City Colleges of Chicago

Amplitude damping fundamentally limits qubit lifetimes by irreversibly leaking energy and information into the environment. Standard Wiseman–Milburn feedback offers only modest improvement because it acts on a single measured quadrature and its corrective drive is degraded by loop delay. We introduce a compact hybrid upgrade with two components: (i) a coherently coupled ancilla qubit that receives the homodyne current and feeds back quantum-coherently on the system, recovering information from both field quadratures and intentionally engineered to decay much faster than the system; and (ii) a lightweight supervised predictor that forecasts the near-future homodyne current, phase-aligning the correction to overcome hardware latency. A Lindblad treatment yields closed-form effective decay rates: the ancilla suppresses the emission channel by a cooperativity factor, while the predictor further suppresses the residual decay in proportion to forecast quality. Using IBM-scale parameters (baseline T_1 = 50 μs), numerical simulations surpass the W–M limit, achieving ∼ 3-4× longer T_1 together with improved population retention and integrated energy. The method is modular and hardware-compatible: ancilla coupling and supervised prediction can be added to existing W–M loops to convert leaked information into a precise, time-advanced corrective drive. We also include a detailed, student-friendly derivation of the effective rates for both ancilla-assisted and prediction-enhanced feedback, making the impact of each design element analytically transparent.

Initial correlations between a quantum system and its environment can strongly influence open-system dynamics and invalidate standard reduced-dynamics descriptions. Detecting such correlations is therefore an important problem, but most existing approaches require state tomography, multiple system preparations, or some degree of access to the environment. Here we show that initial system–environment correlations can be certified using only a single calibrated system observable when the interaction is known. For a qubit interacting with an environment via isotropic Heisenberg exchange, we derive exact bounds on the signal z(t)=⟨σzS⟩(t) that hold for all factorized initial states sharing the same calibrated reduced system state. These bounds define a factorized envelope: if an observed trajectory exits this envelope, initial correlations are unambiguously certified. The witness requires only single-axis measurements after a one-time calibration of ρS(0) and does not rely on environment access or state tomography. We illustrate the method for several families of correlated initial states and show that the same single-observable logic extends to an exactly solvable pure-dephasing spin–boson model with an infinite environment.

We examined the ways that faculty members developed as inclusive instructors as a result of participating in the Inclusive STEM Teaching Project (ISTP). The ISTP is a free, Massive Open Online Course designed to train STEM faculty members in inclusive teaching. Semi-structured interviews (n = 80) with course participants from multiple disciplines and institution types demonstrated increases in reflective capacity and awareness of inclusive teaching concepts and strategies, changes in mindsets and perspectives, validation of pre-existing beliefs, increases in self-efficacy, and the implementation of inclusive practices in and outside of the classroom. Results demonstrate a high degree of interconnectivity among empathy, self-efficacy, implementation, and ongoing self-awareness that point to an interactive and recursive understanding of inclusive teaching development. Results can be applied more generally in teaching and learning spaces and can be combined with similar attempts to embed inclusivity, diversity, and equity into programmatic and institutional ethos. Future research could build upon this work by increasing attention on the supports and barriers faculty members face as they attempt to implement inclusive practices.

OBJECTIVE:The gender disparity in orthopedic surgery is multifactorial, driven by the lack of female mentorship, limited female leadership in academic roles, and challenges in pursuing academic positions. Research productivity and authorship are areas where these disparities manifest, with women being significantly underrepresented. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate whether gender disparities in orthopedic research productivity are apparent as early as medical school. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS:A comprehensive analysis was conducted on orthopedic surgery residents from 208 ACGME-accredited programs across the United States. Data were collected between February and April 2024 from publicly accessible resources, covering 4320 residents (927 females, 3393 males). Pre-residency and residency publication data were gathered using Elsevier Scopus Application Programming Interface (APIs). The study compared total publications and first author publications between male and female residents, categorizing them as preresidency or residency publications. p-values were calculated using unpaired t-tests to evaluate gender differences. RESULTS:Among the 2723 residents with preresidency publications, there was no statistically significant difference between male and female residents in the mean number of publications (p = 0.1267) or first authorship publications (p = 0.9389). During residency, however, male residents had a significantly higher mean number of publications than female residents (p = 0.0002), although no significant difference was observed in first authorships (p = 0.2538). CONCLUSION:Our results suggest that while gender disparities in research productivity are not apparent preresidency, they emerge during residency, with male residents producing more publications. This difference is likely influenced by the lack of mentorship and female representation within the field of orthopedic surgery. Addressing these disparities requires targeted efforts to increase female mentorship and support within orthopedic residency programs.