Optically bistable driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard dimer: Gutzwiller approaches and entanglement

We theoretically examine the driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard dimer in the optical bistable regime. Various approximation schemes based on a Gutzwiller mean field decoupling are applied and compared. Depending on the system parameters we show that a decoupling with respect to the real space or to the reciprocal space can be more accurate. The Gutzwiller decoupling is applied both at the level of the density matrix and for the wavefunction during a quantum trajectory simulation. The latter is shown to be a more accurate approximation. A Gaussian approximation for the non-homogeneous anti-bonding mode is also explored. We also show that entanglement in this system is witnessed by squeezing in reciprocal space

Gutzwiller Monte Carlo approach for a critical dissipative spin model

We use the Gutzwiller Monte Carlo approach to simulate the dissipative XYZ-model in the vicinity of a dissipative phase transition. This approach captures classical spatial correlations together with the full on-site quantum behavior, while neglecting non-local quantum effects. By considering finite two-dimensional lattices of various sizes, we identify a ferromagnetic and two paramagnetic phases, in agreement with earlier studies. The greatly reduced numerical complexity the Gutzwiller Monte Carlo approach facilitates efficient simulation of relatively large lattice sizes. The inclusion of the spatial correlations allows to describe critical behavior which is completely missed by the widely applied Gutzwiller decoupling of the density matrix

Serious Games and the Pleasure of Learning: The Whys and How of a Serious Game about Poverty and Social Exclusion

This paper describes and explains the decisions that have been made in the conceptualization and development of the serious game Poverty Is Not a Game (PING). PING is 3D adventure game in which the player takes the identity of one of two youngsters, Sophia or Jim, who find themselves in a difficult situation. Sophia comes from a poor family and now that her grandma has moved to a home, she has to start taking care of herself. Jim fell out with his parents and decided to sell his motorbike and move out to the big city. The game involves finding your way around in PING city, find a place to live, work, education and perhaps even the partner of your dreams. The game can be played online in browser or standalone. The target audience is teenagers. The target context is school, as an introduction to a lesson about poverty

Spontaneous Beliaev-Landau scattering out of equilibrium

We investigate Beliaev-Landau scattering in a gas of interacting photons in a coherently driven array of nonlinear dissipative resonators, as described by the 1D driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard model. Due to the absence of detailed balance in such an out-of-equilibrium setup, steady-state properties can be much more sensitive to the underlying microscopic dynamics. As the popular truncated Wigner approximation dramatically fails in capturing this physics, we present an alternative approach, based on a systematic expansion beyond the Bogoliubov approximation, which includes the third-order correlation functions in the dynamics. As experimentally accessible signatures of Beliaev-Landau processes, we report a small but nonnegligible correction to the Bogoliubov prediction for the steady-state momentum distribution showing a characteristic series of peaks and dips, as well as non-Gaussian features in the statistics of the cavity output field

Poverty Is Not a Game (PING): Demonstration of a Serious Game about the Experience of Being Poor

This paper introduces and proposes to demonstrate Poverty Is Not a Game (PING), a serious game about the experience of being poor, initialized by IBBT-MICT, supported and managed by the King Baudouin Foundation and IBBT and developed by GriN Multimedia in close collaboration with a range of experts and partners

Living in times of war: waste of c. 1600 from two garderobe chutes from the Castle of Middelburg-in-Flanders (Belgium)

The material remains and environmental data recovered during a rescue excavation in 2002-03 in the castle of the new town of Middelburg-in-Flanders throw light on the site, region and landscape in wartime. The paper discusses the historical context at the turn of the 16th century, the excavation of the castle, the taphonomy of the chutes, the analysis of the artefacts and ecological data recovered from two garderobe chutes in the upper court, and concludes with a synthesis focussing on the interpretation of the excavated record in the historically attested natural and socio-economic disruption caused by the Spanish-Dutch War

Unpacking the dynamics of double stigma : how the HIV-TB co-epidemic alters TB stigma and its management among healthcare workers

Background HIV and tuberculosis (TB) are intricably interlinked in South Africa. The social aspects of this co-epidemic remain relatively unexplored. More specifically, no research has quantitatively explored the double stigma associated with HIV and TB in this context, and more specifically the impact of the co-epidemic on [1] the stigmatisation of TB and [2] the TB stigma mangement strategy of covering (i.e. the use of TB as a cover for having HIV). The current study aims to address this research gap by disentangling the complex mechanisms related to HIV-TB stigma. Methods Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), data of 882 health care workers (HCWs) in the Free State province, South Africa, are analysed to investigate the link between the stigmatization of HIV and TB and the stigma management by those affected. The current study focuses on health care workers (HCWs), as both TB and HIV have a severe impact on this professional group. Results The results demonstrate that the perceived link between the epidemics is significantly associated with double HIV-TB stigmatization. Furthermore, the link between the illnesses and the double stigma are driving the stigmatization of TB. Finally, the link between HIV and TB as well as the stigmatization of both diseases by colleagues are associated with an increased use of covering as a stigma management strategy. Conclusions This is the first quantitative study disentagling the mediating role of double stigma in the context of the co-epidemic as well as the impact of the co-epidemic on the social connotations of TB. The results stress the need for an integrated approach in the fight against HIV and TB recognizing the intertwined nature of the co-epidemic, not only in medical-clinical terms, but also in its social consequences