Digital quantum simulation of scalar Yukawa coupling: Dynamics following an interaction quench on IBM Q

Motivated by the dearth of studies pertaining to the digital quantum simulation of coupled fermion-boson systems and the revitalized interest in simulating models from medium- and high-energy physics, we investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics following a Yukawa-interaction quench on IBM Q. After adopting -- due to current quantum-hardware limitations -- a single-site (zero-dimensional) version of the scalar Yukawa-coupling model as our point of departure, we design low-depth quantum circuits that emulate its dynamics with up to three bosons. In particular, using advanced circuit-optimization techniques, in the one-boson case we demonstrate circuit compression, i.e. design a shallow (constant-depth) circuit that contains only two CNOT gates, regardless of the total simulation time. In the three-boson case -- where such a compression is not possible -- we design a circuit in which one Trotter step entails 8 CNOTs, this number being far below the maximal CNOT-cost of a generic three-qubit gate. Using an analogy with the travelling salesman problem, we also provide a CNOT-cost estimate for quantum circuits emulating the system dynamics for higher boson-number truncations. Finally, based on the proposed circuits for one- and three-boson cases, we quantify the system dynamics for several different initial states by evaluating the expected fermion- and boson numbers at an arbitrary time after the quench. We validate our results by finding their good agreement with the exact ones obtained through classical benchmarking.Comment: 19 pages, 21 figure

Public preferences for multiple dimensions of bird biodiversity at the coast: insights for the cultural ecosystem services framework

This work was funded by the NERC Research project Coastal Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (CBESS) project Grant NE/J015644/1 with support from the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) programme. BESS is a six-year programme (2011–2017) funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) as part of the UK's Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) programme.Biodiversity is valuable to society, including through its contribution to cultural benefits: “the non-material benefits people obtain from biodiversity and ecosystem services through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences”. Biodiversity encompasses numerous measures, but the distinct values of these measures have been little studied. We conducted a discrete choice experiment to elicit respondents’ (n = 3,000) willingness to pay for increases in four measures of bird diversity in UK coastal ecosystems: number of bird species (species richness), number of individual birds (abundance), probability of seeing rare or unusual bird species, and probability of seeing large flocks of birds (wildlife spectacles). Respondents had a positive willingness to pay (through one-time voluntary donations) for increases in all four measures (mean £3 to £5 per household). However, using latent class analysis we found considerable heterogeneity of preferences, identifying four classes of respondents with strikingly different levels of marginal willingness to pay for the four measures. Income, age, environmental activity, visits to environmental settings, and gender were important determinants of class membership. While focusing on birds, our results demonstrate the importance of a multi-dimensional conceptualisation of biodiversity in broader ecosystem management, rather than focussing on a single aspect such as species richness or abundance. Our findings also highlight the implications of heterogeneous public preferences for biodiversity for conservationists, planners, shoreline managers and developers. These need to be considered in the development of new frameworks for ecosystem services, and when planning and funding conservation actions so that the cultural benefits will accrue across a range of social groups.PostprintPeer reviewe

Correlations Between Incidence of Foot Pad Lesions and Body Weight of Broilers in Different Rearing Systems

The incidence of foot pad lesions of broilers of moderate growth was investigated in order to establish correlations with body weight. Broilers were reared until the age of 42 days in the floor system in the poultry house and then were divided into two groups. The first group continued growing in the poultry house until the age of 84 days and the second group was growing in the free range system until the same age. Individual measurements of body weight and evaluation of the incidence of foot pad lesions of broilers were carried out at the end of the experiment. In a correlation analysis of previously transformed data on the percentage of broilers with lesions and body weight within each weight group, data were obtained that showed an association between these traits depending on the rearing system. System of rearing had significant impact on the strength and direction of correlation between body weight and the incidence of foot pad lesions, in light of the determined correlation coefficient r = -0.95 at the significance level p=0.01 in the free range system, and r=0.56 (p>0.05) in chickens reared in the poultry house

Desensitization protocol enabling pediatric crossmatch-positive renal transplantation: successful HLA-antibody-incompatible renal transplantation of two highly sensitized children

BACKGROUND: Renal transplantation improves quality of life (QoL) and survival in children requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT). Sensitization with development of a broad-spectrum of anti-HLA antibodies as a result of previous transplantation or after receiving blood products is an increasing problem. There are no published reports of desensitization protocols in children allowing renal transplantation from HLA-antibody-incompatible living donors. METHODS: We adopted our well-established adult desensitization protocol for this purpose and undertook HLA antibody-incompatible living donor renal transplants in two children: a 14-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy. RESULTS: After 2 and 1.5 years of follow-up, respectively, both patients have stable renal allograft function despite a rise in donor-specific antibodies in one case. CONCLUSIONS: HLA-incompatible transplantation should be considered in selected cases for sensitized children

A Wireless LC Sensor Coated with Ba0.9Bi0.066TiO3 for Measuring Temperature

This paper presents a passive LC wireless sensor for measuring temperature. The sensor is designed as a parallel connection of a spiral inductor and an interdigitated capacitor and it was fabricated in a conductive layer using LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) technology. The inderdigitated capacitor electrodes were coated with a thin film of bismuth doped barium titanate (Ba0.9Bi0.066TiO3), whose permittivity changes with temperature, which directly induces changes in the capacitance of the interdigitated capacitor and consequently changes the resonant frequency of the sensor. The measurements of S-parameter of the sensor were performed using a Vector Network Analyzer (E5071B, Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA), whose port was connected to the antenna coil that was placed around the sensor in order to be able to wirelessly detect temperature, in the temperature range from 25 degrees C to 165 degrees C

Aerobic capacity and respiratory patterns are better in recreational basketball-engaged university students than age-matched untrained males

Study aim: To asses and compare the aerobic capacity and respiratory parameters in recreational basketball-engaged university students with age-matched untrained young adults. Material and methods: A total of 30 subjects were selected to took part in the study based on recreational-basketball activity level and were assigned to a basketball (BG: N = 15, age 22.86 ± 1.35 yrs., body height 185.07 ± 5.95 cm, body weight 81.21 ± 6.15 kg) and untrained group (UG: N = 15, age 22.60 ± 1.50 yrs., body height 181.53 ± 6.11 cm, body weight 76.89 ± 7.30 kg). Inspiratory vital capacity (IVC), forced expiration volume (FEV1), FEV1/IVC ratio, maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), ventilatory threshold (VO2VT) and time to exhaustion, were measured in all subjects. Student T-test for independent Sample and Cohen's d as the measure of the effect size were calculated. Results: Recreational basketball-engaged students (EG) reached significantly greater IVC (t = 7.240, p < 0.001, d = 1.854), FEV1 (t = 10.852, p < 0.001, d = 2.834), FEV1/IVC ratio (t = 6.370, p < 0.001, d = 3.920), maximal oxygen consumption (t = 9.039, p < 0.001, d = 3.310), ventilatory threshold (t = 9.859, p < 0.001, d = 3.607) and time to exhaustion (t = 12.361, p < 0.001, d = 4.515) compared to UG. Conclusions: Long-term exposure to recreational basketball leads to adaptive changes in aerobic and respiratory parameters in male university students

Arrival time and intensity binning at unprecedented repetition rates

Understanding dynamics on ultrafast timescales enables unique and new insights into important processes in the materials and life sciences. In this respect, the fundamental pump-probe approach based on ultra-short photon pulses aims at the creation of stroboscopic movies. Performing such experiments at one of the many recently established accelerator-based 4th-generation light sources such as free-electron lasers or superradiant THz sources allows an enormous widening of the accessible parameter space for the excitation and/or probing light pulses. Compared to table-top devices, critical issues of this type of experiment are fluctuations of the timing between the accelerator and external laser systems and intensity instabilities of the accelerator-based photon sources. Existing solutions have so far been only demonstrated at low repetition rates and/or achieved a limited dynamic range in comparison to table-top experiments, while the 4th generation of accelerator-based light sources is based on superconducting radio-frequency technology, which enables operation at MHz or even GHz repetition rates. In this article, we present the successful demonstration of ultra-fast accelerator-laser pump-probe experiments performed at an unprecedentedly high repetition rate in the few- hundred-kHz regime and with a currently achievable optimal time resolution of 13 fs (rms). Our scheme, based on the pulse-resolved detection of multiple beam parameters relevant for the experiment, allows us to achieve an excellent sensitivity in real-world ultra-fast experiments, as demonstrated for the example of THz-field-driven coherent spin precession

Zeolite-based photocatalysts immobilized on aluminum support by plasma electrolytic oxidation

The preparation and properties of zeolite-containing oxide coatings obtained by plasma electrolytic oxidation are investigated and discussed. Pure and Ce-exchanged natural (clinoptilolite) and synthetic (13X) zeolites are immobilized on aluminum support from silicate-based electrolyte. Obtained coatings are characterized with respect to their morphology, phase and chemical composition, photocatalytic activity and anti-corrosion properties. It is observed that all mentioned properties of obtained coatings are dependent on processing time and type of immobilized zeolite. Coatings with Ce-exchanged zeolite show higher photocatalytic activity and more effective corrosion protection than those with pure zeolite. The highest photocatalytic activity is observed for coatings processed in pulsed a DC regime for 30 minutes containing Ce-exchanged 13X zeolite, followed by those containing Ce-exchanged clinoptilolite. Pronounced anti-corrosion properties feature almost all samples containing Ce-exchanged 13X zeolite

A study of the distribution of phylogenetically conserved blocks within clusters of mammalian homeobox genes

Genome sequencing efforts of the last decade have produced a large amount of data, which has enabled whole-genome comparative analyses in order to locate potentially functional elements and study the overall patterns of phylogenetic conservation. In this paper we present a statistically based method for the characterization of these patterns in mammalian DNA sequences. We have applied this approach to the study of exceptionally well conserved homeobox gene clusters (Hox), based on an alignment of six species, and we have constructed a map of Hox cataloguing the conserved fragments, along with their locations in relation to the genes and other landmarks, sometimes showing unexpected layouts