3,717 research outputs found
The contribution of geographical certification programs to farm income and rural economies: The case of Pecorino Siciliano PDO
This study attempts to measure the capacity of the EU geographical certification scheme to positively influence the price of certified products and the incomes of their producers. A comparison of the economic results of two cheese-producing dairy farm enterprises with different business strategies and locations within the Sicilian hinterlands is performed in order to determine the transformation value of each dairyâs sheep milk into pecorino cheese (with and without the Protected Designation of Origin, or PDO, certification) and the related joint products (ricotta). The economic convenience of the total transformation of sheep milk into Pecorino Siciliano PDO and ricotta is also appraised. The results suggest that producing and commercializing Pecorino Siciliano PDO is a promising strategy for differentiating and promoting dairy farm products and improving the financial performance of producers, with foreseeable positive repercussions in the socioeconomically less favored rural areas where they are located
Thermal non-equilibrium effects in quantum reflection
We show that the quantum reflection coefficient of ultracold heavy atoms
scattering off a dielectric surface can be tuned in a wide range by suitable
choice of surface and environment temperatures. This effect results from a
temperature dependent long-range repulsive part of the van der
Waals-Casimir-Polder-Lifshitz atom-surface interaction potential
The Equivalence Postulate of Quantum Mechanics
The Equivalence Principle (EP), stating that all physical systems are
connected by a coordinate transformation to the free one with vanishing energy,
univocally leads to the Quantum Stationary HJ Equation (QSHJE). Trajectories
depend on the Planck length through hidden variables which arise as initial
conditions. The formulation has manifest p-q duality, a consequence of the
involutive nature of the Legendre transform and of its recently observed
relation with second-order linear differential equations. This reflects in an
intrinsic psi^D-psi duality between linearly independent solutions of the
Schroedinger equation. Unlike Bohm's theory, there is a non-trivial action even
for bound states. No use of any axiomatic interpretation of the wave-function
is made. Tunnelling is a direct consequence of the quantum potential which
differs from the usual one and plays the role of particle's self-energy. The
QSHJE is defined only if the ratio psi^D/psi is a local self-homeomorphism of
the extended real line. This is an important feature as the L^2 condition,
which in the usual formulation is a consequence of the axiomatic interpretation
of the wave-function, directly follows as a basic theorem which only uses the
geometrical gluing conditions of psi^D/psi at q=\pm\infty as implied by the EP.
As a result, the EP itself implies a dynamical equation that does not require
any further assumption and reproduces both tunnelling and energy quantization.
Several features of the formulation show how the Copenhagen interpretation
hides the underlying nature of QM. Finally, the non-stationary higher
dimensional quantum HJ equation and the relativistic extension are derived.Comment: 1+3+140 pages, LaTeX. Invariance of the wave-function under the
action of SL(2,R) subgroups acting on the reduced action explicitly reveals
that the wave-function describes only equivalence classes of Planck length
deterministic physics. New derivation of the Schwarzian derivative from the
cocycle condition. "Legendre brackets" introduced to further make "Legendre
duality" manifest. Introduction now contains examples and provides a short
pedagogical review. Clarifications, conclusions, ackn. and references adde
Dynamical description of quantum computing: generic nonlocality of quantum noise
We develop dynamical non-Markovian description of quantum computing in weak
coupling limit, in lowest order approximation. We show that long range memory
of quantum reservoir produces strong interrelation between structure of noise
and quantum algorithm, implying nonlocal attacks of noise. We then argue that
the quantum error correction method fails to protect quantum computation
against electromagnetic or phonon vacuum which exhibit memory. This
shows that the implicit assumption of quantum error correction theory --
independence of noise and self-dynamics -- fails in long time regimes. We also
use our approach to present {\it pure} decoherence and decoherence accompanied
by dissipation in terms of spectral density of reservoir. The so-called {\it
dynamical decoupling} method is discussed in this context. Finally, we propose
{\it minimal decoherence model}, in which the only source of decoherence is
vacuum. We optimize fidelity of quantum information processing under the
trade-off between speed of gate and strength of decoherence.Comment: 12 pages, minor corrections, softened interpretation of the result
Dynamical Backaction Magnomechanics
Dynamical backaction resulting from radiation pressure forces in
optomechanical systems has proven to be a versatile tool for manipulating
mechanical vibrations. Notably, dynamical backaction has resulted in the
cooling of a mechanical resonator to its ground-state, driving phonon lasing,
the generation of entangled states, and observation of the optical-spring
effect. In certain magnetic materials, mechanical vibrations can interact with
magnetic excitations (magnons) via the magnetostrictive interaction, resulting
in an analogous magnon-induced dynamical backaction. In this article, we
directly observe the impact of magnon-induced dynamical backaction on a
spherical magnetic sample's mechanical vibrations. Moreover, dynamical
backaction effects play a crucial role in many recent theoretical proposals;
thus, our work provides the foundation for future experimental work pursuing
many of these theoretical proposals.Comment: Accepted version with appendice
Iron metabolism and lymphocyte characterisation during Covid-19 infection in ICU patients: An observational cohort study
Background: Iron metabolism and immune response to SARS-CoV-2 have not been described yet in intensive care patients, although they are likely involved in Covid-19 pathogenesis. Methods: We performed an observational study during the peak of pandemic in our intensive care unit, dosing D-dimer, C-reactive protein, troponin T, lactate dehydrogenase, ferritin, serum iron, transferrin, transferrin saturation, transferrin soluble receptor, lymphocyte count and NK, CD3, CD4, CD8 and B subgroups of 31 patients during the first 2 weeks of their ICU stay. Correlation with mortality and severity at the time of admission was tested with the Spearman coefficient and Mann-Whitney test. Trends over time were tested with the Kruskal-Wallis analysis. Results: Lymphopenia is severe and constant, with a nadir on day 2 of ICU stay (median 0.555 109/L; interquartile range (IQR) 0.450 109/L); all lymphocytic subgroups are dramatically reduced in critically ill patients, while CD4/CD8 ratio remains normal. Neither ferritin nor lymphocyte count follows significant trends in ICU patients. Transferrin saturation is extremely reduced at ICU admission (median 9%; IQR 7%), then significantly increases at days 3 to 6 (median 33%, IQR 26.5%, p value 0.026). The same trend is observed with serum iron levels (median 25.5 ÎŒg/L, IQR 69 ÎŒg/L at admission; median 73 ÎŒg/L, IQR 56 ÎŒg/L on days 3 to 6) without reaching statistical significance. Hyperferritinemia is constant during intensive care stay: however, its dosage might be helpful in individuating patients developing haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. D-dimer is elevated and progressively increases from admission (median 1319 ÎŒg/L; IQR 1285 ÎŒg/L) to days 3 to 6 (median 6820 ÎŒg/L; IQR 6619 ÎŒg/L), despite not reaching significant results. We describe trends of all the abovementioned parameters during ICU stay. Conclusions: The description of iron metabolism and lymphocyte count in Covid-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit provided with this paper might allow a wider understanding of SARS-CoV-2 pathophysiology
Targeting qubit states using open-loop control
We present an open-loop (bang-bang) scheme which drives an open two-level
quantum system to any target state, while maintaining quantum coherence
throughout the process. The control is illustrated by a realistic simulation
for both adiabatic and thermal decoherence. In the thermal decoherence regime,
the control achieved by the proposed scheme is qualitatively similar, at the
ensemble level, to the control realized by the quantum feedback scheme of Wang,
Wiseman, and Milburn [Phys. Rev. A 64, #063810 (2001)] for the spontaneous
emission of a two-level atom. The performance of the open-loop scheme compares
favorably against the quantum feedback scheme with respect to robustness,
target fidelity and transition times.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure
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