Exposure to “real life” professional experiences through a shadowing scheme that matches penultimate and final year students with employers

This paper reports on a learning development project undertaken during 2010 – 2011. The Work-Shadowing Scheme (WSS) was primarily developed in response to feedback following the National Student Survey (NSS). The NSS brought to light the apparent discrepancy between, the number of structured programmes City University London host that offer exposure within professional environments (for example, formal placement schemes) and the number of students looking for experience within a professional context. In an attempt to bridge this gap, the Career and Skills Development Service began thinking about how to implement a scheme that would provide City students with a unique opportunity to gain professional experience across a variety of industries. The WSS project was designed to provide students with the opportunity to shadow a guide from a sector of their choice. Typically, students requested to shadow guides in industries associated with their course, however an additional benefit of the WSS was the potential to shadow a guide within a sector that was not traditionally associated with their degree. On completion of a shadowing experience, students were given the option to shadow two more employers. This aspect of the scheme was further commended, and students reiterated the benefits of gaining „snapshots‟ of multiple sectors before making crucial career decisions

Comment on "High Field Studies of Superconducting Fluctuations in High-Tc Cuprates. Evidence for a Small Gap distinct from the Large Pseudogap"

By using high magnetic field data to estimate the background conductivity, Rullier-Albenque and coworkers have recently published [Phys.Rev.B 84, 014522 (2011)] experimental evidence that the in-plane paraconductivity in cuprates is almost independent of doping. In this Comment we also show that, in contrast with their claims, these useful data may be explained at a quantitative level in terms of the Gaussian-Ginzburg-Landau approach for layered superconductors, extended by Carballeira and coworkers to high reduced-temperatures by introducing a total-energy cutoff [Phys.Rev.B 63, 144515 (2001)]. When combined, these two conclusions further suggest that the paraconductivity in cuprates is conventional, i.e., associated with fluctuating superconducting pairs above the mean-field critical temperature.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur

Entanglement in a second order quantum phase transition

We consider a system of mutually interacting spin 1/2 embedded in a transverse magnetic field which undergo a second order quantum phase transition. We analyze the entanglement properties and the spin squeezing of the ground state and show that, contrarily to the one-dimensional case, a cusp-like singularity appears at the critical point $\lambda_c$, in the thermodynamic limit. We also show that there exists a value $\lambda_0 \geq \lambda_c$ above which the ground state is not spin squeezed despite a nonvanishing concurrence.Comment: 4 pages, 4 EPS figures, minor corrections added and title change

Classification of GHZ-type, W-type and GHZ-W-type multiqubit entanglements

We propose the concept of SLOCC-equivalent basis (SEB) in the multiqubit space. In particular, two special SEBs, the GHZ-type and the W-type basis are introduced. They can make up a more general family of multiqubit states, the GHZ-W-type states, which is a useful kind of entanglement for quantum teleporatation and error correction. We completely characterize the property of this type of states, and mainly classify the GHZ-type states and the W-type states in a regular way, which is related to the enumerative combinatorics. Many concrete examples are given to exhibit how our method is used for the classification of these entangled states.Comment: 16 pages, Revte

Optimal quantum teleportation with an arbitrary pure state

We derive the maximum fidelity attainable for teleportation using a shared pair of d-level systems in an arbitrary pure state. This derivation provides a complete set of necessary and sufficient conditions for optimal teleportation protocols. We also discuss the information on the teleported particle which is revealed in course of the protocol using a non-maximally entangled state.Comment: 10 pages, REVTe

Hydrogen column density evaluations toward Capella: consequences on the interstellar deuterium abundance

The deuterium abundance evaluation in the direction of Capella has for a long time been used as a reference for the local interstellar medium (ISM) within our Galaxy. We show here that broad and weak HI components could be present on the Capella line of sight, leading to a large new additional systematic uncertainty on the N(HI) evaluation. The D/H ratio toward Capella is found to be equal to 1.67 (+/-0.3)x10^-5 with almost identical chi^2 for all the fits (this range includes only the systematic error; the 2 sigma statistical one is almost negligible in comparison). It is concluded that D/H evaluations over HI column densities below 10^19 cm^-2 (even perhaps below 10^20 cm^-2 if demonstrated by additional observations) may present larger uncertainties than previously anticipated. It is mentionned that the D/O ratio might be a better tracer for DI variations in the ISM as recently measured by the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE).Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letter