network

Reconstructing Colonization Dynamics of the Human Parasite Schistosoma mansoni following Anthropogenic Environmental Changes in Northwest Senegal

© 2015 Van den Broeck et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Reversible writing of high-mobility and high-carrier-density doping patterns in two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures

A key feature of two-dimensional materials is that the sign and concentration of their carriers can be externally controlled with techniques such as electrostatic gating. However, conventional electrostatic gating has limitations, including a maximum carrier density set by the dielectric breakdown, and ionic liquid gating and direct chemical doping also suffer from drawbacks. Here, we show that an electron-beam-induced doping technique can be used to reversibly write high-resolution doping patterns in hexagonal boron nitride-encapsulated graphene and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) van der Waals heterostructures. The doped MoS2 device exhibits an order of magnitude decrease of subthreshold swing compared with the device before doping, whereas the doped graphene devices demonstrate a previously inaccessible regime of high carrier concentration and high mobility, even at room temperature. We also show that the approach can be used to write high-quality p–n junctions and nanoscale doping patterns, illustrating that the technique can create nanoscale circuitry in van der Waals heterostructures

The relationship between web enjoyment and student perceptions and learning using a web-based tutorial

Web enjoyment has been regarded as a component of system experience. However, there has been little targeted research considering the role of web enjoyment alone in student learning using web-based systems. To address this gap, this study aims to examine the influence of web enjoyment on learning performance and perceptions by controlling system experience as a variable in the study. 74 students participated in the study, using a web-based tutorial covering subject matter in the area of 'Computation and algorithms'. Their learning performance was assessed with a pre-test and a post-test and their learning perceptions were evaluated with a questionnaire. The results indicated that there are positive relationships between the levels of web enjoyment and perceived usefulness and non-linear navigation for users with similar, significant levels of system experience. The implications of these findings in relation to web-based learning are explored and ways in which the needs of students who report different levels of web enjoyment might be met are discussed