Higher-rate relativistic quantum key distribution

One of the major problems in the field of quantum key distribution (QKD) is the low key rates at which the systems operate. The reasons for this are the processes used to ensure the key distribution itself: sifting, parameter estimation, key reconciliation, and privacy amplification. So, this reduction in the rate of communication is inherent to all existing quantum key distribution schemes. This paper is concerned with proposing a solution to mitigate the rate reduction of the so-called relativistic QKD. To mitigate the reduction, we introduce a modified relativistic QKD protocol, which is based on Mach–Zehnder interferometer being used as a probabilistic basis selection system (basis misalignment occurs between the parties in approximately half of the transferred qubits). The interferometric scheme allows the participating parties to correlate the mutual unbiased bases (MUBs) chosen by them. In this regard, a qubit could be used to transfer more than one bit of information. To be precise, by implementing the proposed interferometric scheme into a relativistic QKD protocol, a qubit is able to transfer two bits of information. This results in achieving a protocol, which is characterized with a greater rate of communication, two times greater than the usual rate. The modified protocol is proven to be secure against intercept-resend and collective attacks.

Measuring Interoception: The CARdiac Elevation Detection Task

Interoception has increasingly been the focus of psychiatric research, due to its hypothesized role in mental health. Existing interoceptive tasks either suffer from important methodological limitations, impacting their validity, or are burdensome and require specialized equipment, which limits their usage in vulnerable populations. We report on the development of the CARdiac Elevation Detection (CARED) task. Participants’ heart rate is recorded by a wearable device connected to a mobile application. Notifications are sent to participants’ mobile throughout the day over a period of 4 weeks. Participants are asked to state whether their heart rate is higher than usual, rate their confidence and describe the activity they were involved in when the notification occurred. Data (N = 30) revealed that 1/3 of the sample was classified as interoceptive and that participants presented overall good insight into their interoceptive abilities. Given its ease of administration and accessibility, the CARED task has the potential to be a significant asset for psychiatric and developmental research.

Measuring Interoception: the CARdiac Elevation Detection Task (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED Interoception has increasingly been the focus of psychiatric research, due to its hypothesised role in mental health. Existing interoceptive tasks are often burdensome and require specialised equipment, limiting their usage in vulnerable populations. We report on the development of the CARdiac Elevation Detection (CARED) task. Participants’ heart rate is recorded by a wearable device connected to a mobile application. Notifications are sent to participants’ mobile throughout the day over a period of 4 weeks. Participants are asked to state whether their heart rate is higher than usual, rate their confidence and describe the activity they were involved in when the notification occurred. Data (N=30) revealed that ⅓ of the sample was classified as interoceptive and that participants presented overall good insight into their interoceptive abilities. Given its ease of administration and accessibility, the CARED task has the potential to be a significant asset for psychiatric and developmental research.

Measuring interoception: the CARdiac Elevation Detection Task

Interoception, namely the perception of the body's internal states, has increasingly been the focus of psychiatric research, due to its hypothesised role in mental health disturbances. Nevertheless, existing tasks of interoception are often long, burdensome and require specialised equipment to be carried out, thus limiting the possibility of conducting studies in vulnerable populations. We report on the development and proof of concept testing of a novel interoceptive task, namely the CARdiac Elevation Detection (CARED) task. Participants’ heart rate is recorded by a wearable device connected to a mobile application. Notifications are sent to participants’ mobile based on an algorithm optimised to send at least 6 notifications per day at different heart rate values throughout the day, over a period of at least 4 weeks. Participants are asked to state whether their heart rate is higher than usual, rate how confident they are in their answer and provide a brief description of the activity they were involved in when the notification occurred. Data from 30 participants revealed that approximately ⅓ of the sample was classified as being interoceptive (in line with previous findings) and that participants presented overall good insight into their interoceptive abilities. Given its ease of administration and accessibility, the CARED task has the potential to be a significant asset for psychiatric and developmental research.

Agile Approach as a Universal Remedy for the Usual Failure in the Development of Software Projects

: Agile is not a methodology neither can it be considered as a peculiar way of developing any software also it is neither a framework nor a process. Agile is a mindset or a collection of beliefs that can be used by the teams for taking the decisions while working on any software development. Agile mindset adopted for the development of software has gained attention of the researchers and industries across the world because otherwise the software project would turn out to be uncertain and very turbid. The universal remedy for the usual failure of the software project development is the agility. Actually saying agile is nothing novice instead it is a meta model based on best practices from the preceding models like waterfall, iterative, incremental and rapid application development method. The objective of this paper is to highlight various points of comparison between them and conclude that failing fast is failing cheap in case of agile for software development. So, we can say that an agile always existed but not in a structured and a formal manner. The two main methodologies of agile as an umbrella term are XP and scrum. Thus in this paper we have discussed about scrum as a major methodology and also how various scrum roles contribute towards making teams self organized to reduce the usual rate of failure of development projects. The success rate of the software applications developed through the agile concept is three times than that of the traditional waterfall method and also the percentage of cost and time overruns is much lower.

Automatic Fuel Monitoring System

This proposed methodology is derived for automatic fuel level measurement by smart device. The discovery of automobile vehicles is a blessing to human beings from engineering and science. The majority of the transport fuels are powered by traditional fuels like gasoline, octane, diesel etc. The price of these transport fuels are also increasing. The objective of this project is to describe the automatic prevention of fuel theft by the drivers and also we are going to bring solution for how accurately the petrol bunk is filling the fuel for your vehicles. The advantage of our project is we also done with fuel indication system. Whenever liquid level goes high or low it will indicate by an alarm signal. When the flow rate or fuel consumption rate becomes more than usual rate the fuel level falls drastically then the sensor is activated and sends a signal. After receiving the signal the GSM module sends a message to a specific number by indicating something unusual. It is also been found that it is low cost technology and it can also be implemented in all the vehicles.

Electrocorticographic responses to time-compressed speech vary across the cortical auditory hierarchy

Human listeners understand spoken language across a variety of rates, but when speech is presented three times or more faster than its usual rate, it becomes unintelligible. How the brain achieves such tolerance and why speech becomes unintelligible above certain rates is still unclear. We addressed these questions using electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings in 7 epileptic patients (two female). Patients rated the intelligibility of sentences presented at the original rate (100%), speeded rates (33% or 66% of the original sentence duration) and a slowed rate (150%). We then examined which parameters of the neural response covary with the transition from intelligible to unintelligible speech. Specifically, we asked whether neural responses: 1) track the acoustic envelope of the incoming speech; 2) “scale” with speech rate, i.e. whether neural responses elicited by slowed and speeded sentences can be linearly scaled to match the responses to the original sentence. Behaviorally, intelligibility was at ceiling for speech rates of 66% and above, but dropped significantly for the 33% rate. At the neural level, Superior Temporal Gyrus regions (STG) in close proximity to A1 (‘low-level’) tracked the acoustic envelope and linearly scaled with the input across all speech rates, irrespective of intelligibility. In contrast, secondary auditory areas in the STG as well as the inferior frontal gyrus and angular gyrus (‘high-level’) tracked the acoustic envelope and linearly scaled with input only for intelligible speech. These results help reconcile seemingly contradictory previous findings and provide better understanding of how information processing unfolds along the cortical auditory hierarchy.

UNIFORM CONSISTENCY OF NONSTATIONARY KERNEL-WEIGHTED SAMPLE COVARIANCES FOR NONPARAMETRIC REGRESSION

We obtain uniform consistency results for kernel-weighted sample covariances in a nonstationary multiple regression framework that allows for both fixed design and random design coefficient variation. In the fixed design case these nonparametric sample covariances have different uniform asymptotic rates depending on direction, a result that differs fundamentally from the random design and stationary cases. The uniform asymptotic rates derived exceed the corresponding rates in the stationary case and confirm the existence of uniform super-consistency. The modelling framework and convergence rates allow for endogeneity and thus broaden the practical econometric import of these results. As a specific application, we establish uniform consistency of nonparametric kernel estimators of the coefficient functions in nonlinear cointegration models with time varying coefficients or functional coefficients, and provide sharp convergence rates. For the fixed design models, in particular, there are two uniform convergence rates that apply in two different directions, both rates exceeding the usual rate in the stationary case.

Biofilm Formation and Sanitizer Resistance of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Strains Isolated from “High Event Period” Meat Contamination†

In the meat industry, a “high event period” (HEP) is defined as a time period during which commercial meat plants experience a higher than usual rate of Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination. Genetic analysis indicated that within a HEP, most of the E. coli O157:H7 strains belong to a singular dominant strain type. This was in disagreement with the current beef contamination model stating that contamination occurs when incoming pathogen load on animal hides, which consists of diverse strain types of E. coli O157:H7, exceeds the intervention capacity. Thus, we hypothesize that the HEP contamination may be due to certain in-plant colonized E. coli O157:H7 strains that are better able to survive sanitization through biofilm formation. To test our hypothesis, a collection of 45 E. coli O157:H7 strains isolated from HEP beef contamination incidents and a panel of 47 E. coli O157:H7 strains of diverse genetic backgrounds were compared for biofilm formation and sanitizer resistance. Biofilm formation was tested on 96-well polystyrene plates for 1 to 6 days. Biofilm cell survival and recovery growth after sanitization were compared between the two strain collections using common sanitizers, including quaternary ammonium chloride, chlorine, and sodium chlorite. No difference in “early stage” biofilms was observed between the two strain collections after incubation at 22 to 25°C for 1 or 2 days. However, the HEP strains demonstrated significantly higher potency of “mature” biofilm formation after incubation for 4 to 6 days. Biofilms of the HEP strains also exhibited significantly stronger resistance to sanitization. These data suggest that biofilm formation and sanitization resistance could have a role in HEP beef contamination by E. coli O157:H7, which highlights the importance of proper and complete sanitization of food contact surfaces and food processing equipment in commercial meat plants.