Measurement, Decoherence and Master Equations

In the first part of this thesis we concern ourselves with the problem of generating pseudo-random circuits. These are a series of quantum gates chosen at random, with the overall effect of implementing unitary operations with statistical properties close to that of unitaries drawn at random with respect to the Haar measure. Such circuits have a growing number of applications in quantum-information processing, but all known algorithms require an external input of classical randomness. We suggest a scheme to implement random circuits in a weighted graph state. The input state is entangled with the weighted graph state and a random circuit is implemented by performing local measurements in one fixed basis only. A central idea in the analysis of this proposal is the average bipartite entanglement generated by the repeated application of such circuits on a large number of randomly chosen input product states. For a truly random circuit, this should agree with that obtained by applying unitaries at random chosen uniformly with respect to the Haar measure, values which can be calculated using Pages Conjecture. Part II is largely concerned with continuous variables (CV) systems. In particular, we are interested in two descriptions. That of the class of Gaussian states, and that of systems which can be adequately described through the use of Markovian master equations. In the case of the latter, there are a number of approaches one may take in order to derive a suitable equation, all of which require some sort of approximation. These approximations can be made based on a mixture of mathematical and physical grounds. However, unfortunately it is not always clear how justified we are in making a particular choice, especially when the test system we wish to describe includes its own internal interactions. In an attempt to clarify this situation, we derive Markovian master equations for single and interacting harmonic systems under different scenarios, including strong internal coupling. By comparing the dynamics resulting from the corresponding master equations with numerical simulations of the global systems evolution, we assess the robustness of the assumptions usually made in the process of deriving the reduced Markovian dynamics. This serves to clarify the general properties of other open quantum system scenarios subject to treatment within a Markovian approximation. Finally, we extend the notions of the smooth min- and smooth max-entropies to the continuous variable setting. Specifically, we have provided expressions to evaluate these measures on arbitrary Gaussian states. These expressions rely only on the symplectic eigenvalues of the corresponding covariance matrix. As an application, we have considered their use as a suitable measure for detecting thermalisation

Forensic examination of blood and blood stains

Although the examination of blood stains forms an important part of Forensic Laboratory work, text books only mention routine tests for stains to which at the most, two or three pages are given. Examination of blood other than stains is never considered.Being brought into contact with cases calling for examination beyond the usual routine, I have turned in vain for aid to text books of Forensic Medicine, Toxicology, Chemistry and Physiology. Especially in the case of Physiology was I led astray at first, as the descriptions there relate to pure substances which are not encountered in Forensic Medicine.Whilst cases requiring investigation of uncommon forms of haemoglobin are few, when they occur it is not merely a description of the compound, but minute details and references which are required. I have endeavoured to supply this. Each statement and test has been carefully examined by me before being accepted; save a few cases where the reverse is stated. Some of the recognized tests have been the object of original investigations, and in almost all cases experimental enquiries have been made into their comparative value and fallacies. Details of these researches are not given here, the results having been summarized. Wherever I have stated my opinion it is based on practical experience and investigations.Enquiries into the subject of blood groups are still progressing, but I am not aware of any other work in English dealing with the present position as here summarized.Owing to its present prominence, the examination of Alcohol in the blood has been included. An Appendix describes Carbon Monoxide poisoning, to an investigation of which I devoted many months last year.Whilst I have endeavoured to present in this Thesis a complete survey of Forensic blood work which a Medical jurist will find of value, it has also been my aim to make this understandable to one commencing the study of the subject

In situ generation of Mes2Mg as a non-nucleophilic carbon-centred base reagent for the efficient one-pot conversion of ketones to silyl enol ethers

Treatment of commercially available MesMgBr with 1,4-dioxane produces the key Mes2Mg reagent in situ which then mediates the deprotonation of ketones to deliver trimethylsilyl enol ethers, at readily accessible temperatures and without any nucleophilic addition, in an expedient and high yielding one-pot process

A comparison of some French and English literary responses to the 1914-1918 War

This thesis proposes a comparative study of some imaginative responses to the Great War in English and French writing. The principal works discussed range from Peguy's anticipation of the war in his poem Eve (1913) to David Jones's recreative memory of it in his poem In Parenthesis (1937). The survey is limited to British and French works, and does not include American and colonial contributions, or the war-writings of other combatant countries.. The thesis examines the various ways in which twelve authors - six English and six French - developed and expressed their individual response to the Great War. It is not based on an imaginary anthology of the dozen best war-writings. The twelve examples have been chosen to illustrate and cover as wide a range as possible of the ways the historical experience could be met and interpreted in literature. They include writings by civilians, and by commissioned and non-commissioned soldiers; narrative and discursive prose, essays, letters, and verse. The first chapter considers the war-writings of Rupert Brooke, H. G. Wells and T. E. Hulme; and the second chapter discusses the work of Charles Peguy, Henri Barbusse and Jacques Vache. Chapter 3 is concerned with three novels, by Jean Cocteau, Richard Aldington, and Proust. In the second half of the work, a chapter each is given to Wilfred Owen, Guillaume Apollinaire and David Jones. War-writings by definition include history, and even those most innocent of a propaganda intention are likely to betray an interpretation of history, as well as having some documentary value and, at a less visible level, enacting a private drama. The literature of the Great War, considered as a sub-genre, is the product both of shared and of individual, intimate experience. The purpose of this study has been to suggest the variety of possible literary responses to the Great War; to discover what these responses are likely to have in common, and thus to offer a sketch-map of the topography of the 1914-1918 war in English and French writing; and, by locating these works in a context of European literature as well as of world history, to allow each text discussed reciprocally to illuminate and criticise the others

Retrolental fibroplasia: a clinical and experimental survey during the five years (1948-1952) in the City of Edinburgh

T.L. Terry (1942), in the United States of America, first described an alarming condition of blindness affecting babies of low birth weight. He called the condition RETROLENTAL FIBROPLASIA. At that time the condition was relatively uncommon and, generally speaking, the average medical man was not altogether surprised to read of a new hazard affecting the prematurely -born infant. However, from that date cases appeared with Quite frightening regularity in the United States of America. It was realised that this condition of blindness had a tragic implication on the family unit, and if it was not checked it might well become a social problem for which a satisfactory solution would be difficult. The after-care and education of blind children was already a large enough burden.Naturally, with the advent of a new condition, search began to be made of earlier records. As this proceeded new cases came to light and it was found that in 1938, the incidence of what was now recognised as retrolental fibroplasia occurring among babies in the Boston Lying-In Hospital with a birth weight of 4 lbs. and under, was 18% (Zacharias 1952). Although the condition was not known by the name of retrolental fibroplasia, cases resembling it were described in the earlier literature, e.a. Travers (1820) and Treacher Collins (1892).It seemed in Britain that we were to escape this tragic occurrence. However, it was not to be, for in 1948 the first case under the title of retrolental fibroplasia was shown at the Royal Society of Medicine by Galloway. It is interesting to note that Franklin (1949) described retrolental fibroplasia as "a rare disease in and around London ". Moffat (1950) found, out of 119 cases of blindness in Sunshine Homes in England, twelve were definite cases of retrolental fibroplasia and two were doubtful cases. It appears that the years 1946- 1947 marked the initial record of cases in this country (Crosse and Evans 1952). From that date onwards the incidence has gradually increased. As interest throughout the world increased reports began to come in from other countries. As in the United States of America, once the condition had been defined reviews of the national literature and of existing cases of blindness were undertaken to determine the earliest true appearance of retrolental fibroplasia.Reports of investigations and opinions as to the possible aetiology became increasingly numerous. Although opinions differed widely, all groups had two common objectives, namely the understanding and prevention of retrolental fibroplasia.The first recorded case of the condition in Edinburgh was in 1948. At the beginning of 1952, it was decided to survey all babies who were born and resident in the city during the previous four years, provided that their birth weight was 4 lbs. or under. All babies of a similar weight group born during 1952 were to be examined at frequent intervals up till the age of six months. It was hoped that a clearer understanding of the disease might be achieved by the adoption of such measures

Comparative Study of Model-Based and Learning-Based Disparity Map Fusion Methods

Creating an accurate depth map has several, valuable applications including augmented/virtual reality, autonomous navigation, indoor/outdoor mapping, object segmentation, and aerial topography. Current hardware solutions for precise 3D scanning are relatively expensive. To combat hardware costs, software alternatives based on stereoscopic images have previously been proposed. However, software solutions are less accurate than hardware solutions, such as laser scanning, and are subject to a variety of irregularities. Notably, disparity maps generated from stereo images typically fall short in cases of occlusion, near object boundaries, and on repetitive texture regions or texture-less regions. Several post-processing methods are examined in an effort to combine strong algorithm results and alleviate erroneous disparity regions. These methods include basic statistical combinations, histogram-based voting, edge detection guidance, support vector machines (SVMs), and bagged trees. Individual errors and average errors are compared between the newly introduced fusion methods and the existing disparity algorithms. Several acceptable solutions are identified to bridge the gap between 3D scanning and stereo imaging. It is shown that fusing disparity maps can result in lower error rates than individual algorithms across the dataset while maintaining a high level of robustness

The chaotic process of change

The process of psychological change is complex, mirroring the complexity of life (Mahoney, 1991). Such complexity is nonlinear. Essentially, people are nonlinear dynamical systems and are characterised by an ever-changing, ever-adaptive movement from one state of order to another. This movement is a sequential flux, a turbulent ebb and flow of forces and form. Psychological change, too, follows this chaotic process of change (Butz, 1997). This is in line with the ‘new science’ of complexity. A postmodern vision, this is an ecological worldview that sees the world in terms of wholeness, interconnectedness, context, and nonlinear process (Goerner, 1995a). Three fields characterised by and concerned with complexity and which embrace the postmodern, ecological worldview are constructivism, ecopsychology, and chaos theory. Constructivism holds that people are meaning-making individuals who construct their own versions of reality; people are proactive, self-organising, and ever adapting to higher levels of complexity (Masterpasqua & Perna, 1997; Neimeyer & Mahoney, 1995). Ecopsychology is a synthesis of psychology and ecology; it is inspired by a holistic version of reality and posits the mutual embeddedness of humans and nature, the systemic connectedness of all that exists, and the evolutionary flux of the universe (Goerner, 1995a; Metzner, 1999). Chaos theory is the face of complexity; it is concerned with nonlinear dynamic systems as they evolve over time and the patterns and processes underlying such change (Cambel, 1993; Kellert, 1993). Although individually powerful and relevant for psychology, these fields are highly fragmented and often impractical. Much potential lies in their integration. Against this background, two goals were pursued in this study: 1) primarily, to simply and clearly demonstrate the concepts and application of chaos theory in a therapeutic situation; 2) to integrate the fields of constructivism, ecopsychology, and chaos theory relevant to the main goal of the study. Constructivism served as a grounding epistemology and, within this, ecopsychology served as a context within which chaos theory was utilised as a therapeutic applicatory model. The grounding epistemology, integration, and intervention are premised on the notions that: a) nature and humans are mutually and crucially embedded in each other; b) nature is characterised by nonlinear dynamical systems and the chaotic process of change, and thus humans (ie: dynamical systems) are also necessarily subject to such natural laws and principles; c) humans are proactive and may utilise the principles of chaos theory – notably self-organisation – to consciously initiate their own chaotic process of psychological change. The fields of constructivism, ecopsychology, and chaos theory are characterised by new and innovative forms of research and design methods. Such a pioneering spirit underpinned this study. The emphasis was on simplicity and pragmatic utility, using down-to-earth methods geared to producing practical and relevant data for use in therapy. A prime consideration was to ground the study in real-life. An empirical, descriptive field study was thus used, utilising an intensive single-case quantitative (time-series) design for data collection and a qualitative analysis. The intervention was aimed at initiating and facilitating psychological change, and was conducted with three participants. A nature-based metaphor and related guided imagery were used as a structure for the intervention. The intervention was conducted over three months. Participants completed self-report scales four times daily for the duration of the intervention, yielding time-series data. Analysis was by means of interpretation of three-dimensional geometric phase portraits and time-series graphs. Interpretations were used heuristically, triangulating them with clinical observations and verbal feedback from participants. Results showed that each of the three participants changed psychologically in different ways in the intervention, with certain aspects of chaos theory more applicable to one or the other. Considered together, the data pertaining to the three participants were clearly related to the principles of chaotic change. It was concluded that the concepts of chaos theory were shown to be relevant for therapy and that their application could be demonstrated simply and clearly. Chaos theory holds much potential as an applicatory model in psychology and would be well served by the use of more simple and pragmatic research methods. The use of triangulation in chaos theory analysis was found to be a particularly powerful methodology. The integration of constructivism, ecopsychology, and chaos theory proved to be a powerful framework for therapy and holds much potential for future development as a framework for broader psychological investigation and application. Much future research could be pursued from where this study leaves off. More studies focusing on simple and clear applications of chaos theory in therapy could be undertaken. Practical studies conducted in real-life therapeutic situations using innovative methodology would be particularly useful. A more comprehensive integration of constructivism, ecopsychology, and chaos theory could be undertaken. This could be a rich synthesis, going beyond unification of the core fundamentals to consider more widely related aspects of therapy and psychology.Professor Gertie Pretoriu