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We consider two ensembles of qubits dissipating into two overlapping environments, that is, with a certain number of qubits in common that dissipate into both environments. We then study the dynamics of bipartite entanglement between the two ensembles by excluding the common qubits. To get analytical solutions for an arbitrary number of qubits we consider initial states with a single excitation and show that the largest amount of entanglement can be created when excitations are initially located among side (noncommon) qubits. Moreover, the stationary entanglement exhibits a monotonic (nonmonotonic) scaling versus the number of common (side) qubits  

We consider a model of a bosonic memory channel, which induces correlations among the transmitted signals. The application of suitable unitary transformations at the encoding and decoding stages allows the complete removal of correlations, thereby mapping the memory channel into a memoryless one. However, such transformations, being global over an arbitrarily large number of bosonic modes, are not realistically implementable. We then introduce a family of efficiently realizable transformations, which can be used to partially remove correlations among errors, and we quantify the reduction of the gap with memoryless channels  

We study the quantum capacity of a continuous-variable dephasing channel, which is a notable example of a non-Gaussian quantum channel. We prove that a single-letter formula applies. The optimal input state is found to be diagonal in the Fock basis and with a distribution that is a discrete version of a Gaussian. We discuss how its mean and variance are related to the dephasing rate and input energy. We then show that by increasing the input energy, the capacity saturates to a finite value. We also show that it decays exponentially for large values of dephasing rates. © 2020 American Physical Society  

We study quantum information transmission in a Heisenberg-XY chain where qubits are affected by quasi-local environment action and compare it with the case of local action of the environment. We find that for open boundary conditions the former situation always improves quantum state transfer process, especially for short chains. In contrast, for closed boundary conditions quasi-local environment results advantageous in the strong noise regime. When the noise strength is comparable with the XY interaction strength, the state transfer fidelity through chain of odd/even number of qubits in presence of quasi-local environment results smaller/greater than that in presence of local environment. ©... 

The problem of dephasing channel discrimination is addressed for finite-dimensional systems. In particular, the optimization with respect to input states without energy constraint is solved analytically for qubit, qutrit and ququart. Additionally, it is shown that resorting to side entanglement assisted strategy is completely useless in this case. © 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd  

We introduce a homology-based technique for the classification of multiqubit state vectors with genuine entanglement. In our approach, we associate state vectors to data sets by introducing a metric-like measure in terms of bipartite entanglement, and investigate the persistence of homologies at different scales. This leads to a novel classification of multiqubit entanglement. The relative occurrence frequency of various classes of entangled states is also shown. © Rinton Press  

We investigate the possibility of correcting errors occurring on a multipartite system through a feedback mechanism that acquires information through partial access to the environment. A partial control scheme of this type might be useful in dealing with correlated errors. In fact, in such a case, it could be enough to gather local information to decide what kind of global recovery to perform. Then, we apply this scheme to the depolarizing and correlated errors and quantify its performance by means of entanglement fidelity  

We investigate the multiple use of a ferromagnetic spin chain for quantum and classical communications without resetting. We find that the memory of the state transmitted during the first use makes the spin chain a qualitatively different quantum channel during the second transmission, for which we find the relevant Kraus operators. We propose a parameter to quantify the amount of memory in the channel and find that it influences the quality of the channel, as reflected through fidelity and entanglement transmissible during the second use. For certain evolution times, the memory allows the channel to exceed the memoryless classical capacity (achieved by separable inputs) and in some cases it... 

We present high-precision photometry of five consecutive transits of WASP-18, an extrasolar planetary system with one of the shortest orbital periods known. Through the use of telescope defocusing we achieve a photometric precision of 0.47-0.83 mmag per observation over complete transit events. The data are analyzed using the JKTEBOP code and three different sets of stellar evolutionary models. We find the mass and radius of the planet to be M b = 10.43 ± 0.30 ±0.24 M Jup and R b = 1.165± 0.055 ±0.014 R Jup (statistical and systematic errors), respectively. The systematic errors in the orbital separation and the stellar and planetary masses, arising from the use of theoretical predictions,... 

The Acknowledgements section of Hitchcock et al. (2020) should have included the following grant information: ‘TCH acknowledges financial support from the National Research Foundation (NRF; No. 2019R1I1A1A01059609)’. This change does not affect any of the scientific content of the paper. © 2021 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved  

The petroleum industry suffers from reservoir souring phenomena, which has negative impacts on production facilities, health, and environment. Injection of incompatible water into the reservoir (waterflooding), which is considered as an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method, is one of the most common causes of reservoir souring. In general, injected brine, especially seawater, contains high amounts of sulfate ion (SO42−). A high concentration of sulfate in the presence of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) leads to the microbial reservoir souring. During this phenomenon, sulfide, specifically hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) appears in the producing fluid of the reservoir. In this paper, a coupled... 

The liver plays a complex role in metabolism and detoxification, and better tools are needed to understand its function and to develop liver-targeted therapies. In this study, we establish a mechanobiological model of liver transport and hepatocyte biology to elucidate the metabolism of urea and albumin, the production/detoxification of ammonia, and consumption of oxygen and nutrients. Since hepatocellular shear stress (SS) can influence the enzymatic activities of liver, the effect of SS on the urea and albumin synthesis are empirically modeled through the mechanotransduction mechanisms. The results demonstrate that the rheology and dynamics of the sinusoid flow can significantly affect... 

We present the results of 14 nights of I-band photometric monitoring of the nearby brown dwarf binary, ϵ Indi Ba and Bb. Observations were acquired over 2 months, with a total of close to 42 h of coverage at a typically high cadence of 1.4 min. At a separation of just 0.7 arcsec, we do not resolve the individual components, and so effectively treat the binary as if it were a single object. However, ϵ Indi Ba (spectral type T1) is the brightest known T-type brown dwarf, and is expected to dominate the photometric signal. We typically find no strong variability associated with the target during each individual night of observing, but see significant changes in mean brightness – by as much as... 

We present and analyse light curves of four transits of the Southern hemisphere extrasolar planetary system WASP-4, obtained with a telescope defocused so the radius of each point spread function was 17 arcsec (44 pixels). This approach minimizes both random and systematic errors, allowing us to achieve scatters of between 0.60 and 0.88 mmag per observation over complete transit events. The light curves are augmented by published observations and analysed using the jktebop code. The results of this process are combined with theoretical stellar model predictions to derive the physical properties of the WASP-4 system. We find that the mass and radius of the planet are M b = 1.289 +0.090 -0.090... 

A new efficient catalytic system was investigated for the epoxidation of various olefins by cis-dioxo-bis[2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)-oxazolinato]molybdenum(VI), cis-[MoO2(phox)2], and TBHP as oxidizing agent. Using this system as catalyst for the oxidation of aliphatic substrates at 80 °C gives the epoxide as the sole product with yields up to 100% and turnover frequency up to 5000 h-1. The efficiency of the catalyst is strongly influenced by the nature of solvent, reaction time and temperature, and a significant increase in the epoxide yields is observed in higher temperatures and longer reaction times. © 2009 Elsevier B.V  

Implementation of effective cancer treatment strategies requires consideration of how the spatiotemporal heterogeneities within the tumor microenvironment (TME) influence tumor progression and treatment response. Here, we developed a multi-scale three-dimensional mathematical model of the TME to simulate tumor growth and angiogenesis and then employed the model to evaluate an array of single and combination therapy approaches. Treatments included maximum tolerated dose or metronomic (i.e., frequent low doses) scheduling of anti-cancer drugs combined with anti-angiogenic therapy. The results show that metronomic therapy normalizes the tumor vasculature to improve drug delivery, modulates... 

Ostracism has been recognized as conceptually and empirically distinct from harassment. Drawing from theory and research that suggests that employees have a strong need to belong in their organizations, we examine the comparative frequency and impact of ostracism and harassment in organizations across three field studies. Study 1 finds that a wide range of employees perceive ostracism, compared with harassment, to be more socially acceptable, less psychologically harmful, and less likely to be prohibited in their organization. Study 2 surveyed employees from a variety of organizations to test our theory that ostracism is actually a more harmful workplace experience than harassment.... 

This work presents an innovative design for a flow-through dielectrophoretic cell sorting based on silicon bulk microelectrodes featuring sidewall undercuts. The microelectrodes are configured into an interdigitated array with digits extending across the flow chamber at an oblique angle against the flow stream. Target cells under dielectrophoretic forces and hydrodynamic drag can slide along the digits to a dedicated outlet. The design has been showcased for continuous-flow sorting of viable and non-viable mammalian cells, achieving a throughput of 16,600 cells/min, an order of magnitude higher than those reported for existing continuous-flow cell sorting designs using thin-film or... 

The search for efficient chemotherapy drugs and other anti-cancer treatments would benefit from a deeper understanding of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and its role in tumor progression. Because in vivo experimental methods are unable to isolate or control individual factors of the TME and in vitro models often do not include all the contributing factors, some questions are best addressed with systems biology mathematical models. In this work, we present a new fully-coupled, agent-based, multi-scale mathematical model of tumor growth, angiogenesis and metabolism that includes important aspects of the TME spanning subcellular-, cellular- and tissue-level scales. The mathematical model is...