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The aim of present research is to study the concept of digital payment along with impact of COVID-19 on digital payment with special reference on consumer payments, as we all know that people in the economy on first hand use more of cash for any kind of their purchase made and even few digital transaction also by linking the bank account details, but due to the COVID 19 virus which had spreaded across the country made the consumer to use more of the mobile based applications to avoid direct contact with merchants in a view that it transfer the virus, this made a way to analyse growth of digital payment the economy. The research paper is making focus on the problems of digital payment system in India and effects of the system in people and economic system of India. The research paper is also trying to explain the future scope of the Digital payment system as announced in Budget 2023. The secondary research covers some view-points or insights of other researches who contributed their knowledge in related concern. The conclusion of present research paper shows that there is an high increase in use of digital payments services through various applications in India which was not much high before the happening of world-wide pandemic Covid-19.

In recent times the possibility of non-reciprocity in heat transfer between two bodies has been extensively studied. In particular the role of strong magnetic fields has been investigated. A much simpler approach with considerable flexibility would be to consider heat transfer in synthetic electric and magnetic fields which are easily applied. We demonstrate the breakdown of detailed balance for the heat transfer function $\mathcal{T} ({\omega})$, i.e. the spectrum of heat transfer between two objects due to the presence of synthetic electric and magnetic fields. The spectral measurements carry lot more physical information and were the reason for the quantum theory of radiation. We demonstrate explicitly the synthetic field induced non-reciprocity in the heat transfer transmission function between two graphene flakes and for the Casimir coupling between two objects. Unlike many other cases of heat transfer, the latter case has interesting features of the strong coupling. Further the presence of synthetic fields affects the mean occupation numbers of two membranes and propose this system for the experimental verification of the breakdown of detailed balance.

The concept of patient blood management (PBM) was introduced by the World Health Organization in 2011 and is defined as a "patient-focused, evidence-based and systematic approach for optimizing the management of patients and transfusion of blood products to ensure high quality and effective patient care". Patient blood management is a multimodal approach based on three pillars: optimization of blood mass, minimization of blood loss and optimization of patient tolerance to anaemia. Antifibrinolytics play a major role in cardiac surgery, where the risk of perioperative bleeding is high and affects a majority of patients, by effectively reducing bleeding, transfusions, re-operations, as well as their associated morbidity and mortality. They represent an essential part of the pharmacological arsenal of patient blood management. However, despite the trend towards high-level PBM practices, currently very few European countries have national PBM guidelines and these guidelines, taken as a whole, are heterogeneous in form and content. In particular, the use of antifibrinolytics in cardiac surgery is often not discussed in detail beyond general prophylactic use and any recommendations lack detail including choice of drug, dosing, and mode of administration. Thus, the implementation of PBM programs in Europe is still challenging. In 2021, the WHO published a new document highlighting the urgent need to close the gap in PBM awareness and implementation and announced their upcoming initiative to develop specific PBM implementation guidelines. This review aims first, to summarize the role played by fibrinolysis in haemostatic disorders; second, to give an overview of the current available guidelines in Europe detailing PBM implementation in cardiac surgery; and third, to analyse the place and use of antifibrinolytics in these guidelines. ispartof: JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ANESTHESIA vol:78 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Dr Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator, told NBC News on "Meet the Press"that "[T]he U S needs a 'breakthrough' in coronavirus testing to help screen Americans and get a more accurate picture of the virus' spread "We have been involved with biopathogen detection since the 2001 anthrax attacks and were the first to detect anthrax in real-time A variation on the laser spectroscopic techniques we developed for the rapid detection of anthrax can be applied to detect the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2 virus) In addition to detecting a single virus, this technique allows us to read its surface protein structure In particular, we have been conducting research based on a variety of quantum optical approaches aimed at improving our ability to detect Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) viral infection Indeed, the detection of a small concentration of antibodies, after an infection has passed, is a challenging problem Likewise, the early detection of disease, even before a detectible antibody population has been established, is very important Our team is researching both aspects of this problem The paper is written to stimulate the interest of both physical and biological scientists in this important problem It is thus written as a combination of tutorial (review) and future work (preview) We join Prof Federico Capasso and Editor Dennis Couwenberg in expressing our appreciation to all those working so heroically on all aspects of the COVID-19 problem And we thank Drs Capasso and Couwenberg for their invitation to write this paper © 2020 Navid Rajil et al , published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2020

General Relativistic effects on the clustering of matter in the universe provide a sensitive probe of cosmology and gravity theories that can be tested with the upcoming generation of galaxy surveys. Here, we present a suite of large volume high-resolution N-body simulations specifically designed to generate light-cone data for the study of relativistic effects on lensing-matter observables. RayGalGroupSims (or in short RayGal) consists of two N-body simulations of $(2625\,h^{-1}\,{\rm Mpc})^3$ volume with $4096^3$ particles of a standard flat $\Lambda$CDM model and a non-standard $w$CDM phantom dark energy model. Light-cone data from the simulations have been generated using a parallel ray-tracing algorithm that has accurately solved billion geodesic equations. Catalogues and maps with relativistic weak-lensing which include post-Born effects, magnification bias (MB) and redshift space distortions (RSD) due to gravitational redshift, Doppler, transverse Doppler, Integrated Sachs-Wolfe/Rees-Sciama effects, are publicly released. Using this dataset, we are able to reproduce the linear and quasi-linear predictions from the Class relativistic code for the 10 (cross-)power spectra (3$\times$2 points) of the matter density fluctuation field and the gravitational convergence at $z=0.7$ and $z=1.8$. We find 1-30\% level contribution from both MB and RSD to the matter power spectrum, while the Fingers-of-God effect is visible at lower redshift in the non-linear regime. MB contributes at the $10-30\%$ level to the convergence power spectrum leading to a deviation between the shear power-spectrum and the convergence power-spectrum. MB also plays a significant role in the galaxy-galaxy lensing by decreasing the density-convergence spectra by $20\%$, while coupling non-trivial configurations (such as the one with the convergence at the same or even lower redshift than the density field)., Comment: 24 pages, 19 figures, submitted to A&A, accounts for first referee comments, data available at https://cosmo.obspm.fr/public-datasets

Integrated photonics will play a key role in quantum systems as they grow from few-qubit prototypes to tens of thousands of qubits. The underlying optical quantum technologies can only be realized through the integration of these components onto quantum photonic integrated circuits (QPICs) with accompanying electronics. In the last decade, remarkable advances in quantum photonic integration have enabled table-top experiments to be scaled down to prototype chips with improvements in efficiency, robustness, and key performance metrics. These advances have enabled integrated quantum photonic technologies combining up to 650 optical and electrical components onto a single chip that are capable of programmable quantum information processing, chip-to-chip networking, hybrid quantum system integration, and high-speed communications. In this roadmap article, we highlight the status, current and future challenges, and emerging technologies in several key research areas in integrated quantum photonics, including photonic platforms, quantum and classical light sources, quantum frequency conversion, integrated detectors, and applications in computing, communications, and sensing. With advances in materials, photonic design architectures, fabrication and integration processes, packaging, and testing and benchmarking, in the next decade we can expect a transition from single- and few-function prototypes to large-scale integration of multi-functional and reconfigurable devices that will have a transformative impact on quantum information science and engineering., JPhys Photonics, 4 (1), ISSN:2515-7647

Brillouin microscopy is an emerging label-free imaging technique to assess local viscoelastic properties. Quantum-enhanced stimulated Brillouin scattering is demonstrated for the first time using low power continuous-wave lasers at 795~nm. A signal to noise ratio enhancement of 3.4~dB is reported by using two-mode intensity-difference squeezed light generated with the four-wave mixing process in atomic rubidium vapor. The low optical power and the excitation wavelengths in the water transparency window has the potential to provide a powerful bio-imaging technique for probing mechanical properties of biological samples prone to phototoxicity and thermal effects. The performance enhancement affordable through the use of quantum light may pave the way for significantly improved sensitivity that cannot be achieved classically. The proposed new way of utilizing squeezed light for enhanced stimulated Brillouin scattering can be easily adapted for both spectroscopic and imaging applications in materials science and biology., 12 pages, 8 figures

The intrinsic dissipation of systems into a shared reservoir introduces coherence between two systems, enabling anti-Parity-Time (anti-PT) symmetry. In this paper, we propose an anti-PT symmetric converter, consisting of a microwave cavity coupled dissipatively to a ferromagnetic sphere, which supports significant improvements in the conversion efficiency when compared to coherently coupled setups. In particular, when only the ferrite sample is driven, the strong coherence induced by the vacuum of the mediating channel leads to much stronger enhancements in the intended conversion. The enhancement is an inalienable artifact of the emergence of a long-lived, dark mode associated with a quasi-real singularity of the hybrid system. In addition, we observe considerable asymmetry in the efficiencies of microwave-to-optical and optical-to-microwave conversions, in spite of the symmetrical structure of the trilinear optomagnonic coupling stimulating both the transduction phenomena. The nonreciprocity stems from the intrinsic asymmetry in the couplings of the microwave and optical fields to the cavity-magnon network as well as the phase coupling entailed by the spatial separation.

Multistability is an extraordinary nonlinear property of dynamical systems and can be explored to implement memory and switches. Here we experimentally realize the tristability in a three-mode cavity magnonic system with Kerr nonlinearity. The three stable states in the tristable region correspond to the stable solutions of the frequency shift of the cavity magnon polariton under specific driving conditions. We find that the system staying in which stable state depends on the history experienced by the system, and this state can be harnessed to store the history information. In our experiment, the memory time can reach as long as 5.11 s. Moreover, we demonstrate the ternary logic gate with good on-off characteristics using this multistable hybrid system. Our new findings pave a way towards cavity magnonics-based information storage and processing.

A library of bile-acid-appended triazolyl aryl ketones was synthesized and characterized by detailed spectroscopic techniques such as 1H and 13C NMR, HRMS and HPLC. All the synthesized conjugates were evaluated for their cytotoxicity at 10 µM against MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma) and 4T1 (mouse mammary carcinoma) cells. In vitro cytotoxicity studies on the synthesized conjugates against MCF-7 and 4T1 cells indicated one of the conjugate 6cf to be most active against both cancer cell lines, with IC50 values of 5.71 µM and 8.71 µM, respectively, as compared to the reference drug docetaxel, possessing IC50 values of 9.46 µM and 13.85 µM, respectively. Interestingly, another compound 6af (IC50 = 2.61 µM) was found to possess pronounced anticancer activity as compared to the reference drug docetaxel (IC50 = 9.46 µM) against MCF-7. In addition, the potent compounds (6cf and 6af) were found to be non-toxic to normal human embryonic kidney cell line (HEK 293), as evident from their cell viability of greater than 86%. Compound 6cf induces higher apoptosis in comparison to 6af (46.09% vs. 33.89%) in MCF-7 cells, while similar apoptotic potential was observed for 6cf and 6af in 4T1 cells. The pharmacokinetics of 6cf in Wistar rats showed an MRT of 8.47 h with a half-life of 5.63 h. Clearly, these results suggest 6cf to be a potential candidate for the development of anticancer agents.

Synthesizing many-body interaction Hamiltonian is a central task in quantum simulation. However, it is challenging to synthesize interactions including more than two spins. Borrowing tools from quantum optics, we synthesize five-body spin-exchange interaction in a superconducting quantum circuit by simultaneously exciting four independent qubits with time-energy correlated photon quadruples generated from a qudit. During the dynamic evolution of the five-body interaction, a Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state is generated in a single step with fidelity estimated to be $0.685$. We compare the influence of noise on the three-, four- and five-body interaction as a step toward answering the question on the quantum origin of chiral molecules. We also demonstrate a many-body Mach-Zehnder interferometer which potentially has a Heisenberg-limit sensitivity. This study paves a way for quantum simulation involving many-body interactions and high excited states of quantum circuits., 6 pages, 3 figures

With a higher proportion of young individuals undergoing uncemented hip arthroplasty, a close match in the dimension of the proximal femur and the implanted prosthesis is paramount. This is a study to gain insight into geographical variation in proximal femur morphology to determine the reference values to design uncemented femoral stems for a south Indian population, and also the effect of ageing and gender on the proximal femur morphology. Materials and Methods: The study comprised of two groups. For the first group, 50 unpaired dry femur bones were obtained from adult human cadavers; and the second group was a clinical group of 50 adult patients. Standardised radiographic techniques were used to measure the extracortical and intra-cortical morphometric parameters. Based on these, dimensionless ratios were calculated to express the shape of the proximal femur. The data were expressed in terms of mean and standard deviation and a comparison made with other studies. Results: A significant difference was noted across various population subsets within the Indian subcontinent and also in comparison to the Western population, suggestive of regional variation. The measurements made in cadaveric bone differed significantly from those in live patients, especially the femoral head diameter and extra-cortical and intracortical width. Femoral offset, head height and diameter were significantly less in females. Conclusion: The south Indian population needs customised implants with an increase in neck shaft angle and a decrease in intra-cortical and extra-cortical width for press fit in hip arthroplasty. The variation between the two sexes must also be accounted for during prosthesis design.

Background Fresh frozen plasma (FFP) is the accepted standard treatment for clotting factor replacement in bleeding patients during or immediately after cardiac surgery. In the United Kingdom prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC) is not licensed in this setting, although it is being used in Europe because it has a higher concentration of clotting factor levels, and it can be administered rapidly and in small volume, resulting in less volume overload during cardiac surgery. Methods PROPHESY is a pragmatic, single-centre, open-label, randomised, controlled pilot trial that will assess whether it is feasible to perform a large trial in the future that will compare PCC versus FFP in patients who are bleeding (not on warfarin) and who require blood transfusion. Over a 15-month period, 50 patients will be randomised to PCC versus FFP if they develop active bleeding within 24 h of cardiac surgery and for whom the clinician has decided to administer FFP for treatment of bleeding. Standard laboratory and point-of-care assessments will be performed as per routine practice, and additional research blood samples will be taken at three time points to assess haemostasis. Subjects will be assessed daily up to hospital discharge or 30 days or death (whichever occurs first) and will be seen in follow-up for 90 days after surgery to assess for thromboembolic complications and hospital re-admission since discharge. Quality-of-life assessment will be performed pre-surgery and at 90 days post-surgery. We will also perform qualitative research with clinical experts and patients to explore the understanding of and experience with the interventions, as well as adherence to study procedures and protocol. Discussion There have been no randomised controlled trials that have compared the safety and efficacy of FFP versus PCC in cardiac surgery patients who are bleeding. This pilot study will assess if individual components of a large trial are deliverable to assess the safety and efficacy of the two blood products in the future. Trial registration EudraCT, 2018-003041-41; ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03715348. Registered on 29 July 2018.

In the version of this Perspective originally published, the author Yuri S. Kivshar was incorrectly listed as Yuri Yuri Kivshar. This has now been corrected in the online versions of the Perspective.

The prospect of a system possessing two or more stable states for a given excitation condition is of topical interest with applications in information processing networks. In this work, we establish the remote transfer of bistability from a nonlinear resource in a dissipatively coupled two-mode system. As a clear advantage over coherently coupled settings, the dissipative nature of interaction is found to support a lower pumping threshold for bistable signals. For comparable parameters, the bistability threshold for dissipatively coupled systems is lower by a factor of about five. The resulting hysteresis can be studied spectroscopically by applying a probe field through the waveguide and examining the polariton character of the transmitted field. Our model is generic, apropos of an extensive set of quantum systems, and we demonstrate our results in the context of magnonics where experimental interest has flourished of late. As a consequence of dissipative coupling and the nonlinearity, a long-lived mode emerges, which is responsible for heightened transmission levels and pronounced sensitivity in signal propagation through the fiber., 8 pages, 8 figures

Parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetric systems are classical, gain-loss systems whose dynamics are governed by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with exceptional-point (EP) degeneracies. The eigenvalues of a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Hamiltonian change from real to complex conjugates at a critical value of gain-loss strength that is called the $\mathcal{PT}$ breaking threshold. Here, we obtain the $\mathcal{PT}$-threshold for a one-dimensional, finite Kitaev chain -- a prototype for a p-wave superconductor -- in the presence of a single pair of gain and loss potentials as a function of the superconducting order parameter, on-site potential, and the distance between the gain and loss sites. In addition to a robust, non-local threshold, we find a rich phase diagram for the threshold that can be qualitatively understood in terms of the band-structure of the Hermitian Kitaev mo del. In particular, for an even chain with zero on-site potential, we find a re-entrant $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric phase bounded by second-order EP contours. Our numerical results are supplemented by analytical calculations for small system sizes., 8 pages, 6 figures

Introduction. This meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the prevalence of hypothyroidism among pregnant women in India. Methods. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Shodhganga (Indian thesis repository) for observational studies, providing prevalence of hypothyroidism among pregnant women in India. Systematic study selection and data extraction procedures were followed. Quality assessment of each study was done using JBI critical appraisal checklist. The random effects model was used for pooling the effect sizes. Publication bias was assessed using the funnel plot and rank correlation test. I2 statistics was used to measure heterogeneity across the studies. Heterogeneity in the pooled estimates was further explored with subgroup analyses and meta-regression analysis. Results. Sixty-one studies were found eligible and included in this review. The pooled estimate of the prevalence of hypothyroidism in pregnant women was 11.07% (95% CI: 8.79–13.84, I2 = 99%). Pooled prevalence estimates of subclinical and overt hypothyroidism are 9.51% (95% CI: 7.48–12.04, I2 = 98%) and 2.74% (95% CI: 2.08–3.58, I2 = 94%). Conclusion. We documented 11.07% pooled prevalence of hypothyroidism in pregnant women in India.

Background: For COVID-19 lung severity, segmentation of lungs on computed tomography (CT) is the first crucial step. Current deep learning (DL)-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) models have a bias in the training stage of segmentation because only one set of ground truth (GT) annotations are evaluated. We propose a robust and stable inter-variability analysis of CT lung segmentation in COVID-19 to avoid the effect of bias. Methodology: The proposed inter-variability study consists of two GT tracers for lung segmentation on chest CT. Three AI models, PSP Net, VGG-SegNet, and ResNet-SegNet, were trained using GT annotations. We hypothesized that if AI models are trained on the GT tracings from multiple experience levels, and if the AI performance on the test data between these AI models is within the 5% range, one can consider such an AI model robust and unbiased. The K5 protocol (training to testing: 80%:20%) was adapted. Ten kinds of metrics were used for performance evaluation. Results: The database consisted of 5000 CT chest images from 72 COVID-19-infected patients. By computing the coefficient of correlations (CC) between the output of the two AI models trained corresponding to the two GT tracers, computing their differences in their CC, and repeating the process for all three AI-models, we show the differences as 0%, 0.51%, and 2.04% (all < 5%), thereby validating the hypothesis. The performance was comparable; however, it had the following order: ResNet-SegNet > PSP Net > VGG-SegNet. Conclusions: The AI models were clinically robust and stable during the inter-variability analysis on the CT lung segmentation on COVID-19 patients.

(1) Background: COVID-19 computed tomography (CT) lung segmentation is critical for COVID lung severity diagnosis. Earlier proposed approaches during 2020-2021 were semiautomated or automated but not accurate, user-friendly, and industry-standard benchmarked. The proposed study compared the COVID Lung Image Analysis System, COVLIAS 1.0 (GBTI, Inc., and AtheroPoint(TM) Roseville, CA, USA, referred to as COVLIAS), against MedSeg, a web-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) segmentation tool, where COVLIAS uses hybrid deep learning (HDL) models for CT lung segmentation. (2) Materials and Methods: The proposed study used 5000 ITALIAN COVID-19 positive CT lung images collected from 72 patients (experimental data) that confirmed the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Two hybrid AI models from the COVLIAS system, namely, VGG-SegNet (HDL 1) and ResNet-SegNet (HDL 2), were used to segment the CT lungs. As part of the results, we compared both COVLIAS and MedSeg against two manual delineations (MD 1 and MD 2) using (i) Bland-Altman plots, (ii) Correlation coefficient (CC) plots, (iii) Receiver operating characteristic curve, and (iv) Figure of Merit and (v) visual overlays. A cohort of 500 CROATIA COVID-19 positive CT lung images (validation data) was used. A previously trained COVLIAS model was directly applied to the validation data (as part of Unseen-AI) to segment the CT lungs and compare them against MedSeg. (3) Result: For the experimental data, the four CCs between COVLIAS (HDL 1) vs. MD 1, COVLIAS (HDL 1) vs. MD 2, COVLIAS (HDL 2) vs. MD 1, and COVLIAS (HDL 2) vs. MD 2 were 0.96, 0.96, 0.96, and 0.96, respectively. The mean value of the COVLIAS system for the above four readings was 0.96. CC between MedSeg vs. MD 1 and MedSeg vs. MD 2 was 0.98 and 0.98, respectively. Both had a mean value of 0.98. On the validation data, the CC between COVLIAS (HDL 1) vs. MedSeg and COVLIAS (HDL 2) vs. MedSeg was 0.98 and 0.99, respectively. For the experimental data, the difference between the mean values for COVLIAS and MedSeg showed a difference of

The transition from insulator to conductor can be realized in some materials but requires modification of both the arrangement of atoms and their electronic configurations. This is often achieved by doping. Here we reveal a different mechanism the lattice may adopt to induce such a transition. Experiments showed the surprising finding that limited exposure to sub-bandgap light caused a permanent transition from an insulator state to a conductor state in the insulating oxide Ga2O3, with 9-orders of magnitude increase in electronic conduction. Furthermore, annealing up to 400 C did not suppress or decrease the induced conductivity. Photoexcitation by light-induced modification in the charge state of defects and subsequent lattice distortion around them was suggested to be the underlying mechanism behind this transition. Density functional theory calculations confirmed that modifying the charge state of defects leads to redistribution of the localized electrons and massive structural distortion in the surrounding lattice, causing large shifts in the density of states and introducing new states with shallower energy levels. Both experimental and theoretical results revealed the introduction of new stable shallow energy levels, explaining the mechanism behind the transition from an insulator to a conductor state by light. We suggest that this mechanism may occur in other wide bandgap metal oxides leading to drastic modification in their electronic properties.

Background: COVID-19 lung segmentation using Computed Tomography (CT) scans is important for the diagnosis of lung severity. The process of automated lung segmentation is challenging due to (a) CT radiation dosage and (b) ground-glass opacities caused by COVID-19. The lung segmentation methodologies proposed in 2020 were semi- or automated but not reliable, accurate, and user-friendly. The proposed study presents a COVID Lung Image Analysis System (COVLIAS 1.0, AtheroPoint (TM), Roseville, CA, USA) consisting of hybrid deep learning (HDL) models for lung segmentation. Methodology: The COVLIAS 1.0 consists of three methods based on solo deep learning (SDL) or hybrid deep learning (HDL). SegNet is proposed in the SDL category while VGG-SegNet and ResNet-SegNet are designed under the HDL paradigm. The three proposed AI approaches were benchmarked against the National Institute of Health (NIH)-based conventional segmentation model using fuzzy-connectedness. A cross-validation protocol with a 40:60 ratio between training and testing was designed, with 10% validation data. The ground truth (GT) was manually traced by a radiologist trained personnel. For performance evaluation, nine different criteria were selected to perform the evaluation of SDL or HDL lung segmentation regions and lungs long axis against GT. Results: Using the database of 5000 chest CT images (from 72 patients), COVLIAS 1.0 yielded AUC of similar to 0.96, similar to 0.97, similar to 0.98, and similar to 0.96 (p-value < 0.001), respectively within 5% range of GT area, for SegNet, VGG-SegNet, ResNet-SegNet, and NIH. The mean Figure of Merit using four models (left and right lung) was above 94%. On benchmarking against the National Institute of Health (NIH) segmentation method, the proposed model demonstrated a 58% and 44% improvement in ResNet-SegNet, 52% and 36% improvement in VGG-SegNet for lung area, and lung long axis, respectively. The PE statistics performance was in the following order: ResNet-SegNet > VGG-SegNet > NIH > SegNet. The HDL runs in

We determine quantum precision limits for estimation of damping constants and temperature of lossy bosonic channels. A direct application would be the use of light for estimation of the absorption and the temperature of a transparent slab. Analytic lower bounds are obtained for the uncertainty in the estimation, through a purification procedure that replaces the master equation description by a unitary evolution involving the system and ad hoc environments. For zero temperature, Fock states are shown to lead to the minimal uncertainty in the estimation of damping, with boson-counting being the best measurement procedure. In both damping and temperature estimates, sequential pre-thermalization measurements, through a stream of single bosons, may lead to huge gain in precision.