Entanglement between quantum and classical objects is of special interest in the context of fundamental studies of quantum mechanics and potential applications for quantum information processing. In ...quantum optics, single photons are treated as light quanta while coherent states are considered the most classical of pure states. Recently, entanglement between a single photon and a coherent state in a free-travelling field was identified as a useful resource for optical quantum information processing. However, the extreme difficulty involved in generating such states was highlighted, as it requires clean cross-Kerr nonlinearities. Here, we devise and experimentally demonstrate a scheme to generate such hybrid entanglement by implementing a superposition of two distinct quantum operations. The generated states clearly show entanglement between the two different types of states. Our work opens the way to the generation of hybrid entanglement of greater size and the development of efficient quantum information processing using a new type of qubit.
The biopsychosocial model describes interactions between psychosocial and biological factors in the etiology and progression of disease. How an individual interprets and responds to the environment ...determines responses to stress, influences health behaviors, contributes to the neuroendocrine and immune response, and may ultimately affect health outcomes. Health psychology interventions are designed to modulate the stress response and improve health behaviors by teaching individuals more adaptive methods of interpreting life challenges and more effective coping responses. These interactions are discussed in the context of aging.
In April 2015, a pine tree located in a wooded area in Laurel, MD, was observed to have abnormal shoot branching resulting in witches'-brooms. The tree was 20 m tall with scaly dark red-brown bark ...and had two, occasionally three twisted needles per fascicle of 6 to 9 cm in length. The tree was tentatively identified based on morphological traits and plastid DNA markers as a mountain pine (Pinus pungens Lamb.). From this tree, a sample of needles was collected from a symptomatic branch. In the same area, needle samples were also collected from three pine trees of unknown species without witches'-brooms and used as controls. Total nucleic acids were extracted from 200 mg of each sample using, with minor modifications, a phytoplasma enrichment procedure and a DNA purification method (Ahrens and Seemuller 1992). Semi-nested and nested PCR assays for amplification of the 16S ribosomal (r) RNA gene (rDNA) sequences (primers, P1/16S-SR followed by P1A/16S-SR) and secA genomic region (primers, secAFdg/secARdg followed by PiniSecAF2/PiniSecARA) (Lee et al. 2004; Valiunas et al. 2015) were used to assess possible association of a phytoplasma with the disease. Amplicons of rDNA and secA were of expected sizes, indicating possible phytoplasmal infection of the individual symptomatic pine while no PCR products were obtained from the three control samples. Nucleotide sequencing confirmed that the amplicons were derived from a phytoplasma, termed strain MDPP. The nucleotide sequences obtained from the amplified 1.5-kbp rDNA and 2.0-kbp secA genomic regions were deposited in GenBank under accessions KU242428 (rDNA) and KU242429 (secA region). The phytoplasma was classified as a member of group 16SrXXI using i PhyClassifier, an interactive online tool for phytoplasma classification and taxonomic assignment (Zhao et al. 2013). The 16S rDNA sequence of strain MDPP shares 98.4% similarity with that of the 'Candidatus Phytoplasma pini' reference strain (Schneider et al. 2005) reported from Spain (isolate P127, GenBank accession AJ632155), which is a member of subgroup 16SrXXI-A. The phytoplasma under study was determined to be a 'Ca. P. pini'-related strain. The collective MDPP 16SrDNA F2nR2 virtual RFLP pattern is distinct from the reference patterns of all previously delineated subgroups, and is most similar to that of subgroup 16SrXXI-A, with a pattern similarity coefficient of 0.79 (GenBank accession AJ632155). Since the similarity coefficient value is lower than the threshold (0.97) for new subgroup recognition, MDPP is concluded to represent a new subgroup within the group 16SrXXI. The new subgroup is hereby designated as 16SrXXI-B. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a 'Ca. P. pini'-related strain associated with any host in the Americas. Two additional pine trees of unknown species located within an area of a few miles radius of the first detection, one with and one without witches'-broom, tested positive for the same strain of 'Ca. P. pini,' but the local extent of disease spread remains undetermined.
The original U-shaped patch antenna is properly modified in this work to provide a compact and broadband antenna configuration with reduced cross-polar effects, well suitable for modern radar ...applications. The proposed antenna layout is applied to design, realize, and test two different prototypes working at P-band and C-band, typically adopted for ground-penetrating radar. The experimental results successfully demonstrate a large operating bandwidth between 15% and 20%, a significant reduction of size (about half of the standard configuration), and a low cross-polarization level within the operating frequency range.
Insomnia, fatigue, and depression are among the most persistent and distressing concerns for hematologic cancer patients recovering from hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). This study will ...evaluate a novel behavioral intervention, Restoring Sleep and Energy after Transplant (ReSET), designed to alleviate insomnia, fatigue, and depression by improving rest-activity patterns. Evidence-based behavioral strategies to improve nighttime sleep and increase non-sedentary daytime activity will be combined to optimize 24-h rest-activity patterns.
The protocol herein evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of ReSET by conducting a pilot randomized controlled trial to compare the intervention with usual care. Adults undergoing HCT will be randomly assigned to ReSET or usual care. The ReSET arm will receive 3 face-to-face sessions and telephone coaching delivered in an individual format tailored to each patient. Patient-reported insomnia, fatigue, and depression will be the primary outcome measures. Actigraphy will be used to objectively quantify rest-activity patterns. Semi-structured interviews will evaluate participant satisfaction with ReSET. The goals are to determine: (1) participant satisfaction with and acceptability of the behavioral techniques; (2) facilitator fidelity and participant uptake of key intervention components; (3) ability to recruit, retain, and collect complete data from participants; (4) participant willingness to be randomized and acceptability of the control condition; and (5) validity and acceptability of the assessment strategy.
The overarching goal is to optimize recovery following HCT with a brief, non-invasive intervention that can be implemented as a part of routine clinical care.
•First intervention for cancer patients to optimize 24-h rest-activity rhythms.•Non-invasive intervention designed for implementation in routine clinical care.•Restoration of normal circadian rhythm targets insomnia, fatigue, and depression.•Addresses the high need for efficacious, brief interventions for cancer patients.•Innovative behavioral intervention approach applicable to a wide variety of cancers.
One of the key environmental concerns about shrimp farming is the discharge of waters with high levels of nutrients and suspended solids into adjacent waterways. In this paper we synthesize the ...results of our multidisciplinary research linking ecological processes in intensive shrimp ponds with their downstream impacts in tidal, mangrove-lined creeks. The incorporation of process measurements and bioindicators, in addition to water quality measurements, improved our understanding of the effect of shrimp farm discharges on the ecological health of the receiving water bodies. Changes in water quality parameters were an oversimplification of the ecological effects of water discharges, and use of key measures including primary production rates, phytoplankton responses to nutrients, community shifts in zooplankton and
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15N ratios in marine plants have the potential to provide more integrated and robust measures. Ultimately, reduction in nutrient discharges is most likely to ensure the future sustainability of the industry.
To categorize healthy food groups into categories of low-antioxidant (LAC) or high-antioxidant vitamins and phytochemicals content (HAC) and comparatively associate them with metabolic risk factors ...for cardiovascular disease (CVD).
A total of 6879 women (55±12 years) and 6892 men (56 ± 12 years) were analyzed from the Moli-sani cohort, randomly recruited from the general population. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Food Frequency Questionnaire was used for dietary assessment. The antioxidant content of each food group was evaluated using Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) food composition tables. Healthy foods, according to a Mediterranean dietary pattern, were categorized into HAC or LAC; total food antioxidant content (FAC) score was constructed for a comparative evaluation of the consumption of these two groups.
In men, an increase in FAC score, which represents an increased consumption of HAC with respect to LAC foods, was associated with a decrease in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and C-reactive protein (CRP) (β=-0.5, P=0.02, β=-0.3, P=0.02 and β=-0.03, P=0.03, respectively). Logistic regression analyses showed that in men 15% (30 units) increase in FAC score was associated with 6% decrease in the likelihood of having hypertension (odds ratio (OR)=0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.91-0.98) and 3% decrease in the likelihood of having a high CRP risk level (OR=0.97, 95% CI 0.94-0.99). No significant associations were observed in women.
A possible greater protective role of healthy HAC as compared with healthy LAC foods on hypertension and inflammation was detected in men. These results stress the importance of studying healthy foods according to their content in antioxidant vitamins and phytochemicals, in primary prevention of CVD.
Reconfigurable antennas allow to meet the increasing demands of modern RF communication systems for reconfiguration capabilities, such as beam-steering, multi-band operation, polarization flexibility ...or frequency agility. Active reflectarrays may represent a valuable solution to satisfy the above tasks. This paper reviews several experimental implementations of reconfigurable reflectarray designs developed in recent years. The paper describes the approaches adopted in the realization of active reflectarray designs, mainly focusing on their bandwidth performances. Future challenges in the design of wideband reconfigurable reflectarrays are also outlined.
We have used the linkage disequilibrium mapping method to test for an association between a candidate gene marker and resistance to Verticillium dahliae in tetraploid potato. A probe derived from the ...tomato Verticillium resistance gene ( Ve1) identified homologous sequences ( StVe1) in potato, which in a diploid population map to chromosome 9, in a position analogous to that of the tomato resistance gene. When a molecular marker closely linked (1.5 cM) to the homologues was used as a candidate gene marker on 137 tetraploid potato genotypes (mostly North American cultivars), the association between the marker and resistance was confirmed ( P<0.001). The amount of phenotypic variation in resistance explained by the allele of the STM1051 marker was greater than 10% and 25% in two subpopulations that were inferred from coancestry data matrix. Cloning of homologues from the highly resistant potato cv. Reddale indicates that the resistance quantitative trait locus (QTL) comprises at least an eleven-member family, encoding plant-specific leucine-rich repeat proteins highly similar to the tomato Ve genes. The sequence analysis shows that all homologues are uninterrupted open reading frames and thus represent putative functional resistance genes. This is the first time that the linkage disequilibrium method has been used to find an association between a resistance gene and a candidate gene marker in tetraploid potato. We have shown that it is possible to map QTL directly on already available potato cultivars, without developing a new mapping population.
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