High-Q Magnetic Levitation and Control of Superconducting Microspheres at Millikelvin Temperatures.

We report the levitation of a superconducting lead-tin sphere with 100 µm diameter (corresponding to a mass of 5.6 µg) in a static magnetic trap formed by two coils in an anti-Helmholtz configuration, with adjustable resonance frequencies up to 240 Hz. The center-of-mass motion of the sphere is monitored magnetically using a dc superconducting quantum interference device as well as optically and exhibits quality factors of up to 2.6×10^{7}. We also demonstrate 3D magnetic feedback control of the motion of the sphere. The setup is housed in a dilution refrigerator operating at 15 mK. By implementing a cryogenic vibration isolation system, we can attenuate environmental vibrations at 200 Hz by approximately 7 orders of magnitude. The combination of low temperature, large mass, and high quality factor provides a promising platform for testing quantum physics in previously unexplored regimes with high mass and long coherence times.

Experimental Determination of Irreversible Entropy Production in out-of-Equilibrium Mesoscopic Quantum Systems.

By making use of a recently proposed framework for the inference of thermodynamic irreversibility in bosonic quantum systems, we experimentally measure and characterize the entropy production rates in the nonequilibrium steady state of two different physical systems-a micromechanical resonator and a Bose-Einstein condensate-each coupled to a high finesse cavity and hence also subject to optical loss. Key features of our setups, such as the cooling of the mechanical resonator and signatures of a structural quantum phase transition in the condensate, are reflected in the entropy production rates. Our work demonstrates the possibility to explore irreversibility in driven mesoscopic quantum systems and paves the way to a systematic experimental assessment of entropy production beyond the microscopic limit.

Ternary mixtures of ionic liquids for better salt solubility, conductivity and cation transference number improvement.

We hereby present the new class of ionic liquid systems in which lithium salt is introduced into the solution as a lithium cation-glyme solvate. This modification leads to the reorganisation of solution structure, which entails release of free mobile lithium cation solvate and hence leads to the significant enhancement of ionic conductivity and lithium cation transference numbers. This new approach in composing electrolytes also enables even three-fold increase of salt concentration in ionic liquids.

New boron based salts for lithium-ion batteries using conjugated ligands.

A new anion design concept, based on combining a boron atom as the central atom and conjugated systems as ligands, is presented as a route for finding alternative Li-salts for lithium-ion batteries. The properties of a wide range of novel anions designed in this way have been evaluated by DFT calculations focusing on three different fundamental success factors/measures: the strength of the cation-anion interaction, ultimately determining both the solubility and the ionic conductivity, the oxidation limit, determining their possible use vs. high voltage cathodes, and the reduction stability, revealing a possible role of the anion in the SEI-formation at the anode. For a few anions superior properties vs. today's existing or suggested anions are predicted, especially the very low cation-anion interaction strengths are promising features. The design route itself is shown to be versatile in determining the correlation between different choices of ligands and the resulting overall properties - where the most striking feature is the decreased lithium cation interaction energy upon using the (1Z,3Z)-buta-1,3-diene-1,2,3,4-tetracarbonitrile ligands. This also opens avenues for the further design of novel anions beyond those with a boron central atom.

Pulsed laser cooling for cavity optomechanical resonators.

A pulsed cooling scheme for optomechanical systems is presented that is capable of cooling at much faster rates, shorter overall cooling times, and for a wider set of experimental scenarios than is possible by conventional methods. The proposed scheme can be implemented for both strongly and weakly coupled optomechanical systems in both weakly and highly dissipative cavities. We study analytically its underlying working mechanism, which is based on interferometric control of optomechanical interactions, and we demonstrate its efficiency with pulse sequences that are obtained by using methods from optimal control. The short time in which our scheme approaches the optomechanical ground state allows for a significant relaxation of current experimental constraints. Finally, the framework presented here can be used to create a rich variety of optomechanical interactions and hence offers a novel, readily available toolbox for fast optomechanical quantum control.

Interferometric autocorrelation in the ultraviolet utilizing spontaneous parametric down-conversion inside an enhancement cavity.

Autocorrelation is a common method to estimate the duration of ultrashort laser pulses. In the ultraviolet (UV) regime it is challenging to employ the process of second-harmonic generation, most prominently due to absorption in nonlinear crystals at very short wavelengths. Here we show how to utilize spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) to generate an autocorrelation signal in the infrared (IR) for UV pulses. Our method utilizes the nth-order emission of the SPDC process, which occurs for low pumping powers proportional to the nth power of the UV intensity. Thus, counting 2n down-converted photons directly yields the nth-order autocorrelation. The method, now with detection of near-IR photons, is applied to the first direct measurement of ultrashort UV pulses circulating inside a UV enhancement cavity.

Permutationally invariant quantum tomography.

We present a scalable method for the tomography of large multiqubit quantum registers. It acquires information about the permutationally invariant part of the density operator, which is a good approximation to the true state in many relevant cases. Our method gives the best measurement strategy to minimize the experimental effort as well as the uncertainties of the reconstructed density matrix. We apply our method to the experimental tomography of a photonic four-qubit symmetric Dicke state.

Characteristics of young rural Chinese suicides: a psychological autopsy study.

BACKGROUND: Patterns of suicide rates in China differ in many ways from those in the West. This study aimed to identify the risk factors characteristic for young rural Chinese suicides. METHOD: This was a case-control psychological autopsy (PA) study. The samples were suicides and living controls (both aged 15-34 years) from 16 rural counties of China. We interviewed two informants for each suicide and each control with pretested and validated instruments to estimate psychosocial, psychiatric and other risk factors for suicides. RESULTS: The prevalence of mental disorders was higher among the young Chinese who died by suicide than among the living controls, but was lower than among suicides in the West. Marriage was not a protecting factor for suicide among young rural Chinese women, and never-married women who were involved in relationships were about three times more likely to commit suicide than single women who were unattached. Religion/religiosity was not a protecting factor in Chinese suicide, as it tended to be stronger for suicides than for controls. Impulsivity was significantly higher for suicides than for controls. Psychological strain, resulting from conflicting social values between communist gender equalitarianism and Confucian gender discrimination, was associated significantly with suicide in young rural Chinese women, even after accounting for the role of psychiatric illness. CONCLUSIONS: Risk factors for suicide in rural China are different from those in the West. Psychological strain plays a role in suicide. Suicide prevention programs in China should incorporate culture-specific considerations.

Alcohol and gambling pathology among U.S. adults: prevalence, demographic patterns and comorbidity.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to determine the prevalence and demographic distribution of problem gambling, pathological gambling, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence in the United States, and to examine the co-occurrence of gambling pathology and alcohol pathology in the United States. METHOD: A representative sample (N = 2,638) of U.S. adults age 18 and older was surveyed in the year 2000 using computer-assisted telephone interviewing. Respondents' gambling pathology and alcohol dependence were assessed by the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). RESULTS: Current pathological gambling had an overall prevalence of 1.3% as measured by the DIS and 1.9% as measured by the SOGS, with a higher prevalence among minorities and lower socioeconomic status (SES) respondents. Current and lifetime alcohol pathology was more common among males and young adults than among females and older adults. Current pathological gambling and alcohol dependence were correlated, and the highest correlation was found among higher SES respondents. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of current pathological gambling in the United States is higher than reported in past surveys. Minorities and lower SES Americans have higher than average rates of current pathological gambling. However, when higher SES persons are classified as current pathological gamblers, they are more likely than lower SES persons to be dependent on alcohol.

Natural recovery in a community-based sample of alcoholics: study design and descriptive data.

The majority of alcoholics who recover do so without the benefit of treatment, yet little is known about these individuals and the factors associated with their success. A better understanding is needed of the self-initiated and maintained change processes ("natural recovery") associated with such recoveries. In the current study, initiated in 1997, we followed up alcoholics identified in four previous community surveys and conducted a brief physical examination and an in-depth interview assessing factors thought to be associated with "natural recovery" or entry into treatment. Here we present the study model, describe our sample of 83 "naturally recovered" and 138 "hazardous problem drinkers," and report factors associated with "natural recovery." During the period when their drinking was at its most problematic, those who naturally recovered had discussed their alcohol-use associated problems with fewer network members and had been advised to stop drinking or to drink less by fewer network members. In addition to older age, "natural recovery" was associated with marriage, lower levels of avoidant coping, higher self-esteem, social networks with members who drank less, and a history of less frequent drug use and lower frequencies of intoxication. Rates of "natural recovery'' may be increased by encouraging the development of these attributes in hazardous problem drinkers who do not already have them.

[Selected markers of bone metabolism in boys with constitutional delay of growth and puberty]. / Wybrane wskazniki metabolizmu kostnego u chlopców z konstytucjonalnie wolnym przebiegiem wzrastania i rozwoju.

The aim of the study was to determine serum concentration and urinary excretion of selected parameters of bone metabolism in boys with constitutional delay of growth and puberty (CDGP) in the relation to pubertal stages. The study group consisted of 41 boys (aged 8 to 18 yrs) with CDGP. Patients were divided on the basis of Tanner's criteria into 4 groups according to the pubertal stage. Serum alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity and serum osteocalcin (OC) concentration as markers of bone growth, as well as urinary deoxypyridinoline (DPD) as a marker of bone resorption were determined. Serum AP activity in 31 (75.6%) boys was within normal age range. Mean values of serum AP activity increased insignificantly from I to IV stage of puberty. Serum OC concentrations were normal in 33 (80.5%) patients. Eight (19.5%) boys showed decreased values of serum OC concentration. Mean OC concentration insignificantly increased with the pubertal stages. DPD urinary excretion was within normal age range in all patients and was the highest in stage III of pubertal stage. No significant abnormalities of bone metabolism parameters in boys with constitutional delay of growth and puberty were found.

Direct effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on serotonin or dopamine release and uptake in the caudate putamen, nucleus accumbens, substantia nigra pars reticulata, and the dorsal raphé nucleus slices.

We examined the effects of pressure ejected 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) from a micropipette on direct chemically stimulated release, and on electrically stimulated serotonin (5-HT) or dopamine (DA) release in the caudate putamen (CPu), nucleus accumbens (NAc), substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr), and the dorsal raphé nucleus (DRN) brain slices of rat, using fast cyclic voltammetry (FCV). MDMA is electroactive, oxidising at +1100 mV. When the anodic input waveform was reduced from +1.4 to +1.0 volt, MDMA was not electroactive. Using this waveform, pressure ejection of MDMA did not release 5-HT or DA in brain slices prepared from any of the nuclei studied. MDMA significantly potentiated electrically stimulated 5-HT release in the SNr and DA release in CPu. In the DRN or in the NAc, MDMA was without effect on peak electrically stimulated 5-HT or DA release. The rates of neurotransmitter uptake, expressed as t(1/2), were in all cases significantly decreased after MDMA. The results indicate that MDMA, unlike (+)amphetamine, is not as a releaser of DA or 5-HT, it is a potent inhibitor of both DA and 5-HT uptake.

Alcohol and crime in China.

This study examines the pattern of alcohol involvement across violent and property crimes in China. We describe and discuss the cultural and biological differences between Chinese and Westerners concerning alcohol and the features of Chinese culture concerning violence. Drawing upon the disinhibition perspective in alcohol and crime, a specific hypothesis derived from the sociocultural context of Chinese society is that alcohol is more likely to be involved with violent crime than with property crime. Using data from a survey of inmates in China, we assess this hypothesis and the possible variables that may moderate this hypothesis. The data support the hypothesis that disinhibition is applicable to the alcohol-violence relationship in Chinese culture. However, the predicted pattern of alcohol use in violent and property crimes does not vary across different offender groups, which is inconsistent with some United States research. A tentative explanation is provided for this inconsistency.

The influence of parental drinking and closeness on adolescent drinking.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the relationship of parental drinking and adolescent's closeness to parents to adolescent drinking behavior by focusing on three related issues: (1) the independent effects of parental drinking and closeness to parents on adolescent drinking, (2) the mediating role of closeness to parents for the effect of parental drinking, and (3) their interactive effects. METHOD: The issues were addressed with use of data from 378 respondents in a random-digit dialing sample of 625 male adolescents at age range 16 to 19 in the Buffalo area. Mother's and father's drinking and adolescent's closeness to mother and father were measured separately. Regression analyses were used to assess the effects of these measures on adolescent drinking regarding the three related issues. RESULTS: Only father's drinking has a direct effect on adolescent drinking. Although closeness to mother is a significant protection against adolescent drinking, mother's drinking has no effect on closeness to mother. In contrast, father's drinking has a significant effect on closeness to father, but closeness to father has no direct effect on adolescent drinking. Therefore, there is no mediating role of closeness to parents for the effect of parental drinking. Finally, there is an interaction between mother's drinking and closeness to mother, which indicates that adolescents whose mothers are heavy drinkers and who have low closeness to their mothers drink more heavily. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that for the mother and the father there are different patterns of the relationship between parental drinking and closeness at work in explaining adolescent drinking.

Neurodevelopmental dysfunction and specific learning disabilities in school-aged twins.

The frequency of the developmental dysfunction and specific learning disabilities were assessed in the retrospective study in the group of 56 school-aged twins. The relationships between genetic, perinatal and social factors and learning disability were also determined. It was found that 12.5% of twins had learning disabilities. The most common neurodevelopmental dysfunction were language disorders, poor graphomotor fluency and poor fine motor dexterity. It was also found that educational difficulty were associated with prematurity, low Apgar scores, neonatal complications and familial predisposition.

Alcohol, intelligence and violent crime in young males.

Research has demonstrated a relationship between alcohol and violent behavior, but proof of a causal connection remains elusive. A recent review concluded that the key task that remained was to identify sub-groups of the population for which alcohol promotes violence. Because alcohol might induce violence by causing cognitive disruption (e.g., misunderstood communication), less intelligent persons could be vulnerable because they start out closer to the lower limit of comprehension. Our objective is to investigate the effect of lower intelligence on the alcohol/violence relationship. This analysis uses data from the Buffalo Longitudinal Study of Young Men to investigate this hypothesis. Males, 16 to 19 years of age (N = 596), were selected from Buffalo, NY, by random digit dialing. High-risk males were oversampled. Two interviews were conducted 18 months apart, including drinking, criminal offenses, and psychological traits. Verbal intelligence was measured by the Ammons Quick Test and visual-motor intelligence by the Trail Making Test. An analysis of covariance was conducted with wave 2 average alcohol consumption and both measures of intelligence as independent variables, violent offending as the dependent variable, and race, wave 1 alcohol and wave 1 violence as covariates. Results show a positive main effect of wave 2 alcohol consumption, but also interactions with both verbal and visual-motor intelligence. These interactions indicate that the prevalence of violence increases significantly at low intelligence and high alcohol consumption levels. A parallel analysis with nonviolent offending as the dependent variable failed to find significant interactions. The combination of heavy drinking and lower intelligence is associated with a synergistic surge of violent behavior.

The nexus between alcohol and violent crime.

The present study examines the nexus between alcohol and violent crime by specifying alcohol as a moderating variable that may interact with other major causes of violent crime. Four major causes of violent crime at the individual level are identified: deviant motives or attitudes, aggression and hostility, impulsivity, and problem-solving ability. Analyses are conducted at two levels of aggravated assault: prevalence of assault and frequency of assault. At the level of prevalence of assault, data indicate that the usual drinking pattern does not constitute an independent cause, but has significant interactions with two of the major causes: deviant attitudes and aggression and hostility. However, in the analysis of the frequency of assault, the findings indicate a pattern that both usual drinking pattern and drinking before offending have independent explanatory power for aggravated assault, but no interactions were found. These findings suggest that alcohol may have different roles in explaining different levels of violent offending.

New modeling methods: geographic information systems and spatial analysis.

Geographic factors, such as the location of alcohol outlets or of neighborhoods with different socioeconomic status within an area, can influence the patterns of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in that area. Geographic information systems (GIS)--computer-based systems to capture, store, retrieve, analyze, and display spatial data--are increasingly used to investigate the effects of such geographic factors. GIS offer several key capabilities that facilitate alcohol-related geographic analyses, including geocoding (the linking of descriptive data, such as driving-while-intoxicated [DWI] events, to a location on a map), informative visual displays, and calculation of distance and adjacency. Using GIS-based data, researchers can perform complex spatial analyses of alcohol-related behaviors and problems, such as determining the correlation between DWI rates and geographic locations. These types of analyses may help investigators to understand environmental influences on alcohol-related problems and to plan and target appropriate prevention and intervention approaches.

Peer and parental influences on male adolescent drinking.

Using data from males aged 16-19 in Buffalo, NY, the present study examines two social mechanisms by which parents and peers influence adolescent drinking--behavioral and attitudinal transmission--and compares the patterns of behavioral and attitudinal transmission for parents and for peers. The study also assesses the relative importance of parents and peers in accounting for adolescent alcohol behavior. The findings indicate that both alcohol behavior and attitudes of parents and peers are significant predictors of adolescent drinking. However, the prediction patterns are reversed. Parental attitudes are more important than parental alcohol behavior, while peer alcohol behavior is more important than peer attitudes. Overall, peers have more influence on adolescent drinking than parents. There is a significant interaction of parental alcohol-related attitudes and age, which indicates that parental alcohol-related attitudes exert a greater effect on younger (i.e., age 16-17) males' alcohol use.