Entanglement of two individual neutral atoms using Rydberg blockade

We report the generation of entanglement between two individual $^{87}$Rb atoms in hyperfine ground states $|F=1,M=1>$ and $|F=2,M=2>$ which are held in two optical tweezers separated by 4 $\mu$m. Our scheme relies on the Rydberg blockade effect which prevents the simultaneous excitation of the two atoms to a Rydberg state. The entangled state is generated in about 200 ns using pulsed two-photon excitation. We quantify the entanglement by applying global Raman rotations on both atoms. We measure that 61% of the initial pairs of atoms are still present at the end of the entangling sequence. These pairs are in the target entangled state with a fidelity of 0.75.Comment: text revised, with additional reference

MARTA: A high-energy cosmic-ray detector concept with high-accuracy muon measurement

A new concept for the direct measurement of muons in air showers is presented. The concept is based on resistive plate chambers (RPCs), which can directly measure muons with very good space and time resolution. The muon detector is shielded by placing it under another detector able to absorb and measure the electromagnetic component of the showers such as a water-Cherenkov detector, commonly used in air shower arrays. The combination of the two detectors in a single, compact detector unit provides a unique measurement that opens rich possibilities in the study of air showers.Comment: 11 page

High-Temperature-Induced Defects in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Anther and Pollen Development Are Associated with Reduced Expression of B-Class Floral Patterning Genes

Citation: Muller, F., Xu, J. M., Kristensen, L., Wolters-Arts, M., de Groot, P. F. M., Jansma, S. Y., . . . Rieu, I. (2016). High-Temperature-Induced Defects in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Anther and Pollen Development Are Associated with Reduced Expression of B-Class Floral Patterning Genes. Plos One, 11(12), 14. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0167614Sexual reproduction is a critical process in the life-cycle of plants and very sensitive to environmental perturbations. To better understand the effect of high temperature on plant reproduction, we cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants in continuous mild heat. Under this condition we observed a simultaneous reduction in pollen viability and appearance of anthers with pistil-like structures, while in a more thermotolerant genotype, both traits were improved. Ectopic expression of two pistil-specific genes, TRANSMITTING TISSUE SPECIFIC and TOMATO AGAMOUS LIKE11, in the anthers confirmed that the anthers had gained partial pistil identity. Concomitantly, expression of the B-class genes TOMATO APETALA3, TOMATO MADS BOX GENE6 (TM6) and LePISTILLATA was reduced in anthers under continuous mild heat. Plants in which TM6 was partially silenced reacted hypersensitively to temperature elevation with regard to the frequency of pistilloid anthers, pollen viability and pollen quantity. Taken together, these results suggest that high-temperature induced down-regulation of tomato B-class genes contributes to anther deformations and reduced male fertility. Improving our understanding of how temperature perturbs the molecular mechanisms of anther and pollen development will be important in the view of maintaining agricultural output under current climate changes

Resonant enhancement of the zero-phonon emission from a color center in a diamond cavity

We demonstrate coupling of the zero-phonon line of individual nitrogen-vacancy centers and the modes of microring resonators fabricated in single-crystal diamond. A zero-phonon line enhancement exceeding ten-fold is estimated from lifetime measurements at cryogenic temperatures. The devices are fabricated using standard semiconductor techniques and off-the-shelf materials, thus enabling integrated diamond photonics.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

MARTA: a high-energy cosmic-ray detector concept for high-accuracy muon measurement

A new concept for the direct measurement of muons in air showers is presented. The concept is based on resistive plate chambers (RPCs), which can directly measure muons with very good space and time resolution. The muon detector is shielded by placing it under another detector able to absorb and measure the electromagnetic component of the showers such as a water-Cherenkov detector, commonly used in air shower arrays. The combination of the two detectors in a single, compact detector unit provides a unique measurement that opens rich possibilities in the study of air showers.Peer Reviewe

Adiposity and the development of dyslipidemia in APOE epsilon 2 homozygous subjects:A longitudinal analysis in two population-based cohorts

Background and aims: Familial dysbetalipoproteinemia (FD), characterized by remnant lipoprotein accumulation and premature cardiovascular disease, occurs in homozygous carriers of the APOE epsilon 2 allele, but genetic predisposition alone does not suffice for the clinical phenotype. Cross-sectional studies suggest that a second metabolic hit-notably adiposity or insulin resistance-is required, but the association between these risk factors and development of FD has not been studied prospectively. Methods: For this study, we evaluated 18,987 subjects from two large prospective Dutch population-based cohorts (PREVEND and Rotterdam Study) of whom 118 were homozygous APOE epsilon 2 carriers. Of these, 69 subjects were available for prospective analyses. Dyslipidemia-likely to be FD-was defined as fasting triglyceride (TG) levels >3 mmol/L in untreated subjects or use of lipid lowering medication. The effect of weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, type 2 diabetes mellitus and non-TG metabolic syndrome on development of dyslipidemia was investigated. Results: Eleven of the 69 epsilon 2 epsilon 2 subjects (16%) developed dyslipidemia-likely FD-during follow-up. Age-, sexand cohort-adjusted risk factors for the development of FD were BMI (OR 1.19; 95%CI 1.04-1.39), waist circumference (OR 1.26 95%CI 1.01-1.61) and presence of non-TG metabolic syndrome (OR 4.39; 95%CI 1.04-18.4) at baseline. Change in adiposity during follow-up was not associated with development of dyslipidemia. Conclusions: Adiposity increases the risk of developing an FD-like lipid phenotype in homozygous APOE epsilon 2 subjects. These results stress the importance of healthy body weight in subjects at risk of developing FD

Information Content of DSGE Forecasts

This paper examines the question whether information is contained in forecasts from DSGE models beyond that contained in lagged values, which are extensively used in the models. Four sets of forecasts are examined. The results are encouraging for DSGE forecasts of real GDP. The results suggest that there is information in the DSGE forecasts not contained in forecasts based only on lagged values and that there is no information in the lagged-value forecasts not contained in the DSGE forecasts. The opposite is true for forecasts of the GDP deflator

Dietary calcium intake and adiposity in children and adolescents: Cross-sectional and longitudinal results from IDEFICS/I.Family cohort

Background and aims: Studies in children and adolescents suggest that higher dairy consumption may exert a protective effect on adiposity. However, only few studies examined the association between dietary calcium intake and body mass measures with conflicting results. We evaluated the association between total dietary calcium, calcium from dairy and non-dairy sources and anthropometric indices in a large European cohort of children and adolescents. Methods and Results: As many as 6, 696 children belonging to the IDEFICS study were eligible for the cross-sectional analysis (Boys = 51%; age 6.0 ± 1.8 years; mean ± SD). Of these, 2, 744 were re-examined six years later (Boys = 49.6%; age = 11.7 ± 1.8 years) in the framework of the I.Family study. The exposures were the baseline energy-adjusted total, dairy and non-dairy calcium intakes measured by a validated 24-h dietary recall. Multivariable linear regression was used to determine the association between calcium intake and z-scores of anthropometric indices (body mass index, BMI; waist circumference, WC; sum of skinfolds, SS; fat mass index, FMI) at baseline, and their variation over the 6 years follow-up. The association of dietary calcium with the incidence of overweight/obesity was also assessed. At baseline, an inverse association between total calcium intake and all the adiposity indices was consistently observed in boys, while only SS and FMI were significant in girls. The prevalence of overweight/obesity decreased significantly (P < 0.0001) across tertiles of calcium intake, in both sexes. Over the follow-up, boys with higher baseline calcium intake value showed significantly lower increase in BMI, WC and FMI z-scores, while in girls only a lower increase in WC z-score was observed. Only in boys, the risk to become overweight/obese decreased significantly across tertiles of calcium intake. Similar results were observed by analyzing only dietary calcium from dairy, while no association was observed between non-dairy calcium and adiposity indices. Conclusions: We showed in a large cohort of European children and adolescents that dietary calcium intake may play a role in the modulation of body fat in developmental age. The association between dietary calcium and adiposity indices was driven by dairy calcium, while no effect was observed for non-dairy calcium intake. The existence of a sex-related difference in the association deserves further investigations