Quantum Singular Value Decomposer

We present a variational quantum circuit that produces the Singular Value Decomposition of a bipartite pure state. The proposed circuit, that we name Quantum Singular Value Decomposer or QSVD, is made of two unitaries respectively acting on each part of the system. The key idea of the algorithm is to train this circuit so that the final state displays exact output coincidence from both subsystems for every measurement in the computational basis. Such circuit preserves entanglement between the parties and acts as a diagonalizer that delivers the eigenvalues of the Schmidt decomposition. Our algorithm only requires measurements in one single setting, in striking contrast to the $3^n$ settings required by state tomography. Furthermore, the adjoints of the unitaries making the circuit are used to create the eigenvectors of the decomposition up to a global phase. Some further applications of QSVD are readily obtained. The proposed QSVD circuit allows to construct a SWAP between the two parties of the system without the need of any quantum gate communicating them. We also show that a circuit made with QSVD and CNOTs acts as an encoder of information of the original state onto one of its parties. This idea can be reversed and used to create random states with a precise entanglement structure.Comment: 6 + 1 pages, 5 figure

Effect of fungal endophytes on plant growth and nutrient uptake in Trifolium subterraneum and Poa pratensis as affected by plant host specificity

[EN[ The introduction of well-adapted species, such as Trifolium subterraneum (subclover) and Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass), might enhance the forage yield and quality of dehesa pastures for feeding livestock. However, the climatic hardness and poor soils in these agrosystems may limit plant establishment and development. Since fungal endophytes have been found to alleviate the environmental stresses of their host, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of five isolates on forage yield, nutritive value, and plant mineral uptake after their inoculation in the two abovementioned plant species. Two experiments were established (under greenhouse and field conditions) using plants inoculated with two isolates in 2012/2013 (Epicoccum nigrum, Sporormiella intermedia) and three isolates in 2013/2014 (Mucor hiemalis, Fusarium equiseti, Byssochlamys spectabilis). Fusarium equiseti (E346) increased the herbage yield of T. subterraneum under greenhouse conditions, and B. spectabilis improved the forage quality of T. subterraneum by reducing fiber content and of P. pratensis by increasing crude protein. S. intermedia increased the mineral uptake of Ca, Cu, Mn, Pb, Tl, and Zn in subclover, and M. hiemalis increased the uptake of K and Sr in Kentucky bluegrass. These results evidence the potential of the studied fungal endophytes to enhance herbage yield and nutritional value of forage, although further studies should include all of the target forage species as certain host specificity in the effect was observed.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This research was funded by Project AGL2011-27454, granted by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (the former Ministry of Science and Innovation) and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).Publicación en abierto financiada por el Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Castilla y León (BUCLE), con cargo al Programa Operativo 2014ES16RFOP009 FEDER 2014-2020 DE CASTILLA Y LEÓN, Actuación:20007-CL - Apoyo Consorcio BUCL

Measuring the tangle of three-qubit states

We present a quantum circuit that transforms an unknown three-qubit state into its canonical form, up to relative phases, given many copies of the original state. The circuit is made of three single-qubit parametrized quantum gates, and the optimal values for the parameters are learned in a variational fashion. Once this transformation is achieved, direct measurement of outcome probabilities in the computational basis provides an estimate of the tangle, which quantifies genuine tripartite entanglement. We perform simulations on a set of random states under different noise conditions to asses the validity of the method

La comunicación institucional de contenidos sanitarios mediante notas de prensa y su reflejo en la prensa diaria. El caso de Aragón = Institutional communication of health contents through press releases and its presence in the daily press. The case of Aragón

Resumen: Introducción: La publicación de notas de prensa es una práctica habitual de los gabinetes de comunicación de los Departamentos de Salud autonómicos mediante la que ofrecen información relevante para un mejor conocimiento y utilización del sistema, la difusión de sus actividades y la rendición de cuentas. Objetivo: Analizar las características de los comunicados de prensa emitidos por la Dirección de Comunicación del Gobierno de Aragón y verificar el grado en que los temas tratados en estas informaciones obtienen visibilidad en los medios impresos. Material y método: Revisión de las notas de prensa de contenido sanitario durante un año y comprobación de si los temas propuestos han sido llevados a las páginas de los dos periódicos de ámbito autonómico de la comunidad. Resultados: Se encontraron 190 notas de prensa, generalmente centradas en aspectos de la gestión sanitaria. Un 43% no obtuvieron reflejo en la prensa. Entre los dos medios estudiados se observa una concordancia moderada en cuanto a los temas publicados. Conclusiones: La comunicación institucional puede ser considerada un tipo de comunicación política, con unas características particulares, que es filtrada y contrapesada por los medios dentro de su labor de control de las instituciones públicas.Palabras clave: Salud, Comunicación institucional, Notas de prensa, PrensaAbstract: Introduction: The publication of press releases is a common practice of press offices of the Regional Departments of Health to offer relevant information for a better knowledge and use of the health system, to publicize their activities and for accountability purposes. Objective: To analyze some features of the press releases issued by the Directorate of Communication of the Government of Aragon and also verify the extent to which the subjects covered in these informations obtain visibility in the print media. Material and method: A review of the health-related press releases during one year was carried out; we also checked whether the proposed issues were brought to the pages of the two regional newspapers. Results: 190 press releases were found, mainly focused on aspects of health management. 43% of those reports were not mentioned in the newspapers. Between the two dailies studied, a moderate level of agreement in the selection of the subjects that were translated into news was observed. Conclusions: Institutional communication can be considered a type of political communication, with particular features, that is filtered and counterbalanced by the media, given that one of its tasks is the monitoring and control of the performance of public institutions.Keywords: Health, Institutional communication, Press releases, Press

Gender and Physical Education. Coeducative best practices analysis

Este trabajo, dentro del proyecto de investigación TEON XXI, analiza y describe buenas prácticas de Educación Física con perspectiva de género. Aplicamos la teoría sociológica de doing gender al desarrollo de criterios sobre cómo construir una nueva cultura de género en las escuelas, implicando los planos socioculturales, relacionales e individuales en un microanálisis etnográfico. Se interpreta el ajuste entre dichas prácticas y las necesidades del contexto educativos en que tienen lugar. Se investigan cuatro modelos de prácticas, la selección muestral es de tipo teórico, aplicando una estrategia de máxima variación apoyado en un proceso de vagabundeo y localización en bola de nieve de informantes y ejemplos claves; proceso que culmina con la selección, grabación y análisis de los casos ilustrativos. Se utilizan indicadores concretos y contextualizados para a la interpretación analítica, tales como: eficacia, efecto transformador, sostenibilidad, legitimidad y replicabilidad. El trabajo de campo implica analizar fuentes documentales, así como registros de observaciones participantes y entrevistas en profundidad a expertos/as, mediante análisis de contenido. Los resultados permiten dotar al profesorado de ejemplos, pero también aportar criterios, modelos e indicadores para que el profesorado pueda reflexionar sobre la calidad y bondad de sus prácticas considerando determinadas circunstancias contextuales y necesidades específicas.This paper, within the TEON XXI research project, examines and describes best practices in Physical Education with gender perspective. We apply sociological doing gender theory for developing a criterion about how to build a new gender school culture, involving sociocultural, relational and individual levels in an ethnographic microanalysis. The adjustment between these practices and the school requirements where these take place are also interpretated. Four models of practices are investigated; the selection sampling is theoretical, applying a maximum variation strategy support in a mapping process and location by snowball of informant and key exampling. The whole process culminates with a selection, saving and analysis of illustrative cases. Concrete and contextualized indicators are used for an analytic interpretation, such as: effectiveness, transforming effect, sustainability, legitimacy and replicability. This fieldwork entails analyzing documentary sources, as well as participant observation and in-depth interviews with experts, through content analysis. The results enable to give examples to the teachers, but also provide criterions, models and indicators for teachers to reflect about quality and favorable practices considering certain contextual circumstances and specific needs.Grupo FORCE (HUM-386). Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar de la Universidad de Granada

Quantum unary approach to option pricing

We present a quantum algorithm for European option pricing in finance, where the key idea is to work in the unary representation of the asset value. The algorithm needs novel circuitry and is divided in three parts: first, the amplitude distribution corresponding to the asset value at maturity is generated using a low depth circuit; second, the computation of the expected return is computed with simple controlled gates; and third, standard Amplitude Estimation is used to gain quantum advantage. On the positive side, unary representation remarkably simplifies the structure and depth of the quantum circuit. Amplitude distributions uses quantum superposition to bypass the role of classical Monte Carlo simulation. The unary representation also provides a post-selection consistency check that allows for a substantial mitigation in the error of the computation. On the negative side, unary representation requires linearly many qubits to represent a target probability distribution, as compared to the logarithmic scaling of binary algorithms. We compare the performance of both unary vs. binary option pricing algorithms using error maps, and find that unary representation may bring a relevant advantage in practice for near-term devices.Comment: 14 (main) + 10 (appendix) pages, 22 figures. Final peer-reviewed version, published in PRA. All suggestions from the referees have been considered. We thank the referees and the journal for all the wor

Gut Microbiota Cannot Compensate the Impact of (quasi) Aposymbiosis in Blattella germanica

The German cockroach Blattella germanica is a good model to study complex symbiotic relationships because the following two symbiotic systems coexist in a single individual: the endosymbiont Blattabacterium (living inside specialized cells called bacteriocytes) and the gut microbiota. Although the role of the endosymbiont has been fully elucidated, the function of the gut microbiota remains unclear. The study of the gut microbiota will benefit from the availability of insects deprived of Blattabacterium. Our goal is to determine the effect of the removal (or, at least, the reduction) of the endosymbiont population on the cockroach's fitness, in a normal gut microbiota community. For this purpose, we treated our cockroach population with rifampicin to decrease the amount of endosymbiont in the following generation. As the treatment also affects rifampicin-sensitive gut bacteria, we allowed it to recover for at least 20 days before sampling. We found that after this antibiotic treatment, the endosymbiont population remained extremely reduced and only the microbiota were able to recover, although it could not compensate for the endosymbiont role, and the host's fitness was drastically affected. This accomplished reduction, however, is not homogenous and requires further study to develop stable quasi-aposymbiotic cockroaches

A nanostructured Cu(II) coordination polymer based on alanine as a trifunctional mimic enzyme and efficient composite in the detection of Sphingobacteria

This research raises the potential use of coordination polymers as new useful materials in two essential research fields, allowing the obtaining of a new multiartificial enzyme with the capacity to inhibit the growth of bacteria resistance. The fine selection of the ligands allows the design of a new 2D coordination polymer (CP), with the formula [Cu2(IBA)2(OH2)4]n·6nH2O, by the combination of Cu (II) as the metal center with a pseudoamino acid (H2IBA = isophthaloyl bis β-alanine). Quantitative total X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) analyses show that the obtained CP can gradually release Cu (II) ions. Additionally, this CP can be nanoprocessed and transformed into a metal-organic gel (MOG) by using different Cu (II) salt concentrations and the application of ultrasounds. Considering its nanometric dimensions, the slow Cu (II) release and its simple processability, its performance as an artificial enzyme, and its antibacterial ability were explored. The results obtained show the first nanocoordination polymer acting as an artificial multienzyme (peroxidase, catalase, and superoxodismutase) exhibiting antibacterial activity in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, with selective behavior for three bacterium strains (S. spiritovirum, A. faecales, and B. cereus). Indeed, this CP shows a more robust inhibition capacity for Sphingobacterium. Going beyond that, as there are no comfortable and practically clinical tests capable of detecting the presence of Sphingobacteria, the compound can be easily embedded to form moldable gelatin that will facilitate the handling and low-cost commercial kit

gNOMO : a multi-omics pipeline for integrated host and microbiome analysis of non-model organisms

The study of bacterial symbioses has grown exponentially in the recent past. However, existing bioinformatic workflows of microbiome data analysis do commonly not integrate multiple meta-omics levels and are mainly geared toward human microbiomes. Microbiota are better understood when analyzed in their biological context; that is together with their host or environment. Nevertheless, this is a limitation when studying non-model organisms mainly due to the lack of well-annotated sequence references. Here, we present gNOMO, a bioinformatic pipeline that is specifically designed to process and analyze non-model organism samples of up to three meta-omics levels: metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metaproteomics in an integrative manner. The pipeline has been developed using the workflow management framework Snakemake in order to obtain an automated and reproducible pipeline. Using experimental datasets of the German cockroach Blattella germanica, a non-model organism with very complex gut microbiome, we show the capabilities of gNOMO with regard to meta-omics data integration, expression ratio comparison, taxonomic and functional analysis as well as intuitive output visualization. In conclusion, gNOMO is a bioinformatic pipeline that can easily be configured, for integrating and analyzing multiple meta-omics data types and for producing output visualizations, specifically designed for integrating paired-end sequencing data with mass spectrometry from non-model organisms