Non-ideal monitoring of a qubit state using a quantum tunnelling device

We propose a model for non-ideal monitoring of the state of a coupled quantum dot qubit by a quantum tunnelling device. The non-ideality is modelled using an equivalent measurement circuit. This allows realistically available measurement results to be related to the state of the quantum system (qubit). We present a quantum trajectory that describes the stochastic evolution of the qubit state conditioned by tunnelling events (i.e. current) through the device. We calculate and compare the noise power spectra of the current in an ideal and a non-ideal measurement. The results show that when the two qubit dots are strongly coupled the non-ideal measurement cannot detect the qubit state precisely. The limitation of the ideal model for describing a realistic system maybe estimated from the noise spectra.

Enrichment, isolation and characterisation of ruminal bacteria that degrade non-protein amino acids from the tropical legume Acacia angustissima

Acacia angustissima has been proposed as a protein supplement in countries where low quality forages predominate. A number of non-protein amino acids have been identified in the leaves of A. angustissima and these have been linked to toxicity in ruminants. The non-protein amino acid 4-n-acetyl-2,4-diaminobutyric acid (ADAB) has been shown to be the major amino acid in the leaves of A. angustissima. The current study aimed to identify micro-organisms from the rumen environment capable of degrading ADAB by using a defined rumen-simulating media with an amino acid extract from A. angustissima. A mixed enrichment culture was obtained that exhibited substantial ADAB-degrading ability. Attempts to isolate an ADAB-degrading micro-organism were carried out, however no isolates were able to degrade ADAB in pure culture. This enrichment culture was also able to degrade the non-protein amino acids diaminobutyric acid (DABA) and diaminopropionic acid (DAPA) which have structural similarities to ADAB. Two isolates were obtained which could degrade DAPA. One isolate is a novel Grain-positive rod (strain LPLR3) which belongs to the Firmicutes and is not closely related to any previously isolated bacterium. The other isolate is strain LPSR1 which belongs to the Gammaproteobacteria and is closely related (99.93% similar) to Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. ozaenae. The studies demonstrate that the rumen is a potential rich source of undiscovered micro-organisms which have novel capacities to degrade plant secondary compounds. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimization of co-current spray drying process of sugar-rich foods. Part I - Moisture and glass transition temperature profile during drying

A steady state mathematical model for co-current spray drying was developed for sugar-rich foods with the application of the glass transition temperature concept. Maltodextrin-sucrose solution was used as a sugar-rich food model. The model included mass, heat and momentum balances for a single droplet drying as well as temperature and humidity profile of the drying medium. A log-normal volume distribution of the droplets was generated at the exit of the rotary atomizer. This generation created a certain number of bins to form a system of non-linear first-order differential equations as a function of the axial distance of the drying chamber. The model was used to calculate the changes of droplet diameter, density, temperature, moisture content and velocity in association with the change of air properties along the axial distance. The difference between the outlet air temperature and the glass transition temperature of the final products (AT) was considered as an indicator of stickiness of the particles in spray drying process. The calculated and experimental AT values were close, indicating successful validation of the model. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Primary Fields and Screening Currents of gl (2/2) non-unitary conformal field theory

The non-semisimple gl(2)k current superalgebra in the standard basis and the corresponding non-unitary conformal field theory are investigated. Infinite families of primary fields corresponding to all finite-dimensional irreducible typical and atypical representations of gl(212) and three (two even and one odd) screening currents of the first kind are constructed explicitly in terms of ten free fields. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

Are there non-linearities in short-term interest rates?

The present paper investigates the characteristics of short-term interest rates in several countries. We examine the importance of nonlinearities in the mean reversion and volatility of short-term interest rates. We examine various models that allow the conditional mean (drift) and conditional variance (diffusion) to be functions of the current short rate.We find that different markets require different models. In particular, we find evidence of nonlinear mean reversion in some of the countries that we examine, linear mean reversion in others and no mean reversion in some countries. For all countries we examine, there is strong evidence of the need for the volatility of interest rate changes to be highly sensitive to the level of the short-term interest rate. Out-of-sample forecasting performance of one-factor short rate models is poor, stemming from the inability of the models to accommodate jumps and discontinuities in the time series data.

Purchasing behaviour for non-prescription medicines

Background: The non-prescription medicine, market is constantly challenges. With changes to scheduling and market dynamics, a need for current Australian data on medicines purchasing behaviour was identified. Objectives: This survey aimed to report on the purchasing behaviour of non-prescription medicine customers, the medicines bought and influences on medicine sales. Methods: Researchers were stationed in 15 community pharmacies in southeast Queensland during mid-August 2004. Interview and observational data were collected for all eligible medicine purchases -over approximately 35 hours per pharmacy. Results: Data were collected for 3017 medicines purchased by 2583 customers. Most purchases were made by females (65%) and customers aged 26-35 years (25.8%). Pharmacy assistants alone provided advice in 58% of sales. Two thirds of purchases were for self use. In two thirds of cases, customers had a particular brand in mind; this was highly correlated with previous purchases. Pharmacy staff were highly influential in first time purchases. Conclusions: This study reports a high level of involvement and influence of pharmacy staff in medicine selection.

Minding the money: A growing responsibility for informal carers

Managing the assets of older people is a common and potentially complex task of informal care with legal, financial, cultural, political and family dimensions. Older people are increasingly recognised -as having significant assets, but the family, the state, service providers and the market have competing interests in their use. Increased policy interest in self-provision and user-charges for services underline the importance of asset management in protecting the current and future health, care and accommodation choices of older people. Although 'minding the money' has generally been included as an informal care-giving task, there is limited recognition of either its growing importance and complexity or of care-givers' involvement. The focus of both policy and practice have been primarily on substitute decision-making and abuse. This paper reports an Australian national survey and semi-structured interviews that have explored the prevalence of non-professional involvement in asset management. The findings reveal the nature and extent of involvement, the tasks that informal carers take on, the management processes that they use, and that 'minding the money' is a common informal care task and mostly undertaken in the private sphere using some risky practices. Assisting informal care-givers with asset management and protecting older people from financial risks and abuse require various strategic policy and practice responses that extend beyond substitute decision-making legislation. Policies and programmes are required: to increase the awareness of the tasks, tensions and practices surrounding asset management; to improve the financial literacy of older people, their informal care-givers and service providers; to ensure access to information, advice and support services; and to develop better accountability practices.

Psychosocial and non-psychosocial risk factors for the new diagnosis of diabetes in elderly women

Objectives: Determine psychosocial variables associated with the new diagnosis of diabetes in elderly women. Examine whether variables remained significant predictors after controlling for non-psychosocial risk factors and the frequency of doctor visits. Research design and methods: A longitudinal cohort study was conducted using data from 10 300 women who completed a survey in 1996 and 1999. The women were aged between 70 and 74 years of age in 1996. The were asked to provide self-reports on a number of psychosocial and non-psychosocial variables in 1996 and on whether they had been diagnosed for the first time with diabetes in the 3-year period. The relationships between the potential risk factors and new diagnosis of diabetes were examined using binary logistic regression analysis. Results: Univariate results showed that not having a current partner, having low social support and having a mental health index score in the clinical range were all associated with higher risks of being diagnosed with diabetes for the first time. However the multivariate results showed that only a mental health index score in the clinical range and not having a current partner provided unique prediction of being newly diagnosed with diabetes. Of the non-psychosocial variables measured, only having a high BMI and hypertension were associated with increased risks of new diagnosis, while there was also evidence of a U shaped relationship between alcohol consumption and new diagnosis. Even after adjusting for frequency of doctor visits and non-psychosocial risk factors, a mental health index in the clinical range proved to still be a significant risk factor. Conclusions: A score on the mental health index that is within the clinical range is an independent risk factor for the new diagnosis of diabetes in elderly women. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acquisition of negative valence and modified attentional processing by non fear relevant stimuli

The current research examined valence and attentional processing of a priori fear relevant stimuli and investigated the extent to which these characteristics can be acquired by non fear relevant stimuli across an aversive learning episode. The first experiment compared pictures of snakes and spiders with pictures of birds and fish using affective priming, visual search and detection of a dot probe. Snakes and spiders were more negative than birds and fish as indexed by affective priming, and were preferentially attended to in the visual search task. The second experiment exposed the non fear relevant animal pictures, birds and fish, in an aversive learning episode involving an aversive shock US. Skin conductance responding was measured during acquisition. After acquisition, conditioned non fear relevant animal stimuli, CS1, and non conditioned, non fear relevant animal stimuli, CS, were compared across affective priming, visual search and dot probe tasks. During acquisition, skin conductance responses were larger during CS1 than during CS across all three response intervals. After acquisition, CS1 non fear relevant animal pictures were more negative than CS non fear relevant animal pictures as indexed by affective priming, and were preferentially attended to in a dot probe task. These studies provide evidence that negative valence and modified attentional processing can be acquired in a brief aversive learning episode.

Quantifying aphasic people's social lives in the context of non-aphasic peers

Background: Developing the knowledge base on the impact of aphasia on people's social lives has become increasingly important in recent times to further our understanding of the broad consequences of communication disability and thus provide appropriate services. Past research clearly indicates that relationships and social activities with family members and others undergo change with the onset of aphasia in an individual, however more evidence of a quantitative nature would be beneficial. Aims: The current research furthers our knowledge by quantifying chronically aphasic older people's regular social contacts and social activities, and places them in context by comparing them with healthy older people of similar age and education. Methods & Procedures: A total of 30 aphasic participants aged 57 to 88 years, and 71 non-aphasic controls aged 62 to 98 years were interviewed by a speech and language therapist using self-report measures of Social Network Analysis (Antonucci & Akiyama, 1987) and Social Activities Checklist (Cruice, 2001, in Worrall & Hickson, 2003). Demographic information was also collected. Descriptive statistics are presented and independent samples t tests were used to examine differences between the groups. Outcomes & Results: Participants with primarily mild to moderate aphasic impairment reported a considerable range of social contacts (5-51) and social activities (8-18). Many significant differences were evident between the two groups' social contacts and activities. On average, aphasic participants had nine fewer social contacts (mainly friend'' relationships) and three fewer social activities (mainly leisure'' activities) than their non-aphasic peers. The majority of controls were satisfied with their social activities, whereas the majority of aphasic participants were not and wanted to be doing more. There were some general similarities between the groups, in terms of range of social contacts, overall pattern of social relationships, and core social activities. Conclusions: Older people with chronic aphasia had significantly fewer social contacts and social activities than their peers. People with aphasia expressed a desire to increase the social activity of their lives. Given the importance of leisure activity and relationships with friends as well as family for positive well-being, speech and language therapists may direct their rehabilitation efforts towards two areas: (1) conversational partner programmes training friends to maintain these relationships; and (2) encouraging and supporting aphasic clients in leisure activities of their choice.

The rapid screen of concussion: An evaluation of the non-word repetition test for use in mTBI research

Primary objectives: (1) To investigate the Nonword Repetition test (NWR) as an index of sub-vocal rehearsal deficits after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI); (2) to assess the reliability, validity and sensitivity of the NWR; and (3) to compare the NWR to more sensitive tests of verbal memory. Research design: An independent groups design. Methods and procedures: Study 1 administered the NWR to 46 mTBI and 61 uninjured controls with the Rapid Screen of Concussion (RSC). Study 2 compared mTBI, orthopaedic and uninjured participants on the NWR and the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT-R). Main outcomes and results: The NWR did not improve the diagnostic accuracy of the RSC. However, it is reliable and indexes sub-vocal rehearsal speed. These findings provide evidence that although the current form of the NWR lacks sensitivity to the impact of mTBI, the development of a more sensitive test of sub-vocal rehearsal deficits following mTBI is warranted.

Continuous plankton recorder database: history, current issues and future directions

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey, operated by the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS), is the largest plankton monitoring programme in the world and has spanned > 70 yr. The dataset contains information from -200 000 samples, with over 2.3 million records of individual taxa. Here we outline the evolution of the CPR database through changes in technology, and how this has increased data access. Recent high-impact publications and the expanded role of CPR data in marine management demonstrate the usefulness of the dataset. We argue that solely supplying data to the research community is not sufficient in the current research climate; to promote wider use, additional tools need to be developed to provide visual representation and summary statistics. We outline 2 software visualisation tools, SAHFOS WinCPR and the digital CPR Atlas, which provide access to CPR data for both researchers and non-plankton specialists. We also describe future directions of the database, data policy and the development of visualisation tools. We believe that the approach at SAHFOS to increase data accessibility and provide new visualisation tools has enhanced awareness of the data and led to the financial security of the organisation; it also provides a good model of how long-term monitoring programmes can evolve to help secure their future.

The ability of current gas monitoring techniques to adequately detect spontaneous combustion

This paper investigates the adequacy of current gas monitoring techniques to adequately detect spontaneous combustion in underground coalmines. Despite being in the 21st century spontaneous combustion continues to occur in underground coalmines sometimes being detected only at a very advanced stage. Control of the incident is often then very expensive and time consuming. The adequacy needs to be assessed not only from the point of view of the analysis technique be it tube bundle, gas chromatograph or real time sensor but also the number, location and sampling frequency of the monitoring locations. Recommendations are made to optimise monitoring processes and recognise limitations of current techniques.