233 research outputs found
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United Kingdom: A personality-based perspective on concerns and intention to self-isolate
Objectives
Public behaviour change is necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus (COVIDâ19). Based on the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) framework, this study presents an examination of individual differences in some relevant psychological factors.
Design
Crossâsectional psychometric.
Methods
UK respondents (N = 202) completed a personality questionnaire (RSTâPQ), measures of illness attitudes, concerns about the impact of coronavirus on health services and socioâeconomic infrastructures, personal safety, and likelihood of voluntary selfâisolation.
Results
Respondents most concerned were older, had negative illness attitudes, and scored higher on reward reactivity (RR), indicating the motivation to take positive approach action despite prevailing worry/anxiety. Personal safety concerns were highest in those with negative illness attitudes and higher fightâflightâfreeze system (FFFS, reflecting fear/avoidance) scores. Results suggest people are experiencing psychological conflict: between the urge to stay safe (FFFFârelated) and the desire to maintain a normal, pleasurable (RRârelated) life. Ways of ameliorating conflict may include maladaptive behaviours (panic buying), reflecting rewardârelated displacement activity. Intended selfâisolation related to FFFS, but also low behavioural inhibition system (related to anxiety) scores. Older people reported themselves less likely to selfâisolate.
Conclusions
Interventions need to consider individual differences in psychological factors in behaviour change, and we discuss relevant literature to inform policy makers and communicators
Optimal correction of concatenated fault-tolerant quantum codes
We present a method of concatenated quantum error correction in which
improved classical processing is used with existing quantum codes and
fault-tolerant circuits to more reliably correct errors. Rather than correcting
each level of a concatenated code independently, our method uses information
about the likelihood of errors having occurred at lower levels to maximize the
probability of correctly interpreting error syndromes. Results of simulations
of our method applied to the [[4,1,2]] subsystem code indicate that it can
correct a number of discrete errors up to half of the distance of the
concatenated code, which is optimal.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, published versio
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Emotional and Behavioral Responses to COVID-19
This review appraises evidence for the role of personality in Covid-19 related emotions and behaviours. Three key models of personality are considered: the Five factor Model, HEXACO model and Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory. In line with personality research more generally, most studies focus on the Five-Factor model. Key findings are that neuroticism is most associated with poor mental health, and extraversion is associated with a reluctance to socially isolate. Conscientiousness predicts compliance with safety guidelines, but also with fewer prosocial behaviours, particularly stockpiling. Research within the HEXACO framework largely confirms these findings, especially for emotionality and mental health. The additional HEXACO Honesty-humility factor is found to be associated with prosocial views and abstention from panic buying. Studies based on the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of personality indicate the presence of emotional conflict as people wish to stay safe, whilst also maintaining a sense of normality. Behavioural compliance is driven by activation in the Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS; fear-related) and the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS; anxiety-related). The Behavioural Approach System (BAS) is implicated in approach-driven behaviours such as avoiding infection. These findings have implications for health communications and post-pandemic support
Effect of an inhomogeneous external magnetic field on a quantum dot quantum computer
We calculate the effect of an inhomogeneous magnetic field, which is
invariably present in an experimental environment, on the exchange energy of a
double quantum dot artificial molecule, projected to be used as a 2-qubit
quantum gate in the proposed quantum dot quantum computer. We use two different
theoretical methods to calculate the Hilbert space structure in the presence of
the inhomogeneous field: the Heitler-London method which is carried out
analytically and the molecular orbital method which is done computationally.
Within these approximations we show that the exchange energy J changes slowly
when the coupled dots are subject to a magnetic field with a wide range of
inhomogeneity, suggesting swap operations can be performed in such an
environment as long as quantum error correction is applied to account for the
Zeeman term. We also point out the quantum interference nature of this slow
variation in exchange.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures embedded in tex
Empirical Determination of Bang-Bang Operations
Strong and fast "bang-bang" (BB) pulses have been recently proposed as a
means for reducing decoherence in a quantum system. So far theoretical analysis
of the BB technique relied on model Hamiltonians. Here we introduce a method
for empirically determining the set of required BB pulses, that relies on
quantum process tomography. In this manner an experimenter may tailor his or
her BB pulses to the quantum system at hand, without having to assume a model
Hamiltonian.Comment: 14 pages, 2 eps figures, ReVTeX4 two-colum
Protecting Quantum Information Encoded in Decoherence Free States Against Exchange Errors
The exchange interaction between identical qubits in a quantum information
processor gives rise to unitary two-qubit errors. It is shown here that
decoherence free subspaces (DFSs) for collective decoherence undergo Pauli
errors under exchange, which however do not take the decoherence free states
outside of the DFS. In order to protect DFSs against these errors it is
sufficient to employ a recently proposed concatenated DFS-quantum error
correcting code scheme [D.A. Lidar, D. Bacon and K.B. Whaley, Phys. Rev. Lett.
{\bf 82}, 4556 (1999)].Comment: 7 pages, no figures. Discussion in section V.A. significantly
expanded. Several small changes. Two authors adde
Heating and decoherence suppression using decoupling techniques
We study the application of decoupling techniques to the case of a damped
vibrational mode of a chain of trapped ions, which can be used as a quantum bus
in linear ion trap quantum computers. We show that vibrational heating could be
efficiently suppressed using appropriate ``parity kicks''. We also show that
vibrational decoherence can be suppressed by this decoupling procedure, even
though this is generally more difficult because the rate at which the parity
kicks have to applied increases with the effective bath temperature.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Typos corrected, references adde
Theory of Decoherence-Free Fault-Tolerant Universal Quantum Computation
Universal quantum computation on decoherence-free subspaces and subsystems
(DFSs) is examined with particular emphasis on using only physically relevant
interactions. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of
decoherence-free (noiseless) subsystems in the Markovian regime is derived here
for the first time. A stabilizer formalism for DFSs is then developed which
allows for the explicit understanding of these in their dual role as quantum
error correcting codes. Conditions for the existence of Hamiltonians whose
induced evolution always preserves a DFS are derived within this stabilizer
formalism. Two possible collective decoherence mechanisms arising from
permutation symmetries of the system-bath coupling are examined within this
framework. It is shown that in both cases universal quantum computation which
always preserves the DFS (*natural fault-tolerant computation*) can be
performed using only two-body interactions. This is in marked contrast to
standard error correcting codes, where all known constructions using one or
two-body interactions must leave the codespace during the on-time of the
fault-tolerant gates. A further consequence of our universality construction is
that a single exchange Hamiltonian can be used to perform universal quantum
computation on an encoded space whose asymptotic coding efficiency is unity.
The exchange Hamiltonian, which is naturally present in many quantum systems,
is thus *asymptotically universal*.Comment: 40 pages (body: 30, appendices: 3, figures: 5, references: 2). Fixed
problem with non-printing figures. New references added, minor typos
correcte
Robustness of Decoherence-Free Subspaces for Quantum Computation
It was shown recently [D.A. Lidar et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 2594 (1998)]
that within the framework of the semigroup Markovian master equation,
decoherence-free (DF) subspaces exist which are stable to first order in time
to a perturbation. Here this result is extended to the non-Markovian regime and
generalized. In particular, it is shown that within both the semigroup and the
non-Markovian operator sum representation, DF subspaces are stable to all
orders in time to a symmetry-breaking perturbation. DF subspaces are thus ideal
for quantum memory applications. For quantum computation, however, the
stability result does not extend beyond the first order. Thus, to perform
robust quantum computation in DF subspaces, they must be supplemented with
quantum error correcting codes.Comment: 16 pages, no figures. Several changes, including a clarification of
the derivation of the Lindblad equation from the operator sum representation.
To appear in Phys. Rev
Assessment of clinical trial protocols for pathology content using the SPIRIT-Path guidelines highlights areas for improvement
The SPIRIT (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials) 2013 Statement provides evidence-based recommendations for the minimum content of clinical trial protocols. The Cellular Molecular Pathology Initiative, hosted by the UK National Cancer Research Institute, developed an extension, SPIRIT-Path, describing how to effectively incorporate pathology support into clinical trial protocols. The current study assessed the inclusion of SPIRIT-Path items in protocols of active clinical trials. Publicly available clinical trial protocols were identified for assessment against the new guidelines using a single UK hospital as the âtest siteâ. One hundred and ninety interventional clinical trials were identified as receiving support from the pathology department. However, only 38 had publicly available full trial protocols (20%) and following application of the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 19 were assessed against the SPIRIT-Path guidelines. The reviewed clinical trial protocols showed some areas of compliance and highlighted other items that were inadequately described. The latter lacked information about the individuals responsible for the pathology content of the trial protocol, how pathology activities and roles were organised in the trial, where the laboratory work would be carried out, and the accreditation status of the laboratory. Only one trial had information specific to digital pathology, a technology certain to become more prevalent in the future. Adoption of the SPIRIT-Path checklist will facilitate comprehensive trial protocols that address all the key cellular and molecular pathology aspects of interventional clinical trials. This study highlights once again the lack of public availability of trial protocols. Full trial protocols should be available for scrutiny by the scientific community and the public who participate in the studies, increasing the transparency of clinical trial activity and improving quality
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