Controlled collisions for multi-particle entanglement of optically trapped atoms

Entanglement lies at the heart of quantum mechanics, and in recent years has been identified as an essential resource for quantum information processing and computation. The experimentally challenging production of highly entangled multi-particle states is therefore important for investigating both fundamental physics and practical applications. Here we report the creation of highly entangled states of neutral atoms trapped in the periodic potential of an optical lattice. Controlled collisions between individual neighbouring atoms are used to realize an array of quantum gates, with massively parallel operation. We observe a coherent entangling-disentangling evolution in the many-body system, depending on the phase shift acquired during the collision between neighbouring atoms. Such dynamics are indicative of highly entangled many-body states; moreover, these are formed in a single operational step, independent of the size of the system.     

Suppression of CED-3-independent apoptosis by mitochondrial betaNAC in Caenorhabditis elegans

To ensure cell survival, it is essential that the ubiquitous pro-apoptotic machinery is kept quiescent. As death is irreversible, cells must continually integrate developmental information with regulatory inputs to control the switch between repressing and activating apoptosis. Inappropriate activation or suppression of apoptosis can lead to degenerative pathologies or tumorigenesis, respectively. Here we report that Caenorhabditis elegans inhibitor of cell death-1 (ICD-1) is necessary and sufficient to prevent apoptosis. Loss of ICD-1 leads to inappropriate apoptosis in developing and differentiated cells in various tissues. Although this apoptosis requires CED-4, it occurs independently of CED-3--the caspase essential for developmental apoptosis--showing that these core pro-apoptotic proteins have separable roles. Overexpressing ICD-1 inhibits the apoptosis of cells that are normally programmed to die. ICD-1 is the beta-subunit of the nascent polypeptide-associated complex (betaNAC) and contains a putative caspase-cleavage site and caspase recruitment domain. It localizes primarily to mitochondria, underscoring the role of mitochondria in coordinating apoptosis. Human betaNAC is a caspase substrate that is rapidly eliminated in dying cells, suggesting that ICD-1 apoptosis-suppressing activity may be inactivated by caspases.     

Remains of Homo erectus from Bouri, Middle Awash, Ethiopia

The genesis, evolution and fate of Homo erectus have been explored palaeontologically since the taxon's recognition in the late nineteenth century. Current debate is focused on whether early representatives from Kenya and Georgia should be classified as a separate ancestral species ('H. ergaster'), and whether H. erectus was an exclusively Asian species lineage that went extinct. Lack of resolution of these issues has obscured the place of H. erectus in human evolution. A hominid calvaria and postcranial remains recently recovered from the Dakanihylo Member of the Bouri Formation, Middle Awash, Ethiopia, bear directly on these issues. These approximately 1.0-million-year (Myr)-old Pleistocene sediments contain abundant early Acheulean stone tools and a diverse vertebrate fauna that indicates a predominantly savannah environment. Here we report that the 'Daka' calvaria's metric and morphological attributes centre it firmly within H. erectus. Daka's resemblance to Asian counterparts indicates that the early African and Eurasian fossil hominids represent demes of a widespread palaeospecies. Daka's anatomical intermediacy between earlier and later African fossils provides evidence of evolutionary change. Its temporal and geographic position indicates that African H. erectus was the ancestor of Homo sapiens.     

Business Action Research in Practice—A Strategic Conversation About Conducting Action Research in Business Organizations

The objectiveof this paper is to provide practitioner researchers with insights into the initial findings around the challenges of conducting business action research in practice in commercial settings on the basis of experiences of a PhD cohort at Monash University in the first 18 months of candidature. In performing the role of a concluding paper, it sets out a generic framework for action research that the cohort has come to embrace. In doing so, it draws on emergent themes spread across the six diverse topics that are the subject of action research interventions of the cohort members. The paper then identifies and analyses the common patterns that have emerged and offers observations and conclusions for those involved in practitioner research.     

Oncogenic properties of PPM1D located within a breast cancer amplification epicenter at 17q23

We found that PPM1D, encoding a serine/threonine protein phosphatase, lies within an epicenter of the region at 17q23 that is amplified in breast cancer. We show that overexpression of this gene confers two oncogenic phenotypes on cells in culture: attenuation of apoptosis induced by serum starvation and transformation of primary cells in cooperation with RAS.