60 research outputs found
High purity bright single photon source
Using cavity-enhanced non-degenerate parametric downconversion, we have built
a frequency tunable source of heralded single photons with a narrow bandwidth
of 8 MHz, making it compatible with atomic quantum memories. The photon state
is 70% pure single photon as characterized by a tomographic measurement and
reconstruction of the quantum state, revealing a clearly negative Wigner
function. Furthermore, it has a spectral brightness of ~1,500 photons/s per MHz
bandwidth, making it one of the brightest single photon sources available. We
also investigate the correlation function of the down-converted fields using a
combination of two very distinct detection methods; photon counting and
homodyne measurement.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures; minor changes, added referenc
Towards Touch-to-Access Device Authentication Using Induced Body Electric Potentials
This paper presents TouchAuth, a new touch-to-access device authentication
approach using induced body electric potentials (iBEPs) caused by the indoor
ambient electric field that is mainly emitted from the building's electrical
cabling. The design of TouchAuth is based on the electrostatics of iBEP
generation and a resulting property, i.e., the iBEPs at two close locations on
the same human body are similar, whereas those from different human bodies are
distinct. Extensive experiments verify the above property and show that
TouchAuth achieves high-profile receiver operating characteristics in
implementing the touch-to-access policy. Our experiments also show that a range
of possible interfering sources including appliances' electromagnetic
emanations and noise injections into the power network do not affect the
performance of TouchAuth. A key advantage of TouchAuth is that the iBEP sensing
requires a simple analog-to-digital converter only, which is widely available
on microcontrollers. Compared with existing approaches including intra-body
communication and physiological sensing, TouchAuth is a low-cost, lightweight,
and convenient approach for authorized users to access the smart objects found
in indoor environments.Comment: 16 pages, accepted to the 25th Annual International Conference on
Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom 2019), October 21-25, 2019, Los
Cabos, Mexic
Work and family: associations with long-term sick-listing in Swedish women – a case-control study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The number of Swedish women who are long-term sick-listed is high, and twice as high as for men. Also the periods of sickness absence have on average been longer for women than for men. The objective of this study was to investigate the associations between factors in work- and family life and long-term sick-listing in Swedish women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This case-control study included 283 women on long-term sick-listing ≥90 days, and 250 female referents, randomly chosen, living in five counties in Sweden. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses with odds ratios were calculated to estimate the associations between long-term sick-listing and factors related to occupational work and family life.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Long-term sick-listing in women is associated with self-reported lack of competence for work tasks (OR 2.42 1.23–11.21 log reg), workplace dissatisfaction (OR 1.89 1.14–6.62 log reg), physical workload above capacity (1.78 1.50–5.94), too high mental strain in work tasks (1.61 1.08–5.01 log reg), number of employers during work life (OR 1.39 1.35–4.03 log reg), earlier part-time work (OR 1.39 1.18–4.03 log reg), and lack of influence on working hours (OR 1.35 1.47–3.86 log reg). A younger age at first child, number of children, and main responsibility for own children was also found to be associated with long-term sick-listing. Almost all of the sick-listed women (93%) wanted to return to working life, and 54% reported they could work immediately if adjustments at work or part-time work were possible.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Factors in work and in family life could be important to consider to prevent women from being long-term sick-listed and promote their opportunities to remain in working life. Measures ought to be taken to improve their mobility in work life and control over decisions and actions regarding theirs lives.</p
Annual decline in forced expiratory volume and airway inflammatory cells and mediators in a general population-based sample
Background
Few studies have examined the relationships between sputum inflammatory markers and subsequent annual decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (dFEV1). This study investigated whether indices of airway inflammation are predictors of dFEV1 in a general population-based sample.
Methods
The study, conducted from 2003 to 2005, included 120 healthy Norwegian subjects aged 40 to 70 years old. At baseline, the participants completed a self-administered respiratory questionnaire and underwent a clinical examination that included spirometry, venous blood sampling, and induced sputum examination. From 2015 to 2016, 62 (52%) participants agreed to a follow-up examination that did not include induced sputum examination. Those with a FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio <  0.70 underwent a bronchial reversibility test. The levels of cytokines, pro-inflammatory M1 macrophage phenotypes were measured in induced sputum using bead-based multiplex analysis. The associations between cytokine levels and dFEV1 were then analysed.
Results
The mean dFEV1 was 32.9 ml/year (standard deviation 26.3). We found no associations between dFEV1 and the baseline indices of sputum inflammation. Seven participants had irreversible airflow limitation at follow-up. They had lower FEV1 and gas diffusion at baseline compared with the remaining subjects. Moreover, two of these individuals had a positive reversibility test and sputum eosinophilia at baseline.
Conclusions
In this cohort of presumably healthy subjects, we found no associations between sputum inflammatory cells or mediators and dFEV1 during 10 years of follow-up
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