Vibrational exciton-mediated quantum state transfert: a simple model

13A communication protocol is proposed in which quantum state transfer is mediated by a vibrational exciton. We consider two distant molecular groups grafted on the sides of a lattice. These groups behave as two quantum computers where the information in encoded and received. The lattice plays the role of a communication channel along which the exciton propagates and interacts with a phonon bath. Special attention is paid for describing the system involving an exciton dressed by a single phonon mode. The Hamiltonian is thus solved exactly so that the relevance of the perturbation theory is checked. Within the nonadiabatic weak-coupling limit, it is shown that the system supports three quasi-degenerate states that define the relevant paths followed by the exciton to tunnel between the computers. When the model parameters are judiciously chosen, constructive interferences take place between these paths. Phonon-induced decoherence is minimized and a high-fidelity quantum state transfer occurs over a broad temperature range

Quantitative predictions for B semileptonic decays into D, D*, and the orbitally excited D** in quark models in the manner of Bakamjian and Thomas

Once chosen the dynamics in one frame, the rest frame in this paper, the Bakamjian and Thomas method allows to define relativistic quark models in any frame. These models have been shown to provide, in the infinite quark mass limit, fully covariant current form factors as matrix elements of the quark current operator. In this paper we use the rest frame dynamics fitted from the meson spectrum by various authors, already shown to provide a reasonable value for $\rho^2$. From the general formulae for the scaling invariant form factors $\xi^{(n)}(w)$, $\tau_{1/2}^{(n)}(w)$ and $\tau_{3/2}^{(n)}(w)$, we predict quantitavely the $B$ semileptonic branching ratios to the ground state and orbitally excited charmed mesons $D, D^\ast$ and $D^{\ast\ast}$. We check Bjorken's sum rule and discuss the respective contributions to it. We find $\xi(w)\simeq (2/(1+w)) ^2$, resulting from the fact that the ground state wave function is Coulomb-like. We also find $\tau_{3/2}\simeq 0.5 (2/(1+w))^3$ and $\tau_{1/2}(w)\ll \tau_{3/2}(w)$. Very small branching ratios into $j=1/2$ orbitally excited $D$'s results. The overall agreement with experiment is rather good within the present accuracy which is poor for the orbitally excited charmed mesons. We predict a ratio $Br(B\to D^\ast_2 l \nu)/Br(B\to D_1 l \nu)=1.55\pm 0.15$ as a mere consequence of the heavy quark symmetry. If some faint experimental indications that $Br(B\to D_1 l \nu)\simeq Br(B\to D^\ast_2 l \nu)$ were confirmed, it would indicate a sizeable $O(1/m_c)$ correction

Le paludisme urbain à Yaoundé (Cameroun) : 2. Etude entomologique dans deux quartiers peu urbanisés

International audienceA one year entomological survey was carried out to precise the malaria vectors and the malaria transmission in Yaounde, the Cameroon capital (800,000 inhabitants). The study was done in two districts not yet fully urbanized: Nkol Bikok and Nkol Bisson. The latter is located at the periphery and has a pool. Anopheles gambiae was the only human malaria vector. Its agressivity for man depended on the urbanization of the district. Annual man biting rate was 284 in Nkol Bikok and 1,813 in Nkol Bisson. The densities were maximum in May-June and in October-November, corresponding to the end of the short and long rainy seasons. The presence of A. gambiae was permanent except in August-September in Nkol Bikok. In Nkol Bisson the density was higher in the houses near the pool. The yearly inoculation rate (h) was 14 in Nkol Bikok and 30 in Nkol Bisson. The vectorial transmission was observed in may in Nkol Bikok and during four months (June, August, January, February) in Nkol Bisson. These entomological data showed clearly that malaria transmission actually occurred in Yaounde and that the probability to receive at least one infected anopheline bite per year was very near to 1 for inhabitants unprotected against mosquito bites.Une étude longitudinale basée sur la capture des moustiques sur sujets humains s'est déroulée pendant un an dans deux quartiers de la ville de Yaoundé, l'un est situé à la périphérie de la ville (Nkol Bisson) et l'autre est plus central (Nkol Bikok). Ces deux quartiers présentent encore un caractère périurbain mais ils sont en pleine urbanisation. Le vecteur du paludisme humain identifé est Anopheles gambiae. Sa densité agressive pour l'homme (ma) est variable selon le degré d'urbanisation des quartiers : forte en Zone périphérique (ma annuel = I 813) et faible en zone centrale (ma annuel = 284). Cette densité est importante de mai à juin et d'octobre 6 novembre, c'est-à-dire à la fin de la petite et de la grande saison des pluies. Le taux d'inoculation (h) varie comme les densités agressives : h annuel = 30 en zone périphérique contre 14 en zone centrale. La transmission vectorielle est notable seulement pendant un mois (mai) à Nkol Bikok et pendant quatre mois (juin, août, janvier, février) à Nkol Bisson. Le risque quotidien d'au moins une inoculation par A. gambiae est environ deux fois plus élevé en zone périphérique qu'en zone centrale

High spatial resolution strain measurements at the surface of duplex stainless steels

International audienceThe determination of local strain fields at the surface of materials is of major importance for understanding their reactivity. In the present paper, lithography is used to fabricate grid points at the microscale and to map strain gradients within grains and between grains. This method was applied to duplex stainless steels which exhibit heterogeneous strain distributions under straining conditions. The influence of various parameters (the specimen microstructure, the density of slip bands, the number of systems activated and the grid geometry) on the strain value was discussed

Anthropophilic mosquitoes and malaria transmission at Edea, Cameroon

International audienceAn entomological study was carried out during 1990 in the town of Edea in the south of Cameroon to study anthropophilic mosquitoes with special reference to malaria transmission. Man-biting mosquitoes were caught regularly during one night each month in two different districts: Bilalang which is a well planned suburb with 160 houses on a hill-top, provided with a piped water supply; and Pongo which is a densely urbanised suburb in a valley. From 188 man-nights 1030 mosquitoes were collected, comprising 700 Culex quinquefasciatus (68%), 262 Anopheles gambiae (25%) and others species (7%) belonging to the genus Anopheles, Mansonia, Culex and Aedes. The estimated annual biting rates of mosquitoes were 811 bites per man in Bilalang and 2,866 in Pongo. The estimated yearly malaria inoculation rates were 3.8 and 30.2 infective bites per man in Bilalang and Pongo, respectively. In different parts of Pongo district much variation existed; extreme values of the estimated yearly inoculation rate were zero and 86.3 in two houses 200 m apart, located on the top of a hill and in the bottom of a valley, respectively. This study is one of the first conducted on malaria transmission in a moderate sized African town; it shows that the mosquito populations are typically urban and differ greatly from rural ones

Protease domain and transmembrane domain of the type VII secretion mycosin protease determine system-specific functioning in mycobacteria

Mycobacteria use type VII secretion (T7S) systems to secrete proteins across their highly hydrophobic diderm cell envelope. Pathogenic mycobacteria, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium marinum, have up to five of these systems, named ESX-1 to -5. Most of these systems contain a set of five conserved membrane components, of which the four Ecc proteins form the core membrane-embedded secretion complex. The fifth conserved membrane protein, the mycosin protease (MycP), is not part of the core complex, but is essential for secretion, as it stabilizes this membrane complex. Here, we investigated which MycP domain is required for this stabilization by producing hybrid constructs between MycP1 and MycP5 in M. marinum and analyzed their effect on ESX-1 and ESX-5 secretion. We found that both the protease and transmembrane (TM) domain are required for the ESX system-specific function of mycosins. In addition, we observed that the TM domain strongly affects MycP protein levels. We also show that the extended loops 1 and 2 in the protease domain are probably primarily involved in MycP stability, whereas loop 3 and the MycP5-specific loop 5 are dispensable. The atypical propeptide, or N-terminal extension, is required only for MycP stability. Finally, we show that the protease domain of MycPP1, encoded by the esx-P1 locus on the pRAW plasmid, is functionally redundant to the protease domain of MycP5 These results provide the first insight into the regions of mycosins involved in the interaction with and the stabilization of their respective ESX complexes

Obstacles, levers and impacts of organic farming development in Camargue

We are presenting an analysis of the obstacles and levers for the development of organic cropping systems in Camargue, documented with a multicriteria analysis of scenarios of organic farming (OF) development. This communication is built using results from on-farm agronomic monitoring, stakeholders and farmers’ interviews and the use of models for integrated assessment of scenarios. At the farm level, the obstacles are related to identification of profitable cropping systems and rotations that include enough rice, conversion being therefore risky as impacting financial management and requiring a labour reorganisation. At the regional level, the constraints are related to the absence of advisory services for technical issues, and to the lack of coordination among the different stakeholders, to the low incentive of the public policies to convert, and to a relatively opaque organization of the supply chains. At the regional level, we analysed the consequences of two scenarios related to OF development on criteria such as the rice surface area, the quantity and quality of water, energy consumption or the employment generated. These results are expected to contribute to the definition of an action plan about OF development by the local stakeholders