We demonstrate full quantum state control of two species of single atoms using optical tweezers and assemble the atoms into a molecule. Our demonstration includes 3D ground-state cooling of a single ...atom (Cs) in an optical tweezer, transport by several microns with minimal heating, and merging with a single Na atom. Subsequently, both atoms occupy the simultaneous motional ground state with 61(4)% probability. This realizes a sample of exactly two cotrapped atoms near the phase-space-density limit of one, and allows for efficient stimulated-Raman transfer of a pair of atoms into a molecular bound state of the triplet electronic ground potentiala3Σ+. The results are key steps toward coherent creation of single ultracold molecules for future exploration of quantum simulation and quantum information processing.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
Summary
In this study, we aimed at investigating the impact of melatonin supplementation on semen parameters, hormonal profile and total antioxidant capacity after varicocelectomy. Infertile male ...patients who were diagnosed with varicocele and underwent subinguinal varicocelectomy were included in the study. After performing subinguinal varicocelectomy, the patients were randomised into two groups: 27 receiving melatonin for 3 months and 27 as the placebo‐controlled group receiving placebo for 3 months. The pre‐operative parameters of semen analyses, hormonal profile and seminal oxidative stress status of both groups were compared with those of post‐operative parameters. There were statistically significant improvements in post‐operative parameters of semen analyses (sperm concentration, motility and proportions of normally formed spermatozoa), peripheral blood inhibin B and total antioxidant capacity in melatonin group compared with placebo group. In conclusion, melatonin therapy adds extra benefit to varicecelectomy in terms of sperm parameters, peripheral blood inhibin B and total antioxidant capacity; however, further studies including large number of samples are needed to make a proper decision on melatonin supplementation after varicocelectomy.
Full text
Available for:
DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The effects of systematic variation of Mg and Cu contents (Mg: ~1.5, 2.0, and 2.5, Cu: ~1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 2.9wt%) on the microstructures and mechanical properties of high-Zn (8.5wt%) Al–Zn–Mg–Cu ...alloys are investigated. Fracture toughness is experimentally approached by the Kahn tear test. Results showed that, under same ageing condition, the conductivity, hardness, strength and toughness of the designed alloys are primarily determined by Mg content: the higher the Mg content, the higher the hardness and strength, but the lower the conductivity and toughness. Increasing Cu content can produce a similar phenomenon, but with weak effects compared with Mg. The experiments and thermodynamic/kinetic simulation indicate that, increasing Mg/Cu content can improve the volume fraction of matrix precipitates, so as to improve the strength and hardness, and the effects of Mg are stronger than Cu. Additionally, increasing Mg content can somewhat reduce the sizes of the matrix precipitates especially in overaged condition, which is also good for the strength and hardness. However, with increasing Mg content the area fraction of the grain boundary precipitates (GBPs) and the yield stress contrast between grain interiors and precipitate free zones (PFZs) at grain boundary can be increased greatly, consequently promoting intergranular fracture and decreasing toughness. For the alloys with low/middle Mg content (e.g., 1.5/2.0wt%), increasing Cu content will improve the yield stress contrast between grain interiors and PFZs as well as the recrystallization degree, so that intergranular fracture will be promoted for toughness reduction. For the alloys with high Mg content (e.g., 2.5wt%), the increased undissolved phases induced by high Cu content will promote fracture at/near coarse constituent particles, favoring further toughness reduction.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
ABSTRACT
We searched for an isotropic stochastic gravitational wave background in the second data release of the International Pulsar Timing Array, a global collaboration synthesizing decadal-length ...pulsar-timing campaigns in North America, Europe, and Australia. In our reference search for a power-law strain spectrum of the form $h_c = A(f/1\, \mathrm{yr}^{-1})^{\alpha }$, we found strong evidence for a spectrally similar low-frequency stochastic process of amplitude $A = 3.8^{+6.3}_{-2.5}\times 10^{-15}$ and spectral index α = −0.5 ± 0.5, where the uncertainties represent 95 per cent credible regions, using information from the auto- and cross-correlation terms between the pulsars in the array. For a spectral index of α = −2/3, as expected from a population of inspiralling supermassive black hole binaries, the recovered amplitude is $A = 2.8^{+1.2}_{-0.8}\times 10^{-15}$. None the less, no significant evidence of the Hellings–Downs correlations that would indicate a gravitational-wave origin was found. We also analysed the constituent data from the individual pulsar timing arrays in a consistent way, and clearly demonstrate that the combined international data set is more sensitive. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this combined data set produces comparable constraints to recent single-array data sets which have more data than the constituent parts of the combination. Future international data releases will deliver increased sensitivity to gravitational wave radiation, and significantly increase the detection probability.
Quantum gates induced by geometric phases are intrinsically robust against noise due to the global properties of their evolution paths. Compared to conventional nonadiabatic geometric quantum ...computation, the recently proposed nonadiabatic noncyclic geometric quantum computation (NNGQC) works in a faster fashion while still remaining the robust feature of the geometric operations. Here, we experimentally implement the NNGQC in a single trapped ultracold 40Ca+ ion to verify the noise-resilient and fast feature. By performing unitary operations under imperfect conditions, we witness the advantages of the NNGQC with measured fidelities by quantum process tomography in comparison to other two quantum gates by conventional nonadiabatic geometric quantum computation and by straightforward dynamical evolution. Our results provide the first evidence confirming the possibility of accelerated quantum information processing with limited systematic errors even in an imperfect situation.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
Abstract
Pronounced changes in the Arctic environment add a new potential driver of anomalous weather patterns in midlatitudes that affect billions of people. Recent studies of these ...Arctic/midlatitude weather linkages, however, state inconsistent conclusions. A source of uncertainty arises from the chaotic nature of the atmosphere. Thermodynamic forcing by a rapidly warming Arctic contributes to weather events through changing surface heat fluxes and large-scale temperature and pressure gradients. But internal shifts in atmospheric dynamics—the variability of the location, strength, and character of the jet stream, blocking, and stratospheric polar vortex (SPV)—obscure the direct causes and effects. It is important to understand these associated processes to differentiate Arctic-forced variability from natural variability. For example in early winter, reduced Barents/Kara Seas sea-ice coverage may reinforce existing atmospheric teleconnections between the North Atlantic/Arctic and central Asia, and affect downstream weather in East Asia. Reduced sea ice in the Chukchi Sea can amplify atmospheric ridging of high pressure near Alaska, influencing downstream weather across North America. In late winter southward displacement of the SPV, coupled to the troposphere, leads to weather extremes in Eurasia and North America. Combined tropical and sea ice conditions can modulate the variability of the SPV. Observational evidence for Arctic/midlatitude weather linkages continues to accumulate, along with understanding of connections with pre-existing climate states. Relative to natural atmospheric variability, sea-ice loss alone has played a secondary role in Arctic/midlatitude weather linkages; the full influence of Arctic amplification remains uncertain.
Tumor IL17-producing (IL17A+) cells infiltration has different prognostic values among various cancers. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of IL17A+ cells in gastric cancer.
The ...study included two patient cohorts, the Cancer Genome Atlas cohort (TCGA, n = 351) and the Zhongshan Hospital cohort (ZSHC, n = 458). The TCGA and ZSHC were used for mRNA-related and cells infiltration-related analyses, respectively. The roles of IL17A mRNA and IL17A+ cells in overall survival (OS), response to adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT), and immune contexture were evaluated. Another independent cohort was included to identify the correlation between mRNA of IL17A and IL17A+ cells infiltration (the preliminary Zhongshan Hospital cohort, PZSHC, n = 21).
The infiltration of IL17A+ cells was positively correlated with the expression of IL17A mRNA (Spearman’s ρ = 0.811; P < 0.001). High IL17A mRNA expression and intratumoral IL17A+ cells were correlated with improved OS and remained to be significant after adjusted for confounders. Patients with TNM II/III disease whose tumor present higher intratumoral IL17A+ cells or lower peritumoral IL17A+ cells can benefit more from ACT. Elevated IL17A mRNA expression and increased intratumoral IL17A+ cells infiltration was associated with more antitumor mast cells and nature killer cells infiltration and less pro-tumor M2 macrophages infiltration. High IL17A mRNA expression represented a Th17 cells signature and immune response process and was correlated with increased cytotoxic GZMA, GZMB, IFNG, PRF1, and TNFSF11 expression.
IL17A mRNA expression and intratumoral IL17A+ cells infiltration were correlated with antitumor immune contexture. IL17A+ cells infiltration could be used as an independent prognostic biomarker for OS and predictive biomarker for superior response to ACT, and further prospective validation needs to be conducted.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
To assess the current status of climate models in simulating clouds, basic cloud climatologies from ten atmospheric general circulation models are compared with satellite measurements from the ...International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) and the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) program. An ISCCP simulator is employed in all models to facilitate the comparison. Models simulated a four‐fold difference in high‐top clouds. There are also, however, large uncertainties in satellite high thin clouds to effectively constrain the models. The majority of models only simulated 30–40% of middle‐top clouds in the ISCCP and CERES data sets. Half of the models underestimated low clouds, while none overestimated them at a statistically significant level. When stratified in the optical thickness ranges, the majority of the models simulated optically thick clouds more than twice the satellite observations. Most models, however, underestimated optically intermediate and thin clouds. Compensations of these clouds biases are used to explain the simulated longwave and shortwave cloud radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere. Seasonal sensitivities of clouds are also analyzed to compare with observations. Models are shown to simulate seasonal variations better for high clouds than for low clouds. Latitudinal distribution of the seasonal variations correlate with satellite measurements at >0.9, 0.6–0.9, and −0.2–0.7 levels for high, middle, and low clouds, respectively. The seasonal sensitivities of cloud types are found to strongly depend on the basic cloud climatology in the models. Models that systematically underestimate middle clouds also underestimate seasonal variations, while those that overestimate optically thick clouds also overestimate their seasonal sensitivities. Possible causes of the systematic cloud biases in the models are discussed.
The magnetic gradient and curvature drift of energetic ions can form a longitudinal electric current around a planet known as the ring current, that has been observed in the intrinsic magnetospheres ...of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn. However, there is still a lack of observational evidence of ring current in Mercury's magnetosphere, which has a significantly weaker dipole magnetic field. Under such conditions, charged particles are thought to be efficiently lost through magnetopause shadowing and/or directly impact the planetary surface. Here, we present the observational evidence of Mercury's ring current by analysing particle measurements from MErcury Surface, Space Environment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. The ring current is bifurcated because of the dayside off-equatorial magnetic minima. Test-particle simulation with Mercury's dynamic magnetospheric magnetic field model (KT17 model) validates this morphology. The ring current energy exceeds Formula: see text J during active times, indicating that magnetic storms may also occur on Mercury.
The synchrotron x-ray absorption near edge structures (XANES) technique was used in conjunction with first-principles calculations to characterize Al-doped ZnO films. Standard characterizations ...revealed that the amount of carrier concentration and mobility depend on the growth conditions, i.e. H(2) (or O(2))/Ar gas ratio and Al concentration. First-principles calculations showed that Al energetically prefers to substitute on the Zn site, forming a donor Al(Zn), over being an interstitial (Al(i)). The measured Al K-edge XANES spectra are in good agreement with the simulated spectra of Al(Zn), indicating that the majority of Al atoms are substituting for Zn. The reduction in carrier concentration or mobility in some samples can be attributed to the Al(Zn)-V(Zn) and 2Al(Zn)-V(Zn) complex formations that have similar XANES features. In addition, XANES of some samples showed additional features that are the indication of some α-Al(2)O(3) or nAl(Zn)-O(i) formation, explaining their poorer conductivity.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
PDF
