pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Dispersive Qubit Measurement by Interferometry with Parametric
  Amplifiers

We perform a detailed analysis of how an amplified interferometer can be used
to enhance the quality of a dispersive qubit measurement, such as one performed
on a superconducting transmon qubit, using homodyne detection on an amplified
microwave signal. Our modeling makes a realistic assessment of what is possible
in current circuit-QED experiments; in particular, we take into account the
frequency-dependence of the qubit-induced phase shift for short microwaves
pulses. We compare the possible signal-to-noise ratios obtainable with
(single-mode) SU(1,1) interferometers with the current coherent measurement and
find a considerable reduction in measurement error probability in an
experimentally-accessible range of parameters
Entanglement and Collective Quantum Operations

We show how shared entanglement, together with classical communication and
local quantum operations, can be used to perform an arbitrary collective
quantum operation upon N spatially-separated qubits. A simple
teleportation-based protocol for achieving this, which requires 2(N-1) ebits of
shared, bipartite entanglement and 4(N-1) classical bits, is proposed. In terms
of the total required entanglement, this protocol is shown to be optimal for
even N in both the asymptotic limit and for `one-shot' applications
Anomalous temperature-induced volume contraction in GeTe

The recent surge of interest in phase-change materials GeTe, Ge2Sb2Te5, and related compounds motivated us to revisit the structural phase transition in GeTe in more detail than was done before. The rhombohedral-to-cubic ferroelectric phase transition in GeTe has been studied using high-resolution neutron powder diffraction on a spallation neutron source. We determined the temperature dependence of the structural parameters in a wide temperature range extending from 309 to 973 K. The results of our studies clearly show an anomalous volume contraction of 0.6% at the phase transition from the rhombohedral-to-cubic phase. In order to better understand the phase transition and the associated anomalous volume decrease in GeTe, we have performed phonon calculations based on the density functional theory. Results of the present investigations are also discussed with respect to the experimental data obtained for single crystals of GeTe
Corruption and positive selection in privatization

We consider the supply of a public good based on a publicly owned facility. The Government has a choice between provision in-house and privatizing the facility and then outsourcing the production. In particular, we focus on corruption in the decision to privatize and on its effect on social welfare when there is asymmetric information on the public and private manager’s efficiency. Our analysis shows that a corrupt Government, that chooses to privatize only in exchange for a bribe, makes a positive selection on the private firm’s efficiency and, thus, may have a positive effect on social welfare
Fluorescence lifetime estimation method for incomplete decay

A new incomplete decay signal model is proposed to describe the incomplete decay effects in a time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) based fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) system. Based on this model, we modified a MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm to eliminate the incomplete decay effects. Monte Carlo simulations were carried out to demonstrate the performances of the proposed approach. Simulations show that the proposed method is insensitive to the laser pulse rate and has a larger lifetime dynamic range compared with previously reported approaches. As far as we know, this new method is the first non-fitting method that can resolve incomplete decay effects for multi-exponential decays
Frequency-Tunable Microwave Field Detection in an Atomic Vapor Cell

We use an atomic vapor cell as a frequency tunable microwave field detector
operating at frequencies from GHz to tens of GHz. We detect microwave magnetic
fields from 2.3 GHz to 26.4 GHz, and measure the amplitude of the sigma+
component of an 18 GHz microwave field. Our proof-of-principle demonstration
represents a four orders of magnitude extension of the frequency tunable range
of atomic magnetometers from their previous dc to several MHz range. When
integrated with a high resolution microwave imaging system, this will allow for
the complete reconstruction of the vector components of a microwave magnetic
field and the relative phase between them. Potential applications include
near-field characterisation of microwave circuitry and devices, and medical
microwave sensing and imaging
Collective modes in two-dimensional one-component-plasma with
  logarithmic interaction

The collective modes of a familiar two-dimensional one-component-plasma with
the repulsive logarithmic interaction between the particles are analysed using
the quasi-crystalline approximation (QCA) combined with the molecular dynamic
simulation of the equilibrium structural properties. It is found that the
dispersion curves in the strongly coupled regime are virtually independent of
the coupling strength. Arguments based on the excluded volume consideration for
the radial distribution function allow us to derive very simple expressions for
the dispersion relations, which show excellent agreement with the exact QCA
dispersion over the entire domain of wavelengths. Comparison with the results
of the conventional fluid analysis is performed and the difference is
explained
Allowing each node to communicate only once in a distributed system: shared whiteboard models

International audienceIn this paper we study distributed algorithms on massive graphs where links represent a particular relationship between nodes (for instance, nodes may represent phone numbers and links may indicate telephone calls). Since such graphs are massive they need to be processed in a distributed way. When computing graph-theoretic properties, nodes become natural units for distributed computation. Links do not necessarily represent communication channels between the computing units and therefore do not restrict the communication flow. Our goal is to model and analyze the computational power of such distributed systems where one computing unit is assigned to each node. Communication takes place on a whiteboard where each node is allowed to write at most one message. Every node can read the contents of the whiteboard and, when activated, can write one small message based on its local knowledge. When the protocol terminates its output is computed from the final contents of the whiteboard. We describe four synchronization models for accessing the whiteboard. We show that message size and synchronization power constitute two orthogonal hierarchies for these systems.We exhibit problems that separate these models, i.e., that can be solved in one model but not in a weaker one, even with increased message size. These problems are related to maximal independent set and connectivity. We also exhibit problems that require a given message size independently of the synchronization model
ASTERIX and 2.0 Knowledge Management

Part 5: Social MediaInternational audienceKnowledge Management Systems (KMS) in companies have profoundly changed in recent years. They have become KMS 2.0 that aim to transform the firm and are driven by a new relationship to knowledge in line with 2.0 organisations. These 2.0 KMS have implemented modes of organisation that disrupt those that previously guided firms’ performance. This can sometimes lead to paradoxical organizational dysfunctions as witnessed by the difficulties faced by some traditionally hierarchical French companies. Through a case study of Constructor and a theoretical background on IS appropriation in organizations and myths in management, we show how the Asterix myth contributes to understanding how 2.0. KMS are appropriated in such companies. We find evidence of similarities regarding knowledge and Knowledge Management between the Asterix’ myth and the behaviours and practices concerning knowledge management within Constructor. As a result, the Asterix’ myth may be a relevant perspective for understanding the obstacles, advantages and appropriations of 2.0. KMS within French organizations
Biaxial disclinated states in nematic elastomers

We use a continuum model to investigate the isochoric axial contraction and expansion of a right circular cylindrical specimen composed of a nematic elastomer that is cross-linked in a uniaxial state and then annealed.  We build on previous work by relaxing the constraint that the molecular conformation be spherical or uniaxial, allowing instead for biaxiality.  The material exhibits an energetic preference for states involving a disclination of strength +1 along the cylinder axis surrounded by a region in which the conformation of the polymer chains is indeed biaxial.  We show that such states represent minimizers of the total free-energy.  Also, the reactive pressure necessary to enforce the constraint of material incompressibility within the disclination core is found to be reduced by an order of magnitude when the conformation is biaxial rather than uniaxial.  A bifurcation analysis is used to analytically determine the thresholds of axial expansion and contraction at which the material prefers a disclinated state.  These thresholds are found to be consistent with numerical predictions.  Finally, the stability of the solutions for the studied parameters is also investigated.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe
Valorisation of local agro-industrial processing waters as growth media for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production

International audiencePolyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are bacterial polyesters usually produced from costly sugars or volatile fatty acids (VFAs). In this work, two processing waters rich in vegetable proteins and reducing sugars, i.e., a mixture of saccharose and stachyose in Leguminous Processing Water (LPW) and a mixture of glucose and fructose in Fruit Processing Water (FPW), were tested as growth medium for PHA production in a two-stage fermentation with a unique marine bacterial species: Halomonas i4786. In preliminary shake flask experiments, it was shown that the two media can effectively support the bacterial growth and the accumulation of PHA (evaluated using Nile Red staining). In batch cultivation mode in a 5-L fermentor, PHA productivities of 1.6 g L−1 and 1.8 g L−1 were further achieved within 72 h, in LPW and FPW respectively. Polymer characterization by Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Steric Exclusion Chromatography indicated that the two substrates led to the biosynthesis of polymers with different chain length, distribution and crystallinity. To summarize, these results show that by-products derived from local agri-food industry can be used as a user-adapted and cost-effective source to produce bio-sourced and biodegradable plastic material
Slight mass loss revealed by reanalyzing glacier mass-balance observations on Glaciar Antisana 15 alpha (inner tropics) during the 1995-2012 period

International audienceIn this paper, we reanalyze the glacier mass balance on Glaciar Antisana 15α over the 1995– 2012 period. Annual glacier mass balances were quantified on the basis of monthly glaciological measurements using an adaptation of Lliboutry's statistical approach. The geodetic mass balance was computed between 1997 and 2009 giving a cumulative balance of −1.39 ± 1.97 m w.e. and a slightly negative adjusted annual glaciological mass balance (−0.12 ± 0.16 m w.e. a −1). Despite a careful analysis of uncertainties, we found a large discrepancy between the cumulative glaciological and the geo-detic mass balances over the common period, of 4.66 m w.e. This discrepancy can mainly be explained by underestimated net accumulation in the glacier upper reaches, which could be due to the peculiar climate conditions of the equatorial zone with year round accumulation, thereby preventing clear identification of annual layers. An increase of ∼70% in measured rates of net accumulation would be needed to balance the glaciological and geodetic mass balances; a hypothesis confirmed by estimated ice flux in the vicinity of the ELA. Consequently, the vertical gradient of precipitation may be higher than previously estimated and the accumulation processes (including the role of frost deposition) need to be carefully analyzed
Wavelength dependence of nonlinear circular dichroism in a chiral ruthenium-tris(bipyridyl) solution

International audienceNonlinear circular dichroism is studied in a solution of ruthenium-tris(bipyridyl) salt in one-beam and pump-probe experiments by tuning the laser wavelength across the circular dichroism structure. The dispersion of the nonlinear circular dichroism is measured. This wavelength dependence is well accounted for by a model calculation where nonlocality is included in the optical response of a two-coupled-oscillator system. This calculation also allows us to address the question of the contribution of electric quadrupolarization to the nonlinear optical activity of an isotropic liquid of chiral molecules. © 2002 The American Physical Societ
The level of hepatic ABCC6 expression determines the severity of calcification after cardiac injury

Because vascular or cardiac mineralization is inversely correlated with morbidity and long-term survival, we investigated the role of ABCC6 in the calcification response to cardiac injury in mice. By using two models of infarction, nonischemic cryoinjury and the pathologically relevant coronary artery ligation, we confirmed a large propensity to acute cardiac mineralization in Abcc6-/- mice. Furthermore, when the expression of ABCC6 was reduced to approximately 38% of wild-type levels in Abcc6+/- mice, no calcium deposits in injured cardiac tissue were observed. In addition, we used a gene therapy approach to deliver a functional human ABCC6 via hydrodynamic tail vein injection to approximately 13% of mouse hepatocytes, significantly reducing the calcification response to cardiac cryoinjury. We observed that the level and distribution of known regulators of mineralization, such as osteopontin and matrix Gla protein, but not osteocalcin, were concomitant to the level of hepatic expression of human and mouse ABCC6. We notably found that undercarboxylated matrix Gla protein precisely colocalized within areas of mineralization, whereas osteopontin was more diffusely distributed in the area of injury, suggesting a prominent association for matrix Gla protein and osteopontin in ABCC6-related dystrophic cardiac calcification. This study showed that the expression of ABCC6 in liver is an important determinant of calcification in cardiac tissues in response to injuries and is associated with changes in the expression patterns of regulators of mineralization
228Ra/226Ra and 226Ra/Ba ratios in the Western Mediterranean Sea : barite formation and transport in the water column

International audience226Ra, 228Ra and Ba distributions as well as 228Ra/226Ra and 226Ra/Ba ratios were measured in seawater, suspended and sinking particles at the DYFAMED station in the Western Mediterranean Sea at different seasons of year 2003 in order to track the build-up and fate of barite through time. The study of the 228Raex/226Raex ratios (Raex = Ra activities corrected for the lithogenic Ra) of suspended particles suggests that Baex (Baex = Ba concentrations corrected for the lithogenic Ba, mostly barite) formation takes place not only in the upper 500 m of the water column but also deeper (i.e. throughout the mesopelagic layer). Temporal changes in the 228Raex/226Raex ratios of sinking particles collected at 1000 m depth likely reflect changes in the relative proportion of barite originating from the upper water column (with a high 228Ra/226Ra ratio) and formed in the mesopelagic layer (with a low 228Ra/226Ra ratio). 228Raex/226Raex ratios measured in sinking particles collected in the 1000 m-trap in April and May suggest that barite predominantly formed in the upper water column during that period, while barite found outside the phytoplankton bloom period (February and June) appears to form deeper in the water column. Combining ratios of both the suspended and sinking particles provides information on aggregation/disaggregation processes. High 226Raex/Baex ratios were also found in suspended particles collected in the upper 500 m of the water column. Because celestite is expected to be enriched in Ra [Bernstein R. E., Byrne R. H. and Schijf J. (1998) Acantharians: a missing link in the oceanic biogeochemistry of barium. Deep-Sea Res. II 45, 491–505], acantharian skeletons may contribute to these high ratios in shallow waters. The formation of both acantharian skeletons and barite enriched in 226Ra may thus contribute to the decrease in the dissolved 226Ra activity and 226Ra/Ba ratios of surface waters observed between February and June 2003 at the DYFAMED station
High resolution simulation of the South Asian monsoon using a variable resolution global climate model

International audienceThis study examines the feasibility of using a variable resolution global general circulation model (GCM), with telescopic zooming and enhanced resolution (~35 km) over South Asia, to better understand regional aspects of the South Asian monsoon rainfall distribution and the interactions between monsoon circulation and precipitation. For this purpose, two sets of ten member realizations are produced with and without zooming using the LMDZ (Laboratoire Meteorologie Dynamique and Z stands for zoom) GCM. The simulations without zoom correspond to a uniform 1° × 1° grid with the same total number of grid points as in the zoom version. So the grid of the zoomed simulations is finer inside the region of interest but coarser outside. The use of these finer and coarser resolution ensemble members allows us to examine the impact of resolution on the overall quality of the simulated regional monsoon fields. It is found that the monsoon simulation with high-resolution zooming greatly improves the representation of the southwesterly monsoon flow and the heavy precipitation along the narrow orography of the Western Ghats, the northeastern mountain slopes and northern Bay of Bengal (BOB). A realistic Monsoon Trough (MT) is also noticed in the zoomed simulation, together with remarkable improvements in representing the associated precipitation and circulation features, as well as the large-scale organization of meso-scale convective systems over the MT region. Additionally, a more reasonable simulation of the monsoon synoptic disturbances (lows and disturbances) along the MT is noted in the high-resolution zoomed simulation. On the other hand, the no-zoom version has limitations in capturing the depressions and their movement, so that the MT zone is relatively dry in this case. Overall, the results from this work demonstrate the usefulness of the high-resolution variable resolution LMDZ model in realistically capturing the interactions among the monsoon large-scale dynamics, the synoptic systems and the meso-scale convective systems, which are essential elements of the South Asian monsoon system
A high-resolution assessment on global nitrogen flows in cropland

Crop production is the single largest cause of human alteration of the global nitrogen cycle. We present a comprehensive  assessment of global nitrogen flows in cropland for the year 2000 with a spatial resolution of 5 arc-minutes. We calculated a  total nitrogen input (IN) of 136.60 trillion grams (Tg) of N per year, of which almost half is contributed by mineral nitrogen  fertilizers, and a total nitrogen output (OUT) of 148.14 Tg of N per year, of which 55% is uptake by harvested crops and crop  residues. We present high-resolution maps quantifying the spatial distribution of nitrogen IN and OUT flows, soil nitrogen balance, and surface nitrogen balance. The high-resolution data are aggregated at the national level on a per capita basis to assess nitrogen stress levels. The results show that almost 80% of African countries are confronted with nitrogen scarcity or nitrogen stress problems, which, along with poverty, cause food insecurity and malnutrition. The assesment also shows a  global average nitrogen recovery rate of 59%, indicating that nearly two-fifths of nitrogen inputs are lost in ecosystems. More  effective management of nitrogen is essential to reduce the deleterious environmental consequences
Enabling the Reuse of Stored Model Transformations Through Annotations

International audienceWith the increasing adoption of MDE, model transformations , one of its core concepts together with metamodeling, stand out as a valuable asset. Therefore, a mechanism to annotate and store existing model transformations appears as a critical need for their efficient exploitation and reuse. Unfortunately, although several reuse mechanisms have been proposed for software artifacts in general and models in particular , none of them is specially tailored to the domain of model transformations. In order to fill this gap, we present here such a mechanism. Our approach is composed by two elements 1) a new DSL specially conceived for describing model transformations in terms of their functional and non-functional properties 2) a semi-automatic process for annotating and querying (repositories of) model transformations using as criteria the properties of our DSL. We validate the feasibility of our approach through a prototype implementation that integrates our approach in a GitHub repository
Algebraic approach to slice monogenic functions

In recent years, the study of slice monogenic functions has attracted more and more attention in the literature. In this paper, an extension of the well-known Dirac operator is defined which allows to establish the Lie superalgebra structure behind the theory of slice monogenic functions. Subsequently, an inner product is defined corresponding to this slice Dirac operator and its polynomial null-solutions are determined. Finally, analogues of the Hermite polynomials and Hermite functions are constructed in this context and their properties are studied
A Simple Variant of the Merkle-Damg°ard Scheme with a Permutation

We propose a new composition scheme for hash functions.
It is a variant of the Merkle-Damg°ard construction with a permutation
applied right before the processing of the last message block. We analyze
the security of this scheme using the indifferentiability formalism,
which was first adopted by Coron et al. to the analysis of hash functions.
And we study the security of simple MAC constructions out of
this scheme. Finally, we also discuss the random oracle indifferentiability
of this scheme with a double-block-length compression function or the
Davies-Meyer compression function composed of a block cipher
Optical properties of InN containing metallic indium

We theoretically study the optical properties of the composite made of indium nitride (InN)
	containing metallic indium clusters, using quasistatic approximation and effective medium
	approximation. The influences of indium cluster shape and volume concentration on the optical
	properties of entire sample are systematically discussed. Our results can satisfactorily explain recent
	experiments on the dielectric function of InN containing indium [M. Losurdo, G. Bruno, T.-H. Kim,
	S. Choi, and A. Brown, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 121928 (2006)]