Revisiting quantum feedback control: disentangling the feedback‐induced phase from the corresponding amplitude

Coherent time‐delayed feedback allows the control of a quantum system and its partial stabilization against noise and decoherence. The crucial and externally accessible parameters in such control setups are the round‐trip‐induced delay time τ and the frequencies ω of the involved optical transitions which are typically controllable via global parameters like temperature, bias, or strain. They influence the dynamics via the amplitude and the phase= of the feedback signal. These quantities are, however, not independent. Here, the aim is to control the feedback phase via a microwave pump field. Using the example of a Λ‐type three‐level system, it is shown that the Rabi frequency of the pump field induces phase shifts on demand and therefore increases the applicability of coherent quantum feedback control protocols.DFG, 163436311, SFB 910: Kontrolle selbstorganisierender nichtlinearer Systeme: Theoretische Methoden und AnwendungskonzepteEC/H2020/734690/EU/Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance in doped semiconductor nanocrystals/SONARTU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel - 201

What Happened to the ‘Development’ in Sustainable Development? Business Guidelines Two Decades After Brundtland

ABSTRACTOver 20 years ago Our Common Future presented a conceptualization and explanation of the concept of sustainable development. Since then, numerous alternative definitions of the concept have been offered, of which at least some are exclusive to each other. At the same time, the role of business in the transition to sustainable development has increasingly received attention. Bringing these two trends in sustainable development together, this paper returns to the Brundtland version of the concept to examine to what extent the original principles of sustainable development are still embedded within key business guidelines, namely the UN Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the ICC Business Charter for Sustainable Development, the CAUX Principles, the Global Sullivan Principles and the CERES Principles. The findings suggest that these business guidelines tend to emphasize environmental rather than social aspects of sustainable development, in particular to the detriment of the original Brundtland prioritization of the needs of the poorest. Furthermore, the attention to environmental aspects stresses win–win situations and has a clear managerialist focus; whereas more conceptual environmental issues concerning systems interdependencies, critical thresholds or systemic limits to growth find little attention. The normative codes and principles targeted at the private sector therefore not only add another voice to the multiple discourses on sustainable development but also contribute to a reinterpretation of the original agenda set by Brundtland towards conceptualizations of sustainable development around the needs of industrialized rather than developing countries. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.</jats:p

Fracking and Metaphor: Analysing Newspaper Discourse in the USA, Australia and the United Kingdom

We apply a mixed-method design centred on the deployment of metaphors to explore the role that language plays in the structuring of the public discourses of unconventional hydrocarbon development (UHD) across three major developed economies. We analyse UHD-related metaphorical devices deployed in broadsheet newspapers in Australia, the UK and the USA between January 2006 and May 2018. We develop an innovative Type Hierarchy Approach to metaphors by mapping through directed graph hierarchies. These allow concept-mapping analysis in terms of supertypes and subtypes, i.e. concepts ordered in terms of generality and inclusion as in “rapid expansion” → “explosion”. We find two broad discourses, each containing metaphorical constructions: economic gain across temporal horizons (incorporating boom, bonanza, revolution and death metaphors); and risk tolerance and decision-making (incorporating gamble and insanity metaphors). At the level of individual metaphors, deployment trends and patterns can be mapped along country borders rather than for example political alignment. Boom and bonanza appear most widespread in the USA, whereas UHD as a revolution is more closely associated with UK newspapers. Over time, UHD-related metaphor use decreases in all three countries, potentially reflecting an increasing public acceptance of UHD and moving shale gas from unconventional to conventional hydrocarbon development

Association of intestinal alkaline phosphatase with necrotizing enterocolitis among premature infants

Importance: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm infants is an often-fatal gastrointestinal tract emergency. A robust NEC biomarker that is not confounded by sepsis could improve bedside management, lead to lower morbidity and mortality, and permit patient selection in randomized clinical trials of possible therapeutic approaches. Objective: To evaluate whether aberrant intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) biochemistry in infant stool is a molecular biomarker for NEC and not associated with sepsis. Design, Setting, and Participants: This multicenter diagnostic study enrolled 136 premature infants (gestational age, \u3c37 weeks) in 2 hospitals in Louisiana and 1 hospital in Missouri. Data were collected and analyzed from May 2015 to November 2018. Exposures: Infant stool samples were collected between 24 and 40 or more weeks postconceptual age. Enrolled infants underwent abdominal radiography at physician and hospital site discretion. Main Outcomes and Measures: Enzyme activity and relative abundance of IAP were measured using fluorometric detection and immunoassays, respectively. After measurements were performed, biochemical data were evaluated against clinical entries from infants\u27 hospital stay. Results: Of 136 infants, 68 (50.0%) were male infants, median (interquartile range [IQR]) birth weight was 1050 (790-1350) g, and median (IQR) gestational age was 28.4 (26.0-30.9) weeks. A total of 25 infants (18.4%) were diagnosed with severe NEC, 19 (14.0%) were suspected of having NEC, and 92 (66.9%) did not have NEC; 26 patients (19.1%) were diagnosed with late-onset sepsis, and 14 (10.3%) had other non-gastrointestinal tract infections. For severe NEC, suspected NEC, and no NEC samples, median (IQR) fecal IAP content, relative to the amount of IAP in human small intestinal lysate, was 99.0% (51.0%-187.8%) (95% CI, 54.0%-163.0%), 123.0% (31.0%-224.0%) (95% CI, 31.0%-224.0%), and 4.8% (2.4%-9.8%) (95% CI, 3.4%-5.9%), respectively. For severe NEC, suspected NEC, and no NEC samples, median (IQR) enzyme activity was 183 (56-507) μmol/min/g (95% CI, 63-478 μmol/min/g) of stool protein, 355 (172-608) μmol/min/g (95% CI, 172-608 μmol/min/g) of stool protein, and 613 (210-1465) μmol/min/g (95% CI, 386-723 μmol/min/g) of stool protein, respectively. Mean (SE) area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values for IAP content measurements were 0.97 (0.02) (95% CI, 0.93-1.00; P \u3c .001) at time of severe NEC, 0.97 (0.02) (95% CI, 0.93-1.00; P \u3c .001) at time of suspected NEC, 0.52 (0.07) (95% CI, 0.38-0.66; P = .75) at time of sepsis, and 0.58 (0.08) (95% CI, 0.42-0.75; P = .06) at time of other non-gastrointestinal tract infections. Mean (SE) area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values for IAP activity were 0.76 (0.06) (95% CI, 0.64-0.86; P \u3c .001), 0.62 (0.07) (95% CI, 0.48-0.77; P = .13), 0.52 (0.07) (95% CI, 0.39-0.67; P = .68), and 0.57 (0.08) (95% CI, 0.39-0.69; P = .66), respectively. Conclusions and Relevance: In this diagnostic study, high amounts of IAP protein in stool and low IAP enzyme activity were associated with diagnosis of NEC and may serve as useful biomarkers for NEC. Our findings indicated that IAP biochemistry was uniquely able to distinguish NEC from sepsis

Social media is not the ‘silver bullet’ to reducing household food waste, a response to Grainger and Stewart (2017)

In our reply to Grainger and Stewart (2017) we concur with their observation on the need for evidence-based synthesis in examining the efficacy of behaviour change interventions. We argue that our paper (Young et al. , 2017) makes a contribution to the body of knowledge on behaviour change and in so doing it provides an important piece of the jigsaw in understanding the influence of social media on food waste behaviour

Exploring the link between sustainability reporting and sustainability management: a conceptual framework.

Sustainability managementand Sustainability Reporting (SR) practices have dramatically increased during the last two decades, raising important questions about the relationship between internal practices and external communication. Previous literature on SR has almost exclusively highlighted the role of institutional and stakeholder pressures in driving its adoption. However, as surveys among reporters also identify internal benefits of SR, its full role for company-level sustainability management remains unclear. In order to address this question, we develop a framework accounting for four SR configurations, stemming from different levels of relative importance of external and internal motives for SR. A multiple case study involving four large Spanish companies serves to illustrate the framework and to identify company-level factors that act both as enablers and barriers of SR internal relevance. We conclude that motivations for SR, along with such internal factors, decisively influence its contribution to sustainability management

Corporate reporting on corruption: an international comparison

Building on an institutionalist framework of the various organizational field-level pressures on firms to engage with the challenge of corruption, we analyse anti-corruption disclosures across a sample of 933 sustainability reports. Such reporting complements anti-corruption initiatives, as it allows the company to demonstrate its commitment. Our results show clear country- and sector-level differences in the extent to which companies communicate their anti-corruption engagement. However, the more a company is exposed to corruption, the less likely it appears to openly communicate its anti-corruption engagement. Hence, our results cast doubt on the effectiveness of anti-corruption disclosures as part of wider sustainability reporting