Crazy Like a Fox (released in 2008, watch the trailer ») is one of few movies directed by a Nigerian that has won global recognition. This film was one of the official selections for the American Black Film festival in 2008 and has been nominated for several awards as well.
I got a chance to sit down in Harlem with the director of this movie - Tony Abulu (Back to Africa, American Dream, Crazy like a Fox) and we got a chance to talk about his story behind the arts of film making. Tony Abulu is truly multi-dimensional — uses the arts to express several dimensions of creativity: beyond being the voice for the African film maker and artistic persons in New York, Tony has also been the voice for Nigerian film makers and producers, owned his own Pan-African magazine for ten years, and the list is endless. Enjoy the interview!
Tony, could you tell us a little bit about your background?
I actually started studying fine arts, graphic design and illustration in college and then I worked in a top ad agency in Nigeria between 1982 - 1984. I eventually left that company because I felt my creativity was eroding but before I left I started a magazine called Black Ivory which was basically ancient Africa in an illustrated form. Some will say that was when my foray into film making actually began. Black Ivory eventually became a major Pan African magazine in Nigeria and the United States and I was in that business for fifteen years (15).
What would you say actually took you into the world of movies and films?
The idea to make a film came in 1976 when I was in college. I started toying with this idea with a few friends of mine. At that time I was a martial arts instructor, so the script I wrote had major elements that incorporated martial arts. You have to remember that in 1976, there was nothing like that - there were only three or four people who made movies at that time in Nigeria and it was really grand scale and these movies were shot in 35mm. So we (my friends and I) tried to make this movie but it never came about. I will say that was my first foray into the world of films.
Beyond your background in martial arts - what other factors influenced your interest in movies?
At that time, a lot of people in my age group were being influenced by movies like the Ten commandments, Sound of Music, etc. These movies had the ability to transform you and take you into a totally different world. But, you know we weren't only being influenced by movies from the West but we were being influenced by movies from India, China etc. I remember my brother fell in love with Indian cultures via Indian movies that he chose to move to India at nineteen (19).
You know this is very interesting because you see how African young children get into a form of art that is completely outside their 'norm'. Nigerians at that time, were looking very heavily into world cultures and we had the opportunity to imbue these cultures at an early age and as such many Nigerians at that time, were calling themselves by Indian nicknames - Jagu, Jatamaurta. The next influence was from Chinese movies like Bruce Lee. We were influenced by different Nigerian cultures as well. I know my Nigerian influence was via my grandmother who used to tell us stories - she was a top rate story teller. She used to sit us down at night and tell us stories about Ancient Nigerian history.
So, what event led to your first movie - Back to Africa?
About fourteen (14) years ago, at around the time that Eddie Murphy's movie, "Coming to America" came out, I wrote another script and I was determined to see this script through. My script was called American Dream.
I spent some months going after people like Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis to be in my movie. They all read the script and wanted to be in the movie but my budget was 1.4 million dollars and I spent four years trying to raise the money but couldn't do it.
Luckily, one of my very good friends, Obafemi Lasude came to my rescue. Femi Lasude was a Nigerian who used to work in a TV station in Brooklyn, we were both very passionate about entertainment in Africa. He eventually went back to Nigeria to pursue his passion further and he advised that I come back as well. At that time, I had written another script, which took me two days to write, called Back to Africa and I decided to follow Femi's advise and produce my movie in Nigeria.
Femi introduced me to a friend Larry Talbot with the hopes that Larry will invest in my movie. I met Larry and told him about my movie and that same day Larry invested 25 000 dollars in my movie. The only favor Larry wanted was that I take his son to Nigeria with me. So, I did my casting call and picked a couple of my cast from the U.S and then took them to Nigeria. We spent 6 weeks in Nigeria shooting that movie. We went to places like Ekiti, Oshogbo, etc to shoot this movie. By the time we got back and started editing the movie - people who saw it were amazed at the quality. That was the first Nigerian movie anyone ever saw in the U.S.
After that movie - I spent the next ten years developing distribution for the Nigerian film industry in the U.S and ironically to this very day - I get orders from all over the world for that movie. That movie cost about 80,000 dollars to produce.
You mentioned earlier that there was no form of distribution of Nigerian movies in the states when you produced the movie, Back to Africa - so how did you distribute your movies?
I made VHS copies of my movie and I went to every single store and restaurant in different communities from the Caribbean community, African community and the African American Community.
I went to Nigerian parties and other parties that I was invited to and set up a table and often times faced the initial jeers at the cost of the movies but people eventually started warming up to the idea and started wanting more of it.
During that time, I ran into two other Nigerians - the first one was Rabiu Mohammed - he had a small store in the Bronx ,where he used to sell movies. Today, he is one of the number one African movie distributors in the U.S and another guy called Bethel Agumoh. Bethel Agumoh was the first Nigerian to sell VCD on the Internet in the U.S.A.
The Film Makers Association of Nigeria (FAN) was made up of these two men, myself and Caroline Okoli who came through Bethel. Her forte was back end management - she had worked for McDonald corporation for some years. At that time, we had noticed that a few Senegalese and Malian traders were beginning to sell bootleg copies of Nigerian movies and we understood that if FAN does not legitimize the distribution of Nigerian movie where we ensure that people sell authentic copies of the real thing so that producers in Nigeria get some renumeration for the movies sold in the states - the industry could die.
At that time, Nigerian producers were selling 100,000 - 200,000 copies of their films. We took this issue to the Nigerian producers in Nigeria but they did not want to listen to what FAN had to say, they felt that we needed to prove that we were serious and had their interest at heart by putting down some money which we were not ready to do. Now, with the Chinese getting involved in the Nigerian movie distribution business - many now wish that they had listened to our suggestions. What is going on now is that a lot of Nigerian movies (as much as 50) are being compressed illegally into one CD and being sold and none of the monies are going to the producers, directors or anyone involved in the creation of the movie. Working with FAN as the president, I was able to convince 70% of distributors of bootleg movies in the states to become legitimate distributors of Nigerian films.
Beyond distribution of Nigerian movies, were there other issues that you were hoping that FAN will address?
Ultimately, the plan was to get involved in movie projects that tell the cross over stories. We wanted to work on Nigerian projects that can appeal to the American public as well. I think one of the things that Nigerian movie producers do not realize is that very few consumers of Nollywood movies are African American. We have a lot of 'buyers' from the Caribbean community, the African community and a couple of others. The reason that the African American community isn't buying into our movies is because they can't relate to it.
For example, the movie Back to Africa, tells the story of an African American girl that goes to Africa to find her roots and in the process, I integrate every day aspects of Nigerian life. It is a story that appeals to a lot of African Americans because at one time or the other, they had questions about their roots and where they are from originally. that movie is heavily bought into by the African American community but I can't say the same about a lot of other Nollywood movies.
But, I will have to say this about Nollywood's effect on Americans - it has shown a different face of Africa. For those that do watch it, they see that Africans in Africa live like they do and do not swing on trees. That Africans in Africa have cars, houses, go to parties and often times dress like they do.
You've definitely been in this business for a long time. What are the weaknesses that you see in the Nigerian film industry?
My main problem is the lack of authenticity in most of the stories told. I will call it the 'fakeness'. There are some movies that are a direct copy of American movies but even when they copy these movies, they refuse to put their 'Africaness' or should I say 'Nigerianess' into it. They use music that isn't theirs, they dress in ways that aren't really authentic. I think a lot of our movies are projecting images that aren't really African but rather African American and because those images aren't really ours, it makes it a difficult sell. If you do not really comprehend what it means to be African American then how can you project the image realistically and most importantly how can you support that image?
I have often said that if people believe that a certain culture is theirs then they should be able to support it. The way that the world works is that you have your own products that you create and you brainwash other people to buy into it. We need to learn our culture and find out what our own brand of products are and then sell it.
movies from Amazon.com, nollywoodtitles.com and other sites out there.


text:
Saudi telecom operators slapped with $10.67m in fines
Companies vie for fingerprinting system contract
Companies vie for fingerprinting system contract /saudi-arabia/news/704616
Updated 15 February 2015
RIYADH: ARAB NEWS
The Ministry of Education will float tenders for the project of the fingerprint attendance and leave system as soon as it completes the specification handbook.
The ministry gave the chance to all the specialized companies to offer their bids and provide 45 education departments with the electronic-fingerprint devices.
The Ministry of Education will implement the electronic fingerprint system for attendance and leave in three stages. The first stage will involve the new headquarters of the ministry and all education departments outside the headquarters for boys and girls within one year.
The second stage will involve the offices of education and will be implemented within less than three months of ending the first stage. The third and final stage will involve boys and girls schools for all levels of study and to be implemented within less than 6 months of completing the second stage.
Muhammad Saad Al-Shathri, undersecretary at the ministry and general supervisor for financial and administrative affairs, said a special committee was formed and tasked with developing the necessary studies for the project following a circular from the minister of education in this regard.
Al-Shathri said the studies to implement the system will seriously address the obstacles seeking to apply it within the time frame defined. The main obstacle is the electronic linking of some remote villages.
The undersecretary said the ministry will complete the application of the first stage of the system within less than one year. The second and third stages will soon follow according to time schedule.
Earlier, Al-Shathri said the cost of implementing the system will be announced only after tenders for the project are floated.
The move comes after a number of school principals announced that they have installed surveillance cameras at school building to monitor the education process and impose administrative discipline on students and teachers. The cameras were installed at locations where students mostly gather, such as courtyards, playing courts, corridors and cafeterias.
The Ministry of Education lately scooped the award for the best government service via mobile appliances in the education sector in the Arab world.
The final results were announced during the 3rd Government Summit 2015 held under the auspices of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai.
Saudi Arabia was in the lead of Arab countries with 30 participants in the second edition of the award launched by the UAE government involving local, Arab and international participation in eight different sectors.
Saudi Arabia to reopen its embassy in Doha, says Saudi FM

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In the Week 6 class, we talked about the assessment items and I had a look at some personas and provided some feedback.
We also talked about the identity map and the written component of the persona assignment.
Here is a summary of the feedback I provided on personas.
• Make your personas visual. Remember, personas are pretty heavily visual anyway, but your personas are being presented as posters, so it's even more important they are highly visual.
• Use images or other graphic elements to convey as much of the story as possible.
• Use elements like scales, big numbers and graphs to communicate concepts like comfort and skill level, percentage of time spent on platforms and so forth.
• Use icons to indicate the social media platforms you use, rather than words.
• Don't forget, The Cube technicians recommend you don't use a white background.
Remember, your task is to make a persona for a 'type' of social technology user based on you and your use of social technologies.
It's over to you, Evens!
Complete the following activities by 11.59pm Friday 17 April (end of Week 7). You must log completion of the activity using the activity logging form in order for the activity to be recorded as complete.
This week, your practical challenge is to find two or three Creative Commons licensed images from a natural disaster from somewhere on the web and include them in your critical reflection post. You must make sure you correctly attribute the images!
Respond to one of the following critical reflection prompts.
1. Present and reflect on a case study of a natural disaster or other emergency and the response in social media. You could look at the Brisbane floods in 2011 or 2013, Cyclone Yasi, or Cyclone Pam, which recently hit Vanuatu (as an aside, you should see how developed theWikipedia entry is for Cyclone Pam already). You could also look at an emergency like a siege.
2. If you were in a natural disaster, would you use social media? What for? To contact loved ones? To keep up-to-date with information about the event? What channels would you use? Link your reflections to theory.
1. Write a critical, analytical response to one of the readings.
2. What could be the implications of what you've learned from this week's materials on your future work/research/career?
3. What did you learn about information in social media that you did not know before? Why is this worth noting?
4. Did this week's topic prompt you to go off on any interesting tangents? Tell us about them.
You can also choose any other critical reflection topic related to this week's materials. We suggest you run the topic past us by posting it in the Google+ Community so we can make sure you're on the right track for your first post.


This book includes nearly three hundred pottery vessels covering a wide range of contemporary artists and a few important historic pieces. This includes portraits and voices of renowned Native artists - speaking about their artistry and technique, families, culture, and traditions. Dynamic color photography captures the depth and dimension of the pieces, while the artists provide an illuminating perspective through narrative captions.


Say "please" or "thank you" when using the Assistant and you'll often be rewarded with delightful responses.
The "Pretty Please" feature headlines Google's list.
Assistant's "Broadcast" feature is neat-just say "Hey Google, Broadcast some words " and it will send a recording of your voice saying those words to all the Google Homes in your house. Finally, Google is rolling out the Pretty Please feature tomorrow, which means that your family is going to need to be polite to Google Assistant. It essentially turns a smart display, like the Google Home Hub, into a karaoke machine.
And in case Google AI ends up taking over the world like something out of a sci-fi movie, you'll have banked some good faith that may save you from Martian slave pits and re-education camps. Google Assistant will now respond more politely and delightfully if you add "Thank You" and "Please" while talking to it. "Alright, five minutes. Starting now". Since the digital assistant will appreciate polite behavioral and answer in a pleasant manner, it will encourage young kids to remember the magic words. But this time of year can also be stressful, from balancing an overbooked schedule to working your way through a seemingly endless to-do list. If they don't have any books, kids can also simply ask the Google Assistant to tell them a story. Soon, these will sync to services such as Google Keep, Any.do, Bring!, and Todoist. To make communication with visitors even easier, we've just introduced the two way talkback feature, allowing you to speak with your guest before you let them in.
This Christmas season, Google will be gifting a couple of new functionalities to its Assistant. This is available starting today with select songs.
Have a Smart Display? Also being showcased is a range of tech from other brands that is created to work with a Google Home setup, including the Nest Hello doorbell, Philips Hue smart lightbulbs, and the LightWave smart sockets.
Lyrics: Song lyrics will appear on the screen when using Google Play Music. You can also reply back from a smart speaker or Smart Display to your smartphone or other Google Home devices.
Photo Sharing: Photos can now be shared from a smart display to people in your contact list. Similarly, you can also hide a photo from your ambient screen or set a photo as favourite.
Google touts that by using the Nest Hello, you can see who's at the door on your smart display like the Google Home Hub or Lenovo Smart Display. The Broadcast feature will also be getting a significant update.
GoogleAssistant wants to help you with your manners. Get in the holiday spirit and curl up with a classic like Disney's "Mickey's Christmas Carol" Little Golden Book. If you just want a regular story, Google has expanded the list of titles to over 50, including Beauty and the Beast, Dora's Super Sleepover and PAW Patrol's Holiday Helpers.
The Pechersk Monastery, the spiritual centre of Ukraine, is under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. Ukraine now has three Orthodox communities - one that stays under Moscow's control and two schismatic churches.


text:
<title>Output Section Phdr - Untitled</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html">
<meta name="description" content="Untitled">
<meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13">
<link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top">
<link rel="up" href="Output-Section-Attributes.html#Output-Section-Attributes" title="Output Section Attributes">
<link rel="prev" href="Output-Section-Region.html#Output-Section-Region" title="Output Section Region">
<link rel="next" href="Output-Section-Fill.html#Output-Section-Fill" title="Output Section Fill">
<link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage">

<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">

Next: Output Section Fill,
Previous: Output Section Region,
Up: Output Section Attributes

3.6.8.7 Output Section Phdr

You can assign a section to a previously defined program segment by
using ‘<samp>:<var>phdr</var></samp>’.  See PHDRS.  If a section is assigned to
one or more segments, then all subsequent allocated sections will be
assigned to those segments as well, unless they use an explicitly
:<var>phdr</var> modifier.  You can use :NONE to tell the
linker to not put the section in any segment at all.

Here is a simple example:

     PHDRS { text PT_LOAD ; }
     SECTIONS { .text : { *(.text) } :text }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Healthy Doses set to start Oct 1: registration now open on STEM City USA
Published September 28, 2021 By : USBE Online
More than 8 million Americans aged 40 and older have peripheral artery disease (PAD), according to the National Heart. Lung and Blood Institute. Biomedical researchers define PAD as a reduction of the flow of blood in vessels that carry blood away from the heart to other parts of the body, which can lead to long-term poor blood flow.
Dr. Michael R. Jaff, an expert on vascular diseases such as stroke, PAD, and deep vein thrombosis, is vice president of clinical affairs, innovation, technology, peripheral interventions at Boston Scientific.
He will speak on blocked arteries and the pandemic during Healthy Doses, a health and wellness event that will be held on Friday, October 1 in the Boston Scientific Auditorium of the La Familia Wellness Center in STEM City USA.
Save the date: Fri, October 1 at 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT. Click here to register now.
Dr. Jaff has published extensively in vascular medicine with over 300 peer-reviewed publications and ten textbooks. A professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (currently on a leave of absence), he served as president of Newton-Wellesley Hospital from 2016 to 2019. Before that, he was the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Endowed Chair of Vascular Medicine and medical director of the Fireman Vascular Center at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Jaff is the founder of VasCore, the Vascular Ultrasound Core Laboratory, the largest in the United States. VasCore has participated in trial design and analysis of vascular laboratory images for over 200 prospective multicenter peripheral vascular device and pharmaceutical trials across 66 countries.
He is a past president of the Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology and was the first physician to have received the designation as Master of the Society for Vascular Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention. In addition, he is a registered physician in vascular interpretation.


text:
Oral Drug Cocktail Is Treatment for Hep C
Hepatitis C growth slowed with oral medication
(RxWiki News) Hepatitis C is a serious condition that damages the liver and can be difficult to treat. Here's the latest on its treatment: A new university study says that a drug combo may be able to slow the disease's growth.
Researchers from the University of Michigan and Bristol-Myers Squibb, a pharmaceutical company, studied patients with hepatitis C and found that a combination of two investigational antiviral drugs reduced the viral load, or the severity of the infection.
"Hepatitis C patients should talk to their doctor about drug options."
Lead study author Dr. Anna S. Lok, professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Michigan Medical School, and her colleagues tracked 21 patients, all of whom had previous failed treatment for hepatitis C with the drugs PEG-interferon alfa and ribavirin.
The team gave 10 patients a combination of two investigational direct-acting antiviral agents, called daclatasvir and asunaprevir, and two other drugs, PEG-interferon alfa and ribavirin, which are commonly given for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Then, they gave 11 other patients just PEG-interferon alfa and ribavirin.
The researchers report that the virus was undetectable in patients given the four-drug treatment after 24 weeks of treatment, and also at 12 weeks after stopping treatment.
The two-drug cocktail was not as successful: Only four of the 11 patients achieved "sustained virologic response," or no detectable hepatitis C virus in the blood, says the researchers.
This study is the first to show that hepatitis C can be improved without the use of interferon or ribavirin, two drugs that have side effects may be ineffective in some hepatitis C patients, says Lok in a press release. "It's exciting that the four-drug regimen was so successful."
Patients in both groups reported mild or moderate diarrhea as a common side effect of the drugs.
About 3.2 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's the most common chronic bloodborne infection in the U.S., and often transmitted through injection drug use or blood transfusions given before blood screening became common practice.
Most people who are infected with the hepatitis C virus have no symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic. People are usually diagnosed with the illness years later when their liver shows signs of damage.
It's the most serious type of hepatitis infection, and can lead to severe health problems, including scarring of the liver (cirrhosis), liver cancer and liver failure.
This clinical study was funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Sexually Transmitted Disease Infectious Disease Hepatitis
Joseph V. Madia, MD
"Combination of oral drugs suppresses common type of hepatitis C, according to University of Michigan-led research"
Hepatitis Explained
You Have the Flu — Now What?
Tips to Prevent the Common Cold
No Shortage of Hepatitis C Treatments
Know Your Risk: Hepatitis C and HIV
Fight Against AIDS Shows Improvements
What You Need to Know About Hepatitis C
How to Prevent the Spread of HIV
Viral hepatitis is inflammation of the body's liver through infection by virus. The hepatitis B, C and D viruses can cause chronic hepatitis, which can lead to such complications as cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. Hepatitis A an...
More about Hepatitis
HepatitisHepatitisGonorrheaSexually Transmitted DiseaseSyphilisSexually Transmitted DiseaseSexually Transmitted DiseaseHerpes Sexually Transmitted DiseaseSexually Transmitted Disease
Peginterferon alfa-2aTelaprevirBoceprevirPeginterferon Alfa-2bEntecavirTelbivudineRibavirinHepseraCopegusAdefovir


New Delhi: IndianOil's Refineries Headquarters had undertaken a major drive last year to train youths from Delhi-NCT region in various training courses to support the national campaign of Skill India. As part of sustainable project, 394 candidates who cleared the courses successfully were provided with job placements in trades like Sewing Machine Operator, General House Keeping, Emergency Medical Technician, Vision Technician, Customer Care Executive, and General Duty Assistance. V K Shukla, Executive Director(HR), IndianOil, while addressing the first batch of successful trainees, during the convocation ceremony, exhorted them to regularly update their skills and knowledge, to stand good in any circumstance and support their families. Anita Shrivastava, GM(CC&CSR), specifically exhorted the female participants to keep high the momentum, and maintain their financial independence. Partnering with NSDC to carry out these skill training programmes, the beneficiaries were drawn mainly from Below Poverty Line families, placing a special emphasis on skilling girl students. Similar progressive skilling schemes for youth were rolled out in all 9 refineries of IndianOil located in the states of east and north east, north and west of India, benefitting about 2500 youths.


Are You Worried Your Child Isn't Getting The Education They Deserve?
Living the Potential 21st Century Mentoring engages people who are looking for opportunities to be positive change agents. The program invites intergenerational conversations that are purpose driven related to unfolding inherent wisdom. These seeds of possibility when cultivated and encouraged to grow their natural unique potential creates fulfillment for both mentors, mentees and the overall community. These programs fill a gap that is essential for our society to fill and then evolve our capacity to be loving global citizens.
"I am the father of six children who are all creative and active. They each process information by very different means. Some have excelled best with home schooling while others clearly needed the structure of public schooling. Some have needed additional tutoring. Some have struggled with being bored by the classroom approach.


A weekly meeting place for mothers of newborn to toddler aged children. This group focuses on the motherhood experience and includes guest speakers for part of the session and informal chat for the rest. Topics include self-care, nutrition, changing relationships and anything else that comes up. Tea and snacks are provided.
Cost: A free, drop-in program. Delicious fresh baking donated each week by Tarbell's Deli.
June 18- Wrap up party!


text:
NCLT to hear Zee Invesco case today: Experts believe Bombay HC unlikely to consider suit
business | Oct 4, 2021 11:53 AM IST
NCLT to hear Zee-Invesco case today: Experts believe Bombay HC unlikely to consider suit
By Surabhi Upadhyay | Prashant Nair | Oct 4, 2021 11:53 AM IST (Published)
Days after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) asked Zee's board to consider Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund LLC's request for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) filed a suit before the Bombay High Court requesting it to declare shareholders Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund LLC's requisition to hold an extraordinary meeting (EGM) illegal and invalid, the company said on Saturday. HP Ranina, economist, corporate lawyer, Hetal Dalal, president and COO, IiAS, and JN Gupta, former ED, Securities and Exchange Board of India and managing director at Stakeholders Empowerment Services, discussed this further.
Days after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) asked Zee's board to consider Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund LLC's request for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) filed a suit before the Bombay High Court requesting it to declare shareholders Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund LLC's requisition to hold an extraordinary meeting (EGM) illegal and invalid, the company said on Saturday.
BOTTOMLINE: Zee's real unanswered questions
The announcement, via a letter sent to the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange, came a day after the media firm refused to hold an EGM sought by the two shareholders to pass a resolution to remove Zee's managing director and CEO Punit Goenka and appoint new independent directors earlier in September. The NCLT is set to hear the Zee- Invesco matter later today. HP Ranina, economist, corporate lawyer, Hetal Dalal, president and COO, IiAS, and JN Gupta, former ED, Securities and Exchange Board of India and managing director at Stakeholders Empowerment Services, discussed this further.
According to Ranina, since the matter is pending before the NCLT on a similar point, Bombay HC would not like to consider the suit at this stage.
"I don't know why they have done this. All these multiple cases are complicating the issues and also trying to undermine the authority of the NCLT," Ranina said.
Also Read: Zee EGM: Here's why Invesco moved NCLT
Hetal Dalal also believes that a lot of this (cases) is basically going to complicate things in terms of legal matters.
"They are going to use the jurisdiction to delay the entire process. I don't think it is in anybody's hands. The court now has to decide how this is going to play out and given this period of the judicial system, this is likely to be protracted," she mentioned.
According to Dalal, the board is trying to block Invesco in terms of the actions that Invesco wants to undertake. "We logically believe that the board should engage with shareholders and try to address the issues or find a particular middle ground. Invesco also on the other side is looking at stricter and stricter and regulatory actions but in terms of being able to get its message through, it does need to engage with the remaining set of shareholders. Therefore, more open articulation of what the issues are, how it stands on the entire transaction and how it proposes to progress assuming Punit Goenka is not in the equation anymore is going to be the driver of how much comfort investors finally have in terms of how they are going forward, that is the way to look at this. All of this legal protracted battle is essentially just a strategy in terms of blocking the investors' move to remove Punit Goenka," she explained.
Also Read: Strategic Zee-Sony deal still underway; Invesco move likely backed by majority shareholders: Experts
"Invesco saying, I do not want to conduct the EGM because I am a US-based investor doesn't hold water because US-based investors can always hire agency here for doing things and the company is bound to provide details to shareholders," Gupta said.
For the entire discussion, watch the accompanying video.
(Edited by : Dipika Ghosh)
Hetal Dalal
HP Ranina
IiAS
Invesco Developing Markets Fund
JN Gupta
NCLT
Zee Entertainment


BBC Sport – Jacques Kallis ended his Test career with a victory as South Africa beat India by 10 wickets in Durban.
The 38-year-old all rounder, who struck his 45th Test century on Sunday, is the third highest Test run scorer, with 13,289 runs from his 166 matches. Kallis was not required to bat again as South Africa reached their target of 58 soon after tea to win the series 1-0.
Earlier Ajinkya Rahane was the last wicket to fall in India's 223, four short of a maiden Test century.
The South Africa players all wore T-shirts featuring an image of Kallis and the words 'the only player to score 10,000 runs and take 250 wickets' emblazoned on the back.
They joined the all-rounder for a lap of honour around the Kingsmead outfield, the ground where he made his Test debut against England as a 20-year-old in 1995.
"It's a very tough day but my team-mates have made it a special game and I couldn't ask for a better exit," said Kallis, who will continue to play one-day internationals.
India began the final day 98 runs behind with eight wickets still intact but had the worst possible start when Virat Kohli was given out caught behind from the first ball of the day.
Replays showed the short ball from Dale Steyn clipped Kohli's shoulder – but with the Indian authorities objecting to the use of the Decision Review System during the series, no review was possible.
There was little doubt about the dismissal of Cheteshwar Pujara in Steyn's next over, however, a rapid delivery moving off the seam and crashing into the off-stump.
That brought Rahane to the crease in only his third Test, and although wickets continued to fall around him, he reached his second 50 of the match with a single in the final over before lunch.
With nine wickets down, Rahane drove Vernon Philander down the ground to reach 90 and then added a six over point two balls later, before his leg-stump was disturbed with the final ball of the over.
Kallis led the players off the field but there was no change in the batting order as regular openers Smith and Alviro Petersen took less than 12 overs to secure a victory that increases South Africa's lead over India at the top of the Test rankings.
Scores: South Africa 500 (Kallis 115, de Villiers 74, Jadeja 6-138) and 59 for 0 beat India 334 (Vijay 97, Pujara 70, Steyn 6-100) and 223 (Rahane 96, Peterson 4-74) by ten wickets.


The acerbic & talented Mike Doughty brings himself to Boulder tonight for a taping of E-Town, and I am looking forward to seeing his show. I've been a fan since seeing Soul Coughing live in the mid-'90s, and if I ever see him up close again, I still thoroughly intend to move a-side and let the man go through (let the man go through).
I consistently find Mike's hard-driving use of guitar-as-percussion to be addictively listenable – "I Just Want The Girl In The Blue Dress To Keep On Dancing" from last year's Golden Delicious (in addition to having one of the greatest song titles of late) was a favorite tune of the summer and the whole year, and every time I stand in Starbucks, I think of this.
Tagged with mike doughty, soul coughing.
hmmm. not sure how i feel about sir doughty after last night. but thanks for the link — it is indeed great and i have amended the post to reflect the forgotten link!
Not a good show Heather?
not a super polite artist, mlax…. but a very good show.
Yeah I've had the chance to see him a few times at very small shows full of super fans and also at some larger shows where people yell at the stage. The shows have had a pretty different vibe. Mr. Doughty doesn't really like when people talk over him and will let you know. This is one of my pet peeves at shows so I don't mind his angst.
Hey Heather, I have also been a huge Doughty fan since the Soul Coughing days- I think Mike puts on a GREAT show (seen him twice)but I have heard that he will shut down the talkers. Anyways, thanks for the great bonus tracks- enjoyed the site for awhile now.


text:
\section{Experimental setup}
\label{sec:exp_setup}

\begin{figure}[t!]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=80mm]{f2.PNG}
\caption{(a): The excitation setup. The tweezers has a $1/e^2$ radius of $1.1~\mu{\rm m}$, and the blue and red beams have elliptical cross-sections, with waists $(w_x,w_y)= 24 \times 50 \;\mu{\rm m}^2$ and $(w_x,w_z)= 50\times200\;\mu{\rm m}^2$, respectively. (b): Relevant levels involved in the Rydberg excitation (see text).}
\label{fig:notations}
\end{figure}

The geometry of our experimental setup \cite{Labuhn2016} is shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:notations}(a). A Rydberg excitation sequence is as follows. We first check for the presence of a single $^{87}$Rb atom in the 1~mK-deep tweezers by shinning the molasses beams during $50$~ms and collecting the fluorescence photons on an EMCCD camera. The atom is then cooled from a temperature of $60 \, \mu$K after imaging to about $T = 30 \, \mu$K by first increasing the detuning of the molasses beam and then by adiabatic lowering of the trap depth~\cite{Tuchendler2008}. An external magnetic field along $z$ of typically 7~G is then switched on to define the quantization axis, and, after $50$~ms, we optically pump the atom into the ground state $\ket{g}=\ket{5S_{1/2},F=2,m_F=2}$.

We then switch off the tweezers, and illuminate the atom with our Rydberg excitation lasers for a time $\tau$. As shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:notations}(b), we use a two-photon scheme (wavelengths 795~nm and 475~nm, Rabi frequencies $\Omega_{\rm r}$ and $\Omega_{\rm b}$, polarizations $\pi$ and $\sigma^+$) with a single-photon detuning $\Delta=2\pi\times 740 $~MHz from the intermediate state $\ket{p}=\ket{5P_{1/2},F'=2,m_{F'}=2}$. This results in a coherent coupling with an effective Rabi frequency $\Omega=\Omega_{\rm r}\Omega_{\rm b}/(2\Delta)$ between $\ket{g}$ and a single Rydberg Zeeman state $\ket{r}=\ket{nD_{3/2},m_J=3/2}$. With this choice of lasers polarizations, we avoid the off-resonant coupling to other Zeeman states, which would lead to dephasing. To vary $\Omega$, we tune $\Omega_{\rm r}$ (by varying the 795~nm laser power) and keep $\Omega_{\rm b}$ maximized. The latter depends on the principal quantum number and, using Autler-Townes spectroscopy~\cite{Hennrich2017}, we measured $\Omega_{\rm b}/(2\pi) = 34.8(5) \times (n^\star/60)^{-3/2}$~MHz, with the effective principal quantum number $n^\star = n - \delta_{0}$, where $\delta_0 \simeq 1.35$ is the quantum defect of $^{87}$Rb $D_{3/2}$ states.

Finally, after this excitation time $\tau$, which takes up to a few microseconds, we switch on the tweezers again. An atom in $\ket{g}$ is recaptured with high efficiency (see below), while an atom in $\ket{r}$ is repelled by the tweezers and thus lost. We then take a second fluorescence image to check for the presence of the atom. Repeating this sequence (typically 100 to 200 times) allows us to reconstruct the \emph{recapture probability}, that we denote $P_g$ as, to a first approximation, it gives the population of $\ket{g}$. The inferred Rydberg excitation probability is denoted as $P_r=1-P_g$.

\section{State preparation and detection errors}
\label{sec:deterror}

\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=55mm]{f3.PNG}
\caption{Effect of small but finite values of $(\varepsilon,\varepsilon',\eta)$ on the measured probability $P_r$ (solid line) assuming a perfect Rabi oscillation $\tilde{P}_r$ (dashed line).}
\label{fig:eps}
\end{figure}

Even if the excitation process of an atom in $\ket{g}$ to the Rydberg state $\ket{r}$ were perfect, the measured recapture probability would not show perfectly contrasted oscillations due to state preparation and measurement errors (`SPAM' errors). We identify three different components: (a) the finite efficiency of the optical pumping leading to a preparation error with probability $\eta$, (b) the ``false positive'' errors in the Rydberg detection, as we have a probability $\varepsilon = P(r \vert g)$ to incorrectly infer that a ground-state atom was in $\ket{r}$ because it was lost, e.g. due to background-gas collisions, and (c) the ``false negative'' errors, with a probability $\varepsilon^\prime = P(g \vert r)$ to recapture a Rydberg atom which has quickly decayed back to the ground-state.

We denote by $\tilde{P}_g$ and $\tilde{P}_r$ the actual population of the states $\ket{g}$ and $\ket{r}$ due to the evolution of the system under the excitation laser, possibly in the presence of the damping and dephasing mechanisms to be discussed in Sec.~\ref{sec:damping}. Due to the nonzero values of $(\eta, \varepsilon, \varepsilon')$, the measured probabilities of recapture $P_g$ and of loss $P_r$ are slightly altered and become:
\begin{eqnarray}
P_g&=&\eta(1-\varepsilon)+(1-\eta)(1-\varepsilon)\left[\tilde{P}_g+\varepsilon'\tilde{P}_r\right],\\
P_r&=&\eta\varepsilon+(1-\eta)\left[\varepsilon \tilde{P}_g+(1-\varepsilon'+\varepsilon\varepsilon')\tilde{P}_r\right].
\label{eq2}
\end{eqnarray}
It implies that, even if the ``real'' population $\tilde{P}_r$ undergoes a perfect Rabi oscillation $\tilde{P}_r(t)=\sin^2(\Omega \tau/2)$, the measured one $P_r(t)$ has a finite contrast. Figure \ref{fig:eps} illustrates the effect to lowest order in $(\varepsilon,\varepsilon',\eta)$. In principle, one can invert the above equations~\cite{Duan2012}, e.g. using a maximum likelihood procedure, to correct the measured populations for these errors and recover the ``real'' populations, even for many qubits~\cite{Bernien2017}. In our publications we however include these SPAM errors on the theoretically calculated populations when comparing with data~\cite{Barredo2015,Labuhn2016}. In the following, we investigate in detail the causes of those `SPAM' errors.

\paragraph{Efficiency of optical pumping.} The optical pumping into $\ket{g}$ is not entirely perfect, and we denote by $\eta$ the probability that after optical pumping, the atom is not in $\ket{g}$ but in another Zeeman or hyperfine state of $5S_{1/2}$. Measurements using microwave transitions between the two hyperfine levels of $5S_{1/2}$ allow us to estimate an upper-bound on the preparation error $\eta < 0.005$.

\paragraph{Detection errors: false positives.} The detection of the final state of the atom relies on its recapture, which ideally always occurs if the atom is in $\ket{g}$, and never occurs if it is in $\ket{r}$. However, there is a finite probability $\varepsilon$ to lose a ground-state atom during the sequence. A first source of errors are collisions of the single atom with the background gas, which gives a vacuum-limited lifetime of 20~s for an atom in the 1~mK deep tweezers without any cooling light. Integrated over the $\simeq 50$~ms required to perform the experiment (limited by eddy currents when switching off the external B-field), it amounts to an error rate of $0.3 \, \%$. During the fluorescence imaging, when the molasses beam are let on, the single atom lifetime is reduced to 8~s while the atom temperature does not increase. This could be due to the trapped atom dynamics under illumination with cooling light~\cite{Martinez-Dorantes2017b} or to residual loading from background Rb vapor. The atom can thus leave the trap during the $50$~ms fluorescence images and we estimate that this second cause of detection errors amount to $0.6 \, \%$. A third reason for losing the atom comes from its displacement, due to its finite temperature $T$, when the optical tweezers is switched off during the experimental time $\tau$, as explained in Appendix~\ref{app:epsp}. We calculate that the probability for this event remains below $1 \, \%$ for $T=30 \, \mu$K and $\tau < 6 \, \mu$s, such that by adding all three contributions we predict a false positive rate $\varepsilon < 2 \, \%$. When measuring it by repeating the experimental sequence described in Sec.~\ref{sec:exp_setup} with the traps switched off during a time $\tau \simeq 1-6 \, \mu$s but without shining the excitation beam, we indeed obtain a typical loss rate $\varepsilon \simeq 1-2$\%, in good agreement with the above estimate.

\begin{figure}[t]
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=80mm]{f4.png}
	\caption{Detection errors $\varepsilon^\prime$ caused by the finite Rydberg state lifetime. Black solid line: $\Gamma_R t_\text{recap} $. Red solid line: Eq.~(\ref{eq:epsprime}). The red dashed line takes into account the $4 \, \mu$s push-out time to remove atoms in $\ket{g}$, see Appendix~\ref{app:epsp}. }
	\label{fig:epspr}
\end{figure}

\paragraph{Detection errors: false negatives.} Conversely, an atom that has been excited to $\ket{r}$ has a small but nonzero probability to be recaptured as it can decay back to the trapped ground state before having been expelled from the trapping region. An atom in $\ket{r}$ is repelled by the optical tweezers due to the ponderomotive force (see Appendix~\ref{app:epsp}). The effect is well captured by a measured characteristic time $t_\text{recap} = 10 \, \mu$s during which a Rydberg atom stays in the trapping region. The probability of false negative $\varepsilon^{\prime} = P(g \vert r)$ is then directly linked to the rate $\Gamma_R$ at which a Rydberg state decays to the ground-state (via low-lying excited states), which scales with the principal quantum number as $n^{-3}$. For $n > 50$, $t_\text{recap}$ is much shorter than the inverse decay rate $\Gamma_R^{-1} > 100 \, \mu\text{s}$ and we can approximate $\varepsilon^{\prime}$ by $ \Gamma_R t_\text{recap}$ (Fig.~\ref{fig:epspr}, solid black curve). For lower $n$, the approximation is not valid anymore and  $\varepsilon^{\prime}$ is given by Eq.~(\ref{eq:epsprime}) (solid red curve). We measure the detection error by (i) exciting the atom to $\ket{r}$ with probability $\tilde{P}_r$, (ii) pushing out, with unit efficiency, atoms still in $\ket{g}$~\footnote{A laser beam resonant on the ${\vert} F=2 {\rangle} {\rightarrow} {\vert} F' = 3 {\rangle}$ cycling transition at 780~nm is shone during $4 \, \mu$s (in the presence of a repumper beam). Atoms in any hyperfine and Zeeman levels of $5S_{1/2}$ are ejected with a probability better than $99.5\%$, while atoms in ${\vert} r {\rangle}$ are not affected. A similar technique was used for the detection of Rydberg states on a dark background in~\cite{Schauss2012}.}, and (iii) observing the presence or absence of the atom, which effectively measures $\varepsilon^\prime \tilde{P}_r$. Together with the measurement of $P_r$ and Eq.~(\ref{eq2}), we extract the real Rydberg fraction $\tilde{P}_r$ and the false detection error rate $\varepsilon^\prime$. The results obtained for Rydberg states ranging from $n=20$ to $90$ (disks) show the expected $n^{-3}$-scaling and are in quantitative agreement with our model. In our experiments, we use $n > 50$ Rydberg state and the false negative rate is limited to $\varepsilon^\prime < 0.05$. This error becomes more severe with tweezers schemes also trapping Rydberg states as proposed in \cite{Zhang2011}. To improve this detection method, one could consider, e.g, ionizing the Rydberg atoms by applying a strong electric field.

\section{Damping of the Rabi oscillations}
\label{sec:damping}

We now turn to effects that lead to a decreasing amplitude of the Rabi oscillation when the excitation time $\tau$ increases.

\subsection{Doppler effect}

\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=85mm]{f5.PNG}
\caption{Influence of the Doppler effect on the Rabi oscillations, for a temperature $T=30\;\mu$K and Rabi frequencies $\Omega/(2\pi)$ of 250~kHz (a), 500~kHz (b), 1~MHz (c), and 2~MHz (d).}
\label{fig:doppler}
\end{figure}

The first contribution to damping is the Doppler effect. In our setup (Fig.~\ref{fig:notations}(a)), the two excitation lasers with wavevectors ${\boldsymbol k}_{\rm r}$ and ${\boldsymbol k}_{\rm b}$ are orthogonal to each other, resulting in an effective wavevector of magnitude $k_{\rm eff}\simeq 1.5\times10^7\;{\rm m}^{-1}$. A temperature $T=30\;\mu{\rm K}$ corresponds to a one-dimensional r.m.s. velocity spread $\Delta v=\sqrt{k_{\rm B}T/m}\simeq 50\;{\rm mm/s}$. This means that for each realization of the experiment, the detuning of the excitation laser seen by the atom is a random variable with a centered Gaussian probability distribution of standard deviation $k_{\rm eff}\Delta v~\sim 2\pi\times 120$~kHz. Figure~\ref{fig:doppler} shows the calculated influence of the Doppler effect for various Rabi frequencies $\Omega/(2\pi)$. One can see that below 1~MHz, the Doppler effect is a very significant source of dephasing, while from 1~MHz up the effect is hardly noticeable.

If we exclude more technically demanding ways to substantially decrease the Doppler effect, e.g. by using three-photon excitation~\cite{Ryabtsev2011} or reducing the temperature by Raman cooling~\cite{Kaufman2012,Thompson2013}, the above results seem to indicate that one should use high Rabi frequencies. However this is not the case, because a competing effect arises, namely spontaneous emission via the intermediate $5P_{1/2}$ state.

\subsection{Spontaneous emission from intermediate state}
\label{ssec:spontaneous}
Although the intermediate state detuning $\Delta$ is large compared to $\Omega_{\rm r,b}$, there is still a small probability for the atom to be in the intermediate state $\ket{p}$, which has a natural linewidth $\Gamma\simeq 2\pi\times 6$~MHz. From $\ket{p}$, the atom decays back to $\ket{g}$ with a probability $1/3$, and to the other sublevels of $5S_{1/2}$ with a probability $2/3$.

To take into account this spontaneous emission in the simplest way, we use a 4-level model for the atoms~\cite{Miroshnychenko2010}, with the states $\ket{g}$, $\ket{r}$, $\ket{p}$ and an extra state $\ket{g'}$ which accounts for all the ground-state sublevels, other than $\ket{g}$, to which the atom can decay from $\ket{p}$ (see Figure~\ref{fig:notations}b). We solve the optical Bloch equations (OBEs) for the density matrix $\rho$:
\begin{equation}
\frac{{\rm d}\rho}{{\rm d}t}=\frac{1}{i\hbar}[H,\rho]+{\cal L}[\rho]
\end{equation}
where the Hamiltonian reads, in the rotating wave approximation,
\begin{eqnarray}
H&=&\frac{\Omega_{\rm r}}{2}\left(\ket{g}\bra{p}+\ket{p}\bra{g}\right)
+\frac{\Omega_{\rm b}}{2}\left(\ket{p}\bra{r}+\ket{r}\bra{p}\right)\\
&&-\Delta \ket{p}\bra{p}-\delta\ket{r}\bra{r}.
\end{eqnarray}
Here $\delta$ is the (small) detuning from the two-photon resonance condition. The dissipator has the Lindblad form:
\begin{equation}
{\cal L}[\rho]=\sum_{i=g,g'}\frac{\Gamma_i}{2}\left(2\ket{i}\bra{p}\rho\ket{p}\bra{i}-\ket{p}\bra{p}\rho-\rho\ket{p}\bra{p}\right),
\end{equation}
with $\Gamma_g=\Gamma/3$ and $\Gamma_{g'}=2\Gamma/3$. Here, decay of $\ket{r}$ is neglected (see Sec.~\ref{other_effects}). The recapture probability is then $1-\rho_{rr}$.

Figure \ref{fig:spontem}(a,b) shows the results of such simulations for the values of $\Omega_{\rm b}$ and $\Delta$ that we generally use. The two-photon detuning $\delta$ was adjusted to compensate for the light-shifts $\left(\Omega_{\rm r}^2-\Omega_{\rm b}^2\right)/(4\Delta)$. When increasing $\Omega_{\rm r}$ we observe a stronger and stronger damping, which also shows a characteristic asymmetry: the successive maxima of $P_r$ become significantly smaller, while the minima remain quite close to zero. This is simple to understand: spontaneous emission \emph{via} $\ket{p}$ slowly optically pumps the atoms into the dark state $\ket{g'}$, and these atoms will be detected as ground-state atoms, even though, not being any more in $\ket{g}$, they have no possibility of being excited to $\ket{r}$.

In Fig.~\ref{fig:spontem}(c,d) we compare the prediction of the simulation to experimental data where we reduced $\Delta$ to enhance on purpose the effects of spontaneous emission. We get a good agreement (without adjustable parameters), giving confidence in the simple model we use. We note that the problem of spontaneous emission from an intermediate state is avoided when using a direct single-photon excitation scheme~\cite{Biedermann2014} or minimized when choosing a higher intermediate state with smaller natural linewidth (for instance, when using an ``inverted'' two photon scheme as in ~\cite{Bernien2017}, the linewidth of the intermediate $6P_{1/2}$ state is only 1.3~MHz).

\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=83mm]{f6.PNG}
\caption{Influence of the spontaneous emission from $\ket{p}$. (a-b): Calculated Rabi oscillation obtained by solving the OBE's for $\Delta=2\pi\times 740$~MHz, $\Omega_{\rm b}=2\pi\times 30$~MHz, and $\Omega_{\rm r}/(2\pi)= 30$~MHz (a) and 100~MHz (b). (c-d): Comparison between the simulation and experimental data (with $n = 61$), for fixed $\Omega_{\rm b}=2\pi\times 35$~MHz and $\Omega_{\rm r}= 2\pi \times 210$~MHz, but for decreasing values of the intermediate state detuning: (c), $\Delta=2\pi\times 740$~MHz, (d): $\Delta=2\pi\times 477$~MHz.}
\label{fig:spontem}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Laser phase noise}

Another important effect giving rise to damping of the oscillations is the fact that the excitation lasers have finite phase noise. We use two extended-cavity diode lasers (ECDLs), one at 795~nm, and one at 950~nm which is amplified in a tapered amplifier and frequency-doubled in a resonant cavity. Both ECDLs are locked using the Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) technique on a high-finesse ultra-stable ULE cavity (${\cal F}\sim 20,000$ for both wavelengths). Their phases $\phi_i(t)$ ($i=795,950$) are random processes with a power spectral density  $S_{\phi_i}(f)$, where $f$ denotes the Fourier frequency. Measuring $S_{\phi_i}(f)$ directly is not an easy task, but we obtain a reasonable estimate of $S_{\phi_i}(f)$ for Fourier frequencies $f$ above acoustic frequencies, where the cavity noise is negligible, by analyzing the in-loop PDH error signal with an RF spectrum analyzer: the noise spectral density of the PDH error signal voltage allows to retrieve $S_{\phi_i}(f)$, knowing the slope of the PDH error signal at the lock point and taking into account the storage time of light in the cavity which causes a roll-off of the cavity response to frequency fluctuations (see e.g.~\cite{phdtarallo}, page~17).

Figure~\ref{fig:s-nu}(a) shows the spectral density of \emph{frequency noise} $S_{\nu_i}(f)$, which is related to the phase noise spectral density by $S_{\nu_i}(f)=f^2 S_{\phi_i}(f)$~\cite{riehle2004}. The solid lines represent the typical frequency noise measured when operating the experiment. We observe a broad maximum of noise around 1~MHz, due to the limited feedback loop bandwidth, which implies that phase noise will have the highest detrimental effects for Rabi frequencies $\Omega/(2\pi)$ around this value (phase fluctuations at $2\pi f\ll \Omega$ are seen as a constant phase by the atoms and do not have any influence, while high-frequency ones are averaged out during the evolution of the atom, resulting in very little dephasing).

\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=80mm]{f7.png}
\caption{Influence of laser phase noise. (a): Estimated spectral density $S_\nu(f)$ of the frequency noise of the 795~nm (red) and 950~nm laser (blue). Solid lines: usual noise, dashed line: enhanced noise (see text). (b): Simulated Rabi oscillation in the presence of usual phase noise. Many Rabi oscillations (thin lines), each for a given realization of the random processes $\phi_i(t)$, are averaged (thick black line). (c): With intentional extra noise added in the 950~nm laser the damping is increased, and the simulation compares well with the experimentally observed Rabi oscillation on $n = 54$ (red circles). }
\label{fig:s-nu}
\end{figure}

In order to assess quantitatively the influence of laser phase noise, rather than calculating analytically a sensitivity function~\cite{martin},  we perform a direct simulation of the dynamics of the atom in the presence of phase-fluctuating Rabi frequencies of the red and blue lasers. We first draw, for $i\in \{795,950\}$ a realization $\phi_i(t)$ of a random process with the appropriate, experimentally measured spectral noise density $S_{\phi_i}(f)$ (see e.g.~\cite{clade2004}, page 65). We then numerically solve the appropriate dynamical equations (either the Schr\"odinger equation, either the OBEs) with Rabi frequencies $\Omega(t)=\Omega_0\exp(i\phi(t))$ for both the red and the blue lasers~\footnote{The fluctuating phase $\phi(t)$ of the blue laser is taken equal to $2\phi_{950}(t)$ as its frequency components are within the bandwidth of the cavity used for frequency doubling.}, and average over typically 100 realizations of the phase noise. In Fig.~\ref{fig:s-nu}(b), we show all individual realizations (thin red lines) and their average (solid black line) for the typical frequency noise spectra, assuming no other damping process, with a global Rabi frequency of 1~MHz and observe a slow damping of the oscillation. The influence of the phase noise is better seen when increasing it on purpose in the 950~nm laser, by applying too much gain in the feedback loop, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:s-nu}(a) in dashed line. In these conditions, the experimental Rabi oscillation damping is increased [disks in Fig.~\ref{fig:s-nu}(c)]. The agreement between this experiment and the parameter-free simulation validates our estimate of the phase noise and its modeling.

\subsection{Other possible effects}
\label{other_effects}

Several other effects can in principle contribute to damping and dephasing of the Rabi oscillations. First, the Rydberg states have a finite lifetime due to spontaneous emission leading to decay to low-lying excited states and to black-body radiation transferring the atom to close-by Rydberg states~\cite{Beterov2009}. The latter has been shown to be detrimental to Rydberg-dressing experiments with many particles~\cite{Goldschmidt2016,Zeiher2016b}. We have solved the OBEs with and without including the finite lifetime of Rydberg states $n > 50$ and observed no significant differences on the timescale of a few microseconds for the single-atom Rabi oscillation. Thus, so far, this finite lifetime is not a limitation in our setup.

If the excitation beams are not perfectly centered on the trap position, the atom sits on a spatial gradient of Rabi frequency and light-shift, and thus its random thermal motion from shot to shot gives rise to dephasing. We have checked that for our experimental parameters, this effect should be negligible unless the excitation beams are strongly misaligned. Another dephasing mechanism is the shot-to-shot variation in the pulse areas of the excitation beams. We have estimated the relative fluctuations of the intensity of the pulses to be below 0.2\% rms, which does not lead to any measurable dephasing over our experimental timescales.

Finally, stray transverse electric fields leading to mixing between different Zeeman sublevels of the targeted Rydberg state could lead to a degradation of the Rabi oscillation, as $\ket{g}$ would be coupled to several Rydberg states with different coupling strengths. However, using eight independent  electrodes under vacuum, we zero out the electric field to better than $\left \vert E \right \vert < 5~{\rm mV/cm}$ by performing Stark spectroscopy on high-$n$ Rydberg states (typically $n\sim100$). For such low values of $E$, the expected effect of stray fields is negligible.

\begin{figure}[t!]
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=67mm]{f8.png}
	\caption{Including all effects in the simulation. (a) Rabi oscillation (with $n = 61$) at $\Omega/(2 \pi) = 4.8$~MHz with the red solid line showing the result of a parameter-free simulation. The gray-shaded area shows the time window used in panel (b) to quantify the damping (see text). (b) Influence of the Rabi frequency $\Omega$ (varied by changing only $\Omega_{\rm r}$, with $\Omega_b/(2 \pi) = 35$~MHz and $\Delta = 740$~MHz) on the Rabi oscillation damping. Simulations are done with typical experimental parameters (see text) for each individual source of damping: Doppler effect (dash-dotted line), spontaneous emission (dashed line), laser phase noise (dotted line) and combining all of them (solid black line) and by adding the SPAM errors (solid red line). The shading on the latter curve corresponds to s.e.m. of the Monte-Carlo simulation with 600 runs.}
	\label{fig:vary_fR}
\end{figure}

\section{Combining all effects; prospects for improvement}

Having developed a quantitative modeling of each of the experimentally relevant imperfections listed above, we can now include them all in a global simulation. All parameters (Rabi frequencies of the red and blue lasers, detuning $\Delta$, SPAM errors $(\eta, \varepsilon,\varepsilon')$, atomic temperature $T$, spectral density of the phase noise of lasers\ldots) are given their independently measured values. We draw fluctuating parameters according to their respective distributions, integrate the OBEs with these parameters, and then average over typically 600 realizations. Figure~\ref{fig:vary_fR}(a) shows a comparison between an experimental Rabi oscillation (for $\Omega/(2 \pi) = 4.8$~MHz, disks) and a parameter-free simulation (solid line) including all effects detailed in this work. The fair agreement between data and simulation allows us to explore, using our numerical simulation, how varying experimental parameters affects the coherence of the Rabi oscillation.

As an example, we show in Fig.~\ref{fig:vary_fR}(b) how the different effects depend on the Rabi frequency $\Omega$. The simulations are performed for a fixed Rabi frequency of the blue laser $\Omega_{\rm b}/(2\pi) = 35$~MHz (typical for $n \sim 60$) and a varying red laser Rabi frequency $\Omega_{\rm r}$. To characterize the damping of the Rabi oscillation, we extract from the simulations the oscillation amplitude during the fifth half-period [gray shading in Fig.~\ref{fig:vary_fR}(a)]. When including all effects in the simulation (red solid line), we observe that the damping is minimized for $\Omega/(2\pi) \approx 2$~MHz. For $\Omega/(2 \pi) < 0.7$~MHz, the Doppler effect (dash-dotted line) is the dominant source of damping. The phase noise influence (dotted line) peaks at $\Omega/(2 \pi) = 1$~MHz as predicted from its broad maximum seen in Fig.~\ref{fig:s-nu}(a). The detrimental effect of spontaneous emission (dashed line) is minimized when $\Omega_{\rm r} = \Omega_{\rm b}$, giving $\Omega/(2 \pi) = 0.8$~MHz for our current parameters.

One could possibly improve the coherence by increasing the power or decreasing the size of the blue beam, thus increasing $\Omega_{\rm blue}$, which would allow, for a fixed $\Omega$, to increase $\Delta$ and thus reduce spontaneous emission. However, too small a beam waist will increase sensitivity to beam pointing instability, and, more importantly, will limit the size of the tweezers arrays that can be excited homogeneously~\cite{supergaussian2016}, so ideally higher powers for the 475~nm laser would be needed. Another solution is to use the inverted excitation scheme, with intermediate state $\ket{6P_{3/2}}$, which has the combined advantage of having a longer lifetime ($\sim 120$~ns) and better coupling to Rydberg states (at 1013~nm). Using this scheme, the Harvard group obtained promising coherence times~\cite{Bernien2017, lukin_inprep}.

So far we have discussed only experimental situations in which the coherent laser drive is continuously on, which is relevant e.g. for the quantum simulation of Ising models~\cite{Labuhn2016,Bernien2017}. However, for implementing quantum gates~\cite{Saffman2016}, or for the quantum simulation of XY quantum magnets~\cite{Barredo2015}, one is interested in exciting or de-exciting selected atoms quickly and efficiently. This can be accomplished with $\pi$-pulses, in which case we are back to the problem of minimizing the decoherence of Rabi oscillations, but other schemes can be used, such as STIRAP~\cite{Raithel2005,Deiglmayr2006,Hennrich2017,stirapreview}, which has the advantage of being more forgiving in terms of fine tuning of parameters. We believe that the modeling of experimental imperfections developed in this work will be useful for finding realistic optimum parameters in those scenarios.

\begin{acknowledgements}
We thank M. Saffman and G. Biedermann for discussions and thoughtful comments on the manuscript, M.J.~Martin for insightful suggestions during a stay in our group, and M.D. Lukin and his group for organizing a workshop at ITAMP (Cambridge, MA, USA) with a session dedicated to the issues discussed in this article. This work benefited from financial support by the EU [H2020 FET-PROACT Project RySQ], by the PALM Labex (projects QUANTICA and XYLOS) and by the R\'egion \^Ile-de-France in the framework of DIM Nano-K.
\end{acknowledgements}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Adamstown Youth and Community Centre will host two Summer Soccer Schools this summer.
Soccer schools run from 10:30am - 3pm Monday to Friday.
Lucan Harriers at Great Ireland Run 10k in Phoenix Park on Sunday l-r Trica Gough, Lisa Short, Claire Wright, Ursula Eaten and Anne Whelan.
Juveniles: The Wednesday competitions have now commenced for our Juveniles. Our juvenile committee will be in attendance and coaching will be provided. New members are welcome so why not come along any Wednesday afternoon and talk to any of committee who will be delighted to help you.
Membership Fees: Membership Fees are now overdue. Please ensure that you have filled out your Membership Renewal Form and enclose same with your Fee. Please see our website concerning the GDPR Regulations in connection with the Membership Renewal Form request.
Saturday 27th April - Presentation of our Easter competition. Music by 'Sweet'.
Condolence: On behalf of everyone in the Club we would like to extend our sincere sympathies to our Captain Noel Ryan and his family on the death of his dear Mam - Marie Ryan RIP. May she rest in peace.
Presentation: We had our Captains' Drive In Presentation last weekend and both of our Captains thanked the members for the wonderful St. Patricks weekend they had and that it will be a memory they will always treasure.
It was great to see Christy Dobbs at our presentation on Saturday night and we wish him a continued speedy recovery.
From left to right – our President Noel Leonard, Captain Noel Ryan, Winner Sandra Keogh and our Lady Captain Bridie Griffin.
From left to right – our President Noel Leonard, Captain Noel Ryan, Winner Dermot Heffernan and our Lady Captain Bridie Griffin.


A roundup of the best of the best of all things beauty (in my opinion), from hands to lips to perfume. There are so many good things that I have to stop myself from going "one for me & one for you" with each product. You've been warned. ;).
for a lit-from-within glow: hourglass ambient light limited edition palette | I bought this during the sephora friends and family sale and it is beautiful. if you've ever wanted to try any of these ambient lighting palettes from hourglass but couldn't decide on one, this is your opportunity to try three of them.
for a palette that covers all the bases: laura mercier color to go natural nudes eye, cheek & lip palette | laura mercier is one of my all time favorite brands. they do such beautiful, high quality makeup. they've become my go-to for effortless, classic makeup. this little set comes encased in the brand's signature dark brown packaging and comes with 3 eyeshadows, 1 eyeliner, a mini of their fantastic lipgloss, a blush, and a bronzer. perfect for travel or a tiny clutch on a night out.
for a month of manis: ciate mini mani month | this would be the perfect gift for the nail polish addict in your life – 24 bottles of mini nail polish bottles will let her change her mani every day, if she wants to.
for nourished skin: korres yoghurt advanced nourishing trio | this skincare set is literally greek yogurt for your face and comes with a foaming cleanser, a face cream, and a sleeping facial. I've been a fan of korres' line of makeup and skincare products ever since I discovered them while searching for a brand that wouldn't aggravate my sister's eczema. they're a great brand for sensitive skin, and I've found them to be at a friendlier price point than other alternatives.
for pampered & colorful lips: fresh sugar baby lip set & nars fling lip set | this fresh lip set is awesome, with a little pot of their lip scrub, a mini tube of their rose lip treatment, and a mini tube of their moisturizing gloss. I've been a long-time fan of the scrub and balm for years now. I just bought a full-sized tube of the gloss, and that's now a favorite, too. this is a good way to try all three products that I highly recommend. for those who are more about lip color, this lip set from nars is a great assortment of easy to wear colors that would be flattering on a variety of skin tones. if you're really looking to make some lip lover's day, getting the two would make a great combination.
for rosy lids: urban decay naked 3 palette | this is kind of cheating because this isn't out yet (sources say it will be out on the urban decay website later this month and at other beauty retailers in December), but I've seen enough pictures from other bloggers to know that this is one beautiful eyeshadow palette. it contains 12 pans of rosy-tinged shades that would be perfect for all the parties and events for a little rose-gold sparkle. if you're a fan of the previous two naked palettes, you'll like this one. it's also different enough from the other two because of the pinkness to the shades to justify the addition even if they (or you!) have the other two already.
for moisturized hands: l'occitane hand creams of provence set | I swear up and down by l'occitane products, their hand creams included. this set comes with five tubes of their best-selling creams, each scented differently. you can give this as a set for a particularly nice gift, or divvy up the tubes for some stocking stuffers. everyone needs a little tlc for their hands this time of year; this is a lovely way to do it.
for a relaxing bath: sai sei vital minerals gift set | I can't get enough of the soothing scent of this line of products from space.nk. it's literally the scent of clean, flowing water. what could be better for a relaxing bath? this would turn her bath time into a spa experience. this is also a great price – the cream alone retails for $30. for $10 more, she can try decent sizes of their body scrub and bath & shower gel, all packaged in a nice drawstring pouch.
for a scent unique to her: the blend by fred segal | this is the showstopper in this roundup. if you have a die-hard perfume fan on your list, this is the gift for her. this set comes with 10 rollerballs of perfume oils that can be worn alone for a simple, pure scent, or blended to create a unique, layered scent all her own. no guesswork on your end about what scent she'd like and she'll be able to create her own scent. win win. needless to say, this is on my wishlist.